My buying of soap is also a little different — I buy luxury spa soaps, but only at a Marshall’s or TJ Maxx. Usually $3 or $4 a bar. The trick is is that I buy one of these soaps when I feel like a little splurge and feel like going shopping. Beats buying myself a $50 pair of shoes or a $20 sweater, and it feels very nice and decadent every morning in the shower!

I’m curious as to why you joined a warehouse club if you tend to purchase your bulk items on Amazon? The main reasons I shop at a warehouse club are to purchase the types of items you talked about in this post, and my produce, which you purchase at the local farmer’s market…

What does that leave you purchasing at Sam’s?

As for the actual info, I have checked Amazon’s pricing. It is nothing special. I mean, it beats the local grocer, but it doesn’t beat Wal-Mart. If you order items from Amazon that you have or could get coupons for, you are losing money. If there is something you buy that you don’t find coupons for then Amazon may be a cool way to stock up and save time. But, if I have a coupon in hand, I’m hitting the Wal-Mart Supercenter and using my coupon. That will beat Amazon every time IMO.

If you are located out of that state, you are required by laws to report the goods you purchased on your state tax return, and pay the appropriate taxes.

Admittedly, no one actually does this. In general almost everyone just ignores that part and enjoys their goods tax-free. But if I were you, I’d be careful about publishing that in a public forum.

Thats the key in a nutshell. My husband and I scour the ads weekly and save a fortune, but to save that usually means a 16 mile drive to the store with best prices. On average we save $40-60 however last trip netted $100 savings! Never could have done that without a plan.

You are groping towards that concept in this post.

http://news.com.com/States+push+to+tax+Net+shopping/2100-1028_3-6060450.html

I read a story recently about a woman who had bought a lot of furniture out of state, and the following year received noticed from her home state that taxes and penalties were due. The furniture store had been audited.

Taxes are not due if you pay sales tax in the state in which the item was purchased.

But the laws vary from state to state, I just don’t want to see your readers get into trouble.

Gosh, I’m so sorry to point this out, because I love your blog!

However, the pricing was done at non-shopping times, adding commuting costs in the mix. As well, I found it took about an hour at each store to find and price everything on my list and do the calculations of unit cost. This may seem like too much overhead to be truly cost-effective, but if it is done for a month or so to establish a large database of items you commonly get, in the long run you will save both time and money as this “extra cost” goes away.

Personally, I love coupons. My friends make fun of a young guy using coupons, because it’s “too much of an old person’s thing”. I make fun of them for not saving up to 50% of their grocery bills just because they won’t take 15 minutes a week to clip coupons from the sunday newspapers.

Something bothers me about what you said about free shipping. Have you calculated how much gas you used up during these trips to your store only to end up not buying them and driving back home to order them online. I can understand if the store was a 5 minute walk but if it was a 30 mile round trip, you just lost 5 dollars. Does the savings make up for the loss of gas expenses?