Happy Cheapskate: Comparison shopping, Nancy-style

We all do it. We stand in front of grocery shelves wondering if we're getting the cheapest price, or if there's better deal in another store

So I thought I'd do some comparison shopping, and start with the basics: toilet paper, detergent, feminine hygiene products and shaving products. And I'd go to the popular stores: Costco, Dominion and Walmart.

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I thought comparing the price of a few toiletries in various stores would be easy. Boy, am I dumb.

Turns out not all stores carry the same brands. And who knew there could be so many varieties of one item?

I never thought of toilet paper as being particularly complicated, but it comes in one, two and three-ply, and varieties like super soft, regular and something akin to emery board.

And a surely a roll of toilet paper has a standard number of sheets, I naively thought. Wrong again. Some rolls have 180 sheets, some 230, 300 or even 400. All this selection means that in order to calculate which brand is cheapest, one can't do it by breaking down the cost per roll. One has to break it down by the cost PER SHEET!

Ladies, any idea how much you pay for feminine protection? That also depends many factors. Slim, regular or super. Plastic, pearl, cardboard. Wings? Extra long?  

We can't tell you which products are best for you, but thanks to our crack research team — okay, me — we can compare the price of a few popular items.

And just a few notes: I didn't take sale prices into account. If something was on sale, I used the original price. I tried to use a few brand name products as well as a few generic ones, or a brand specific to each store. The President's Choice line at Dominion, for example.

I wasn't trying to compare one grocery store with another, Sobey's versus Dominion. (I'll save that for another column.) I was curious whether Costco's prices were as good as my friends brag about.

See for yourself. On mobile? Click on the images to see the detail

               About the Happy Cheapskate 

Like most of us, I hate getting ripped off.

Or worse, feeling ripped off.

There are some things worth a higher price to me. I'll fork over cash for a brand name pair of running shoes. I bought cheap ones before and they hurt.

I'll pay for premium chocolate on occasion, but Cadbury rocks my world.

I refuse to pay for a frozen food product that has been bleached, battered, covered in oil and salt and made out to be something nutritious.

The Happy Cheapskate is all about value. Join me as I search for it.  

If there's anything you'd like me to look into, email me. 

Follow Nancy Walsh on Twitter at @nancywalshcbc.