Toilet Paper is definitely one of those items that all people need to buy. People like myself who coupon-shop especially like to grab this item when it reaches stockpile prices. Not all toilet paper is created equal; you have double rolls, triple rolls, and even something called the Mega roll..oh my! The choices for toilet paper seem endless and it can be really hard to know which toilet paper stretches your dollar the furthest.
I’ve been wanting to get down to the “bottom” of what are the best deals on toilet paper and what prices bargain shoppers should be paying. I admit it’s sort of a strange research project but then again couponers do some strange things. 🙂 I did some research at 5 large stores to compare every brand of toilet paper available. The stores I went to are Costco, Walmart, Target, Cash n Carry, and Winco. My research was to determine the answer to this question, “Which Toilet Paper is the best value?”
I created a spreadsheet you can view that shows regular price, square footage, thickness (or ply), the price per sq foot, and price per roll. Feel free to print this out and add it to your coupon binder or coupon box as a reference guide. Note – when you open this spreadsheet there are two tabs at the bottom – one that lists just the top 5 from each ply of toilet paper, and also the top prices from each brand.
You have two options to view this list:
- View in Google Docs version
- For printable version from Google Docs: Click File, Download As, choose PDF and export to your computer
- There are two tabs at the bottom, make sure and check each tab as there is useful information there as well.
What I found out was that to determine the best price on Toilet paper we needed to figure out the Price per Square foot per package. Forget about the price per roll…it’s all about the square footage. Here is how you determine the square footage of the package –
Find the Total Square Feet number on the package. Then divide it into the price that the package costs. So if this package costs $9.24 you would divide that into 1257.6 = $0.007 per sq. foot. This is the formula you can always use when your are out shopping to determine the price you are paying. I had heard that you should stick to under $0.01 per square foot for stocking up, but the results I found were quite a bit lower than even that $0.01 per sq. foot pricing.
Want to hear the results of my research? Drum roll please…..
The #1 Winner for best price per square foot was for Simply Value brand toilet paper at Cash n Carry. The Simply Value brand 20 Rolls package runs $13.47 and has 2055 total square feet of toilet paper. So that is only .007 per square foot.
The next runner up in best value wasScott 1000 Toilet paper. At Walmart and Target the price per square foot were also .007 per square foot, just slightly on the higher side of it.
You wanna see my bar graph? Oh yeah…I am totally nerding out here with my data… it’s just so fun to see in graph form!
While these Simply Value and Scott 1000 toilet paper prices are the best per sq. foot in price, the toilet paper is only 1 ply thickness. This means the toilet paper is pretty thin and not very soft. They weren’t horribly rough or anything, they were fine, just not as soft as the others. The rolls are also larger, which means less changing them out – I love that! My Simply Value toilet paper rolls seem to last FOREVER! While I love soft toilet paper, I love a great value even more so I will be sticking with these two choices in the future, unless I can beat that price per sq. foot using coupons + sales.
Does Softness Matter to you? There is definitely a difference when it comes to softness in toilet paper, so if you like it soft I figured out the best prices on the 2-Ply and 3-Ply types. Each ply means how many sheets are put together to make the toilet paper sheets. You can see 2-Ply very clearly here –
Here are the best value prices graphs in 2-Ply and 3-Ply toilet paper brands (this is for people who really value the softness in toilet paper, a little more than lowest prices. )
For 2 Ply Toilet Paper, the best deals are at Costco and Walmart:
Costco’s Marathon Ultra 48 Big Rolls is priced at $0.008 per sq. foot
Costco’s Kirkland Embossed 36 rolls is priced at $0.009 per sq. foot
Walmart’s “New” brand 12 double rolls is priced at $0.01 per sq. foot.
All of these prices are still under the $0.01 per sq. foot pricing, so these are great prices.
But when we get into the 3-ply the price per sq. foot is a bit higher.
Quilted Northern Ultra 30 rolls$0.019 (almost $0.02 per sq. foot)
Walmart’s White Cloud Ultra 12 Double Roll is priced at $0.021 per sq. foot.
More on Softness – I tested each one of these toilet paper brands shown below to determine the softness. My testing techniques shall remain private and confidential. (hee hee) 😉 The number one top pick for softness was Quilted Northern. Being 3-ply thickness it was the Cadillac of toilet papers for sure. My next vote for softness was the Costco’s Kirkland brand, followed by Charmin, and then Angel Soft. Next was Cottonelle, then Western Family, Simply Value and then Scott 1000.
So the bottom line is this – softness comes with a price and only you can determine what you willing to pay.
I’m not ashamed to say I’m a 1 ply and proud. I just love the best value price so much, and how long each roll lasts. I hope my research and spreadsheet help you out!
One small but most important spec is missing
Useless post
You need to go by weight not sq ft
Cost per ounce
Not cost per sq ft
Square foot is based on thickness composition of each sheet which is unknown so you need to use cost per ounce to get valid data
Cost per sheet is irrelevant period since all sheets are diff thicknesses
You’ve done a lot of good comparing on internet and box store prices. However the best place to buy toilet paper is at a local janitorial supply store. Buy the 2ply 96 roll case with 500 sheets per roll. I pay $45.00 per huge case, it works out much less than the box store prices.
This store can’t ship it to you competitively but you should be able to find a similar store in your area, visit http://www.basinclean.com they show examples of shrinkflation.
Hi, just came across your post; wanted to say the cheapest two ply toilet paper I have found is the Home Store 4 Roll Bonus pack at The Dollar Tree, at 122 sq. ft. per dollar spent, so it averages 0.0082. I am on SSI so really have an extreme fixed budget, but detest 1 ply. On the Dollar Tree’s website, you can purchase a case of 24 and get it shipped to your house or to pick up at no extra cost in the store. Hope this helps. 🙂
You need price per ounce or gram. If 2 ply costs 50% more and weighs twice as much for the same square feet……
It is important to know how much money we flush down te toilet every day.
Hi! Are you still in the coupon game?; the last post I see is from 2014. I was just wondering if you compared online deals for the t.p. and if so how did they stack up? We have a Costco here now but no Cash ‘n Carry. We do have a Sam’s Club but just like Costco- you have to be a member! (Not sure if you figured membership fees into your original post) anyway I appreciate the work I found the article interesting just had those couple questions
The numbers for square footage do not add up.
The scott 1000s claim that 1 piece is a square foot… Wouldn’t that be 12″ by 12″? Even if you separate the ply’s you don’t have nearly 1 square foot per piece.
Thank you! And thank you for all the work you did!
I just bought 48 rolls of Angel Soft for $15.98.at Walmart.
If my math is right that is $.33 a roll.
I wish you had dropped the spreadsheet on your page.
Who are your keen eyed readers that can read it?
Is the data of the tp and kt list updated? What if you put them online and allow everybody to change the data, so it would be automatically updated by crowdsourcing? 😉
Thank you for the info.
I`m just curious to know if you accounted for the 2 ply sheets as opposed to the single sheets when calculating the sq footage. Should you not double the sq ft of the doubles as you get two sheets instead of one?
That would cut the price in half on the double ply?