Grooming Garage: Bonus Buy

It seems a little silly to get excited about value-size packages of stuff I need, but some things (in my opinion) just cost too much. I've been using Schick Hydro 5 razor cartridges for a while now, and even though Schick has a far smaller percentage of the razor market than Gillette, they decided that they were going to price their products like Gillette does. So I've typically been paying $12 to $14 for a package of four cartridges, which strikes me as borderline outrageous, but unfortunately my face is so sensitive that I can't cheap out and buy store-brand blades, or any similar strategy—too risky.

Schick runs coupons in the Sunday papers pretty regularly, typically offering $2 or $3 off cartridges, but you rarely see them at an actually reduced sale price, but CVS sometimes offers $10 in "Extra Bucks" if you spend $25 on Schick products, so I have taken advantage of that in the past.

But recently I noticed that stores like Target are carrying a package of 12 Hydro 5 cartridges, priced at $31.49. That's a Costco-sized package. I haven't been to Costco in a while (I let our membership lapse to save some money) so I don't know if they are carrying Schick products now, but they didn't before. (Maybe one of the other warehouse clubs does?) Also, some of the packages have two extra "bonus" cartridges.

Careful shopping can combine a bonus package and a higher-value coupon; I had one for $4 off that was expiring this weekend, so yesterday after work I made my way to Target and got a bonus pack of 14 cartridges for $27.49 plus tax, which works out to about $2 a cartridge.

I want to track how long this package lasts. I estimate I won't need to buy cartridges again for a year, plus I have 3/4 of my previous package remaining. I typically shave only twice a week, and I can usually get about a month out of one cartridge.