Best Prices for Our Favorite Cleaning and Paper Supplies

Eighty-one percent of Americans who belong to a membership-based retailer said they buy toilet paper there.

Name-brand: The five stores carried a mix of Charmin and Cottonelle toilet paper, both of which were among the best performers in our tests.
• The cheapest was at BJ’s, which carried Cottonelle Ultra Comfort ($26.99 for 36 rolls, or 3 cents per square foot).
• The priciest was King Kullen’s Cottonelle Ultra Clean ($19.99 for 12 rolls, or 6 cents per square foot).

Generic: All the stores carried generic toilet paper. There was a three-way tie for cheapest: Costco ($20.99 for 30 rolls), BJ’s ($16.99 for 30 rolls), and King Kullen ($10.99 for 12 rolls), which all cost 1 cent per square foot.

Overall winner: BJ’s. Although King Kullen, BJ’s, and Costco tied for the cheapest generic brand, BJ’s wins overall for also offering the lowest price on name-brand toilet paper.

Seventy-five percent of Americans who belong to a membership-based retailer said they buy paper towels there.

Name-brand: We found Bounty paper towels at all five stores.
• The cheapest picks were Costco ($28.49 for 12 rolls, or 4 cents per square foot), BJ’s ($24.49 for 12 rolls, or 4 cents per square foot), and Sam’s Club ($27.78 for 12 rolls, or 4 cents per square foot).
• King Kullen was the most expensive ($32.99 for 12 rolls, or 7 cents per square foot).

Generic: All the stores offered generic paper towels, but King Kullen was the only store where the generic price was the same as the Bounty prices at Costco, BJ’s, and Sam’s Club. The cheapest picks were Stop & Shop (the sale price for 10 rolls was $8.99), Costco ($20.49 for 12 rolls), BJ’s ($16.99 for 12 rolls), and Sam’s Club ($19.98 for 15 rolls), which all cost 2 cents per square foot.

Overall winner: Costco, BJ’s, and Sam’s Club had the cheapest name-brand paper towel prices, but if you happened to be at Stop & Shop for their generic brand sale that day, you would have scored the exact same deal.

In our survey, 65 percent of Americans who belong to membership-based retailers said they buy trash bags there.

Name-brand: All the stores except for Costco carried Glad ForceFlex trash bags, which is one of the nine products included in our review of the best trash bags.
• We evaluated the prices for 13-gallon bags and found the cheapest at Sam’s Club ($16.98 for 160 bags, or 11 cents per bag).
• The most expensive was King Kullen ($22.99 for 80 bags, or 29 cents per bag).

Generic: All the stores offered generic-brand 13-gallon trash bags.
• Two stores tied with the cheapest bags, at 8 cents per bag: Costco ($16.99 for 200 bags) and Sam’s Club ($16.98 for 200 bags).
• The most expensive was Stop & Shop ($14.49 for 76 bags, or 19 cents per bag).

Overall winner: Sam’s Club.

Our survey showed that 62 percent of Americans who belong to a membership-based retailer regularly buy laundry detergent there.

Name-brand: We were psyched to find Tide liquid laundry detergent—a top performer in our lab tests—at all the stores.
• There was a tie for the cheapest: Costco ($16.79 for 138 fluid ounces, or 12 cents per fluid ounce) and Sam’s Club ($19.98 for 170 fluid ounces, or 12 cents per fluid ounce) took the cake.
• The most expensive was King Kullen ($16.99 for 98 fluid ounces, or 17 cents per fluid ounce).

Generic: Stop & Shop was the only store that didn’t offer a generic liquid laundry detergent. This time, the cheapest was tied between BJ’s ($16.99 for 200 fluid ounces, or 8 cents per fluid ounce) and Sam’s Club ($15.98 for 196 fluid ounces, or 8 cents per fluid ounce). Costco’s Kirkland Signature Ultra Clean Liquid came in close ($17.99 for 194 fluid ounces, or 9 cents per fluid ounce).

Overall winner: Sam’s Club (it was the only store that offered the most cost-conscious prices for name-brand and generic laundry detergent).

Name-brand: Different stores offered different products, so we priced Lysol, Mr. Clean, and Clorox multipurpose cleaners.
• The cheapest (by a landslide) was Costco’s Lysol Clean & Fresh Multi-Surface Cleaner ($9.99 for 210 fluid ounces, or 5 cents per fluid ounce).
• The most expensive was BJ’s Mr. Clean Clean Freak Multi-Purpose Cleaner ($13.49 for 62.9 fluid ounces, or 21 cents per fluid ounce).

Generic: Stop & Shop and King Kullen were the only stores that carried generic multipurpose cleaners. Stop & Shop had the better deal ($3.29 for 32 fluid ounces, or 10 cents per fluid ounce). 

Overall winner: Costco.

Name-brand: Windex is synonymous with glass cleaners, and we found it at all the stores, though their prices fluctuated wildly.
• The cheapest was Sam’s Club ($11.72 for 160 fluid ounces, or 7 cents per fluid ounce).
• The most expensive was King Kullen ($4.99 for 23 fluid ounces, or 22 cents per fluid ounce).

Budget: Costco was the only store that didn’t offer a more budget-friendly glass cleaner alternative.
• Although Sprayway is not considered a generic brand, Sam’s Club offered this more budget-conscious product—which is among our top performers in our tests—at the best price ($6.98 for 76 fluid ounces, or 9 cents per fluid ounce).

Overall winner: Sam’s Club.

Name-brand: Sam’s Club was the only store that didn’t carry Lysol (or any other name-brand) disinfectant wipes.
• The best deals on Lysol Disinfecting Wipes were found at Costco ($14.39 for 380 wipes, or 4 cents per wipe) and BJ’s ($15.99 for 425 wipes, or 4 cents per wipe).
• The most expensive was King Kullen ($8.99 for 80 wipes, or 11 cents per wipe).

Generic: Costco was the sole store that didn’t carry its own line of generic disinfectant wipes. The two cheapest were BJ’s ($12.99 for 340 wipes, or 4 cents per wipe) and Sam’s Club ($10.98 for 312 wipes, or 4 cents per wipe).

Overall winner: BJ’s was the only store that offered the most cost-conscious prices for name-brand and generic laundry detergent.

Name-brand: Scotch-Brite was a popular sponge found at every store except for BJ’s, which lacked name-brand sponges.
• The best deal was Costco ($10.99 for 24 sponges, or 46 cents per sponge).
• The most expensive was King Kullen ($1.99 for one sponge).

Generic: Neither Costco nor Sam’s Club carried generic sponges. BJ’s generic sponge was the best deal ($12.99 for 27 sponges, or 48 cents per sponge).

Overall winner: Even though Costco didn’t carry a generic sponge, it still had the best overall deal.

Name-brand: “Magic eraser” refers to abrasive melamine sponges made famous by Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Sam’s Club was the only store that didn’t sell this OG Magic Eraser sponge.
• Costco offered the best deal ($6.97 for 11 sponges, or 63 cents per sponge); its price was 37 cents per sponge cheaper than BJ’s, which was the second least expensive.
• The most expensive was Stop & Shop ($3.49 for two sponges, or $1.75 per sponge).

Generic: If you’re searching for a generic melamine sponge, you’re out of luck at most of these stores. Only Stop & Shop offered one, at $2.49 for two sponges, or $1.25 per sponge. 

Overall winner: Costco.

Name-brand: All the stores carried Cascade dishwasher detergent packs.
• The cheapest deal was found at Sam’s Club ($13.98 for 95 packs, or 15 cents per pack). This was 5 cents per pack cheaper than Costco and 14 cents per pack cheaper than BJ’s.
• The most expensive was Stop & Shop ($11.99 for 19 packs, or 63 cents per pack).

Generic: The stores all carried generic dishwasher detergent packs. Costco offered the best deal ($11.69 for 115 packs, or 10 cents per pack).

Overall winner: The cheapest deal was at Costco, but if you’re loyal to Cascade, stick with Sam’s Club.

Name-brand: All the stores carried different versions of Dawn liquid dish soap, a top performer in our recent tests.
• There was a three-way tie between Costco and BJ’s (which had the exact same price of $11.99 for 90 fluid ounces, or 13 cents per fluid ounce) and Sam’s Club ($11.88 for 90 fluid ounces, or 13 cents per fluid ounce).
• The most expensive was Stop & Shop ($6.99 for 21.6 fluid ounces, or 32 cents per fluid ounce).

Generic: All the stores carried generic dish soap brands. The best deal was BJ’s ($7.99 for 100 fluid ounces, or 8 cents per fluid ounce).

Overall winner: BJ’s—whether you prefer name-brand or generic dish soap.

Name-brand: Costco was the only store that didn’t sell either a name-brand or generic grout cleaner.
• The best deal was Sam’s Club, which sold Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner ($9.47 for 172 fluid ounces, or 6 cents per fluid ounce), 6 cents per fluid ounce less than BJ’s Soft Scrub.
• The most expensive grout cleaner was Lysol Mold & Mildew Remover with Bleach, sold at King Kullen ($6.99 for 32 fluid ounces, or 22 cents per fluid ounce).

Generic: Stop & Shop and King Kullen were the only stores that offered generic grout cleaner. Stop & Shop offered the better deal ($3.29 for 32 fluid ounces, or 10 cents per fluid ounce). 

Overall winner: Sam’s Club.

Now that you’ve seen how much you can save at a wholesale retailer, you may be wondering about the annual costs associated with becoming a member at these stores. Here’s a glance at the different membership fee tiers at Costco, BJ’s, and Sam’s Club, as well as the perks you can expect. CR excluded business membership fees, and all fees are listed before sales tax.

Drumroll, please! CR senior statistician Kristen Dorrell analyzed all the product costs from the five stores we visited, where all stores had comparable items. These were our cost-saving winners, in order from best to worst. 

Winner: Costco
Costco had the lowest price for the most items—67 percent of the cleaning products we shopped for had the best price at Costco. 

Second Place: Sam’s Club
Sam’s Club took second place, with 58 percent of the cleaning products having the best price at this store.

Third Place: BJ’s
At BJ’s, 50 percent of the cleaning products had the best price. 

Fourth-Place (Tie): Stop & Shop and King Kullen
Although these local grocery stores do not charge a membership fee, only 8 percent of their cleaning products had the best prices. 

Note: The percentages do not total 100 percent because of price ties between some stores on certain products.

Bottom line: If you frequently want the lowest prices, Costco is the top winner. Sam’s Club offers the best membership value, but it is still slightly more expensive than Costco when we compare overall product costs.