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Retailers Are Exploiting Your Price Ignorance- Target vs Amazon vs Walmart and More with our Store to Store comparison Baby Items Per Dollar


January 6, 2019 by Michael Kirk - Efficiency Is Everything

Lead Engineer-Michael Kirk:

Do not get hung up on ‘baby’.

What started as a baby registry optimization evolved into a store to store comparison when we found huge difference in prices. 

This article is a Store vs Store, Brick and Mortar vs Online comparison. There is a lowest cost way to purchase items, and we wanted the data to prove it.

There are not many ‘baby’ specific tips in this article, but here is one baby oddity- Colors, Boy colors, Girl colors, and neutral colors changed the price and availability. 

 

Store vs Store –  The Comparison To Be Quantified

 

The goal was to make an overall shopping decision and pick 2 stores to shop and register at. This is a commitment, having more than 2 stores is overwhelming and difficult. 

 

Each store had to have an item that meet all consumer quality metrics, from Dr. Mandy Kirk. Metrics were reasonable, and often only 1 name brand had the quality. Lowest price, or the equal product were captured for each store.  Quality was considered and noted.

If a store did not have a product that meet the criteria, they were noted False, not having the item.

The Data

The Winners-

The Data is at the end of the article, but its important to know who comes out on top. Online stores are cheaper and have better selection than brick and mortar stores. 

Does this mean shopping at brick and mortar is an expensive luxury?

Further, upon request, we added a blanket 20% off on Buy Buy Baby, this did not change its Rank in any item. Meaning Buy Buy Baby is always at least 20% more expensive than all of its competitors. 

 

Is it safe to say Target and Buy Buy Baby are ‘Never Buy’?

 

Stock

Online had a significantly better selection, especially Amazon.

11 items could not be found at Walmart in Store. If you included Walmart online, only 1 item could not be found online.

Target had 7 items unable to be found, and 2 unable to be found online.

Amazon and Buy Buy Baby had all items.

Best In Class- The Lowest Cost Items At Each Store

If you were trying to buy one of these items, it would be best to buy from these stores.

Lesson: At Target, there is 1 item in store that was lower cost than anywhere else. This is the exception that proves ‘doing your homework’ and researching gives you the best price. 

Walmart (online), undeniably the best-

Amazon, not a long list, but they still scored 2nd best overall. 

There are no items to buy at Buy Buy Baby.

Conclusions and Next Steps

Now that we narrowed our selection down to Walmart and Amazon, we will pick the best products. Items will be revisited to ensure the items meet quality metrics at the lowest price.

There is more data

There may be use outside consumer applications of this data. New products? Implications of Brick and Mortar’s future?  Is there something telling about the future of consumer retail? Are there other overly expensive stores like Buy Buy Baby out there?

The data is massive.

You will see how retailers like Walmart are pushing the weight on low prices- sometimes.  Walmart in-store seemed to be marked up vs online. 

 

The best experience is with our Excel File. Click Here

 

Otherwise enjoy the picture-

*False means the store did not have a comparable item.

 

If you have made this this far, you might care to see how the different grocers stacked up

Aldi vs Costco vs Sams Club vs Walmart vs Meijer

Expand your Efficiency

Get more Efficiency to improve your daily life. Subscribe and get three slow cooker recipes designed to be low cost, quick and healthy.

 

 

 

 

Dates Per Dollar- Dates compared by Price, Privacy, Creativity, and Classiness


December 24, 2018 by Michael Kirk - Efficiency Is Everything

Lead Engineer-Michael Kirk

Our Intern Josh has collected data to find the best dates, given various quality metrics and cost.

The Data – Comparing How To Save Money On Dates

This data uses specific pricing, and has gas costs calculated using a common location. While the description on this website is generic(Coffee Date), the detailed description(Atomic Coffee Royal Oak, 2 Cinnamon Dolce Latte) can be found in our raw data – Click Here.

Classy, Creative, and Public were subjectively decided on a scale from 0-10, and based on that given a True/False value. This is considered Boolean, as it has only 2 possible values.

Given how specific this data is, but how varied prices and distances to locations in your own life, the data should be compared on a scale. For instance, 100-400 Minutes Per Dollar are similar. 7-10 Minutes Per Dollar are similar. There is a drastic difference between 5 Minutes Per Dollar and 20 Minutes Per Dollar. This is mentally doing Logarithms with the data.

Note: Clicking the Column names will sort, and if you click in a specific order, IE: Minutes Per Dollar, then Creative, you can see a comparison of qualities without opening the raw data.

Date Cost Minutes Spent Minutes of Date Per Dollar Classy Creative Public
Park $0.30 120 400.0 FALSE TRUE TRUE
Animal Watching $0.30 45 150.0 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Tennis $1.20 120 100.0 FALSE FALSE FALSE
Hike $7.50 180 24.0 TRUE TRUE FALSE
Cooking Date Night $10.00 180 18.0 FALSE TRUE FALSE
Party $18.00 300 16.7 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Mall $10.60 140 13.2 FALSE TRUE TRUE
Beach $16.00 180 11.3 FALSE TRUE TRUE
Fair/Festival $17.00 180 10.6 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Long Distance travel with 2 night hotel $282.50 2880 10.2 TRUE TRUE FALSE
Zoo $36.40 300 8.2 FALSE FALSE TRUE
Store $14.90 120 8.1 FALSE TRUE TRUE
Apple Orchard $16.50 120 7.3 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Drive in $37.00 240 6.5 FALSE FALSE FALSE
Swimming $21.50 120 5.6 FALSE FALSE TRUE
72 Mile Roadtrip $21.75 120 5.5 TRUE TRUE FALSE
Museum $21.80 120 5.5 TRUE TRUE TRUE
DIA $32.80 180 5.5 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Netflix’N’Chill $10.99 60 5.5 FALSE FALSE FALSE
Coffee Date $11.50 60 5.2 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Downtown Free $13.00 60 4.6 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Fair/Festival all day(Drink,booth,etc) $82.00 360 4.4 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Science Center $42.80 180 4.2 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Mini Golf $14.50 60 4.1 FALSE FALSE TRUE
Picnic with drinks $15.30 60 3.9 TRUE TRUE FALSE
Fair/Festival with 2 drinks each $53.00 180 3.4 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Local Concert $55.40 180 3.2 FALSE FALSE TRUE
Wine Tasting $14.60 45 3.1 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Movie at Emagine with 2 Beers $47.50 140 2.9 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Normal movie at Emagine $44.50 130 2.9 FALSE FALSE TRUE
Low Cost Movie $45.00 130 2.9 FALSE FALSE TRUE
Thrift store $21.20 60 2.8 FALSE TRUE TRUE
Downtown Bar $46.00 120 2.6 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Ice cream/ frozen yogurt $12.00 30 2.5 FALSE FALSE TRUE
Ski $169.50 360 2.1 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Bar $28.30 60 2.1 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Bowling $22.20 45 2.0 FALSE FALSE TRUE
Flea Market $31.40 60 1.9 FALSE TRUE TRUE
Gym $50.30 90 1.8 FALSE FALSE TRUE
Aquarium $51.00 80 1.6 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Pro Sporting event with pregame $201.00 300 1.5 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Pro Sporting event $161.00 240 1.5 TRUE TRUE TRUE
International Concert $286.00 360 1.3 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Dinner at Chilis $47.70 60 1.3 FALSE FALSE TRUE
Dinner at Red Lobster $55.20 60 1.1 TRUE FALSE TRUE
International Concert with drinks $338.00 360 1.1 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Fast food $15.30 15 1.0 FALSE FALSE TRUE
Laser tag $32.00 30 0.9 FALSE TRUE TRUE
Cooking Class $171.20 140 0.8 FALSE TRUE TRUE
Dinner at Capital Grille $94.50 60 0.6 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Dinner at Melting Pot $121.14 60 0.5 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Psychic $153.00 70 0.5 FALSE TRUE TRUE

Interpreting Dates Per Dollar

Parks, beaches, trails, and outdoor activities are the lowest cost Dates. The cost comes from gas money, parking, and cost for entry. These are top results because they are low cost and have the potential to provide hours of entertainment.

On a similar note, public locations like the Mall and Local Festivals can also be a good value, as long as your spending doesn’t get out of control. These have the benefit of being potentially multi hour activities despite being more expensive than free locations.

Comparing these low cost options, to getting Ice Cream or Coffee, these have similar costs as a low cost trip to the mall, but last under an hour. This is the benefit of comparing items Minutes Per Dollar rather than cost alone.

More expensive activities include visiting Museums and Art Institutes, but are a better value than visiting a restaurant.

Classy and Creative Dates

Looking at the best values and including non traditional dates(Creative) and non embarrassing dates(Classy) give some fantastic recommendations-

It may be helpful to know your Partner, and how to make these experiences memorable.

Privacy- Good for Romance, Bad for Creepers

Public dates are something that is either desired or can put a dampen on your romance. A first blind date likely will be at a public location, while by the end of the night, you may want to be alone.

Most dates are in public locations where people do business, making low cost first dates plentiful in options.

Finding privacy can be more difficult. Dates that involve traveling give you the option to find uninhabited areas.

Best Dates

It seems the ‘wholesome’ date ideas like Hiking and Visiting Museums are a better value than ones that involve quick indulging like eating/drinking.

These are perceived Creative and Classy, give you plenty of time to spend together, and are affordable on seemingly every budget.

If you are struggling to get a first date, check out low effort ways to improve your appearance.

Too Important Not To Cover: Future Value vs Present Value is a Multi-Million Dollar Decision


December 12, 2018 by Michael Kirk - Efficiency Is Everything

Lead Engineer- Michael Kirk:

Some topics are far to critical to Life to remain untouched. Your allocation of resources and assets is a choice that changes your life whether you like it or not.

The goal is to compare various opportunities for Future Value so you can make a decision based on your current life conditions and goals.

Cash on Hand

This is the fancy way of saying ‘United States Dollar’ in the US. This is your combined bank account, wallet, safe, under your bed, etc.. value of USD. This is a special number because the government has the ability to print money, and has historically devalued currency through ‘inflation’.

The US government claims ~2% inflation, others report 4% yearly inflation.

Your goal with excess Cash on Hand is to allocate it outside of USD to beat 2% inflation.

Interest Rates, Risk, Returns

The goal is to beat 2%/year inflation. But you also have other Qualities- Risk and Liquidity(ease of selling)

  • Do you need your investment to pay for something soon? If so, less risky and more liquid.
  • Do you have a loan? Refinancing is a good option
  • Lots of excess income? Gambling vs long term investing.

Safest Asset Locations

A US Treasury Bond returns at 2%/year and would be ‘cost neutral’. Which explains its worldwide popularity. Its safe, it makes money, and it can be liquid.

Hoarding USD is popular, but runs risk of inflation.

Real Estate is popular, but isn’t liquid. Warning, real estate is also work, consider real estate a part time job rather than a passive investment.

Debt is worse than Inflation

Student Loans, Mortgages, Credit Cards. That % interest per year, is your new number to beat. A 4% mortgage means that any investment, should return more than this.

To convert Cash on Hand into a debt payment and make a positive impact on your interest payment, you must refinance. Paying more money each month, makes little to no difference as your loan is the same size. More payments means saving thousands of dollars, rather than refinancing for tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Its best to wait until rates are favorable to refinance.

Unimportant, can skip – A note on Amortization

Loans often have an amortization where the first payments are 75% interest/25% principle, and at 15 years in 50/50, and year 29 its 75% principle/25% interest. Refinancing resets this clock, and you do lose a few thousands dollars. We calculated if this is significant and if there was an optimal time.

Note, this is a ~400,000 dollar mortgage:

If 15 years are spent before refinancing and the amortization never works in our favor, we spend over 50,000 USD on amortization. At worst case its about 6% of your mortgage, totaling likely tens of thousands of dollars.

However, after refinancing, you will have saved likely hundreds of thousands of dollars on your mortgage and interest, about 20% of your mortgage.

Very Important- Refinancing

When refinancing(20%+) you will eliminate tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in future interest payments.

This is why saving up for a large debt payment is a safe way to ‘earn 4% interest’.

Re: Tax Write offs- There is a myth that spending more money on interest can save money on taxes. Your taxes will be slightly lower, but you will have spent more money on interest. Its wrong to spend, to spend for taxes.

Investing/Gambling

Abundance is a strange thing. People of all types are throwing money in investment apps.

As we try to increase our assets, we can try to beat our debt interest or exceed new highs.

Long term, safe, market investing can expect 7-30% yearly returns, or 30% yearly lows. This needs to beat our 4%/yr mortgage interest. Buying on a bad year can be disappointing and worse performing than USD.

Pick your favorite assets that you believe will perform better than USD. It is a good idea to have at least some diversification.

Maxing out your 401k/IRA is a good start. Diversify. Use your experience/knowledge to make niche investment decisions. Gold/Bitcoin. Diversify. SPY. Unicorn Projects. Your own project. Diversify.

The goal is to keep Cash on Hand low, and assets invested either passively or actively. You have millions of future dollars at stake. (But don’t stress, you do the best you can).

Re Gambling: The word Gambling was a misnomer for the unpredictability of investments. Actual gambling? No way, that’s bad math.

Recap- Your Options

You have Cash on Hand that loses value at 2% a year. Beat this.

Treasury Bonds are safe and liquid return 2% a year.

Debt often costs more then 4% a year, whatever your highest debt interest is your new number to beat. Beat this.

Investing comes in many shades from long term index funds vs gambling. This is the risky way to earn money.

Lead Engineer-Michael Kirk:

Given the current economy, we are choosing to save up to refinance. 4% isn’t bad when everything else is sinking.

This decision comes from many inputs, including political climate, like it or not. Your experiences should make an impact on your decisions.

Wish you the best on your asset allocations,
Michael Kirk

Cost Freeze


December 6, 2018 by Michael Kirk - Efficiency Is Everything

Lead Engineer- Michael Kirk:

We are on Cost Freeze and my credit cards transactions for this month was nearly empty outside groceries and gas. Cost Freeze works.

How Cost Freeze Works

A tool used at the best and most successful fortune 500 companies to tell everyone- Stop.

Non essential is maintained or removed.

Its quite simple. You need to eat. You need to buy gas. Rent/Mortgage, heat(lowered), subscriptions ended.

Then everyone realizes this problem is not so simple and getting some non essentials will improve the situation.

When you begin Cost Freeze, you stop spending money, you scrutinize every purchase, and you review your reoccurring expenses.

Spend Money to Save

Insulation of your home, LED lights, and more can pay for itself.

Lighting

The Math

Multiple hundred dollars a year in potential savings. Note that expected hours of use are high, but these LEDs are going to last years, this is a quick and dirty estimation. Cost was less than 100 dollars to make the change.

Can you imagine other areas where spending money saves money?

Mind Tricks

Going on ‘Cost Freeze’ is a change in mentality that you decide, declare, and carryout. You will start to save money, and on an extreme basis.

This is cause for innovation, as scarcity in spending money will have you find other uses for time. For instance, instead of getting pie at an expensive restaurant, baking a pie with friends is nearly free. No driving, no parking, no tipping, no drinks- still 100% friendship.

Allocate Resources

After a freeze in spending money, you may find it almost necessary to improve your life. Old shoes, haircut, carbonated drinks, etc…

There is a way to deal with this. Budget. Put a set amount(ie: 50 dollars) towards non essentials, and decide if you would rather fix your shoes or drink diet caffeine free coke.

Hold On

The mild pain of saying ‘No’ to things gives you the benefit of security as you can extend the use of your assets.

While others are in panic about making debt payments, Cost Freeze extends your cash many months.

This may be overkill, but after an economy recovers you will be stronger than before. Good decisions today pay dividends and failure is expensive.

Engineering Conclusions on Health Insurance


November 10, 2018 by Michael Kirk - Efficiency Is Everything

EDIT 2022:

Somehow we were able to change our health insurance plan mid-year. You might be able to exploit this by choosing a cheap plan for the start of the year, and switching before needing health insurance. That worked for this pregnancy.

EDIT 2021:

A nuance we learned this year, some health insurance companies payout more. For instance, Blue Cross Blue Shield reimburses about $10,000 for 24 hours of labor and delivery. For physical therapy they reimburse $125 for 1 hour. However Meridian paid out $6,000 for the same labor and delivery and $60/hr for physical therapy. This means if you didn’t hit your max out of pocket, Blue Cross Blue Shield has made a deal with healthcare providers to charge you more money.

I’m not exactly sure how to use this yet, but if you are aware of your following year healthcare services, you might be able to compare companies. This doesn’t change much from the article, you’d still pick the lowest cost plan, but compare lowest cost plans between companies.

EDIT 2020:

After multiple years of use, here are a few things we learned-

  • Make sure your hospital, clinics, doctors, accept your insurance
  • If you don’t plan to get sick/injured, pick the cheapest insurance
  • Basic pregnancy does not hit max out of pocket (around 6k)
  • If you do plan to get sick/injured, read the rest of the article

This is one of the best articles on this website on how to save money.

Lead Engineer- Michael Kirk:

The data is conclusive, and there is not much room for argument that Health Insurance companies are using marketing tactics against us.

There is almost never a reason to pick an expensive or medium tier health insurance company. Lowest monthly premiums perform best-in-class when it comes to saving money and dealing with catastrophic injury.

If you have a reason to believe gold plans are ever a good idea, -Speak Up-

The overwhelming evidence explaining why you should pick low cost plans is about to begin. See how much data was collected to draw these conclusions:


The excel data can be found – Here

Premiums-Save Money Here

For us, our lowest cost plan was $343.04/mo. $4116/yr. If you are planning on staying healthy(and not getting pregnant or sick) your search ends here. Pick the lowest cost plan. At worst, you would expect to pay 12016.48 for an entire year and full medical coverage for 1 individual.

For full disclosure, these are the most expensive plans, even in times of injury and illness.

  • Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Michigan Mutual Insurance Company · Blue Cross® Premier PPO Silver Saver HSA
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Michigan Mutual Insurance Company · Blue Cross® Premier PPO Silver
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Michigan Mutual Insurance Company · Blue Cross® Premier PPO Silver Extra
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Michigan Mutual Insurance Company · Blue Cross® Premier PPO Gold

The upfront premiums of expensive insurance plans outweighs any benefits that it claims to have. Paying more money is worse. Fancy names are looking to take advantage of what would appear to be a cautious consumer.

Saving Money When Needing Medical

Consider if you are planning on getting over 7000 dollars of medical procedures this calendar year. If so, there is a slight optimization, and will require basic math to complete for yourself. Here are the results while we expect Mrs. Efficiency to hit our Max Out of Pocket, and myself to stay healthy.

If you skip this step, the difference between our lowest cost premium and our optimization is $842/year. ~34,000$/lifetime.

Do It Yourself

You will need to do the math, Click Here For Our Simple Excel File

Fill in Name, Premium, and Max Out-Of-Pocket. The excel file does math for:

Yearly Premium = Premium/month *12 , Worst Case= Yearly Premium+ Max Out-of-Pocket

The goal would be to get the lowest cost Worst Case.

Deductible, Copays, Coinsurance are Teases

Fancy words, when often the only thing that matters is the premium. Often the US government enforces a cap of $15,800 max out of pocket.

We studied what it looked like to take advantage of high quality health insurance benefits on Emergency, Primary Doctors Visits, Specialists, and Generic Drugs. This data was unreliable from the healthcare.gov website, but we were able to draw generalized conclusions.

Best, Worst Case Scenarios

In a situation where you visit the emergency room once a year, there is are 2 plans that has a copay for the potentially expensive emergency room visit.

Total Health Care USA, Inc. · Total HMO Standard and Meridian Choice · Meridian Smart Silver have a copay before you hit your deductible.

This set of circumstances would cost you 8842.64 per year, given the correct set of circumstances that you aren’t charged for tests, or a plethora of other exceptions.

At risk is ~$3,000 in premiums to have this odd Emergency privilege. Recommendation is the lowest cost premium plan.

Expensive Generic Drugs?

Do you only take expensive generic prescription drugs? No doctors visits, but a constant flow of medically necessary generic prescription drugs? If you don’t plan on hitting your deductible. But if you do plan on hitting your deductible, this would be more expensive. This situation is an ideal fantasy.

Doctors Visits

Continuing this unlikely optimization, Total Health Care USA, Inc. · Total HMO Standard has been quite the situational loophole despite being a decent deal. They have set copays before hitting a deductible.

Reminder that this plan,

  1. Is 2-3k more expensive Premium per year than recommended plans
  2. Relies on your physicians billing everything correctly
  3. Max Out Of Pocket is still higher than other plans

Filing as Multiple Individuals vs Family

Overall, yearly premiums seem to be better for families rather than 2 individuals. This gets slightly more complicated when you offer the ability to have 1 member pick a lower deductible plan. However, even with this, we found that its better or negligible to file as a family in each situation.

Health Insurance 2019

Thank you for reading our guide to selecting health insurance. Reminder that if you find anything wrong, email us at michaelkirk@efficiencyiseverything.com for review.

Expand your Efficiency

Get more Efficiency to improve your daily life. Subscribe and get three slow cooker recipes designed to be low cost, quick and healthy.

McDonalds Per Dollar – Calorie and Protein Per Dollar At The Largest Fast Food Chain


May 27, 2018 by Efficiency Josh

Cheapest McDonalds Food

mcdonalds-sign

With over 35,000 locations, this one will probably end up coming in handy.

How To Use

Select higher items that are similar – You get 50% more buying a Jr. Mac instead of a Big Mac. Not sure how picky you are, but some items are simply better deals.

Remove things you wouldn’t have ordered anyway – If you are a repeat customer, eliminate the over-the-top expensive items you weren’t a fan of. I never really liked their Fillet-o-Fish much anyway.

Fill up when desperate on Cheese Burgers – The protein + calories is going to be the best you are going to get. Consider purchasing a preferable item and one cheese burger for calories.

Should you get a drink? Drinks are technically Infinity Calories Per Dollar. Is it ethical to buy a soda pop and use McDonalds as a wifi hub all day? I can imagine drinking a lot of Calories, Caffeine and getting some work done.

McDonald’s Calories Per Dollar

If you frequent a specific location and want your customized data, download the list and enter your prices. The orders, calories, and protein servings are there for you. Also included in the excel file is Protein/Calorie and a dimensionless weighing system. Prices were similar enough between restaurants to make Efficient decisions.

New functionality! Click on a unit to sort

Menu Item Before Tax Price Calories Per Dollar Protein Per Dollar Cost If Eaten All Year Calories Protein
Sausage Buscuit $1.00 490.0 12.0 $1,489.80 490 12
Chocolate Cookie $0.39 435.9 5.1 $1,674.71 170 2
2 Apple Pies $1.29 356.6 3.1 $2,047.17 460 4
McChicken $1.00 350.0 15.0 $2,085.71 350 15
Fresh Baked muffin $1.49 302.0 4.7 $2,417.11 450 7
Sausage Burrito $1.00 300.0 12.0 $2,433.33 300 12
Cheeseburger $1.00 300.0 15.0 $2,433.33 300 15
Chocolate Shake $2.89 290.7 6.6 $2,511.55 840 19
Vanilla Shake $2.89 276.8 6.2 $2,637.13 800 18
Strawberry Shake $2.89 276.8 6.6 $2,637.13 800 19
Apple Pie $0.89 258.4 2.2 $2,824.78 230 2
McDouble $1.49 255.0 15.4 $2,862.37 380 23
Fudge Sundae $1.49 255.0 6.7 $2,862.37 380 10
Caramel sundae $1.49 255.0 6.0 $2,862.37 380 9
Big breakfast with hotcakes $5.49 245.9 6.4 $2,968.67 1350 35
Double Cheeseburger $1.79 240.2 14.0 $3,038.84 430 25
Oreo Mcflurry w/ candies $2.69 234.2 4.8 $3,116.98 630 13
Bacon McDouble $2.00 225.0 14.0 $3,244.44 450 28
Sausage McGriddles $2.00 215.0 5.5 $3,395.35 430 11
Strawberry Sundae $1.49 214.8 5.4 $3,399.06 320 8
Large Fries $2.39 213.4 2.9 $3,420.98 510 7
Sausage McMuffin $1.99 201.0 7.0 $3,631.75 400 14
Tripple Cheeseburger $3.00 173.3 10.7 $4,211.54 520 32
20 Pc. McNugget $5.19 171.5 9.4 $4,256.97 890 49
Classic Chicken Sandwich $3.00 170.0 8.3 $4,294.12 510 25
Sausage Buscuit with Egg $3.49 151.9 4.9 $4,806.98 530 17
Sweet BBQ Bacon crispy chicken $5.49 151.2 7.7 $4,828.55 830 42
Hot Caramel Macchiato $2.79 143.4 4.7 $5,091.75 400 13
Sausage,Egg & Cheese McGriddles $3.89 141.4 5.1 $5,163.09 550 20
Sweet BBQ Bacon burger $5.49 140.3 7.7 $5,204.81 770 42
Sausage biscuit with egg $3.79 139.8 4.5 $5,220.19 530 17
Pico Guacamole crispy chicken $5.19 138.7 6.4 $5,262.08 720 33
Snack Wrap $2.19 137.0 9.6 $5,329.00 300 21
2 Snack Wraps $4.38 137.0 9.6 $5,329.00 600 42
Garlic White Chedder crispy chicken $5.19 134.9 6.4 $5,412.43 700 33
Sausage, Egg & Cheese McGriddles $4.09 134.5 4.4 $5,428.55 550 18
Vanilla cone $1.49 134.2 3.4 $5,438.50 200 5
Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit $3.59 133.7 5.3 $5,459.79 480 19
Sausage McMuffin with Egg $3.59 130.9 5.8 $5,575.96 470 21
Fruit & Mapple oatmeal $2.40 129.2 2.5 $5,651.61 310 6
10 Pc. Buttermilk Crispy Tenders $9.69 129.0 10.1 $5,658.96 1250 98
Double Quarter Pounder $5.99 128.5 8.5 $5,678.83 770 51
Pico Guacamole burger $5.19 127.2 6.6 $5,740.45 660 34
2 Pc. Buttermilk Crispy Tenders $2.00 125.0 10.0 $5,840.00 250 20
Garlic White Chedder burger $5.19 123.3 6.4 $5,919.84 640 33
Sweet BBQ Bacon grilled chicken $5.49 122.0 9.1 $5,981.64 670 50
Mocha $2.79 121.9 3.2 $5,990.29 340 9
Bacon, Egg & Cheese Bagel $4.55 120.9 5.7 $6,039.09 550 26
Hash Browns $1.29 116.3 0.8 $6,278.00 150 1
Bacon, Egg & Cheese biscuit $3.89 115.7 4.6 $6,310.44 450 18
Quarter Pounder $4.59 115.5 6.8 $6,322.08 530 31
Big mac $4.69 115.1 5.3 $6,340.19 540 25
Steak, Egg & Cheese Bagel $4.85 113.4 5.2 $6,437.27 550 25
Southwest buttermilk chicken salad $4.79 108.6 5.8 $6,724.42 520 28
Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddles $3.89 108.0 4.6 $6,761.19 420 18
Buttermilk Crispy Chicken $5.29 107.8 5.3 $6,774.91 570 28
Bacon Ranch salad w/ buttermilk chicken $4.59 106.8 7.2 $6,838.16 490 33
Mango Pineapple smoothie $3.19 106.6 1.3 $6,849.12 340 4
Pico Guacamole grilled chicken $5.19 106.0 8.1 $6,888.55 550 42
Iced Mocha $2.79 103.9 2.5 $7,023.10 290 7
Strawberry Banana smoothie $3.19 103.4 1.3 $7,056.67 330 4
10 Pc. Chicken Nuggets $4.29 102.6 5.6 $7,117.50 440 24
Garlic White Chedder grilled chicken $5.19 102.1 8.1 $7,148.49 530 42
Fruit & yogurt parfait $1.49 100.7 2.7 $7,251.33 150 4
Hot Latte $2.79 100.4 5.4 $7,273.93 280 15
Filet-O-Fish $4.39 88.8 3.9 $8,217.18 390 17
Hamburger $3.00 83.3 4.3 $8,760.00 250 13
Egg McMuffin $3.79 79.2 4.7 $9,222.33 300 18
Iced Caramel Macchiato $2.79 75.3 2.2 $9,698.57 210 6
Iced Coffe $1.89 74.1 1.1 $9,855.00 140 2
Southwest Grilled chicken salad $4.79 73.1 7.7 $9,990.57 350 37
Artisan Grilled Chicken $5.29 71.8 7.0 $10,162.37 380 37
Bacon Ranch salad w/ Grilled chicken $4.59 69.7 9.2 $10,470.94 320 42
Egg White delight McMuffin $3.89 66.8 4.6 $10,921.92 260 18
Iced Latte $2.79 43.0 2.2 $16,972.50 120 6
Cappuccino $2.79 43.0 3.9 $16,972.50 120 11

\Raw Data Download

McDonaldsPerDollar3

Key Takeaways

  1. Despite The Telegraph claiming the McDouble is the cheapest and most nutritious food in human history. It doesnt stack up to similar home cooked foods.
  2. The McDouble and Cheese Burger are the highest protein per dollar item at 15g/$. This is 33% more expensive than canned tuna and over 300% more expensive than chicken breasts. Honorable mention to the 20% more expensive McChicken.
  3. You could fill up on empty carbs with their 430 Calories Per Dollar Chocolate Chip Cookies. Not exactly healthy, but I’ve done similar if I made a protein shake and wanted some solid food.
  4. It seems McDonalds runs sales, see their $1 cheese burger. In this case it was a top deal.

See how we apply engineering to life.

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The Highest Calorie Per Dollar Food In Human History- Oil vs Flour


December 7, 2017 by Michael Kirk - Efficiency Is Everything

Efficiency- Michael:

Reminder that we have a Massive Nutrition Per Dollar Study and the classic Calorie Per Dollar List.

Studying The Highest Calories Per Dollar

Data Collection

Data was collected from various stores, sizes, and brands of different Carbohydrates and Fat.

Despite being bombarded with marketing, we know processed food and fast foods are expensive.

Empty carbs and Jugs of Oil? Those perform well for this metric.

Highest Calories Per Dollar

Take note of how quickly the effectiveness drops off(nonlinear). This is a big deal, especially as something worth 2000 calories per dollar costs 4x as much as your best values.

If you can beat the highest item at 8944 Calories Per Dollar, shoot me a message. The highest value by Christmas will get a copy of Efficiency Is Everything In Life. Send me an email with a photo of the price, Calories, and Servings.

Notes:

  1. The first ‘edible’ food is Costco’s Rice at 4,800 Calories Per Dollar.
  2. Very few foods at your grocery store exceed 700 Calories Per Dollar
  3. Fast food and Restaurants give closer to 100-200 Calories Per Dollar

Conclusions- Do We Implement This?

Diet Shift

If you currently are eating Pasta or Rice, you are likely averaging about 2000 Calories Per Dollar on those carbs.

A 100% switch to flour(baked goods) would save you about 60 dollars a year. Not exactly worth a gigantic lifestyle change.

Consider it financially healthy to make cookies, fresh bread, and other baked goods*.

*Chocolate chips are expensive, Peanut butter is cheap

Reasonable Supplement

Getting all 2000 calories from Oils or Flour is a disaster waiting to happen.

Lets be reasonable, a ~500 calorie goal. 25% of an average diet.

For 500 Caloires:

Previous Average 700 Calories Per Dollar = 260$ a year
Soybeen Oil = 30$ a year

230$ a year in savings if you supplemented your diet with Costco’s 40lb Jug of Soybean Oil. 11,500$/lifetime

Decision Making

A few hundred dollars a year in savings don’t seem to be worth the lifestyle. However, I can’t blame someone who wants to take the $14,000 dollars in savings over their lifetime.

My Takeaways-

I looked through the data and found I should be buying my Rice from Costco or Aldi. The difference over Walmart hits close to home as it comes out to a very real 180$/year extra expense.

Soybean Oil was scary

I looked into Canola Oil, and their wikipedia page suggested it is decent. I am going to begin incorporating Canola Oil instead of Veg and Olive Oil when possible.

I’ll be using more Canola in my life.

Ideas for more Canola Oil:

Breakfast

I used to do make a similar shake when I was bulking for weight lifting. I used 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 16oz milk, and 1 scoop protein.

Here I suggest similar, but instead use 1 Tbsp of Corn Oil. Shake up and drink.

Lunch

Lunch and dinner are easy. Oils add a pleasurable mouth-feel in food. Your body is constantly looking for this long term energy storage and has developed to enjoy the smoothness of fats.

You can add this to everything, Alfredo sauce, coat cooked chicken/meats, mix with a salad, mix into fried rice, heck- you can supplement fast food/restaurants by dipping your food in Oil.

Dinner

Try swapping or supplementing canola oil in some recipes.

I don’t recommend doing this with butter, butter has flavor that is desired.

Time To Decide- Engineer Your Lifestyle

Engineers collect the data and decide the best course based on ability to meet specifications, cost, and time requirements.

You decide what requirements your food needs, make a decision, and optimize.

Reminder that we have a Massive Nutrition Per Dollar Study and the classic Calorie Per Dollar List.

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Taking a week off with- Party Wine Comparison


November 30, 2017 by Efficiency Matt

Efficiency- Matt:

One of the biggest problems faced when attending a party is what food or drink you’ll bring to share with the guests. A bottle of wine is always a good bet when going to a dinner party, but what type do you bring???

Save Money – Don’t Overthink It

I love expensive wine, I really do. Hints of walnut with cast-iron undertones, its great. That’s not what your group of friends need. This is about a fun get together. In those situations the best bet is to go with a cheap wine that tastes good. Cheap wine like Oak Leaf is designed with one purpose, to taste commercially delicious. Oak Leaf finds no joy in having a “sophisticated” taste. We’re talking the “Family Guy” of wine. It tastes good to most people so it costs $7.

Takeaways

  • Buy the box wine. Its the best bang for your buck.
  • Stay away from reds, the alcohol percentage is lower and the bitterness makes them less appealing
  • Sparkling Wine is inefficient no matter the brand. Save money and stick with a Chardonnay, Moscato, or a Merlot.

Cheap Wine Is Better

Bringing box wine to  a party garners two reactions; Excitement or judgment. For those who wish to judge you on your box wine selection please point out the following:

  • Because of corks, an alarming amount of shelf wine is spoiled before you open it, Box Wine is much safer.
  • Box Wine is much more efficient to open and use as compared to traditional bottled wine.
  • It’s a party!

Download Data

Want to learn how to eat Healthy? Here is our Massive Nutrient Per Dollar Study
Save Time Drinking Water– Its actually significant, and learn about principles of Engineering your life.

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Aldi, Walmart, Costco, and More Grocer Comparison + Never Shop At Kroger Again


November 23, 2017 by Michael Kirk - Efficiency Is Everything

Seeing a deal vs Calculating a deal

Aldi will bring you in for loss leaders on Eggs, but their green peppers are 2x more expensive than Walmart. Which is more cost effective?

Typically we have used Calories Per Dollar, but there is nothing wrong with using other metrics. Rather than see which way a broccoli company rounded on protein nutrition, we will compare mass/$.

Process Notes:

Bulk sizes and store-brand were chosen when available.

We look at

Cost – Mass Per Dollar
Quality- Availability
Quality- Worker Pay

We did not look at: Self Checkout, Greeter Presence, and ‘Singing Employees’. My advice here- Don’t be weak. Basic human interaction is good for you. Consider it exercise.

Grocery Store Comparison

To Continue:

A common theme will be seen today, despite claiming to lower prices, Kroger was our worst performing store.

Aldi and Meijer did not have fresh broccoli available. We track this in a later section.

The size of the packaging didn’t matter to Aldi, who despite being 5lbs lighter was the cheapest place to get brown sugar.

Kroger looks to have a loss leader on butter. Costco does not seem to be the place to buy your weekly groceries.

When I go to Aldi, I usually limit myself to Eggs and Milk. Greek Yogurt hits 40g of protein per dollar at Aldi. This is exceptionally high and a recommendation.(Note, I haven’t tasted it)

Costco and Sams Club were recorded with their almost nauseating 3lbs of canned tuna. This does not reseal, and possibly intended for restaurants. This is more expensive than Walmart and Aldi consumer sizes. Aside from the membership fees, wholesale seems more like a Marketing tactic rather than bulk bargins.

Introducing Effectiveness

Efficiency is measured as Metric/Cost. Effectiveness is measured Metric/Maximum.

Aldi, Costco, Walmart, and Samsclub are all above 95% Effective. You aren’t losing that much going from store to store. However Meijer under 50% would be an awful place to frequently purchase flour.

Can you go into Aldi and Walmart with a smile and create a positive aura?

Sams Club is often close to the price of their own store, Walmart.

On many items we found it was significantly more expensive to get the Sams Club product.

While my original statement was a bit drastic(considering it was inspired by the fall of Carthage), I don’t see a reason to maintain a membership at Sams Club.

Thought this was interesting. Want that peanuty flavor? Peanut butter is 2x more effective than peanuts.

I’ve noticed this reoccurring, massive bulk packaging saves around 30% of the cost. That is the highest possible amount you can save from Costco and Sams Club. The top item was a 50lb bag of pinto beans. Despite my urge to believe I need commercial sized quantities of food, the savings on this 50lb bag is only 10 dollars, and in 2 years the food will have expired.

Oh Kroger…

Home Stretch

This looks quite odd, however, my Walmart and Aldi lack a variety of produce, their only Spinach was precut in packaged bags. The lesson here- Packaging is expensive, if you can avoid it, you will save money.

Walmart kicks butt on sugar. Wholesale doesnt benefit you for going big.

Aldi had a crazy loss leader, a bag of sweet potatoes for a dollar. I didn’t believe it, so it was the item I purchased to confirm, they gave you a multi-pound bag of sweet potato for 1 dollar.

Fish prices vary drastically by store.

Tortillas seem to be similar from store to store.

This week everyone had a sale on Turkey. It seems Walmart and Aldi are not having difficulty bringing people in. The protein per dollar is deceptively high due to using the weight of bird=weight of edible meat in this math.

More interested in the Calories per Dollar, Pasta seems to have gone down in price in the last few years. My goal for ’empty white carbs’ is around 2000 calories per dollar. I’ve gotten crazy deals on cereal close to that amount, and I usually stock up. At 2000 calories per dollar, anything is a pretty good buy. Walmart 1$ knockoff girl scout cookies often meet this criteria.

Raw Data can be found here.

Comparing Workers Wages

Really Kroger? Really?

Your decision if this matters to you. It doesnt seem like any grocery store pays well.

Variety and Cleanliness

From our list we found Costco, Aldi, and Sams Club did not have many of the items we were looking for.

How to Shop

Sams Club

Don’t shop at Sam’s Club.

Costco

Don’t shop at Costco.

Aldi

Aldi is great for a few products, however, keep an eye out for massively expensive products. IE: If chicken breasts are 1$/lb more than other stores.

Walmart

They have a massive variety of groceries at low costs. I recommend them for low cost fresh food and produce.

Meijer

Meat costs were low. With protein being expensive, Meijer surprised me and will have a new customer. Warning to keep an eye out for expensive products.

Kroger

Never again, and you should tell your friends.

Why Kroger?

How does a company pay their employees so poorly and have such uncompetitive food prices? Their target demographic will pay more. Flashy signs claiming low prices, clean store, a name that isnt ‘Walmart’. Upper Middle class people routinely go to Kroger without knowing how bad costs are.

Try eliminating Kroger, it will take a few weeks to learn a new grocery store, but your weekly savings will be noticeable.

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The Math To Throwing Parties Efficiently – Appetizers, Food, Oz Liquid Drinks, Alcohol, Per Dollar


November 1, 2017 by Michael Kirk - Efficiency Is Everything

Efficiency- Michael

With the holidays’s coming up, you can save money on throwing your own party understanding the cost breakdown of throwing parties.

Article idea courtesy of Brooke.

Forewarning-

All food recommendations ahead are mostly out of time necessity. If you have time, you can likely save money by making homecooked hipster foods. Your friends will like it better too.

Party Essentials

Throwing a party should focus on the people, not the features. However, without food and drinks, parties teeter out, making providing these a necessity.

Paper Plates, Cups, and Napkins

The following two are full studies that I found fascinating to run.

Paper Plates, Plastic Cups, and Plastic Forks were studied last year. We found the prices so cheap, I was afraid releasing the article would cause massive pollution.

Regarding Cleanup- Paper Towels and Napkins Per Dollar

All Raw Data For This Article- Click Here

Drinks For Thirst

This is one of those ‘Quantity over Quality”. Although, if your goal is to quench your thirst, Quantity is your Quality.

Drinks For Drunk

Old Article, Ethanol Per Dollar. The list below is different, more party-centric.

This has a bit of variety and can give you a scale to understand how much alcohol comparatively costs to one another.

Bread and Circuses, Feeding The Masses

Starting with food, Appetizers are a warmup as a party gets started. It also saves the evening of someone who forgot to eat.

Note that home cooked foods dominate the top of the list. Filler carbs performed well too.

Eggs were on sale causing the Protein Per Dollar to skyrocket. As an aside, eggs are a fantastic value, especially as grocery stores like Aldi and Walmart fight for the lowest cost carton of eggs. Keep an eye out of sales on commodities(milk, bread, meat, etc…), they are actually deals. Sales on Name Brand products are advertisements, not efficient.

Frozen foods like bagel bites performed poorly. As a recommendation, if you are going to spend that much money, get a veggie tray.

Catered food?

I was originally going to compare catered food, but after 6 restaurants, I found the prices were high and the quality wasnt comparable. The cheapest I found was Pizza, and as you spend closer to 10-15 dollars a person, you will get banquet level food.

Major Food Solutions

Need dinner amounts of food? I’m a big fan of cooking. The most difficult aspect here is cooking massive amounts of food at a single time. Pasta with sauce, slow cooker pulled pork, meatballs, etc.. are all cost friendly options.

Look for deals this winter on meats. Last year I found Turkey for almost 1.00$/lb. In the past, I’ve found Ham on sale as well.

Decorations

For a house party, we like to visit Wikipedia This Day In History, and throw a party about the event. Telling everyone to wear a single color, make funny related games, and naming appetizers is a cheap way to add some Culture to the party.

DIY custom banners are significantly cheaper than a professional custom banner. Your call if a generic Happy Birthday Banner is worth the price. Consider the event before impulsively buying dollar store decorations. Your party should have life without tacky generic decoration.

If you must, garage sales, thrift shops, and dollar stores can fill up your home with decoration.

Entertainment

While I’m not a fan of board games, having friends bring board games can be a free way to keep people entertained. However, I’m repulsed by board games, I’d much rather wander around talking to party-goers.

Background music is a free MUST. It sets the mood of the party, use it for Good.

I’m a big fan of twister.

Conclusions

Lots of information this week, but here are my takeaways:

  • The more DIY, the lower the cost.
  • Food is cheap, Alcohol is more expensive. Catered food is more expensive than Alcohol.
  • If friends are offering, have them bring their favorite drink instead of food
  • Parties are often lower cost than visiting a restaurant or going to a bar
  • All of my parties will now include peanuts 😛

Other tips:

Don’t forget Ice, Utensils, Mini Umbrellas, Ice, Lemons, Limes, and Ice. Don’t forget ice.

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