After getting gouged on price for things I needed too many times by retailers like Radio Shack (FIVE resistors for a buck!), I got a little smarter and went up on ebay and bought some bulk packs from China of a number of components.. you just need to not mind waiting for them to show up. Three weeks to get a resistor assortment in, but it was also 2500 resistors, fifty each of the fifty most common values, carbon film 5%... for $4.99 including shipping from an outfit in Taiwan. Did the same with a ceramic capacitor assortment (1000 pcs assorted), "generic" small-switching NPN and PNP transistors (100 pcs each). I'm planning to search out if anyone sells a basic "must have" IC assortment- op amp, comparator, shift register, blah blah blah, in like 10 of each. I've also seen some of these vendors also sell small servo motors for as little as a buck each.
I've found if you are willing to wait, the online stuff on ebay cannot be beat!