First Steps To Creating A Price Book For Frugal Grocery Shopping
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The idea of a "price book", or a method of determining the best price of the items you shop for, is one that is frequently mentioned as a frugal strategy for making the most of your shopping dollars. But the idea can be intimidating, or even overwhelming, for someone who has never considered the idea seriously before. For me, it always seemed simpler to just shop at the store I knew generally had lower prices than the others, versus trying to predict when to stock up on different items at a variety of stores.
But once I decided to create my own price book, I found that by doing so, I really did spend a lot less money on the items I was already buying. So how did I get started?
The core of the price book is two things - price paid per some standard unit, and the location and date you paid that price. And for someone who has never used a price book before, you may be surprised to learn that you probably already have a lot of the information you need to do so, right in your own home.
The key is in the receipts.
If you keep receipts, even if only for a short time, you can use them to determine what you paid for items, when, and where. When I first created my price book, I looked at my receipts for the last month, matched them up to items in my pantry and cold storage, and determined what I paid for each item and the unit price. To keep track of this, I created a spreadsheet in Open Office that had items and units measured along one side and dates across the top. In each cell, I put the price per the unit, and the store purchased at. Looking at this over a several week period, I could already see some trends developing, and I also had a baseline to look at what the best price would be for a specific item per unit.
And that was the beginning of my shopping revolution.
Next week I'll detail the specifics of my price book shopping strategy, and then finally, the development of the "best price" worksheet from it, which I use every week in planning my grocery trips.
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6 Responses to “First Steps To Creating A Price Book For Frugal Grocery Shopping”
January 8th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Great tips. I need to stop keeping the price sin my head and start writing them down. I shop through a natural bulk food co-op as well as the local helath food store, grocery and Costco … so unit price lists are key for me. Oh and Trader Joe’s when I can get there …
January 8th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
I just started a price book last week. I am glad to see others doing that too.
I was flipping through HGTV the other day and realized they have no garden shows on anymore. It is all about home improvement, not as much into crafts and gardening like before. I was wondering how many other people are starting to really get into the frugal state of mind and I thought, wouldnt it be nice to see some shows about frugal living and gardening on HGTV? I wonder if enough people wrote to them and asked for that kind of show, if they would try it. Just an idea.
January 9th, 2009 at 11:05 am
i’m very interested in hearing more about price books! i just finished making “the best coupon organizer ever” and think a price book would fit nicely in my binder!
January 16th, 2009 at 5:52 am
[...] – I generally publish my frugal musings on Thursdays there. (The past few weeks I’ve been discussing my love affair with price books.) Frugal Hacks has just expanded to include a Frugal Forum – a great idea, I [...]
January 24th, 2009 at 2:16 am
Have you tried FoodSupport? They partner with local grocery chains and offer $250 cards for groceries. You can find them at http://www.FoodSupport.org
May 25th, 2009 at 6:30 am
I use a website that automates the grocery list and price book process. It helps me track grocery unit prices paid by item and also shows which items have increased in unit price and units purchased.
The grocery list shows the lowest unit price I paid to facilitate comparison between the current store unit price and previous unit prices paid. Very helpful at the store! I can edit the grocery list as needed and create different lists for different stores.
The site also provides me instant analysis on spending trends to provide a list of grocery items where unit prices have increased and total units purchased have increased, among other areas. That’s very helpful at home for figuring out where to cut costs and why the bill is increasing.
The site is groceryhop.com.
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