Keep track of prices and with a price book

I used to keep track of prices in my head. This turned out to be very unreliable, especially after the kids were born and they started sucking my brain cells out of my head through my ears. Now I use a price book instead. This is a notebook used to keep track of the lowest prices of the foods I usually buy. There are many different types of books one can use for this purpose. I prefer something I can open and close, adding and rearranging the sheets as necessary. Old address books are perfect as are small index card binders, but you could also simply staple some paper together for a hoemmade version. It would work just fine. Small notebooks are another option, spiral bound are most common and usually the least expensive.

Give a page or a spot on a page to each item you normally purchase. It helps to list them out on notebook paper first. I did this and was surprised at the many items I consider basic. After listing each item write down the lowest price you usually find it for. I needed to do investigation for this part. Some folks keep information like this in mind very easily. They are the ones who probably don't need a price book. For the rest of us, there are lots of ways to gather the lowest prices. Any item with a price marked on it you can easily get directly from the package. The receipts from previous grocery shopping trips are good sources of information too. After a big monthly shopping spree, I was able to nearly complete my price book from only a few receipts. Newspaper ads are another price source, and finally there are the stores themselves. When you're at the store as part of your normal shopping trip, you can easily jot down any prices you need to fill in.

Only write down the lowest prices. You don't need to write down every price you see for every item you buy. For instance, 15 oz cans of low-sodium green beans go for 45¢ a piece at my local Super Store. This is the only price I have in the canned green bean section of my price book, because it is the cheapest price in my area. Later on if I see green beans for 40¢ a can, I'll write that down next to the 45¢ price. The cans for 69¢ and 89¢ are irrelevant, because they are from the Planet Pricey and don't even need to be considered, at least not on my humble homespun budget.

On the Green Bean page, I also have frozen green beans. Two pound bags for $1.59 are the least expensive frozen green beans in my area. I buy them at the same store as the canned green beans. But how do I compare canned items with frozen items. At first glance it seems like I should use the unit price, but this is where things get a little tricky. Canned beans weigh more than frozen beans because they are packed in water. How do I compare this with frozen beans that are loose packed? This brings me to the Cost Per Serving. Some foods must be compared to one another based on their cost per serving instead of their unit price. This gives us the most accurate conclusion of which item is the best buy for our family. As a rule of thumb, for most vegetables, two 15-ounce cans are equivalent to 1-pound of frozen. A 15-ounce can of vegetables provides about three servings of 1/-2 cup each. A pound bag of frozen vegetables will usually provide six servings of 1/2-cup each. To figure out which provides more servings for the money we have to divide the total price by the number of servings. It's very similar to figuring out the unit price except in this case our unit isn't ounces or pounds, it's servings per package. For instance:

As it turns out, frozen beans cost slightly less per serving than canned beans. Since we like frozen beans better and they have a fresher flavor than canned, frozen beans are the better buy for us.

Green Beans, no-added-salt

Store

Brand

Weight

Price

Cost Per Serving

Unit Price

WM

Great Value

15 oz can

45¢

15¢

3¢ per oz

WM

Great Value

2 lb frozen

$1.59

14¢

4.9¢ per oz

Which leads me to the next point. It's important to write down the name of the store where each bargain is found. In my laziness, I have neglected this a few times, and forgotten where I'd purchased an item at such a low price. Now I am pretty careful about putting the name of the store right next to the price I payed for the item. I use abbreviations like "WM" or "KGR" for most of my store names. I know what each abbreviation stands for and it saves time when I am writing in a rush.

After the price book is completed and tucked away in your purse, it is a simple matter to consult it whenever you see a potential bargain. I keep a small calculator with my price book so I can do quick math to find a product's unit price if it isn't listed on the store shelf. This is especially helpful when the items I am comparing are of different weights, or when I need to compare the cost per serving instead of the unit price. If the potential bargain turns out to be less expensive than the price marked in my book, then I write down the new lowest price, where I bought it, and the size of the package. Then I buy one to test at home.

It is a good idea to taste test unfamiliar products before stocking up on them. I once found a flavor of soft drink mix (like kool-aid) on sale once and bought many of them because they were so inexpensive. The mix was clear colored watermelon flavor and I discovered why it was so cheap. The flavor was absolutely disgusting! I couldn't drink it and neither could the children. They had been 5¢ a piece and I had purchased a dollar's worth. There was no option but to toss them out. Ever since then, I am careful to buy one item first, whenever a product is unfamiliar to me. If it passes the taste test at home then I will buy more, otherwise I will go back and cross it off in the price book.

This is the next stage of the price book, maintainence. A price book is only as good as the information it contains. They need updating from time to time and sometimes entire pages need to be removed, revamped or replaced. It doesn't take long to do any of these things, but it does take vigilance.

I sometimes get caught up in my idea of the perfect price book. I think that unless I can make the perfect one, that it isn't worth doing at all. That is a false thought that keeps me trapped in a cyle where I'm spending more on groceries than I need to. Whenever I am tempted by thoughts like that I remind myself that I am mortal and I will not ever be able to make anythign perfect. I can't even come close. Instead I aim for good enough. This is a big releif to me because I know I can make a price book that is good enough to suit it's purpose. I am equally positive that I cannot make one that is 100% accurate at all times and pristinely beautiful without a single imperfection. In this way, I let myself off the hook. Everyone else may not suffer from a case of price-book-perfection, but I know I do and I know I need encouragement to allow me to make one that is good enough instead perfect.

When it's all said and done, creating a Price Book is pretty easy to do. Certainly it is much less work than clipping coupons. Plus it's practical and really comes in handy when we try to buy in bulk and stock up on sale items. Personally, I find it comforting to know that the price I'm paying for any particular item really is the cheapest in my area. This gives me confidence to buy things I know I'll use when they are cheapest and allows me to keep my food bill as low as possible, which is the point after all.