Step #58: Keep a Price Book
What exactly is a price book? It’s a tool used to track prices of things you commonly purchase (typically groceries - but this can extend to clothing or other things as well) at various stores and different times and places. No savvy shopper would be caught without one. If you’ve never considered keeping a price book before, here’s why you should: you’ll be arming yourself with the knowledge you need to make informed buying decisions – avoiding the confusing marketing tactics.
Before you begin, it helps to save your grocery receipts for a month or so. That way, you’re already in possession of the itemized records of exactly what my family had purchased when, where, and how much we paid. You can also grab the store circulars from recent weeks and record that data as well.
Method One: The Notebook
The traditional method, the notebook method, is often what people think of when they think of a price book. A spiral bound notebook small enough to keep in your purse For most people, it works best to label the top of each page alphabetically. Include canned tomatoes on your “T” page, cereal on your “C” page and so on. Record the date of your purchase, the price, as well as the unit size of each package so you can calculate the price per ounce. Start with the 25-50 items you always buy, then move on to things you occasionally buy (avoid recording items you rarely buy unless you really want to make this more of a project than it has to be).
Method Two: The Spreadsheet
If you possess computer skills, this could easily be the most efficient way for you to log your prices. I created my spreadsheet in a couple hours one afternoon. In the rows across, write the names of the stores where you shop most often. On the left column, write the name of the food items you purchase. In the squares where the store and the product intersect, write the price, the size of the item, and the date. What I like about this method is I can upload it to my phone and have the spreadsheet handy while I’m shopping.
After you keep your price book for awhile, your outlook on shopping begins to change. Sometimes you will realize that advertised sales aren’t necessarily all they’re cracked up to be, and sometimes they’re not bargains at all. You’ll be able to spot rock-bottom prices and add them to your stockpile without hesitation – knowing exactly how much to buy.
#58: Learn to Spot a Bargain: Keep a Price Book
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