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I don't know if a price book is a time saver, but it certainly saves money.
The basic concept is The Pantry Principal. With the pantry principal you stock up on your regularly used items by buying them at their lowest price. That way you never have to pay full price for any item.
My example is TP. The brand of TP I buy goes on sale two or three times a year. I made a rough guess at how much TP we use in 6 months (say it's a case of TP) then when my brand hits that price, I go out and buy a case. When I see an ad that has TP at that price again, I take a quick inventory of how much we have left and buy more to get us through to the next predicted sale.
A price book helps you figure two main factors:
1) What is the lowest price?
2) When will the item go on sale again?
Additionally, you document in your price book WHERE the item will tend to be the cheapest price. This allows you to plan your shopping trips efficiently and help you decide if making a special trip to a specialty store, like Costco, is really worthwhile.
How do you get a price book started?
I've done this more than once and never have come up with a completely satisfactory method but this is what I'm doing currently ...
Make a list of your usual grocery store purchases: bread, cereal, milk, cheese, meat, fruit, detergent, fabric softener, dishwasher detergent, shampoo, etc. I put my list in an excel document so it is neatly typed and I can print out more than one copy.
Then, hopefully WITHOUT kids, visit your favorite stores. Write down the prices for each item on your list. Note the unit of measure (apples at 69 cents PER POUND vs apples at 69 cents EACH) and the package size (making note of more than one package size when more than one exists). You may also want to compare similar items that come in different forms. For instance, is it cheaper to buy fresh green beens, frozen green beans, or canned green beans? Should you buy frozen chicken breasts or fresh? Don't try to DO any shopping during these trips. It is hard enough just to write down all the prices.
At home, calculate your price per unit of measure. This is where the excel spreadsheet helps because you can make it do the math. You'll start seeing trends. For instance, you may have thought that Grocery Store A was always the cheapest place to shop but you find out it is much better to buy most of your canned goods at Grocery Store B. I was thrilled to find out that the grocery store that LOOKS cheapest isn't always and the little community chain store with better service was actually the better priced place. I also found out that stores like Costco aren't always the cheapest when it comes to certain things. It still pays for me to have a membership there for SOME STUFF, but there are things I won't buy there because I can get them cheaper - and in a smaller package - elsewhere.
Now at this point, some people load all that pricing information into a spiral bound notebook and they keep updating the information when they shop or look at sale ads. This is where my system is different.
I go back to my computerized list and I make a note of my target low price. I note the store where I found that price, the unit of measure and my target price FOR THAT UNIT OF MEASURE (for instance, Scott 1000 TP at 50cents a roll). If I can get that price at more than one store, I don't bother putting a store name. However, some stores have consistent 'loss leaders' of certain items (like diapers) so there are times when I'll only find that price at that store.
When you're first starting out it is also important to note WHEN you found that price. For instance, whole turkeys get down to 19 cents a pound but only once a year - at Thanksgiving. You'll want to know when you can get your lowest price so you can start stocking up appropriately. For instance, I can almost always get jars of spaghetti sauce at $1.98 so I don't bother stocking up beyond what I need so I don't have to make a special trip. However, when I find Kraft Mac N Cheese at under 33 cents a box, I know to buy several boxes.
What is a loss leader? It is an item that is priced so low, the store is not making any money on that item. However, they are pricing the item that way in hopes you'll come in to buy that one item AND pick up several other items at the same time.
Now go shopping!
When you find an item at your target price, buy a little bit extra to build up your pantry. You don't have to buy a lot and you don't have to buy everything at once. Even $5 extra in your grocery spending can make a big difference in the long run.
The sale ads usually come out on Sunday and Wednesday. You can compare the prices in the ads with your target prices in your price book at your leisure at home. You may even start planning your menus around the loss leaders and low priced items. At the same time, pre-plan your coupon use. If a coupon can get you a reduction off even your target price, great. However, I stopped using coupons all together because I found shopping my target prices to be more effective.
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"Poor people work for their money. Rich people make their money work for them."
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Price books
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