Knowing prices on your families staple items gives you the upper hand – you will pay the lowest price for everything your family buys regularly!
So what is a price book you ask?? Basically it is a quick way for you to track prices of your families staple items so you know what store has the best regular and sale prices and you will know when to really stock up! Your price book can be a few sheets of notebook paper in your coupon binder or group of note cards in your coupon box or a spiral notebook and even a spreadsheet if you want to go high tech. The main thing is…as with your organization system…you find something that works for YOU or you wont do it.
I suggest starting at and sticking to the stores you shop at already. I know some people hit all the stores in their area so they know what rock bottom really is, but if you are not realistic about what will work for you, again — you wont do it. Start small. I use a spiral notebook for my price book and I compiled my info every other week when I shopped last year over a period of 3 months. I list my staple items alphabetically and note the store next. The unit size is next and then the regular price and the sale price is in (parenthesis) and I have the cost per unit spelled out last for regular price and the sale price is in (parenthesis) again Here is a printable pricebook sheet from Amy at Momadvice.com.
I am asked pretty often how I know or remember what the “best price” is, and while I would love to say I keep my price book updated and handy, I will be honest with you and confess that I have not kept it up. After I established my first one last year I felt I was done. I have and do still pay close attention to prices. Couple that with my freaky frugal memory about prices – which can even compute per unit price when I am HORRIBLE at math and combine with my deal seeking DNA and you I can almost always just tell you what the current best sale price is for the items we buy regularly. The good news is that after you have gotten used to paying attention I am positive that you will have a good idea also and you wont have to always keep your price book updated unless you want to. The day will come when you will stop believing all those advertising “best prices” (Wal-Mart comes to my mind) are not really true and you will love that they can no longer fool you!! It is work, but I promise it is worth it!!
There are sites that do the price calculation and coupon match ups for you. Some are free and some charge. I will be posting why I have found these have not worked for me in the past, and I am also super excited to announce that Corrie from “Cents”able Momma will be sharing with us in a guest post about how these have made her coupon experiences successful!! We all learn and think differently and I love that we will be able to share both perspectives with you. If you have not checked out her site pop over to my blog roll and visit because she rocks
So today I am assigning homework. For your next shopping trip print Amy’s sheet or set up what you expect to be your price book and start compiling. Come back here and tell us if you realized anything was more or less then you expected and what your experience was getting started! <
As ALWAYS feel free to ask any questions! I love to answer them!
