Saturday, June 1, 2019

Creating a Price Book


The price book idea was started by Amy Dacyczn, of the Tightwad Gazette, when she noticed different stores consistently have certain items priced lower than other stores. This was shown to be accurate by a 2014 retail study that showed each store had better prices on certain products than the other stores.

The price book is a method to keep track of these price differences. We are talking about the usual price of the products, not items on sale. There is a variety of ways to set up a price book, will discuss this later, but the price book needs to have these listed.

the product such as canned corn
name of the store
name of the brand
price and size
unit price
It is not necessary to list each brand available. Pick the most economical brand that your family approves of and use it for the comparison. Or if you use coupons, list the brands usually featured.

Unit price is the cost per unit such as ounce, liter, etc. You must use the same unit for all the products you are comparing. To make this process easier to consider using the Spend smart, Eat smart app   from Iowa State college.

The Price Book

There are a variety of options you can use for your price book-an app, printed price book sheets, Google sheets, Evernote, or create your own using a notebook or recipe cards. Use a ruler to divide your page into sections listed above. I prefer the recipe cards using a coupon file to hold them as it helps me keep product times together, such as all the vegetables.

Using the Price Book

The number one use of the book is to shop the store that consistently has the item you are looking for at a lower price than the other stores. For example, Store A has the lowest prices on can foods while Store B has the lowest prices on frozen goods.

Use the price book to compare prices at bulk stores. Is it a bargain? See Saving Money on Groceries: Bulk Buy  for tips.

Use the price book to compare the various ways the food item is sold-can, frozen, dry and fresh- to choose the most economical. Dry products can be a money saver. For example, it is cheaper to cook a pot of beans than buy them canned, and powder milk used for cooking is less expensive than using liquid milk. Produce will fluctuate in price depending on the season.

Use the price book to compare weekly sale prices. Is the sales a big bargain, if so stock up. A quick note on sales flyers, usually only the first page or two are actual sales-the rest are featured items. Sales typically contain a regular price for comparison.

Recording prices

This is the part that will take some time. It is suggested you pick ten to twenty frequently used items to begin with. Mark the prices and unit price in pencil as they will change in time. Each week add ten more items to your list.

When recording prices, make sure you are not recording the cost of an item on sale.

In time you may want to include non-grocery store sources to the list. For example, we have a hardware store that sales the cheapest pet food and has low prices on several home cleaning products. Don't forget your dollar stores and large chain drug stores-especially for grooming products.

Recording Sale Prices

It is a smart idea to keep track of sale prices on a separate sheet. Use all the sections above plus include the date. In time you will be able to predict with some accuracy upcoming sales.

Maintenance

You will need to update the prices as you notice they have changed routinely. Use sales flyers-remember most of the products after the first or second page are the regular prices-to assist you. But, you will have to physically check the prices at the other stores at an ongoing basis at least once a year, preferably every six months.

For more articles about saving money buying groceries go here.




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