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Photo Credit: KSquier
This article was included in the Festival of Frugality #164.
My Two Dollars posted a story last week on what your grocery store may not be telling you. I thought it was an interesting topic and wanted to explore price books to help people become aware of possible savings in their grocery bills. Many people think of price book and think it’s overly tedious and don’t think it’s time well spent. I disagree and wanted to help get your price book started.
I also collaborated with Simply Forties for a real life guide on creating a price book using Google Docs. She has put a lot of effort into this and I think it’ll be a real help.
Having a price book isn’t complicated. Here are a few steps to get you started:
- Write a list of the staples that you get every shopping trip, like meats, bread, juice, produce, snack ,etc.
- Visit your normal grocery stores and record the price and the size amount for each item.
- You can load up the data on a spreadsheet and figure out who has the deal by comparing unit prices (apples to aples comparison).
- Base your shopping trips on the price book guide on who has the best value for certain products.
- As a comparison, sign up for MVP/VIP etc emails from the grocery stores to see if any sales are on your grocery and if they are a better deal than the price book listings.
You’ll discover trends on certain items and where you’ll most likely find the best deal. Costco and Wal-Mart can have good deals on dry foods that last for a bit. For our more time sensitive foods, we tend to go to Wal-Mart or take advantage of Harris Teeter’sVIP specials. I’m going to be checking the prices as we have our monthly grocery shop coming up.
Using a price book along with paper and printable online grocery coupons can draticall cut down your bills.
If you’re looking for a wonderful real life example of how to construct a successful price book, Simply Forties has all the information.
As always, please feel free to leave your tips in the comments section. We can learn from one another.
If you’re looking for more information on price books, please check out:
- Use a Grocery Price Book to Slash Your Food Spending
- Eat Well for Less: In-Store Deals and the Grocery Price Book
- Grocery Price Book
- How I Build And Use A Price Book
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My family doesn’t do this. We just write it on loose paper. Great tip, hopefully it can help us.
Hey GP, this was was fun! I wish I had as many choices of stores as you do. The more store choices you have the greater the value of the price book for keeping track. Even with just a couple of stores, I’ve found it really helpful when I plan out my trip.
@Trevor: Thanks for sharing how your family does it! If something works well, you should keep it.
@SimplyForties It’s a really nice idea to collaborate! Thanks again. I live a fairly good sized city, so I enjoy having some options nearby for food.
Good tips if you are dedicated. Honestly though, is this a practice you would really do? If so, then great. But it seems like a lot of effort to save pennies here and there.
@ Craig: I do this for common items like beans, vegetables, juices, where we’re constantly restocking. You can save more than pennies, which surprises many people. I noticed up to a dollar in price difference on items (not counting sales) just this week doing a quick grocery run.
You can focus on a few items that you replenish constantly or you can look at everything that you buy. It’s up to you to decide how much time to devote. Besides if you write prices while you shop, it isn’t that much more time.
It’s a no brainer to do this where I live.There’s only two major grocery stores nearby, and one is always less expensive than the other. You sacrifice selection, but the savings difference is huge, and well worth it.
@Greener Pastures: I’m glad you can compare prices. I wish you had a bit more to choose from, but I’m happy that you can still get deals.
[...] How to Make a Price Book at Green Panda Treehouse — You won’t hear me talk much about price book here, but this is a good article to read if you’re interested in saving money. [...]
[...] Green Panda Tree House: Here is a step-by-step guide on How to Make a Price Book. [...]
[...] it’s overly tedious and don’t think it’s time well spent.
[...] How to Make a Price Book at Green Panda Treehouse — You won’t hear me talk much about price book here, but this is a good article to read if you’re interested in saving money. [...]
[...] a Price Book: I have talked about making price books before, but I mention it because it works. Many people think of price book and think it’s overly [...]