52 Week Money Challenge – Ways To Save Money Week 12
It’s another week in the 52 week challenge! How are you doing so far? Are you keeping up with putting the money in your jar or bank each week? If you need help with weekly reminders, then sign up for our 52 week challenge newsletter!
This week you are depositing $12 in your money jar. Or if you’re doing the challenge in reverse, then $41. Or if you’re making up your own challenge, then be sure to deposit that money!
Here’s this week’s savings tip:
If you don’t know what a price book is, it is a way for you to track the sales cycles at the grocery store so you know when the best deals are out and when to get them throughout the year. It lets you know if buying something on sale is truly the best deal you can get.
The idea behind a price book is to track the price on staples you buy in your household. You don’t have to track everything you buy, just the things that are always on your grocery list such as bread, canned foods, frozen foods, beans, rice, etc.
The way you track them is in a notebook. You can buy whatever style suits your needs, but I find one that is small enough to fit in my large purse to be the best so I can pull it out anytime I see a new price on a staple item.
A price book is especially handy for those of us that shop at several stores in order to get the best deal. It doesn’t mean you have to shop every store in your area, but you should track the prices of a couple stores on the most bought items so you have something to compare prices to.
To make a sample page in a price book, you would make a spreadsheet-like chart and label several sections. First, at the top of your page for product #1, you will write the name of the product (in generic terms such as “re-fried beans”). Then in columns, write “Date”, “Store”, “Price”, “Size” and the most important, “PPU (Price Per Unit)”. The PPU is the price the item is per unit of measure. In something like re-fried beans, it would mean price per ounce. In something like canned soda, it would mean price per can in pack.
Here’s an example of a price book and where you can print out HERE
As you start to track your staples, you will see when a good deal is available by being able to pull out your price book and compare it to prices of past months. This also allows you to stock up as you see good sales. You should not just include sale prices of items, but more importantly, regular price so you will know if the items on your list are truly on sale or just at that store and can be bought for less or the same price somewhere else.
Did you miss a week of the 52 Week of Saving Tips? You can find them HERE!
It’s not too late to join the 52 Week Money Challenge.
Why should You join the 52 week money savings challenge?
Most families are on the constant look out for ways to save more money. This challenge is easy and doesn’t require you to do a lot each week. It starts out with just saving a $1 on the first week. Or, if you’re doing the challenge in reverse, then $52 bucks.
It’s an easy way to save money and it does work if you apply just a little self-discipline and you are determined to save money. And having a goal is a good way reach your saving objective. Below are a few saving goal:
- You can use the money you saved to pay for your Christmas at the end of the year.
- Go on a vacation
- Jump-start a college fund
- Pay off debt
- Buy a car
- This could be your first time actually saving money in a bank account
The reasons for saving extra money are endless!But the key is getting started!
People tend to do better when faced with a challenge (of any kind).
- You will receive a weekly email reminder telling you to make your deposit into the bank or jar
- You will also receive a weekly savings tip on a way that you can save that week.
- You will receive inspiring stories and ways to save money each week!
- Many people and blogs start out doing this challenge within their communities. But by March, most have fallen off the band wagon. As you can see,by just looking at our 52 weekly challenge archive, you can see that we kept up with it each week.
- I’ve personally and successfully completed this money saving challenge two years in a row! I am doing this challenge right along with you and to encourage you along the way. And if you need to tweak it to fit your families needs, save more , etc. then I am here to help you with that too!
- You can find out more about the 52 Week Challenge HERE
So, let’s get started! Sign up today to start receiving the 52 week money saving challenge newsletter!
No Comment