Money Save Ways: Week 12: Create A Price Book

It’s amazing that we are already into week 12 of the year. When I started writing the Money Save Ways series for A Mitten Full Of Savings, I was unsure how I would be able to even get a couple months in and now we are at week 12 and I still have so many ideas. This series is a supplement to go with the 52 Week Money Challenge, so if you are following along with that, this week your should deposit $12 into your savings or $41 if you are doing the challenge in reverse.

52 Money Save Ways: Week 12: Create A Price Book

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.

I hope this Money Save Way Tip is helpful to saving money in your everyday life. Make sure you join A Mitten Full of Savings next week of another Money Save Way Tip.

Check out past weeks here as well as the 52 Week Money Challenge:

Money Save Ways: Week 12: Create A Price Book