A price book is a notebook you organize
to suit your shopping habits, in which you record a product's price
per ounce (or serving, if you prefer), the brand, size of the
container, store name and date. A cold cereal category might look
like this:
| Brand Name | Package Size | Store | Date | Price per Oz |
| HCF Corn Flakes | 18 oz | East Side Grocery | 04/06/12 | 0.087 |
(If using software to
make your price book, I just realized you need to set your number
format to text so it won't automatically round your price per ounce
to the nearest penny.)
When you're first starting a price
book, I recommend going to the store without children, if at ALL
possible. At least for me, when there's math involved, it must have
my undivided attention if it's going to be anywhere close to
accurate. Use a calculator to figure price per ounce or serving;
don't trust the handy-dandy price per ounce on the shelf tag that
some stores provide. That number is sometimes wrong, so figure it
yourself.
Calculate the prices of everything in a
certain category that you are sure your family will eat, and then
decide on a maximum price per unit (price point) you're willing to
pay. For cold cereal, I don't pay more than 11 cents an ounce. Don't
assume that larger quantities (such as huge bags of cereal) are
cheaper; that's what manufacturers want you to assume. Those bags
sometimes cost double what smaller boxes cost. What happens
when I don't find cereal that is less than my highest price point? We
don't have cereal.
Keeping a price book can help you track
store sale cycles (usually 3 months). It can also save you time at
the store if you're buying loss-leader items, because you'll know in
advance if they're good buys for you. Loss-leaders are advertised
sales, usually on the front and back pages of a sales circular, on
which the store takes a loss. They're hoping that great deals will
entice you into the store and you'll spend money on other things so
they'll recoup that loss, but an ad scheme is no match for a smart
shopper with a price book.
A few of my price points:
- Cereal: 11 cents an ounce
- Fresh fruit: $1 a pound
- Cabbage: 33 cents a pound
- Potatoes: 30 cents a pound (good cheap food, but “junk” food in my book)
- Ground meat: $1.50 a pound
- Bone-in meat: $1 a pound
Just a note: adjust your price points
with inflation. The cost of everything has gone up about 33 percent
recently, and it's only going to go higher as gas prices increase.
