Wednesday, June 4, 2008

It has only just begun

Wow! Yea me! I finally started it!

"What?" you may ask. Well, the grocery price book, of course.

I had a very quick trip to the grocery store yesterday (only 10 items - some multiples of each) and I decided it would be a great receipt to start the frightening "price book" with. I also had purchased many staples that would for sure be in "the book", so I put everything but one item down - that was the toddler snacks that I hope not to be buying for very much longer, until #4 comes along that is.

"What is a price book?" you ask? Well, as far as I can tell it is a written down memory system that helps you keep track of what the "good" prices are on the grocery type things you buy most. These are items you might stock up on if there was a really "good" price, or only buy one of if the price is near the higher price on the list. It also should help determine cyclical sales on each item - you know, if baked beans go on sale more often at a certain time of year, etc.

There are several examples on the web (here, and here). I made my own in a spiral notebook (for now) that is a mix of a few. It was easier for me to write it down than type it out for some reason. I have started a few times by typing, but it hasn't panned out. I am hoping this in the notebook will work better. Then I can always take the book to the store with me to help me remember what those "good" prices actually are!

Many of them talk about going through the ads and writing down the sale prices so you have another place to start from, but I tried that and found it tedious. How do you know how many ounces those packages are? I can see why it would be a good thing, you know, in case every time you go to the store to buy your item you are always at the high price... but so far I haven't been an ad shopper. I buy the item when I need it and pay what I have to for it. Hmmm. That sounds bad. I guess maybe I need to spend some time with the ads. It's just that I always see more that is interesting but that I don't need. Argh. What to do?

Anyway, I am excited I got started anyway, and we shall see how it goes from here.

1 comment:

Our growing family said...

Hi there! I saw that you commented on a friends blog and thought I would visit yours as we have kids that are similar ages! =)
I just wanted to suggest:
www.thegrocerygame.com
I have used it for over a year and it saves us SO MUCH MONEY by doing all the work of knowing the best and lowest prices...you will have to check them out if you haven't already! =)
Feel free to visit our blog too:
www.laughingfamily.blogspot.com
I would love to know if you ever "stop by"!
Blessings,
tarena