All This Can Be Yours…If The Price (Book) Is Right!

I have started keeping a price book. What is this? Basically, it’s a small, three ring binder where you keep track of what certain things cost at which store. The best way to gauge the price of something is by unit cost instead of the price tag on the shelf. A price book is also a good way to see if that buy one get one sale is really a good deal vs. what it costs normally or what it costs down the street. It’s also very helpful in comparing the cost of making something from scratch vs. buying convenience food.

You can find small loose leaf binders and paper at office supply stores. I would recommend something the size that would fit in a purse. Loose leaf is best so you can organize your price book and move pages around. I have mine organized alphabetically, but you could also organize it to reflect the layout of the store you shop at, too.

Each page is devoted to a single item (i.e. milk, bread, etc). An entry should consist of the store name (or your own code for a store name.), the brand (i.e. Del Monte, Shur-Fine, Generic), the size and price you paid (i.e 69¢ for 14.5 oz), and the unit price (i.e. 5¢/oz). I round my unit prices to the nearest penny.

Along with this, I also keep track of how many Weight Watcher’s points an item is worth in my price book. The Hubby joined WW in January, and in some cases, how many WW points per serving for a pack of tortillas also factors into the decision on which brand I end up buying.

I get this information from my store receipts. Some stores will post the unit price of an item on some of their shelf tags. Others do not, and then it’s up to you to figure that out. The store I shop at, for the most part, does put the item size on it’s receipts; however, if yours does not, then you will have to get that information from the package itself. I would not recommend standing in the middle of the aisle at the grocery store, furiously scribbling information into your price book, as the management might think you’re working for the competition and then ask you to leave. Compiling a price book this way will take time, but I think the time it takes to compile one will be worth it when you learn how much things really cost. I’ve already learned that it isn’t always cheaper to buy non-grocery items (and some grocery items) at Your Friendly Neighborhood Much Maligned Mega Discount Store, even though public perception and their own clever marketing campaign suggest that they always have the lowest price.

Sometimes, though, not always, what you see on the shelf is not always cheaper. For example, a store carries two brands of pickled pig’s feet. Brand A costs more, but comes in a 32 ounce jar. Brand B is cheaper, but only comes in a 30.25 ounce jar. After numbers are crunched, the unit price for Brand A ends up being less than the unit price of Brand B. Why? Because there is more product in a container of Brand A. Logic then tells us that even though Brand B is cheaper in total price, you have to buy it more of it and/or more often than Brand A to get the same amount of product. In the long run, you’re spending the same or more money on Brand B to get the same amount of product of Brand A. This is also the concept behind buying in bulk.

Case in point, I bought a bottle of dish washing liquid at the grocery store and I paid $1.79 for a 34 oz bottle. Yesterday, I was in the aforementioned Much Maligned Mega Discount Store, and took note of how much the same bottle of dish soap cost, which was $1.78 for a 34 ounce bottle. When I got home and did the math, and rounded to the nearest penny, the unit price was exactly the same. Not rounded to the nearest penny, the $1.79 bottle came out to $0.052647 per ounce and the $1.78 bottle came out to $0.0523529 per ounce. The grocery store; however, carried scents/flavors/whatever you want to call it that the MMMDS did not stock. In order to see a difference in the unit price, you had to go to the nearest one ten-thousandth of a penny. Yes, in the end, that one cent total worked out to be 0.0002941¢ less per ounce. This information is very useful to me, because I can plan my shopping trips better. If, in the end, I’m not really saving much money by making a special trip to another store to get dish soap because the total price is one cent less, then I can just pick it up while I’m grocery shopping, thereby saving time and gas.

If you’d rather buy this at the Discount Store for one penny less total, or buy more of Brand B Pickled Pig’s Feet, that’s your decision and your money. My point is, just because one store says they have the lowest prices, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true. In order to save money, you have to do some legwork and this is part of that legwork. A store will say they have the lowest prices because they want you to come into their doors and spend your money there. It’s up to you, the consumer, to do the legwork and find out for yourself if what a store is saying is really true, full of hot air, or somewhat true (and how big the grain of salt should be when you decide to take that truth). You also have to remember that your time is also of value, as well, and part of being frugal is considering time as something you invest and in the long run, is the amount of money you save worth the investment of your time.

A price book can help you determine all of these things. I’m already finding it very useful. Maybe you will, too.