Saving Money Using a Grocery Price Book

Utilizing a grocery price book can save you both time and money. It is a great tool to use when you're shopping for great bargains at your local grocery store and also for keeping your grocery budget in check. Below are the steps to start your own grocery price book.

1. Buy a cheap notebook or use a spreadsheet. It's up to you which one to choose, they both work equally well. Notebooks might be the better choice, however, since you can take these with you in grocery stores and store easily in a purse or briefcase.

2. In a separate notebook or spreadsheet, write down all of the groceries your family buys on a regular basis. Make sure and add cleaning supplies, pet/baby items, personal pieces, laundry provisions and other items you buy regularly.

3. Once you have your complete list, take your grocery price book and, using colored flags or sticky notes, label different sections. For example, you might define your categories by grocery aisle or by food type. Whichever works best for your grocery book. Many people find that labeling by food type is easier: i.e. Produce, Pantry, Freezer, Dairy, etc.

4. Now that you're done marking the categories, start writing down each item in the grouping, one item per page. Allow enough blank pages in between each item for future use. For example, under Produce you might list head lettuce, bag salad mix, apples, etc. Personalize according to your master list from Step 2.

5. After listing each separate item, which may take a while, find all of your receipts from local grocery stores and start recording prices in your price book. If you don't keep your receipts, there are some websites that will list sales in your local grocery stores. Try www.mygrocerydeals.com and www.groceryguide.com. In your price book, make sure and note the regular price, sale price, if applicable, quantity, sale date and the store location. For example, if Kroger has Campbell's soup on sale, note the regular price and the sale price, the date of the sale and quantity of the item.

6. The next time you go grocery shopping, take your price book along and record item information as you shop.

7. Once you have started your price book, put it to use! Before your next grocery trip, take out your price book and sit down with your grocery list. Need mayonnaise and want to find the best price? Look up mayo in your price book and see which store has it for sale regularly, or which store has the lowest regular price tag.

Keeping up with your grocery price book will aide you in the future. Save all of your receipts, say for a month, and then sit down and update your price book regularly to keep up-to-date information for future use.

Saving time and money is always on our minds, especially with today's bad economy. Let your grocery price book make your life a little easier, and your pockets a little more full!