When I first started paying off my bills, I created a price book for groceries using a small binder and index cards. Every page is a different item and I had the price listed at each store as well as their sale prices. The plan was to make trips to each grocery store (they were all within 2 miles at the time) and buy the items I needed where they were cheapest. Instead, I figured out that almost everything was cheaper at Wal-mart. Therefore, I haven't updated the price book in years.
Now that I'm intending to start couponing (if I can ever get disciplined enough to go ahead and do it), I decided to start updating my price book. I CANNOT believe how much the prices and package sizes have changed since 2005! Little changes, like tuna cans are 5 oz. instead of 6 oz....and the price STILL went up! I knew that the cost of groceries had gone up, and my ice cream and Cheez-Its containers got smaller (sneaky sons of b**ches!), but I had no idea how many other items got smaller and more expensive.
Once I get my book up to date with the prices of the items I buy frequently at Wal-mart, Food Lion, and Harris Teeter, I'll be able to tell where I should buy them. I'll also know where to use my coupons, if it's better to go where they'll double (or triple) them, and I'll know if something is cheaper on sale at one store vs. just buying it full-price at another. I plan to take my book with me every time I shop and write down the name, size, and price of everything I buy. Knowledge is power. Whether I actually find the time to do the coupon thing or not, at least I'll know I'm making informed decisions when I make my purchases.
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That so cool you are able to compare 2005 prices. It boggles my mind how much more expensive food is these days, but I had no way of knowing exactly how much it had increased (other than I remember getting a gallon of milk for less than $2 and cream cheese for $.88)
ReplyDeleteI do something similar to your price book but out of sheer laziness I've skipped a lot of steps. I've made a price list of all my most commonly purchased items and their cost at Walmart. Basically I shop at Walmart, but I check weekly ads and coupons for other stores. If a sale and/or doubled coupon makes the item cheaper than I could get it at Walmart, then I get it elsewhere and stock up. Since Walmart accepts coupons but doesn't double, just like Food Lion, I rarely shop at FL. I love that HT and LF have great sales AND double coupons (Plus the 5% student discount from HT makes my day :D) . Just today I got 9 pounds of meat, 4 gallons of milk, 6 boxes of pierogies, 6 pounds of pasta, 8 pounds of sugar, 8oz of hershey cocoa powder, and a quart of half-n-half from HT for $32. According to my Walmart price sheet, this was a savings of around $20 from what I would have spent at Walmart for the same items. That's a 38% savings; plus in the case of the pierogies I got a brand we like better than the Walmart brand.
Anyway, I didn't know if this might save you some time :) I haven't compared between all the stores in quite a while, so I could be missing that FL is a lot cheaper now than Walmart or something!!!