Monday, April 24, 2006

Q & A: Price Book Details


Q: You say you only put down a unit price? Also, what do you do with sandwich meats like bologna for unit prices? # of oz? or # of slices in a package? And do you use a regular size notebook, a 3-ring binder so you can add pages? How do you find the item you are looking for? –Ruth

A: Ruth, no wonder you're overwhelmed with information! By all means record only the unit price. Furthermore, if you don’t care which brand storage baggie you’re using, write down the lowest unit price of all the brands. That way you will know when to buy any bag on sale, not just a target price for a specific brand. For lunchmeats and any meats, I use a unit price, too—either per ounce or per pound. We rarely buy sliced meat, but it could be hard to count the slices without opening the package.
For the notebook itself, I’m not picky. I’ve used everything, but I find a spreadsheet can hold information compactly and can be most easily changed and printed. Mine is about four pages--we don't buy many processed foods. I fold the stapled papers and tuck them into a pocket of my wallet. I list products in groups according to where they are in the grocery: dairy, meats, vegetables: canned and frozen, etc. I also do a lot of my price-checking at home with the Wednesday sale flyers. It’s a lot easier to spread things on the kitchen table than in the grocery cart.
Karen, I’ll let you know how the baby juggling thing goes in a couple of months! Luckily, I’ve internalized most of our “target prices” by now and only pull out the printout for the occasional item.
Here is a good link to more information about setting up and using a price book, including free printable sheets.

3 comments:

emily said...

Off topic, but I wanted to let you know that I finally got motivated to find the source of stink in my fridge when I saw the picture of your beautifully organized fridge! I *immediately* turned off the computer and totally cleaned out the fridge. I even put labels on each shelf. Thanks for the motivation! My husband is thrilled.

Emily

Terri said...

Thanks, Meredith. The article about a price book is the best explanation I've seen. I'm motivated now to start my own!

MommyLydia said...

Do you read on the forums at OrganizedHome?
That's one of my favorite sites!

I'm vonfirmath there.