Good Morning Y'all!
Last time we talked about the importance of a Coupon Buddy and today we will incorporate your Coupon Buddy's help in making a Price Book!
It seems like every week, there are new deals all over the place and even the most seasoned of couponers may wonder if the sale price is really the best price. Every item that I have searched for at some point or another has hit its "rock bottom" price. This means it is the lowest I have seen this item priced, and typically when at this price is the best time to stock up.
So how do you keep track? I would like to say that at one point in my life I had a pretty decent memory, but working full time and keeping up with two little couponers even my memory has failed me at one point or another. Lesson of the day, relying on memory for your price book is probably not the best idea. This is where a price book comes in handy. It is your one stop list to the lowest price you have seen an item on sale and it will always be a work in progress. Several variations of a Price Book are available online or you can make one and customize it to your own liking. I simply google the words Price Book Image and found a bunch of links and images to go by. If you are more savvy with Microsoft Excel, you could also create an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of your prices. For my first price book, I used a national resource to print one online. One thing that did get me confused when using a national price book where that the prices did not always match up to my local sales. You are not always guaranteed the correct price so its important to update prices based on your region. Coupons and sales are regional so your price in Wilmington, NC may be different than your friends price in Atlanta, GA.
A Price Book will typically list the lowest price as the "per unit/ounce price". For example, if you had a box of Luv's diapers that had 72 diapers on sale at $16.99. The per unit price of each diaper would be $.23 per diaper. If you look at the shelf labels, typically the per unit price will be marked. A per unit price would be more typical for items like diapers and packages of cookies where most cooking items are measured by the ounce. If you have ever watched an episode of extreme couponing, you would see they typically go for the smallest size item which would maximize your savings. Keep in mind that most coupons will have a minimum size limit so pay close attention to the item you are buying and the price you are paying.
Now comes the fun part which is getting started. Between your shopping list and your coupon buddy's shopping list, you should be able to get a pretty decent Price Book started. If not, there are several resources available online where a Price Book has already been created. Alright .... ready, set - go!
Next time I will put together resources for online coupons and how to keep track of all your savings...
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