Welcome back to my Couponing Tips series. If you are new make sure to review the earlier posts in the series:
A few weeks ago I posted a “Price List” page on my blog. If you have been to that page you will notice I am working on creating a Price List for my area. This price list came from Jenny at Southern Savers.
Now you may be wondering, “What is the big deal about a price list?” Well I’m glad you asked! The reason why it is important to make a price list (especially if you are new to couponing) is so you know how much certain things cost in your area. The Price List I have posted is just a model. I am actually using it to create my own price list for my area.
Aside from that page I have created a spreadsheet with all the base prices and as I purchase the items at similar prices I am writing down the price and the date I purchased the item. I am doing this for two reasons. First I am doing this to track the prices in my area compared to this price list I have found. Second I am writing down the prices and dates so I can track the Sale Cycles (which I will cover in next weeks Couponing Tips series post). I am trying to see how often certain things go on sale and what the lowest possible price is for that item. This is still a work in progress as you can see from my price list. As I buy/find the products at different prices I am putting my price in RED on the price list.
Another reason I have been keeping a price list is in my area of Florida NO ONE doubles coupons. Therefore my “low/buy price” may be different than many other people. Just because someone in Georgia can get Spaghetti for free I may have to pay $0.50 for the item because my stores don’t double. I sometimes may have to shop in different stores to find the lowest prices. But don’t worry you will still save a TON of money if your stores don’t double. I’m living proof!
Now that is my situation but here is why you should keep a price list. Keeping a price list is important for creating a stockpile (another future post). When you go to the store or look through the coupon ads you need to remember just because something is on sale doesn’t mean, “it’s a good deal” there are many things that are in sales ad or labeled “on sale” that aren’t even on sale! PUBLIX does this all the time!! Ever see those green and yellow advantage flyers? Half the items in them that are supposedly “on sale” aren’t even on sale! It’s a marketing scheme, they put these items in this fancy sales flyer and people think these are great deals and go out and buy the products. But we have to do our homework and not fall for the gimmick and only buy sale items unless we ABSOLUTELY need something.
One last thing about the price list is everything is generic. So for laundry soap the list doesn’t have any brand names so I’ve started to write down what I’ve paid for different brands (I’ll talk about brand loyalty in a few weeks). Some of the different laundry soaps I’ve bought cheap in the past are Wisk, All, Gain, Purex, and Tide. Each of these different brands I’ve gotten for different prices. So I’ve added to my spreadsheet how much I’ve paid for each brand. For example TIDE is always going to be the most expensive. There’s never going to be a GREAT sale. It does go on sale but never as good as All (which I’ve seen go on sale BOGO). So it’s good to keep track of what kind of sales certain brands achieve.
So in summary make a price list so you know what the prices are like in your area and you know when to buy 1 or 2 or 4 or 5 so you can stock up at a super low price! If you’d like a pdf version of this price list go here.
Do you have a price list? Is there anything else about a price list that you’d like to know? Let me know and I’ll be sure to answer your questions! Next week I will be covering Sale Cycles.
This is awesome! I do the same exact thing! I love couponing! I love saving our family money as well. Of course I learned to do it after I got married and had to create a budget, but that's what Italian Catholic mommies are for! Thank you for posting this!
http://themammahomemaker.blogspot.com
new follower from the blog hop, would love a follow back!
http://cumminslife.blogspot.com/
@Mamma Hommaker – thanks couponing is my new passion and just trying to share what I've learned with others. I'm trying to learn everything I can now before I get married to make married life a little bit easier for me 🙂
@Kathryn – thanks for following. I was behind today and didn't get my bloghop post posted. I'll head over to your blog 🙂
I never realized how expensive Tide is until I started couponing. I used to buy it full price. Now I set a limit of price per load. It turns out most brands are alike- much to my surprise. Wisk and Purex clean just as well as Tide.
KK