First
of all let me say that I read your articles and enjoy each and every
one. But I have a couple questions about the price book. I started my
own version which is very much like the example I copied from your site
yesterday. One of the questions is: do I get prices for EVERYTHING
that I purchase or just the items that are on sale in the paper.
Also, do I consider in the price any coupons that I may have for that
item. Does each page represent one particular item? These are a
couple questions my daughter and I were trying to figure out. Nancy B.
Nancy,
Good questions. Glad you asked them.
Let's start by remembering our goal. We're trying to find out when the price that we see in the store today is a good deal and we should stock up. So we want create a tool that will help us make that decision.
I never have listed every purchase. Just don't see how that helps me. I'm looking to see what the LOWEST prices are so I'll recognize them when I'm in the store. So there's no real need to list every purchase. However, you may want to add advertised prices (from sales fliers) even if you don't buy that day.
As to coupons, I leave them out. Two reasons for that. First, I'd use the coupon no matter when I bought the item. So it doesn't help me make a decision whether to buy or not. Second, I'd really be misleading myself by including it in the pricebook (especially if I didn't leave a note for myself that I had used a coupon). Suppose you did include that savings in the price you listed in the pricebook. Six months later you're expecting to be able to find the item for that price again. But you never will without the coupon. It could lead you to pass up a good sale waiting for a lower price that will not happen. If you really do want to include coupons, I'd add an extra column for coupons.
One final thought about coupons. A pricebook will help you to decide whether you want to buy today to avoid letting a coupon expire unused. If you face that choice you can look at the store price and subtract the coupon savings. Then compare that 'after-coupon price' to your pricebook to see whether you can beat the price later even without using a coupon.
Thanks again for some great questions!
Gary
