Why Every Home Needs a Price Book
True story, my husband called recently from a used bookstore and was gushing about his find of a set of books that his family has purchased as a child and how he’d found the complete 19 volume set for $80. He hurriedly picked it up and brought a very heavy box of books home. As we looked through them, we were captivated – he in remembering, and me in the amazement of the illustrations and quality of the books. Needless to say, life was good.
Within the next week, what do you know, but the exact same set started to show up in my Facebook Marketplace recommended products (don’t even get me started on how they knew) and get this – they were $15 for the set. What would you have done? I showed him and he sheepishly agreed that it was a hasty purchase and that next time, we could shop around.
What is a price book?
One of the best tools to save money is to have a good idea of the price points for those things that you need to buy. For a long time, I kept this in my noggin with all those other open brain browser tabs. I knew where the best milk, gas, eggs, and prescription prices by heart. When this became too much, I started with a rudimentary spreadsheet and listed prices and stores with a date. After a few months, I just put these items into my book each time I went shopping and the price book was born.
Had we been able to reference a price book for a comparison, we would have easily seen that the “deal” was certainly not so and saved quite a bit of money! Your price book should include those things that you purchase often as well as those that you are looking for – cars, appliances, etc., so that when you see a “deal,” you can quickly reference it to verify that it is truly a deal.
What is the best format for a price book?
OK, here’s the secret – whatever format that you will use. Pretty printables are easily found online and many are free to act as a template for your price book. I prefer mine with Google Sheets as a shared document. This works for me because it is shared with my hubby and he’s able to add to it (which he really doesn’t do that often) and see where he should stop for that milk or bread on his way to our cozy abode at Legacy Court Apartments in Midvale, Utah.
Whichever format you use, the key is to take small steps to maintain it. After you have your price book all set up, you can update it when you see a huge change in price or make a quick cross-check every few months or so. If you have other tools to help your budget, please stop in and let us know, since all of us at Legacy Court Apartments in Midvale.
