Comments on: Keeping A Grocery Price Book (& My Aldi Spreadsheet)

By: Katie

Katie — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:18:23 +0000

Thank you so much for this! This will be a great help! For our family of four we are on a $200.00 a month grocery budget that is including our 2month olds, formula and diapers. So anyway to help with keeping that budget is well appreciated!

How did you figure out the amount of gas you would spend? Thanks again for posting this!

By: Tiffani

Tiffani — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:40:37 +0000

I just found this post this morning. Thank you! I had completely forgotten that I wanted to make a price book. I’ve been meaning to do this since I read the Tightwad Gazette a couple years ago.

By: Samantha

Samantha — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:36:43 +0000

Bless you for this! My family is on such a tight budget, and this will help me to determine the exact dollar amount we need for each two weeks. I really appreciate your work!

By: Sabrina

Sabrina — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 22:25:15 +0000

I just put my pricebook up on my blog. The hardest thing for me was not having a spreadsheet program so I just had to type it out and save it in notepad. I plan to print it and make adjustments as I find better prices:)

By: Michele

Michele — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:07:22 +0000

We have created a free website that automates the entire grocery price book process from creating a grocery list to tracking your lowest unit price per item and your grocery spending. Please check us out and let us know what you think. The site is groceryhop.com.

By: anna

anna — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:42:57 +0000

I have prices on my storage tally sheet, but they’re from three years ago – it might be good (for a laugh) to see what the difference is now. We have Aldi’s, but I don’t shop there – we do ‘Save-a-Lot’, instead. Same concept, though. Our family of six makes it on $100 a week, so far, and that’s including a few items for storage (usually seven or eight things).

My dial-up is still trying to load your link, so we’ll see whatcha got in a few!

By: dogear6

dogear6 — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:30:37 +0000

I don’t keep a price book for everything, just the common things that I buy each month. It was interesting – of the 3 stores close to my house, Wal-Mart was the most expensive and the upscale chain, Ukrop’s, was the cheapest. I also go to Target for soaps, cleaners, and household items mostly because I can buy them in volume. It also made my husband’s life a lot easier when I added his computer paper to the monthly shopping list for Target!

Mine is split out by the aisles in the store, so I’m not having to keep flipping around to find things. It also serves as my reminder for taking inventory before I go. I only get paid once a month, so we do large grocery run for the month and then very minimal the other weeks.

By: Kendra at New Life On A Homestead

Kendra at New Life On A Homestead — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:33:32 +0000

Thanks Becky C!

By: Becky C

Becky C — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:52:48 +0000

I haven’t kept one in a while, since most prices are stored in my head, and I can pretty well tell what I pay usually and know a good deal. However, since the nearest Aldi’s is 50 miles away, it makes more sense to shop the sales prices of different stores. I simply took a notebook and divided it into 20 or so sections (each letter of the alphabet- some were combined). Then, for each letter, I divided down the page into sections of the store (ie. Pharmacy, health and beauty, baby, condiments, household products….) leaving a few lines under each heading. Then, I made columns for the stores I shop at (Walmart, Harris Teeter, CVS, Walgreens, Lowes, Foodlion). Then, after each shopping trip, I would sit down, and write prices into the book, under the letter, store section, and store where I found it. For example, Pampers would go in the P pages, under the baby section, in the column for Walmart if I bought them there. Does that make sense? Then, on my next shopping trip, I could see if there was a better price elsewhere. If I found a better price for Pampers at CVS the next trip, I would write that down on the same line in the CVS column so I would know the best time to buy whatever. Stores go on a rotation of sales. What’s on sale now will be on sale again in aproximately 10-12 more weeks. Storing up extra of the things I use often (ie. CHEESE!!) saves me from having to buy it again before it goes back down to $1.25 for a half a pound at one of the stores in town. Hope this is making sense!
Also, before I go shopping, I go to the store websites to see what is on sale. If it’s not going to save me $10 to go to a store, I don’t go, since they are spread out, and I don’t want to waste more money in gas than I save at the store (I guess this would vary depending on how spread out your grocery stores are).
Long story, but it’s what I do, and I feed a family of 5 for $250 per month. Some do better than me, but hope it helps someone.

By: sandra

sandra — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:47:45 +0000

thanks for the info. the thing I most like about aldi, besides the low prices and small store, is that their prices dont seem to flucuate too much, theres not all this up and down pricing like most other stores, I belive thats where other stores really fool the consumer, making you think youre getting a great deal, while raising the price on other things.