How to Make a Database of Grocery Prices

It's good to be economical when buying groceries.

Feeding yourself and your family is not cheap. There is only so much food to go around, and by the time your food makes it to the grocery store, it costs a lot more for you to buy it than it did for the store to procure it. Naturally, it is in your interests to keep track of the prices of groceries you buy. The best way to do this is to make a database of prices for these groceries and modify it whenever a price changes at the store.

Instructions

1. Draw the spreadsheet template. Make a single top cell with the word "product" inside it and five columns below the top cell. The top cell in each column should tell you what information the column contains: date, store, brand, size/price and unit price. If you have spreadsheet software, make the cells in this table by expanding the existing cells on the blank document. If you do not have a spreadsheet tool, draw the cells with a ruler and a pencil.

2. Make copies of the table for each product you buy. To do this, simply fill out the name of each product on the top cell of a table. If you have spreadsheet software, just keep pasting the template into the software and saving it with a new name. If you do not have spreadsheet software, photocopy the table template and fill out the top cell for several of the printings using your pencil.

3. Create information folders for each grocery store you shop at. Copy-and-paste the table templates into each of these folders, if you are using software. Otherwise, photocopy each of your tables (one copy for every store you shop at) and store your tables inside laminated pages in a binder (one binder for every store you shop at).

4. Gather the information on the prices from each grocery store. Look for these prices online first. If you cannot find the prices online, visit the store. (Do not phone the grocery store to ask for dozens of prices, they do not have that much time to spend with you.) Find the prices for every product you buy regularly.

5. Enter the prices into the table. If the product comes in different sizes, enter the different sizes in the size column, then enter the different prices next to each size. Fill out multiple tables for the same goods at different stores, then place the tables into the different stores' file folders.

References

• Get Rich Slowly; Use a Grocery Price Book to Slash Your Food Spending; J.D. Roth; 2007
• Organized Home; Make A Price Book: Power Tool for Supermarket Savings! Cynthia Ewer