Every time I mention the price I like to pay for things or reference my price book, I invariably get asked to share my price book with you or share my “buy it” prices. I am going to tackle this in two parts. First I will tackle the price book question:

Why is it important to have a price book?

The purpose of the price book is not just to record prices but keep track of sales cycles. Keeping track of these two things will enable you to identify when you are getting the best deal possible. This is important if you are a stockpiler to help you identify the rock bottom price when you should stockpile something. If you are not much of an stockpiler and instead shop around the sales cycle then this tool is even more valuable to you, as it will help you determine when the next sale will come around and how much you need to buy at the lowest price to get you to the next sale.

Why Should You Have Your Own Price Book?

While you can visit this blog and be sure that I am only sharing the best bargains and deals available, the truth is that you also need to do some of this work on your own. YOU need to learn to identify best sale prices and when sales occur at the stores near you. You may have stores that double coupons, so your price book and the information you glean from it will be different from that of someone who lives in an area where coupons are not doubled or where prices are higher due to higher cost of living in general. Having your own price book will also reveal to you which stores consistently offer the best prices and deals available near you.

How to Get Your Own Price Book Together

In the past I have relied on my own memory to keep track of sale prices for items I am more likely to stock up on, or just items that I feel have the most impact on my grocery budget. But here are the steps I followed to put together my own price book:

• Narrow down the list of stores you shop more often
• Make a list of the essential items you buy more often AND have the highest impact on your budget. For example if you have small children, I am sure diapers would be on your list.
• Next time you visit these stores write down the prices of these items and record them on a notebook or Excel spreadsheet.
• Here is something very important you need to do: For some items you will need to bring the price of the item down to the unit level. This is the only way you will be able to make a fair comparison among all of the stores you are tracking.
• Once you have set up your price book, you need to keep it up. By updating it often you will be able to identify sales cycles on the items you are tracking.

I have found a price book is a great tool, because it has armed me with facts and information that allow me to make better purchasing decisions. Your own price book will help you determine what is a good deal and what isn’t and as a result save you money in the long run.

Do you have a price book?  If so, what kind of items do you keep track of in it?

If you have a question you would like answered by me, you can click here to submit it.

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you may remember that I have mentioned being a late adopter of technologies.  Yes, I am often good about being the first in trying some things, but I usually wait until the price of some of these new technologies comes down to adopt them.  For a while, I have been wanting to test those Smartphones, but wondered how they would fit into my life and if there would be of any benefit.  Did I really need them? and here’s a a sad confession: I don’t even use the text messaging feature of my cell phone, was a Smartphone too much of a leap for me?

As part of being an Elevenmom, Walmart offered us an opportunity to participate in a long term interactive test of Smartphones.  A few of the Elevenmoms already owned Smartphones and were quick to help narrow down the choices to either an iPhone or a Blackberry Storm.  From there, the decision of which one to get was mine.  As with any other big purchase decision, I turned to my husband for help researching the phone prior to purchase. Immediately he went to the Consumer’s Report website to find out more information on the phones and the cell companies that serviced those phones.  We also visited our local Walmart to check out both phones and how user friendly they were.  While there, we also learned it would be smart to call our local stores to make sure that when we were ready to purchase, the phones would be in stock.

Having decided on an iPhone, we called our three local stores to find out which one had them in stock.  Then we headed to the store.  I have to say my personal shopping experience was very straightforward and as short as it gets. A lot of this was due to the pre-buying research we had done.  We also didn’t have a phone contract to worry about since ours had expired more than a year ago, so we were “free agents” if you will.  Since we knew what we wanted, and why we wanted it, we didn’t waste any time getting a sales spiel from the sales person.  The only thing we had to decide on the spot was the cell phone plan we would get.  It did take some time to get our new cell phone contract set up on the system and complete the purchase transaction.  Throughout it all, the sales person handling it all was very helpful and knowledgeable, which was of course a great advantage.  In total, from the time we walked in to the time we left it took about 1hour and fifteen minutes.  I took some of that time to do some light grocery shopping and entertain the boys a bit.

I have had the iPhone for about three weeks now, and I have waited this long to share this with you because I wanted to give you some feedback on how it has changed my life.  First, the process of downloading applications has been slow for me.  I have relied on the other mom’s input regarding what applications have improved their life.  I have particularly found a grocery list, personal to-do list and the ‘All Recipes’ applications very helpful.

• I have mentioned before that menu planning is a struggle for me.  But the Dinner Spinner iPhone App helps me find easy, quick and proven recipes to make with the ingredients that I have on hand.
• Here’s another struggle for me, every time I go to the grocery store, I make a list and I always end up leaving it on the counter top of my kitchen.  ‘It  never  fails.’  Now, I enter the list on my phone (and I can even organize it by aisle), and the phone list is always ready for me.
• Here’s another way the iPhone has helped me: how many times have you been to the store, but can’t remember the deal that you read about?  Then you get home and pull out your bags, and then it hits you.  Well, a Smartphone with 3G access allows you to open your favorite ‘deals website’ to double check their list of deals, so you won’t forget about anything.
• If you rely a lot on Google Calendar, the CalenGoo application lets you access and modify this info from your Smartphone.  Never miss anything again.
• If you are a blogger who uses WordPress, you can also download the WordPress application to have access to your blog on the go.  This is how I was able to edit one of my posts this past Wednesday, while I was at the Milwaukee Zoo, through my iPhone.  If you use it regularly for this purpose, then it could be considered a business expense and be able to deduct it from your blogging income.  Oh! and let’s not forget to mention that you can use Twitter and Facebook.
• Finally, as a mom, you can also download applications to help you keep your kids entertained when you most need it.  How many times have you handed your cell phone to your kid while at the check out lane to keep him from ‘losing it’?  Well, now you can do that, but now, he can actually do something that will keep him entertained other than by hitting the number keys.  There are a lot of educational game applications available for different age groups that you can download for free in some cases.

So, yeah, as you can see I have become quite addicted to my iPhone, and that’s the only drawback I have found.  Unfortunately it is easy to let it become a time sucker but as with any other lifestyle technology, it is up to you to set limits and boundaries.  I also don’t want to mislead you, an iPhone is not “cheap.”  It goes for $297 each, plus a monthly extra charge of $30 on your cell phone bill for the data package.  But I like to define frugality not only in monetary terms but also in terms of value.  An item’s worth should not be defined only by it’s price but also by the value that it provides.  I think, and other Smartphone users will probably agree, that a Smartphone is worth it.  However, you do have to weigh your own personal lifestyle to see if it really is worth it for you.

For the past few days I have noticed a few other blogs mention Cashbaq in their deals. I was a little hesitant to look into this, mostly because I am already signed up with Ebates. I didn’t want to deal with another account to keep track of. However, a few bloggers on Twitter were kind and showed me how easy it is to sign up for Cashbaq and why I should do it.

Signing up for Cashbaq only requires a name and email account. That was a plus to me at the time since the computer I was using didn’t have Roboform on it yet. I went back later to my account to add my payment information. This was another plus for Cashbaq. I can get paid via Paypal, which is much easier and should be faster than getting a check in the mail. Another great thing about using Cashbaq is that you can get your rebates back monthly. That is if you accumulate more than $10 in cash back in any given month. In contrast, Ebates pays once a quarter, after you meet the minimum amount required of $5.01.

I am not giving up on Ebates. As a matter of fact it is beneficial to have both. Even though there is some overlap in the merchants both companies offer, the cash back discount for some of them may differ. For example, instead of getting 15% in your purchases at Restaurant.com through Ebates, you can get 30% back through Cashbaq. That $25 Gift Certificate is now only $1.40 through Cashbaq instead of $1.70 through Ebates.

Cashbaq is offering a $5 bonus when you sign up with them. Use my referral link and not only will you get your bonus but so will I, thank you so much!

A reader left me a comment asking me how I come across these deals. There’s some method to the madness but this is how I generously find out about the deals going on:

1. Doing my own research: A lot of this is part of my own shopping around for things that I need. I am regularly on the lookout for things on sale that my home needs. Since I started this blog, I also keep an eye out for things I think my readers may need as well. Spotting your own deal has to do with knowing what’s a good sale. I am always comparison shopping and have been blessed with good memory for some things. Remembering prices and sales comes easy to me and that helps in spotting a good sale price or discount.
2. Getting a helping hand: They say it takes a village to raise a child, I say it takes a village to spot a deal. Communities like Hotcouponworld and Slickdeals make it easy on everyone to find the deals. There is a community out there of deal seekers that are not only looking for the deal but also willing to share it with others. I also regularly get emails from readers sharing their own finds with me so I can then share them with you. Thank you!
3. Networking: I subscribed to a lot of great blogs. It would be impossible for me to mention favorites because it would be a really long list. I get a lot of deals from them, after giving credit of course! I also recently joined Twitter and have been finding deals there as well. That’s how I found out the Ralph Lauren Towels deal from Meredith. It really shows you the value of networking, Meredith’s is not a deal blog but she shared about what she had done that day and in doing so let others know about this deal.

I don’t have a problem sharing with you how I find the deals that I find. I hope that visiting this blog provides you with ideas and tools so that you can find your own deals. It is my intention, though, to make your life easier by being an informational resource that saves you time. This is what’s funny about what I do: I have never had more fun doing a “job” than I do in keeping this blog. Doing this is something I really enjoy because it is something that I like doing. When I used to work as an auditor, and I loved being one, the days dragged by and I can’t say I looked forward to the next day. But as silly as it sounds, I look forward to writing the next money saving blog entry.