Anyone use a "price book" app?

[disneysteve]

Years ago, when we were young and super frugal we maintained a physical price book for grocery shopping. We listed a bunch of the most common items we buy and tracked their prices at several area stores. It really helped us save money by knowing who had the best price and when to stock up because of a really good sale.

We'd like to get back to doing that but we're hoping to find an iPhone app version that DW and I can share so we can both update it and access it independently when we're out.

Does anyone use anything like that?

[kork13]

Back when I was single & had ample time to nit-pick my finances more fully, I just used a basic spreadsheet (google docs, which would be shareable if desired). I listed those common items, average & best prices I've found, and where to get them. The open format of the spreadsheet allowed me to set it up however it worked best for me, which I tend to prefer. I can set unit prices by oz, each, or otherwise, organize items by category/aisle, etc.

Out of curiosity, I just opened up that file again to browse the prices -- the file apparently hasn't been updated since 2012. Some prices have remained surprisingly steady (fruits/vegetables, cereals/grains, some meats), while others have dramatically increased (nuts, processed/packaged foods, some meats, etc.).

[Jluke]

Don’t forget to track gas prices.
Distances to stores.
Time. researching, driving, shopping, checking out.

[disneysteve]

Don’t forget to track gas prices.
Distances to stores.
Time. researching, driving, shopping, checking out.

Really not an issue. We already shop at Wegmans, ShopRite, and Target regularly, but we buy probably 90% of our groceries at Wegmans. By identifying the items that are cheaper at the other 2 places, we can save money without spending anything extra. It's just a matter of making ourselves aware.

We were in ShopRite today. We casually checked prices on a number of items. Several were cheaper at Wegmans. Some were even cheaper at Target. A few were cheapest at ShopRite.

We're not planning on running all over town to a dozen stores, but if we can have a list of a few things that are cheapest at each of the places we go normally anyway, it would be an easy way to save some money.

[ua_guy]

I haven't used this, but hear good things about the Basket app. It's supposed to track pricing between stores based on lists you set up (common items) so you know what's cheapest and where. I haven't investigated far enough to see if Wegman's is on there, but Target and other majors are.

[bjl584]

Closest I come to doing that is the GasBuddy APP.
I pass by multiple gas stations on the way to and back from our cabin, so I'll look on there to see who has the best prices along the way