If I had to make a spread sheet on the computer for what I keep in my Price Book, I'd go nuts!!! Maybe that's because I started using the system before I had a computer.... (Old dog, new trick - LOL), or the fact I never have my computer with me when I shop to check the stats, but I always have my Price Book. I make notes or changes when I get the sales ads (in the free weekly paper or by checking on-line - I can't justify the cost of the local paper - even for the coupons) or I'll make changes when I'm at the store and notice them. When oatmeal increased from $2.19 to $2.29 for 42-oz. at Aldi (who are always the least expensive), I quickly noted the increase. It's also convenient because most stores have the unit cost printed on the prices posted on the shelves, so I don't have to do the math. Unit pricing is VERY important. Some things fluctuate all the time - butter, sugar, flour, eggs, etc., and you need to track those almost weekly. Some items I rarely have to change. Things I don't change, but I might add a note to recall the price, are Manager's Specials, close-outs, and the clearance shelf "treasures", but you have to have a keen shopping eye to spot all of these. It's rare that I pay full price for anything, and that's yet one more way to save on the grocery bill. The first way I save is to have a budget - in cash. Mine is $125 per month for 2 adults, and it's for food ONLY. Non-food items come out of my "walking around" money, which is another set amount. I also keep my on-going grocery list in my Price Book. I may not need something at the time, but I'll put it on-the-look-out-for list if I know my stockpile is running low so I can try to find it at a bargain price. An advantage of having my price book with an inventory in it, when I find a bargain and can't remember if I already have some/enough at home, I can check my Price Book inventory sheets. No sense blowing money on something I already have in storage and really don't need. Everything is on sale sooner or later.... Free information for the budget minded: Egg economy: There is a small difference in the volume between medium and large eggs, so always check the price of medium eggs. If the price difference is less than 5-cents per dozen, then buy large eggs. If 5-cents or greater difference, buy the medium eggs. It takes 5 medium eggs to = 4 large eggs, and in most recipes, or for general use, you won't notice a significant difference. --------------------- I try never to spend more than $2 per pound for boneless meat and $1 or less per pound for bone-in. No matter how much meat is per pound, I don't spend more than $10 per week for meat, and some weeks I don't purchase any but will save back that amount until I can find a bargain. Have you figured the cost of canned tuna per pound? It's not always a bargain. A 5-oz. can of tuna at $1.19 = $3.81 per pound. You can often buy better cuts of meat or poultry cheaper than what it costs for a can of tuna. Good luck finding a method that works for you. :-) -Grainlady

sweeby -- I'm assuming that people are usually looking at similar door styles and framing in different lines, like Shaker or raised panel, inset or full overlay or frameless. Most folks name the door style and line in a thread asking if the price is reasonable. Experienced GWers, especially the KDs who post here and carry some of the most popular lines, can be counted on to mention whether the named door style is in the higher or lower price category because that, along with drawer glides and closing mechanisms, seem to alter the price most. I am always surprised that more people don't ask which door styles in a line are more expensive and which less when they shop. Certainly the retailers know that information. I even have some sheets and notes on that for some of the cabinets I'm looking at (Omega and Dynasty sheets, for example). This is very helpful (although retailers can be reluctant to copy the sheet for you). Just because I think two doors are similar doesn't mean that the manufacturer prices them similarly. Sweeby, you've started a great list of what options can be pricey that consumers should watch for. I'm going to add them to the spreadsheet bethv and I are working on in another thread. But when it comes to a couple of sizes that everybody has, what comes to mind? Building contractor pricing books use standards, but they seem out of date to me. For example, the standard base is 24" with a drawer above and door below (sometimes with pullouts). Certainly those are standard in my 1936 kitchen. But in this forum people seem to be moving to wider all-drawer bases over doors. The drawer units are more expensive, possibly more in some lines than others. Are they? I haven't gotten that far yet. The easiest time to get a quote per cabinet is probably at the beginning, before the KD/orderer has invested a lot of time in designing a kitchen, so maybe this idea works best for the beginning of shopping. Somewhere in your order, though, the seller has a price per cabinet and then calculated upcharges for upgrades and additions like light rail. What the seller may not have calculated is a retail mark-up per cabinet, just a whole order mark-up, so asking for a price per cabinet at that point requires the seller to do a little more math. It also risks revealing how much those upgrades on sweeby's list may have added to the bottom line. There may be enough threads with whole kitchen orders here that if I review those it will become clear what cabinet sizes are most common to and in every kitchen.

I hear there is an app for smart phones that will do that. Something about scanning the bar code. Do you have a phone that can download apps? Here's a list of them: http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/290959/the-10-best-shopping-apps-to-compare-prices

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