My Price Book

At the beginning of every year I reevaluate my household budget. I try to estimate each of our expenses by category, and plan to stay within a reasonable monthly amount for a family of four. I only "pay" myself once a month. That is, I transfer money from DoorMan's business account and / or the saving account, into the account that I pay the ordinary expenses from. I am trying to reduce the amount of money I transfer in each month.

So it is at this time of the year that I generally break out my Price Book. I give full credit for the idea and format of my book to The Tightwad Gazette. I started my book back in 1997. Since then, I have pulled it out from time to time, used it once or twice, and put it away again. The last time I made entries was last January.

But now I am once again on a budget bender. On top of that, I am trying to eat healthier, make more things from scratch. And I am determined to reduce that darned grocery line on the budget. So today I brought it with me to the store, and used it! If I saw a sale, I looked it up to see if it was really a good price. I also noted down the price of real maple syrup (which I love - $13.69 a quart), so if we go maple sugaring in March, I can tell if syrup at the farm is a good value or not.