What better way to hold yourself accountable and motivate you so save, than tracking your savings? Last year I created an Excel worksheet that I used to track our monthly savings at the 5 major stores I shop at. You might have noticed on the left side of this page, I have been updating our savings throughout the year. I used this worksheet to supply those numbers. Here are the results for 2009:
Saved: $5,752.01 or 48.4% (Savings based on sales, clearance and coupon shopping)
At the bottom of this post I have shared out a blank worksheet for you to copy and use if you wish. I am not an excel expert so if anyone tweeks this and wants to share the tips, please leave a comment. I’m always looking to simplify my process! Let me give you a quick tour of the worksheet.
There are 7 separate tabs. The first one is a Totals page. The rest are specific stores. I have them set up to track the following stores:
- Publix
- CVS
- Walgreens
- Target
- Walmart
- Miscellaneous (Combination of stores I shopped at like Home Depot and JoAnn Fabrics)
You can relabel them for the stores you use frequently. You will not have to enter any information on the Totals Page, it will automatically fill in when the store tabs are updated. The only information you will need to enter is the date, the OOP and Savings on the store tabs that are highlighted in green.
It will total the months for you and autofill the Totals Page. In the comments section I list key items from that particular shopping trip. Sometimes it’s nice seeing how long it had been since I bought coffee creamer! On the miscellaneous page, I list the store and what I bought.
Several things I learned from tracking our savings this way. Publix was easy to enter because the receipt is easy to read and very straight forward. Target was difficult. The receipt shows savings, but it’s usually only coupon savings. It does not include clearance savings for instance. I learned in the first 2 months that I didn’t save very much money at Walmart! So I started avoiding that store altogether. It’s also a bit of a drive for me so it was easy to eliminate. I realized I was bad at picking up ‘impulse items’ at Walmart.
Savings 2010 Worksheet – This is an excel document. Feel free to save a copy and make any changes that you want. Please let me know if you have any questions. I’ll be posting my monthly savings and I’d love to hear yours! Let’s do a little bragging. :)
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
What is OOP? I love this spreadsheet and can’t wait to start using it later today!
OOP = Out of Pocket. Or the money you actually spent. There is more coupon lingo on the right side of this website. Sometimes I forget them myself! Please let me know if you have any other questions. Hope the worksheet helps you. Take care,
Karen
I am just starting this, and I have a question about what is the difference between the total and the out of pocket?
Here is my Target receipt: I paid $51.00. Receipt says I saved 13.79. Included in price is tax of $3.39. I earned a $5.00 gift card. I used $3.25 in coupons.
So how do I fill out that sheet with this information?
Jill
Jill that is an excellent question. The Target Gift cards and CVS ECB’s threw me off in the beginning too. Technically the $5 gift card was earned today, but you did not use it on this particular transaction, so it does not get figured into any totals. When you do use it on your next purchase, then you would consider it “savings”.
If the money you gave Target today was $51.00 from your pocket/bank then that is your actual out of pocket that you put in the “OOP” field. I include tax with that number. Any dollar amount I give them goes there. Then, your savings would be $13.79. That price includes any items at Target on sale and your coupons, so that goes into the “savings” column. Does that make sense? Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Hope that helps.
Karen
So what would go into the total? Add my savings + my oop? I think target calculated my savings to include the $5- so take that out of the $13.79?
Sorry I am nitpicking a few dollars! I just want to get it right!
Jill
Jill,
The total has a calculation already inserted. If you enter information there, it will delete the calculation. All you have to enter is the date, Savings, OOP, and the total will calculate from the Savings & OOP columns. Does that help? I don’t have a Target receipt in front of me but I’m almost positive they do not calculate the gift card as savings. I’m assuming your items were on sale and then you used coupons.
I would enter $13.79 in the Savings column.
Thank you SO much for publishing this spreadsheet! I am SO excited about using it! I think I will now go through my receipt basket and plug in some numbers. I’ve only been couponing since August so it should not be too much work. I’m excited to see my totals all added together.
Rebecca
Just found your site. Can’t wait to try this as I shop for charity for a club I belong to and I want to show how much coupons save. Thank You. Pat
I just found your site. Thanks so much for the Savings Worksheet!! I plan to use it for 2011 coupon savings. I am excited to actually see how much I save.
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