Shoppers Optimum Points Spreadsheet - Update on Post #1

[lecale]

.

[tobiwobi]

lecale thank you for your insight as well! I would say I am closer to your strategy because I am very price conscious, do not spend $ on makeup and perfume, and very rarely spend $50 (which may only change if they introduce produce).

I do need a bunch of vitamin type products, but lately I find that the price gap between shoppers and walmart on supplements has become quite large even when the shoppers ones are on sale, so I can't remember the last time I bought these at Shoppers.

I am also going to post my bare bones one with actual data in a couple of months time to see how points accumulation is going against the 'overpay' total accumulation.

I have a shoppers within walking distance so I always get milk and eggs there. Too bad it's one of the smaller stores with small grocery section and super small TP/paper/tissue section.

[Poobah]

Hehe... thanks.

I don't really mean phewy on the non-18500 users out there. I think my strategy works so well for me, simply cause I have a household of 4 with 2 hungry teenagers. So its very easy for me to load up on food and snacks.

If I didn't have kids there is no way, I could take advantage of the promotions like I have.

I think I actually use both strategies...whatever is most effective. My receipts also say "sale" down the entire right.. barring milk of course. And generally my savings on my reciept is typically75% to 100% or more then the amount spent.

I don't have my spreadsheet in front of me but generally every 320ish bucks spent gets me a 200 dollar promotion.

Ps I'm also quite fond of laundry soap, fabric softener and paper products... oh and the cheese. Thanks for your enthusiasm as well Peeps.

[tobiwobi]

lols I believe someone specifically said phewie on non-18500 users out there, not naming names. I have just two people in my household so I have a hard time with groceries at Shoppers, also I am lucky to be all stocked up on condiments, crackers, cereals, cleaners and other things that are sometimes a decent price at Shoppers. I just did a large redemption and I ended up accumulating the points by mostly doing a couple of 20x $50, personal coupons, gift cards but not large as I don't like to be out of pocket a lot, and totally accidental bonus points on specific items. It took about a year for me to accumulate 95,000 points. I just wish I knew how much I spent at Shoppers to get those points, and specifically how much in total I overpaid for items (paid more than best price for same item elsewhere). So I would like to track that going forward.

[josask]

I've been putzing around on my spreadsheet the last few days and thought I'd share what I've put together

Sheet #1 - use this to calculate and plan an upcoming shop - This is a simple example for this weekend I also have it all totaled at the bottom to be sure I reach the required thresholds (ie this wknds $75)

Item	price	pers offer	price	coupon	tax	Price paid	reg. pts	Bonus pts	multiplier	mult bonus	Total pts	@ 500pts=$1
curling iron	119.99		119.99		12.00	139.99	1190	18500	19	22610	42300	84.60

(I had planned on using a redemption to get my DD this for xmas but it's too good of a deal to get 20x and the 18,500 not to buy it this weekend).

Sheet #2 - my card - date/item/price paid/cumulative paid/instant pts/additional pts/date awarded by/transaction total pts/cumulative points
Sheet #3 - DHs card - same as sheet #2. This is an example of his since I just signed him up it was easy to start

Date	Items	price paid	Cumulative paid	Instant points	additional pts	awarded by	transaction pts	Total points
10/1/2014	milk & P.towels	$8.60	$8.60				80	80
10/8/2014	website update	$0.00	$8.60		2000	10/25/2014	2000	2080
10/11/2014	milk	$3.99	$12.59	40			40	2120
	dawn deterg	$1.99	$14.58	1510			1510	3630
	bandaids	$0.74	$15.32	10			10	3640
	tissue	$0.74	$16.06	10			10	3650
10/14/2014	milk & Dawn	$6.50	$22.56	1560			1560	5210
10/16/2014	dawn deterg	$1.99	$24.55	1510			1510	6720
	Food bank items	$7.77	$32.32	80			80	6800
	sale kcups/tea	$12.97	$45.29	130			130	6930
			$45.29				0	6930
			$45.29				0	6930

Sheet #4 - redemptions - # of pts redeemed / redemption amount / cost to obtain points / % return

I've just started shopping at SDM again (I know, I'm not sure why I quit.......) and I used to use a version of Sheet #1 but I wasn't keeping track of what it was costing me to obtain the points and that's what I'm interested in.

Even though I have 3 teenagers, I still have troubles redeeming at the high levels since I have troubles finding $200 worth of stuff we need. We don't each much for 'junk' food and with my only DD being 12 we aren't into the makeup and such yet. I'm trying to determine if it makes more sense to redeem for smaller amounts even though it's less return on my money.
We can always use milk, yogurt, cheese, eggs, etc. so by keeping track of the return I'm hoping I'll determine it's still a good 'money maker' to redeem at lesser values.

I hope this makes sense and will help someone else

[Poobah]

Nice work Josask...

I got around to keeping my promise as well.... I've decided to unveil it in a new thread. (maybe more eyes will see it there.)

I hope someone likes it.

Doh I attached it here.. and Don't know how to remove it. Oh well here it is.

The spreadsheet might look intimidating at first.. but you actually only have to enter data into the white boxes and then only if applicable to you... all shaded boxes take care of themselves. And the Bright Yellow boxes have pulldown menu's. In reality you don't really have to enter very much data at all. If you don't use a Master card, just Put NO in the appropriate box at the top. If you don't load giftcards, don't put anything in that column. (keep in mind if you do use a credit card the spread sheet will assume you always do, whether its at purchase or if loading giftcards) The Spreadsheet is smart enough not to count points twice.

The data currently in the spreadsheet is all factual data from me over the last few months. (yes I realize I went crazy). I only wish I kept track of coupons deductions early on, and knew the tricks of using them better. I still screw that up quite a bit, and if I didn't my results would be even greater.

Currently I only have full functionality with 18500 / $75 and the 20x / $50 promotions at the moment - but other points can be input into the appropriate column and a lot of other promotions can be entered as a cash back coupon etc.. For the most part this spreadsheet accurately keeps track of everything I do.

In the future I'd like to add functionality in terms of keeping track of redeemed points and other special coupons like the 95000 / 30000 points back... but since I started keeping track, I haven't yet had an opportunity for a good points redemption. (come on baby, I know your around the corner.)

Make sure you fool around with the top part of the screen too.. You can change your 95000 point redemption value to whatever you think your reality is.. 170, 200, 250? just to see how it plays with the numbers (Saving Factor). And feel free to see how much you save on every day purchases.

Here's what it looks like and the actual excel sheet is attached below.

[Karlina]

WOW! Thanks!

[Poobah]

WOW! Thanks!

Thank you. I've added a better explanation.

[josask]

well Poobah yours looks prettier than mine! I'll have to take some time to play around with it

jo

[Poobah]

well Poobah yours looks prettier than mine! I'll have to take some time to play around with it

jo

Thank you very Much!

I'll be keeping the initial post of this thread updated with the most current version from now on.

October 19th, 2014 - Update now available, I had a silly error that may have affected a few of you entering info for the first time. (I probably have many more issues... but that's life huh? lol)

[tobiwobi]

Poobah's got some advanced excel skills That looks pretty. I'm gonna post what I have so far.

Date	Products	Total Paid	Optimum Promo	Points Earned	Overpay	Points Balance
Oct-14	Rebel T3 DSLR Camera	$139.84	170 redemption, $30 off wub $100 coupon	1290	$-	3111
Oct-14	milk and ferrero	$5.97		50	$0.79	3161
Oct-14	food items	$21.67	4000 pts WUS $20 on food	4210	$0.79	7371

[Poobah]

Good work Tobiwobi...

And I've worked with spreadsheets oh since spreadsheets were on computers?... I am the office spreadsheet guru at my company. I actually love working on them, it's a very nerdy quality. lol

Kay I updated the 1st post again... Added a some fun new BEST-Buy stuff. SO have at it if you like. (EIther way i do this for myself regardless, but I do like to share.)

[momof3heathens]

Not sure if my reasoning is out of whack but my thought is this on spending more at Shoppers than at another store on point event days: If I am buying the item anyhow I only consider the difference in price as the cost of the points. Ex: eggs @ shoppers $2.29, eggs @ Country Store $2.09 20x points 458 points for an extra $0.20.

[tobiwobi]

Not sure if my reasoning is out of whack but my thought is this on spending more at Shoppers than at another store on point event days: If I am buying the item anyhow I only consider the difference in price as the cost of the points. Ex: eggs @ shoppers $2.29, eggs @ Country Store $2.09 20x points 458 points for an extra $0.20.

that's exactly what I'm doing. difference in price is the cost of the points, and I'm tracking it in my overpay column.

[Poobah]

Well I agree it's always wise.to buy items on sale. But what some might not be seeing is that points , are worth alot more then shoppers suggests on thier promo signs. Thus you can buy just about anything and it ends up being a deal.

Buying eggs for 2.29 actually earns you in the end much more then 20.cents. ( which your well aware :p )

75 bucks.gets you 32.75 dozen eggs at 2.29 per dozen earning you a total of 21125 points. 21125 / by 32.75 = 645 per dozen.

If you typically wait for 200 dollar redemption days then that 645 points are worth...

200/95000 x 645 = $1.36

Now take that free money and buy more eggs 32.75 x 1.36 = $44.54 / 2.29 = 19.45 more dozen eggs.

75 dollars bought us 52.2 dozen eggs. Or 75 / 52.2 = 1.44 each per dozen.

Sales are great and assure you crazy savings. But even if your buying something that's $10.00, say $2.50 more then another store. Your actually getting that item for about $6.00 to $6.50 depending on how awesome you are. Lol

Granted I try to stick to crazy savings.

My goodness. I did this on a phone. Whew.