Saving money. It really doesn't matter who you are, every one wants to save money. You could be a college student trying to make the money you have last, a frugal mom or even a millionaire. It seems every one is looking for a great deal, and they rightly should be.

I fall into the frugal mom category. I use to spend my Sunday afternoon, flipping through the newspaper clipping coupons. All of that wasted effort to simply find a 35 cent coupon of my favorite brand shampoo.

There are five people in my family and it never seemed like I could get out of the grocery store without spending a minimum of $150. Any time the price went above that I seemed to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. So over the weekend I would go grocery shopping and it always seems like Wednesday I'm headed back to the store for something I forgot or had already ran out of. It was only going to get worse, with three growing children their stomachs never seem to get full. When it comes to grocery store savings, this is something I focus on as a major part of my money savings plan. Why, you might ask. I figure it this way, I go to the store at least one time a week, most weeks two or three times. If I could learn how to save money every time I went to the register I could put the saved money away and spend it on a want that I have not just a necessity.

Here are some tips that I use, first I always make a grocery list, and I try to be disciplined to stick to that list. When creating a grocery list you need to menu plan, know roughly what you intend on making every night for dinner. If you don't do this when it comes time to make supper one evening you may be missing a key ingredient, this leads to a trip to the grocery store witch inevitably will lead to an impulse buy. When you make your list and you venture out to the store, have self discipline to stick to what you wrote down, and avoid the impulse buy even if it is on sale. Also there are great websites out there that offer coupons that you can print off. Be careful when using coupons that you still only buy what you need, not just because it is on sale. I also always shop at stores that offer a double coupon, a couple of 35 cent coupons doubled, adds up into some big savings. I also go to a site called "Grocery Store Savings" that teaches how you to get name brand products for cents on the dollar.

So what do I do with the money that I have learned to save, well my first priority is to save for a rainy day. No I am not talking about a trip to the movies or an evening out, of course that would be nice, but my first savings go into an emergency bank account. It always seems that you car will not break down until you do not have any money in the account to cover the expenses. It's difficult these days, and if you have children it is even more difficult, I swear I wake up some days, to find that my children out grew their clothes over night. It is a very secure feeling to know that if something happens you have money you can fall back on. You also can put the savings away for a family vacation, a family night out with a dinner and movie what ever it is; it's good to know that you have the means to do that.