Their is no photo on today’s article because I am a little busy doing website updates which means I’d have to wait a while before I could upload the photo for this post. I can’t afford the time to wait, so here I am photo free.

When I was trying to think of something to write about today it hit me that with the costs for everything going up, it’s more important for the average family to shop smart and stretch their dollar more than ever before.

I may make some poor choices when I buy stuff, I am notorious for buying as cheap as possible. I’m a penny pincher and proud of it. No feeling is better than seeing a savings on the receipt. I want to pass on some of that thriftiness to you. After all, with the price of gas approaching $4 per gallon and the rise in food costs because of it, we need to do what we can to save where we can.

So here are my ideas for what you can do to save money:

• Get the weekly ads for all of your local stores. They’ll either come in the mail or possibly in a free paper offered in your area (for example, the Detroit Free Press is a free paper filled with ads). You need these ads to compare prices and determine what the best deals are. You might find something you need can be found at a different store for just a portion of the cost of that product at another store.
• Get together coupons. Clip out coupons from papers and your weekly circulars. They can be very helpful in saving a little extra cash on something you already planned to get anyway or it’ll make something worth getting. It’s best to use coupons when the store is already offering a discount on that item. It will maximize your savings.
• Using the coupons and weekly store ads put together your lists. That’s right, lists. Make a list for each store you’re going to. Write down what you’re looking for. Using these lists, decide which coupons to use that week and at what store. By going to more than one store you will end up saving more money. Because they’re in your town, local to you, gas isn’t so much of a problem as the price of the groceries you plan to purchase.

Now, this may be where I’d usually end my post, but not today. Their’s another aspect to shopping that can hit the purse or wallet hard. Impulse buying. I have a few tips that can actually help minimize the need to buy something on impulse and will give you a chance to think things through.

• The first thing? Think about it. If this item is not on sale, or it is a big purchase [like electronics - TV's, MP3 players, etc.], walk away from it. Don’t touch it, just give yourself time to think about it. If you still feel the same about purchasing that item and your budget can handle that kind of purchase, then go back and get it. Making sure to think about the purchase before doing it can save you a lot of cash. A large portion of what gets purchase is on impulse and eliminating that can save you money.
• If the item happens to be on sale, or there’s only one or two left in stock, then put this item in your cart and walk around with it for a little bit. Think about it. If you buy it, will you actually use it? Are the savings big enough to give reason for this purchase? Walking around while doing the rest of your shopping and thinking about it can give you the time you need to decide if it’s what you really want to spend your money on. Unfortunately waiting until the next day isn’t an option because it’s on sale or it’s almost sold out, but by putting it in your cart and walking with it, you’re still getting much needed time to consider the purchase before you do it.

By shopping smart you will save money. It’s almost a guarantee. Even when money isn’t a problem, their’s still no reason to waste. If everyone shopped smart they would see less waste with their money and more left over to save. If someone really wants to throw away their money, their are always needy organizations that could put it to good use.