Whip Your Grocery Budget Into Shape: Maximize your list

Welcome to the second major series of posts on Frugal Made Fun! Each week, I'll post 1-2 tips on how to develop your own plan to save money on groceries. I'm going to start with some of the most basic, easiest things you can do to save money, and then progress from there. You can take as much or little advice as you like. As the series progresses, a little more work may be involved, but you will definitely save more money.

If you're anything like me, you’ve been shopping with a grocery list for some time now. Why not make it a little better? There have been several times where I picked up the wrong item or accidently brought along the wrong coupon, or even had an item ring up at the wrong price but I didn’t realize it until after I got home.

In addition to your list items, you will want to write down how many of the items you want and how much the items should cost after your coupons. This also gives you a really great idea of how much you will be spending before you even step foot in the store! I'll also write down the size of the item on sale or the size the coupon is for, because there's nothing worse than buying the wrong size item and paying full price!! (Okay, there are plenty of things that are worse than that...but it still makes me mad!)

Finally, if I have a lot of time, I'll even write down the items in the order that I will find them in the store. It takes a little extra prep time but significantly cuts down on my time in the store!