Ultimate Guide to Grocery Store Savings

Couponing. Price Books. Menus. You've heard it all before. You know you should. You wish you could. But somehow, you just can't make it work.

Before you give up and resign yourself to spending too much on food for too little nutrition, try this fool proof solution: The Box.

Buy a plastic 4"x6" index card box. Buy some index cards while you are at it. Get the big one, not the 3"x5" - it's not big enough to use as a coupon organizer. Go ahead and buy it new, retail - you WILL save money by shopping! Plus, you need it to be functional, not a cracked or bent hand-me-down.

Everything you need for organized grocery shopping and meal planning is in your Box.

You will be using this to file your coupons, help plan menus, keep track of prices, and prevent disastrous stocking up on bad things.

First, make some divider cards. Get several cards and label them clearly in the upper left hand corner with your coupon categories. For example, the categories might start with Baby (diapers, shampoo, etc. go here), Batteries and Lightbulbs, Car (oil change, tire coupons). Write down the products you buy, and if you need to add something later, you can simply make a new card and insert it.

File alphabetically for easy access. If you always shop at the same store, you might try filing them aisle by aisle. It's your box, so make it work for you.

When you clip coupons, you will place them behind the divider cards. Don't have any coupons? There are usually several included in the advertisements of Sunday newspapers. Some stores also have bins where customers can drop off coupons and pick other ones up. Ask family and friends to save them for you. If all else fails, check out the Internet.

Behind the coupon cards, make some Meat dividers as well (or the staple food you base a meal around, for vegans). Card labels might include "Chicken", "Boneless Chicken Breast", Ground Beef, Ground Turkey, Steak (Round, Chuck, etc.), and so on. Recipes you love, or want to try and clipped out of a magazine, go filed here, behind the appropriate card.