American families today, falling on hard economic times, know that squeezing quarters out of pennies can't be done, or can it?

With all the ways to be frugal in shopping habits, the best place to begin is at the grocery store. Face it, we all have to eat to live, even if we lose our jobs, we still have to eat. Cutting back on the extras always helps, when saving money, but what about at the grocery?

So you don't like the low cost foods, or the generic labels and store labels. You can still buy the brands you love without breaking the bank, and actually the name brands can cost you less as those other labels.

Companies put out coupons and rely on the public to use them. That is why name brands are so much higher in price. If the coupons are used in the most frugal manner, you will spend less than what you spend on store label brands.

To demonstrate a sure-fire way to save 30%-70% on every trip to the market:

• GET THE SUNDAY PAPER. THE SUNDAY PAPER ALMOST ALWAYS HAS GREAT ASSORTMENTS OF COUPONS.IF FRIENDS AND NIEGHBORS DO NOT USE THEIR COUPONS, ASK FOR THEM, TELL THEM YOU SURE COULD SAVE SOME MONEY AND IT WOULD HELP RECYCLE INSTEAD OF THROWING THEM IN THE LANDFILL.
• WATCH YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER FOR COUPONS, MORE AND MORE ARE PUTTING MAJOR COUPON ADS IN THE PAPER.
• DO A SEARCH ONLINE FOR FREE PRINTABLE COUPONS, YOU CAN GET THE SAME AS ARE IN YOUR LOCAL PAPERS, BUT IN THE LONG RUN THIS ONLY SAVES SO MUCH SINCE YOU WILL HAVE TO INVEST IN PAPER AND INK FOR YOUR PRINTER.
• KEEP ALL YOUR LOCAL SALES ADS. THIS IS A MUST!

Once you have collected coupons, you are ready to clip and sort. Get your family involved, as doing this alone is very time consuming. Once you get into the habit of it, it will be enjoyable and a great way to spend time with your family.

When you clip, clip everything. Yes, I said everything. Clip all the rebate forms, and recipes. Even clip the coupons that you do not use. *unused and expired coupons can be sent to military families overseas for their use for up to 6 months after expiration- a good way to support our troops*

Here are a few things that you may find useful to get you started:

• BUY A PLASTIC SHOEBOX, SEEMS TO BE THE BEST FOR THIS AND CAN BE ACQUIRED VERY CHEAP.
• BUY DIVIDERS THAT YOU USE IN SCHOOL NOTEBOOKS, OR USE THE OLD ONES THAT YOUR KIDS WILL DISCARD AT THE END OF THE YEAR. MAKE SURE THAT YOU CUT THEM DOWN TO FIT IN YOUR BOX.
  LABEL THEM IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER AS THIS IS A TIME SAVER. LABEL IN A WAY THAT YOUR STORE IS SET UP. FOR EXAMPLE: AIR FRESHNERS,BREAD,BAKING ITEMS,BREAKFAST ITEMS,BUTTER AND MILK,CAKE MIXES ETC. YOU GET THE IDEA, AND LABEL YOUR LAST ONE AS MISC. THIS IS WHERE YOU WILL PUT YOUR RECIPIES AND REBATES.

What you will want to do is go through your local sales ads. See what sales items you have coupons for and put those in the front of your box.(This too is a huge time saver at the market.) If you have multiple coupons for the same item, pull them all to the front. Find out what days your store has double coupon days, these are the best days to shop and also make sure that you look in the ads for any coupons the store puts out because normally, these can be used on top of the manufacturers coupons and the sale prices.

When you are at the store look for final priced sale items also, see if you have coupons for those items because those are the best bargains. Pass these items up only if you will not use them quickly or cannot freeze them.

For example:

John-Sue's Grocery has marked down ABC TV Dinners to $0.50 each to make room for new stock, the normal price of these dinners are $3.79 each. As you can see this is already a huge savings. If you used a coupon on Double Coupon Day and the coupon was for $0.50 off 1 and you purchase this item, not only are you getting it for free, you are actually making $0.50 on this item, since you are actually taking $1.00 off.

Are you starting to see the savings here. Of course the TV dinner can be frozen and would be a great way to save and stock.

After you have matched your sales items with your coupons, it is time to make a list of what you are going to buy when you go.

Mark how many to purchase so that you can grab that amount and continue.

Let's see another example:

Very Yummy Hot Dogs are Buy One Get One Free (BOGO), and you have 2 coupons. Very Yummy Hot Dogs are $2.89 per pack and it is double coupon day and the sales ad also has a coupon for another $0.50 off. Your coupons are for $.50 a package. This is how it comes out: $2.89-$1.00 (Double coupon #1)=1.89-$1.00 (Double coupon #2)=$.89-$0.50 (Store ad coupon)=$.39. You pay less than $0.19 a package.

As you can tell these are exceptional values and they are on name brand items that you prefer. These are not rare occurrences as these sales happen every week, and by committing to using coupons you can have the money you need for better things and still eat good.

Here is another example:

Just the Best Salad dressing is on sale for $0.99. You have a coupon for that salad dressing at $0.75 off and it is double coupon day. (most stores will only double coupons up to $1.00 off) So you are not only getting the salad dressing for free, you are also getting a penny back.

As they say, A Penny Saved is A Penny Earned.

Make sure that if your store has a free membership card that you sign up for it, as this will save you even more money.

If you are Low-Income and are getting Food Stamps, you can do this also, and can stretch your Food Stamps to last even longer.

When you are checking out, pull all the coupons from the front of your box, and set them out for the cashier. As your items ring up it may seem like you spent more than what you normally would during this trip to the market. After the coupons are scanned, you will notice what you have saved. To watch a $350 bill jump down to a $102 total. Wow, aren't you proud? Ask the cashier if you could have a few extra copies of your receipt so that you may send in your rebates.

When you get home and put your items away, sit down with your rebate forms. See if you have purchased items needed. If so, you may soon see that with "stacking" (using coupons and rebates) you have gotten free items. Do these right away so they do not expire on you. Find the product and clip the Proof Of Purchase and attach a receipt. Mail it or see if you can rebate it online. Now you are done for this trip to the grocery and you are smiling as you have $248 in your pocket that you wouldn't have had.

*If you give to charities and food banks, use this method also. If you have coupons for free items, or you can get items free with coupons and sales, these are the best. Purchase them even if you will not use them, others will and the food banks will be happy that you did.

As for the recipes, glue them to index cards, and start your own box for kitchen use.

To sum it all up, on hard times, you can still see the light at the end of the tunnel.