by Christine L. Rice

Created on: December 03, 2011   Last Updated: December 07, 2011

Being frugal takes practice. Some people have lived with a tight budget their entire life. Other people have experienced economic hardships that hit unexpectedly. Either way, the skills of frugal living must be learned and developed. Living inexpensively is easy to learn, and it provides a lifetime of significant savings.

The grocery store is where money goes fast for many households. You have to eat, so slight price increases are usually overlooked. However, there are incredible savings available to you there in the form of weekly sales and coupons. It is wise to learn the best way to use these tools in order to save yourself the most money.

Buy what is cheapest

When grocery shopping on a limited budget, the goal is to spend as little as possible. That means you will usually buy the store brand items (especially if they are on sale), even if a name brand item is on sale. Store brand items taste very similar to name brand items and they are adequate if saving money is important to you. On the other hand, if the cost of a name brand item on sale is less than the store brand, pick it up.

Stock up on sale items

Stock up on your favorite items and items that don't get marked down often (such as milk) when they go on sale. (Stocking up simply means buying more than one shopping cycle's worth of the item; so if you usually shop once a week - buying more than what you would consume of the item in a week is stocking up.) Also stock up on items you use that are marked down to clearance, because it is probably the cheapest they'll ever get.

Take the time to clip coupons

Coupons are very worthwhile. Start spending time looking through newspapers, magazines, weekly inserts, and certain websites. Clip as many coupons as possible that will be useful. To determine "useful" - imagine having the item in your pantry or refrigerator. Will you use the item in a reasonable amount of time? If not, don't clip it. It is paper and time that will be wasted, so it's likely not worth it. There will be plenty of other opportunities to save.

No coupon or sale is worth it if you won't use the item

Use a coupon on an item only if it will benefit you. Ask yourself if you are going to use the entire item and if the coupon will make the item cheaper than the store brand item. The bottom-line: only use a coupon, or buy something on sale, if it is an item you regularly use or would like to use for a new recipe or a different meal.

More variety and better nutrition

Because sales change weekly and

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