Are you wasting your hard earned money?

When you go shopping do you really plan out your trip by creating a shopping list? counting inventory and clipping coupons? If you answered no to any of these you are wasting money!! Every penny counts in this day and time. Prices have gone up and incomes are dwindling in today's economy.

I learned many years ago how to make my paycheck go further and the first step is to be aware of how and what i buy. For example...I used to buy hand soap in those little dispensers...thinking they were so cheap that i could just buy several at a time. But in reality it is wiser to buy a bigger bottle of the refill and fill my own dispensers. Costs around $4.00 normally at walmart and it goes a long way.

Always write down what you really need for your pantry instead of blindly buying items just to realize you had some tucked in the back!! my daughter would do this all the time!! It really pays off to know how many cans of soup or boxes of cereal are actually in the pantry before buying more.

Coupons, coupons and more coupons!! I never ever buy anything without first checking to see if there is a coupon for it. And with so many outlets available to acquire them...there is no excuse not to have them!! There are sites such as coupons.com , redplum.com and also newspaper inserts that offer coupons. and let's not forget about rewards cards and apps!! 

I plan on getting into the rewards and apps in another post as I am just now learning the ropes on how they actually work. 

So how do you shop? Do you see any savings? What apps do you use?? Feel free to comment below so that others can benefit from your wisdom :)