How to start saving right away

Its possible to start saving immediately by just changing a few old habits. I enjoy changes that save me money, especially on groceries and household products. Try these few tips and soon you may find many other ways to save more

Refill gallons jugs of water instead of purchasing new. I reuse water jugs every week. Refilling them is just part of my routine when I grocery shop. Each week I refill about 10 one gallon jugs of water at the filtering machine outside the store. Water typically sells for .99 in the store. Refilling them outside is .30 per gallon. I save $7 per week, or $364 per year. Not to mention the plastic that wont need recycling or going to the landfill.

Replace one store brand item per week, with a national brand that you purchase regularly, and see if you notice much difference in quality. There will definately be a difference in price. Alot of store brands are manufactured by national brands. A change in the label is referred to as "re-branding. Store brands I regularly purchase are breakfast cereal, butter, milk, rice, pasta, cheese, and cleaning products.

Use any cleaning products that you purchase at 1/2 strength. I do this by pouring half of the bottle into an empty spray bottle and filling each with water. An immediate 50% savings. I own a cleaning service and have noticed no difference in the performance at 50% strength.

Save your store advertisements for six weeks. Make a note of what sale items you purchased each week, and you will notice a pattern. Most stores regularly rotate what items are on sale. I purchase meat and other items when they are buy 1 get 1 free, and notice that I am able to predict what is going on sale to take advantage of the savings. I only purchase the meat that is on sale. When items are on sale, match them with coupons that you can find in flyers or online.

Watch for managers specials and mark down racks. I recently bought frozen pasta sauce that normally sold for $3.79 each, for .75 cents because it was going out of date in two weeks. Since it was frozen, the date didn't bother me. The same day I bought a case of water that was missing four bottles, a bag of cookies and a box of pancake mix that had a dent in the box for $2. They were bundled together.

Watch for mark downs in the meat section. These are meats that are going out of date in a day or two, but they are still perfectly good if cooked or frozen when you get them home. A couple of weeks ago I bought four boneless pork loin roasts for $4 each, they normally sell for $11.99.

Inventory your pantry and freezer on a regular basis to keep track of food that you may forget you have. This keeps your panty up to date, and you wont forget what you have stocked.