Take At Least 10 Minutes to Prep for Your Shopping Excursions

If you're like most of us, you probably run a few errands every weekend, and those may involve a bit of shopping, either for groceries, fashion, or fun. But one of the biggest ways to waste cash is to head out for your shopping excursion without a plan. Before you head out, you should make a list of what you need, and then cross-reference that against each week's sales and coupons.

I learned this the hard way by driving past Walgreens a few weeks ago and remembering that my son needed me to pick up Number Two pencils for a standardized test he was planning to take. While there, I came across a few deals and was quite proud of myself for saving money on them...until I returned home and discovered that I had not only failed to give the cashier my Walgreens Balance Rewards card, but I also hadn't checked the company's available coupons on its mobile app. This means that I forfeited $1.50 in savings I would have gotten if I'd used the app, and also meant I earned no points for the visit.

What I learned from my little side-trip was that even if I can't plan ahead to create a shopping list and match coupons to the sales ahead of time, I should at least check my phone while in the parking lot of a store before I walk in so I know what's on sale and whether any of my mobile apps or coupons will allow me to save a few bucks.