This guest post from Errol Chang

I am a creature of habit and that applies to all aspects of my life, even when Shopping for Groceries. My friends never except my offers to come along because they say it takes me long to get out of the door of my home, let alone drive to the store. I admit it, I have a system and I stick with it.

Each week I carefully plan my family’s upcoming meals for the week. Once I have that list completed, I check my local paper and online for coupons to go along with my planned purchases. Although I always purchase the staples–milk, eggs, butter, and cheese–I sometimes tweak my shopping list to coincide with what’s on sale that week. My kids of course love snacks like chips, dip and the most popular cereals, but only those with coupons make it on the list. This practice saves my family a lot of money.

After the total perusal of any and all available coupons, I round-up my most-reluctant children; who, like my friends, don’t enjoy shopping with me. The next steps in my system is to make sure everything is turned off–stove and other appliances–and then, finally, right before leaving the house, I make sure I set my home security alarm system. More about ADT around Charlotte . That completed, it is now safe to proceed on my weekly shopping journey