Grocery shopping doesn't have to be expensive regardless if you shop weekly like I do, bi-weekly or monthly. My weekly budget for groceries is $100 or $400 a month. I don't have a large household and I'm a full-time entrepreneur that budgets based on a weekly income. Please find a budget that works for your household income and size. I've found that other than materialistic items, women no matter their race, spend tons of money monthly on buying groceries. Somehow, we just always go over budget when it comes to buying our groceries and we don't take the time to do very simple things that I will list below, to actually help us save some money.

Coupons! Coupons! Coupons!

I'm a newbie to using coupons while grocery shopping. However, saving any amount of money as small as $0.50 on an item, adds up over time. You can always get coupons in the Sunday newspapers or download apps from your phone to receive coupons and other deals of the week. I make sure that I use coupons for items that are on my shopping list, which brings me to my next point.

I only buy what's on my shopping list

Never have I ever, went into a grocery store and shopped for items based on a list I previously created at home, until now. A couple of days before I go grocery shopping, I look through my refrigerator, freezer and cabinets to see what items I already have and could easily make a meal out of, if I only had to purchase 1 or 2 items to make the meal complete. I put those needed items or ingredients on my shopping list. I love eating salads (almost daily), so weekly I add a bag of salad on my grocery list. I highly suggest paying attention to what you and your family enjoy eating the most and buying it in bulk or adding it to every list each time.

Adhering to purchasing only what's on your shopping list saves you money but it also saves you time from walking up and down the grocery aisles and buying stuff that you know that you don't need. It may be hard for you to do at first, but with practice, you'll do just fine.

I leave Brian in the car lol

I know what you're probably thinking, but I have children and my partner comes with me and they want to buy almost EVERYTHING in the store, what do I do????? In the beginning, I would ask Brian to stay in the car because I needed to stick to the list and he ALWAYS just throws stuff in the cart because he's a fan of buying cookies, chips, candy, etc., which of course increases my grocery bill. Now a days, he knows that I'm not buying nothing that's not on my shopping list so he just sits in the car lol or it's fun seeing him asking me what's on the list and going to get the item, while I'm headed to get another item on the list.

If you have smaller children, try to go to the grocery store without them if you have a babysitter or leave them home with dad, while you go grocery shopping. If those are not an option for you, consider investing in pickup or delivery services, so that they never make it out of the car to beg you to buy them anything that was not in your budget.

Buy whole fruits and veggies instead of pre-packaged items

Did you know that you're paying premium prices for the convenience of buying that tube of chopped bell peppers and onions? Imagine how much money you would save if you chopped your own fruits and veggies?...... A LOT! You can buy one bell pepper and one onion for about $1 but if you buy the tube it will cost you $3+ .... it only takes a one minute or two, to chop up an onion. On your next grocery shopping trip, pay attention to how much it's costing you for buying convenience.

Buy non-brand name items as much as possible

We all have our favorite grocery items, from our favorite brands but it's costing us money to purchase those brand name items all of the time. I save tons of money buying store named items instead of always buying the brand name stuff. For example, with items such as bread crumbs in the images above, I bought the store named item Great Value from Walmart instead of a brand name one. I'm just not that into what brand name makes bread crumbs lol. Most of the store named items tastes just as fine as the name brand items. Again, on your next grocery shopping trip, purchase more store named items than brand named items and watch your bank account increase!

These are the basic things that I do every week to help me save money in the grocery store for our household. I don't like seeing tons of food just sitting in our house not being eatened or wasted because I've bought so much stuff that no one really cares to eat. No matter what your income or household size is, you can save money from using any of these tips that I've listed above and more.

Let me know in the comments, what are your grocery hacks to help you save money?