Feed items

A common way to save money on groceries is to buy generic or store-brand items instead of buying name-brand items. Examples of store brands are Member's Mark (Sam's Club), Kirkland Signature (Costco), Great Value and Equate (Walmart), Private Selection (Kroger), and so forth.

Like most ways to save money, this piece of advice has exceptions: “It depends.” For some people, if given the choice of store brand and name brand, the store brand will be better all-around. For other people, the name brand will be better all around.

There's no way to know for sure which will be better for you unless you test it out.

Comparison testing: Finding out what works

One of the many tools that companies use to improve their products is comparison testing. They offer two products to a bunch of people and ask them which they like better. They then determine the “winner” and prioritize that product moving forward.

Here's a quickie list how to save money when you buy and prepare food for your family …

After mortgage/rent payments, utilities, and transportation, one of the most important categories in just about any budget is FOOD.

It also can be one of the places in your budget that you can reduce the most. (Try getting your bank to reduce your mortgage payment!)

Save money when you buy and prepare food

Nothing is free, of course. If you don't pay with money, you'll often pay with time. It does take time to prepare to buy food, to get things in place to save money when you buy food, and to prepare food.

The main trick is to do activities that give you the best return on your time invested.

Here are some ways that you can save money buying and preparing food that don't need to take up a chunk of your day:

This trick for spending less doesn't cost a dime. Just a few seconds and a couple of thoughts …

As Americans, we have so many opportunities to spend money on things we don't really need.

Thankfully, though, there's no shortage of ways that we can trick ourselves into spending less, like putting up spending roadblocks that make us hesitate just long enough to think twice.

A whole lot of converted money

A post from Becoming Minimalist showed up on my Facebook feed. One of those short statements with a picture background.

This was the short statement (which I promptly posted to my Facebook page):

Shopping is usually a pain-free experience, but not always. Sometimes a taped-up package hides a nasty surprise …

Big department stores are one of the conveniences of modern life that most of us use without much thinking about it.

We're fortunate to live fairly close to an IKEA, the Swedish home furnishings store where things are decent and often surprisingly inexpensive. Most of the time, shopping at IKEA is easy and (dare I say it) fun, but the last purchase we made from there didn't work out as planned.

Shopping IKEA to keep bettas happy

Our daughter has some bettas. I don't really swoon over them, but she has a heart for them, so there you go.

Bettas are properly called Siamese fighting fish. They're basically the fighting cocks of the fish world.