Personal finance blogger Girl with the Red Balloon put together a list of 11 ways she saves money at grocery stores.

The key to many of her tips is to restrict your exposure to impulse-buy opportunities. An excerpt:

5) Learn where your food is in the store and only visit those aisles. In my formative years of living on my own, I dated a man who walked down each and every aisle while grocery shopping. It would drive me crazy, mostly because it wasted so much time. I've learned now that I buy a lot more when I go down every aisle. Now, I look at the signs at the end of each aisle and only walk down the ones that have something I need.

6) Get over your loyalty to big brands. Before I met D, I was the world's worst for paying for the most expensive brand of milk in the store. “It's what my parents used when I was growing up! It's just better,” I'd pathetically try to rationalize. I've since accepted that store brand milk tastes just the same. And guess what? I spend 50% less buying the store brand of milk instead of the name brand. The savings aren't quite as much on other products, like shredded cheese, but it's still there. The only thing I've not bought store brand yet is cheese squares for my grilled cheese sandwiches, but I've also not needed to buy cheese singles for two months because I didn't use them all the last two trips.

Question your loyalty to these name brands. Why do we think they're better? Is it because you've tasted both brands and know the store bought brand tastes considerably worse? Then, fine. Buy the name brand. But if it's just because it's what you're used to, give it up for one trip to the store. Try the generic store brand one time and see how you feel.

What do you do to cut your grocery store expenditures?

Take that, grocery store! 11 tips to help you save [Girl with the Red Balloon]

Focus on Spending More Time, Not Money, on Things You Enjoy

As we prioritize the things that are important to us, you'd think the things we spend the most money on would get the bulk of our attention. That's often not the case, and recognizing this is a step toward serious savings.

Photo by gerlos.

Trent, the personal finance blogger over at The Simple Dollar, says one way to figure out how to budget your time is keep a log of how much time you spend doing things you want and need to do. At the same time, track how you spend your money. Compare the lists at the end of one month and see if there are any areas where you're spending a lot of money, but not a lot of time. That's probably an area where you need to trim your spending.

For instance, if you're dropping $75 a month on a health club that you only visit once in a blue moon, that's some wasted cash right there. Instead consider channeling that money into the areas of your life where you spend the bulk of your time and, presumably, bring you the most satisfaction. Love to cook? Invest in a good set of pots and pans. Enjoy reading into the wee hours of the night? Get a comfy chair and a great book light. Over time, you may discover your spending habits are dwindling.

Quite often, areas of your life where you spend a lot of time without spending a lot of money are the areas that truly bring you the most enjoyment because you don't require a constant influx of new things to be able to enjoy yourself. I argue that those are the areas of your life that you should accentuate, while learning to let go of the areas that offer much less bang for the buck.

What brings you the most enjoyment? Trying out new gadgets, learning a new skill, or something else? And does your spending reflect it? Share in the comments.

buy mutual funds, buy mutual funds, buy mutual funds, buy mutual funds, internet marketing, yahoo, google, Online advertising, http://www.prlog.org/10512637-franchisesforsalecom-launch-heralds-the-next-wave-in-franchisee-lead-generation.html, http://www.prlog.org/10512639-restaurant-franchise-opportunities-providing-new-job-opportunities.html, http://www.emailwire.com/release/30658-New-Lead-Site-FranchisesforsaleCom-Goes-Live.html, http://www.emailwire.com/release/31568-New-Franchise-Opportunities-for-2010-Online-Tools-and-Resources-for-Buying-a-Franchise.html, http://www.ideamarketers.com/?New_Franchise_Opportunities_for_2010_%E2%80%93_Online_Tools_and_Resources_for_Buying_a_&articleid=883071, http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/new-franchise-opportunities-for-2010,1100822.shtml, http://www.newsalbum.com/Read/473435-New-Franchise-Opportunities-with-Successful-Franchise-Companies-Putting-People-Back-to-Work/, http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=164465&cat=9, http://www.zimbio.com/Housing+Bubble+News/articles/7/Dr+Robert+S+Shumake, http://mortgagefraudreportmichigan.blogspot.com/2009/12/robert-shumake-fraud-report-tax.html, http://personals.szczecin.pl/index.php?topic=2.0, http://tweetmeme.com/story/339636355/surface-encounters-in-wixom-going-green-with-marble-granite-countertop-production, http://finance.bnet.com/bnet/?GUID=11076222&Page=MediaViewer&ChannelID=6526, http://www.ideamarketers.com/?Surface_Encounters_Ohio,_LLC_Celebrates_100_Years_of_Experience_with_Columbus_S&articleid=880865, http://viralvideochart.unrulymedia.com/youtube/surface_encounters_macomb_mi__counter_tops?id=VGJx3FcNE50, http://www.veoh.com/browse/morelike/v19614992esMzfMCZ#, http://deals.yahoo.com/local-store-coupons/mer-surface-encounters–dept-home-garden, http://www.bignews.biz/?id=835928&keys=Shopping-counter-surface-Granite, http://www.businessweek.com/bios/Bill_Bartmann.htm, http://www.businessweek.com/archives/1998/b3603113.arc.htm, http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/apr2009/sb20090421_494148.htm?chan=smallbiz_smallbiz%20index%20page_top%20small%20business%20stories sell my home fast

MetsBlog.com – <b>News</b>: Mookie and Melvin join Mets

<b>News</b>: Mookie and Melvin join Mets. February 8, 2010 at 15:40 pm · 24 comments. by Matthew Cerrone. The Mets have named Mookie Wilson as the team's minor league outfield and base running coordinator. Wilson had been the team's first base …

FDL <b>News</b> Desk » The Future Of Health Care, Described

And I'm an old school 'wish I was a newsman' with some serious hostility about what's considered to be <b>news</b> reporting and informing anymore since dereg of media beginning under Reagan. You hold the flame high, hoss . . . . . *bows* …

Red Eye Celebrates Third Year By Topping CNN Prime Time Last Week <b>…</b>

MSNBC's David Shuster became a fan of Fox <b>News</b>' late-night comedy/<b>news</b> hybrid Red Eye just in time for its three-year anniversary. And it's coming at a time when the 3amET show is seeing big ratings in the A25-54 demographic - even …