I have 4 sons, now grown. However, when they were young and sitting in the wagon, I found that good preparation was a tremendous time saver as well as a great money saver. Kids have a shorter attention span than adults, so getting in and out of the store quickly was extremely important. But I didn’t want to sacrifice my savings either. So began my system of shopping by categories.

Each aisle represented basically a new category for me. I prepared my list by these categories so I wouldn’t miss an item, a sale or a coupon. I easily reviewed each aisle as I strolled along with my boys and kept my coupons to the front of the organizer for ease of handling. When I got to the checkout, I didn’t fumble through the organizer. I had the coupons in the front and was ready for their redemption.