This is the first of a series I'm going to write on saving money. Now, I'm not rich by any means, but my wife and I live comfortably on my income, which is no small task. I can't tell you how to get rich, but if you can avoid being swept away in the middle class, you'll be well on your way. So, its the goal of this column to find ways to save you money.

The age old financial advice is to clip coupons to find great buys at competing groceries stores. For areas that have Wal-Mart Super Centers, this advice is becoming out of date. In my area, Wal-Mart's normal prices often beat the prices of competitiors such as Albertsons and Fred Meyers even when there's a sale. Of course, the goal of a store in holding a sale is to make up the price of what they basically give away in the sale with you purchasing other high priced items.

In addition, driving from store to store can be a quite time consuming process. How much is your time worth? Mine is certainly worth a lot more than 50 cents off a jar of pickles. If you try to hit a half dozen stores, you're going to end up consuming a lot of gas as well as depleting your own energy.

Here's what I did when I moved to Boise. I found the cheapest stores in Boise: Wal-Mart, Grocery Outlet, and Big Lots. I made my shopping centered around those three stores. In the midst of this, I got tired of how much shopping we were doing and decided just to focus on Wally World without going anywhere else. I found myself spending more money and stopped that.

I've worked out a system that works well for me. I go to a total of four stores for shopping: the three mentioned above plus Albertsons which has cheap Soda Pop. Occassionally, I may find a better deal on Soda at one of the other stores, so I go to Albertsons last. At the other end of the spectrum, I start with the stores I go to least: Grocery Outlet and Big Lots. The reason I do that is because both of these stories have sporadic bargains that may beat what I get at Wal-Mart.

For example, I went to Grocery Outlet and found some Cereal for 99 cents a box, which beat the $1.60 something I pay at Wal-Mart or the $1.40 something I pay at Big Lots, so I got my cereal at Grocery Outlet. I found Saturday Night Pizza for Andrea at Grocery Outlet for cheaper than I'd pay at Wal-Mart for a comparable pie. By putting my secondary sources of groceries first, I'm giving these stores a chance to compete with Wal-Mart for my dollars. In the end, I win because I opened my dollars up to athe marketplace.

Thus choose a primary grocery store that has consistently excellent prices and then find other stores that are often competitive and give them a chance to compete for your business.

Bonus Shopping Tip #1: Dollar Stores are often quite popular with many cheapskates. It sounds like a good deal, but you have to be careful. Occassionally, you find great deals at these stores. More often than not, you find substandard products, stuff you don't really need, (Did you really go in there planning to buy a singalong track for Achy Breaky Heart?) or brand name products that for $1.00 are overpriced compared to Wal-Mart or more comprehensive factory outlets (like Big Lots or a Dollar Plus Store).

Bonus Shopping Tip #2: Don't let a Merchant's Rewards program control your buying. S&H Green Points is a popular program. If its available at a store you shop at, then by all means use it, but don't purchase things just to get Green Points. Andrea and I were part of the S&H Green Points program in Montana and I bought a lot of junk I didn't really need just for the points. In the end, we saved up enough points to get a George Foreman Grill and two Pillows, but I think we probably spent more in earning the points than the value of the merchadise.

Saving Money, Shopping