Bring the kids!

If you are like most parents, you dread going food shopping with your kids. Those tens of thousands of packages all seem to reach out to them and force them to say "buy me this!"

Here's my suggestion, put your kids in charge of the coupons. Give them your shopping list, the Sunday paper and the store circulars. You'll avoid that tedious task and at the same time be teaching them how to save money. Coupons are one of the best ways to save money, but surprisingly less than 3 percent are actually redeemed.

Give your kids half of what they save you as their weekly allowance, and when you are walking up and down the aisles let them hold the coupons and search for the product. Have them bring a calculator to keep a running total of the savings, and hand them their share at the checkout.

Get ready to be surprised at how focused they'll be ... and how much more money you'll save.