I'm at the grocery store waiting in line to pay for my groceries and I indulge in one of my favorite past times -- checking out the shopping carts of other people. I take note of the woman in front of me and what's in her basket. Name brand potato chips, flour and cereal. She's loaded up on the gelatin dessert that the store has on sale. Pre-packaged meals, frozen dinners. Nail polish and floor cleaner.

™

Oh, the money I could save money on this woman on her groceries. Fortunately, here are the Cheap Chick Tricks for grocery shopping for you.

Grocery Trick No. 1

Go to the market just once a week, on the same day of the week. This may prove harder than it sounds, but it will save you money. How? The first is obvious: your transportation costs. Secondly, it will focus your efforts. You know you're there to shop for food and you need to get one week's worth of food. It eliminates those multiple runs to the grocery store to just pick up a quart of milk and some bread, where you walk out with $50 worth of stuff.

Grocery Trick No. 2

Go to the market with a list and a not-to-exceed budget. Your list will come from your menus for the week. That means you've got to come up with seven dinners, seven lunches, and seven breakfasts, plus any snacks for the week, figure out the groceries you'll need for each and write it down. You are not going to buy anything that is not on that list. That means if you run out of celery, you'll wait a week to buy it. (See Trick No. 1 above). No quick trips to the local store mid-week. Set an amount that you are going to spend on groceries (including eating out) and don't go over it. Bring a set amount of cash to pay for your groceries, if that makes it easier.

Grocery Trick No. 3

Never stock up. What? Am I crazy? Let's see why I say never stock up. How many times have you made banana bread with leftover bananas? Or, more likely, thrown them out? Let's say flavored gelatin dessert is on sale for ten packages for one dollar. It's not on your list, but at that price, you eagerly throw ten boxes into your cart. You've just spent a dollar you don't need to. If you buy those ten boxes, chances are pretty good a year from now nine of them will still be sitting on the shelf. If gelatin dessert is on your list, buy one box at 10 cents and put the other 90 cents in your pocket. I guarantee it will be on sale again some day. As far as coupons, use them if you were planning on buying the item anyway. But remember, often the in-house brand is cheaper than the name brand with a coupon.

Grocery Trick No. 4

This rule goes hand in hand with rule 3. Never, never grocery shop at a warehouse cheap nail boxe or super discount store. Don't tell me how cheap the prices are. It is a very disciplined person indeed who can walk through a warehouse of floor to ceiling sweaters, dvds, and cases of socks and not buy anything but the groceries on their list.

Grocery Trick No. 5

Leave your kids, husband, wife, partner at home when you grocery shop unless they have bought into the Cheap Chick Tricks. If you absolutely must bring your children, never make the mistake of buying them toy or junk food at the grocery store that they ask for. You will regret it.

Grocery Trick No. 6

Shop for groceries at the grocery store. But not just any grocery store. Search out the bag-your-own groceries, no-frills market. You won't find an in-house bank, coffee bar, or florist. There won't be the selection of a full-priced market or the high prices of the small store on the corner. The liquor department won't carry $50 bottles of wine (but they will have some real steals on wine -- see my tips on wine at the top of this page). However, they will have fresh herbs and pizza dough, and excellent olive oil. There aren't a hundred different brands of staples, just a couple of brands of milk, butter, yogurt, salad dressing (including their own house brand -- usually the cheapest by far). It's obvious, they're saving you money by not wasting food. You'll also have to bag your own groceries, but since you'll be face-to-face with someone else bagging his or her own groceries, you'll probably strike up a conversation. And that's free.

Try these tips for one month. See how much money you can save on food.

Copyright 2008 Cheap Chick Tricks.

When I helped by buddy redo his basement, he wasn't sure what the best type of ceiling to use would be. Some of the choices available were traditional drywall, tongue and groove boards, acoustic ceiling tiles, and a drop-type ceiling. We didn't know which to choose, so we looked at each type a little closer.

A drywall ceiling would be a lot of work. Almost all of the pipes and ductwork would have to be rerouted to fit into joint cavities or out to the edges of the room. If there were still things hanging below the bottom of the ceiling joists, we'd have to build boxes around them. Wherever we needed extra strength, we'd have to nail up furring strips.

In using a drywall ceiling it's important to use the furring and framed boxes to make a strong backing to hold the finishing materials. Although drywall was a low-cost option, we knew there was still a lot of work after the sheet rock was hung, and we weren't real excited about it.

Acoustic ceiling tiles are another great option. They are small enough to be easy to handle and cut. Ceiling tiles are installed by stapling them onto furring strips. In order to do that, once again, we'd need to move everything in order to have a flat surface to staple them to.

The next option we considered was T1-11 tongue and groove boards. This project would once again entail moving pipes and ducts, and it was also the most expensive option we looked at. My friend decided that this just wasn't the look he wanted for his ceiling, so we moved on.

Last on our list was a standard drop ceiling. This is one of the easiest ways to cover ceiling joists, but you still have to cut and hang rails for the ceiling framework, and my friend didn't like the fact that this type of ceiling looked like it belonged in an old office building, not his newly-decorated basement. Besides, drop ceilings were one of the more expensive options we'd looked at.

We'd worked our way completely through our list, and we still hadn't come up with a solution. Then, while shopping one day, he noticed the ceiling of the store he were in. It looked just like his basement ceiling, but a whole lot better. He had to ask the owner what they had done to achieve the look. The owner said all they'd done is clean the pipes and ductwork thoroughly, gave them a coat of primer, and used a sprayer to paint the whole works the same color. It looked amazing, and my friend knew he had found his ceiling.

Once we got started our one concern was whether or not we could paint electrical and gas lines. We solved the problem by calling a professional electrician to ask for his opinion. You know, this ceiling was easier to do than any of the other options, and it cost far less, but it looked super. Before trying this option in your own home, make sure to call a professional electrician like we did, just to make sure it's safe. So I guess the moral of the story is, if you don't like standard ways of doing things, start thinking outside the box.