Quotes from Steve Economides

Keeping track of your kids' clothing needs can be difficult. Annette compiles a list of needed clothes (dress, play, underwear, and outerwear) twice yearly—when she switches the kids' wardrobes from summer to winter

Breakfast. We have a rotation of various meals for breakfast. This is an example of one weekly menu: • Monday: cold cereal with bananas • Tuesday: hot cereal with grapefruit • Wednesday: pancakes, waffles, or French toast (from the freezer) and ham • Thursday: eggs with toast • Friday: bagels with fruit • Saturday: pancakes (made from scratch) and sausages • Sunday: scrambled eggs with cheese, ham, and potatoes

Lunch. This rotation varies greatly depending on what we have purchased on sale and what leftovers we have in the refrigerator. Here's a sample: • Monday: mac and cheese and bananas (as a fruit, not mixed in!) • Tuesday: yogurt with fruit and crackers • Wednesday: PB&J with orange slices • Thursday: tuna fish sandwiches and apples • Friday: leftovers • Saturday: lunch meat sandwiches and pickles • Sunday: BLTs

overspenditis." Today, people can become infected with this condition from watching too much television, reading too many magazines and catalogs, or hanging out with free-spending friends. Unknowingly, Paul and Sara had been lured into believing that they needed to have and do all the things they saw their friends doing—whether or not the money was there.

son of the steward." As the nicknames make clear, we don't like to spend a lot of money. But we don't economize just for the sake of skimping.

Set up cash envelopes for the three categories where you most commonly overspend. The most commonly overspent categories we've seen are food, clothing, and recreation. Make a game of it to see how much of your cash remains in the envelope at the start of the next

it allows us to go to Walmart and more easily "ad-match

If you make a commitment to living within your means and using menu planning as a helpful tool, you might have to put in some extra effort and research, but the rewards can be incredibly delicious as you save money and expand your culinary expertise.

Now he says that they taste more like "sweet dirt.

Commit to not going back to the store no matter what. If you run out of something like a spice or an accompanying vegetable, substitute with something else.

Annette says that if you want your husband to help you shop, giving him an electronic toy like a walkie-talkie is a great way to get him to "play.

Okay, here's the tough part, but we know you can do it. If you run out of an ingredient or forget an item, substitute it with something else, borrow it from a neighbor, or make a different meal—just don't go back to the store. You can do it—it may take some time to perfect your system, but eventually it will be as easy as breathing.

Do a Google search for local farmers or food co-ops.

Other stores put closeout or discontinued items on a shelf or cart in the back of the store.

carefully check my receipts before I leave the store. In the last six trips, I've found errors on four occasions. This meant that I received the mischarged item for