Saving Money at the Grocery Store

It's not just working adults that are feeling the squeeze of the economy. College students have always had to watch their budgets closely, and these days its only worse. So with the economy on the decline everyone is taking a step back and reexamining where their disposable incomes are going. One easy way to save some cash for college students is shopping for essentials with a more frugal attitude. Comparing gas prices, not eating fast food every day, and even checking online and different book stores for the cheapest prices on books are just some of the ways to expand the dollar. Grocery shopping is a huge budget maker but has never seemed to be college student's forte. LifeWhile.com wants to give tips to those fighting the supermarket battle. Below is part of their effort. It is the top 5 ways to save money while grocery shopping. The entire list is 15 different money saving advice points. Perfect for a college student, or anyone trying to limit their greenback use.

1. Don't shop for groceries when you are hungry. It's just common sense, right? And yet, it's the most important thing when it comes to saving money and staying under budget at the grocery store. Going to the grocery store hungry will make everything look good, and therefore a necessity, causing you to spend more money than you should. Have a snack before you go, and your budget will be happier.

2. Always make a list.Creating lists will not only help ensure that you don't find yourself back at the grocery store three days later because you forgot to get some eggs, but they will also lead you to exact points of the grocery store for the items that you need and help you to bypass the impulse items that you really don't need. Focus on the list and try not to diverge from it.Along the same lines, try to cut the number of visits you make to the grocery store. Instead of shopping twice a week, shop for two weeks' worth of groceries at a time.Why? One study says the average U.S. consumer spends more than $10 on impulse buys every trip to the supermarket. By cutting trips from twice a week to once every two weeks, you can save more than $500 a year on your bill and still get every item on your list.

3. Make a menu for the week.A menu for the week serves a similar purpose to a list. Pick meals for the week that all incorporate similar ingredients so that you don't have to buy a lot of different items.

4. Grocery shop backward.The cheapest items in the grocery store (produce) are the first items that you see. Start from the other end and work your way back. You'll be purchasing the most expensive items first and will know how much you have remaining for the fruits and vegetables.Also, make sure your veggies and fruit are dry before you put them on the scale. If they have just been sprayed with water, they will weigh more and cost more.

5. Look down.Here's tip you may not have heard of before: Look down while shopping at the grocery store. In many grocery stores, the best bargains are closer to the floor. The pricier items are often at eye level. Check out LifeWhile.com for the complete list. LifeWhile.com specializes in articles and advice for making the most of life.

The Hunt for Another Earth

NASA's new planet-hunting Kepler telescope launched into space late Friday, lighting up the night sky above Florida as it began an ambitious mission to seek out Earth-like planets around.

Kepler took off atop Delta 2 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:49 (CST). The $600 million spacecraft will gaze at a single region of our Milky Way galaxy for at least three years in a planetary census that, scientists say, could fundamentally alter humanity's view of its role in the universe.

"At the end of those three years, we'll be able to answer, 'Are there other worlds out there or are we alone?'" said William Borucki, Kepler's principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., before launch.

Named after the 17th century German scientist Johannes Kepler, who discovered the laws of planetary motion, NASA's Kepler spacecraft will use those laws to seek out Earth-like worlds around distant stars.

The spacecraft will point its unblinking eye at a patch of sky near the constellations Cygnus and Lyra, where it will scan some 100,000 stars for the telltale dip in brightness that signals a planet crossing in front of its parent star as seen from Earth. The tiny "wink" in light that Kepler is designed to measure with 95 million-pixel camera is comparable to a person trying to watch a flea cross a car's headlight from miles away, NASA officials have said.

Since 1995, astronomers have discovered nearly 340 planets beyond our own Solar System, but the search has turned up mainly inhospitable worlds the size of Jupiter or larger that circle parent stars in orbits too extreme to sustain life as we know it.

Flight controllers plan to spend the next two months performing a series of tests to make sure Kepler is healthy and ready to work. If all goes well, the protective dust cover shielding Kepler's telescope eye will open about three weeks after liftoff.

Mission scientists hope to begin spotting larger Jupiter-like planets first, and then narrow the hunt down to Earth-like worlds as the mission wears on. While Kepler is designed to last about 3 1/2 years, it carries enough fuel to run for six years, they said.

But first, NASA has to get the spacecraft into its planet-hunting position.

"We have a lot of calibrations to do," Fanson said.

Below is a video animation of Kepler being launched and the sequences thereafter once out of Earth's atmosphere.

Paid to Go Away

As the economy continues its downward spiral, credit card companies are feeling the pinch and taking unheard of steps to combat the battle.

Some companies have been offering customers monetary gifts to alleviate their outstanding balances and close their accounts. With defaults on the rise, the credit card companies are taking a hit with delinquent accounts and those customers choosing only to pay the minimum balance.

American Express is offering a select number of account holders a $300 gift card if they pay off their remaining balance and cancel the card. Citibank is actually offering to match a portion of clients' payments over the minimum amount due per month.

Other companies are simply raising those minimum payments. Most credit card issuers are taking a step back during this time of economic turmoil. Scaling back on issuing cards, making more selective choices to those considered and lowering credit limits are just some of the strategies being used.

Some companies may be helping customers by helping themselves but others like Chase are issuing tougher penalties to make an impact on their customers. Chase, owned by JPMorgan is tacking on a ten dollar a month fee for two year outstanding balances.

American Express plans also to cut back expenses along with their offers to customers and plans to save $1.8 billion in 2009.

Eligible consumers for the American Express offer received a special code that, when redeemed online by Feb. 28, immediately cancels their account and sets the offer clock in motion. Fail to pay off the balance in full by April 30 and you'll be out on both the account and the gift card. (The remaining balance must be paid off under your regular card rate and minimum monthly payment.)

There was a time when credit card companies catered to a wide range of customers. This in hopes to reel in more clients to spend more money. Recently, this plan has backfired with unpaid debt balances and slashed consumer spending. The economy seems to be taking its toll on everything, even the all mighty plastic.

Below is a video of Credit Card minimums on the rise and how it can actually help you.