I really need to do better

Most people think I am the most organized person they know. This might be true in some areas in my life but lacks so badly in others. I have been doing a really bad job with my food/household item spending. I think from watching Extreme Couponing and seeing all of the people in the stores with monster-sized binders I have become very turned off by it all. Strange huh? Usually shows like that and seeing people save a ton of money should be motivating. It's just not the case for me. I have decided that I need to take action and maximize my dollars. I am starting with picking one day a week to do grocery shopping. I will make an organized list and use coupons accordingly. This will mean meal planning. I think I can only meal plan for up to a week. I have been noticing the popular trend of "freezer meals". I need to look into that. If I stick to that plan maybe it will keep me out the store more and save not only on impulse purchases but also fuel.

Speaking of fuel, I was startled to see that some cities have already hit the $5 and some change bracket. That scares me since I do a lot of local back and forth driving. We decided as a family that we will not be doing much dining out or even attend birthday parties of other social events that can add up. It sounds like we are being cheap but the bottom line is what the heck do you do if an emergency hits? I know that I plan on keeping my rainy day fund! I have been very free with my spending lately and I know I need to do better. I had to go on Budget Billing with our power company since the weather has been so wacky. To say that we have not had too many freezing days I still have seen so higher than normal bills. Maybe I cook too much? Wash too much? Who knows, I just figured if I publicly talk about what I need to do I might feel pressured to keep at it.

Do you have any strategies in place to keep your finances in check? Do you have any meal planning sites you can share? Thank you, I need all the help I can get!