A price book, which tracks the lowest prices on the products you buy most often, is the best tool for saving money on supermarket shopping and household items. With it, you'll always know when a sale is really a good deal, when produce is in season, and when to stock up on the essentials. Here's how to make and keep this time-tested savings tool yourself -- and save as much as $1000 a year.

Tinned tomatoes are insanely cheap. I routinely purchase a 400 gram tin of store brand tomatoes for 60 cents, even though they're imported from Italy. How is that possible? A recent government investigation provides some clues -- and suggests prices might be about to go up.

Supermarkets are an essential part of modern living -- open almost all the time, selling almost everything, and selling it cheap. Nowhere is this more true than in Australia. Coles and Woolworths, our two most dominant supermarket chains, are now ranked among the top 20 biggest retailers in the world.

It’s an inevitability that every parent has to experience. A rite of passage, the “supermarket shakedown” is one that indeed shakes your maternal/paternal resolve to the core. This unique meltdown of sorts is usually precipitated by the perpetrator’s viewing of candy-coated confections, promptly followed by an unequivocal “No!”

Supermarket shopping can be like a war: you want to save money, the retailer wants you to spend more. Arm yourself for the battle by avoiding these sneaky tricks.