How do moms save money?

I feed our family of four on $40/week. I don't clip coupons for the very reasons you mentioned! Haha. The things I do are this: I have a set day to go shopping...for me it is Monday. I sit down and write down the meals we are going to have for the week including desserts and snacks. Then I write down every Item that I don't have and will need to buy. Next to each item on the list I write the expected price down and if I am too high I figure out what Items I need to change or cut out. Then when I am at the store I write the actual prices down and keep adding it up. This way I am never surprised by how much the bill is. A big key is to be strict about sticking to the list which is hard sometimes because my boys want everything! I know this sounds tedious but I love doing it. It is really one of the few ways that I feel like I get to contribute to the family monetarily.