Best way to save money.... The real secret

Ok ready for the biggest ahh haa moment I came to this year as we "worked out" a budget? you got it... Don't spend money... the less money you spend the more money you save. in theory that works wonderful, even saying out loud or seeing it "works."  So how do you get to the point that you don't spend money..... hummm that is the question?

Although I don't have everything figured out, and usually it takes a lot of mojo to "save money" This is what I have learned

First start small, I have a stock pile that right now my family is eating out off,  because I know food sales are going to be going on in the month of November and December, and I want to save my grocery money for when the Sales are really good. So I only buy what we need for food, like milk and fresh produce. I then replace the food when prices are at a good price and stock up. (small things that really make a big difference.)

2. The Dave Ramsey envelope system does work, we use to do that in college and I hated it, but it got me in the habit of deciding just how much I wanted something, and stretching my dollar as far as it could go.  basically it's a system that let's say we have $500 a month for groceries, $200 for Gas, $50 for clothes and so on, and you put that money in an envelope and use that money for when you need cash from that category. (this means you don't use your credit/debit card.) I have done the same thing with a gift card from the grocery store, I would load up x amount we have to spend that month on groceries and then when the money was out... you guessed it I was done grocery shopping for the month.

3. Don't window shop. I use to love to "window" shop but $200 later I was like opps I did it again right? so I don't window shop. That temptation is gone when you don't window shop.

4 What motivates you to save money. Remember that I don't like to save money with out some serious mojo... yup... so find out what you really want. For me I started couponning/saving money because I really love being an Artist, but I can't be a starving artist with a family to raise. So I wanted money for my art addiction, that was enough for me to figure out how couponning really worked.  Now that I have most of the Art stuff that I "need" not want, I want to save for a family vacation to Disney. I think it's a lot more do able then just saying I need to save money, get some mojo behind it and you can do it!

Those are my tidbit of knowledge on saving money. I would love to hear your comments about how you "save money by not spending money"