In 2009 Anna Newell Jones of And Then We Saved was over $23,000 in debt.

Instead of just cutting back her spending, she decided to stop spending as much as possible on things she didn't truly need, a pattern that she turned into her trademarked Spending Fast.

The trickiest areas to cut back, she found, tended to be groceries and clothing.

"Realizing that groceries were one of the few precious Needs-Only items I allowed myself to spend money on, I wanted to stretch every penny and shop as smartly as possible," writes Newell Jones in her upcoming book, "The Spender's Guide to Debt-Free Living."

Below, find 12 tricks Newell Jones shares in her book to save money on groceries: