The weekly trip to the supermarket can make or break the family budget. It’s so easy to loose track of spending while walking around filling a trolley. Once the shop’s tallied at the checkout there’s no turning back.

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OECD figures show Australian food prices rose over 40 per cent in the ten years between 2000 and 2010. That’s faster than any other major developed economy. Our two big supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths, have a tight grip on the market and push up prices. They charge top dollar and push customers to spend more than they need. Start fighting back.

1. Take a list

The average Australian household spends 12 per cent of its income on groceries. I bet you can cut that down by sticking to a list. Sit down on the weekend and plan all meals for the following week. Check the pantry and fridge before going shopping and work out exactly what you have to buy. Make a comprehensive shopping list of all the food needed for the week and stick to it.

If “special” promotions or check out goodies are too tempting, and you have trouble sticking to the list, try shopping online. It’s easy to compare prices and keep track of spending. The initial shop may take a bit of time as you wade through pages of products, but the site should save your choices to make the next shop much quicker.

2. Shop smart

Supermarkets position products a certain way to get customers to spend more. Eye-level shelves are prime position and usually contain the most expensive brands. Look above or below these shelves for a similar item at a lower price. Generic brands don’t look as flash but can save a lot of money.

Make sure so-called bargain bins will really save you money and the supermarket isn’t just trying to get rid of excess stock at regular prices.

Anh Do makes me laugh… a lot.

He is one of those genuine blokes you can’t help warm to. But it’s not only his sense of humour. To me he has a real depth of character. You know, one of those blokes who looks to have a lot more to him than that big outward grin.

Apart from making you laugh I reckon he’d be such a solid friend, a deep thinker and have a really well defined set of values.

I’ve just finished reading Ahn’s autobiography “The Happiest Refugee”. I laughed out loud while reading it… and I cried. It is an amazing tale and would make a perfect Father’s Day or Christmas present.

Why am I giving it such a big plug? Because it will open your eyes (and your heart) to what it is to be a refugee.

Don’t start with the “here he goes again with all this refugee stuff”.

Hear me out.

The face of Australia is changing… just as it did when Anglo Saxons started coming out and again after World War 2 when there was a big intake of Southern European migrants.

Just look at your kid’s school room and the number children from an Asian heritage… most of them were born here and have a broad Aussie accent.

Just as many people know the story of their First Fleet ancestors or, as in my case, of the Germans who came to South Australia under the Wakefield Scheme, The Happiest Refugee tells a similar story but of a Vietnamese refugee.

Do you ever catch yourself wondering about some of the strange human gestures and things we do in our everyday lives which, when you really think about it, are pretty darn strange?

In my job I shake a lot of hands. It’s just one of those things you do. Handshakes to meet people, greet people, to say goodbye, to say good on ya. Handshakes are ingrained in our lives and our society, you give them without a second thought. But when you really look at it, the handshake is a pretty strange custom, especially when you consider the importance it has in our social lives. And the problem is they can get so confusing.

It’s nothing more than two hands coming together in a grasp with a few little shakes up and down. But think about it’s significance. It establishes relationships between two strangers. It seals multi-million dollar business deals. It ends wars. It unites nations. When it comes to business and politics the handshake is the photographed part of any important meeting…. Remember Mark Latham’s vice like grip of John Howard which single handedly (sorry about the pun) turned an election.

So I couldn’t help wondering the other day after shaking a few hands how this all came about. Where on earth did this random little action come from? Well it turns out the handshake is about as old a custom as any surviving today. So old that there’s no real record of its true origin. But the most common belief is that it was born in Ancient Greece as a gesture between two people showing they weren’t carrying any weapons. The shake was possibly to check no daggers were hidden up the others’ sleeve.

Pretty amazing thinking that this everyday shake of a hand which you do without even thinking, is really an ancient custom that has survived centuries, empires, wars and revolutions.

These days it’s a thing of complexity but for different reasons. Because a simple handshake can mean so many things. It’s a judge of character and often the first impression you have of a person. And to be honest, handshake etiquette can be pretty perplexing, and at times exhausting.

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