Welcome, to stay in the know with my blog updates subscribe to my RSS feed. For bi-weekly coupon news and deals sign up for my newsletter. Thanks for visiting!Every month I have half a dozen finance and business magazines arriving at my house. Yet no magazine gets me as excited at Real Simple. This is my indulgence magazine. Forget about gossip, tell me how to be efficient and practical.
We are constantly reminded to be green and to recycle instead of adding to the landfills. But do you ever wonder …

With the holiday season coming up, gift cards will be a great gift option for many shoppers. Most shoppers know to look for deals when purchasing items as gifts, but do you know to look for deals when purchasing gift cards? Here are some tips on getting gift cards for less:
1. Shop during special occasions – Retailers have gift card promotions during major holidays such as Christmas, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Many times they will offer an added bonus to a gift card purchase. You especially see this at restaurants. The …

A friend of mine is getting married and asked me for some advice on how to cut her wedding costs. The average wedding these days costs around $30,000, so even saving 10% can be a great amount of savings. It’ll definitely help with the honeymoon. So here are a few of the tips I shared with her:
1. Look for non-wedding vendors for wedding deals. For example, Costco.com offers Weddings at Costco where you can purchase flowers, invitations and even your honeymoon.
2. Consider bundling or unbundling services. For example, some …

It’s time to buy toner again. While I hate the high price of toner cartridges, I love getting great deals on them. Today I ordered my toner from Staples.com for $79 which is about half of the advertised price of $155. How did I manage to pull such a deal? Here are my steps:
1. I checked out Amazon’s Toner Prices and found the same toner for $108. (Note: make sure you only look at products sold by Amazon.com and not other sellers.)
2. I called Staples and asked about their 110% price match …

Here are this week’s school supply deals:
If you have been waiting for a great deal on a graphing calculator, now is the time to buy. Office Depot has the TI-83 Plus for $65 and Staples has the TI-84 Plus for $70 (both after rebate.)
Office Depot
10 cents: Acrylic 12″ ruler
20 cents: Office Depot brand school glue
25 cents: Westcott 5″ scissors
50 cents: Wood pencils 12-pk and PaperMate ballpoint stick pens 10-pk
99 cents: Wirebound notebooks 6-pk and Uni-Ball Jetstream ballpoint pens 3-pk
(The above deals are only valid Sunday - Wednesday.)
Free After Rebate: Sharpie fine …

In time for back to school shopping, many states will have a sales tax holiday this month, especially this first weekend. Qualified purchases are exempt from state sales tax. Here is the Guide to State Sales Tax Holidays which includes participating states, dates and qualified purchases.
It’s going to be busy at the stores, so here are some tisential tips to help parents save money and their sanity:
1. Know what is sales tax free ahead of time. It will be a busy weekend and you don’t want any surprises after waiting …

Chipotle has a special promotion in Georgia and Iowa. (Those are the only states I am aware of having this promotion. If there are others, please share.) Chipotle customers who purchase a burrito, taco, salad or burrito bowl on July 30 and/or July 31, can return Aug. 2 and Aug. 3 for a free burrito, burrito bowl, order of tacos or salad, with proof of previous purchase.
Chipotle Promotion in Georgia
Chipotle Promotion in Iowa
Thanks to a gracious reader for sharing this deal.

A friend of mine recently told me she was laid off. She seemed surprised but I wasn’t. Not that she was a bad employee, but because she worked for a home products company. With the dramatic drop in home sales and the shrinking of the credit markets providing home equity loans, it was just a matter of time before companies selling home products and services would see a drop in their business as well.I had nudged her to look for a new job last year when the economy and especially …

These days with the high cost of gas everyone is talking about the cost of ownership of a car, specifically large cars like SUVs and trucks. While the price of gas greatly affects the cost of ownership of a car (as well as affecting your wallet) there are many other ways to think about the cost of ownership in your daily life.
While the initial cost of items on sale seem enticing, it’s important to take a step back and examine the cost of ownership. As the new iPhone came out, …

We all have routines. We do the same things everyday without thinking about them. Yet, if you step back and examine your daily consumption, you might find ways to cut back. I don’t mean giving up anything, just using less.
To show you what I mean, I will share my daily routine and what items I am now using less.
Morning
I started using half of my regular amount of shampoo and body wash and I still get clean. I don’t have as many suds as before, but I still have enough to …