I love blogs -- the community, the near-constant stream of inspiration and challenge. I love connecting with other people on topics that are of interest to me. But one of the dangers of reading blogs is that I can often walk away feeling discouraged. It's so easy for bloggers to leave the impression that they have everything together, even if that's not their intention. You read a "how to organize" post and feel like a schmuck because your closet is in disarray. You read a "how to manage your laundry" post and feel like a complete failure because you've been pulling clothes out of the dryer for the past week. You read a "feed your family whole foods Keep Reading

On Monday, I shared my initial thoughts on TLC's new reality show, Extreme Couponing. The show spends quite a bit of time showing each participant's stockpile and viewers tend to be intrigued and sometimes downright horrified about the stockpile situation. Oh, the judgement just pours out of people's fingers (because they are typing, right?). "No one needs that much mustard." "It's just wasteful to store that much toothpaste." "It looks like an episode of Hoarders." Errk. (That's the sound of me putting on the brakes.) Stop. Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Stockpiling and hoarding are two very different things. Stockpiling vs. Keep Reading

The most commonly asked question asked at my Strategic Couponing class is this: How do you practically plan and execute shopping trips? It's very difficult for beginners to visualize how to do multiple transactions and how to make this work during their week. I thought it might be helpful to give you a quick glimpse at my "deal" trips this week. First, it's important to note that I make a distinction between "deals" and "regular" shopping trips. My "regular" trips are usually to WinCo and I am buying only what I will need in the next four weeks at the most. I buy generic and typically don't use many manufacturer's coupons as WinCo's generic prices Keep Reading