Karen’s Opinion

Have you watched any of the episodes of Coupon Moms? While I do think these ladies take their couponing to extremes, I am inspired by their quest to save money. They are probably already aware of Savings.com coupons. I am happy to have recently discovered this website. I have always been one to check out the online coupon websites so I have some knowledge as to which sites have the best coupons and link codes for savings.

Savings.com has coupons for just about everything you could imagine. I was so happy to see that they even have a coupon code to save 20% at Vera Bradley. Christmas is coming and my daughter in-law loves Vera Bradley bags.

Halloween is coming soon so if you need a costume, don’t try to be a super mom and sew a new costume. Check out Savings.com for the saving codes at BuyCostumes.com. Savings.com also has coupon codes for your everyday needs like cosmetics from Drugstore.com.

Savings.com is also geared to the local economy. I clicked on the local tab and discovered I can buy restaurant gift certificates for two very popular restaurants in my town and that the gift certificates are half the cost of what I would pay just walking into their venue. I am getting some great gift ideas!

Check out Savings.com and start saving money!

Hubby and I consider using gas money a luxury. We like to go for drives. I never looked at our love of driving as luxury but now that the cost of gas is so high, driving almost feels like a vice.

After eating Chinese food at our favorite Chinese restaurant tonight, we went for a drive to see what was going on in neighborhoods around our house. I don’t think I have ever seen so many empty houses in my life! I was however, encouraged to see that a few homes that have been empty for months were spruced up by new owners. When the price of gasoline goes down, people are more hopeful and go from renting to owning a home. A friend of ours works for a moving company in our small town and he thinks things are looking up. He had been picking up truck runs that took him across country. He prefers the small moves that allow him to see more of his family. The past few weeks he has been working closer to home and is hoping that new home ownership increases. I’m with him in thinking things are on the way up.

What do you think? Are things beginning to stabilize where you live?

Do you remember when Meryl Streep was under the impression that apples had some sort of chemical on them that were bad for our health? She is a very famous actress so, when she got on her soapbox, the apple industry suffered. I am under the impression that the same thing has happened with the egg industry. Eggs are bad for you, they are good for you. What are we to believe?

When making any decision, whether it be about the food we eat, travel destinations and the like, it is best to do our own research. Check out the websites of informed individuals and listen to what they have to say. Hopefully, they have already researched the product and came to a conclusion that we can study before deciding what is best for ourselves.

The same holds true when investing. Many of us have little money to invest so when we do, it is wise to follow the steps of the large investors. They are advised from financial advisers who are well versed in the economics of our times. Whether you wish to invest in stocks or bonds or gold production, the advice that private and large scale institutional clients use is available to the private investor as well.

This is a sponsored post in which I was compensated to write about the subject of finances.

This might sound like a crazy thing to be excited about but, I just found out that my husband and I have a preventative clause in our health insurance policy. That means that we can both have a colonoscopy! I don’t know if that is how to spell that procedure but I know that we have been concerned about having it done. We are at that age when we need to have things checked out and catch small things before they get big.

Another thing that makes me happy is the state of our IRA accounts. I have been afraid to even look at how they are doing since the stock market went into a tailspin a few years ago. Well, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they are doing better. We have been considering some mobile trading or online trading to offset some losses that have set us back quite a bit.

Getting older is for the birds! but life is as good as we make it.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of PBM Products. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hubby and I have been discussing how the economy is affecting our shopping habits. That led me to research Recession, Recovery & Store Brands as they apply to our family.

I’m embarrassed to admit I had never been the type of shopper who clipped coupons or compared prices. I work full time and when I go to the grocery, I want to get in and get out. The economy is forcing me to take a hard look at how I can save money. Our utility bills have increased. It takes more money to fill our gas tanks. You don’t want to get me started on how much our health insurance premiums have risen over the past year. We need to save money and I have a few ideas as to how we can manage that.

We can buy the lowest grade of gasoline for our cars. I read that it doesn’t make a difference in how cars run if you put a low octane fuel in them so why pay for the most expensive gasoline?

We can cut out the extra channels we pay for on our cable bill. We can turn out lights and unplug things when we go to bed. We can clip coupons and start buying store brands at the grocery.

I recently read an article that surprised me. I discovered that:

- 8 of 10 supermarket shoppers see no improvement in the economy, and 40% say things have actually gotten worse in recent months.

- 62% of consumers plan to buy more Store Brand products like Parent’s Choice as they deal with the tough economy.

- Shoppers who identify themselves as frequent buyers of store brands are at an all-time high (57% of shoppers)

- 43% of shoppers are trying Store Brands for the first time in categories where they used to buy only national brands.
- Virtually all (97%) of shoppers who switched to a Store Brand are happy with their new choice.

*49% say their new Store Brand selections compare “very favorably”
^^ Up from 35% in June 2009

I plan to put myself in the percentage that makes better choices and buy store brands whenever possible. It is not a choice but more so a necessity.

What are you doing to save money during these trying times?