Find Rebates, Coupons, and More at DealCatcher

I'll admit, I'm not organized enough to be a regular coupon clipper. I tend to miss the expiration dates. But I found this site tonight and it just might motivate me.

DealCatcher has coupons for just about any store you can think of offhand, from 1800Contacts to Zales and lots in between. Categories include clothes, cameras, jewelry, sporting goods, travel, and more. There are printable coupons, price comparisons, even a forum to join where members can post coupons they find.

They also offer an option to sign up for Deal Alerts, email notifications based on keywords you specify. You have the choice to receive emails daily or as soon as an update occurs.

With all this help ,you may even be able to save some money by not buying a newspaper anymore.

Recycled DIY Draft Stopper

Help lower your electricity bill with draft stoppers at your doors. You can make your own super-fast, easy, and free using materials you already have.

Materials

• Old pair of jeans (don't fit anymore, holes, etc)


• Old towels (also old t-shirts, unmatched socks, etc)


• 2 large rubber bands (or ribbon)

Directions
Cut one leg of the jeans off as high as possible.
Stuff the leg with the towels, t-shirts, socks. Don't overfill it.
Fold over one end of the leg and secure with a rubber band or ribbon, then do the other end of the leg the same way.
Put the draft stopper in front of the door.

You can make two at once by cutting off both legs of the jeans. You can also embellish it if you like. Stay warm!

Budget Tip - Paying Yourself

Trying to save money by putting a little aside at the end of the month generally doesn't work, because by then it's all spent. You can change that by paying yourself before you take care of other things. Even if it's only $10-20 a month at first, taking a little out of each paycheck at the beginning to set aside can start building up. It might mean having to bring a lunch from home a coupe of times or some other small sacrifice, especially toward the end of the month, but it will be manageable when you see you're actually saving some money finally.

Money Saving Tip - Quit Smoking

No, this isn't a lecture on the evils of smoking. It's a logical conclusion I've come to in an effort to cut my budget. I smoke a little under a pack a day, depending on how late I stay up (usually pretty late). So at about $4.50 a pack I'd save roughly $135 per month. If I can get my husband to quit with me that's about $275 saved monthly.

An added benefit to quitting, aside from all the healthy stuff, is that it can also cut the monthly health insurance payment by about $50 by my calculations. So that would be around $325 saved a month just by both of us giving up smoking, or about $160 if it's just me. Not bad.

Since I can't afford kits, patches, gums, etc, to help me quit, I've found a couple of free online resources that seem to be pretty helpful.

Quit4Good is a website dedicated to helping people quit smoking. Categories include ways to quit, weight gain, and common triggers.

Quit Smoking Journals offers free journals to keep while you're quitting with a large group of supportive people in different stages of quitting smoking themselves.

So I'll quit smoking and save money, and maybe when my budget allows I'll start again. But hopefully not.