I had posted a request for one on this forum, and then on my local FREECYCLE site, which is where I got one eventually :) I am pretty sure you can find this yahoo group in your area...I know in San Diego they had one that I was a member of as well as here in GA. FREECYCLE will not let you request coupons per-se...but you can request the entire catalog :) my post for the coupon was initially rejected, but it's ok to ask for catalogs, papers etc. Rules, rules, rules.... the stores do not have these particular coupons (per my inquiries) and the only way to get one is to get either the catalog (mine is yet to come and I signed up online months ago) OR there is a catalog like mailer that comes out...like a big ad flyer...this is where mine came from.

Also for you capital district gardeners, Lowes in Saratoga has a small selection of perennials for $1. Unfortunately most looked pretty sad. I ended up picking up 3 blue scabiosa (pincushion flower) plants. Although they also looked kind've neglected, they looked healthier than the rest. I'll baby them this fall and I'll be hoping for healthy new shoots when they come up next spring! I can't really go wrong for my total investment of $3.00 ~ can I?! :o) adkmountaingirl Wilton, NY

I could never turn into the "Coupon Queen" because we eat simple whole foods for which you find precious few coupons. So I don't pay for expensive packaging and advertisement for my food choices, and find less-expensive alternatives for as many other things as possible. In order to keep the food budget to $50/week for 2 adults (which is the FIRST and most successful way to save money on groceries- set a spending budget, and THEN make wise choices) -- maintain a large amount of food in storage, as well as following a well-balanced diet using a large variety of food -- I purchase INGREDIENTS, with which I make foods from scratch, and avoid highly-processed convenience foods. I also take advantage of a home garden and all the free food I can gather (end-of-the season gardens friends share with me, free-for-the-picking fruit and nut trees, free berries, free grain....). FREE beats a coupon any day! I looked at a container of Bisquick Shake & Pour Pancakes ($2 for 12-15 pancakes) at the store recently (it seems to often have a coupon for it in the newspaper). There must be all of 12-cents worth of ingredients in the throw-away plastic container.... (tsk, tsk) I was thinking of all the things I can make BESIDES pancakes from those same few ingredients: flour, eggs, milk, vegetable oil, salt, sugar and baking powder. So the pancake mix isn't very versatile compared to ingredients. There appear to be more food-related coupons that contribute to the "over-fed and under-nourished" in this country. Even the so-called "healthy" selections are simply over-priced, feel-good items which are ALSO highly-processed. It's important to remember for every 50-cents saved using a coupon, it's estimated that you also need to spend $2.00. And as my husband likes to point out, the only way to SAVE money is NOT to spend it (but I digress - LOL). I've seen them called IMPULSE COUPONS. These are the coupons people use to try some new items they may not normally try; things children see advertised on TV and come under the heading of KID IMPULSE COUPONS; and MOMMY IMPULSE COUPONS for makeup, hair-care products, unnecessary laundry add-ins, etc... That being said, I use coupons, but I normally stack the savings - get double value, purchasing an item that is also a loss leader or otherwise reduced or discounted, and see if I can also take advantage of a rebate. I purchase groceries from Dillons, Aldi, and Wal-Mart, and bulk items from a number of sources. To date: $2,200 total in food budget for the year. Spent at Dillons: $934.20 Saved: (according to the bottom of the last receipt) $505.78 this year. This is the only store I use coupons. -Grainlady

Lukki, now that you mention it, I did feel a bit like I was going to be on Candid Camera! I did almost laugh when I reread my original post, although I did not think it was funny when I was writing it and certainly not when it was happening to me. Olychick, my bank has a branch inside the Ralphs market in Westchester, and so I do my banking there. The branch that I go to in Marina Del Rey does not have drive through. I do not think I have seen any drive through banks in Los Angeles. It's bad enough when Randy's Donuts near my house has traffic backed up to go to its drive through. My car is very much a compact and I bought it to use as a commuter car for the 1-1/3 miles I had to drive to and from work. It gets very good mileage, and I'm still comfortable taking it on a road trip as far as Palm Springs, San Diego, or Paso Robles. I haven't driven it as far as San Francisco or Sacramento, and I'm not sure I would want to, but it would certainly be easier to park if I did. I don't feel bad about using gasoline, since I use so little.