Ann- I hope that your dental problems are soon resolved, but please accept my belated wishes for a many more happy anniversaries! Annie- so nice to see you pop in. Hugs to you, I know it's not easy. Dinner, well not much in the last few days at home. I'm on an economy kick to do a Costco run, supplement a bit & use up what we have. Sat night was some butternut squash soup from the freezer. Sunday brunch was a surprise party at a restaurant for my father's 85th, so dinner was a tuna melt for DH and I had some tuna salad. Last night we ate at a little Italian restaurant that didn't quite do a great job on our chicken dishes. Tonight is left over cauliflower, I'm not sure what meat or fish (scallops from Costco?) can be easily defrosted and a peach/blueberry dessert. Tomorrow night we have a business dinner at an excellent seafood restaurant and my slacks just aren't as loose as they were a few weeks ago...So, I'd better watch it!

Around here, cats are included in the leash law too. Although it's a little silly, it's fair enough. The anti-cat forces are so paranoid about the cats "hypnotizing birds" and chasing the wildlife.... since to them dogs don't chase deer or the like, but I digress. I do have to interject here though. How on earth can you not include the cost of the store trips when you're making 6 special trips to the store each week??? I hate going to a store period, but more than once every month or two makes me nauseous! But let's be real, that's excessive. Now I grant that when accepted as it being a hobby which results in a savings, OK. But not everyone can save like that. I can't save by volume spending in the grocery category. $450/wk savings is impressive. But I don't spend 1/10th of that and frankly I doubt littlejo gets that every week, do you? And I have no idea what you're buying. I've gotten bargains and enjoy getting them. I'll use coupons when it makes sense. Again, buying a paper requires a substantial savings to offset it and if you have to drive more it costs more. I look at the cost of spending less on mileage to paying more at a closer store. Saying "I get the paper anyway" doesn't cut it either. You save more by not getting the paper. I automatically save $104/year by not getting the paper. So I'd have to have $10-20 worth of coupons coming out of there every trip to the store for it to break even for me! OK, I can drive around and collect coupons from places at 15¢/mile for gas alone. It'd take a large family to make a realistic savings in that manner. And buying store brands almost always is cheaper than name brands. If the quality isn't there, fine, don't buy it. But not all name brands are good quality either. I understand, appreciate and respect coupon use in a frugal and practical way. But buying things that you wouldn't normally buy is not a good deal and cannot be included in the purported savings. Getting a good deal and donating is admirable, but again, it's not a savings, it's an expense. So let's call it what it is. Again, I respect that it's going to a good cause. But I'd still caution that far more and I'd even suggest it exponentially more people will spend more with frequent coupon use than with occasional, seldom or no coupon use. I think stats will bear this out, though I have no stats to show it. Higher earners/better educated using more coupons is believable. That's the exact group that buys TV dinners, prepared box meals, and all other target profit groups. I would also suggest that their net coupon useage would be offset by making one scratch meal a week! Funny you should mention toothpaste. I have found that I like Colgate toothpaste. I'm not normally brand-loyal on much but using the Pepsodent and other cheapies resulted in browner teeth. Colgate works well and I like it. (Crest probably would work as well) Rainbow has it on sale several times a year for 99¢/tube for the large tubes. Buying two on sale, and at a time when I'm shopping rather than a special trip is better than buying a paper, clipping a coupon, sorting it, having it with me and using it. Ideally, if I had it with and used it with the sale, it would be better, but I don't know what the value would be and face it, offsetting $100+/year to get some coupons is not a frugal practice for me. I don't enjoy the hobby so I don't use it. I commend people who do, and do it right, but let's be realistic on what's being saved. Not including a number of extra trips, postage, paper costs... well, that's only fooling yourself. Having people save coupons, well, OK. But you're making more special trips, contrary to what many will say that they go there anyway, I don't believe it. There's still special trips. A better alternative to me is to join with those people and buy a bulk of something and split it. Make your own mini co-op. Then if one has coupons on it, it's logical for them to apply it. I know a guy who likes doing coupons. It's a hobby and acknowledged as one since he's retired. It can rationalize some expense when budgeted to recreational fund but down deep a person has to understand that a dollar spent is not a dollar saved. Example to ponder: I can buy a lamp on sale for $500, with a coupon for $200 which brings the price down to $300, they can double the coupon to $400 which brings it down to $100 plus tax. Or I can replace the light bulb in the one I have for $1 for a CFL and use that. One way I spent $1. The other way I "saved" $400. Which is the bargain? No intention at all to be a couponer basher. Just promoting common sense and approaching something with open eyes and an open mind, realizing the bottom line. I guess saving money is a different definition for each of us.

Because I grew up in So Cal and lived there till I was nearly 30, I saw and met and had random encounters with celebrities all the time. Some of my favorites were when I worked for a catering company that did the wrap party for a movie Bill Murray was in in the late 70's. He ended up hanging out with a bunch of us young people and telling jokes. One night while out for dinner at a thai restaurant, my boyfriend and his friend, who were in a band, started singing a Doobie Brothers song, and then the bass player for the Doobies came over and sat with us, he was laughing at the guys and decided to join us. I was a mail carrier in the area near Universal Studios and I had many celebs on my route-Robert Blake once invited me in for breakfast; the guy who played Gary on Knotts Landing always greeted me very pleasantly. I saw Mark Harmon at McDonalds (Swoon), Ed Asner was nice to me, and he lived in a simple suburban cottage! But the one who really bothered me was Eric Estrada. EVERY TIME I'd deliver his mail, he'd be standing at his mail box and would try to flirt with me. I once yelled at him because his dog jumped in my jeep and he coudln't apologize enough. I'd see him at the grocery store all the time too. He's just as smarmy as you can imagine. My personal fave is when I was standing on line at a deli and started chatting with a tall, skinny blonde guy. We chatted about random stuff for about 10 minutes and I kept thinking "I know him from some where" but I wasn't going to ask who he was. Later, when I got home I realized it was Tom Petty! My family has a long history of theater, music and working in Hollywood. My uncle has a special effects company and he specializes in explosions. He's won an Emmy and is very good friends with a famous director. He works on several TV shows currently. But my biggest claim to fame-my Great-great Aunt was the Italian lady who Lucy Ricardo stomped grapes with in the famous I Love Lucy episode. Her son, my father's cousin, was in the band Climax-their most famous song was Precious and Few. Aunt Teresa was actually an opera singer!

I miss the old style reporting, even though it was policy to be unbiased, their look at news was neutral, but biased by what the general culture approved and it was based on the event and not on the personality