Valentine’s Day 2012: Let me do your shopping.

Yep, it’s early. I’m putting the Valentine’s Day giveaway up to allow plenty of time for the winner to receive the package and re-gift it.

That is, if the winner really wants to – the items range from the sublime to the ridiculous. All might be hard to turn loose once you see them.

Let’s start with the sublime: three new kinds of chocolate.

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Up for grabs: All You magazine plus cookbook.

This week’s giveaway is a six-month subscription to All You magazine, which thrifty types love for its numerous coupons and its life hacks.

Oh, and its recipes. Can’t forget those, which is why I’m throwing in a copy of All You’s new “Eat Well, Save Big” cookbook.

And if you’re not the winner? You can take advantage of a $6 subscription deal.

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Your money: The missing manual.

Thanks to all who left comments here and on the Facebook page or e-mailed after my daughter lost her baby. Your expressions of sympathy and support were much appreciated during this sad time in our family’s life.

To get back on track, I decided I’d better keep my giveaway streak alive. Up this week is a copy of J.D. Roth’s “Your Money: The Missing Manual.”

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Want to survive “Blue Monday”? Maybe a Chicken Chucker would help.

Each year a mid-January day is designated “Blue Monday” — allegedly the most depressing day out of the  365 or 366, according to a formula concocted by a guy named Cliff Arnall.

A former tutor at the University of Cardiff, Arnall seems to have created Blue Monday as a publicity stunt for a travel agency. Still, the reasoning seems pretty sound to me: A combination of consumer debt from holiday spending, post-holiday letdown, crappy weather and failed New Year’s resolutions make us feel like hell.

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