What I’ve been doing.

thMade it back from the annual Talkeetna fling late Sunday afternoon, in one piece but very tired. Either I’m getting older or the late hours, odd eating habits and weirdly crappy weather (freezing rain despite ground temps in the 20s) took more out of me than I thought.

Before I recap that bacchanal, allow me to share a few recent happenings. 

Despite my previously stated position on why you shouldn’t write for free, I recently did just that. But donating “Want to cut costs? Get yourself a frugal filter (or two)” to the Wise Bread blog was a professional courtesy, which is one of the few reasons to give it away. Will Chen and Greg Go have both been helpful and supportive to me and I wanted to return the favor.

Read more

Need a reason to save? Here’s a $10,000 reason.

Donna-FreedmanSeptember is National Coupon Month, and Valpak and Savings.com are sponsoring a campaign called “10,000 Reasons to Save.”

The idea is to highlight the “tangible, long-term impact” that coupons can have on our lives.

Coupons have made a major difference in my life, especially when I was a broke single mother and a broke middle-aged college student. Maybe they’ve made a big impact in your life, too – and if so, you can share your story for a chance to win up to $10,000.

That would be a pretty big impact, too. 

The Reasons to Save website invites readers to contribute short essays (250 to 500 words) about their specific reason to save – buy a house? have a baby? put an existing baby through college one day? – and how smart coupon use could support that long-term goal.

Read more