If you've been living on Easy Street for awhile, with few financial concerns until the recent downturns, then Famoosh Torabi's article, "7 Easy Ways to Save $100 a week" is well worth reading. I'll forward it along to my older son, who is just out of college and could be holding onto a lot more of his paycheck. He's pretty much heard it all before from me, but then he's somewhat "mother-deaf."

For the rest of us, not new to watching our dollars, I'd be interested to hear whether any of the seven ideas are new to you. Torabi's suggestions include limiting visits to the ATM, drinking at home instead of in restaurants or bars, self-manicures and pedicures, using the library.

Maybe I'm cranky today. I've been "cutting back" for a long time. So I don't agree when Torabi suggests that when using your debit card at whole Foods, you can get cash back without paying a fee. What's wrong with that suggestion? If you're trying to cut costs, you probably won't be doing a lot of your shopping at Whole Foods -- except perhaps for its store brand.

We all know it pays to read the fine print when opening new accounts and doing business transactions, but many times I don't think we realize that not reading the fine print can cost us, even if the new account has to do with saving money.

I read about a great example today on the Online Savings Blog where the author digs into Bank of America's Keep the Change saving program to find out that it is riddled with fees and pays only a paltry .2% APY on the account.

Sure Bank of America provides a match up to $250 which could help out some customers, but after you take into account the fees and the low interest rate, using a high yield savings account becomes a much better answer. Other than the Bank of America match associated with this account, the real draw for a user is the ease of saving associated with rounding up every purchase.

If you still want to use the roundup method you can use Wesabe to track your spending and transfer in your rounded-up amounts at the end of each week, just like one of the commentators over at the Online Savings Blog. Personally, I'd rather automatically transfer a specific amount to an online saving account after each paycheck than base my savings on how many times I spend money. If I saved based on a roundup of every transaction I'm too worried that I would use the savings to justify purchases I don't need to be making!

While in the dollar store recently, I witnessed a scene that must be happening in dollar stores all over North America. A Mom was helping her college-bound son pick out kitchen ware, bath ware and cleaning essentials for his first foray into life away from home. Been there, done that -- twice. But in case you haven't yet, here are my picks for the great and not-so-great deals to help you save money as you nudge your fledgling out of the nest.

1. Dishes. Check your favorite department store for inexpensive boxed sets. I saw a 16-piece set for $16.87 at Wal-Mart. At the dollar store, each piece is $1, so the boxed set is almost as cheap and certainly a lot easier to transport to a first apartment or dorm room. On the other hand, if you don't want or need four place settings and don't care if everything matches exactly, buying each piece individually could be the way to go.

2. Silverware. I saw an off brand set of 20-pieces of silverware that comes with its own storage tray. That's two items off the list for $6.97. At the dollar store, each piece costs $1 so buying the set is definitely the way to go. Even if you only need two forks, two knives and two spoons, you'll still be spending $6 at the dollar store.

I love these kinds of illustrations. They show us just how quickly a few dollars here and a few dollars there add up to big money. I admit that I'm not that frugal of a spender. I was when I started my business almost nine years ago, but since then I've become accustomed to much more spending freedom. I don't really look for sales at the grocery store, I get a regular pedicure at the salon, and I stop regularly for a cup of my favorite coffee.

Yet how many of us really stop to think about how much we're wasting each week, month, and year? I bet not many. And when people complain about being broke, an analysis like this makes it clear how many of us probably have plenty of fat that can be trimmed from our budgets.

The Digerati Life did an analysis based in part upon a recent feature at AOL Money on Top Ways to Waste Money. She added up many of the common "extras" we buy on a daily or monthly basis: coffee, gum, lottery tickets, bottled water, manicures, car washes, memberships we don't use, cable television, and the like.

Family Dollar is featuring Disney backpacks or lunch bags at $6 each. It is also featuring four-pack Kraft Handi-Snacks or four-pack Kool-aid Gels for $1 each to help fill those lunch boxes. Along with Disney and other character school supplies, the 99-cent Only Store has lunch box treats like Florida's Natural Fruit Sticks in a six-pack for 99 cents or seven mini snack boxes of Sunmaid raisins for 99 cents. Dollar Tree also has lunch box snacks like potato chips, juice boxes and fruit roll-ups in multi-packs for $1.

Dollar General is offering licensed lunch boxes in assorted styles for $5 each and backpacks in assorted styles for $8 each. I can't tell from the picture, but these backpacks look to be made of nylon material and look to have some outside pockets, whereas the Disney ones at Family Dollar look like they're some I've seen that are made of soft vinyl. If it were me, I'd go for the sturdier material.

Socks is one item of clothing that you can save a lot of money on by shopping at a dollar store. Dollar Tree is featuring kids and adult sizes in solids and patterns for $1 a pair and the 99-cent Only Store has sport socks for 99 cents a pair. I've bought socks from my local dollar store and they've stood the test of time and many washings. And Dollarama has some really cute kids socks.

Marlene Alexander is a freelance writer and dollar store diva. She writes about budget decorating using only items from the dollar store.

Meijer has a cool new site they recently launched called Meijer Mealbox, which wraps recipes, meal planning and coupons into one slick easy to use package. Mealbox is currently in beta but anyone can use it to get a better handle on meal preparation and grocery shopping. The service revolves around a widget which lets you browse recipes, complete with nutritional info, and add them to a weekly planner under breakfast, lunch dinner and other to plan the week ahead.

As soon as you add an item to the meal planner the ingredients are automatically added to the shopping list for the week. This is where Mealbox really starts to shine -- the grocery list is grouped by ingredient type so that you only need to look at one section of the list as you go through the store. No more realizing you needed shredded cheese at the last minute because you wrote it next to deodorant on your list. It gets better -- anything you add to your list that is on sale that week is marked on the list with the sale price. Finally, if there are any coupons available from Meijer or the manufacturer for the items on your list, the coupon is embedded right below the list so it prints out at the same time.

As a regular Meijer shopper, I can't wait to add this tool to my weekly routine of grocery shopping. I love the fact that I can sort the recipes by meal type, ingredients or by special diet requirements to find what I am looking for. I wish I could sort by recipes with sale items this week so that I could get the best bang for my buck. My only other complaint is that I can't change the serving size of the recipe to reflect the fact that we are cooking for two. Still, the service is in beta and I can easily adjust the quantities on the shopping list for the time being. This is an excellent tool and is a prime example of a company that "gets" its customers. Now if only they would implement a tool attached to my cart that would push all those annoying "aisle talkers" out of my way!

If you are looking to cut a chunk out of your technology expenses than the quickest way to save money and be environmentally friendly is to carefully monitor what you are printing. Lifehacker has a great roundup of ways to cut down on how much you print. Before you scoff this off as yet another "stop buying a latte" methods of saving, take note that ink costs roughly $2,701 per gallon and doesn't require that you lower your intake of any addictive substances!

You don't need to throw your printer out to save money, thanks to technology there are many ways to save money by printing only what you really need. My favorites from the list of ink saving include printing only the selection you need, which comes in especially useful if you handle a lot of excel spreadsheets. Another of my favorite methods is to print to a PDF rather than using up ink and paper. Setting up a PDF printer is easy and free and doubles as a great way to track your online purchases. I keep a folder on my computer with receipts and warranty information stored as PDFs that way I can easily find the information when I need it.

Even if you consider yourself a master of technology this list has some great new ways to track and reduce your printing. Reducing your printing is an easy way to save money; even if you only save 2 reams of paper and a set of ink refills by changing your printing habits you'll have easily saved $50. If you happen to be a small business owner trimming your printing down is a quick way to cut office supplies, waste removal and likely storage since you'll be inclined to keep that paper in a box, in a closet somewhere for the next 5 years.

What is your favorite way to cut back on printing unneeded pages?

Well the Boomers are crying now. Market is down, 401k's are shrinking, and dreams of early retirement fading. The mad bull market that had us believe it would go up forever has faltered. The gains were so exciting it was easy to lose sight of the real goals and priorities. Financial accumulation became a mission rather than a means to an end.

I know, I know, what about retirement. Well what about it? Personally I don't believe in retirement, I believe in working. Work and activity are the measures of physical and mental health. Ideally, you are passionate about the work you do and it gives your life meaning. We are the only country in the world that has this ridiculous viewpoint of a magical age where we are not longer suppose to work. And WE didn't have it before the advent of social security. After all, the word retire was only used twice in the Bible, and in both cases as a punishment.

Seems so old fashioned, clipping coupons. Sitting at the kitchen table with your coffee and little pair of scissors. Something your Aunt Tish was famous for. If it seems musty, and not something people do so much anymore, you're in good company. Coupon redemption has been falling for the last decade. Until recently, that is. And with an online twist, of course.

According to this report in the New York Times, the number of visits to thrift-oriented websites that feature coupons are up by about a third in the last year. And sites like Coupons.com and Couponwinner.com are reporting spikes in traffic.

Why is this? Leaping food prices and $4 gasoline for starters. According to the article, the founder of Coupons.com, Steven Boal, says traffic has grown steadily in recent years, but spiked upward last fall as consumers got "more aggressive" in their finding and printing out coupons, especially for everyday products like milk and cereal.

With food prices soaring into the stratosphere ($5.69 for a box of shredded wheat?!), the coupon section of the Sunday paper that was so easily cast aside when property values were showing double-digit appreciation every year is making a comeback.

But, according to the clip from The Today Show shown below, online coupon sites like Coupons.com, are taking market share. Be sure to check out that site -- lots of coupons, totally free, nothing to register for, no strings attached.

One woman spent it on training her puppy. Another couple spent theirs fixing their car. One woman bought a fancy Dyson vacuum cleaner and commented, (I paraphrase here) "I hope it sucks as good and long as this president and administration has." Ouch. But, you know, a valid observation, nicely tied into the current political/economic morass which produced such notions as economic stimulus checks in the first place.

How'd you spend your stimulus check? Before you tell us, check out others who've gone before you. It's all here at Howispentmystimulus.com.

Started by a Park Slope (Brooklyn) resident Rudy Adler, the site is a collaborative effort to collect the stories of ordinary Americans and their decidedly un-ordinary windfalls. It's fascinating reading. And everyone is invited to post their own tale, along with a photo of the purchase.

Even more interesting are the category breakouts. There are 40 entries for Gifts and Donations, 63 for Invest/Savings, and 104 for Travel/Vacation. There are 80 posts under the Debt/Credit Card category. And 95 classified as "other." What's the story here? You'll just have to go investigate yourself.

What do you know? The check really was in the mail.

After a long wait for my economic stimulus payment, the check appeared in my mailbox yesterday, June 23.

After all the confusion about when we'd be getting the money, and in what form, I wasn't exactly holding my breath June 20, when the paper check was due, according to the IRS website. And indeed, the day came and went and there was nothing but junk mail and catalogs in the afternoon mail.

A year or two back one of the fast food giants ran a commercial which featured a bunch of 20-somethings breaking down all of their major purchases into double cheeseburgers or chicken nuggets.

While visualizing your car payment as 220 double cheeseburgers is humorous, it won't likely help you manage your money. However if you switch the logic around and start measuring your weekly total of small purchases into one bigger item you may be surprised to find out that your double cheeseburger addiction could easily make your car payment!

Envisioning my smaller purchases as one larger purchase is something I have used in the past to cut down on my many small expenditures. When I started my first job I picked up a bad habit of grabbing too many fast food breakfasts and coffee-shop coffees on my way into work. While the low price of $1.99 for a McDonald's sandwich isn't going to break the budget if you get it once a month, after I looked at the total sum of my purchases I began to notice how much they added up. In fact if I measured my small purchases in a common currency, for example in video games, rather using cash, I was way more cognizant of my two video game a month fast food and coffee addiction!

Once you define your common currency, be it video games, scrap booking supplies, fishing gear or shoes you can easily make use of this common value to dissect your spending even on large purchases. Next time you get ready to purchase a new TV, decide if the enjoyment you get from the TV is really worth the fun of 40 video games. After you get this conversion rate embedded in your mind you and begin to weight all of your purchases, you can switch your focus to saving money. Start out by trying to save one more video game a month to a high yield savings account and grow from there. If you save enough now you'll be assured the ability to keep your gaming library stocked even when you have to take your baths with a sponge.

While a child's bank which lobs compliments at young females under the guise of one of five heartthrobs every time she deposits money into it isn't practical for most of us, the concept is worth exploring. One of the reasons saving money is hard is that we enjoy getting stuff; the gratification that comes from making purchases is an amazing feeling. For most people the feeling you get depositing 10% of your paycheck into a savings account pales in comparison.

If only there was some way that our financial institutions could gratify us for saving money on top of the monetary rewards.While some people would enjoy a phone call from their bank with every IRA deposit, sweet nothings whispered into your ear by a robot aren't for everyone. I came up with a few ideas which my banks could use to give me some positive re enforcement for putting money into savings:

There are a lot of companies out there on the Internet, just dying to save you money. So I thought I'd update everyone on some of those web sites that I suspect most of you probably haven't heard of.

DotHomes.com -- Two entrepreneurs started a home-selling web site right about the time the home market is collapsing. Smaaaaart. Or maybe it is. People need all the help they can get these days, and there are several neat features to this. For starters, you can look for homes around the world and not just the United States. Then there's the fact that many sellers have video tours of their homes at DotHomes. And one of the really nice features for the seller is that it's free to put your home on here. And it's free for the buyer, too, of course. So how do you make money, I asked Douglas de Jager, one of the founders. They're still working on that, he admitted, saying: "We don't make income. Income spoils people."