My resources

I surely can't come up with deals on my own. I don't have the time or energy or analytical thinking it takes to remember sales and coupons and to match them together for optimal savings.
It's a good thing that some wonderful bloggers out there can spend the time and can share their findings. I've read these blogs so thoroughly and so often lately that I feel like these girls are my friends. I even talk to my husband about them as though we'd had a conversation. "Collin said today that . . ." or "Kristen mentioned . . ." I'm really NOT a raving lunatic, I promise.
Every smart shopper needs to check out these blogs.

hiptosave.com
Collin is a mom of 3 who specializes in shopping often and paying little. She's a master-couponer who's not ashamed to carry her coupon stash with her everywhere she goes. She has a great video series you can find on her website or on youtube, so check out Follow Me Monday. Her video on CVS was what made me decide to give shopping there a try. Boy, am I glad I did. hip2save.com is one of my most-frequented sites.

couponingtodisney.com
Kristen has saved over $2,200 in just over 7 months to pay for her family's upcoming 11 day vacation to Disney World. She's my kind of lady! Also a master-couponer, Kristen also participates in online surveys to earn points towards valuable prizes like amazon.com gift certificates. She's also incredibly generous -- she just donated the points she's been earning toward a Rainforest Cafe gift certificate to relief efforts in Haiti following the recent devestating earthquake. She was 75% of the way there, now she's starting over. She also has a series of videos on her website (and, I think, on youtube, too.) regarding smart shopping and couponing. She gives great insight on how to make your money work in stores like Wal-Mart, Target, and CVS. She is my original inspiration to try smart shopping. Thanks, Kristen; you've saved us a ton in just the month that I've been smart shopping!

mysweetsavings.com
I only just heard about this site yesterday, but I've spent a considerable amount of time there. My favorite aspect of Heather's blog is her fairly-new $40 a week grocery challenge. She's great at stacking coupons with Buy-One-Get-One offers. So far, I've seen mostly information about Publix, although I'll admit to not getting very far on her website. I've prepared a shopping list and coupons specifically for Publix today so I can find out if it's too good to be true. My favorite entry on mysweetsavings is her recent post about her trip to Publix (part of the $40 challenge) in which she spent $14 and change and saved over $130!

Thanks, Collin, Kristen, and Heather, for showing us all how to be smarter shoppers and better stewards of what God has given us.

Now, off to Target, Walmart, CVS, and Publix to save a bundle and spend just a little!