When I first began kicking around the idea of starting a blog, I came up with the theme of Family, Fitness & Finances. Sort of like food, folks and fun; only different! =) My premise was that these three key elements in peoples lives are interconnected. A recent comment to one of my posts “I love the idea of putting physical health and finance together. What’s the sense of having money if you can’t live healthy and long enough to enjoy it. :-))” just about sums it up. Right on, Ms. Cheapy! My thoughts exactly.

I wanted to take a few minutes and share my savings experiences today. I guess you could say this is an update to the post 5 Tips To Cut Your Grocery Bill Today!. I went shopping this afternoon, starting at Walgreens. I stopped by there to pick up some Alli. For those who don’t know, Alli is a weight lose product. I had three coupons totaling $25.00. So stop #1 netted a cool 42% savings! Not bad, right?

This just in! The cost to send your new born to an in-state public college 18 years from now will be at least $163,890. This according to the college calculator at money.com. This is the estimate for a 4 year public college, nothing special, not ivy league. Are you as shocked as I am?

In this post, I will give you three real life examples of why you should bother to register for rebates. And, I will also share how our family combines multiple discounts to maximize the bang for our purchasing buck. Ready? Of course you are!

How many times have you been enticed into purchasing something because of a nice fat mail in rebate? After tearing open your new prized possession, the rebate quickly fades into oblivion. Sound familiar. You’re not alone. That’s why manufacturers do mail in rebates. They get the psychological benefit of a great sale, without having to pony up. It’s a Vegas-esque numbers game, with the “house” favored to win. They know that the majority of consumers will not follow through to get the rebate. Don’t be a statistic. Well if you want to be a statistic, don’t be part of that statistic. Capiche?

Back 1998, a year after we quit smoking, something strange began to take place. My wife and I had put on more than a few extra pounds! So started our ten year battle of diets and exercise to try and return to our former glory!

I had read somewhere that it was very important to drink plenty of water while dieting and exercising. Makes sense, flush your system and replenish your perspiration. Not to mention the fact that my beloved grandmother has never felt that I drink enough water. She makes a point to always offer me a glass. Armed with this information, I had an idea. Our family needed to drink more water!

Have you noticed the price of gasoline this week? I paid $2.69 per gallon for regular unleaded on Valentines Day. Yesterday, I forked out an amazing $3.14. That’s nearly a 16.5% increase in less than a week!