Trying to find a not painful way to save some green -- cold card cash, not the planet (although that would be nice too)

With all of the money pits we've got on the books, it comes to my attention that we need to lower expenses. God forbid we lose the fancy cable complete with DVR. I'm married to the DVR -- I mean, really, how did we ever live without pausing live tv and if there is ever a "whud he say?!" -- well, let's just rewind! Commercials? What commercials? To never again have to be home to catch favorite shows or... eek!... remember to set the VCR. Please, friends, if you haven't already committed to a relationship with a DVR/TiVo -- I beg of you to thoughtfully consider if you can commit fully and completely for as long as you both shall live. If not, walk away! Walk away.

There's always cutting back on the yard guy. But then we'd lose the children among the weeds and marital discord would ensue. Or the pool guy -- but a characteristic I really like about a pool is it's blueness. Not so fond of the green goo through which the bottom cannot be seen. And have you seen the amount of chemicals you're supposed to keep track of?!? There are at least -- let's see, something like... three. Uh, but you know, uhhh, the pool guy has to eat. And of course, my once a month house cleaning service could go. But I'd rather live on ramen noodles alone than give her up. I haven't touched the bathtubs or bathroom floors in a year. And my friggedy fraggedy back is so the better for it! Which, in turn, makes for happier everybody. I mean, really, if I have to go back to scrubbing tubs and dusting (*shudder*), you may as well force me to make my own pasta, kill my own cow and wash clothes down at the creek. So, as you see, the list of "necessities" grows longer...

So! Today, for the first time ever, I used coupons and ad-matching while grocery shopping -- which was not nearly as painful as it may seem. Holy amounts of great deals! Weeks ago, I asked my resourceful, thrifty (in a good way), ridiculously good deal finding cousin, Juli, to HELP ME save some money. She showed me her coupon organization techniques and although I was highly impressed, I was thinking "kill me now" and also, "why did I not date the cute first baseman worth 22 million dollars when I had the chance?" But I digress. She let me in on what I'm sure half of America knows, but to me, it was gold: Super Walmart honors everybody else's ads! Throw a coupon in now and then and you've saved enough to splurge on a little something cute. Oh, wait, I guess that defeats the purpose.

Anyway, I got these oranges (plus the four my kids already ate) for 44 cents. :)