The Project Connect community information expo will be held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 18 at St. Joseph Catholic Church, parish hall, 937 E. Third St., Monroe, Mich., immediately before the God Works! Family Soup Kitchen dinner.

It is free and open to all Monroe County families who need information on local resources that can help with financial and housing needs, whether or not they are currently homeless. More than 25 agencies and organizations will have information tables.

The Gleaners Mobile Food Pantry is scheduled to be on site. There will also be door prizes, children’s activities and other distributions and free services.

Those who need transportation to the event are asked to call (734) 241-2775, ext. 205.

This expo is sponsored by the Monroe County Homeless Network as part of Homeless Awareness Week events. Other sponsors include the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness and Monroe County Opportunity Program.

Em gave a nice plug for me at Mom Moments. Yes this meeting is open to all families in Monroe, bring your own lunch is the deal, that’s why they are called the “Lunch Bunch.”

I also spoke at the Monroe Exchange Club today and when one of my co-workers heard about that presentation, she said, “Well, then, you should also be speaking to (another local civic) club!”

Because we’re coming up on the holiday season and most groups book their speakers at least a month in advance, I think Lunch Bunch will be my last one for the fall. But I do already have a booking for March.

My “club presentation” can be found here although I have since had to update the script a bit. My “community education” class can be found here. The program that I have co-hosted for a Toledo audience can be found here.

Monroe, Mich., friends – you are welcome to attend too! This program is free and open to the public. This is the second joint appearance Candy and I are making in the Toledo area on frugal living concepts.

We’ll talk about coupons, of course, but that’s not our only trick. Candy and I are both very resourceful gals and we’ll give our audience practical ideas and inspiration on how to save money on everyday expenses.

Now, if you want a detailed lesson just on coupons and grocery shopping, I’m teaching a class Wednesday in Monroe with Monroe Community Education. At last count, there were 14 people registered for that class.

Candy Huner of Maumee, who blogs at Deal with it Simply!, and Marilyn Jaegly of Oregon, who blogs at Marilyn’s Money, will be the guest speakers at 7 p.m. Tuesday Sept. 22 at the Oregon Branch Library, 3340 Dustin Rd., Oregon, Ohio.

Oregon is only a half-hour from Monroe. Take I-280 to the Ohio 2 / Oregon exit, go east, go past the restaurants and Kmart, turn right on Coy Rd., turn right on Dustin.

The topics will include frugal dinners and how to acquire freebies. The library is posting that will also be door prizes. I met Marilyn when she graciously offered to donate door prizes for a program that Candy and I hosted in Toledo this spring. How can she afford to do that? She’s using coupons, of course.

Admission is free, but the library staff would appreciate if you can register in advance at (419) 259-5250. (That is the phone number listed on the web site, so if you can’t get through, try later.)

This program has been in the works for awhile, and we’re lucky it stayed on the schedule. Library hours and staffing at the Toledo-Lucas County Library System have been cut back quite a bit because of budget cuts.

The class list was in Friday’s edition of The Monroe Evening News and is also posted at the school’s web site.

Here are some of the classes that frugal peeps will be interested in:

• Sept. 28 (first of six classes) Beginning sewing.
• Sept. 29 (first of three classes): Create a Family Recipe Holder.
• Oct. 1 (first of six classes): Basic Alterations.
• Oct. 6 (first of two classes) Homemade Herbal Remedies.
• Oct. 7: Gifts from Your Kitchen.
• Oct. 12: Harvesting / Storage for Fall and Winter Crops.
• Oct. 14: Grocery Shopping on a Budget (I’m the instructor!).
• Oct. 19: Customized Low-Cost Gift Bags and Envelopes.

I took the presentation that I gave this spring at Monroe Community Education and several other events about grocery shopping techniques and tips, … and reworked the material into an 8-Week Plan. You’ll find the step-by-step list here on my web site, and it’s been a very popular addition to my collection of resources.

Because we’ll have a two-hour time slot at the Community Ed class, we can talk in more detail about how and why these tips work. I’ll show you my coupon box, shopping lists, rebate catalogs and menu order forms for the groceries-by-the-box programs that I refer to. I’ll also bring lots of grocery coupons for students to share and start or feed their coupon boxes or binders.

The cost for the Community Ed class is only $5. Sign up at MPS office, 1275 N. Macomb St., or call (734) 265-3120.

Monroe County Community College has issued its fall semester schedule for the LifeLong Learning program. This is MCCC’s community education program, and it’s weighted pretty heavily to short-term career preparation, workplace training and computer skills.

If you did not already get a copy with your Monroe Evening News this week, you can get copies of the schedule at the college or go to the college’s web site.

Starting with fall semester, residents of Monroe County, Mich., age 60 and older qualify for discounted tuition charges on these classes. The course schedule lists both the regular fees and the senior citizen fees.

Classroom topics of interest to Monroe on a Budget readers include:

• eBay selling basics.
• Fundamentals of starting your business.
• How to advertise a business on a small budget.
• Debt-free living.
• Career decisions.
• Create dynamic resumes and cover letters.
• Successful job interviewing.

Online courses of interest to my readers include:

• Assisting aging parents.
• Debt elimination techniques that work.
• 12 steps to a successful job search.

The Monroe Service Center of Michigan Works!, 1531 N. Telegraph Rd., Monroe, Mich., has a standing list of Career Trax workshops held every week at its office.

For information, call (734) 240-7950. These programs are available to anyone, whether or not you currently have a job. Be sure to arrive a few minutes early to be directed to the correct conference room.

Tuesdays

• 9 to 10 a.m.: Financial and Consumer Awareness.
• 10 a.m. to noon: Attention Grabbing Paper Applications.
• 1 to 3 p.m.: The Art of Marketing Yourself.

Wednesdays

• 9 a.m. to noon: Your Resume, Perfected!
• 1 to 3 p.m.: Making the Michigan Talent Bank Work for You!

Thursdays

• 1 to 2 pm.: Letters that Make It Happen.

Fridays

• 9 to 10 a.m.: Attention Grabbing Online Applications.
• 10 a.m. to noon: Interview Like a Pro.

Organizing your coupon box or binder

Put your name and phone number in the holder so it can be returned to you if lost.

Create a chart to keep in your box or binder with common pricing formulas with as 3 for $5 ($1.66 each); 3 for $7, 5 for $11 etc. You need to know the price per container or per unit before you start adding in coupon values.

Designate a space for the coupons you are using at the store. When I put the product in my shopping cart, I put the appropriate coupon in the front of my coupon box. You might want to carry a second envelope or packet for the coupons you selected, or stick them in your purse.

Cut out any coupons you might use if the final price is right, and organize them in your holder by product categories. Suggestions:

• Baby supplies
• Baking supplies
• Breakfast
• Condiments
• Cookies and candy
• Dairy
• Dental care
• Meat and main dishes
• Pantry goods
• Paper products
• Pet supplies
• Refunds
• Rice and potatoes
• Soap and shampoo

Don’t get too attached to organizing your coupons by grocery aisle. What will you do when the grocery store rearranges its layout, or if you go shopping at another store?

During the middle and end of the month, sort through your coupon collection and throw out the expired coupons. Most expiration dates fall on the 15th or 30th.

There is another coupon system that is popular today. It involves keeping the complete coupon booklets in a file drawer or accordion file and referring to one of many Internet databases whose goal is to tell you coupon matches with sales fliers and which date that coupon was released. The intention is that you only cut out the coupons you need for that week.

I do not like the filing system method. My biggest complaint is that system does not allow for the variables in the coupon selections from overlapping newspaper districts (many southeast Michigan and northwest Ohio residents have access to multiple Sunday papers).

There also are some grocery stores in our area that aren’t included on the national databases.

And the filing system doesn’t allow you to swap or hand down the coupons you don’t use. Why would you not want to do that?