• Meijer has a 17-quart roaster with bonus buffet for $24.99 (I’d get one if I had enough occasions to use it!). A soup stock pot is $12.99. Five-piece tray table set for $44.99. Buy $100 worth of Carhartt or Dickie’s men’s apparel and get a $30 coupon for your next purchase. Yoplait yogurt is 10 for $4. Tyson chicken breast at $4.69 for 40-ounce bag. Meijer flour $1.74 for 5 pounds. Buy three boxes of Kelloggs Frosted Mini-Wheats, get a coupon for your next visit on a gallon of milk. Buy three Betty Crocker baking mixes or frosting, get a coupon for your next visit on a dozen eggs.
• Kroger in Monroe, Milan and Dundee (sale starts Monday) will have buy four participating General Mills or Quaker cereals (check your coupon box) get two free gallons of milk. Gold Medal flour will be $2.49 for five pounds. Del Monte canned vegges (check your coupon box) three for $2. Hormel Black Label 1-pound bacon buy one get one free.
• Target’s toy catalog shows Classic Sock Monkey at $13.99, Fisher-Price chatter telephone $11.99 (but do you think today’s kids will recognize that’s a phone? LOL!). Assorted Lego toys $5 off. Assorted Barbie toys $5 off. Toy coupons in flier good until Nov. 25. In the weekly flier, look at kids sleepers or sleep sets $10 each. Gain and Cheer are $8.99. Target also now is advertising 5 cents off your shopping trip for every re-usable bag you use at checkout.
• Toys R Us has coupon in this week’s flier for $10 gift card when you buy $75 or more. Assorted board games on mail-in rebate. CSI Science kits are 30 percent off. Playmobil Nativity Set is $15.99.
• Big Lots has $10 toy selections such as Hot Wheels Race and Crash playset and Candy Land Castle Game. Christmas cards 14 count at $5 a box. Ladies sleep shirts at $8 each.
• Aldi has whole Butterball turkey at 99 cents a pound, Kirkwood boneless turkey breast four pounds at $9.99, Appleton ham at $2.99 a pound. Grapefruit is 39 cents each. Instant mashed potatoes 99 cents a box.
• CVS has Coke products at four 12-packs for $12. Spend $15 on selected candy get $5 Extra Care Bucks back. All is $7.99. Electrasol is $4.99. Hallmark ornaments 25 percent off. Spend $20 in selected children’s allergy and cold remedies get $10 Extra Care Bucks back.
• Walgreens has coupon in flier for $5 off in-store purchase of $25 or more. Coupons in flier for Jell-O No Bake, Libby’s Pumpkin and Betty Crocker cake mix. Buy one get one free gift wrap rolls, tags and bows.
• Super Kmart in Southgate and Taylor (Detroit Free Press ad) has coupons in flier for Breyer’s ice cream, 7-Up and Brown’n Serve links. Buy one get  one free deals in the bakery and deli.
• Kmart in Monroe has 50 percent off Little Einsteins Pat Pat Rocket. Hershey, Mars and Nestle assorted holiday candy two for $5. All kids Inflatabeds on sale. Kids and babies winter coats 40 percent off. All kids’ slippers on sale.
• Sears has a 14-piece Kenmore stainless steel cookware set for $129.99. A five-piece folding table and chair set is $69.99. Kenmore slow cooker at $29.99. Department 56 village pieces are 25 percent off. All kids dresswear is 50 percent off.
• Best Buy has fabric cases and “candyshells” for iPhones. Buy the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game and get $10 off selected other video games. Buy any two selected movies or video games and get a $20 Best Buy gift card.
• Menards has buy one get one free, up to four items, in assorted lighted window sculptures. Selected Lincoln Log sets are $14.99. Rebate available on mini light strings.
• Kohl’s has buy one get one free on selected tops and bottoms for the family, all winter sleepwear, all slippers and all candles and decorative lighting. Holiday dresses for girls 40 to 50 percent off. American Greeting ornaments 25 percent off.
• Bed Bath and Beyond (Detroit Free Press) has coupon on back for 20 percent off any single item in store. Harvest turkey platter is $9.99. Bake and Serve sets that use tea lights are $19.99. Wilton cookie sheets $9.99 for three.

This is a good opportunity to check out that double coupon sale at Kmart this week.

It’s also a good opportunity to start on my eight-week grocery savings plan.

Here are some discount, drugstore and grocery store deals of interest to my local readers in Monroe, Mich., as found in the ads that were in my home-delivery edition of The Monroe Evening News today:

• Kmart’s specials at the Monroe, Mich., store include all tents and canopies on sale. Spend $15 on participating Kingsford, KC Masterpiece, Glad and Hidden Valley products and get a $5 off your next purchase. Kids’ selected  tops and shorts $10 each. Three for $8 deals on selected Post and Quaker items – read the details for an additional $1 off. If you shop at the Super K’s in Southgate or Taylor the deals listed in the Detroit Free Press ad – in addition to a double coupon offer – include three for $5 on Kraft salad dressing and Kraft barbecue sauce for 88 cents (check your coupon box).
• Kroger stores in Monroe, Milan and Dundee (sale starts Monday) will have milk at $1.77 a gallon. 10 for $10 deals include Kraft barbecue sauce (check your coupon box), Green Giant frozen veggies (check your coupon box), Kraft salad dressing $1.58.
• CVS has selected Kellogg’s cereals at three for $5. Buy four get one free on Pepsi 12-packs – final price $13. Buy one get one free all CVS vitamins, minerals and herbals.
• Walgreens has coupons in flier for Splenda and for Gatorade. 12-pack Coke products three for $12, use coupon in flier to get free 12-pack caffeine-free diet Coke with that bundle. Selected Post cereal two for $5. Sale on Pampers and Pampers wipes.
• Gordon Food Service Marketplace has a coupon in flier for apple pie when you purchase Ball Park franks. Other featured products in flier include pork chops, tuna steaks, bratwurst and chicken breast.
• Aldi is featuring bratwurst, kielbasa, pork chops, ground beef patties, deli potato salad and watermelon in its flier this week.
• Dollar Tree has a flier this week featuring Wyler’s single drink mixes, bottled water, Pace picante sauce, barbecue tools, Ivory soap a travel-sized first aid kit and patriotic party supplies. (The Monroe store is at 501 N. Telegraph Rd.)
• Target has beach towels for $4 each. Rival ice cream maker at $24.99. Bath towels at $3.25 each. Bush’s baked beans $1.65 a can. Oreos at $2.75. Huggies and Pampers on sale.
• Meijer has Ball Park franks at four for $5, boneless ribeye steak at $5.99 a pound, Kraft singles at half price, Breyer’s ice cream at four for $10. Milk is $1.98. Eggs are 98 cents. There is also the store’s “biggest bike sale of the year.” All women’s Cherokee uniforms 25 percent off. Coupon in flier for baseball equipment.

There also are sales fliers in my Monroe newspaper for Best Buy, Sears, Kohls, Menards, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Durochers and Dunham’s Sports.

Don’t diss the department stores as “too expensive” because if you watch for the sales, you can often find really great bargains on clothes and household items.

Dundee Assembly Church of God, 13790 S. Custer Rd., Dundee, Mich., has announced its office hours for the May 30 orders:

• Tuesday May 12: 7 to 8 p.m.
• Thursday May 14: 10:30 a.m. to noon.
• Saturday May 16: 10:30 a.m. to noon.

Online orders are due the morning of May 17 at www.angelfoodministries.com.

I’ve blogged quite a bit about Angel Food Ministries and Great Food For All, which is a similar program. There are several delivery locations for both programs in southeast Michigan and northwest Ohio, and I do post the office hours for the Monroe County, Mich., sites if they send me the info. Click on the site links to find the delivery sites in your area.

These groceries-by-the-box programs are VERY helpful for keeping your grocery bills down, whether or not you also coupon, rebate and watch the sales fliers. Give one or both a try.

Here’s our first attempt at such a thing: the Peep picnic.

Oh, yes, I did it on a budget. The Peeps themselves were bought on sale, and all of those props are from my Barbie doll collection. Felt piece is from my fabric scraps, and the background is a sheet of white paper.

I’ll come up with something more creative in future years. I was a bit limited with my choice in candies this time. Bunnies seem to be more “peep-able” than chicks.

Abandoned houses causing problems – Frenchtown Township holding hearings on properties.

Abandoned and run-down homes and other eyesores are popping up in Frenchtown Township in record numbers, with local officials blaming it on the recession.

The township may be looking at as many as 30 dilapidated homes in need of repair or being brought up to safe building codes, said Frenchtown building official Clarence King.

“That’s way more than last year,” when the township had four homes torn down, Mr. King said Tuesday. “I think a lot of it is the economy. People are walking away and leaving them and then it gets vandalized.”

It’s the worst he’s seen in his 13 years with the township.

The building department has a list of 11 homes as of March 4. Each will have a public hearing to determine if it is dangerous to live in. …

Go to monroenews.com for the rest of the report by my co-worker Dean Cousino.

A snippet:

If you’ve got a decent income, changing your brand of coffee or being the last person in your zip code to buy an iPod just isn’t going to get you very far. To make a real difference, you are going to have to cross out a major line item. The private school. The house with the great address. A parent staying at home with the kids. Or the plan to retire early. These are not frivolous, spendthrift things. Responsible grown-ups can choose among them. It’s just that most of us can’t choose every single one of them.

Even if you don’t have “a decent income,” this is a very valid point.

For most families, it’s going to take a significant lifestyle or routine change to save a significant amount of money.

Now, I love coupons. I’ve been shopping with coupons since I was in college. I’ve saved quite a bit of money at the grocery store with coupons.

And yet, it is obvious as we look over our finances that it’s the frugality in the bigger expenses that have made the biggest impact on our cash flow.

A snippet:

“The safety net is being tested in ways that it has not been in more than a generation and there may have to be even more done to shore up [the] U.S. safety net going forward,” said Andrew Stettner, the deputy director of the National Employment Law Project.

In the meantime, those receiving benefits are grappling with some difficult budgeting.

Unemployment pay can help laid off workers avoid poverty, Stettner said, but with the average weekly benefit hovering around $300, many are still just “treading water.”

The pages on Monroe on a Budget that are most relevant to the newly unemployed in southeast Michigan are The Downsized Budget: How and Where to Cut Back and Do you need assistance? Tips to read first.

In the meantime, here are two key points for those who are unemployed, even temporarily or who expect to be “back to work soon.”

• You need to immediately apply for unemployment, food stamps, free or reduced/price lunches or any other financial-need based program for which you might qualify. If you honestly meet the application requirements, then you are a family that program was intended for. Sign up and use them.
• House + car are the biggest fixed expenses in a typical household budget. You can cut back as much as you want in other areas, and that will help. But if your housing and automotive expenses are too far out of whack with your SMALLER income for too long, you will have problems. Start researching  your options. Even if there is nothing you can do about the mortgage payment, you can review your insurance policies for possible discounts, get rid of one vehicle, etc.

A snippet:

“Today I will be stopping all mortgage foreclosure sales in Wayne County beginning with the sale that was scheduled for this Wednesday,” Sheriff Warren Evans said. “I am doing so because it’s my opinion that recently enacted federal laws provide protections for homeowners facing foreclosure.”

There are more than 160 comments on the reader forum about that story.

If you are one of my local readers, I do have some southeast Michigan links in my mortgage meltdown sidebar.

My favorite tip:

Sort through it all as soon as you get home. It may be tempting to shove your bag of bridal brochures in the closet after hours at the expo, but go through everything you’ve collected as soon as you get home. That way, you can prioritize vendors and services when they’re fresh — plus you can make your wedding file really grow.

If you are planning a wedding in a tight economy, go to my Weddings on a Budget sidebar for links to stories from my archives and other web sites to check out.