A snippet:

There’s another problem with the unemployment extensions signed into law earlier this month: The legislation does nothing to address the fact that all of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits program all expire at the end of the year. …

The tight deadline for applying for the two additional EUC benefit tiers makes it unlikely that many Michigan residents will qualify for the full 20 weeks of added benefits.

Go see what he’s talking about.

A snippet:

Leave the kids at home: Nobody, least of all you, wants to listen to children throwing tantrums in the middle of the mall or worry about losing them in the crowd. Children will only slow you down and insist on buying extra items. Besides, you don’t want the tiny tots to see the gifts you’re buying them.

Coupon Sherpa also mentions getting the Thanksgiving Day newspaper so you get the Black Friday ads.

If you are one of my local readers in Monroe, Mich., keep in mind that The Monroe Evening News does not publish on Thanksgiving Day. You will find the Black Friday ads in my newspaper on Wednesday Nov. 25.

• ABC Frugality: Decorating for Pennies Part II. She’s got some great tips that work for rental housing.
• Wise Bread: 5 Quick Fixes to Salvage a Good Meal. I’ve done that leftover bread trick many times.
• Make it From Scratch: A little girl’s headband. This is a great set of directions to make a special pattern or design that you can’t find on the retail market.

But the box system frustrates a lot of people, so I’ve been mentioning other methods when I do my civic club and community education programs.

One of the popular systems right now is a coupon binder. For example, my friend Candy at Deal with it, Simply! uses a binder. When Candy and I do frugal living programs in the Toledo area, Candy brings her coupon binder and I bring my coupon box so the audience can see there is more than one idea that works.

If you’d like to try a binder system, Dimes 2 Vines has pictures and instructions so you can see how a coupon binder is assembled.

Family Balance Sheet has this post: After-Holiday Clearance Sales aren’t Just About Christmas.

A snippet:

Search all around the store, not just the holiday themed aisles and the end-caps. The paper products were found in the paper product aisle and they were unmarked. Keep those eyes open.

The story is based on the snarky comments that non-couponing customers have made to couponing customers.

A snippet:

As long as one is completely organized with their coupons before getting in to line and is using their coupons properly (for the right product, not trying to slip in expired coupons, etc), then there is no reason to be ashamed, no matter what happens.

The ones I knew about from 10 years ago or so were bulletin boards for moms who were pregnant about the same time. Some of the newer parenting sites are geographic based. Much of the discussion focuses on little-one parenting issues such as how to calm a teething baby and kid-friendly craft projects,  so I’m a bit out of that demographic. My daughter is 20 years old!

But I’ve also found frugal living chatter taking place on those boards and sites, so I do check them out from time to time.

Here are some of the Ohio and Michigan parent and family forums I know about:

• ToledoAreaMommies.com - This is a free networking site that is just getting started. The geographic area for ToledoAreaMommies includes the following cities in Michigan: Monroe, LaSalle, Temperance, Ida, Luna Pier, Erie, Lambertville, Samaria, and Ottawa Lake.
• Mom2Mom List - I’ve linked to this site many times. It’s a database of Mom2Mom second-hand sales in the metro Detroit area, and their geographic range does include Monroe. There’s also some chatter and articles beyond the sale lists.
• Detroit Moms Like Me - This is part of a network of Moms Like Me sites hosted by the Gannett newspaper chain. I’ve posted in some of the bulletin boards. Kris hosts the Bargainista forum on that site.
• Lansing Moms Like Me - Another one in that network.
• Columbus Moms Like Me - Even though it’s tagged Columbus / central Ohio, this site in the network includes some northwest Ohio cities.
• Parenting forum on MonroeTalks - The MonroeTalks site is the social networking site hosted by The Monroe Evening News in Monroe, Mich. I am one of the moderators on that site.

Of course, there also are many, many parenting blogs. But that will be a post for another time.

Sven Gustafson, who hosts the Michigan Job Search blog at MLive, did a post yesterday with an update on the latest proposal to extend jobless benefits for those who are unemployed.

I usually do not write about proposals, suggestions, or ideas that are bantered about in political and business circles. I find those headlines annoying and frustrating myself. I prefer to write about what’s really available, and what’s really happening, to families in southeast Michigan.

What I found interesting on Sven’s blog is not the news report itself, but the comment section from the readers. Keep in mind that MLive is a site hosted by several Michigan newspapers, and you can pretty much bet most of Sven’s readers live in Michigan:

Willmiller says: “Please do not extended the unemployment benefits. Its time to rip the band-aid off and let the real healing begin.”

JLuk58 says: “That is easy for you to say. You probably have a job or you have someone or something that is supporting you. If they don’t extend this unemployment benefit many people will not have money to spend and then the economy will really go down the toilet.”

ez4me2say says: “This UE needs to pass. We are living in unprecedented times. There are more people in Michigan looking for jobs than there are jobs available. I have many highly educated friends who are looking for work, and there’s nothing out there, and I’m not talking about $20 per hour jobs. Many are told that they’re overqualified and the jobs that are available are often given to younger people who the employer assumes will take a lower salary.”

Morrey says: “What we need is jobs and solutions. We are workers. Very few of us are proud of being unemployed.”

The only long-term solution is getting jobs back into the market.

I don’t believe it matters so much what the income level for those jobs actually are, because families quickly learn to adjust their spending up or down as appropriate. But the paychecks need to be steady, permanent and reliable.

What do we do in the meantime?

I’m in favor of extending unemployment benefits when the economic statistics prove that it’s more difficult than usual to find a job.

The reason: families who get unemployment benefits are able to limit their need for other social safety net services. It’s just enough cash, in many situations, for families to keep up with basic needs even though they will have to drastically cut back on expenses. (For tips on how to do that, go to my Downsized Budget series.)

The alternative is relying on the social safety network of government agencies and non-profit services who serve the poorest of Michigan families. And those programs are struggling to keep up with the number of clients they already have.

She’s been posting about her experiences and perspective on her blog:

This week our goal was to sit together and plan out our budget. It was stressful trying to find the time, but we did and have a goal. I wanted to say that there is an amazing feeling when you and your spouse are on the same page. When you spread out your bills and you see in front of you how much you are really paying for things. When we totaled up everything and looked at each other and said “I thought it was going to be worse. We can do this!”

There are other programs and classes that can help you get on top of your household finances. The one that I have personally used and have referred to from time to time on this blog is Crown Financial Ministries, which was co-founded by the late Larry Burkett. I was listening to Larry’s radio show in the early 1990s!

I’ve compiled a list of financial literacy programs in southeast Michigan so you can look up locations, dates and topics that work for you.

One of her recent posts was Take a peek inside our gift box.

What’s that all about? She’s snagging deals off-season that work for Christmas and birthday gifts!

A snippet:

During the past six months, our gift box has served us well.

When we were invited to an impromptu birthday party for my niece, the item we pulled out of the gift box to give her — a fortune-telling game — couldn’t have been more perfect.

I haven’t done this, but I know my grandmother did. I don’t have a huge need to do this since we usually hand out cash, gift cards, boxes of chocolate or music CDs as gifts. But I know a lot of families could really make this idea work for them.

Kim’s idea of a designated box (or my grandma’s closet shelf) solves the problem of hiding the stuff so well that you forgot what you have on hand!