So my husband and I saw Nathan’s annual Fourth of July hot dog eating contest televised on ESPN.  Have you ever gone to an all-you-can-eat buffet and eaten so much you were in pain and vowed never to return?  Well, let me tell you, watching this hot dog eating contest was all pain and the LAST thing I wanted to do was eat afterwards. It is absolutely gut wrenching to watch grown men and women (of all sizes) stuff their faces with north of 50 hot dog wieners (and buns) in under 10 minutes. The winer was Joey Chestnut —he ate a total 64 hotdogs during the competition.  Can you imagine this?

Anyhow, I am now convinced that watching a video and/or pictures of this contest before a meal, will inspire anyone to stop overindulge (if eat at all!).  Move over Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers—if you’re looking for a cheap way to shut your evil twin from sabotaging your diets, then look up eating contests through the International Federation of Competitive Eating.  You’ll scare hunger right out of your stomach.

When a friend of mine found out she was pregnant with twins and about to become a family of six, she went on a rampage looking for ways of saving money. She found all sorts of great solutions including something called the Grocery Game. It is basically a system that aligns store sales with coupons to maximize your savings. I have never really clipped coupons and was hesitant to try this system but, after daily persuasion from my very pregnant friend, I went ahead and gave it a try. The first time I went to the store I saved $36, then $55, then $80, then $93 and now I pretty much save as much as I spend. The program has been amazing and, depending on the kind of car you have, each of those saving amounts represents about a tank of gas each week! I just read gas is at $146 on the drudgereport.

I highly recommend the program however, if you want to try it, I would wait until next weekend though. The Sunday newspaper for this fourth of July weekend will NOT have the typical coupons included. I would wait to get next week’s Sunday paper.

If you do want to start collecting coupons this weekend, you may want to visit some great sites that give you free online coupons. Sites like coupons.com and smartsource.com. There are others as well, but I like these the best. Happy grocery shopping!