South Florida on the Cheap

The latest craze in the money-saving world is the group coupon — or Groupon, the name of the biggest group-buying site.

If you enroll at www.groupon.com, you get an e-mail with each day’s deal, usually 50 percent or more off the goods or services of a local business. When you sign up for a deal, you [...]

Ordinarily, I’m not an enthusiastic user of coupons. Lots of them are for packaged foods I don’t use, I’m feeding only myself, and I often can save by buying the store brand.

But, in the name of research, I decided to try clipping coupons. I followed some of the techniques recommended by serious couponers, such as [...]

We have learned to look for coupons when we do online shopping. But we often don’t think of looking for online coupons when we visit local attractions. We should. The weak economy means many of our local attractions are offering frequent discounts, deals and coupons, most on their websites.

Here are some current deals:

• Get a [...]

The New York Times recently ran a story on “cat-ios” — screened enclosures that give cats a taste of the outdoors while still keeping them confined. The ideal “cat-io,” of course, is a large screened porch or pool enclosure, and if you have one, I’m jealous. So are my cats.

Unfortunately, the cost of building one [...]

Sometimes you find bargains in unexpected places. Or unexpected items at bargain stores.

I have long shopped at Marshall’s, Ross and Big Lots for clothing, linens and other household items. But those stores can also be good places to find fine foods at bargain prices. The selection varies, but it’s not unusual to find gourmet chocolates, [...]