This tip comes from my friend Kathy: keep watching those winter clothing clearance sales at the department stores.

Specifically, Kathy went to Christopher and Banks at Frenchtown Square mall this week, and was very impressed with the sale prices she was finding on sweaters and dress pants.

The C and B web site is reporting deals such as 70 percent off select women’s jackets and sleeveless mocks on clearance for $9.99.

USA Today is reporting the TV converter coupon program is out of cash.

A snippet:

Anybody requesting a $40 coupon to offset the cost of buying a converter box for digital TV will now be placed on a waiting list, says Meredith Baker, acting head of the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

How long will people have to wait? “I don’t know,” Baker told reporters on a conference call Monday. Already, 103,000 people are on the list. Baker attributed the cash shortfall, in part, to a late surge in coupon requests.

We got the coupons and our equipment soon after it became available.

Yes, we are cable subscribers. However, there are reasons for even cable subscribers like us to have a converter equipment. We have four TV sets in our home (two in everyday use / two available on standby), but none of them are digital ready.

When our cable was out last week because of the windstorm, my husband got one of the new antennas hooked up. We were very impressed with the picture quality.

If you don’t have a digital antenna yet, there are not many budget-friendly options left. Digital TV sets are expensive, which is why we won’t buy a new TV any time soon. And if you’re not a cable or satellite customer yet, you may be surprised at the cost for even a limited package. (We don’t subscribe to the bonus movie channels, pay-per-view, etc.)

There was a year in the early 1990s when I didn’t have any TV at all. I was single mother / divorced and couldn’t afford to get one for my apartment. In lieu of TV, I listened to National Public Radio and other news/talk radio stations, read books and talked with friends on the phone.

Finally, I got a hand-me-down TV. But it was another three years before I had cable again.

ABC News has this report: How to help unemployed friends.

A snippet:

Workplace specialists caution that friends should avoid general offers such as, “If you need anything, I’m here.” They should also not act like surrogate head hunters or psychotherapists.

“Avoid the temptation to interrogate and find out the missing pieces because you are curious,” says Debbie Mandel, a radio host in New York. She notes that unrealistic cheerfulness can be grating, but encourages friends to offer fun and humor. “Suggest an enjoyable activity you can do together. And don’t feel guilty that you are still working.”

While the story focuses on how to help your friend with job searching, another way you can help is in figuring out how to get by financially in the meantime.

Now, this can be an even trickier situation because people generally do not like to be told what to do with their finances. Saving money is also not a “one size fits all” scenario - a tip that works easily for one family may not be practical or possible in another family’s circumstances.

You could start the conversation by asking “What are some of the things you are doing to cut back on expenses?” Or tell your friend, “I’m quite good at (name your favorite frugal trick) and it has saved my family quite a bit of money. Let me know if you’d like some how-to lessons.”

And here is a non-confrontational approach: if you keep in contact with friends via facebook or other social networking sites, post your favorite frugal living sites, links and blogs on your profile pages. The unemployed friends just might be curious enough to check out those resources.

Here are the Monday grocery flier highlights for the Monroe, Mich., shoppers:

• Food Town (arrived in the mail) milk at $2.50 a gallon, Dannon yogurt at 39 cents, head lettuce at 69 cents. See coupon on back of flier for Lean Cuisine products.
• Hi-Lite Supermarket (Evening News insert) milk at $2.50 a gllon, Progesso soup at $1.77 a can, bananas at 37 cents a pound, Rice-a-Roni at 89 cents a box.
• Danny’s Fine Foods (page 10A of Evening News) buy one get one free Dole Salads Greener Select or Classic Romaine, barbecue spare ribs from the deli at $4.99 a pound, ground chuck at $1.99 a pound.

Hmm. I’ve been doing this tactic for almost 15 years and never thought I was a trendsetter:

Make your own day planner pages.

Christian PF tipped his readers off to the DIY Planner site, where you can set up your own day planner templates. All you need beyond a computer, printer and paper is a hole puncher and a paper trimmer. Here are the detailed beginner instructions.

Well, here’s the Monroe on a Budget system:

• Use whatever calendar program the blogger’s husband has installed on the home computer.
• Look for templates and preferences within that software that are coded for day planner pages.
• Print off calendar pages in appropriate format.
• Punch holes and install pages.

Now, why did I start going the DIY route instead of purchasing pretty refill pages at the office supply stores?

When I acquired a “formal” day planner to keep phone lists, work schedules and family appointments, I was finding that I had to update our family calendar about once every two weeks. We also needed to keep recent copies of calendar pages in the kitchen where husband and daughter could look up appointments when I wasn’t home.

Now, since I prefer to use pen rather than pencil for visibility’s sake, the pretty refill pages in my day planner and the pretty images on a traditional wall calendar didn’t stay pretty for long.

I realized it was just as easy for me to create calendar pages on computer, where I can make updates and replacement printouts for both wall and book formats as needed.

These days, as soon as I am done updating the database, the husband downloads the latest computer calendar entries into his wireless phone.

But we still post a paper version of the calendar in the kitchen for a quick reference.

I’ve blogged during the past two years about various business discounts, services, programs or promotions in Monroe County that have been aimed at laid-off workers.

Well, this promotion is hitting the national headlines …

CNN reports: Buy a Hyundai, return it if you get canned.

A snippet:

Hyundai is offering the program because its own market research showed car shoppers weren’t attracted by rebates and other more normal incentives, said Joel Ewanick, Hyundai America’s vice president for marketing. People are simply too worried about making payments no matter how good the deal is, he said.

“Until they saw a change in that, customers just aren’t going to buy,” he said.

As defined by Hyundai, life changing events include involuntary job loss, personal bankruptcy if self-employed, getting transferred overseas and accidental death.

The financing company that sponsors the plan has been signing up other dealers in Canada and the U.S. on an individual basis. But Hyundai so far is the only vehicle brand with a national program.

Now, what about the criticism that you might need that new car to drive to your next job? Well, that is a situation to consider.

However, if a layoff is likely last a while, you may as well see if your family can get by on one less vehicle. Michigan automobile insurance is pretty expensive.

We have three drivers in my family (when the college daughter is home) and two vehicles. It’s not a convenient situation for the parents to share a car or drive daughter around town or for her to ask friends for a ride or to make a round-trip drive to campus.

But those arrangements are a heck of a lot easier on our budget right now than maintaining three vehicles.

A Bridal Spectacular expo for Monroe County brides-to-be will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday Jan. 11 at Ambassador Hall, 15241 S. Monroe St., Monroe Township.

Admission is $5.

There are a lot of links in the Monroe on a Budget archives of interest to brides-to-be and their families, including how to make the most of your bridal show visits. Start at the Weddings on a Budget sidebar.

The Associated Press has a feature by Annmarie Timmins that various newspapers have picked up on slow cooking tips and tricks.

The MonroeTalkers have been talking about the story, which you’ll find on page 1E of Sunday’s print and e-editions of The Monroe Evening News. If you are not a subscriber to my newspaper, I also found the story at the The Register-Guard in Eugene, Oregon.

I’m going to keep a copy of the story with my cookbooks. There are two featured recipes, but the real value is in the overall tips on how to use the appliance. A snippet:

Save yourself time in the morning by prepping your ingredients ahead of time. But for food safety reasons, Brown cautions against combining everything, especially partially cooked meat and other items, until you start the slow cooker.

Now, where can you find some really neat slow cooker recipes? I blogged about that last week.

My husband returned home about an hour ago from an appointment at the Michigan Works! office on Telegraph Rd. in Monroe.

He works for an auto supplier and went on layoff  Dec. 22. We expect him to be out of work for all of January.

Although he handled most of the unemployment benefit application details on line Dec. 22 and 23, Michigan Works! notified him that he needed to stop by the office in person to take care of some reporting requirements.

College daughter also needed to run errands this morning. So she went along with her stepdad to the employment office in between her appointments. We joked that her tagging along to his appointment would provide a college kid with an interesting observation in real-life worker bee details.

Anyway, according to their reports, the Monroe Michigan Works! office was packed this morning.

Do you remember all those autoworker and auto supplier employoees who were laid off during Christmas week? I thought it was odd that the Michigan numbers didn’t bump up for first-time jobless claims filings for that reporting week.

Now I’m wondering if there must have been a lot of people who decided to wait until after the holidays to even start the application process.

Here are some tips if you are new to the unemployment lines:

• Don’t put off or delay filing for benefits. It will take some time to process the application before you get your first check. The sooner you start the paperwork, the sooner you will get money.
• Create a designated file, box or manila envelope for all your unemployment documents and “to do” requirements to keep those checks coming. My husband uses a plastic folder.
• If you have easy access to a computer, then handle as much of the application details as you can on line. My husband said this step saved him a lot of time today at the employment office.
• If you don’t already have a checking or savings account, then consider setting up an account at a bank or credit union in order to receive direct deposit of your benefit check. The state changed its payment procedures last summer. While the instructions on the web site indicate you can still request a paper check, the debit card program is the default unless you make other arrangements. And there are lots of transaction fees for that debit card payment option! (However, you can change your payment arrangement at any time.)

Sara Noel wrote about “Save green by going green” for the Frugal Village column this weekend.

Here’s a snippet:

HOMEKEEPING: Use natural, homemade cleaners, microfiber cloths or reusable cloth materials for surface cleaning and cloth napkins instead of paper; line-dry clothing; and turn off heat drying on your dishwasher.

Seriously, this does work. About half of my cleaning routines and products now rely on old fashioned / green / frugal (pick your adjective) techniques and products such as rags, refillable bottles, vinegar and ammonia.

I never tried to calculate how much money I am saving with this approach, but I have noticed that I’m buying a lot fewer cleaning products these days than I used to. And because I keep fewer cleaning chemicals on my supply shelf, it’s easier for me to watch for best available prices for those items.