My wife and I started a new hobby about 3 months ago that has actually ended up saving us money. How much? Almost $250 since we got started. Its also fueled a competitive streak in my wife that was very unexpected and sparked a savings goal for us to shoot for as a couple in 2012.

But our fun pass time of couponing is probably a lot closer to an obsession for contestants on the Extreme Couponing television show broadcast on the cable network TLC. In this program, people go to extremes to save money on every day items by organizing their coupons in folders similar to baseball card collectors, monitor the internet for special deals from manufacturers, and hoard mailings that are sent out by local grocers. It was through this television program that my wife and I were introduced to our new hobby.

If youve never seen the program before, heres the gist of it of the show: A contestant that is very into couponing is interviewed. Typically, this person has a stash of free items hoarded in their garaged or basement that theyve acquired at steep discounts throughout the years. Usually theyve got dozens or hundreds of similar products: 100 bottles of mustard, 50 rolls of toilet paper, large quantities of diapers, and other household products that dont have short expiration dates. Then the contestant explains how they save so much money with coupons and finally go out and make a large purchase at a grocery store. Often times the contestant will fill up a two grocery carts worth hundreds of dollars at retail and only end up paying pocket change after the savings.

How My Wife and I Got Started

Although, my wife and I have gotten hooked on Extreme Couponing the tv show, the contestants on this program are a little bit more invested in their couponing than we would like to be. Many contestants spend 20 hours or more per week trying to find the best coupons on the internet, newspapers and magazines. Since my wife and I both have fulltime jobs selling adult sized reusable cloth diapers this type of time commitment just isnt realistic for us. Still, weve come up with our own coupon clipping regimen that works better for us. If youre looking for an easy hobby that can also save you some money, these tips could be for you.

Organizing Coupons

About an hour every week, my wife and I take out our clippers and convene at the dinner table to clip and organize coupons that weve received in the mail or through our newspaper subscription. We get bi-weekly mailings from the local grocery stores, which are our prime savings targets and place them into a scrap book that helps us organize the coupons. In addition to helping us save money, this also gives us the opportunity to chat during the week. Clipping coupons does take time, but it doesnt take a whole lot of mental effort. We take the time to catch up, drink some coffee, while saving a few bucks in the process.

In addition to traditional coupon clipping, weve also taken our hobby into the 21st century by getting to know some of the discount websites available online. My wife and I were very surprised to find out that there were literally hundreds, if not thousands, of websites online that track the best coupons for you. Do a search within Google for coupon websites or grocery coupon websites and youll quickly discover hundreds of ways to save. One of our favorites is CouponMom.com.

Our personal goal for 2012 is to save over $600 on necessities during the calendar year. Considering we saved almost $250 in the first three months of our little experiment I believe this goal is very attainable. You might never see us on an episode of Extreme Couponing, but my wife and I really enjoy this new hobby that we can share together. But the savings is just the icing on the cake as what we enjoy the most is just getting a block time that we always spend together during the week.

Getting in shape for the wedding is a pretty common practice for a bride to be. This isnt too surprising since many women have been anticipating about their wedding day since they were little girls. But for the majority of guys out there, I dont think this is typical behavior.

A Little about Myself

I consider myself to be a pretty typical guy and I dont ever recall thinking about my wedding day until a few months after I proposed to my fianc and started to plan a my wedding. Frankly, I was much more interested in becoming a pro football player, race car driver, or jet pilot than growing up to be a knight in shining armor for my future wife.

About 6-months to the date of our wedding my fiancee started to take her exercise regimen seriously. She was never noticeably overweight by any means, but she wanted to lose about ten pounds to look her best in a wedding dress. Needless to say, her new workout regimen got me thinking about my own weight.

I was 510 and about 185 pounds six months before our wedding. Certainly not a bad weight for someone approaching his 30s, but I dont think anyone would argue there was room for improvement in the body department. So I started looking into ways I could lose 10 15 pounds over a 6-month period. If I was able to lose 15 pounds, Id be back to the same weight as when I graduated from high school, which would be a fulfilling personal accomplishment.

Simple Changes = Measurable Results

Since I had a few months to go before my wedding date and a realistic goal, I wasnt looking for any type of overnight miracle cure to hit my target weight loss. I was just looking for a plan that was slow, steady, and eventually get me where I wanted to be.

So I picked up a few magazines like Mens Health and surfed the internet for diet plans for men on WebMD.com. What I soon discovered was that there were a plethora of solutions, products, and plans available to help me hit my goal. However, the most important factor that indicated success seemed to be just picking a program and sticking to it. The follow through, not the plan was the biggest factor that separated success from failure.

I opted to move ahead with a common sense plan that included a simple change in diet and more exercise. Next, I put my goal down on a piece of paper and stuck it to my refrigerator as a daily reminder of what I needed to do to hit my desired weight.

Heres what my plan consisted of:

Exercise for at least 25 minutes, four times per week. My exercise regimen consisted of cardiovascular activities like running, swimming, or using the elliptical machine. Since I wasnt trying to build muscle, I didnt do any weight training although the fitness training has toned my muscles.

Changed my diet during the week: I work in an office thats located nearby a variety of fast food chains with familiar names. Out of convenience, I would regularly eat fast food with co-workers about 3 4 times a week. I replaced fast food with healthy salads and sandwiches I made from home. In addition to eating better for lunch, I also saved money.

My weekend diet remained mostly unchanged: Im a sports fan and really enjoy watching (and eating) during baseball games. Since I didnt have a ton of weight to lose, I figured I could continue to splurge on the weekends.

Hitting My Goal

After four months of sticking to this simple plan that combined exercise with a change in diet, I was able to successfully lose 10 pounds. Ive also noticed a boost in energy as a result of my exercise regimen, which is a nice bonus.

In conclusion, getting in shape for a wedding isnt a thing guys normally discuss. However, I felt that it was important for me to look my best in photographs that will hopefully be passed down to my children and grand children. My wife didnt seem to mind either.

My advice

1.) If youre thinking about losing a few pounds for your wedding start working out early. This will ensure you have the time to adjust your work-out routine or diet if youre not getting fast enough results. 2.) Follow through with the plan. If youre consistent and stick to a sensible plan you should get results.

Author Bio: This post was written by Steven Johnson a writer at Adult Cloth Diapers HQ, a distributor of quality adult cloth diapers. Visit their website for more information.

So you are engaged!  Congratulations!  But as the excitement and the adrenalin rush wears off, and the family and friends who have been so enthusiastic with your news go back to their daily lives, it’s time to start thinking about things to do after getting engaged.  There’s a wedding that needs to be planned!

The decision to become engaged has with it its own responsibilities.  Two people have made a decision that they wish to commit to each other and begin a life together.  It may be that they are already very much sharing a life together, but they wish to show their commitment through the act of marriage.  Whichever category you fall into, the planning of a wedding will be a stressful time.

The reason for the stress is that you will find yourself dealing with a range of people, some of whom you will have never had the need for in the past.  And, you won’t be planning on needing them again!  This is to be a one-off affair, and you want it to be perfect.  So, yes, there is good reason for finding wedding planning a stressful time.

The best way to prepare for a wedding, is to come up with a strategy.  And the best strategy for organising a wedding with the least stress is to include a step-by-step list of things to do.  A timeline makes a huge difference as it is often easy to focus on the ‘fun’ parts of the preparation – dress buying, and table settings.  But the nitty gritty like guest lists and food menus is as important to making the day a great success for you and those who will join you in this celebration.

With the timeline firmly in view, then, the first step is to set a date for your wedding.  Once you have done this you can begin to work through your list of ‘things to do’ in a prioritised and logical order.  With a date for the wedding, the venue can then be sought.  The venue sought will take into account the type of wedding you are wanting.  Is it formal?  Is it casual?  How many guests do you anticipate inviting.  This is not the time to become sidetracked with guest lists, per se.  But when you are choosing your wedding venue you will need to take account of numbers to be catered for.  If the venue itself is non-negotiable for you, then obviously you will curb your guest list to meet the facilities that are available at it.  But whatever the guest list, the confirming of a venue for the date of your wedding must be your first priority.

Having done this, you may find that you are offered assistance by the wedding venue itself.  Some venues will provide menus and table setting samples which they are able to provide.  If these fit your own criteria, then obviously they are steps on your time zone which you will be able to sweep over gently.  However, remember, this is your special day and all steps must be included in your strategy, even if they are being delegated elsewhere.  You will still need to check that everything is on time and on schedule.  But, with the strategy in place, the things to do after your engagement should be able to broken down into the things other people can do for you, ie delegate!, and the things that you want to do because after all it is your day …

Having a grand wedding is every bride and groom’s dream. Many people who want to get married want the day to last in their minds forever and also the guests’ as well. It is therefore very important for those taking care of organizing the wedding to put every detail meticulously in place so as to achieve this. A wedding calls for very good budgeting because of the many things involved in making it happen. There are guests to cater for feeding needs, entertainment, decor, the outfits and even the venue the wedding is supposed to take place. Choosing the right venue is definitely one of the most important decisions that the bride and groom can make towards having a successful wedding day.