I challenge you, readers, to find any semblance of a theme for this week's roundup. Stella warned me it would be tough, and she was right. I've got nothing!

So let's forge ahead:

Although the Christmas creep has been causing an ongoing battle between Jack Frost and Jack-o-Lanterns, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season has been the day after Thanksgiving, aka "Black Friday." But according to an article on Mainstreet, Black Friday has morphed into "Black November".

As much as I would love to write about how Andre Agassi should be praised for admitting he used crystal meth instead of being chastised, I'm gonna pass. That won't save you money because we don't have any crystal meth deals (weird, I know...). Instead I'll provide you with some deals (and hopefully some entertainment) on some very strange fitness products.

Now that the Holiday shopping season is upon us, it's time to...what's that? You thought you had a few more weeks to kill before you had to even start thinking about gift buying, long lines, and bank account breaking? Hahaha, oh no my friends! Wasting away the next few weeks can mean missing out on some of the best bargains available.

Every year it seems the holiday shopping season gets moved up sooner. This year several retailers, both online and off, started their big festive season pushes in August. For the most part, however, many seasonal deals started to appear in full force the day after Halloween. The days of procrastination paying off in last minute bargains are slowly fading away into the past.

So, in honor of slow-cooked turkey, pine needles littering the floor, festivals of light and quick kisses under strategically hung mistletoe, I'm going to give you a brief primer in getting the jump on cool holiday tech deals that won't put you in the poor house come January 1st.

Since 2006, Light in the Box has been providing customers with brand-name products at wholesale prices--making it a shoe-in for this week's Featured Store.

After my luggage was lost on my last flight, I vowed to try to make my next trip with just a carry-on. This might sound like a small feat, but for someone as indecisive as me, it isn't. ("What if I want to wear the boots instead of the flats? I'll bring both. And the t-straps. Just in case.") Sure, I packed lighter when I was younger, but I usually ended up looking like a grungy teenager.

Since tomorrow I'm headed to San Francisco for Save Up, I grilled friends, scoured the web for packing tips, and hit up fashion magazines for the best advice on packing light while looking right. As always, I found a way to make sure your biggest travel expense is your plane ticket, not your wardrobe.

Ah, Thanksgiving. Such a cornucopia of culinary delights. Such a delightful melange of seasonal flavors. So utterly impossible to match with wine.

You can pair each individual Thanksgiving dish with a wine, of course. But finding a wine to complement the whole meal is a different story. You may have herbal notes in the stuffing, buttery mashed potatoes, marshmallow-y yams, white or dark meat. And let's face it, one tart mouthful of cranberry sauce and the whole wine pairing plan gets shot to heck.

So what can you do, besides pretend you forgot to buy cranberry sauce? Choose a crowd pleasing favorite that goes with the widest range of flavors.

We've got your list here.

We're gearing up for holiday shopping here at Savings.com. Expect to see a lot in the way of Holiday sales, deals for Christmas, etc. as we edge ever closer to the Holiday season. As you traipse through the mall looking for the perfect gifts and the best deals, there's one thing that will ache more than your empty wallet.

Your feet.

Fortunately, we have a solution for that--at least for one lucky reader. We're giving away a total leg and foot massager!

Halloween's over and with it the scary season. Some would say the scary season of the bad economy is coming to a close as well. How true is this? Well, it depends on who you ask because if you're struggling financially, there's no doubt that you're going to be pessimistic about the overall economy as well. But there are some encouraging signs that the economy is coming out of its slumber. This is good news for retailers who are probably a bit worried about the spending habits this coming holiday season.

Let's look at some of the major indicators. Last week it was revealed that the Gross Domestic Product went up 3.5%. Given that a recession is defined as two negative quarters for the GDP, it would appear that the GDP is a great indicator of our new fiscal health. Still, there are those who argue that the GDP isn't that great of an indicator, and may not mean that we're in a recovery mode, just that we're effectively treading water. However, there is some evidence that we're entering a recovery as well.

This Week's Top 10 Deals are finally here! We've combed our site for the best of the recently added coupons and created our glorious Top 10 Deals list to help ease the pinch of that shopping sting. Fear not the holidays! Here at Savings.com, we want to help make sure this holiday season feels recession-free...

I've been elected to write this week's "Home Sweet Home" edition of Herding Cats--which is fitting, because I do indeed live at and work from home. Since today is All Hallow's Eve Eve, it was also fitting that we feature a few stories about ghosts.

Read on...if you dare!

'Twas the day before Halloween and the big Monster Mash and you need a quick costume for little or no cash...

If you didn't get around to taking advantage of any of our Halloween deals there's no need to worry. With a bit of ingenuity and scavenging, you can still come up with a Halloween costume that's cheap, easy and will allow you to stand out among a sea of sexy pirates, sexy witches and sexy zombies...

We all want to be among the first to own the latest toys and gadgets that hit the market. More often than not, the biggest barrier to scooping up that hot new product is the high cost associated with most new consumer electronics upon initial release. This is where discount websites and online stores specializing in bargain-priced tech become your best friends. Before you can dive in and grab that new iPod, flatscreen TV or computer program, you'll need a plan of attack to best maximize your savings potential.

Here are some things you need to know, what types of deals to look for and which websites are the best when it comes to specialized consumer technology.

Traveling is one of the best experiences in the world. You get to experience a new city, new people, new food, pretty much new everything. The only hard part about it is staying in shape. Since you're probably not going to have a kitchen, you'll be eating out a lot more (and most likely eating less healthy). However, just because you're on vacation doesn't mean you need to toss out your entire workout routine.

Here are some great ways to stay in shape without taking anything away from your experience:

Thinking about a destination holiday this Winter season? Maybe an exotic Christmas or New Year's? Eco-tourism has become big business and a viable travel option.

Eco-travel is typically based on principles of respect and working with the local community. Eco travel destinations usually buy local, hire local, and often reinvest funds to help the local community. There are some pretty amazing options out there for eco-friendly travel, but even if you're just confined to going to Grandma's this year, there are still things you can do to off-set your carbon footprint.

For over 30 years, Timberland has prided itself on the values of humanity, humility, integrity and excellence. This is a store that worries not just about the shoes and products it makes, but also about the people who wear those shoes and use those products, the well-being of the earth they live on and the well-being of the workers who make those shoes and products for them. We here at Savings.com are proud to highlight Timberland as this week's Featured Store.

Halloween is this weekend which means it's the time to embrace all that is dark, macabre and spooky. And though everyone might bust out their best Monster Mash, there are some spooky icons who get ghoulish 24/7.

Wanna bring a little "Day of the Dead" into your everyday? Pick your profile poison: Are you a Vicious Vamp? A Fresh Faced Freak? Or a Glamorous Ghoul? Below I've got ideas about how to make their looks wearable, even after Halloween is over. And of course, dear reader, I've also got coupons and deals for you. Because spending too much on beauty and fashion? Now that's scary!

Get inspired by the spooky styles of three classic, creepy but well-heeled ladies, just in time for Halloween. Read on--if you dare...

It's time to end the suspense and to let you all know who we've chosen to attend the first ever Save Up. These lucky ladies and gentlemen will be joining us in San Francisco on November 5th for a day of savings-oriented panels and fun. We received many, many amazing entries, and it was very difficult to pick just a few.

Without further ado, here are the names of the DealPros who will be attending the Save Up next month:

Travelers looking for the real Halloween travel deal--or a summer, fall or spring deal as well--might consider an Eastern Europe vacation for a splendid trip that offers all of the history, culture, and natural beauty of Western Europe at roughly a third to half the cost depending on the venues you choose.

This region is home to Transylvania, summer nights where midnight is light as day, medieval villages, and regional cuisines and wines that keep visitors coming back. Each of the following destinations is popular among tourists, yet surprisingly affordable. Even so, you can take even more of the price of a trip with Orbitz travel coupon for $50 off a 4 night stay or Travelocity hotel coupons, including one for $100 off.

Here are some highlights to a mostly overlooked and under-priced travel destination:

Recently Mainstreet had a post about cheap natural remedies and on the same day, Wisebread posted seven natural ways to fight the flu. Tylenol, Pepto Bismol and NyQuil may be OTC standards, but there are simple and natural alternatives that deserve space in your medicine cabinet.

Here's a list of five of my favorite natural basics to cure what ails you:

It's Halloween week and there aren't many things scarier to your financial future than a bad credit rating. It was bad enough a few years ago, but now a bad credit rating is even worse. Why? Because not so long ago it was still possible to squeak by with a bad credit rating. There were countless offers for "Get a loan with bad credit!!!" After all, that's the root of the financial mess that's happening right now: too many loans were given to people who couldn't afford it and then the house of cards came tumbling down.

So if banks and other lenders were risk-averse before, imagine how they are now. The bad credit deals are few and far between. The remedy: you have to clean up your credit rating if you hope to get any kind of loan with a decent interest rate--or get a loan at all. A bad credit rating can also affect getting an apartment, or even a job. Lots of people look at your credit rating. It's an important number which states, "I'm responsible"...or not.

Hello and welcome to Savings.com, all ye bargain lovers of the world! This week's Top 10 Deals are sure to have you licking your lips in anticipation of retail glory. Indulge in shopping delights at a fraction of the cost and see how your dough rises to the occasion. Step into our little pastry puff shop of delectable savings and feast your eyes upon our Top 10 scrumptiosities for the week of October 25th:

All of today's articles serving as virtual shooting-range targets for my warped sense of comprehension share the same general theme: food. It's something I admittedly don't know much about anymore due to the diet plan I've followed over the last few months, the likes of which limits my life sustaining nutritional intake to non-processed foods best described as boring.

Being a creature of habit and patterned processes carefully refined over time to yield more positive results than negative, I welcome this mundane feeding process which lacks in both general good taste and creativity, but serves up a healthy portion of predictability. Thank goodness for you, the news articles on the menu today subscribe to anything but...

Just a little over a week until Halloween, but if you think that ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties are scary, try an angry horde of costumed kids after you run out of Reese's Peanut Butter cups!

Kidding.

What's scarier than haunted houses is perhaps a balloon mortgage payment...Night of the Living Dead? Try working two jobs to barely eke out a living. And that monster lurking around the corner is nothing compared to the fright of dealing with a huge unanticipated expense on a very small and tight budget.

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I thought I'd take a bit of time to explore some of our money demons--Halloween-style:

I'm a firm believer in the idea that just about every parent strives to be the best parent they can--even the terrible ones. One of the most important things you can do to be a good parent is spend time with your children. Disneyland, Chuckie Cheese or the arcade may be a great way to keep kids entertained while spending time with them--but while these activities are kid-friendly, they are definitely not wallet-friendly.

A better way to spend time with your kids is by playing sports with them. Here are some sports you can play with your kids that will make for a great bonding experience--and they don't cost much more than just your time: