Thanksgiving is a very special time of the year. For some, it's the only time they get to spend with distant relatives and extended family. That can get pretty stressful if you're the one hosting Thanksgiving.

Here are some easy ways to help relieve that stress:

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:

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.

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:

Fall is here and that means the weather is changing. Leaves are changing colors, skies are getting darker, and the weather is getting colder. Unless you're a fair weather fan that is. Now that MLB Playoffs have started, fair weather fans are appearing everywhere. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out Twitter and Facebook. People everywhere are all of a sudden hardcore (insert whichever team is winning) fans.

This strange phenomenon has been occurring since the beginning of professional sports. I have done an extensive study on fair weather fans and discovered the following:

• Out of every five fans of a team that wins a championship, four are fair weather fans.

• Fair weather fans are the most hated fans in all of sports and yet the most prevalent fans in sports. This means many of them are hypocrites.

• Fair weather fans, as it turns out, started the fire (listen to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" if you don't know what I'm talking about).

In honor of the 25th anniversary of NationalBreast Cancer Awareness Month, I decided to examine the simplest thing we can do to as an act of prevention: eat green. In fact, consuming more of anything brightly colored or leafy green can help add preventive carotenes to our diets. Here's a quick guide to carotene-rich and green treats to throw into your daily mix so this year you can not only think Pink, but also green.

We here at Savings.com are devoted to working hard so that you always have easy access to all the best online coupons and deals. And as much as we know and understand the value of a dollar, we also see the value in taking time to enjoy some of the finer things in life.

This past Friday was one of those times. We invited our significant others, some business partners, and a few friends to celebrate a successful and exciting third quarter.

It's Murphy's Law: Every time I have an exciting night planned, my skin breaks out. Next thing I know I'm accessorizing with a big, honking zit. I started thinking about important nights out--your high school reunion, a hot date, a special event--and all the last minute snafus that can spoil your look and your mood. How do you deal with these unexpected annoyances?

I asked some of my Savings.com colleagues for their fast, easy fixes for these common problems.

It may still be September but Halloween is upon us. It's seems these days the new holiday season starts immediately following the last holiday. Seconds after Labor Day was over, you could see your local Walgreens stocking up their Halloween wares. Which is just fine because Halloween rules. And these days there's so many more cool Halloween decorations than when I was growing up. Kids today have it good when Halloween rolls around.

But with all the light-up skeletons, talking candy bowls, fake severed hands and so-on, we need a way to pay for those Halloween deals somehow. So today we look at some of the most Halloweenish careers out there today. Trouble is, it's a year-round gig, not just an October thing so it takes a special type of person to make this their livelihood.

Annie recently posted about the happenings at Fashion Week and it occurred to me that no matter what length hemlines are, or if pink, navy or brown is the new "black," saving never goes out of style.

Many of us express our personalities through the clothes we wear, music we listen to or things we buy. But our shopping habits can also provide insight as to our saving style. I've narrowed it down to four categories. Which defines your style?

Any of us who've ever been faced with a long distance commute to work have likely pondered any and every way to save money on the costs of gas and vehicle maintenance.  Since I try to stay well-versed in most things both savings and motorcycle related, I've read countless articles that discuss a fuel-efficient motorcycle or scooter as a potential solution to this dilemma.  Lately I've seen more and more of these articles surfacing--both for and against owning a motorcycle/scooter as a means of saving money.

Over time I've developed some strong opinions on the matter so when Stella (the Queen of our Saving.com blog) recently sent yet another "Can you save money by motorcycle commuting? " article my way, I jumped at the chance to chime in with my two cents. 

Gwyneth Paltrow loves the Master Cleanse, yogis love raw juice cleanses, and some hardcore Spartans just pray for survival during a week-long fast of nothing but lemon juice and water (which I so DON'T recommend!).

I did my first full body cleanse four years ago out of sheer naivety and blind curiosity. I had no comprehension of the commitment, dedication, and focus behind successfully finishing a week-long physical purification. Perhaps that was the stupidest or smartest way to approach a gut-transforming detoxification. All I knew was that--at that time in my life--I was feeling sluggish, sleep-deprived, and irritable. I needed to do some tidying up of my intestines.

It really doesn't matter what brings you face-to-face with your juicer; what does matter is your intention to clear your mind, body, and perhaps spirit. As a sensation junkie, vigorous and physically challenging types of yoga usually resonate with me, but even if you don't practice yoga and you do other physical activities, cleansing may help bring out a lighter and stronger fighting machine in you.

It's 3:00 in the afternoon and you're sitting behind your computer at work with a slight tension headache mounting and tight, sore shoulders screaming for release. Who hasn't felt this way sitting in the same position for long periods of time? You've hit the late afternoon wall.

What do you do?

If weekly chiropractic sessions or massages aren't in your budget, there are many good habits to adopt to alleviate that knot between your shoulders.

Here are some suggestions:

Just because I think Macs are a colossal waste of money doesn't mean I wasn't paying close attention to yesterday's Apple announcements--because I pretty much worship everything else this company makes. My iPod, an original video model (I guess it's an "iPod Classic" now), is still going strong after its fourth birthday, and I'll be buying an iPhone the instant AT&T extends or lets go of their exclusivity (just in case Verizon joins the party and saves me the trouble of switching networks).

Steve Jobs announced a video camera for the 5th-generation iPod nano and a software update for the iPhone 3GS, but my focus was definitely on the new features of iTunes 9:

It takes a profound kind of modern-day alchemy to make it through the day in this shrinking post-industrial world. Every morning people wake up just to jump into their cars and rush barking mad to work, juggle raising families and tending to careers, or deal with the responsibilities of winning or losing the bread in this economy. And recent college graduates have to confront their disaffection toward their expensive education, with no apparent reward of a job.

No doubt, people's stress levels are on the rise and health levels are on the dive.

Making a giant lifestyle change to improve your health is sometimes a decision you make out of duress, nudging from family, or the numbers taunting you on the scale. Whatever the impetus, you own it and need to feel the most comfortable to make a change.

Last week I posted the top three ways to manage your own health care. Here are three more things you might want to consider when restructuring a lifestyle regimen:

With the news of unemployment rising to 9.7%, this year Labor Day is more of a time to be grateful for HAVING a job rather than celebrating a day off from one. In the midst of the barbecues and bargain shopping that the holiday has become known for, I thought I'd take a moment to muse about what this Monday is really about:

Working and workers.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American will change careers 2-5 times and hold more than 10 different jobs during their working years. I thought it would be interesting to journey back in time with my Savings.com co-workers with this simple query:

"What was your first job?"

There's an ongoing debate over whether college sports or pro sports are better. Some people argue that pro players don't try nearly as hard as college players because they aren't playing to get signed to pro team (obviously because they're already on one). Others argue that the reason it seems they don't try as hard is that they're playing at a higher level of competition.

I personally agree with the former assertion and think this problem could be solved by lowering pro athlete salaries. According to Blake Oestriecher of Tigerweekly.com, the economy is impacting the pro sports world. I think this is a good thing.

Here's why:

Listening to the shouting and--in my opinion--utter nonsense being thrown around during town hall meetings discussing health care reform got me revisiting how inextricably interwoven money, politics, and health care have become.

If you lost your job recently, you may not have the great health benefits you once enjoyed and risk facing insurmountable bills should you fall ill. If you're a child with a life-threatening disease and your laid-off parents can't afford health insurance, you're probably receiving state aid to which we all ultimately contribute.

This crisis has an unrelenting ripple effect.

Then I got to thinking (after feeling incredibly helpless): Why can't we deconstruct this colossal beast and try to simplify a complicated, chaotically spiraling system? We can take action to improve and rehabilitate what we know best -- our OWN health. I can't nit-pick the granular here, but I can try to speak to those who want to make visits to their doctors as minimal as possible. Or to those who just want to embark on a healthier lifestyle where they can deal with barking-mad commutes with a bit more clarity.

Here are three simple steps toward a healthier lifestyle AND a healthier life:

I was confronted with an interesting situation when I went to pay my T-mobile bill online the other day: either I "go green" with their paperless billing, or pay $1.50 for privilege of receiving a paper bill each month. The choice was a no-brainer.

I "chose" to go green...

We've all heard it before..."The best things in life are free." If you really think about it, you'll find that statement to be pretty true. I've polled my co-workers here at Savings.com to see what kinds of free things they consider to be priceless. Yeah, I'm going for something along the same lines as the g'zillion MasterCard commercials we've seen over the years. You know...two tickets to a baseball game - $24. Two hotdogs and sodas - $30. An afternoon ballgame with your kid - priceless.

In any case, here's what I heard back from the team...

Playing sports is a great way to get some exercise, have fun, and bond with friends. Whether you're playing a pick-up game or on an organized team, there are tons of different sports to choose from. However, sometimes we get bored of playing the same sports over and over. Here are sports that are fun but a bit--uh, unusual...

I recently had to fly across the country on short notice for a funeral. I found a round trip ticket to New York for a little over $700 on Virgin America and considered myself lucky, as other airlines were showing prices of $1200 or more for a similar last minute trip. When I returned from my travels, I got to wondering if I has been too hasty in buying that Virgin America ticket, and if I could have gotten a better deal if I had investigated so-called bereavement fares from the major airlines . My conclusion: probably not.

It's the age old (well, couple of years old...) debate: whether to buy a CD or get the download? I'm going to start by saying that to me this is a no-brainer. So if you feel like my argument is one-sided, you're right--it is. If you have the option (I realize not all music comes packaged nowadays and you have to download them) then you should always buy the actual CD.

Here's why...

So this blog was supposed to be all about The Day of Living Cheaply, aka how to get through a day spending zero dollars. I was even going to test-drive all of my ultra-frugal tips: steal complimentary coffee from a nearby hotel lobby, eat Costco samples for lunch, be a paid audience member for dinner money, etc.

I soon realized that not only am I too lazy to partake in said activities, I have far too much pride. So ended The Day of Living Cheaply.

Recently we posted about our upcoming site re-launch. We've been working super hard and are really excited about the new design and functionality. No doubt some of you are dubious about it--after all, "new and improved" is a staple marketing tactic.

You won't have much longer to wait until the new Savings.com is unveiled, but until then let's take a look at some examples of when "new and improved" wasn't vs. when it actually lived up to the hype: