If you're like me, you love being outdoors. The air is fresher, the sun enhances your mood, and it's great for sports. Belonging to a gym is a great way to get in shape, but they aren't as exciting or refreshing as working out outdoors. Many different activities you can do in the gym are significantly enhanced outdoors. The mountains and the ocean provide the best setting for taking advantage of these activities.

Another bonus provided by outdoor activities: they usually cost far less than a gym membership!

As a fairly avid music fan on a budget, I often struggle with spending lots of money on concert tickets, downloads and music magazine subscriptions. I want to stay connected to what's going on and to what's new, but it's rough with all the TicketMaster fees and with the ever-present temptation to pirate music instead of legitimately paying for it.

I have, however, found a few ways to maintain my music knowledgeability without spending all my monies on music and music-related purchases.

Here are a few tips to help you stay hip without breaking the bank...

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...

This past week, I (along with several of my co-workers) attended an out-of-town conference for several days and I have to tell you, it's really good to be back! Not that I didn't learn a lot and wasn't grateful for the opportunity to spend quality time with my fellow Savings.comers, but sinking into my own bed, with my own pillows last night was a welcome relief from strange hotel rooms and crowded airplanes.

So in honor of that, I give you this week's finance blog round-up--the "Home Again" edition:

Today, let's talk about free. Although Savings.com has a great selection of software deals, what better way to save than to pay nothing at all, right? For smaller projects that require less expertise, there are many free graphics programs out there. I've compiled a select few that I've tested and used--none of which are of the illegal download variety. But all are perfectly legitimate scaled-down alternatives to full-featured (and full-priced!) graphics software packages that I've picked up on through the years.

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...

So you may have noticed by reading the blog posts at Savings.com that most of us here have some level of expertise on a given category, and we do our best to save folks money on the items we are knowledgeable about. When I asked myself what is my area of "deal" expertise two things sprung to mind: motorcycle parts/maintenance and beer. The first is a bit niche, so we'll table that and focus on how one saves money on beer.

Think back to the crappiest car you've ever driven. Now think of how nice it would have been to get $4500 to trade in your hooptie for a sweet new ride. $4500...that's more than my last car was worth! Our favorite blog posts and articles from the past week are themed around the Cash for Clunkers bill that was passed by the Senate last night. So, without further ado, here are our favorite clunker-related posts of the week.

A recent post over at Walletpop detailed the story of a cash-strapped zoo in Gaza that painted a donkey to look like a zebra. They say necessity is the mother of invention, but often frugality plays a large role as well. I polled my Savings.com colleagues about their favorite savings hacks (also dubbed "frugal ingenuity" by Derek).

Here are the results:

Our favorite blog posts and articles this week span a wide range of topics from the pros and cons of carrying cash to Apple's plan to boost iTunes sales. So, if you're looking for a potpourri of reading delights, you've found it.

Working out can be almost as boring and painful as going to the dentist depending on what you're doing. If you're into lifting weights, you might not enjoy running as much and vice versa. Nintendo came up with a solution that made things a little better for you called Wii Fit. It basically is a video game but you're working out while playing it.

As computers continue to dominate our lives more and more, it makes sense that the next step in the evolution of fitness moves from barbell to joystick.

It's Friday, and that means it's blog round-up time! Our favorite blog posts and articles this week have to do with jobs...finding a job, quitting a job, secret jobs, etc. So if you're in on the job market, thinking of changing your line of work, or if you just want some good reading, check out the links below.