Although we're one week away from Black Friday and the "official" kick-off of the Holiday season, for many of us it's not really Christmas until we watch our favorite holiday movie or TV special.  Over at TVCrunch, they've got a pretty comprehensive schedule of Holiday specials, so you can make sure you don't miss out on a beloved Christmas story.

I've listed a few of my best-loved programs.  See if yours is among them:

Have you started your holiday shopping yet? Ah, the holiday displays and "Silver Bells" playing over the sound system--not to mention parking hassles, crushing crowds and fist fights over the last Tickle-Me-Elmo...

Why not avoid the stresses of your local mall and shop at home? Not only are we helping you to save money when you shop online with our Black Friday coupons and Cyber Monday deals, but we're giving away a HP DV7T Quad Laptop so you can surf the web in style.

I spent the week in Las Vegas at a conference and as such I was inspired to write this post. Las Vegas--aka "Sin City"--is world-renowned for its gambling, a past-time whose charms elude me. In my opinion, if I'm going to be dropping a wad of cash I want to see something leather in my closet to show for it. Spending money on slot machines, roulette wheels and the like is the equivalent of taking a match to your bankroll and setting it on fire.

Except when you do that, at least you'd enjoy some warmth...

And so I started thinking of other extreme money wasters for those with money to burn:

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".

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!

'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...

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:

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:

The popularity of Guitar Hero at last week's Savings.com Party reminded me of what a musical group we have here. In addition to professional musician Erik DiNardo, we have quite a few guitarists, keyboard players, etc. Not to mention serious aficionados like Sara and Derek.

In honor of the musicality of Savings.com, I decided (with a little help from some friends...) to compose a lineup of songs to save by--aka the "Savings.com Playlist":

Our Community Manager, Sara Dunham (aka "WiscoVixen"), has gone Hollywood on us. She's appearing on Best Deals TV Show to tout the benefits of Savings.com.

Best Deals TV Show is southern California's #1 most-watched consumer program on KTLA 5 and KCAL 9. Consumer reporters Lynda Halligan and Andrew Amador travel all over southern California searching for the best buys and value for services.

The spot will air on L.A. channels KTLA 5 and KCAL 9 starting this Saturday. Early birds can catch it at 8:30 AM PST on October 11th and 25th on KCAL 9. Night owls can get their Wisco-fix at 1:30 AM PST on the 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st on KLTA 5.

Or you can take a peek right now:

When it comes to saving money, there are a number of techniques one can employ. Some people claim less deductions than they are entitled to in order to get a windfall come tax season. Others collect spare change in penny jars. Others squirrel away their money in their mattress (and given the alarming rate of bank failures this year, one can hardly blame them!). Some strategies are more effective than others if you're truly serious about bolstering your bank account.

Here's a look at the pros and cons some techniques that are certainly a better bet than stashing your cash in a Posture-pedic:

Cooler weather, shorter days and longer nights. All of these autumnal changes portend one basic fact: there are only 27 shopping days left 'til Halloween! In the "spirit" (Get it?) of the impending fright fest, we've themed this week's top ten to showcase our very best Halloween deals.

Whether you're throwing a Halloween party, outfitting your little trick or treaters in Halloween costumes or stocking up on Halloween candy, we've got Halloween coupons to reduce sticker shock and leave the scariness to monster masks and not your credit card statement.

Recently I posted about saving styles and not surprisingly we have quite a few savvy shoppers here at Savings.com. I put my colleagues to the test to offer up the best deal they ever scored. I got quite a few responses--along with some great shopping tips.

Here's what the Savings.com DealPros™ had to say on the subject:

Happy October! Fall is officially in session and that means shorter days, warmer clothes and a mad dash towards the impending holiday season. October 1st also kicks off National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Initiated in 1985, National Breast Cancer Awareness month has raised awareness of the deadly disease--championing education, research and early detection. The "Pink Ribbon" campaign has also raised a lot of money to support efforts for a breast cancer cure.

Among the many activities and promotions occurring this month, there will be a number of fund raising events for breast cancer charities. Millions of people will be out and about as they run for the cure, walk for the cure or even shop for the cure.

That's right--I said, "Shop for the Cure." Quite a number of stores are participating in National Breast Cancer Awareness month with special "Pink" products and promotions of which of portion of the proceeds get donated to a breast cancer charity.

Here's a list of all the deals we currently have to support Breast Cancer Awareness:

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?

Disney has been in the news lately what with their Fantasyland expansion at Disney World and their recent (and first ever!) fan convention. It got me to thinking about the many Disney movies I've watched over the years.

The Disney name has long been associated with groundbreaking animation and wholesome family fare--but beyond the pure entertainment there are also great educational opportunities.

Here are ten money lessons I've gleaned from watching Disney classics:

There are inventions that are life transforming: the wheel, the electric light, the telephone, the airplane, the internet. There are inventions that make life easier and better: iPods, laptops, microwave popcorn. And then there are inventions that are not so much proof of human ingenuity as they are evidence that given time, access to power tools and a dream, man can indeed build a better mousetrap.

Powered by batteries.

The following are a few products that might not be life transforming, but are certainly good for a chuckle or two:

In honor of Sara's post on school bands, I decided to post a collection of blog posts that dealt with the topic of school or...uh, bands. Or music. How does this have anything to do with finance? Patience, grasshopper, patience!

We may be stretching it a bit here, but here's this week's round-up of band geek inspired finance stories:

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?"

Summer doesn't officially end for another three weeks or so, but we know some of you are just itching to get a start on Halloween. We've set aside a special section on Savings.com for Halloween deals--and it's already starting to fill up fast!

If you're like me, you probably don't start thinking about Halloween costumes or Halloween candy until--oh, October 30th. But just as the early bird gets the worm, savvy shoppers plan well in advance to get the best discounts and deals, Halloween or otherwise.

So for this week's featured store, here's a rundown of some of our many Halloween merchants:

For the most part, ads are usually something we fast forward through or use the programming interruption to grab a snack from the kitchen or check email. But a recent MediaPost News Brief about AdWeek's Induction of Hall of Famers reminds us that some commercials transcend the status of obnoxious obstacles and become must-see programming in and of themselves.

I can't believe August is almost over. Did the summer fly by for everyone else as well?

As we wend ever nearer to back-to-school, it puts me in mind of childhood days: allowances, penny candy, piggy banks...

Which inspired the theme of this listing of our favorite finance blog posts for the week: I give you finance blog round-up, the dollars and cents edition.

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...

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:

At Savings.com, we work HARD. But we also like to play hard as well. After months of meetings and research and coding and testing, we launched the new and improved website. And last Friday we celebrated our accomplishment with a red and white themed party.