Just a friendly reminder that today is the last day to use the Lowes Foods store coupons that were issued for this month. Those are the store coupons that come periodically in the sales flier that you can also partner with a manufacturer's coupon. There were some good ones this month!

A few weeks ago, I re-posted the link to my Excel savings tracker spreadsheet and offered it to you to track your savings in 2009. We're now almost a month in... who's been doing this? Anyone feel like sharing how much you've saved so far?? (If you still want to do this, the link to the Excel spreadsheet and the spreadsheet as a Google Doc are over on the left-hand side of this page...)

I wrote a story Friday about how you have to be very careful at liquidation sales like the one going on right now at Circuit City. Liquidators who take over the stores' inventory are out to make a profit — not to save you money. Need more proof? Check out this piece from the ABC station in my hometown of Philadelphia.

I got an interesting request from reader Lyn over the weekend. She wanted to know if I could make my savings tracker spreadsheet a Google Doc to make it easier to use. Seemed like a good idea to me, so here's the link for those of you who would prefer to use the spreadsheet as a Google Doc.

Now I am not all that tech-savvy, so if there's an issue, please let me know... I've also added a permanent link over on the left-hand side of my blog under "Track your savings."

I always like it when we can pool the collective knowledge and bargain-hunting power of Taking Stock readers. So I am inviting you to post here about items for which you are seeking a deal. If you see a post and know of a good deal on an item someone has posted, go ahead and respond.

Please remember to specifically state which item you are discussing because we will have a lot of different subjects going on in one thread! I'm really not sure how this will work out, but let's give it a try!

I'm all for automation if it makes my life easier, but there are definitely limits to automated systems. Take, for instance, the tale of David Mackie, a 35-year-old salesman, who recently personalized his Capital One credit card with a mug shot of actor Nick Nolte. Since the card was issued and images of it have appeared all over the Internet, Capital One offered Mackie $50 to send it back. You can read the report and see the image here on The Smoking Gun.

I got an interesting e-mail from reader Sun a few weeks ago. She wrote:

We talk about recycle, reuse, repurpose but never the idea of reducing. Simply put, we consume too much. Rather than eating the whole thing, what about eating just 1/2 of that?  And saving it to eat it later? Rather than letting the size of your closet decide how much to buy, what about the idea buying only the clothes you need? ... I save the most money when I simply consume less.  Sure, I like getting good deals, but only on the things I need.

Makes sense to me. And it inspired me to ask all of you to share your ideas and tips... How do you reduce the amount you consume? How much do you think you save? 

Have you noticed the pharmacies have been pushing their store brand products? CVS, Rite Aid and Kerr Drug especially have been running big brands on their own items. Of course, there's a reason: the items typically are cheaper than the brand name products, and they are more lucrative for the companies. Check out this Bloomberg story for more on this topic...

I heard last week from reader Julie, who wanted to share a good customer service story with me. Julie praised a Wake Forest company called A Complete Pump and Water Pure, which she hired to fix a problem with her water system and which she found to be incredibly helpful and honest. Not knowing anything about how her water system worked, Julie half expected to get ripped off. But Julie wrote: "They could have taken advantage of our situation, but instead treated us with the utmost respect."

For me, it's kind of odd to get an e-mail about GOOD customer service. But I thought we might use Julie's note as a launching pad to start the week on a positive note.

If you have a LOCAL company that you would like to praise in public, here's your chance. Tell us why they are so great...

As online coupons become more accepted, it shouldn't be too shocking that more companies are beginning to issue them. According to Internet Retailer, the top 500 e-retailers had a 21 percent increase in online coupon offers leading up to this last holiday season. Things didn't turn out very jolly for most of them, but I hope the online coupon trend is here to stay...