Frugal Family

CouponMom.com Is Good Source for Deals

For a more active financial break, check out the inexpensive Zumba classes at Lost Mountain Park.

We're all watching our family budgets these days. Whether shopping with coupons or looking for two-for-one deals, we're taking advantage of all sorts of offers and savings that help us make our dollars as valuable as possible. Here are some that will hopefully stretch your dollars to the max: 1. CouponMom.com Deal: Founded in Atlanta by Stephanie Nelson and favored by consumer advocate Clark Howard as his favorite coupon site, CouponMom.com shows weekly grocery deals by state. For Georgia, stores included are Bi-Lo, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Ingles, Kroger, Publix and Winn Dixie. Registration is free. Using Publix as an example for this week, coupons are doubled up to 50 cents. CouponMom.com updates the Publix list every Thursday when the …

•  5 Comments

Frugal Family

Another Closing Blockbuster Yields Deals

Before its last day on April 4, the store on Dallas Highway will be offering 10 to 50 percent discounts on everything.

We're all watching our family budgets these days. Whether shopping with coupons or looking for two-for-one deals, we're taking advantage of all sorts of offers and savings that help us make our dollars as valuable as possible. Here are some that will hopefully stretch your dollars to the max:   1. Another Blockbuster Closing  Deal: A few weeks ago, the Blockbuster closed on Brownsville Road in Powder Springs. Now another Blockbuster in Powder Springs is closing. Closing on April 4, the Blockbuster in the Lost Mountain area on Dallas Highway is offering 10 to 50 percent discounts on everything in the store. Sale guidelines include no checks, no returns, no rentals and all sales final. The closest store to the Powder Springs area now will be…

• Videos (1)

At 95, Estie Norris Is Sew Cool

The quilter of many decades says the key to living nearly a century is keeping busy.

Her blue-veined hands move over the blocks of basted fabric, pulling together a pattern one rectangle at a time. In the sewing room at the Powder Springs Senior Center, Estie Norris is in charge, as she has been since the center opened in 1992.  At age 95, Norris has been an avid quilter for decades. Stitching just goes with the territory when your career was at the now-defunct Coats and Clark's textile mill, which was right down the road in Austell until it closed in 1983. The site now houses the Threadmill Mall and Austell City Hall, as well as one of the county sheriff’s outposts. Norris has long been accustomed to sewing for herself, but she really became proficient at quilting for others once she retired "in the '70s, I believe."  How…

•  4 Comments
• Photos (5)

The Main Actress Leads a Golden Cast

Spearheaded by Dee Chappel, the Powder Springs Senior Center educates, entertains, embraces the community and sometimes empowers love.

Just because you're sprouting gray hair doesn't mean you're lacking gray cells—or muscles or attitude. Just ask Dee Chappel, the spark that ignites the Powder Springs Senior Center. Chappel runs the Atlanta Street facility next to the Powder Springs Library at the Coach George E. Ford Cultural Arts and Community Center. She laughs when she says it's on a "part-time" basis, because most of her hours run past the scheduled 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday-through-Friday timeframe. She drives the bus for monthly field trips, including ones to the Governor's Mansion and the Federal Reserve Museum. She organizes the monthly newsletter and calendar, which is printed pro bono by Gregory's Quality Printing and sent out to members, some of whom are …

• Photos (3)