Coupon Sherpa, one of our favorite free iPhone and iPod Touch applications, has added grocery coupons to its line-up of mobile coupons for hundreds of retailers, restaurants and services. This is good news for those of us who like the idea of coupons but don’t always have the foresight to find and print them before we head to the grocery store.

The app now has coupons for 28 grocery chains, including Kroger, Lowes Foods, Ralphs and Safeway. You can enter your zip code to locate participating stores near you and see what coupons are available in your area. Then you can check the coupons you want and save them directly to your store loyalty card (by entering the card number). The coupons will be applied automatically when you swipe your card at the checkout. It’s that simple.

As with most grocery coupons, the ones available on the Coupon Sherpa app are primarily for brand-name, prepackaged items – such as cookies, snack foods and frozen meals. But I don’t buy a lot of these items. That’s why I’ve found another new Web site to be more beneficial for me. It’s called Gojee.com, and it helps you find ways to use food items you already have so they don’t go to waste (and you don’t just throw away money).

The recently launched cooking site lets you enter ingredients you have then generates recipes that use those items and clearly lists other ingredients that are needed for the recipes. You can also list ingredients you’re allergic to or don’t like to narrow your search results.

Other sites, such as Allrecipes.com, offer similar ingredient-search options. But what I like about Gojee.com is that it’s easy to navigate, isn’t cluttered with ads and looks like a cookbook with page after page (that you can scroll through like a slide show) of large, mouth-watering images of each dish. All of the recipes are handpicked from the blogs and Web sites of food writers and screened for tastiness.

I’ve already saved some zucchini and eggplant from going bad in my fridge with the help of recipes from Gojee.com. Give it a try and let me know what you think of it (or the new Coupon Sherpa mobile grocery coupons).

Reprinted with permission. All Contents ©2011 The Kiplinger Washington Editors. www.kiplinger.com.

QE2 stands for Quantitative Easing – Round 2.

The ultimate goal of QE2 is to pump more money into our financial system to avoid deflation, and right now what is the main focus in avoiding deflation……home sales. Specifically, QE2 is aimed at moving the existing surplus of vacant homes sitting on the market. The Fed (Federal Reserve) is currently easing the actual home mortgage interest rate by buying it down to a historically all time low. For example, at the end of 2010 we were seeing rates in the 4% range, more recently we have seen a slight increase into the 5% range. Although this is an increase, it is still a record low for the mortgage industry.

In short, what does this mean for home mortgage rates after June 2011? Well, with Federal easing out of the picture it means that rates will increase. In fact, as we approach the June 2011 QE2 removal date, the market is preparing for the change and interest rates have already started a slow ascent.

So if you have been planning on investing in a new home, perhaps investing in your very first home; the time to act is now. With mortgage interest rates still in the 5% range for qualified buyers, financing your new home will not be cheaper than now.

If you would like to talk with a professional about buying a home, I would be honored to answer any questions you may have and help you take advantage of this great Buyer’s Market that we are in. You can reach me at homes@kutterandsmith.com

For more interesting articles on QE2 and the future of mortgage interest rates here are some links that you may enjoy:

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3

Article 4

1) The first thing you should do is access the situation of your lawn. Is your yard covered with a good strain of grass that you would like to keep, but is dying? Is it being overrun by crabgrass and weeds? Is it completely overrun by crabgrass and weeds? The only way to figure out where to go from here is to determine what you are starting with and what you want your lawn to turn into. Far too often I see neighbors dumping hundreds of dollars in lawn care on their yards only to see them shaking their heads a month later when nothing has changed. These products are good, but not always necessary.

2) Watering goes without saying, but with the summer heat water can be futile if you don’t know how to get the best out of it. If you’re watering your lawn in the middle of the day the odds are its going to evaporate before any of it has soaked into the ground. The proper way to water your lawn would be to wait until dusk thus preventing any evaporation from taking place. This allows all water to be absorbed by the plant. Remember it’s a lot easier for the sun to evaporate water off the surface of a plant or ground than it is to take it from inside the plant and ground. This is especially helpful in counties that restrict the amount of water you can use for your lawn during the summer.

3) If you’re looking to eliminate all the bad grass from your lawn first you must remember that it’s like a cancer; it will spread and it won’t stop spreading. Good thing this is also true for the good grass as well. Your lawn is a democracy. Majority will rule. Plant the grass you want and when it grows it will better defend itself from a bad grass takeover. Some lawns require more work; almost to the point of a complete overhaul. Just remember tilling your whole lawn may get rid of the crab grass so that the good seeds you’ve planted can grow, but it takes a while for grass to take and establish permanent residence. This is plenty of time for bad grass to begin to establish itself again. A bi-monthly sprinkling of grass seeds should do the trick.

Once you’ve established what your lawn needs then you can determine a routine and adjust as necessary. When your lawn gets what it needs you get what you want; A happier and healthier lawn.

Pick a color, any color.

If only choosing a color palette for your interiors was that easy. It can be, thanks to designer Mark McCauley. The author of Color Therapy at Home: Real Life Solutions for Adding Color to Your Life, he offers eight tips to help you discover your color preferences and take on white walls.

Tip #1. Choose a color scheme from the largest pattern in the space.
If you’ve got patterned upholstery, an Oriental rug or large piece of artwork, pluck colors you like from the pattern. For a neutral wall paint color, look to the pattern’s whites and beiges.

Tip #2. Start with the formal areas of the house.
Specifically, the living room, dining room and entry way. Choose a color scheme for those areas first, then pull one color from the scheme. For example, take the red sofa and tone it down (say, to burgundy) for an accent in more private spaces such as the den, office or bedroom.

Click HERE to read the rest of Kathy’s tips.