Meal planning, like budgeting and clipping coupons is one of those tasks that I always groan at. However, meal planning does make a mom’s life easier, not just in knowing what to make for dinner each night, but in grocery shopping as well. When you know what you’re going to serve, you know what to buy.

Over at KitchenMonki.com you can get help with the process of menu planning. Add your own recipes, use them to meal plan, and even print out a shopping list. KitchenMonki.com also has a social aspect in that you can share or get meal plans and recipes from others.

The site is free to use so check out KitchenMonki.com and start meal planning.

One of the great things about the Internet is the ability to research great deals on everything you need. The trick is to sort through thousands of resources to find the deals you want and need. Over at Wise Bread, they have made the deal finding a little bit easier. On its Deals Roundup page, Wise Bread lists the day’s best deals, coupons and freebies from the best bargain sites on the web.

In my attempts to save money, meal planning and grocery shopping has become more complex. I’m clipping coupons, shopping multiple stores to get the best prices, and planning meals around what’s on sale. Being domestically and organizationally challenged, this new way of cooking and shopping has been difficult for me to manage.

But I’ve just come across a great new web and phone app that can make it easier. Ziplist offers lots of great features to create a shopping list and plan meals. The shopping list can be organized by aisle or store. It can be shared with other members of the family so that they can add items.

Not sure what to make for dinner? Ziplist has tons of recipes and with a single click all the ingredients can be added to your list. It will even show you items that you may already have at home so that they aren’t added to the list. And if you find a recipe on another website, you can save it to your Ziplist recipe box.

When you’re ready to shop, you can print out your list or access it by through your SmartPhone (iPhone app coming soon).

To learn more or to create your own list, visit Ziplist.

Many people, perhaps you too, have already completed your taxes. But if you haven’t, Smartmoney.com has a lot of great articles to help you save the most on your taxes. It as the usual information on self-employment and investment income, but it also has some specialty articles such as if you sold your home for loss and a “marriage penalty” calculator.

The major package shipping companies provide tracking services, but you have to know the URL of each site’s tracking page to use it. Or you can use PackTrack.com to trace a package from USPS, UPS or DHL. It’s a no-frills site so it won’t confuse you or slow you down. Its features include:

• Customizable quick-access buttons.
• Package tracking log for fast re-tracking.
• Access to multiple carriers’ tracking on one fast-loading web page.

PackTrack is free to use! To learn more, visit Packtrack.com.

Most people seem to get upset at how early Christmas and holiday promotions start. I don’t mind so much because I love the holiday season; the sights, smells, great food…what’s not to like.

But now I appreciate the several months heads up because with economy as it is, I can’t afford to buy all gifts in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Not only that, but this year my family will need to be more frugal in gift giving. Thank goodness for the Internet and all the great  deals  on it.

I’ll be sharing resources over the coming weeks that can be used at anytime, but will be particularly helpful during the gift giving season. This week I want you to know about UWantSavings.com.

Like many discount resources, UWantSavings.com gets overstock from stores and manufacturerers and sells them at a discount. They have a variety of items to fit every room of the house. Today I found a Hamilton Beach 14 cup food processor for over half off…its only $45. A Sony Cyber Shot digital camera just sold out … it was only $145 instead of $299. I’ve seen Wii/Xbox games for less than $20.

It may not have as much stuff as similar sites, but there is a lot good stuff at a good price that makes it work a visit. Visit  UWantSavings.com

40-80% off discount retail prices.

Tired of paying a $1.00 or more for directory assistance? Google now offers two free ways you can get help without paying normal directory assistant fees.

You can call Google at 1(800)-GOOG-411 (800-466-4411) or you can text Google at 46645. If you choose the text option, simply indicate the name of the business or person, the city and state. Within seconds, you’ll get a text back with the address and phone number.

You can even do a search by category which is helpful when you’re out of town and know you want to eat pizza, but don’t know the name of a good pizza joint in the area. It works both with calling direct or texting. The text may show up in multiple texts depending on how many results there are (text only allows 160 characters).

Visit to learn more  Goog-411

Have you ever said to yourself, “Someday I will …” (insert dream). Perhaps someday you’ll visit Rome. Or someday you’ll write a novel. Or someday you’ll start your own business. At LifeTango.com someday starts today.

LifeTango is a more than just a goal setting site. It uses social networking features to help you get support, feedback and tips from others with similar goals. The site will help you brainstorm ideas for your goals, give tips for keeping motivated, and allow you to track your progress.

Learn more and sign up for free at LifeTango.com.

As you know, I’m a productivity nut because I’m organizationally challenged. I’m always look for great resources to keep all my tasks, notes and other materials accessible. SpringPadIt.com is a new web-based notebook site that offers all this and more. Much like Google Notes or OneNote, you can create a variety of notes to organize tasks and projects. It offers a variety of premade templates such as budget tracker and fitness tracker. A clipping feature lets you clip notes or recipes to save in your note book.  Springpadit also lets you flag (for priority), tag (for easy search), and write note on your notes. It offers drag and drop functionality to move your notes and items around for easy access. A big plus for me is that you can see all your tasks in one place across a variety of notes.

Because its a web-based program, you can also access other web-based resources such as restaurants, contacts, and maps. You can share your notes with others (with other users or through Facebook, Twitter and email) and have reminders emailed or texted (sms) to you or one of your contacts.

My only beef with the program is that I haven’t found a gadget to add it to iGoogle, and it doesn’t look like I can text notes into the program from my phone. But for a free service its very robust and easy to use.

Check out SpringPadIt to learn more.