Make big batches of homemade soup. You know it is made with fresh ingredients. This week I did turkey soup, split pea and pot roast.

Go to the local dollar store buy you containers ( 4 for $1 ) and freeze away.

Saves lots of money.

I may have shared this before but if you are looking to unload video games, CDs or DVDs, try buybackmadness.com.

They won't take everything (I guess it's based on demand), but I got about $75 and finally got rid of a ton of old CDs.

These days, with so many of us cutting back on spending, I thought it would be good to start a thread to inform others of local bargains and ways to save money while still enjoying life. It would be especially nice to try and keep our money in JC if possible and support our own local economy.

I'm going to start with these suggestions.

Try the Park Tavern for a cheap night out. It's not fancy, but it's got a fantastic burger and cheap beer.

Amelia's is offering a prixe-fix special from Monday to Friday. You can get a three course meal for fifteen bucks. Don't know the exact details, but I think you have to dine between four and six.

The January issue of Bon Appetit has a list of ten red wines and ten white wines for under ten bucks.

And I've been trying some Shoprite brand stuff. One that I really like is their moisturizing body wash.