Congratulations! It's difficult to give those things up - the body becomes addicted to them. I gave up coffee and now drink herbal substitutes for coffee - can't tell the difference.

What kind of substitute do you drink, Kay? While I don't necessarily think the caffeine is bad, I do resent that it can be addictive. But I'm just really proud of saving the money - LOL - maybe turning into a cheapskate in my old age.

I use Cafix instant beverage crystals - it's made by Internatural foods - it costs the same as other instant coffees.

I'll look for it. I started drinking coffee (again, after I had quit) because I read that people who drink at least two cups a day had much lower risk of colon cancer.

Here's a question for the group: Where do you save money when you don't have to? I remember a friend of mine laughing at me because I had paid an ungodly amount of money for a handbag, yet spent more than an hour calling nurseries and the like to get potting soil at about 50 cents cheaper. And I only needed one bag!

Oh, I buy everything I can from thrift stores. The only retail I buy is underwear and some of the grandsons' clothes. As long as it is in great condition, I will buy it.

I shop the mark-down rack at Lowes - if there is nothing there, I will buy the plant that is distressed and ask the manager to mark it down.

In other words, I RARELY pay full price to anything but food and underwear!!!

You're a real bargain shopper. So am I. - and I love the thrift stores.

Good question sayhellonow. Funny how we try to save on somethings, and then just blow it on something else. I try to save on gas for my car, but then drive all over town going to nurseries for plants! I also have energy saving light bulbs in the house, but then water my lawn and plants!

I love having my coffee early in the morning, two cups, then I am set for the day. My regular coffee is a mixture of Yuban and a bit of Vanilla Nut. Every once in a long while when I meet a friend for lunch or dinner, I might have a cup of coffee, but only if I know for sure it is good coffee.

Oh, we should be neighbors, Eloise. The first thing I do in the morning is plug in the coffee pot, and this time of year it's always on the patio. I put the water and dry coffee in the pot the night before. I'm not really a connoisseur of coffee, but I do like it a certain way. First, it's half decaf and half regular. Then it's tsp of Splenda and one-forth-to-one-half cup of soy milk.

There's nothing that beats fresh coffee in summer on the patio, IMO.