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CoolSavings.com said today that it has seen a 33 percent increase in the number of online coupons printed from its site, compared with earlier in the year and a 124 percent increase over last year.

Printing coupons from the Internet can be worthwhile. In fact, the values of online coupons tend to be higher than those in newspapers. That’s to compensate you for using your own paper and ink.

Other sites that offer printable coupons include Coupons.com, Smartsource.com and Shortcuts.com, among many others.

To learn how to use coupons strategically, see the free eBook “Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half” by my friend Stephanie Nelson, also known as The Coupon Mom, www.couponmom.com. Of course, I have my own version that’s detailed in my book, “Living Rich by Spending Smart: How to Get More of What You Really Want.” But this is not a book-selling site, so I’ll recommend you get the book from your local public library.

Have you tried using Restaurant.com for cheaper dining out? It’s a better deal than usual right now.

The typical deal is you get a $25 gift certificate for $10, which is a nice $15 savings.

But through Friday, you can use the coupon code TREATS to get 80 percent off. In other words, you get a $25 gift certificate for $2, for a net savings of $23.

I’ve used Restaurant.com several times before with no problem, and again today. You just search for restaurants, place the gift certificate in your virtual shopping cart and use a credit card (or PayPal) to check out – and don’t forget that coupon code. Then you print the coupon from your computer. Give it to your server at the restaurant – some restaurants require you do that before ordering.

What’s the catch? Nothing major, except some reasonable restrictions, such as a minimum food purchase of, say, $35, alcohol excluded. And the discount is often applied after an automatic tip of 18 percent of 20 percent is added. Be sure to read the restrictions at the restaurant you choose.

Another minor drawback is that the Restaurant.com Web site can be slow to load pages. And, at least in my case, before it gave me my coupon to print, I had to bypass a promotional offer. The “No thanks, take me to my coupon” link was somewhat difficult to find in the lower right.

Overall, though, it’s a very worthwhile Web site – even more so, at 80 percent off.

I have a thing against bottled water, when tap water is readily available. I think it’s a waste of money, harmful to the environment and inconvenient. (Is it easier to lug home a case of bottled water from the supermarket or turn on your tap?)

In case you missed a recent report, tests on leading brands of bottled water turned up a variety of contaminants often found in tap water. The findings challenge the popular impression — and marketing pitch — that bottled water is purer than tap water, the researchers say.

While all brands met federal health standards for drinking water, two violated a California state standard, the study said.

Lab tests on 10 brands of bottled water detected 38 chemicals including bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals and the radioactive element strontium. Though some probably came from tap water that some companies use for their bottled water, other contaminants probably leached from plastic bottles, the researchers said.

The Washington-based Environmental Working Group, an organization founded by scientists that advocates stricter regulation, did the two-year study. It found the contaminants in bottled water purchased in nine states and Washington, D.C.

Researchers recommend that people worried about water contaminants drink filtered tap water.

The average U.S. retail gasoline price fell 33.3 cents over the last week to $3.15 a gallon, the biggest price decline ever recorded by the government, the Energy Department said this week.

Where’s the rejoicing in the streets on par with the anger and angst reported when gasoline prices were rising sharply?

There is none, and that’s human nature. Studies show we humans suffer far more pain from negative events than we do joy from positive ones of similar magnitude.

You would think that with the crazy gyrations of the stock market, tight credit markets and a worsening economy that we’d be looking for a reason to feel good. But while consumers are intensely sensitive to gasoline prices, it seems that’s true only when prices go in one direction, up. Lately, gas prices have been going down.

Not only have gasoline prices fallen 33 cents over the past week, but 71 cents over the past month. Keeping numbers simple, if you use 10 gallons of gasoline a week, that alone is an annual savings of $372.84. A household with two cars would be saving nearly $750. That’s not enough to make up for your demolished 401(k), but it’s a good thing.

Next time I’m idling at an intersection dominated by gas station signs advertising prices in huge numbers, I’ll force myself to enjoy it.

A federal judge has banned Kevin Trudeau from infomercials in which he has an interest for three years and ordered him to pay more than $5 million in profits from his book, “The Weight Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.”

I only mention this on a blog about money because Trudeau also has a current best-selling book out now called, “Debt Cures ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.” His debt book gets abysmal reviews on Amazon.com. To be fair, though, I haven’t read it. And won’t.

The Federal Trade Commission this week issued a news release detailing why Trudeau’s weight-loss book is misleading and his history of violating court orders. The FTC first filed suit against Trudeau a decade ago.

Passed along as a quote of the day is this, via Christopher Jones of Keystone Financial Planning in Macungie, Pa.

“I have not looked at any of my holdings and don’t intend to. I don’t want to be tempted to jump because I think I’d be more likely to jump in the wrong direction than the right one. My advice has always been to choose a sensible diversified portfolio and stop reading the financial pages. I recommend the sports section.” Richard Thaler, professor of behavioral science and economics, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Parade Magazine on Sunday printed results of a survey it conducted on marriage. Not surprisingly, the three most common things couples fight about are:

1. Money
2. Household chores
3. Sex

If that sounds familiar, here’s an idea. What if you:

• Put more effort into managing your money and talking with your spouse about finances and goals, which would fix No. 1.
• Used the extra money you saved from better money management to hire a bi-weekly housekeeping service, which fixes No. 2.

And No. 3? Well, with fewer fights about No. 1 and No. 2, I wouldn’t be surprised to see No. 3 improve too.

Overly simplistic? Probably. Would it work? Probably.

This just in, from the Consumer Federation of America. I especially like the last line of this news release (emphasis mine). Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like this will pass the Senate this year:

>>For the first time ever, a body of Congress has passed legislation to protect consumers from abusive lending practices by credit card companies. This afternoon, the United States House of Representatives passed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act (H.R. 5244) with strong bipartisan support by a vote of 312-112.  The bill would curb some of the most arbitrary, abusive and unfair credit card lending practices that trap consumers in a viscous cycle of debt, including:

• Applying unfair interest rate hikes retroactively to balances incurred under the old rate
• Assessing hidden and unjustified interest charges on balances already paid off
• Piling on the debt that consumers owe by requiring them to pay off balances with lower interest rates before those with higher rates
• Charging late fees even though consumers mail their payments seven days in advance of the due date
• Charging excessive upfront fees to subprime cards targeted at consumers with blemished credit histories

   

The traps and tricks that credit card companies use to increase their profits are causing credit card balances for many families to balloon out of control, pushing them towards financial catastrophe. Americans now carry about $850 billion in credit card debt, which represents an average debt of over $17,000 for the approximately 50 million households that do not pay their credit card balances in full every month. The number of families that are behind in paying their credit card bills – a sign of serious financial problems to come – are at their highest level since the recession of 2002.

            The Consumer Federation of America applauds Representative Carolyn Maloney, the lead sponsor of this important bill, for working so hard for its passage.  We now call on the Senate to move credit card reform legislation as soon as possible. We urge the Senate to include credit card reform as part of legislation it passes to rescue banking firms. Cash-strapped consumers shouldn’t continue to be gouged by excessive credit card rates and fees by many of the same financial institutions that will benefit from the bailout.

A profile of me and my newspaper column, Spending Smart, appeared today on the Web site of The National Center for Business Journalism. It’s here.

That’s not so interesting, except it reminded me to repeat what I mean by Spending Smart.

In a way, it’s easier to explain what Spending Smart is NOT. It is not about being a cheapskate. It’s not some “live cheap, die loaded plan” or some exercise in financial anorexia. I don’t tell you how to save money by knitting sweater vests from dryer lint or separating two-ply toilet paper into two rolls.

Spending smart is about spending on purpose, rather than by accident and habit. It’s about plugging the leaks of wasteful spending and redirecting that money to things you truly care about. It’s not about depriving yourself. It’s about spending smarter on stuff you’re already buying.

This is information you could figure out for yourself, if only you had unlimited time to do the research and access to the nation’s leading experts. I get paid to do that research, I have access to those experts and I have the privilege of serving you, the reader. You can find a wide range of Spending Smart advice in my weekly newspaper column, which appears in most Tribune Co. newspapers. And/or you can read my book, “Living Rich by Spending Smart.” If you go the book route, I’d suggest borrowing it from the library first, and if you like it, buying a copy to refer to. The book contains literally hundreds of money-saving tips. I can guarantee it will pay for itself many times over.

Which reminds me: Any spending topic you would like to see investigated? Let me know in the comments section of this entry.

If you had been living under a rock this week, you might look at the Friday’s close in the stock market and figure we had a quiet week.

The broad S&P 500 index on Friday closed at 1,255, almost exactly what it was last Friday, 1,252. That’s a mere 0.2 percent difference.

But for those living above the rock, it’s been a much different story.

It started on Monday with legendary Lehman Brothers investment bank going under, insurance behemoth AIG on the brink of bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch brokerage desperately selling itself to a bank.

And by Friday, we had the largest bailout of Wall Street in American history.

Quiet week, indeed.

What if you were one of those investors who couldn’t stomach the gyrations and got out of stocks on Wednesday? Yanking out $100,000 from the S&P 500 would have cost you more than $8,500.

Now, that could end up being a good move. But trying to time the market is a fool’s game. Again, if you’re well diversified and your investments had a purpose in good times, they’re appropriate for bad times too.

It could also be a good move if this week has taught you that you don’t have the high risk tolerance you thought you had. That too would be a reason to gradually reduce risk in your investments. You want to be able to sleep at night.

The smartest move is what most people probably did this week. Nothing.