Thoughts from The Others (that's a shout out to you Lost fans):

My Open Wallet:

"So then of course I wanted to dump the dollar coins right away, but I kept wondering how. I guess it was a little paranoid of me, but I really thought no one would want to take them! I always think they look fake, so I thought they would be regarded with a lot of suspicion."

Writer @ Large:

...a serious gazelle-intense family would probably say "We're not buying into this Christmas. We'll send a card and letter to everyone (printed on our PC) explaining that we're committed to our family's financial future, and that we won't be giving gifts this year. Our gift to our family is long-term financial stability!"

The Frugal Duchess:

Some undertakers and funeral homes place a lot of pressure on bereaved families to spend heavily on caskets, urns and now videos to create beautiful tributes for the deceased. That's the observation, from a savvy friend of mine, who recently attended a funeral service.

The unspoken pitch: The amount of cash you spend equals the amount of love in your heart.

How great is the pressure:

At another funeral, my friend overheard this conversation in which a member of the bereaved family had voted against an inexpensive coffin because it "would pinch" the deceased.