Frugal Family: Tips for Getting Ready for Black Friday

The following five tips will help you navigate Black Friday while keeping your sanity and feelings of good cheer.

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States. It is a bargain hunter’s dream starting at the crack of dawn (or before). As much fun as it may be, Black Friday can also be stressful and not for the faint of heart. This week Frugal Family shows you how to maximize and enjoy this kick-off to the holiday season. We also did some research to identify the best deals so you won’t be camping out at the wrong stores. The following five tips will help you navigate the day while keeping your sanity and feelings of “Good Cheer." 1. Make a game plan that includes a shopping list and budget. It should include names, sizes and preferences of those you give gifts to along with the amount you plan …

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Readers' Choice

Who Serves the Best Pie in Marietta?

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we want to know who serves the best pie in Marietta! So speak out and show our favorite pie some love.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we want to know who serves the best pie in Marietta? Keep up with news by subscribing to our free email newsletter, liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.

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Frugal Family

Save Mom From the Stove with These Thanksgiving Dinner Specials

Not in the mood to cook this Thanksgiving? Here are some selections of Thanksgiving dinner specials from local grocery stores and restaurants, including Publix, Chicken and the Egg, Magnolia Thomas Restaurant, Ted’s Montana Grill and Cracker Barrel.

This year, why don’t you consider a new Thanksgiving tradition? Save Mom from slaving over a hot stove for days and take her out! The very suggestion may create emphatic “Nos” from some; but on behalf of Moms everywhere, I am suggesting that for just one big holiday give Mom, as well as the rest of the family, an opportunity to be able to eat and enjoy. I’ll bet her level of gratitude would increase greatly and give her more energy to buy Christmas presents on Black Friday. Wink, wink. There are many tasty ways to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner without Mom’s help and still maintain important Southern cuisine traditions. Both Kroger and Publix offer complete family dinners unde $60. Chicken and the Egg, Magnolia Thomas Restaurant, Ted’s Montana …

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Recipe Corner

Thanksgiving Recipes: How to Cook a Turkey

If you need a new recipe for your Thanksgiving turkey, give one of these non-traditional twists a try.

There are many ways to cook everyone’s favorite holiday bird. Each family has its own special technique for cooking a turkey, whether it's using an old family recipe, adding a secret ingredient or shopping at a certain store in town that helps make the turkey taste all the better. If you're hosting Thanksgiving this year, you can try any of the recipes below to add a new kick to your feast. If you're attending someone else’s dinner, hopefully their turkey will taste as good as one of these! Just the name of this recipe makes my mouth water. An Allrecipes.com user contributes this Greek take on turkey, which combines ground beef and pork with tangerine juice, rice and other ingredients for an in-bird stuffing. This one requires no pre-made …

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Daily PatchCast

Snow, Gobble Jog

Here is a roundup of highlights from Marietta and the surrounding area on Monday, Nov. 28.

For more information on the stories in this video, visit the following links: Viewfinder: Family Fun Gobble Jog

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MUST Gobble Jog Draws Record Number of Participants

Nearly 10,000 runners, joggers and walkers and 200 volunteers filled Marietta Square for the ninth annual Gobble Jog on Thursday.

Abe Owen stood at the finish line of the Gobble Jog with other parents to await the runners ages five and under as they completed the Tot Trot run. However, unlike other parents, Owen was was waiting to surprise his two daughters who he had not seen in nearly four months, the Marietta Daily Journal and 11 Alive report. Owen, a First Lt. Black Hawk helicopter pilot in the Georgia Army National Guard’s 1-171 Aviation Regimen, was deployed to Iraq in February and had not seen his daughters Elle, 6, nor Lily Kate, 3, since July, the MDJ and 11 Allive report. Nearly 10,000 runners, joggers and walkers and 200 volunteers filled Marietta Square for the ninth annual Gobble Jog on Thursday, setting a record number of participants in the event. The …

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Don't Get Caught Holding the Gift

The BBB offers tips on Black Friday shopping to ensure you don't get caught with a gift someone doesn't want, and one you can't exchange.

Shopping List? Check! Credit cards? Check! Cash? Check? Car keys? Check! Now that you're ready to head out to join fellow shoppers in crowded malls on Black Friday, do you have everything you need? The Better Business Bureau suggests you give yourself an early gift before joining the frenzied masses—the gift of knowledge. In a press release, the BBB said this knowledge could save time, frustration and, most importantly, money. “Consumers should know that in the state of Georgia companies are allowed to establish their own policies regarding refunds, exchanges and store credits,” the press release reads. “In many firms, no such policies exist. No company is required by law to allow a customer the right to return or exchange merchandise no …

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