Monday on Today 8/27

Today's Money: How To Live The Good Life - Get Rich Quick. Don't get too excited by the title because it's a misnomer. It should have been called How To Get Rich Gradually. Unless you win the lottery, you're not going to get rich quick. Today's money experts had some suggestions for living large on less. The first thing to do, according to Money Magazine's Donna Rosato, is write down where your money is going. Others were: hit sample sales, buy one expensive item and inexpensive trendier pieces. For a chic home, design with accessories and paint. Jet set travel: go off season, especially beach vacations. Do home swaps or rent an apartment or villa since hotel costs are so high. Trick yourself into saving by using a 401k and an online savings bank. And stop throwing money away on stuff like Starbucks cappuccino--help the environment too by not stocking up landfills with paper and styrofoam cups. If you only use 10 out of 300 channels, get rid of your cable--it's such a waste. Too bad cable companies don't let you choose what channels to pay for. So make them pay, by dropping their service. Maybe then they'll get the message. And finally, if you only use your cell phone, drop your land line.

Today's Classroom had Back To School Cool. They showed some new products like a new age water bottle that's better than plastic and fits in the backpack. Speaking of backpacks, get a messenger bag like they showed there or visit my store at http://cafepress.com/karmicbulldog and find some there with an adorable bulldog on them--much better than a boring old backpack. They also showed some sports backpacks that store gear. You can get some notebooks with skull and crossbones at Office Max--if your kids are into that. Then they showed some stuff like a sound binder for $30 that has a speaker for an ipod, a USB drive that fits on a key chain, an MP3 study board with an ipod plug, and a locker organizer for $49. I'm sure the money experts from the previous segment would frown on spending so much on all these gadgets. Are they really necessary?

George Lopez paid a visit to the plaza promoting his movie "The Underground World Of Ping Pong." It's a spoof. It opens on Wednesday.

Also stopping by the plaza this morning was newly crowned Miss Teen USA, Hilary Carol Cruz from Colorado.

Moving on to more substantial topics, Ann Curry interviewed Kris Carr, author of "Crazy, Sexy Cancer Tips." Kris Carr is a cancer survivor who documented her cancer treatment and found her life. She was diagnosed with a rare vascular cancer at age 31. It was a catalyst for her and changed her life. There are 77 tips in her book for other cancer survivors but she listed a few here: breathe, create your cancer posse (your support network), shop around for a doctor and create boundaries. She ended up marrying her book editor. I guess he liked the book.

Let's Get Physical: Fitness Toys For Kids. This featured a bunch of toys to get your kids off the couch and into shape like a giant bubble maker so kids (and dogs) can chase the bubbles, carpet skates--just what they say and look like a lot of fun, a Fisher Price exercise bike, exercise video games, The Plasma Car and a few more. The baseball video game looked fun too because your kid is actually swinging at a ball and playing the game. Just another way for parents to spend more money on toys their kids will get bored with after a few months--if you're lucky enough to get that much use out of them.

And that's a wrap. Till tomorrow.