As a stay-at-home mom with three kids, Christine Livingston has been finding ways to make her dollars stretch as far as they can for a while.

“We need to save every bit of money we can,” Livingston said. “I’ve been living frugal for years.”

In always searching for a deal, Livingston has gotten pretty good a couponing, which she explains as saving nearly every coupon you can and then watching the stores and circulars for the right moment to use them to squeeze out every bit of savings.

“It’s like poker,” she said, “holding on to your cards and knowing when to use them at the best time.”

But Livingston said while there is a sense of fun to matching the right coupon at the right time, it can take a lot of time. Livingston said some weeks going through all of the circulars and sales and clipping the week’s coupons can take up to eight hours a day.

“It’s a lot of work,” she said.

It was so much work that friend started using her as a resource, asking for advice and where the week’s best deals were. Livingston began collecting the information on a blog because it was easier than explaining it to every one of her friends who called.

Soon she realized that it probably wasn’t just her friends that could use this information. Livingston decided to save other local savings seekers some of the work and about a year ago publicly launched Lavishliving4less.com, a website that organizes all of the deals she has found.

“It’s pretty much a frugal living site that does all the work for you,” Livingston said.

“I’m already doing the deals I might as well share them with others,” she added.

Livingston said she has seen several others blogs that provide similar information, but felt she had some expertise in the subject, especially in the east Pierce County region.

She is also hoping to help others save a little green, even if they don’t have the same amount of time to devote to couponing as Livingston does.

Livingston said she focuses on the larger stores in the area, from supermarkets like QFC and Feed Meyer to discount retailers like Target and even drug stores, scouring their circulars each week and collecting the best bargains on her site. For other stores, like Walmart and Winco, she has to go up and down the aisles to see their deals.

She said she then tries to match coupons to the best sales, allowing shoppers to save the most money possible on their items.

Sometimes, saving the most that may mean cashing in your coupons to stock up on a product while it’s on sale, something Livingston and her family do.

“The last time I bought spaghetti sauce was November,” she said with a laugh, adding that she may not need to buy any more until the same time this year.

Not every week is a winner, however, and the secret, like poker, is knowing when to hold ’em, and when to fold ’em/

“You’re not going to save 97 percent every time you go to the grocery store,” she said, but added that if you are patient, you can eventually save a lot of money.

Her favorite deal ever, she said, was discovering a coupon/sale price on three large umbrellas that led to her getting them for free.

“Who doesn’t like free?” she asked.

Though she admits the hardest part is having a great coupon that doesn’t get used because the item does not come on sale before it expires.

Her site continues to grow, averaging more than 10,000 page views each month and she has even begun to sell advertising on the site.

Livingston said she is inspired to keep going by the next deal, the next great savings she can pass on to friends and family.

“Everyday there’s some new surprise,” she said. “I don’t like missing out on deals and I don’t like others missing out on deals.”