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I asked readers to tell me the craziest thing they did to save a buck to win a coupon book.

Dick Bond is our top dog.

The Greensboro resident described cooking hot dogs on his engine block during cross-country trips with his family.

Yummy.

"We had four children at the time and found that eating out, even at fast-food places, was more than we cared to spend," Bond writes. "Therefore I would buy hot dogs, wrap them in foil, and place them on the block, drive about 50 miles or so, stop and remove them from the motor and have our feast while we drove."

Bond might be onto something. Google "engine block cooking" and you get more than 2,500 results. There's even a book written about the art of cooking by engine called "Manifold Destiny: The One! The Only! Guide to Cooking on Your Car Engine!"

Bon appétit.

Other entries included chasing after coupons while dodging traffic after they tumbled onto the road and washing Ziploc bags so they can be used more than once.

Good times.

To everyone who submitted an entry, thanks for playing.

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Times are tough for a lot of business owners out there. My Overstock Boutique owner Meg Thomas is an exception.

Thomas, who receives excess stock from other boutiques through a financial arrangement, recently expanded her business hours at her warehouse at 828 Trollingwood Hawfields Road in Mebane to meet growing demand.

"We're gonna get more merchandise from boutiques that are having trouble," said the 40-year-old married mother of two young daughters. "We're going to have more customers because we're going to save them money."

Bargains include a Theory jacket for $157.50 that normally costs $315. Free People T-shirts that sell for $42 are marked down to $12. There's also a $10 clearance section.

All of her prices are at least 50 percent off original retail.

Thomas recently expanded her warehouse hours to 10-6 Tuesday through Saturday. Before then, she was only having sales one weekend a month while most of her business was done over the Internet.

Half of her customers still buy clothes online at www.myoverstockboutique.com.

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Furniture retailer IKEA, which has something of a cult following, is opening its first store in North Carolina in Charlotte on Wednesday.

Amy Buchanan, who began the Savvy Shopper column as a business reporter for the News & Record, and her husband Bruce, also a former N&R reporter, are planning an overnight stay in a Charlotte hotel so they can be there on opening day.

"I know it's a bit of a drive from the Triad," the Greensboro resident wrote in an e-mail. "But IKEA is the ultimate bargain shopper's paradise."

The store is at 8300 IKEA Boulevard off Interstate 85.

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Become Web savvy! Check out more deals and retail news at Mike Fuchs' Bargain Blog. You can also subscribe to the Bargain Bytes e-newsletter at news-record.com/bargains.

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Do you have a retail news or shopping tips for Savvy Shopper? Contact Mike Fuchs at 373-3465 or
michael.fuchs@news-record.com