A year ago, Faye and David decided to get smart around saving money. "We both love the idea of retirement," says Faye. "But we could never seem to close the gap between what we earn and what it costs to run our life to increase our savings." As the couple approached their fifties, they decided to find innovative ways to save. "One of the ways we could do that was to spend less on the things we needed," says David. "We love a challenge, so we decided that we wouldn't make any major purchases for a year without comparison shopping or a money-saving coupon."