Downturnaround Deals: Target, Guitar Center, Dell, Crabtree & Evelyn, Limited

Some of us are starting to spend again (a little), but it’s smart to keep it frugal. Every week, we post online deals hand-picked for Recessionwire readers by the nice people over at Savings.com. Feel free to pass them along, and if there’s something you’d like to see, let us know!

Many of us are doing some back-to-school clothes shopping. For shoes, Reebok has 15 percent off a $100 purchase plus free shipping with this coupon. (Expires 8/31/09) Clothes and accessories from the The Limited come with a discount too—$15 off every $50 (Expires 8/31/09)…

Love in the Time of Layoff: Cheap Sex

Don’t let the state of the declining economy reduce the richness of pleasure in your sex life.

I wouldn’t go out with a guy who refused to spend resources — time, energy, effort or money — on our date. It’s not about the ka-ching. It’s about value. I deserve a life filled with excitement, happiness and sexual richness regardless of mine or my lover’s bank account balance. In case you want the same, I enlisted a few friends and fellow writers of the sexy stuff to provide tips that pump up the heat without pushing out a lot of cash.

Eat, Drink, and Be Sexy

“Human beings are social creatures by nature,” says sex and relationship educator Reid Mihalko. “Building intimacy and fostering feelings of connectedness, especially during tough economic times, can be a cheap and powerful way to make your relationship recession proof!” You could cook at home, but that might feel routine and uninspired. Instead of upscale feasts at overpriced establishments, opt for cozy but sophisticated family-run eateries…

Recession Briefing 8.20: The Scent of a Downturn

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

What does the recession smell like? It has created scents as varied as those produced by the overheated Wall Street shell game that gave birth to it. The mix is different. There’s less perfume, for one. Fragrance sales have fallen 7 percent this year.( New York Times/T)

A man is driving across the U.S. asking people to write stories of how the financial crisis has affected their lives on the side of his orange van. (Washington Post)

JetBlue suspended sales of its recession-friendly unlimited-flight pass Wednesday, saying it had to do so because of strong demand. (USA Today)…

If you come across a good article or blog post about the recession pass it on. To receive Recession Briefing in your inbox, subscribe to our daily email.

Screwed: 300 at Gerdau Ameristeel

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s total: 519

Gerdau Ameristeel has notified 300 employees at its Sand Springs steel mill of impending layoffs… A Smithfield Foods Inc. subsidiary is laying off 117 employees in Texas… Wells Fargo is closing a mortgage processing center in Durham, laying off 62 workers in the process… Waynesboro’s Mohawk flooring plant will lay off up to 40 workers by friday…

Some good news: No more major layoffs for Fidelity Investments…

How Hollywood Gets Hit By Recession

Remember the days when everyone in L.A. wanted to be a slasher? You know—actor/director, screenwriter/producer. With film budgets being but, some celebs will have to take on less glamorous roles…

What Happens When Upwardly Mobile Couple Hits Hard Times

The 1930s were a heyday for screwball comedies, rowdy pictures where complications were piled onto complications, until the characters reached their breaking point, crazy stuff happened, hilarity ensued and moviegoers went home happy. In the Great Depression, filmmakers used broad comedy to touch on issues of class and poverty, but kept audiences enthralled with plenty of slapstick that always found some upper crust heel choking on their silver spoon.

Which is why if you’ve seen Made for Each Other—especially when it was first released in 1939—it can only be because you’re a Jimmy Stewart and/or Carole Lombard completist.

On December 12, 1939 producer David O. Selznick changed the course of Hollywood history when Gone with the Wind premiered in Atlanta. It was the centerpiece of his filmic legacy and overshadowed Made for Each Other, a simple comedy that hit closer to home for many Americans: the upheaval on a young marriage brought on by personal finances…

Recession Briefing 8.19: The Penny’s New Popularity

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

The lowly penny is making a comeback as the recession puts a crimp in back-to-school sales. Spiral notebooks, batteries, markers, crayons, pencils and even some clothing are just a few of the items going for 1 cent these days. (Los Angeles Times)

How hard is it to find a job in your city? Here’s the number of unemployed per job posting for the 50 most populous metropolitan areas in the U.S. (Indeed)

“The United States economy is now out of the emergency room and appears to be on a slow path to recovery,” writes Warren Buffett. “But enormous dosages of monetary medicine continue to be administered and, before long, we will need to deal with their side effects.” (New York Times)

If you come across a good article or blog post about the recession pass it on. To receive Recession Briefing in your inbox, subscribe to our daily email.

Screwed: 1,100 at Stora Enso

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s total: 2,034

Up to 1,100 employees are expected to be cut from Nordic paper company Stora Enso. … Samsung plans 550 layoffs. … New Zealand Transfield Services is considering 154 layoffs. … In Alabama, Teledyne Brown has given notice to 130 workers. … Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas will lay off 100 employees. …

How to Save Money on Almost Anything

Thanks to the recession, many of us have been clipping coupons and haggling for goods. Those are good habits to keep after the recovery, but they can be a real hassle. There’s one recession hack I plan to keep. It’s easy and can be used for almost any online purchase, and the savings can really add up. I call it discount stacking.

When you discount stack, you total up a few small discounts to get more substantial savings. All it takes is an Internet connection, a cash-back credit card and a few extra minutes. Really, there’s no excuse not to do it…

The Recession Will End… When Small Businesses Can Afford Health Care

Says who: 27 million small business owners

“It’s gotten to the point where it’s such a huge expense that I don’t know if we can continue doing 60 percent,” said Dan Verbeten, owner of Gardan Inc., a contract manufacturing company in Hortonville. “It’s the fourth-largest expense item.” (via BizJournals.com)

Why it might be false: Providing health benefits has been a growing expense, even before the recession took hold. According to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, health care costs for employers rose 10 percent in 2008 alone. Such costs are behind a disheartening trend: Just 59 percent of small business employers provided health benefits in 2007, down from 68 percent in 2000. But whatever health care’s crimes, it’s on its own track, separate from the forces that brought down the economy…