The experience of living through the Great Recession will forever change the way we spend. It will create a generation of cheapskates. Or so the thinking goes. But will folks who are new to thrift really stick with it? Can the currently frugal-chic environment truly change people into less buy-crazed consumers? Or is being a …
If you’re going to scale back in the hopes of saving money, it sure makes sense to do it smartly, ensuring that all your sacrifice and effort pays off.
How do you know the economy isn’t doing so hot? Your waitress is really hot, for one thing. Also, there’s a decline in the production of boxes meant to hold cereal, toothpaste, or beer. People are planting gardens to cut down on their food bills. Animal shelters are overwhelmed with pets dropped off by folks whose homes are in foreclosure.
Last week, Bank of America and Chase announced some supposedly customer-friendly changes to the way they assessed debit card overdraft fees. The changes did not impress anyone.
This is a sensitive issue. Quite literally. Americans prefer soft—really soft—toilet paper. That kind of toilet paper uses very little recycled paper, and so it has been targeted as wasteful by environmentalists. Trees are being felled unnecessarily for the sake of your precious behind, they charge. Are consumers going to buy greener …
A pair of jeans marked down from $75 to $60 might seem like a deal. But what if the jeans are really worth $30? Then you’re a sucker who just paid twice as much as you should have.
At $50 or more a pop, college application fees can quickly add up, especially if you’re covering your bases by applying to lots of “safety” and “reach” schools.
It’s hard for the lay person to wrap one’s brain around the rise or fall of GDP, new residential sales, money supply, and other traditional economic indicators. What do those numbers really mean? Well, here are some other indicators that do as advertised, truly indicating in simple terms how people are living, what they’re doing to keep …
Even in the 21st century, you can survive without plastic. Thrive, actually. Many people swear by the switch to cash-only as a means to avoid going into debt.
“October: This is one of the particularly dangerous months to invest in stocks. Other dangerous months are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February.”
Wendy Tremayne is the founder of Swap-O-Rama-Rama, a hub for clothing swaps around the country. In a Q&A with The Cheapskate Blog, she discusses ways to spruce up old clothes and discarded textiles in the swaps’ DIY workshops, along with lots of tips that are certainly new to me. Example: Bras can be easily transformed into great water …
“Beware of little expenses. A small leak can sink a great ship.”
Read on for ten more wise quotes from B.F.
