If you answer yes, you probably avidly try to keep up with the Joneses, buy stuff you don’t need, never plan ahead, pay more than you need to all the time, and blame your problems on outside forces.
Bank Fee Horror Stories
There’s no shortage of anecdotes about banks hitting their customers with odd fees. For example, many banks offer free checking accounts for customers who use direct deposit. One teacher says that her bank gives her fee-free checking during the months her salary is direct deposited—but because she gets paid only ten months of the year …
Maximizing Your Halloween Candy Haul with Zillow
The real-estate site Zillow has created a trick-or-treat index. Factoring in data like home values, population density, walkability, and safety, the site tells trick-or-treaters what neighborhoods give the best chances of bringing home enough candy to scare any dentist silly.
Are finance professors to blame for the financial crisis?
So I’m supposed to go speak at Columbia Business School tonight on the topic, “Should finance professors take the blame for the financial crisis?” I just realized a little while ago that I’d better start, um, figuring out an answer. Happily, Jeremy Siegel and Martin Wolf have taken to the pages of the WSJ and FT, respectively, this …
It’s a Deal: $15 to $150 Off from Victoria’s Secret
Use the coupon code FALL09 for the following discounts at Victoria’s Secret: $15 off orders of $100, $30 off orders of $150, $75 off orders of $250, and $150 off orders of $500. The code is valid for purchases made by November 18.
Q&A with the IKEAhacker
Following the directions to put together a piece of IKEA furniture is so pedestrian. Sure, it’ll be cheap and functional, but where’s the challenge? And where’s the creativity? The Cheapskate Blog chats with the author of blog where people explain how they transformed IKEA products into things you’d never find in the catalogue—like, …
Keep Your Chin Up: Cosmetic Surgery on the Cheap
Despite a less-than-stellar economy, the number of cosmetic surgery procedures performed in the U.S. actually went up 3% in 2008. But apparently it’s possible to be vain and thrifty at the same time: Overall consumer spending on these procedures fell 9% in 2008 compared to the year before, meaning folks going under the knife were …
We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming …
… to report a strange flurry of book-promotional activities. Yes, I am still promoting that stinkin’ book and, just in case anybody’s interested, I will be (I’m putting the list below the break so you don’t have to look at it if you don’t want):
Jacking Up Credit-Card Rates and Fees is Cold. Solution? Freeze Them
The final provisions of new credit card legislation aimed at protecting consumers won’t go into effect until February. What this means is that right now, while consumers are relatively unprotected, credit card companies are raising rates and adding fees to reap in as much profit as possible from their customers before such strategies are …
It’s a Deal: Flights from $25 on Southwest Airlines
During a “Fourth Quarter Sale” from Southwest Airlines, short one-way flights start at just $25, and long cross-country flights are $100. Tickets must be purchased by October 29, and travel is valid from December 2 to 16 and January 5 to February 10. More details here.
Are housing prices about to start tumbling again?
The latest Case-Shiller house price numbers are out, and they’re good:
Data through August 2009, released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices … show that the annual rate of decline of the 10-City and 20-City Composites improved compared to last month’s reading. This marks approximately seven
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Scam Alert: No Shampoo or Dietary Supplement Will Protect You from Swine Flu
When people freak out, you can be assured that other people—bad people—will try to take advantage of the situation. Millions of Americans are still waiting for the chance to get the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine, and amid the hysteria, all sorts of products and websites have arisen that claim they can help prevent or cure the illness. …