In honor of Leap Day, stores, restaurants, online retailers, theme parks, and hotels are offering discounts and bonuses that amount to 29% off—and sometimes more. The promotions are available on February 29 only.
Personal Finance
License To Sin: When Good Behavior Leads To Bad Results
Most people are taught early to believe in what we might call “momentum morality”: the idea that good (or bad) actions lead to further good (or bad) habits. Economists and other philosophical types call these feedback loops …
Summer Bummer: High Gas Prices Mean More Expensive Airfares
The skyrocketing price of gas has everyone complaining when they go for a fill-up, but this pain at the pump also threatens to put a serious crimp in Americans’ summer vacation plans. Some major airlines are already raising their …
Stores Confront Extreme Couponers’ Tactics With Policy Changes
For extreme couponers who pay only a few bucks for an entire shopping cart’s worth of goods, or even earn money on their shopping trips by reimbursing coupons with a higher value than the item’s price, couponing practically …
Monster Month for Car Sales: Auto Purchases Rise 20% in February
It has been an especially good month for car sales from two American automakers, Ford and Chrysler. The latter’s sales are up 27%, compared with February 2011.
Maybe Pet Spending Isn’t Recession-Proof After All
Throughout the worst of the economic crisis and a post-recession era bogged down by uncertainty and high unemployment, consumer spending on pets remained strong. In surveys, owners said they refused to spending on their dogs …
Housing Prices Dip for the Fourth Time in Three Years
After the Great Recession, there were some pundits who theorized that real estate would make a W-shaped recovery. With the S&P/Case-Shiller housing prices out this morning, it’s now clear that there are not one but two W’s in the chart — and that’s not a good thing. Index prices fell 1.1% from November to December. In other words, …
Free Pancakes Today at IHOP, and More Freebies (Pretzels, Ice Cream) Coming Soon
Tuesday, Feb. 28, is Free Pancake Day at IHOP, when each customer is welcome to a short stack of buttermilk pancakes on the house.
Rent Was Too Damn High. Now It’s Even Higher
The data on housing costs isn’t pretty. Most experts recommend spending no more than one-third of your income on housing, and yet, in a new study, nearly one in four American households now spends more than half of its income on …
Living to 100: As It Becomes Common, Money Regrets Follow
We’re on track for a population with 600,000 folks over the age of 100 by 2050. Yet almost nobody is planning for it financially.
How to Ask For a Higher Credit Limit
If you’re a credit card customer with an account in good standing, this is a good time to ask for a credit limit increase. After the financial crisis in 2008, issuers got very stingy with credit, cutting limits or closing …
