Here’s a roundup of links with advice for dropping your monthly cable bill, evaluating diet programs (extra tip: plain old water may be a genuine miracle product in this department), consistently getting discounts at major retailers like Target and Sam’s Club, figuring out ways to pamper your pets on the cheap and the easiest ways to get …
Insurance
Monster Money-Saving List Round-up: Freebies, Outlet Store Rip-offs, Remedies to De-Stink Your Shoes, Coupon Secrets and Coupon Sins
Also: stuff you should never pay for, including certain insurance policies, brand-new technology, checking accounts, and ridiculous plastic surgeries. Cankle liposuction anyone?
114 Money-Saving Strategies, Tips, Resources, and Unconventional Ideas
Take a look at insights that’ll help you negotiate, shop smarter, and get the most out of your local library, along with lists of stuff that’s overrated, stuff that’s cheaper than you thought, and stuff that you can always get for less than the retail price.
Playing with Percentages: Health Care in America
9% From June 2009 to March 2010—the heart of the health care debate—only 9% of media stories about health care reform actually “focused on a core issue — how our health care system currently functions, what works and what doesn’t,” according to a Pew Research study; the study says that 41% of health care stories were devoted to …
$8,604
That’s what the average U.S. household spends annually on transportation, the bulk of it in the form of automobiles—purchase price, fuel, insurance, finance charges, repairs and maintenance, but not factoring in depreciation. For a lot of Americans, more than 20% of their take-home income heads right back out of their homes and into …
Shout Out: ‘Confessions of an Auto Claims Adjuster’
An anonymous former claims adjuster explains how the system works. And he knows what he’s talking about: When a friend totaled a Mini Cooper, his advice helped the friend get $1,500 more than the insurance company’s original offer.
Health Care Spending Rose 5.7% Last Year
But health insurance premiums? They rose 10%, 15%, even 39%. So where is the money going?
How Going to a Chiropractor Can Increase Your Health Insurance Premiums
Visiting a chiropractor for a routine adjustment might be viewed by your insurer as a sign of some “underlying medical condition,” and give justification for jacking up your rates by as much as 25%.
How Inertia Can Cost You Big Time
When most people receive bills, they dutifully pay them, no questions asked. But by sitting back and complacently paying bills as they’re presented, you’re probably spending hundreds, even thousands more dollars a year than you need to. What should you do instead? Be aware, and be a pain in the butt.
Car Insurance: Proof It Really Pays to Shop Around
There’s not much rhyme or reason to how and why car insurance rates vary so widely, but vary widely is exactly what they do—for the same coverage, same driver history, and so on. This is why you’ve got to go through the rigamarole of getting multiple quotes.
Odd Economic Indicator Round-up: More Jews Moving to Israel, More-Cramped Cubicles, More Smoking and Surfing Porn
Perhaps they’re not quite as odd as the Hot Waitress Index (a theory in which waitresses get increasingly more attractive as the economy gets worse), but these trends are still rather unusual—yet revealing—indicators of how the economy is faring.
Go Green Not Only for Cheaper Utility Bills, but Cheaper Home and Auto Insurance Premiums Too
By taking on strategic home remodeling projects and taking advantage of special insurance discounts, you can save a bundle while doing your bit to minimize your impact on Mother Nature.