A multiple Christmas tree trend is being pushed by (you guessed it) the folks in the business of selling Christmas trees.
Odd Spending
Gift Registry for Everyone? Why Surprise Presents Are a Bad Idea
Say your mom, or best friend, or spouse has made it perfectly clear what they’d like in a holiday gift. Better think twice before going off the script and buying something else you have a gut feeling they’ll just love. Studies …
What We Learned from the Black Friday-Cyber Monday Shopping Extravaganza
Shoppers have dropped tens of billions of dollars in stores and online over the last five days. What does such an impressive outpouring tell us about today’s consumer mentality, and the state of the economy as a whole?
Attention Holiday Shoppers: Plastic Hurts—Then Hurts Again!
The always-insightful Jason Zweig of The Wall Street Journal once said that great personal finance journalism is really the art of communicating the same handful of important lessons over and over again without boring people. …
Black Friday 2011: By the Numbers
The most hype-filled shopping day of the year will soon be upon us. Here’s a roundup of alternately eye-opening, quirky, and confounding facts and figures about Black Friday 2011.
Do Extended Black Friday Hours Actually Increase Sales?
Black Friday is a huge day for retail sales, so naturally, stores want to milk the sensation for all its worth. Every year, retailers try to make the day bigger than the last. This year, the decision makers at many national …
‘Occupy Best Buy’? Shoppers Are Already Camping Out for Black Friday Sales
If you think it’s nuts to wait in line for a few hours to take advantage of Black Friday deals, wait until you meet the shoppers who are camping outside stores over a week before sales start.
Washington, D.C., America’s Shopping Capital?
TIME Moneyland has discovered why nothing seems to get done in our nation’s capital these days: Everyone’s too busy buying shoes.
Feed the Meter, Save Your Credit Score
Years of high unemployment, reduced consumer spending and declining property values have created a kind of perfect storm for the coffers of cities around the country. Municipalities are increasingly turning to a new way to boost …
5 Cleanest Cities — and the 5 Dirtiest
Pat yourselves on the back, Knoxville: According to a new online survey, this Tennessee city cleans up — literally. An e-commerce store for household goods and cleaning supplies tallied up how much Americans all over the country spend on the powders, scrubs and sprays we use to keep our houses sparkling. Knoxville residents spend the …
Why We Can’t Buy Happiness — But Try to Anyway
In 1972, the percentage of Americans who said they were “pretty happy” was about 50%. In the years since, the U.S.’s standard of living has risen dramatically, and our gross domestic product per capita has increased by 96%. That …
Groupons For Weddings? Woman Saves Nearly $3,500
Extreme couponing, meet the daily deal craze. A mother-of-the-groom in the Washington, D.C., suburbs wedded these two hot money-saving trends by using a total of two dozen daily-deal site coupons to save $3,434 on her son and daughter-in-law’s rehearsal dinner.