What is the state of competition in the health care marketplace? How likely (or unlikely) are people to follow doctor’s orders when said orders come with a hefty price tag? Why is the middle class the fastest growing group to not have health insurance? Read on for answers.
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‘Downsized’: A Brady Bunch for the Recession Era
The Bruce family has one parent with a job, two houses that have been foreclosed, and seven kids—some of whom go dumpster diving to find anything useful or sellable when the rent is due. They were once flush with cash, and then they lost everything. Sounds like a formula for a reality show!
The Fashionable Do-Nothing Approach to Grooming, Hygiene, Landscaping, and, Um, Fashion
The conventional wisdom holds that the solution’s to ones problems must involve doing something. But have we overlooked the opposite, easier and cheaper option? Here’s making the case for doing nothing in five spheres of modern-day consumer life.
People of the Great Recession: What It’s Really Like to Be a 99er, or a Strategic Defaulter
They’re the two most-talked-about recession-era creatures: the unemployed American who has maxed out on 99 weeks of unemployment benefits, and the homeowner who can afford his mortgage but walks away from it anyway because the home no longer seems like a good investment. So what’s it really like to be one of these prototypical Great …
Cheapskate Wisdom … About How Silly It Is to Buy into ‘Anti-Consumer’ Hipster Culture
“Hipster culture is not a counterculture. On the contrary, the neighborhood organization of hipsters—their tight-knit colonies of similar-looking, slouching people—represents not hostility to authority (as among punks or hippies) but a superior community of status where the game of knowing-in-advance can be played with maximum …
Look in Your Closet for Some Perspective on the Great Recession
The average American now owns about 90 articles of clothing, and that total doesn’t include underwear, socks, bras, or pajamas. Guess how many items of clothing the average person had during the Great Depression?
Top Ten Laziest Halloween Costumes
Come on, who are you kidding? You’ve got less than a week left. Stop pretending you’re going to throw that over-the-top Lady Gaga outfit together. Besides, that’s a lot of expensive meat to be wasting on a costume. Here are ten of the easiest free or nearly free alternatives, perfect for procrastinators and cheapskates alike.
Pay TV and At-Home Movies, by the Numbers
Here’s a big roundup of statistics revealing just how much we love watching TV and movies at home, how much couch potatoes are willing to pay for such services, and also where it looks like things are heading from here.
Is It the Car or the Way You Drive That Draws Speeding Tickets?
Or is it the impression that cops have about the people who own certain kinds of cars? Regardless, if you’re driving a Hummer or a Mercedes SL, you’re far more likely to be pulled over than the average driver. Then again, if you’ve been riding around in such a conspicuous and expensive vehicle, you probably want to be noticed—and that …
Electric Cars: Cost Effective If Gas Cost $8 a Gallon
If you’ve been wondering whether the money you’d save on gas can justify the higher costs of electric vehicles such as the Chevy Volt or Nissan Leaf, here’s your answer.
Cheapskate Wisdom About … Foregoing Clothes Shopping
“I have learned is how FANTASTIC I feel when my credit card bill is only $250 instead of $1250!”
Cheapskate Wisdom from … Actress Edie Falco
“It’s hard to justify spending a lot of money on kid’s clothes because they grow out of them in five minutes … And my kids don’t really care what they wear.”