Most gift lists focus on what to buy. Just as important, however, is avoiding gifts that are useless or annoying, or that, worst of all, will wind up featured on some Worst Gift You Ever Received discussion.
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5 Things We Learned from the Black Friday Weekend Shopping Experience
Black Friday isn’t just about cheap prices. It’s also about participating in a cultural phenomenon and doing otherwise nonsensical things.
223 Tips: Snag Freebies, Save Money, Salvage Food About to Spoil, Get Your Adult Kid Out of the House, and More
This week’s links cover topics ranging from school fundraisers that aren’t worth your time (and don’t raise much money), to resources for finding the best Black Friday deals, to effective, low-effort, low-cost ways to clean the bathroom.
How You’re Manipulated into Buying Stuff You Don’t Want and Paying More Than You Should
In these games played by marketers and retailers, you’re the puppet, and the puppeteers are artfully, stealthily steering your hand into your wallet where the credit card rests, waiting to be swiped.
Now Here’s What a Smartphone Really Costs You
I was just reading a CNNMoney story about “What smartphones really cost.” The piece details how much smartphones cost to manufacture, and how much they’ll cost the consumer buying one with or without a contract. But there’s one key expense that’s left out of the equation.
Q&A with Andrew Benett, Author of ‘Consumed: Rethinking Business in the Era of Mindful Spending’
Could it be that consumers aren’t quite as gullible as marketers, manufacturers, and advertisers have long assumed? Could it be that today’s consumers are smarter and more informed than they have ever been when it comes to deciding whether to buy or pass on a product? Could it be that the age of mindless accumulation is gone for good, …
Bound to Buy: The 10 Types of Consumers Who Inevitably Overspend
Are you an Illogical Rationalizer? A Fine Print Ignoramus? Or perhaps a Shortsighted Sign-Me-Upper? If your behavior fits one of the ten consumer categories below, then there’s your explanation for why you don’t have more money in the bank. If you behave like all of the consumer types below, then let’s hope you make a lot of money — and …
The Hottest New Luxury Item? One That Saves You Time, Money, or Both
In the recession era, the bar has been raised on why and when consumers decide to buy luxury goods. Merely liking something is no longer enough. But if you can somehow justify that a product—one that’s expensive, that you clearly don’t need—saves you time or money, or somehow betters your health or quality of life, then whipping out …
Signs the Economy Isn’t a Total Basket Case
For quite some time, there was no shortage of indicators pointing to the fact that the economy wasn’t doing so hot—including some odd data about a falloff in men’s underwear sales, a rise in animals being abandoned at pet shelters, and the impressively overqualified status of this year’s census workers. Now, at long last, we’ve got …
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Do You Pay for Quality? Or Will ‘Well-Priced Adequacy’ Do?
Tuition-Free College, 99¢ TV Shows, and Digital Cameras That Are as Cheap as They’ll Ever Be
Here’s a mini round-up of stories of interest to consumers of the value-conscious persuasion.