“Money is like fire: it will warm your feet or it will burn your socks off.”
psychology
112 Money Tips: Smart Home Renovations, a Guy’s Guide to At-Home Dinner Dates, and Savings Strategies Too Extreme for Most
This week’s roundup also features tips from a couple who manage to throw a wedding for mere $2,500.
Retail News: Introducing No-Minimum-Purchase, No-Membership-Fees, No-Catches Totally Free Shipping
During last year’s Christmas season, several major retailer introduced simple and easy free shipping promotions, with no minimum purchase or annoying coupon code required. While these promos were short-term and have since disappeared, consumers have come to expect—demand, really—free shipping, and I’m not the only one wondering when …
Cheapskate Wisdom … About Gift-Giving
“Culturally, gift-giving is not rational … In fact, much of consumer behavior, including gift-buying rituals and holidays, is completely irrational.”
The NY Times Is Putting Up a Paywall. So Why Are Subscriptions Being Given Away?
A few days after the announcement that the NY Times would begin charging $3.75 to $8.75 a week for unlimited digital access to its content, a promotion is offering free subscriptions to some 200,000 readers. Why would the Times introduce a fee only to remove it a few days later for a huge chunk of readers? The answer may have something …
Currency & Irrational Consumer Behavior: Coins Are Almost As Good as Real Money
The brilliant thing about money is that it’s entirely interchangeable. A hundred pennies equals a dollar, and 40 quarters has the same value as a $10 bill. So why would people be willing to give away nearly 10% of the value of one kind of money just to have it swapped into another form of cash?
Study: When You Feel Loved, You Love Stuff Less
A new psychology study shows that people who feel loved and accepted by others place lower monetary values on material possessions than folks who feel insecure and unloved. In other words, the folks who don’t feel valued and appreciated tend to value their stuff more.
Consumer Research Roundup: 7 Studies Explaining Why You Buy, Why You Have No Free Time, and Why a Designer Good Purchase Can Snowball
Also, there are theories as to why the layout of IKEA stores is so damn confusing, and why the presence of a Walmart in your neighborhood may have caused you to gain weight.
9 Quirky Signs of the Times
A still-struggling, still-uncertain economy has increased the chances that you can’t help dreaming about the recession, your workspace is shrinking, your roommate could be a millionaire (on paper anyway), and you’re so sick of neighborhood potholes you’re considering filling them in yourself.
Three Quirky Consumer Phrases: ‘Android’s Law,’ ‘Conscious Spending,’ ‘Veblen Good’
What do these phrases mean? If you don’t know, there’s a decent chance you’re spending money foolishly.
150 Tips: Cash-Back Credit Card Fine Print, Mental Tricks to Save More, Stuff Broke People Say (That Keep Them Broke), and More
Here’s what this week’s scouring of the web for good (or at least amusing) personal finance advice has yielded:
Why the Nano, the ‘World’s Cheapest Car,’ Is Going Nowhere
To much fanfare in 2009, India—a hotbed of innovative products within reach of the poor like the $70 refrigerator and the $23 stove—introduced the world to the Tata Nano, a car retailing for a mere $2,200. A year and a half or so later, the Nano is basically considered a flop, with only a few hundred sold each month. Why aren’t …