Extended Warranties always seem to be a broken record on these lists. Having worked retail all I can say is some people love them, and some people hate them, and will either always buy them or never buy them depending on which category they fall in. I always find amusing when Consumer Reports or papers like the WSJ say it's not worth the money...will the WSJ buy you a new if your item does happen to break? Plenty of people like to buy certain items like TVs, and not replace them for 3-5 years, nor have to worry about repair costs if something does pop up. Yes, it's an "if" scenario, but again, who's gonna be paying for that repair if it comes up?

...and for the record, I don't work retail anymore, nor do I advocate extended warranties on everything. Buy it if it'll give you peace of mind or if you're concerned it may break in a few years and you don't want to shell out full replacement cost. Don't buy it if the item is a throwaway, or if you plan on replacing it in 2-3 years anyways.

So it's okay to go to the library and copy a CD, but not to download something from the internet?

Weird.

When the government starts breaking down doors and arresting people for taking library books and photocopying them at home, I know we're in trouble.

Until there are national organic standards, labeling produce as organic is merely a marketing tactic.

If my name were "The Wall Street Journal", I could probably save quite a pretty penny by laying off my entire editorial staff, and not have my news-worthiness suffer one bit...

Crap. I don't do any of these things. No "extra" $1,000 for me.

Lesson: If you're always cheap, you'll never feel like you're saving ANYTHING. Buy more stuff. ;)

With our nation at its fattest, more companies and health insurers should incentivize us to exercise. But making the assumption that everyone who has a gym membership doesn't use it or should exercise for free isn't valid. Better health is not a waste of money.

@Jage: Err, "able to do so without getting caught" isn't the same as "okay".

For produce (#5), definitely go for CSA! I've found it's 10-15% below what I'd pay for the non-organic stuff at the supermarket, and gives me the chance to try new stuff every week. Although, it's helpful if your provider has an exchange table so you don't get stuck with stuff you won't eat. Downside is you normally have to pay upfront, although some have payment plans or "work for your food" programs. If you're looking for one in your area, [www.localharvest.org]

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: Although, I have to admit, they pull a last-minute save with the advice to visit your local farmer's market to get your local, organic produce.

@Trai_Dep: True. We grow our own. Its a horrible way to save money but is a good activity to distract me from my favorite hobby, boozin.

@Wolzard: Funny that you mention replacing a TV in 3-5 years.. I think this is one reason why my parents will take a very long time in converting over to LCD. Their "big screen tv" now is a monstrously large 50" (or so) CRT that they've had since 1987. And it still works totally fine. I'd like to see products nowadays that last 22+ years.

I bought my last TV off craigslist and it's worked fine for the past two years, but I think if I ever buy a new one, I'll get a warranty just to save myself the hassle. Otherwise, I'm pretty anti-warranty.

@EllaMcWho: My employer offers up to an additional $300 a quarter to participate in its wellness program.

Measuring industrial organic food to supermarket food is not the best way to measure the difference. Post-organic produce *is* significantly better for you and worth the money. It takes time and effort to find it and you have to get used to eating seasonal local foods only - no blueberries in January! I find other ways to cut the budget and use the savings to buy good food.

An extended warranty is like insurance; you can choose to forgo its benefits if you are willing to accept the risks that come with it.

I, too, hate the idea of spending money now to cover something in the future, my extended warranty with Best Buy has proven wonderful. I bought my laptop in 2006 for college and it has broken down twice since then. Both times, the warranty covered all repair expenses that would have been $600-800 each time.

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: there ARE national standards for produce to be labeled as organic... The certification process is long and expensive and really burdensome for smaller farms. I would say that getting something from a farmers market that isn't certified organic would be just as good as buying something shipped all the way from New Zealand that was gas-ripened before it hit the grocery store but still is certified organic.

@EllaMcWho: At least from my experience some employers see people going to the gym as cutting into all those extra hours they can beat out of them. Working you longer hours is more of a priority than having your health suffer.

Maybe finding out if they subsidize a gym membership is a good indicator of if you want to work there.

Organic potato chips from Frito Lay is a waste of money. Organic milk from the local dairy, well worth the extra cost. The best organic food comes from our back yard.

We did break down and buy a warranty for our TV. We don't buy a new TV very often and the included warranty was only 1 year. The extended did include on site service and repair. That is about the only way to get a TV guy to come fix it where we live. Other than that I am not a fan of extended warranties. What kills me is when places like best buy try to sell you one on a music CD.

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: Mine, too - subsidizes our memberships for the gym on our campus. For my family, that's $40/month we don't pay and the balance is an investment in our health.
But we use the membership, so I guess we're not the norm!

@Connie Lee: "my extended warranty with Best Buy has proven wonderful"

I don't think those words have ever appeared in that order on this webiste. glad to hear it worked out well for you.

@Wolzard: I've gotten too many replacement iPods to count two-to-three years after purchasing, sometimes after my warranty expires. In the worst case scenario, if i want a new one instead of a replacement, i can still replace the old item that is under warranty and sell it to offset the price of the new purchase.

I have no idea why you would advocate not purchasing one, when in most cases they can ensure lasting value of the item in question.

@EllaMcWho: I couldn't have said it better. I don't think I could afford the cost of being overweight, and I don't know how others do. The government should also do much more with incentives for healthy living. Too many people who feel entitled to cheap health care have sabotaged their own health.

One of my incentives to use the gym is to calculate the cost-per-visit during the current month. If it's $10 or more, I know I'm not getting to the gym enough. There are other indicators as well, such as how my jeans fit, lol.

Also, it's interesting that the WSJ list doesn't suggest getting rid of Cable TV. That savings alone could net some subscribers an extra $1000 in no time.

@whits: that was really more of a response to the op slash agreement with you.

@parkavery: @Trai_Dep: too true, and with the change in ownership, I'm not feeling their credibility to recommend economizing efforts right now.

You really NEED an extended warranty if you own a Soyo monitor.

[ninjatales.wordpress.com]

For those of us living in Chicago, No.1 is more right than you know... there is a 10¢ tax PER-bottle in the city.

I really never understood why people pay for bottled water. City water is just fine and you get the fluoride.

Just my view.

Item #4 is the dumbest thing I have ever seen on this website. Consumerist and WSJ: You should be ashamed for publishing this garbage. Taking out a line of credit to cover for being too lazy to balance your checkbook? Stupid use of credit is one of the main things that got us into the financial crisis we're in now. Here is the best way to avoid overdraft fees: Don't overdraw your account. Try paying for stuff with cash. You can't overdraw cash from your wallet. Line-of-credit-my-right-foot.

I just got my Car insurance cut in HALF! It was through progressive, and apparently the only state that uses mileage in the rate calculation is California. Needless to say, reporting that I drive 8000 miles a year instead of 16,000 cut my cost in half.

@Jage: They might mean to listen to the CD on some archaic CD player, then return it, but that's not really an alternative to a music download, as you can play that more places on more players, more conveniently.

@Jage: well, it is not illegal to copy a cd (if there is no DRM on the disk), it is only "illegal" if you copy the disk and then start distributing it around the internet or to your friends.

If there IS DRM on it, however, it is only illegal if you get caught, heh

@EllaMcWho: Not everybody, but lots of people *do* just let theirs sit on the shelf.

I could use the rec center on campus for free, but I don't see the point -- I'll just walk (or when it gets warmer) bike to campus instead.

I can agree with all of those except two, the gym membership and the extended warranty. I purchased a 5year extended warranty for a 50" DLP I purchased back in 2006 and it has more than paid for itself three times. I got 3 replacements under the warranty and I didn't have to deal with shipping the broken TVs or extended repairs that usually fall under the manufacturers warranty. In each of my cases, I simply made a call, tech came out and called it dead, then I chose another TV, they shipped the new one and I usually sold the old one on craigs list for $100.

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: there is actually a gym at my work. I know that it doesn't cost us very much (if anything). But I see some people going in there in the morning before they start working and at night after they are done. Not to mention, play a game of basketball or something with some other people during their lunch hour.

Then again, there is also alcohol and video games in the office... so it is just one of those "employee first" places, lol

@whits:

My thing about extended warranties is NEVER buy them from a big box store. Always buy them from the manufacturer. You will get a lot better service for your Toshiba warranty than you will for your Best Buy warranty where they overcharge you, then tinker with it in the back incompetently before sending it off to the manufacturer with more problems than before. Plus, I'm pretty sure they usually charge you more.

With iPods, for instance, there is absolutely no reason to get a plan from Best Buy instead of buying one directly from Apple, if having a warranty makes you feel better.

@jacques: A lot of people recommend CSA's for saving money, but I've found that it's pricey (cheapest was ~$35/week), it locks you into a long-term plan, it's vague on the quantities you receive (2 gallons?), and it gives you no selection choices. They also seem to target more affluent communities, judging by their pickup points. Off to the farmer's market for me, where I can choose what I want from multiple vendors, who are competing on price and selection.

@bohemian: They sell candy at the checkout line, too. "Would you like the extended warranty today on that box of Mike and Ike's?"

@Wolzard: I have an extended warranty for some prosumer Nikon digital cameras I have. It is actually worth it since I can send the camera out for a full inspection and cleaning. I should mention that it is through Nikon and not a third party.

@Wolzard: I think the general point they are making is that extended warranties are a huge, huge cash cow for companies. This implies that the vast majority of extended warranties never get paid out or used, and therefore it seems to be that for the most part, the money for an extended warranty is better saved to actually cover a repair if it does happen.

I'm not completely anti-warranty, when I bought a psp i picked up an exchange warranty from gamestop, and boy am I glad I did. I ended up having to exchange that piece of junk a record 5 times before I gave up and sold it to buy a DS (which has no warranty and of course works flawlessly after like 3 years).

Generally I think people should approach extended warranties on a case-by-case basis. Is the item smaller and easier to break or drop, and the warranty is under $20? Go for it. Bigger items that are less likely to fail, with warranties in the hundreds of dollars? Pass. Put that money in a savings account reserved for repairs/replacements.

The original article has a logic gap in its arguments against organic produce. They say some produce doesn't require a lot of pesticide to grow, and some produce has thick skins. Okay...but what about produce that *does* require a lot of pesticide when produced conventionally and which does not have thick skins you discard? They would also have to present evidence disproving arguments that organic produce tastes better, has higher levels of micronutrients, and is more sustainabile in order to make their case.

Consumerist's argument is specious as well. There may be legitimate room to debate whether a particular consumer item is worth the cost, and every household must figure out if a purchase makes sense given its expected utility and their individual financial situation. But if a particular grocery purchase made sense for me two years ago, and if its cost and my income have stayed roughly stable, how does the fact that "we're in a recession" change that calculation?

@Jage: They're not suggesting you copy it, though, any more than a recommendation of borrowing a book from a library is a suggestion that you copy the book. They're just suggesting you borrow the CD and listen to it. It's not like you have to own the music to enjoy it. It's just a habit people have gotten into.

If you do use your gym membership and have to pay for it yourself, it's almost always cheaper to pay the entire year up front than to pay it monthly. You can often swing additional discounts if you ask and will pay the year up front.

@asherchang2: I can *kind* of understand buying "organic" carrots or apples or what not -- so you think maybe it has less pesticides or whatever and it gives you piece of mind? Good for you. But organic eggs? Milk? Bread? Diapers? Shirts? Please. If you buy these things you need serious help.

I always wonder what would happen if an organic grocery store sold everything at the going market rate for non-organic, but then when you check out you have to pay a 20% "organic" fee. We could call it the stupid tax. Whatever.

I would agree with some others on extended warranties. On a few things, it's worth it. Laptops are one of those things. Consumer reports themselves has a report that 40% of laptops break inside the extended warranty period. That to me says that it's worth it. A big tv I would probably do the same on.

Cars, however, I probably wouldn't because they are pretty well understood at this point and are generally well made.

@VA_White: "Post-organic produce *is* significantly better for you" -- Please back up this ridiculous, unfounded statement with facts, TYVM.

@whits: The thing is that that's not statistically true, when you take purchases as a whole into consideration. The majority of consumers would be better off putting the cost of the extended warranties for their purchases into savings and then using that savings plan to replace items. Most stuff doesn't break within the period covered by the extended warranty. Sure, sometimes it does, but if you always buy extended warranties to make sure you're covered, you're almost sure to have spent more money than if you just covered your replacement costs as needed.

I can understand that it doesn't seem that way at the store (or here), because the people that get seen and heard are the people who've had problems. Those of us with working 5-10 year old equipment don't have much reason to drop by and tell you about it.

@bohemian:
Organic milk well worth the extra cost? Are you kidding me? I can get a gallon of milk for less than the cost of a half gallon of organic milk. I don't know why its worth the extra cost to you. Maybe because you like the placebo effect? It's all psychological. If you are concerned about growth hormones or antibiotics, conventional milk is free from that nowadays because of all the hoopla about it causing cancer and other health problems (which I should say there is no evidence to either). Seriously, you are wasting lots and lots of money by buying organic milk.

@Thaddeus: Exactly! I've lived in places where the water is not potable from the tap. I happily drink tap water until I feel like bursting, especially in the summer.

@Garbanzo: "That's specious reasoning, Dad."

"Why thank you, Lisa!"

How about starbucks? Those cups of coffee can really add up. If you are a coffee addict, why don't you try Dunkin Donuts or Quick Check- get larger cups for half the cost. Or brew your own at home- that saves even more money. I'm sure ditching your daily starbucks can save thousands of dollars.

@Wolzard:
I got a used TV for $50 3 years ago and it's still working fine. If it breaks, I know a shop that repairs them that is reasonably priced. The way it's going though, I think it'll last forever.