Consumerist
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follow ups
Ryder Refunds Customer $120 For Forcing Him Into U-Haul's Arms
Jesse, who wrote to us last week to complain about Ryder's broken guarantee, has contacted us again with a follow up. We also spoke with Ryder directly to ask how their "Guaranteed Availability" promise actually works, so that future customers know what to expect. More » -
money
Save Money on Cable Television and TV Services
Given the state of the economy, it seems like everyone is looking for ways to save on non-discretionary expenses. Lucky for us, The Digerati Life offers some useful thoughts on how to cut back on TV services without turning off media completely. Their five suggestions include: More » -
frugality
If You Save Too Much — You Might Regret It Later!
We're always telling people to save their money — but that's just because we're overcompensating for a society that spends too much. It is possible to be too frugal and you risk regretting that you didn't have a little more fun while you had the chance. More » -
energy
Do Electricity Monitors Like The "Kill A Watt" Really Work?
If you're concerned about your electricity use you may have considered getting one of those energy monitoring devices like the "Kill a Watt" or the "Watts Up." But do they really work? More » -
cellphones
Are You Actually Paying More Than $3 A Minute To Use Your Cellphone?
The LA Times brings up an interesting point. You may think you are getting each cellphone minute for about $0.10... but are you really? Or are you paying for more minutes than you use? More » -
renting
Budget Slaps Customer With $500 Repair Fee Months Later
When Sean returned a rented truck to Budget Truck Rental nearly a year ago, he went through the standard inspection with an employee, who then signed off on the return. Now the company has sent a $500 bill to collection for damage they refuse to provide evidence of. More » -
housing
Top 10 Most And Least Affordable Cities
The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo have put together an index of the most and least affordable metro areas. The index was created by calculating what percentage of a city's residents making the median income can afford a house in that city. More »
10:26 AM on Fri Feb 20 2009
By Meg Marco
30,216 views, 195 commentsMost discussed JanetCarol: Nothing in the DC Metro / Fairfax County VA made the least affordable?!?!?!? I'm shocked. more »
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budget
$10 Check From Budget Secretly Signs You Up For Costly Club
If you've rented from Budget and get a $10, check in the mail, don't sign it, reports Upgrade Travel Better. The fine print says doing so gives "Trilegiant" permission to sign you up in a monthly "discount" club with a monthly fee. Worse, it allows them to use the credit card you rented the car with to start charging the fees. Pretty sleazy.
Budget is aiding and abetting abuse of your credit card information [Upgrade: Travel Better] (Thanks to RC Jordan!)
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personal finance
Top 9 Good Habits For A Deep Recession
For many of us, this is the first recession where we are responsible for our own financial well-being. How should we react? What habits are important during a long, deep recession? More »
11:15 AM on Fri Dec 19 2008
By Meg Marco
222,771 views, 99 comments -
consumer 101
Consumer 101: 3 Ways To Lower Your Out Of Control Cable, Internet And Phone Bills
How much to spend on cable, internet and telephone is something nobody had to worry about only a few generations ago. Today, the Pew Research Center says that after housing, cable and satellite TV service was most frequently cited as a regular household expense (78%), followed by cell phones (74%) and internet service (65%). By contrast, just four-in-ten adults (42%) say they make a car payment. If you're looking for a way to cut the amount of money you spend on these "information age" expenses, we've got three of them to choose from. More »
12:18 PM on Thu Nov 13 2008
By Meg Marco
37,336 views, 75 commentsMost discussed kwsventures: Cancel all 3. Life will move forward. more »
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Freezers
Americans Stop Buying Appliances... Except For Freezers
Consumer Reports says that despite an overall downturn in appliance purchases, one category is up 13% from last year. Freezers! More » -
grocery store economics
Oil Prices May Go Down, But Don't Expect Your Grocery Bill To Shrink
Now that the price of oil has dropped — you should expect some of those skyrocketing grocery bills you've been paying to drop, right? Yeah... probably not. More » -
gaming
Budget Gaming 101: Tips For The Broke Gamer
Reader Ozzie points us to video game developer Ashley Cheng's blog post about budget gaming. The tips are basic, but it's good advice nonetheless. More » -
wall street bailout
What Else Can $700 Billion Buy?
A while back the New York Times was concerned about the cost of the Iraq War and published some estimates of what else we could have bought with that money. We didn't find that very interesting at the time, but now, while trying to wrap our minds around just how effing huge the $700 billion proposed bailout of Wall Street really is, we decided to revisit that article. Here's what you can buy for less than $700 billion, according to the New York Times. More » -
apple
Morning Deals
- Apple: Refurbished iPod touches on sale, 8GB for $180, 16GB for $240, 32GB for $320
- Amazon: Rewards points upgrade for existing Amazon.com Visa holders
- Apple: Free Select iTunes TV Shows in HD (requires iTunes 8
- Travelocity: United Airlines Sale: Round-trip flights from $108
- Amazon.com: Amazon.com Men's Watch Deals: Timex, Marc Ecko, more from $40 + free shipping
- Sears: Seven7 Women's Jeans for $18 + $6 s&h, more
- Budget Truck Rental: $50 Gift card when paying w/American Express
- Reverie: T-Shirt Sale: Buy 1 TEE get 1 free TEE
- BestBuy: Westinghouse 42" 1080p LCD HDTV and portable DVD Player for $749.99 + shipping
- Drugstore.com: New Customers: Save $5 or $10 off First Order
- Vann's: Panasonic FZ28 10.2MP Digital Camera $340 Shipped
- Amazon: Get Savings of up to 75% off Bargain Books
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Good Housekeeping has an extensive article detailing the 5 most common money mistakes that people make, from spending too much on "bargains" to letting their children blow their budget by not standing up to whining and teaching their children the value of things. [Good Housekeeping via Digg]
MORE »
budget
New York, 11:18 AM
Thu Nov 12
19 posts in the last 24 hours
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