Monthly subscription boxes are currently a hot category in retail: vendors exist that can send you curated selections of everything from pet treats to razors to healthy snacks to butt wipes. One popular subcategory of these boxes are beauty sample boxes, which send you trial-size versions of beauty products to enjoy, and perhaps buy full-sized versions later on. Beauty brands and consumers both love these boxes…but which ones offer the best value for your subscription fee? [More]
shopsmart
The Best & Worst Store-Brand Deals At Lowe’s, Home Depot & Sears
By 2.26.15
Need to buy a snowblower, light bulbs, and some paint? You might figure, “Oh, I’ll just head to Home Depot (or Lowe’s, or Sears) and get it all done in the same trip.” But just because these stores all offer one-stop shopping for most home goods, price and quality of store-brand and private label products can vary greatly depending on the retailer. [More]
Life’s Messy: Tips For Cleaning Wine, Chocolate And Other Sticky Situations
By 2.25.14
Messes come in all shapes, sizes, and levels of stickiness. They can put a damper on a good dinner party when someone spills on your heirloom tablecloth. They can up the level of frustration you’re experiencing while potty-training your new puppy. Messes are, well, messy, but they don’t have to be permanent. [More]
Grout Bully, Rollie Eggmaster, Jay Glazer’s Perfect Punch, Lexus IS 250 Make List Of Year’s Worst Products
By 12.17.13
Our colleagues at ShopSmart recently published an expansive round-up of the year’s best products, which is all really good and helpful information. But what picqued our interest was the magazine’s shorter list, covering everything from questionable infomercial products to big-name luxury brands, of the worst products on the market in 2013. [More]
Should I Also Be Picking Up Insurance And Mortgages When I Shop At Costco Or BJ’s?
By 6.18.13
Warehouse stores sell more than just huge sacks of flour, vats of ketchup, and enough toilet paper to clean an army. You can also use a membership at places like Costco or BJ’s to buy everything from auto insurance to credit cards to home mortgages. But should you? [More]
Time Running Out To Save 50% On Consumer Reports' ShopSmart And Support Consumerist
By 9.22.11
Our sister publication ShopSmart — think Consumerist with better shoes — is full of tips for saving money on everything from cars to cosmetics, and just like all Consumer Reports publications it contains no outside advertising. Even better, sales of ShopSmart help support this here site that you’re reading right now. That’s why we came up with this exclusive coupon that lets Consumerist readers save 50% on the latest issue of ShopSmart. [More]
Get 50% Off Consumer Reports' ShopSmart And Help Support Consumerist
By 9.15.11
Our sister publication ShopSmart — think Consumerist with better shoes — is full of tips for saving money on everything from cars to cosmetics, and just like all Consumer Reports publications it contains no outside advertising. Even better, sales of ShopSmart help support this here site that you’re reading right now. That’s why we came up with this exclusive coupon that lets Consumerist readers save 50% on the latest issue of ShopSmart. [More]
If Your Snowblower Clogs Too Easily, Check The Shear Pin
By 1.21.11
If your snowblower seems to be clogging up all the time, rather than curse the gods you may want to check to see if the shear pin snapped off. [More]
How Can I Tell When A Product Is Being Greenwashed?
By 8.27.09
Sure, some people want to buy environmentally friendly products, and that’s great. The problem is that marketers understand these impulses well, and want to take advantage of them without always offering products that live up to the claims. What to do? ShopSmart has some answers.
Save Money On Groceries, Save The World …Er, Wallet
By 8.22.09
Our sibling publication ShopSmart has a great article this month on ways to save money at the grocery store. It’s available as a PDF download, but here are some of the highlights.
Lay's Chip Tracker Helps You Find The Source Of Your Salty Snacks
By 8.5.09
Do you lie awake at night, wondering where the potatoes in the bag of Lay’s chips you downed while watching “Dancing With the Stars” were grown? No, neither do most sane people. However, our alert colleagues over at ShopSmart magazine have discovered the Lay’s Chip Tracker, which can tell you the potato source based on the bag’s production code. No, seriously.
By 5.26.09
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Find the hidden ingredients lurking in your personal-care products. Think the “Ingredients” section of a product’s label tells you all you need to know? Not so fast. ShopSmart points out that certain chemicals that are considered byproducts of other ingredients may not show up on the label. These include possible carcinogens, such as formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane. Yum. [ShopSmart]
Smell Cookie, Spend Loosely
By 7.30.08
On a tight budget and using equal parts willpower and behavior self-modification? Stay away from the cookie places in the mall. The September 2008 issue of ShopSmart says studies show that even just catching a whiff of your favorite treat can increase your urge to splurge.
