During one insomnia-filled night, the blogger behind No Credit Needed decided to make this flowchart to illustrate how they make their financial decisions. Pretty neat. I think there should be an extra step before the Make Purchase that says, “Am I Sure I Still Need And/Or Want This Item?” Large version inside.
BLOGS
NWV Direct Caught Pulling Bait And Switch, Tries To Backpedal
By 10.13.08
Joshua caught New World Video Direct trying to pull a bait and switch on him with a recent order, so he canceled it and gave them a bad review on resellerratings.com. They contacted him to ask if he’d remove the rating. Joshua wrote back to decline, but he reminded them that it’s actually pretty simple to develop a decent reputation as retailer: “If you want to have anyone trust you as a business you have to only list items you plan to sell for the price you plan to sell them at.”
Get All Gawker Networks' Economic Crisis Coverage At Economy.Consumerist.Com
By 10.9.08
Gawker has launched Economy.Consumerist.com to make it easier for you to stay smarter than your cubicle mate by keeping track of the latest in the global money meltdown as reported across the entire Gawker Media Network…
New Amazon Coupon Codes For October
By 10.7.08
32 new Amazon coupon codes for October. Notable: 25% off K-cups, 20% off Silk Soymilk and 15% off Amy’s Organic Soups. Mmm, I loves me some Amy’s soups, especially that no-chicken noodle.
TSA To Stop Being So Crazy About Liquids
By 10.2.08
Soon you might be able to take your shampoo and booze on the plane once again without trouble. The head of the TSA told WSJ’s The Middle Seat Terminal blog, “I think realistically in one year we, the TSA and foreign colleagues, will be a position to relax liquids restrictions…We are within a year of having the ability to differentiate threat liquids through the screening process.” The rule relaxation is thanks to airports deploying new x-ray machines and scanners that should be able to tell the difference between a bottle of water and a bomb. Just don’t expect it to happen any time before 2009.
Reader Saves $425 By Saving Save Every $5 Bill
By 10.1.08
Brandon Savage writes that he’s having success with saving by taking the advice in our “Get Rich By Saving Every $5 Bill” post. Since starting in August, he’s got $425 in additional savings this way. Here’s how he does it:
Comcast Loves You So Much They Keep Billing You… 4 Months After You Canceled
By 9.30.08 — Updated: 3.25.13
Oh Comcast, you romantic. You were so sorry to see Michal leave that you pretended he didn’t. We get it: he bikes, he blogs, he helps toddlers learn Polish. But after four months of him repeatedly asking you to stop billing him, when you still won’t stop it begins to look a little stalker-ish. Your computers can’t always be down.
3 Rules Travelers Need To Know For 2009
By 9.29.08
Three rule changes for travelers come into effect in 2009:
- Crossing any border by land or sea, unless you’re on a cruise, will require a passport
- Visas for people coming to America will be completely electronic
- Tickets prices for flights to and within Europe will have to be disclosed in-full and up-front, taxes, fuel surcharges and all.
[via MSNBC] (Photo: Ryan McFarland)
Personal Finance Roundup
By 9.25.08
Bank crisis: 10 things to know now [MSN Money] “If your bank goes bust, how do you get your money out? Are credit unions protected? What about investments? It’s time to get your ducks in a row.”
Dell: We Can Only Send You The Wrong Kind Of Battery
By 9.23.08
Dell charged this guy’s daughter over $200 for replacement batteries that don’t even match her laptop. When her battery died, Dell sent her the wrong battery. Since she was out of warranty, Dell insisted that they could only continue to send her the wrong battery. When she asked why, Bill says the a supervisor repeatedly said, “I don’t know ma’am, that’s not my problem.”
By 9.23.08
../../../..//2008/09/23/we-interrupt-our-programming-for/
We interrupt our programming for a very special consumer alert: Be forewarned, this Krazy Glue’s “red” cap is not red. [My Permanent Record]
Oil Prices Down But Airline Fees Remain
By 9.18.08
Airlines have added all sorts of fees to compensate for their increased oil costs recently. Now that oil has dropped, the fees are gone, right? Nope. Now that we’re all acclimated to a la carte pricing, which airlines have lusted to implement for ages, don’t expect it to be going away anytime soon. $2 fee to have the window open, $4 to have it shut.
By 9.17.08
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The stock market meltdown means bargains for hotel guests. [elliott.org]
Live Underground For Cheap
By 9.15.08
Forget the sub-prime meltdown and get with the subterranean housing craze. This book – linked in one of Chris’s posts but I just had to bring it to the front page – has everything you need to know about building a house underground. The most amazing thing is that there’s ways to do it to get light from all four sides. The penultimate amazing thing is not being buried alive while you sleep.
Dell Downgraded From "Evil" To "Bumbling"
By 9.11.08
“They’ve been downgraded from evil to bumbling.” – Me in FORTUNE about Dell’s online thrusts that attempt to repair their image and listen to their customers more. What do you think? Do you feel any better about them than you did two years ago, or are do their customers still writhe in the eternal flames of “Dell Hell?” Would you add Dell to your Facebook?
Save For Specific Goals With SmartyPig.com
By 9.10.08
“Saving up.” It’s nearly an alien concept in this “buy with debt” world, but into that breach steps SmartyPig. The site lets you set and save for specific goals in their online savings accounts at a competitive 3.9% APY savings rate. There’s all sorts of built-in graphs and widgets to track your progress, but then you can make it social, if you like, by making a page where your goals public and having friends and family or other random people on the net (export to Facebook, etc) track and root for your progress, or even contribute to your goal.
Discover The Wacky Side Of Food Poisoning
By 9.9.08
Did you know Jesse Jackson was hospitalized with food poisoning last week? Or that a recipe typo in a Swedish food magazine left four readers poisoned? These are two of the many interesting facts we just learned after a few minutes browsing the BarfBlog, a food safety blog with categories like “Celebrity Barf” and “listeria”.
Funeral Association Scaring People Away From Green Burials?
By 9.8.08
Funeral homes are being scared away from “green” burial options by an indemnification form the National Funeral Directors Association included in one of their recent magazine issues, according to an open letter posted on Funeral Consumers Alliance. The language basically suggests that if you don’t use mainstream funeral methods, in terms of the embalming and type of coffin used, you won’t be able to show grandma because she’ll be all rotted, the grave will turn into a sinkhole, and you might not be able to find where the body was buried years down the road. Here’s the specific language they’re using…
