If you have a complaint and want to know where to put it, besides the place where the sun has not been seen for a while, the Federal government’s Consumer Action Handbook’s has an online address book to help point you in the right direction. [More]
how-to
How To Get A Tax Refund From JetBlue
By 7.26.11
If you have a ticket with JetBlue for dates between July 25 and August 2nd, here’s how to get a refund on collected Federal taxes just by sending an email. [More]
How Do You Wrap Your Pennies?
By 7.26.11
Now that TD Bank won’t let non-customers use their Penny Arcade for free, I’ve had to go out and buy a whole bunch of coins wraps to take care of my coin jar. The process is oddly fun and meditative, and I got to wondering, how do you wrap your coins? There’s several techniques out there and mine is pretty basic. [More]
How To Appeal A Health Insurance Denial
By 7.15.11
Getting your health insurance claim denied can feel like insult added to injury, but if you take these steps you can get your claim “rehabbed,” and get your money. [More]
How To Check Your Stats If Your Comcast Bandwidth Meter Is Broken
By 7.14.11
After reading the story about the guy whose internet was shut off for a year by Comcast as punishment for breaching their data cap, reader Brian tried to check out his Comcast bandwidth meter. He did not want to have the same fate befall him. However, when he got to the screen, all the data and graphs that had been there months before were gone. Comcast told him that the bandwidth meter isn’t working for some customers but gave him a number to call if he needed to check on his data consumption. [More]
Organize Spray Bottles Under Sink With A Tension Rod
By 6.30.11
Sick of all those spray bottles under your sink getting cluttered? Hate having to basically knock over all the bottles just to get to one bottle? One quick and cheap fix blogger Jen Grant came up with is to simply toss a tension rod up under there. [More]
Spend Only 1 Hour/Wk On Your Money By Automating All Your Accounts
By 6.29.11
Here’s a 12-minute video that shows you how you can put all your money on autopilot and end up spending only an hour a week managing your accounts. [More]
Build Your Own Seltzer Maker At Home
By 6.29.11
I am a seltzer fiend. Before I got a seltzer bottle with cartridges we could go through a liter every day or so if I was feeling parched. That’s a lot of bottles to lug from the store and a lot of plastic filling up the recycling. Even cartridges can be a pain because you have to keep popping them in all the time. Really what would be ideal is one of those spray nozzles like they have in bars. It turns out that installing one isn’t that hard, as the Etsy blog shows in this great how-to. You need to be cool with drilling, clamping and storing a big CO2 tank somewhere, but that’s a small price to pay for an endless river of tongue-dancing bubbles. [More]
Make Your Own Sweet CoCo Pomade At Home
By 6.20.11
Here’s a quick and cheap recipe for making your own pomade, a waxy material you can use to style your hair, at home. (Remember pomade? It’s that stuff George Clooney is obsessed with for greasing up his locks in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou.) [More]
How To Always Get An Exit Row Seat
By 6.17.11
Exit rows are magical areas on airplanes where you’ll aways have that most rare and precious commodity known as “legroom.” On some airlines you’ll have to pay extra for the privilege. On others, it’s yours just for asking. Airfarewatchdog breaks down the exit row policies by airline so you can pick the flight that makes it easiest or know what you have to do to get that extra stretch space for your feet. [More]
How To Swerve Away From Extra Car Rental Fees
By 6.17.11 — Updated: 9.8.16
Sure, maybe you’re smart enough not to fall for the optional insurance car rental companies like to shill when you borrow one of their fine vehicles. And of course, you’re wise to the astronomical final bill you might get if you opt for their pricey fuel options. But do you know what other gotchas lay in store? [More]
Beat The Heat With A DIY Swamp Cooler
By 6.14.11
If you’re looking for a small, cheap way to cool a small area, it’s pretty easy to make your own “evaporative cooler.” Also known as “swamp coolers,” it’s basically any system that uses a fan to blow out rising cool water vapor. All you need is a fan, an ice chest, water and a few ice packs. How fancy you get after that is a matter of how much effort you want to put it to make it as efficient as possible, and whether you want it to be portable. Here’s a few Instructables to get you started: [More]
Avoid Credit Card Problems When Traveling Overseas
By 6.13.11
Most credit cards in Europe have an embedded PIN chip in them, called an EMV card. Almost no American credit cards do. This causes big problems for Americans traveling in Europe but there are a few ways to minimize the hassle. [More]
To Avoid Airport Security Hassle, Don't Flinch From Eye Contact
By 6.7.11
As someone who travels red eyes coast to coast for weeks for business meetings, Jeanniey knows a thing or two about getting through security with the least friction. She tells NYT that one thing she discovered, the hard way, was that you don’t want to dodge from eye contact with the security workers. [More]
Make Your Own Peanut Butter At Home
By 6.6.11
You can save $1.37 a jar making your own peanut butter at home. It’s actually really easy, fun, and it won’t contain a bunch of that extra nonsense you find from big name brands. [More]
Replace A Damaged Cellphone For Cheap
By 6.3.11
Rats. You just threw your phone across the room in a rage and now it’s broken. Once you regain control of your temper you decide to see about getting it repaired and find out it will almost cost as much as the phone to get it fixed. Either that, or you have to pay the full unsubsidized price to replace it because you’re not eligible for an upgrade. Turns out, as pointed out by the company insiders posting over at Insidr.net, a better idea is to call up customer customer service and ask them nicely to move your upgrade forward. [More]
Get A Refund After An Airfare Pricedrop
By 6.3.11
It is possible to get a refund for the difference if the airfare drops after you buy your ticket, but you’ll usually have to fly one of these three airlines to make it worth your while. [More]
Haggle Like A Rockstar
By 5.27.11
Earlier this week we brought you some tips on haggling from The Brooklyn Flea Market. In typical fashion, Consumerist readers replied with their own great tips on haggling, hard-won info tempered in the flames of many a flea market battle. Here’s the best of your best on how to haggle like a rockstar, Consumerist-reader style: [More]
