Ron Lieber at the New York Times has put together seven sensible tips that can help you find a first time home that you can both afford and enjoy living in.
tips
Couple Attempts To Stretch Half A Year's Pay Into A Full Year
By 9.18.09
CNN profiles a young family living in a Chicago suburb who have decided to carry out an experiment in frugal living—they want to see if they can reduce their expenses enough to get by on about half of what they made before the wife and sole breadwinner was laid off earlier this summer.
How To Reverse A Debit Card Overcharge Quickly
By 9.15.09
If someday you have the bad luck to have one of your debit transactions entered incorrectly by a merchant, here’s how to get things back to normal quickly. The important part is not to let the merchant “get back to you” at some later day. Instead, try to get your bank and the merchant on the line at the same time in order to get it rectified immediately.
5 Ways To Prevent Identity Theft
By 9.14.09
If you’re still not shredding, locking, and canceling, maybe a giant graphic will get the point across. Follow these five tips and you’ll be well on your way to securing your side of things when it comes to ID theft.
Financial Advice For College Students
By 9.14.09
The San Jose Mercury News has compiled a list of financial tips for people just entering college. These are the sorts of things that will help you avoid racking up huge debts or wasting money you don’t have on fees and penalties—and of course they can apply to pretty much anyone, not just college students.
Shut Out The Worst Ad Offenders With These Firefox Tricks
By 8.31.09
If advertisers and websites would play fair with their readers, we wouldn’t need to apply various filters and blocks to them. But when you’re trying to read an article and every sixth word is hotlinked with a pop-up ad, while the FavIcon in the browser window blinks at you like a traffic light, while loud video clips start auto-playing when the page loads—well, it’s time to shut it all down. Lifehacker has put together a great list of all the ways to reclaim your sanity when you’re online.
College Textbooks: Shop Around, Ask Your Professors, And Save
By 8.27.09
It’s that magical time of year, when the bright, shining faces of college freshmen fall as they take their first look at modern textbook prices. Reader S., a manager at a college bookstore, read our post yesterday about custom college bookstore “packets” used to prevent students from purchasing their textbooks used. He sent us some tips about how to spot and avoid special profit-seeking textbook bundles, and how to actually save some money by…purchasing from the college bookstore?
Dell Support Tech Accidentally Gives Away Free Advice
By 8.25.09
Our reader humphrmi recently managed to avoid shelling out unnecessary bucks for paid technical support from Dell. His secret? Listening very carefully to the support rep, who inadvertently gave away the info he was trying to get humphrmi to pay for. Which is good, since that information was only one sentence long.
Beware Fake Gift Card Balance Websites
By 8.20.09
A reader just ran into a gift card scam while trying to unload an Apple gift card via CraigsList. If you’re directed to a website that asks you to put in your gift card information in order to show the balance as “proof” that you’re legit, you’re being conned.
AloofDoof Sends Alerts When Ads You Like Appear On Craigslist
By 8.19.09
Reader Sedo just sent us a link to aloofdoof.com, a website that lets you set up keyword searches on Craiglist. We haven’t tested it, but it appears to be similar to WishRadar for Amazon. Sedo writes,
Three Ways To Use Google Voice On Your iPhone
By 8.12.09
Apple may not feel like you’re ready to take advantage of Google Voice, but luckily Jobs and his legion can’t lock you out of every potential way to access the service. (Yet.) Here are three paths to GV you can use today, no permission needed from the Applelord.
Don't Say These Things In A Job Interview
By 8.6.09
Don’t hit on the interviewer. Don’t ask whether they might be able to discover your past arrests. Don’t ask what the company does, or see if they can pick you up when it rains. In fact, here are 43 things you shouldn’t say during an interview if you actually want the job.
What To Do When The AT&T Rep Won't Help You
By 8.4.09
Last week we wrote that AT&T charged Spoco’s Amex card twice for the same payment, but their CSRs refused to investigate the issue for him. After we posted his story, AT&T took notice and reversed the charge. That raises the question these stories always raise, which is, “How do I get the same result if my problem isn’t published on Consumerist?”
Save On Cooling Costs By Installing A White Roof
By 7.30.09
The New York Times says a white roof on your house “can cost as little as 15 percent more than its dark counterpart” yet “reduce air-conditioning costs by 20 percent or more in hot, sunny weather.” This is because, scientifically speaking, the color white hates the stupid sun and won’t have anything to do with it.
Use Google Trends To Find The Best Time To Go Car Shopping
By 7.29.09
Engine Industries used Google Trends to map the frequency of search terms like “used car,” “new car,” and “buy car” through Google. They found that “people search car-related keyterms most in the summer and least in the winter, with a small spike right before Christmas.”
By 7.24.09
../../../..//2009/07/24/here-are-9-ways-to/
Here are 9 ways to save money on groceries. Did you know you can frequently find your milk or juice for less at convenience stores? [MintLife]
Download The 2009 Consumer Action Handbook
By 7.23.09
Here’s a free handbook that’s full of the sort of stuff we spend all of our time discussing on Consumerist. Sections include how to be a savvy consumer, how to file complaints, and a directory of organizations and agencies to contact when you have a problem. You can view the contents online or download a PDF copy, and you can also request a print version for your doesn’t-go-online relative (although you’ll have to wait for a reprinting).
By 7.22.09
../../../..//2009/07/22/here-are-10-kids-food/
Here are 10 kids’ food items that are not very healthy, including Goldfish Crackers, Fruit By The Foot, and Sunny Delight. [Time]
