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Posted
Oct 01 2008, 06:26 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from Abigail Perry at I Pick Up Pennies. Unless you're living in a soundproofed house with no connection to any media, you've heard about the turmoil on Wall Street. Experts say this is only the beginning. Or the middle, if you see this as an extension of the subprime crisis. Here's what I see as an underlying theme for recent personal and national financial crises: We've stopped seeing money as real.
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Posted
Sep 25 2008, 12:56 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Truman Lewis at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. The credit crisis and record high gas prices have teamed up to drive the world's largest Chevrolet dealer out of business. Bill Heard Enterprises is closing all 13 of its stores today, the company told its local managers on Wednesday. Insiders said the company notified the stores' general managers of the closing at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Automotive News reported. It closed a store in Arizona earlier this month.
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Posted
Aug 21 2008, 12:19 PM
by
Ryan MacClanathan
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Any personal finance expert worth his or her salt will tell
you to always save your receipts.
Sometimes, though, stores don't make it easy for us. A post at
Blunt Money shows how receipts at some
retailers are getting out of
hand. Two purchases at Sears -- a dress and a drill -- yielded about 70 inches of receipts,
return information and coupons. That's right, seven pieces of paper for two
items.
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Posted
Aug 18 2008, 12:29 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Last month my colleague Karen Datko linked to a post from personal finance blogger "Broke Grad Student." The short essay, "6 reasons why I hate cash," seemed at least partly tongue in cheek, especially since a couple of days later he followed up with reasons to love money. Yet the underlying sentiment -- plastic rules, cash stinks -- seemed genuine.
Broke Grad Student wrote his piece after making an ATM run to buy food at his workplace cafe. "Having to make the trip to get the cash (annoyed) me," he wrote. Good grief -- hasn't this man ever thought about getting cash back with a purchase from the supermarket or drugstore? Or, for that matter, about packing his own lunch?
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Posted
Aug 04 2008, 06:06 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. When I was a sophomore in college, I got my first credit card. I thought it was awesome -- it was like free money. Soon I got another credit card, and before long I'd maxed them both out. I entered the workforce with a handicap. I had the start of a nasty credit habit. My parents had never been good with money, and as a result I had no notion of proper financial skills. I made some bad decisions, which were in turn compounded by some rotten luck. Just five years after graduation, I had about $20,000 in credit card debt. For the next decade I tried to kick the habit. Sometimes I'd make progress, but then I'd find other ways to fall behind. Here are some of the mistakes I made along the way and the steps I took to correct them.
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Posted
Jul 31 2008, 11:40 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Martin H. Bosworth at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. In the face of high gas prices, stagnant wages and a moribund housing market, Americans are using credit cards less and less. A new study by Javelin Strategy & Research found that all ages of Americans, across all income levels, are cutting back on discretionary spending with cards, buying only necessary items, and often having trouble with the balances they maintain. "The sharp decline in credit card spending challenges the popular belief that more Americans are charging basic goods in order to sustain their quality of life," said Javelin president James Van ***. "Consumers are making deliberate cutbacks like shopping at superstores, eating out less and watching what they charge."
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Posted
Jul 28 2008, 09:40 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
The past few days would have gone a lot more smoothly if I'd listened to MSN Money columnist Liz Pulliam Weston regarding the wisdom of those economic stimulus gift card promotions. For weeks I'd been mulling over the pros and cons of those cards, which are sold in $300 increments and come with a 10% bonus.
Liz thinks it's a punk idea (more on that below), yet I decided to go ahead. This move seemed cursed from the get-go (much more on that below), yet the experience reinforced a basic Smart Spending credo: Always keep your receipts.
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Posted
Jul 19 2008, 11:24 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
"Broke Grad Student" would like to have a big honking wad of cash as much as the next guy. But that's a dream because of his big honking student loan debt. In a post called "6 reasons why I hate cash," he explains why he otherwise has little use for bills and coins. For instance, if you lost that big wad of cash, it would be gone. Poof. "You can't call an 800 number and have them cancel your $20 bills," he says in this humorous post at Broke Grad Student.
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Posted
Jul 15 2008, 04:03 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. If you've ever tried to buy a car or a house, you've probably faced the monthly payment math trick. It's a psychological trick salespeople use to get you to buy something you couldn't afford or to pay an amount you weren't originally comfortable with. A salesperson will try to convince you to purchase something based on the monthly payment you'll have to make. It frames the purchase in a way that lets you begin integrating the purchase into your life, before you've actually made it, and may even make it more likely you'll make the purchase.
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Posted
Jul 07 2008, 08:08 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Mike the Clever Dude has amazed us more than a few times. He's the guy who wrote about making a month's worth of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in 25 minutes -- with photo illustrations, no less. Another time, he confessed to buying a house with an interest-only mortgage and no money down. He's also railed against "those stupid disposable toilet brushes" as the epitome of waste. So what could he possibly say that would throw us for a loop? "In my teens, I wanted stuff so much, I resorted to stealing," he writes in a post called "Wanting too much." Read More...
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