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Posted
Oct 10 2008, 06:44 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Most people are familiar with the status quo bias. In simple terms, it means that people prefer things to stay relatively the same. We talk to the same people, follow the same path to work, go through the same daily routine. We enjoy little changes like reading a different book, going on a different trip in the summer, or watching a different movie. But radical changes? Not so much. The only problem is that the status quo bias costs us money all the time. Because we prefer to stick with the familiar, we often choose to stick with things that are less cost-effective than the alternative. Here are nine common ways the status quo bias can cost an average person money.
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Posted
Oct 06 2008, 03:59 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
The $25 Challenge is over in Illinois, and we're sure the participants are thrilled about that. They agreed to spend no more than $25 on food for a week -- that's about $3.50 a day -- and blog about what they learned during the experience. It was a real eye-opener for most. When you have so little money for food, you realize that "there is food all around you, all the time, but you can't eat it," wrote Frank Finnegan, who was planning yet another dinner of ham and beans. He added, "Forget nutrition. When shopping, the only thing that matters is price."
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Posted
Sep 26 2008, 01:58 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
If you're eating at home more often to save money, you know that nothing can throw a wrench in your food budget like having to buy bottles of spice. How on earth can a tiny bottle of crushed this or dried that cost so darn much? Daniel Koontz of Casual Kitchen tackles that question in Part One of his Spice Series. Part Two is the one we really liked. He explains how to save substantial money when you need more cayenne pepper, paprika and the like. First, we'll start with a tip that flies in the face of what you've likely been told: "Don't worry about 'spice fade.'"
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Posted
Sep 16 2008, 10:10 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
On Monday night I brought home 10 boxes of granola bars and 10 big boxes of old-fashioned oats, having paid just $17.50 thanks to a coupon/rebate combo. This was good news since I eat oatmeal every day and like to keep granola bars in my backpack to avoid buying pricey snacks when I'm out and about. The problem was where to put it all, because my cupboards already looked full. If I wanted to store this stuff, I had to reorganize.
So I did. Now I'm torn between feeling delighted and a little bit nervous. On the one hand, I have obtained a lot of staples very cheaply; some were even free thanks to those coupons and rebates.
On the other hand? I had no idea how much stuff I'd squirreled away.
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Posted
Aug 25 2008, 05:43 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Here's more bad news for grocery shoppers: Some supermarket chains are cutting back on their double-coupon offers. Think that doesn't matter? Aryn at Sound Money Matters recently spent $10 more than she had intended during a recent shopping trip because of new restrictions on double-coupon redemption. Not only that, but "I've noticed that the coupon circulars have shrunk, and the coupons themselves have become less generous," she writes.
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Posted
Aug 25 2008, 11:05 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
If the "on sale" sign says you saved 50% on the new shirt you bought at the mall, did you really get a great deal? Not necessarily, says Kevin at The Red Stapler Chronicles, in a post called "'Sale' can sometimes be just another 4-letter word." Kevin's day job is manager in the retail world.
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Posted
Aug 06 2008, 06:00 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
How do we know there's such a thing as too much frugality in the kitchen? Because Marge Simpson once said to her daughter: "Lisa, I made you some homemade Pepsi for the dance; it's a little thick but the price is right." That's from the excellent post "Cutting calories and saving d'oh: 25 lessons 'The Simpsons' taught me about cheap, healthy eating" at Cheap Healthy Good. The author, Kris, is the most entertaining food-and-frugality blogger out there, but we think she's outdone herself with this one.
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Posted
Aug 06 2008, 01:35 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Which store offers the best deals: the grocery store, the discount store or the dollar store? Our partner blogger Donna Freedman today explored a similar question, and advised readers that the best prices for foods and sundries often can be found at drugstores and other alternatives to the standard grocery store. And now we've found a Web site that emphasizes her point. The Crazy Dollar Shopper compares prices of various products at three types of stores.
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Posted
Aug 04 2008, 12:29 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We know how the family "Chica" visited recently can get out of debt. They could become the subject of an entertaining reality TV show. (Even the repo man could play himself.) But, then again, maybe not. The way they live is reality to a lot of people. Does this sound familiar? They have a three-bedroom house with five TVs that are left on all the time, even when no one is home, plus premium cable with DVR. The list goes on: two car notes and a paid-off motorcycle, two kids in private school who get every consumer good they ever wish for -- and the parents complain that they don't have enough money to pay their bills.
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Posted
Jul 30 2008, 01:17 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Starting in January, Seattle shoppers may see groceries go up 20 cents per bag. That's because the City Council voted 6-1 to institute a fee for the use of paper or plastic bags at grocery, drug and convenience stores. If that doesn't get people to start bringing their own bags, I don't know what will. Twenty cents each adds up pretty quickly.
Councilmember Jan Drago, who voted against it, told the Seattle Times that the measure might make it look as though the council is not sensitive to the economic struggles of the average citizen. "It's about timing," Drago said, "not about the goal."
Here's what I think about that: There's never going to be a good time to try and get people to break a habit. They're accustomed to doing it that way and will come up with plenty of reasons why it just isn't fair to expect them to, say, stop using handheld cell phones while driving. (That's verboten in Washington state, although only 113 tickets have been issued thus far.)
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