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Posted
Jul 27 2009, 02:13 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
For the last few weeks, the Sunday newspaper circulators have been filled with deals on school supplies. If you haven't done so already, it's time to start planning your school supply acquisition strategy.
Here are two top tips, recommended by most savvy shoppers:
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Posted
Sep 23 2009, 04:06 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon (AMZN), is known for being eccentric, but his new handset offer may be taking that act a bit too far. Cell phones using the AT&T (T) wireless network were selling on Amazon yesterday for one penny each. If the program is a success it is likely to come back.
The only product not available at the remarkable price is the Apple (AAPL) iPhone.
The purchase of the phone must be made with a two-year AT&T wireless subscription. The phones also come with free two-day shipping.
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Posted
Oct 24 2008, 12:59 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Truman Lewis at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. There was a festive feeling among consumer advocates when Congress passed legislation this summer that outlaws the use of phthalates -- chemicals some fear may cause reproductive defects -- in toys. But ever-inventive toy makers have a holiday surprise: a flood of phthalate-ridden toys hitting stores just in time for holiday shopping. The ban enacted by Congress doesn't take effect until Feb. 10, so toy makers and distributors have their elves working overtime to clear out their backlog of toys containing the chemical additives, which make hard plastics more flexible.
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Posted
Aug 13 2009, 02:43 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
The debate over which warehouse club is the best and which warehouse club is the cheapest is never-ending. If you're going to join just one, will you get better deals at Costco, Sam's Club or B.J.'s Wholesale Club?
We wish we could help, but we don't live anywhere near Sam's or B.J.'s, and we let our Costco membership expire when we moved into the house with no basement and a total of two tiny closets. Plus, the checkout lines were always way too long to make a visit worthwhile unless you needed to buy a lot of stuff -- and we don't have room to store a lot of stuff.
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Posted
Jun 16 2009, 06:44 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Wal-Mart is in hiring mode -- a rarity in this job-shedding economy. As reported by our sister blog Top Stocks, it's filling 22,000 new jobs at its U.S. stores this year.
If you were jobless, would you consider working there? Bargain Babe posed that question to her readers.
"I'm very conflicted about Wal-Mart," Bargain Babe blogger Julia Scott wrote. "I don't like to feature their deals on BargainBabe.com because of their checkered past. But I know for many people shopping at Wal-Mart is a way to make ends meet."
Here's how her readers responded to her poll:
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Posted
Mar 09 2009, 05:41 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
As lawmakers busily laud their own efforts to unlock credit markets and jump-start lending, consumers yawn. They just don’t want to spend.
And it’s not just those out of work who are paring back expenditures. According to The Wall Street Journal, even the dwindling ranks of the employed are getting thrifty. Computer users are enduring slow machines rather than buying new ones, clothes-shopping trips are being delayed and coupon clipping is once again the vogue.
Discounters like Wal-Mart (WMT) are benefiting from bargain hunters looking to save a couple of bucks, while AutoZone’s (AZO) stock sprinted to a 52-week high last week, as drivers opt to do it themselves.
Politicians, rushing to restore the “prosperity” we so recently enjoyed, are confident this is just a passing fad, and that we’ll soon return to our spend-happy ways. Indeed, the viability of President Barack Obama’s new $3.4 trillion budget is predicated on the U.S. economy skipping along at a 3.4% growth rate next year -- and expanding even faster in 2011.
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Posted
Jul 13 2009, 10:22 AM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
You may not be thinking about school supplies yet, but retailers are. The school supplies deals have already started. Even if your state has a sales tax holiday week, you might want to start shopping now instead of waiting.
Before you head out, take inventory of the supplies left from last year. Leah Ingram of Suddenly Frugal spent only 13 cents on school supplies for her two daughters last year, after finding lots of leftover supplies in the house and taking advantage of some Staples deals.
Dollar stores are another good source of school supplies.
Here are some of the deals advertised in Sunday's paper. Most are good through Saturday, July 18:
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Posted
Sep 10 2008, 06:09 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
An article this week at MSN Money describes rude and inappropriate behavior by cashiers that is bound to drive shoppers elsewhere. We'll add another bad behavior by employees to the list. "So Cal Savvy" describes it ever so wonderfully in a post called "The 1950s housewife." Her story involves a bank employee who was a big sexist jerk. She dubbed him "Mr. BankTellerMan."
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Posted
Sep 05 2008, 12:23 PM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
A weakening employment outlook only adds to a dismal economic picture for millions of Americans. Retailers have quickly realized that price has superseded factors like quality and brand as middle-class consumers struggle to maintain their lifestyle. Increased interest in private-label products and promotional items is a testament to this.
Month after month, we are reminded of how Wal-Mart's business model is perfectly positioned for the current recessionary environment. But Wal-Mart isn’t the only beneficiary. Although some grocers have gone up-market in recent years, Kroger has committed itself, through investments in its supply chain, to a low-price position without sacrificing incremental improvements to the quality of its food.
So low, in fact, that in some areas the supermarket chain not only beats its peers on price, but Wal-Mart too
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Posted
Mar 06 2009, 02:08 AM
by
Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site The Big Money.
General Motors (GM) is now thinking about the benefits of bankruptcy -- as long as it's speedy and the government can finance it, the Wall Street Journal reports this morning. Last month, the ailing carmaker claimed Chapter 11 would be far more costly as it lobbied for make-or-break bailout No. 2. "The change in thinking, combined with the disclosure Thursday that GM's auditor has raised 'substantial doubt' about the car maker's ability to keep going, appears to move GM closer to the possibility it will file for reorganization," the newspaper writes. Part of the change of heart is that GM is playing a game of beat-the-clock. It is not only locked into tense negotiations for an additional $30 billion in aid, but it also must close a deal with its bondholders by the end of the month. The bankruptcy route -- a sort of nuclear option -- could "prod bondholders into making concessions," the WSJ figures.
There's no denying things look bleak at GM. On Thursday auditors slapped a "substantial doubt" tag on GM's windshield, saying even if it received the entire $30 billion it hoped to borrow from the federal government, survival is far from guaranteed, the New York Times writes. BusinessWeek doesn't help GM's case, pointing out that the carmaker's pitch for aid is partly based on a projection that the auto-buying market will return to boom time levels within three years
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