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Posted
Sep 25 2009, 03:28 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from "vh" at Funny about Money.
Why, when we're confronted, do we tend to blurt out the truth, even when it works to our disadvantage to do so? Chaucer had it right when he said that "truth is the highest thing that Man may keep." Sometimes we should keep it to ourselves.
Asked in the right way, we'll often reveal private, sensitive information that's strictly none of anyone's business, that's valuable to people trying to manipulate us into buying products and services, and that can be used to pester or even harass us. Warranty cards with long lists of personal questions are especially egregious: What about your favorite sporting event and the magazines you read is needed to guarantee a flashlight's performance? And how often do you give your phone number to companies that have no need to know it?
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Posted
Sep 24 2009, 04:11 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Toys R Us released its list of prospective hot toys for the holidays, and guess what: Most retail for less than $100.
The toy getting the most media attention is the Zhu Zhu Pets Hamster, which retails for a very attractive $9.99. "With more than 40 different sound effects and artificial intelligence, these pets will dart around the house, play in hamster tubes, run on wheels and more," Toys R Us said. This sounds fun.
Among those on the higher end, The Associated Press reports, are "Mattel's Mindflex, about $90, which measures brain activity through a helmet and uses it to move a ball through an obstacle course." Great. We'll bring that one out whenever anyone questions our brain power.
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Posted
Sep 24 2009, 01:09 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We're the first to admit that shopping as a form of entertainment isn't exactly unheard of in the United States.
Still, Ikea browsers in China may have taken the idea of shopping center as entertainment to a whole new level. The Ikea store in Beijing has become an entertainment destination for Chinese who have no intention of buying anything more than lunch.
The Los Angeles Times, reporting on this phenomenon, interviewed Zhang Xin, who took his wife, son and mother to Ikea for lunch and a break from the smog.
"We just came here for fun," the 34-year-old office manager told The Times. "I suppose we could have gone somewhere else, but it wouldn't have been a complete experience."
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Posted
Sep 11 2009, 06:45 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
It's great to clear out stuff you no longer use and give it to charity. But, as one unidentified Miami investment firm learned, you should make sure you know what you're giving away.
When the investment firm was renovating its offices last May, they donated a quantity of items to Goodwill, including a 2.5-ton bronze statue of a young ballerina. For months, the statue sat in a warehouse, until Goodwill employees did a little investigating before setting a price.
It turned out the sculpture was one of 10 created in 1985 by famed artist Sterett-Gittings Kelsey and is valued at $500,000. Goodwill decided the honorable course of action was to offer to return the statue, The Miami Herald reported. The investment firm took it back.
It's unlikely any of us have sculptures worth $500,000 lurking in our homes (though I'm going to check the garage this weekend just to be sure), but it does pay to do some research before donating items you no longer want. We've all seen Antiques Roadshow, where Aunt Mavis' ugly table turned out to be worth $3,000.
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Posted
Sep 10 2009, 04:41 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We've all done it: stopped by a store or restaurant unexpectedly and then realized we had a coupon at home. Now there's an app for that.
More retailers are making coupons available via cell phone. Mobile coupons -- usually text messages with discount codes -- are becoming the blue-light specials for the digital age, promoting last-minute clothing sales, two-for-one entrees and cheap tickets to the theater, The New York Times reported. The mobile deals particularly appeal to young people, many of whom have never used paper coupons.
We've written about several food deals with a mobile phone version of the coupon. T.G.I. Friday's coupons nearly always have a way to get the coupon via text message. Then you show the message to your server. Cheap Stingy Bargains has some tips on how to get coupons on your mobile phone.
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Posted
Sep 10 2009, 05:08 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
I'm often tempted to spend money that I shouldn't.
I'm good at restraining my impulsive nature. I don't simply go into stores and then emerge later with a hefty bag, a credit card bill, and a dazed look on my face. Still, in certain places, I am strongly tempted to spend. I look around and see tons of items that I'd like to have.
Here are seven places that really fuel my spending desires.
Bookstores. What can I say? I love to read. I read about 10 books a month for my own enjoyment and probably five more for The Simple Dollar and other professional purposes. The smell and feel and sight of a new book are like manna to me. I usually resist most of my impulses by arguing to myself that I can get those books at the library or at PaperBackSwap, but it's definitely a struggle -- one I don't always win.
Williams-Sonoma. As I get more and more adept in the kitchen, I'm slowly upgrading my kitchen equipment to superior versions of the cheap (and sometimes problematic) equipment I have on hand. Williams-Sonoma does an extremely good job of convincing me to accelerate this upgrade process, enticing me with better knives, a wide array of very nice pots and pans, and lots of other items.
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Posted
Sep 08 2009, 06:09 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Wondering whether to buy something now or wait for Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, when it might be cheaper?
Partner blog DealNews has your back, with predictions about what deals to expect for Black Friday 2009. Last year's predictions were 82% accurate, notes Dan de Grandpre, CEO and Editor of DealNews.
The predictions are the lowest prices to expect, during the entire "Black Friday Season," mid-November to Cyber Monday. As the season draws closer, you can check for updates to these predictions at DealNews' Black Friday deals section.
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Posted
Aug 31 2009, 03:25 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
There's joy to be found in recent news that men are buying underwear again.
The joy we're referring to has to do with economic growth, what The Washington Post calls the men's underwear index -- not the fact that your man has finally replaced his raggedy skivvies. Even New York Magazine's The Cut blog gushed, "Manty sales are up! Is the end of the recession near?"
We don't think this really requires explanation, but the short version is, if the economy is bad, men will cut back on buying underwear because hardly anyone ever sees them. We first read about this economic indicator in an amusing MSN Money story by Michael Brush back in late May. "Based on market research and surveys, Mintel predicts a 2.3% decline this year in men's underwear sales and no recovery until 2013," he wrote. "That's four more years of saggy elastic and threadbare cotton."
Sales of boxers, briefs and all their various permutations have been encouraging since then, it appears.
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Posted
Aug 26 2009, 04:35 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Isn't reading fine print one of your least favorite things to do, right up there with flossing your teeth (do it anyway) or trimming nose hairs? The small print can be boring, exceedingly complicated, and extremely difficult to understand. And it's small.
We're expected to read a credit card agreement when some of the typeface in a popular publication like Sports Illustrated is too small for our aging eyes to decipher? (Hello, SI, is someone paying attention?)
Happily, our partner blogger J.D. Roth at Get Rich Slowly alerted readers to a Web site that illuminates what's hidden in the fine print of common advertisements, labels, contracts and such. Sometimes a real surprise is lurking in there, so Mouse Print makes for some important and really entertaining reading.
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Posted
Aug 20 2009, 02:30 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We don't spend a lot of time in department stores. It's too easy to find that one cute top you think you can't live without, but of course you can.
But when you need to buy clothes, department store clearance can yield some really good deals. And this summer, Forbes reports, the discounts are deeper than ever and some really good products are marked down.
Retailers are struggling. Macy's has closed stores and laid off employees this year. Filene's Basement has filed for bankruptcy protection. A number of retailer reported lower sales in July, Forbes noted, as July's Consumer Confidence index slid to 46.6, a 5.5% decrease from June.
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