Search results for consumer guide
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Posted
Jan 02 2008, 04:49 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Frankly, auto maintenance has always scared me. All I've ever "fixed" are wiper blades, headlights and taillights. The extent of my under-the-hood knowledge is how to check and top off oil, antifreeze and windshield washer fluid. I've never changed my own oil because I didn't want to deal with the waste material.
That's why I recently found myself using an Entertainment Book coupon to get a lube, oil and filter service for $15.88. When I paid, the counter guy said my battery was on its way out. A replacement would retail for about $119.99, but he could get me one for $89.99.
I know less about cars than about doing my own taxes. Still, that seemed a little high. Maybe I could do better on my own -- but that would mean installing it myself.
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Posted
Sep 29 2009, 10:48 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We're all for dollar stores. They can provide savings, many people agree. At last count, 55% of about 423,000 people who have participated in an MSN Money online poll said they sometimes shop at dollar stores, and 36% said they frequently do. (Another 3% chose "I'd never set foot in one.")
But there are some products "rutgerskevin" of The Red Stapler Chronicles recommends you avoid, via his post called "The 10 dumbest things to buy at a dollar store." First on his list are home pregnancy tests.
Find on Bing: Dollar stores thriving in recession
Pregnancy test from the dollar store? That's a product you'd want to spend more on for a result you can trust. "I almost bought this just to see what it looked like, but the girlfriend vetoed this idea in disgust," Kevin said.
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Posted
Jun 11 2009, 06:31 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Mark Huffman at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
For many iPhone users, AT&T's attitude toward them seems to be, "What have you done for me lately?"
Consumers posting comments on the AT&T support forum are calling for an iPhone users revolt, with the aim of persuading the carrier -- for now the exclusive iPhone network -- to change its upgrade policy.
What has current iPhone owners so ticked off?
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Posted
Apr 01 2009, 11:21 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Many smokers aren't finding the cost of cigarettes a laughing matter. The federal tax on a pack jumped Wednesday -- April Fools' Day -- from 39 cents to $1.01. The tax increase is so big, it's being called "historic."
Higher federal taxes apply to other tobacco products, so even those smokers who have taken to rolling their own to save money can't escape them. (To see how your preferred product is affected, click here.)
The tax -- passed to fund an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program -- is expected to prompt about 1 million smokers to quit.
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Posted
Feb 23 2009, 05:27 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.
I've had several requests lately to update my two-year quest to find cheap alternatives to cable television.
In March of 2007, Kris and I were paying $65.82 for a deluxe digital cable package that we rarely used. I wrote at that time that "$65.82 a month isn't a fortune, but it's a lot of money to pay for something that doesn't get used. If we were big TV watchers, maybe the cost could be justified. But we aren't. And it can't."
To save money, we cut our cable to just the basic channels, which reduced our bill to $11.30 a month. We also began to use the iTunes Music Store to subscribe to the shows that we wanted to watch. And over the past year, I've become a fan of Hulu, an online service that allows users to watch many past and current shows for free.
Here's an overview of the tools we use, and how much money we've managed to save.
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Posted
Jun 12 2009, 04:59 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.
Are you tired of paying for cable or satellite TV?
Would you like to get digital-quality TV and many of your favorite cable shows for free?
If you answered yes to these questions, today is your lucky day. Today is the deadline for broadcast TV stations to switch from an analog to a digital signal. This switch from analog to digital broadcast television is referred to as the digital TV or DTV transition. Starting Saturday, June 13, full-power television stations will broadcast only digital over-the-air signals. Many local broadcasters have already made the transition.
For those cable and satellite customers who would like to stop paying for TV each month, this article will walk through each step of the process. Here's what we'll cover:
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Posted
Sep 21 2009, 04:14 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Jon Hood at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
Dannon has settled a consumer class-action lawsuit alleging that ads for certain brands of its yogurt overstate their claimed health benefits. The settlement will shell out $35 million to affected consumers.
The suit alleged that ads for both Activia and DanActive yogurt exaggerated their beneficial effects on human health. The ads promote the yogurt as improving digestion and have become well known for their goofiness; a recent Activia iteration features actress Jamie Lee Curtis, seated on a couch, noting that "our busy lives sometimes force us to eat the wrong things at the wrong times," and promoting Activia as the solution to "digestive issues."
A voiceover in the ad claims that Activia is "clinically proven to help regulate your digestive system in two weeks" if eaten every day.
The ads credit Bifidus Regularis, a Dannon-created name for bacteria found in mammals' large intestines, with Activia's positive effects on digestion.
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Posted
Dec 15 2008, 11:16 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
You've probably encountered the hassles of rebates: You wait months to get your money, or your rebate request is denied because you didn't follow the complicated rebate instructions to the letter. Or maybe you're among the large number of shoppers who don't bother to send them in. Here's a new wrinkle in the rebate process: A company that processes rebates for several hundred companies has filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. Some of the clients of Continental Promotion Group Inc. are trying to make sure that rebate checks issued on their behalf are good, The Arizona Republic reported.
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Posted
Mar 16 2009, 01:50 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Is Sam's Club cheaper than Costco? Ashley at Wide Open Wallet wanted to know, so she did a price comparison of 33 items.
The result? The items, in total, would have cost $399.47 at Sam's Club and $406.41 at Costco. About a dozen of the items were cheaper or the same price at Costco. Otherwise, Sam's Club ruled. She also notes that Sam's Club has a cheaper membership fee and a clearance section. (Her Costco does not.)
Regardless, she still prefers Costco. Here's why:
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Posted
Jun 17 2009, 01:35 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Did you know that when you open a four-page menu, your eyes are naturally drawn to the center of the right-hand page? In menu circles, that's known as the "power position."
That's where you'll find the entrées the restaurant really, really wants you to buy -- signature dishes that keep you coming back and those with the biggest profit margins, said Thursday Bram in a post at our partner blog Wise Bread.
Menus are, after all, "the only piece of printed advertising that you are virtually 100% sure will be read by the guest," wrote David Pavesic in an article reprinted by the Restaurant Resource Group. Beth Panitz, in an old post at Restaurant.org, added, "If you think customers decide on their own what to order, think again." (Thanks to Liz Kay of the Baltimore Sun's Consuming Interests blog for those links).
Several bloggers, including Dan Mitchell of The Big Money's Daily Bread blog and Liz, have written recently about the menu tricks restaurants use, and we'll assemble some here to give you an edge next time you go out to eat.
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