Search results for food prices
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Posted
Oct 21 2008, 01:32 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Do you feel warm and fuzzy -- and more generous -- when your waiter draws a smiley face on your check? Do you feel a bond when your server engages you in chitchat? According to Richard at Student Scrooge, these are devices waiters employ to pump up the tip.
When he researched them, Richard said, "I had a whole series of flashbacks to all of these moments at the end of a meal where I undoubtedly was influenced by some of these strategies. Is tipping some sort of game of psychological warfare?"
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Posted
Mar 31 2008, 09:48 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
When I wrote "Surviving and thriving on $12,000 a year," some people thought it was a scam. They wrote notes to the editor along the lines of, "Come on, nobody could really live on that." The fact is, plenty of people in this country live on less.
These days, some readers ask whether this part-time writing job changed things. As I noted in the follow-up to the original article, my life changed but my lifestyle didn't. The additional income has let me visit family, invest in decent shoes, and buy the occasional rotisserie chicken.
I still hate to pay retail, though.
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Posted
Jun 18 2008, 02:39 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
It's once again time to take a break from the heavier issues of the day, and "Frugal Dad" gave us the respite we were looking for. Ponder this one: Is sneaking your own candy into the movie theater frugal or cheap? This is an academic exercise for us because we don't really care for movie theater candy. (We've got our eye on the popcorn with extra butter.) But it's a real-life decision for Frugal Dad, and you might be surprised at the decision he reached.
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Posted
May 28 2009, 08:13 AM
by
Catherine Holahan
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
 The family dog is the latest casualty of rising foreclosures.
As more families are forced to sell their homes, an increasing number of pets are being left behind in shelters or, worse, empty houses. Though it is difficult to put an exact figure on the number of abandoned pets, shelters across the country say they are seeing double-digit percentage increases in the number of animals left in their care. The Humane Society estimates that more than 3 million animals will be euthanized this year.
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Posted
Feb 19 2009, 03:37 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
If you've been drowning your economic sorrows in a pint of ale, that could get more expensive. Beer is being eyed for additional taxation in a number of states facing budget shortfalls.
In Oregon, legislators have proposed raising the beer tax from the current $2.60 per barrel to $49.61, a jump of about 1,800%. Lawmakers say that amounts to 15 cents more per 12-ounce glass. The beer industry says the price jump would more likely be $1.50. The tax hasn't been raised in more than 30 years.
Don't panic yet, you folks in microbrew paradise. An editorial in The Oregonian says, "Excuse our cynicism, but we've sat through this particular barroom discussion enough times to know that it is leading nowhere" (and also notes that state funding for alcohol and drug treatment has been severely cut).
Here's what's going on in some other states:
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Posted
Jun 26 2008, 10:51 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
"LivingAlmostLarge" at the blog with the same name read an article about how manufacturers of food and sundry items are shrinking the size of their products and charging the same price. She found the proof in her own cupboards. She wrote that "curiosity got the better of me and I started to pull through my cabinets. And Bounty did decrease the roll size. I can say that because I have some from last summer." Bounty isn't the only product that's smaller now.
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Posted
Feb 26 2008, 10:24 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
If you value a sound night's sleep, it may be good news that 7,100 Starbucks in the U.S. are closing at 5:30 p.m. today. No evening Starbucks latte for you. (Stores that have night hours will reopen at 9 p.m.)
CEO Howard Schultz said 135,000 employees will get "espresso excellence training" during that time "to pull the perfect shot, steam milk to order and customize their favorite beverage." It's part of Schultz's efforts to rejuvenate the monster java chain's sagging customer-service image.
If you fear caffeine withdrawal, you can avail yourself of the 99-cent small gourmet coffee drinks available today from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Starbucks rival Dunkin' Donuts. The timing is a coincidence -- Dunkin' Donuts says it's celebrating a first-place finish in a coffee customer-loyalty survey -- but couldn't be better. "It's definitely a fortuitous time for us," Frances Allen, Dunkin' Donuts' brand marketing officer, told Newsday.
Independent coffee houses are responding with their own specials while Starbucks employees are rehashing their foam-making skills. "I'm not sure why it's going to take them three hours to learn how to press a button," said Coffee Klatch Roasting owner Mike Perry, who will offer free coffee at his two California stores while Starbucks is closed
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Posted
Apr 04 2008, 09:04 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Who's up for a $15 cup of coffee, a $35 movie ticket, an $81 burger and a $480 cocktail?
Oh, and I'm not buying.
I'd be awfully surprised if you were buying, either. Those who read this blog are not likely to want to spend $81 on a sandwich.
Not that this is just any old burger. It's a 14-ounce Japanese Kobe beef patty formed around a quarter-pound seared Kobe medallion, according to an article at wcbstv.com. No plebeian Heinz or Hunt's for this sammich; it comes with house-made sake onion catsup and a miso and ginger aioli.
And if that doesn't fill you up? It also comes with a side order of Tater Tots. Honest.
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Posted
Sep 03 2008, 06:02 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Carrie Kirby at partner blog Wise Bread. I used to consider myself a frugal shopper, without following the cardinal rule of setting and sticking to a grocery budget. Inspired by Wise Bread and other personal-finance blogs, a few months ago I finally took the plunge and set an $80-a-week budget. I know that some people manage to spend as little as half that to feed a family of four (the two kids are little enough that they don't eat much), but for us $80 has been a challenge.
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Posted
Apr 16 2008, 09:04 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
I have 29 cans of tuna, thanks to a really good sale at Albertsons. Last week's ad had a coupon for Chicken of the Sea tuna at three cans for 99 cents, limit six.
The fine print said "one coupon per transaction," not "one coupon per customer." Some of my neighbors toss the grocery ads unread into the lobby recycle bin, so I wound up with a handful of coupons.
Guess which destination walk I chose a bunch of times in the past week. And guess what I had for lunch on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.
It had been almost a year since I bought tuna. I'd gotten irritated when the price went up as high as $1.09 a can -- and not even for albacore, just for the chunk light. "When it goes on sale, I'll stock up," I kept telling myself.
Did I ever. It's part of my ongoing maintenance of what MSN Money columnist Liz Pulliam Weston calls "the emergency fund you can eat."
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