As I write this, I’m sitting in a hotel room and relaxing about a mile from the “main gate” at Walt Disney World in Orlando. The kids got out of school yesterday and, once we got the car packed, we headed out of town for five days at the Happiest [...]
Consumer News & Views
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, once said “What consumerism really is, at its worst, is getting people to buy things that don’t actually improve their lives.”
Smart spending decisions are at the core of responsible personal finance.
This page is home to articles about all aspects of consumerism. Buying, selling, advertising (marketing), comparison shopping, customer service issues, and more. It’s all here.
This morning, we awoke to water in the cabinet under our kitchen sink. Not a huge amount, but anything more than none is too much. Normally, I deal with these sorts of things myself. But this time around, I didn’t. For starters, I couldn’t figure out exactly what was wrong. [...]
As a quick followup to my earlier post on the impact of the internet sales tax, I wanted to share with you the list of states that do not (currently) collect sales and use taxes. As of this writing, there are five such states, including: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, [...]
I mentioned the internet sales tax debate in passing about six weeks ago. At the time, the Senate was talking about giving states more power to collect sales taxes. Ultimately, they wound up voting on a non-binding measure in support of doing just that. And it passed easily, with bi-partisan [...]
In response to yesterday’s money saving tip, a reader named James e-mailed to warn against making decisions based primarily on price: “Trust me, there are many things more important than a cheap price. Most people just can’t get this through their heads. I have seen countless people burned by the [...]
We started using a lawn service a few years ago. We had just had new sod installed and we went with the guy recommended by our landscaper. The price was in the ballpark of what I thought we could get elsewhere so we decided to go with him, at least [...]
Do you hate haggling? If so, you’re not alone. In fact, many consumers are so reluctant to haggle that they take whatever deal they’re offered. If that sounds familiar, then this post may be just what the doctor ordered… A few years ago, I ran across one of the best [...]
I admit it. I’m a GPS-watcher. Whenever we go on long roadtrips, I track our progress closely on our GPS navigator. In doing so, the main thing that I watch is our ETA. Shaving minutes off our (projected) arrival time is like a game to me. If you’ve ever done [...]