It's been almost two years since Hollywood Video rented its last DVD and 364 days since we reported on former Hollywood customers receiving debt collection notices for debts they didn't actually owe. And yet collectors for the dead-and-gone chain continues to haunt customers with wildly incorrect notices. More »
Identity theft can scare the bejeezus out of anyone — drained bank accounts, credit cards set up in your name, purloined Social Security numbers, oh my — but that doesn't necessarily means you should buy into an expensive credit protection service. Our wise older siblings at Consumer Reports break it down in a new installment of Money Adviser. More »
Whether you're receiving them as gifts or picking them up at a discount in the fabulous end-of-year sales, a lot of you will be acquiring shiny new gadgets in the next few weeks. A lot of gadget problems can be solved if you actually read the manual in the first place, but who has time for that when there are packages to unseal and exciting new buttons to push? A Redditor has a novel suggestion that solves this problem: you'll have time while sitting on the toilet, so leave the manuals to your new devices in there. More »
When we were feeling good about spending this year, man, we were feeling good. But those spend-happy habits when the economy was on the uptick or when a sweet deal landed in your inbox should be shed when the ball drops on 2012. More »
For a lot of people in various facets of the service industry, this time of year means that some customers will brighten up your holidays with a gift or a tip to show their appreciation. But new numbers from our surveying siblings at Consumer Reports break down which particular people get the most end-of-year love. More »
Oh, that terrible moment when you show up for the much-anticipated concert/sporting event and the ticket taker scans your ticket and... nothing. It's a fake and you're now poorer and without a ticket. If you've ever been tricked into buying a counterfeit ticket, there are ways you can minimize the risk of going through that humiliating moment. More »
You asked, and financial advisor Suze Orman answered. Consumerist readers submitted some questions for the TV host, New York Times bestselling author and motivational speaker and she sat down with Consumerist's Chris Morran last week to discuss those financial tidibits. More »
Now is the time of year when some people choose to add to the holiday cheer by leaving a little extra something out for the folks — doormen, mail carriers, garbage collectors — who make their lives easier during the other 49 weeks of the year. And if you're going to hand out tips during the holiday season, there are some things you can do to make sure you're doing it properly. More »
It's terrible, horrible, no good and very bad when your flight is delayed during the holidays. Whether you're heading home to see Nana or fleeing your in-laws after forced Thanksgiving niceties, there are ways to avoid a stressful meltdown at the airport. More »
As we gear up for holiday shopping season, shoppers are faced with some tough tech choices. Should I get the 3D TV, or a regular TV? E-book reader vs. tablet, what's better? And if I have a cellphone with a decent camera, is it worth it to pack another gizmo in my pocket too? It all depends on what your needs are. Ben Popken from Consumerist.com and Theresa Panetta from Consumer Reports CRTV tossed on the boxing gloves to take the gadgets to the mat in a series of "Tough Tech Choices" videos. More »
Habitual drinkers of soy milk can save money and have fun getting to know what they're ingesting on a more granular level by learning to make their soy milk themselves. It's pretty easy, and besides soaking the beans, only takes a few minutes. More »
It's nice to have plants around the house to recycle the air and brighten up the room. But what if you're a lazypants and know you're likely to forget to take care of them? Don't worry, there are still plants for you. More »
The best time to stock up on Halloween candy is today, the day right after Halloween. But you better get to the store early if you want to snag the best deals, and the best candy, before they get looted by everyone else. More »
Forget tossing down the sawbucks at Guitar Center, you can make your own fog machine at home for just $5 with stuff you get from the store. Nope, there's no dry ice, smarty pants. This video shows you how to do it. More »
If your HDTV set is malfunctioning you follow the advice most HDTV manufacturers put on their website, you can actually end up screwing yourself. Surprise, surprise. Here's what you should do instead. More »
The longer you work the same job, the more likely it is that you'll lack the skills to do anything else when you're unexpectedly kicked to the curb. Everyone is a tap on the shoulder away from unemployment, so do your best to make sure you've got the tools it will take to claw your way back into another role. More »
The movie "Gone in 60 Seconds" is a lot more plausible if instead of stealing the whole car, you only focus on one smaller aspect of it. That's what thieves in Oswego, IL are doing, stealing just the tailgates from pickup trucks. More »
Mishandling the job-quitting process can lead to unforeseen complications. By planning an exit strategy before you drop the resignation letter bomb, you can make the difficult process as painless as possible. More »
Who needs to plunk down hard-earned cash for a cheap plastic Captain America shield for a Halloween costume? It's probably going to break before the end of the night anyway. Instead, make your own at home! More »
People are talking more about bullying these days. It can happen at school, in the workplace, or online. How do you combat it? Educator and author Natasha Deen offers these three tips. More »
If you've ever felt like you need to send off flares and sparklers in order to get a drink from the bar, bartender and bar culture author Rosie Schaap has some advice on things that will work to get served faster. More »
If the responsibility has fallen on your shoulders to close up the accounts and cancel the contracts of a loved one who passed away, it can be a painful, slow, and confusing process. Here are 9 tips to make it go smoother. More »
They say that the key to organizing, especially in a small space, is to go vertical. Well you can't go much more vertical than on top of the ceiling! That's the idea for this DIY storage system that takes advantage of all that unused space above your head in the garage. More »
One way to protect yourself from identity theft is to "freeze" your credit report. This means that no new lines of credit can be opened in your name because lenders are prevented from taking a look at your credit report. This stops identity thieves from opening credit cards under your name and going on spending sprees. It also means extra hassle for you when you want to legitimately open credit. There's always a tradeoff between security and convenience. Here's how to do it. More »
The fable goes that the nice white-haired appliance guys are a dying breed and they're way better than their outsourced, van-driving, retail store counterparts. But sometimes the local guy is just as bad as the guy in the store wearing the official colored shirt. When her Kenmore model 417 front-loading washer went bust-o, Jane discovered she was able to save $400 in repair costs by learning how to fix it herself from Youtube videos. More »
If you've got some of those dangling shoe organizers collecting dust in your closet, you're wasting their potential. Capable of more than being morgues for ghosts of footwear's past, the rows of plastic pockets can do as much for you as your imagination will allow. More »
Rather than banking on one big scholarship, students are finding success by stringing together several small scholarships. By filling out an online questionnaire, you can get matched up with organizations that focus on specific subjects, talents, interest groups, ethnicities, and industries. Here's your first step: More »
It's important to ask your doctor questions to make sure you're getting the best care and aren't overpaying or getting an unnecessary treatment. In fact, your doctor wants you to ask questions. It can be hard to think of the right ones in the heat — or rather, cold — of the moment — those backless hospital gowns and all — so the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has got 10 you can print out and bring with you. More »
Harvard and MIT scientists have used statistical modeling techniques and figured out what are the best things you can do to avoid airport delays and missed connections. More »
Even if you live thousands of miles away from where Irene hit, that's no guarantee that you won't run into a storm-damaged car on the used car dealer lot. These cars could be salvages or total losses, with screwed up engines and rotting components. Here are signs to watch out for. More »
There's lots of trees down after Irene and someone has to got to pay to get rid of them. But who? What if your tree fell on your neighbor's house? What if their tree fell on your house? Who's responsible? Here are the general rules of thumb. More »
Once the floodwaters of Irene are gone from your house, they leave behind a nasty parting gift: mold. Stinky, pervasive, sickening mold. Here's how to get rid of it. More »
The first floor of a friend's house in Vermont was completely flooded by Hurricane Irene, forcing the family with two kids to evacuate to a nearby church. But braving the storm may look like blowing bubbles in the park after they start the insurance claims process. Here's some tips they, and you, can use to make it easier. More »
No one wants to leave behind precious pets during a natural disaster, or find themselves unprepared when forced to stay inside during a storm. It's not like you can just tell your pet not to freak out, as you can a person, but you can help them feel safe and prepare in case you need to evacuate with them. More »
Whether your home has been hit before or has always escaped damage from storms, it's a good idea to protect it either way, in case natural disaster should strike. More »
While the East Coast might be done with Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene now, many areas are still in the throes of storm season, which lasts from June until October. You've seen it on the news, but what would you do if you were stuck in a submerged car during flooding? More »
If you've ever had a couch, odds are you've had a friend crash on it, or have been the crasher yourself. As strong as your friendship may be, it can still get awkward when the days spent on the couch lengthen and the question of money arises. So how do you navigate those tricky waters? More »
For some people, looking for ways to scrounge up extra money is more fun than finding areas to cut costs. There are plenty of side hustles out there for those willing to expend a little time and effort. More »
Because of the difficult job market, many people who never expected to be scanning job ads and sending out resumes are doing exactly that. In order to streamline your search and spend as much time as possible chasing promising leads, you'll need to be smart about the way you conduct your search. More »
Remember the time you bought that replica Batmobile in a moment of idiotic whimsy and then you were like, oh, crap, shouldn't have done that? Good news! There are ways to slip out of big ticket items, although we're not sure about Batmobiles. More »
You could drop $40-$70 on an indoor HDTV antennae, or you could make your own for a few bucks out of cardboard and aluminum foil. Since most TVs have built-in HD tuners, you can get local TV without paying for cable just by applying your DIY know-how. Reader Dave shares his instructions. More »
Stressed out because your WiFi is too slow to get your work done? Crack open a cold one. Then dry it, slice it, and mount it on your router's antennae. That's right, you can boost your wifi just by doing some simple surgery on a beer can. More »
A man had a part break on his Bugaboo, a really nice and pricey stroller. The official repair center said it would cost $250 to replace the part. So the man said, forget that, and used a 3D printing service, which creates three-dimensional objects by laying down successive layers of material, to get it fabricated in stainless steel for $25 instead. Schweet! More »
Want to make sure you're getting the most from your home instead of draining it of valuable energy? Then make sure you've not fallen prey to a few common household energy-saving myths. More »
No wonder car salesmen get a bad rap: it's very much deserved! At least that's according to a new report by the Consumer Federation of America of the top 10 consumer complaints. "Misrepresentations in advertising or sales of new and used cars, lemons, faulty repairs, leasing and towing disputes," top the list. It's almost enough to make you want to switch to a velocipede! More »
If you have a ticket with JetBlue for dates between July 25 and August 2nd, here's how to get a refund on collected Federal taxes just by sending an email. More »
It's not just a matter of putting on a few doses of "Touch of Gray." John shares his strategies for getting a job as an older guy in the youth-obsessed technology field. While the last story we wrote about this focused on the power of personal connections to open doors, John makes sure that his resume is very nice and Google-friendly. More »
The summer sun has a way of transforming cars into ovens, and it's no fun sweating while you wait for the air conditioner to provide some relief. You can speed things up with a bizarre yet apparently effective little trick. More »
One way to achieve more success is to become determined to fail more. Take more chances, especially when you have nothing to lose, and doors tend to open. More »
Coffee filters may not seem all that useful for purposes other than, say, filtering coffee. But you'd be surprised. The cheap and durable paper wonders are veritable Swiss Army knives of household utility. More »
Holding your breath, gulping water and getting scared are the traditional ways to eradicate the hiccup menace, but those tend to be hit and miss. Just when you think you've managed to stop hiccups, on comes the next round. More »
Sure, it's easier just to pretend your car doesn't need any tender lovin' care, but neglecting your vehicle's needs can only work to your detriment. Many spot checks and maintenance routines are quick, easy and less intimidating the more you do them. More »
If you're betting Google's would-be Facebook killer, Google+, will end up MySpace-ing Facebook, you may as well go all-in and transfer all your photos over to the new site, which is currently in an invitation-based testing phase. More »
Sick of all those spray bottles under your sink getting cluttered? Hate having to basically knock over all the bottles just to get to one bottle? One quick and cheap fix blogger Jen Grant came up with is to simply toss a tension rod up under there. More »
Back in my day, I had to walk five miles in the snow to make sure my password was safe, but now, what with all the hacking going on, there are easier ways to check if yours has already been compromised. Like a handy dandy website, for one. More »
Some readers have tried out the info from yesterday about using an increased regulatory fee Verizon is charging to get out of contract without paying an early termination fee (ETF). The most successful so far was commenter doogz, who got his ETF cut in half. Here is his story: More »
I am a seltzer fiend. Before I got a seltzer bottle with cartridges we could go through a liter every day or so if I was feeling parched. That's a lot of bottles to lug from the store and a lot of plastic filling up the recycling. Even cartridges can be a pain because you have to keep popping them in all the time. Really what would be ideal is one of those spray nozzles like they have in bars. It turns out that installing one isn't that hard, as the Etsy blog shows in this great how-to. You need to be cool with drilling, clamping and storing a big CO2 tank somewhere, but that's a small price to pay for an endless river of tongue-dancing bubbles. More »
Back in 1999, my roommates and I ran out of toilet paper and thought we'd get inventive by using paper towels instead. A flooded bathroom and ensuing visit from the plumber taught us that this was the wrong course of action, because paper towels don't break down and tend to clog up pipes. Live and learn. More »
If you lend a movie, CD or game to a friend and get it back with scratches, it isn't necessarily cause for rage. With the right technique you can easily remove the damage and have the disc playing as though it were new. More »
Here's a quick and cheap recipe for making your own pomade, a waxy material you can use to style your hair, at home. (Remember pomade? It's that stuff George Clooney is obsessed with for greasing up his locks in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou.) More »
If you're looking for a small, cheap way to cool a small area, it's pretty easy to make your own "evaporative cooler." Also known as "swamp coolers," it's basically any system that uses a fan to blow out rising cool water vapor. All you need is a fan, an ice chest, water and a few ice packs. How fancy you get after that is a matter of how much effort you want to put it to make it as efficient as possible, and whether you want it to be portable. Here's a few Instructables to get you started: More »
New freshman entering college this Fall should take the time right now to get their banking account set up if they don't have one already. Consumerist Commentary rounds up the best student checking accounts and compares their benefits and fees. The good news is that the best of the crop have no fees, or fees waived if you can meet some pretty easy requirements. More »
As someone who travels red eyes coast to coast for weeks for business meetings, Jeanniey knows a thing or two about getting through security with the least friction. She tells NYT that one thing she discovered, the hard way, was that you don't want to dodge from eye contact with the security workers. More »
Credit Sesame is an advertising-supported service that gets you your credit score for free. No hidden fees, singers in Renaissance garb or gotchas. It's not quite your FICO, but it's close. More »
Rats. You just threw your phone across the room in a rage and now it's broken. Once you regain control of your temper you decide to see about getting it repaired and find out it will almost cost as much as the phone to get it fixed. Either that, or you have to pay the full unsubsidized price to replace it because you're not eligible for an upgrade. Turns out, as pointed out by the company insiders posting over at Insidr.net, a better idea is to call up customer customer service and ask them nicely to move your upgrade forward. More »
If you're freaked out by the World Health Organization's announcement that cell phones are possibly carcinogenic to humans, you should know that there are measures you can take to minimize your exposure to radiation without abandoning your beloved electronic leash. More »
Nailing paint cans to your wall is not necessarily a sign that you're suffering mental confusion or own an Applebee's. Thanks to their storage capacity, cans tend to make better coat hooks than coat hooks themselves, argues Instructables. More »
Does someone in your building or office consistently fail to follow proper elevator procedures? Do they not make the effort to hold the door even after they see you coming and make eye contact? Do they stink up the Zen space of the elevator with their cellphone chatter? More »
One of the side effects of someone using your identity to open up a bunch of accounts and leaving you saddled with the bills is that your credit history gets trashed, which means you get victimized a second time over as your real creditors jack up your interest rates and take other adverse action. Your bank account could even get frozen, making you late on some bills. But before you go plead your case to get your credit restored with them, you'll want to fix some of the fraudulent accounts first. More »
With the number of pet deaths on the rise, 39 last year vs 22 in 2009, pet safety while traveling is very important. Here are some tips on making sure your pet is ready to take the big trip in the sky with you: More »
Just because it says "Montessori" on the front door doesn't mean it's a good preschool. Over at the Science-Based Parenting blog they learned that the hard way after putting their kid in a place that called itself a Montessori school and he was miserable. It was only after going there and watching for a few hours that they saw diapers weren't changed frequently, there was a layer of grime on everything, and the teachers spoke to the children in admonishments. So now they've learned their lesson: More »
Intimate relationships have a way of disarming even for those who are fiercely independent with their finances, and that intimacy can lead to the logistical horror that is merging bank accounts and credit cards. More »
One way to build up frequent flyer miles quickly is to apply for several of the credit cards that give bonus miles for signing up. You buy stuff you were going to buy anyway and meet the minimum spend requirement, get the miles and move on. But then a while later you notice that the same credit card is offering even more miles for newer applicants. Curses! Instead of despairing, though, The Frugal Travel Guy Rick Ingersoll says you should call the credit card company and ask them to increase the bonus miles they gave you to the new level. More »
A Netflix app finally came out last week for Android, but due to the complications of the plethora of devices running Android, it only came out for a few of them. Netflix says they'll slowly but surely roll out the app to other devices, but if you don't feel like waiting you can do a little cellphone hackery and get it on your phone now. More »
Veggie chips are a healthy and tasty alternative to potato crisps but they can be kinda pricey. Not to mention that the ones in the stores are often deep-fried and might not be any better for you than popping open a bag of regular potato chips. But if you make your own veggie chips at home you can have better control over the ingredients and preparation, save some money, and have fun doing it! Chow has got some great recipes for carrot chips, sweet potato crisps and even kale chips. Of course, for an even lower-cal version, it's hard to beat flavored paper chips... More »
The day has come for your big move. All your belongings are packed in the truck. Your heart is filled with hope for the new stage in your life, and you're proud of yourself for getting such a low rate from the moves. But when you get to your new abode, problems arise. The movers are demanding several times what the agreed upon price was, otherwise they're driving off with your stuff. You just got scammed. How could you have protected yourself from this situation? More »
Does someone in your office not know proper coffee-maker etiquette? This flowchart will guide them through the decision-making process they should go through upon encountering a coffee pot. Installing several of these in high-visibility areas should help reduce the number of times you walk into the break room only to encounter a stinking hunk of boiling black sludge. My favorite part is where it says "Do you drink coffee? -> No -> Walk away -> But I want to turn it off!" and it just keeps looping back to walk away... We mocked Comcast when we posted their internal policy regarding making coffee, but maybe they were actually pretty forward-thinking. More »
The dirty little secret of debt collecting is that most of them are not working directly for the original company you ran up the debt with. They're an outside third party and they bought your debt for pennies on the dollar. The debt collector's goal is to get the most money out of you for the least amount of effort. This means all you have to do to make this calculus work to your advantage is settle with the debt collector for around the same price he paid to buy your debt. So start low. More »
Cleaning up a dirty credit report usually involves a lot of letters. Because just mustering the strength to sit down and face this task may have already drained you of your creative juice, via Frugal For Life here are a few sample letters you can use when dealing with the credit bureaus, debt collectors and creditors. Use them as Madlibs or as inspiration to kick your own cleanup spree into high gear. More »
As the temps turn up, so do the faucets located in your armpits. This can lead to unsightly and embarrassing sweat stains that can ruin your life, or so I've been led to believe by those Sure commercials. So how do you ward off and fight the sweat stains? More »
With over 800,000 different sellers on Etsy, a major online shopping site for buying handcrafted items directly from the makers, it can sometimes be a chore to wade through the clutter to find what you're looking for. But StylishHome points out that just by doing a Google search that only scans within Etsy itself, you can take advantage of Google's ranking algorithm to find the best items. More »
Jon Acuff cut up all his credit cards and cancelled all his accounts. He thought was enough to end his relationship with his credit card company. But one of them wasn't quite ready to move on. They sent him a letter that was oddly close to something a spurned lover begging for another chance might send. "They hadn't heard from us in a while and just wanted to see how we were doing, writes Jon. "They promised that they'd change if we took them back. Things would be different this time." That got Jon thinking that he should write a letter back in the same vein to give their relationship total closure. More »
If you can't get rid of annoying telemarketers, you can at least make a profit off them. Under Federal law, they have to give you a written copy of their "Do Not Call" policy for free if you ask them to. If they don't, you can take them to court and sue them for a cool statutory $500. Here's a sample script for doing this from a guy who has sued several telemarketers over this violation and won. More »
If you had to leave your home on short notice due to a natural disaster or other emergency, would you have a bag of emergency supplies ready to go? While adults and older children can handle packing their own bags in a hurry, members of your family who don't have opposable thumbs can't. More »
US Bank was one of the last large banks to keep offering free checking but that will be no more after May 15. All customers will migrated over from "Free Checking" to "Easy Checking." While it's not certain how it might be any easier, like a US Bank truck drives to your house and picks up your deposits and gives you a free lollipop, it is certain that the checking accounts will have monthly maintenance fees. But you can avoid those fees if you sign up for the right level package and abide by certain behaviors. More »
In this world where even dogs and toddlers can be pre-approved for credit cards, it's important to register the names of loved ones who have passed on in order to get junk mail in their name to stop arriving. The Direct Marketer's Association maintains a free "Deceased Do Not Contact List" that friends, family members and caregivers can used to stop the name of someone who has passed on from being passed around by junk mailers. More »
When you lose your job, you don't want to be coddled by friends and family, and can be more sensitive to subtle, unintended condescension. It's easy for others to inadvertently say the wrong thing, so a primer is in order to set some rules for social etiquette in place. More »
Soggy bun syndrome has been known to afflict many a burger, but you don't have to let it mess up your lunch. Sauces and toppings have a way of ruining the integrity of your buns, turning burgers into withering messes. More »
The descriptively named stolencamerafinder.com helps you track down your stolen fancy digital camera. Just drag and drop photos from your camera before it was stolen onto the box on the website. The site then scans scraped databases for the EXIF data embedded in the picture to locate other photos encoded with your same serial number. If there's a hit, that person might have your camera. More »
If you haven't already deprived every Easter basket in sight of its jelly beans, Peeps and chocolate eggs and find yourself needing a way to get rid of the sugary temptations beyond foisting it off on your coworkers (who will claim they're all on diets and you are ruining said diets) there is hope. More »
When you're hunting for an out-of-state job, you may find prospective employers would rather save some coin by interviewing you over Skype rather than flying you out for a sit-down. The relatively new format may leave you inexperienced, but you'll have to make the most out of your awkward video chat to beat the competition. More »
In just 30 minutes, you can have a five-gallon bucket of homemade laundry detergent that costs 50 cents less per load than store bought, says dollarstoremom. All you need is washing soda, grated bar soap, borax, boiling water, and large bucket. Get the recipe and ideas for adding scents and so forth on the blog. And yep, this mixture will even work on HE washers, according to the commenters. More »
Don't just toss out that perfectly lovely piece of aluminum foil. Save it, and use it to scrub your glassware, says Real Simple. A bit of dishwashing liquid and a small piece of foil can do the work of a steel-wool soap pad when getting stubborn stickies and food stains from glassware and oven racks. Plus it's cheaper! More »
If you do a lot of typing and gaming in less-than-ideal ergonomic conditions, you're probably putting yourself at risk of a hand or wrist injury. But even if you manage to put yourself out of commission, you can still indulge your hobby. More »
Larry's company was deluged with calls from this one telemarketing scam outfit. They tried everything to get rid of the buggers but they wouldn't quit. So his company decided to annoy them. More »
It is possible to make a grilled cheese sandwich using just a toaster and not fill it with cheese goo. All you have to do, says the kitchn, is just put the toaster on its side. Place the cheese on top of the bread, slide it in, and the force of gravity keeps it on the bread. Paradigm shift! More »
Cars not only speed up and simplify your treks from point to point, they make it easier to skid into danger for which you may not have calculated. AOL offers some pointers about situations you can avoid jeopardizing your safety: More »
For people who'd rather live their lives by email and text messages, pressure to participate in actual phone calls can be an unreasonable burden. Lifehacker offers valuable tips to neutralize the annoyances phones can foist upon you: More »
If you're like us, you usually wave aside the online ticket agent's offer to purchase travel insurance. However it could come in really handy and sometimes you're going to want it. But if you do want to buy travel, when and how should you do it? More »
So you're involved in a dispute and you want to make sure that your well-crafted complaint letter is mailed in a way so that it's indisputable that your recipient got it. What's the best way to shoot off your epistle? Certified? Signature delivery? Wrapped around a brick? Nay. More »
Being a landlord can be a dream, with an easy stream of income with little ongoing effort required, but the career can also be a nightmare of repair bills and troubling tenants. More »
Need to report an unscrupulous business practice to your state's attorney general? Here's all of their phone numbers, listed by state, so you can look them up and file your complaint. More »
Like many Americans, Liv and her neighbors are cut off from high-speed broadband access because they live in an area that the cable company says is too far for them to run lines to. She says she's spent a few years trying to convince them but hasn't made any headway, even getting the neighbors to band together and say they would all agree to service. What can she do to change AT&T or Comcast's mind, or can she even and would she be better off with a DIY solution? More »
Does It Pew shows you how you can take a cheapo pair of $30 headphones and turn them in a set that gives you the same quality sound that you might normally pay $300 for. Basically you gut a standard pair of cans and swap in these SFI tweeters. Don't be thrown off by some of the terminology on Stacy's post, you'll need to be handy with a Dremel but this is actually a pretty easy and fun DIY weekend project. More »
Besides the usual will, investment account information, and the truth about your secret crime-fighting identity, one thing you'll want to put in your "When I'm Dead" folder is contact information for key helpers and vendors, writes Karin Price Mueller over at Second Act. This is info for people like your accountant, attorneys, financial advisers, gardeners and home security folk. It will really help out who is managing your affairs after you've passed. More »
Theoretically, a 16-year-old shouldn't be on the mailing list for unsolicited credit card offers. Neither should a 13-year-old. Yet companies just can't stop sending solicitations to J's teenage daughter—even after J. specifically opted her out of the offers. Permanently. Or so the family thought. Now they've started up again, and J. isn't sure how to make them stop. More »
So you're a savvy shopper and you're saving by buying food in bulk and cooking a lot of your own meals. But how do you store all that food, especially grain? Your wallet isn't the only one who likes a big stash of wheat, so do mice and other critters. To solve this problem, Laura over at the Heavenly Homemakers blog likes to hit up the bakery department of her local groceries and ask for their empty 5-gallon buckets of frosting. More »
Reader PJ sued a bunch of harassing debt collectors and won $5,000, and Google Voice made doing it really easy. Someone had put down his work cellphone number on their credit applications and ran up a bunch of debts and collectors started calling him multiple times per day. He told them he wasn't the guy and asked them nicely to stop, but that only made it worse. More »
If your laptop is saddled with a battery so poor that you have to constantly be plugged into an outlet, you're missing out on all the benefits a portable computer can offer. There are steps you can take to make sure your batter lasts as long as possible before you need to replace it. More »
People who have a hard time exercising willpower over their credit card use sometimes find it necessary/helpful to take some extreme steps. Besides cutting them up or freezing them, Lifehacker points out that serial impulse-swipers can help limit their spending by demagnetizing their cards. Just rub a high-strength magnet, like the kind found in a hard-drive, over the strip. It will be harder to go for a spree at the mall because the card number would have to be punched in by hand, but you will be able to make purchases online for airline tickets and such. If the primary way that you overspend is through a real-world shopping romp, this could be one way to curb your bad habit. More »
Raymond and his wife had a leak in their master bedroom ceiling that they begged their landlord to fix for five months, with no result. With a baby due in a month, they really needed full use of their bedroom. Then Raymond wrote a very good complaint letter specifically citing his state's landlord-tenant law and proposing a retroactive rent reduction for all the months the leak wasn't fixed. That got their attention. More »
It doesn't take magical powers to make veggies sprout from your backyard - just some effort, knowledge and responsibility. Growing your own garden can save you money, ensure the food you eat is free of pesticides and harmful chemicals and provide a satisfying hobby. More »
Exiting the workforce to become a stay-at-home parent is not a decision to be taken lightly. You give up all your pay - although that's mitigated by what you save on day care - and embark on a 168-hour-a-week gig with a tiny, tyrannical boss who is impossible to please. More »
Like looking under the cushions of the largest couch ever, unclaimed.org is a way to search for money that you've forgotten about or over looked. Pick the state and that will connect you to the unclaimed property search page for that state and you can start looking to see if you have any old checking and savings account, forgotten pay checks, safe deposit boxes, or trust distributions that are due to you. A friend of mine did this recently and found two old checks. Pretty sweet unexpected bonanza in a recession.
The most effective business model is to physically addict your customers. It's a lesson smokers know all too well, and a reason many smokers are in a perpetual, unsuccessful state of "quitting." More »
It's a dangerous world out there when it comes to dodging credit cards with sky-high fees and interest rates that could palpitate any heart. Let's go ahead and check out a few of the ones you might do well to avoid, shall we? More »
It's always puzzled me why smartphones are smart enough that I can toss virtual birds at virtual pigs, but they're somehow too stupid to let me block unwanted calls or texts. Well now there's PrivacyStar, an app for Android and Blackberry that lets you do just that. More »
Ever notice how many people don't know how to go through a door? They don't know how to hold it for other people, and, when the door is held for them, they just keep on walking without even mumbling their thanks. How rude! To rectify this situation, designer Isadora Dantas has created this helpful flowchart that instructs users in the proper way to pass through a door. If this graphic was distributed along with building access badges, the world would be a better place. More »
On her career-oriented blog, Penelope reports that men typically reach the top of their earning potential at age 45, while women hit a ceiling at age 38. With this in mind, she offers some tips to maximize your earnings potential: More »
A clogged drain can rob you in a number of ways, either by forcing an expensive plumber's visit or causing a flood. Taking some time to learn a few pointers on how to find your way around your plumbing can pay off well. More »
We're hoping that by this time in the wide world of the Web that most consumers are taking steps to protect themselves from identity theft online, but hey, wait a minute! What about the good old-fashioned paper theft? More »
As this winter has taught us, the snowpocalypse can hit at any moment, potentially leaving you snowed in at the office, stranded in a coffee break room without access to vital food heating appliances. But armed with a coffee maker, you can make several different delicious dishes to keep you going until help arrives, or at least make being attacked by the snow zombies less painful. Because nothing sucks more than getting mauled by a snow zombie on an empty stomach. Of course, ramen is a no-brainer and so are rice and soft-boiled eggs, but how about lemon pepper chicken? More »
When you survive a round of layoffs, your reward is often a pay freeze and half the workload of one of your former coworkers. Calling this phenomenon an "invisible promotion," Fortune offers ways to cope with the frustration of doing more for less. More »
Inspired by a Francis Ford Coppola) interview, Trent at The Simple Dollar started thinking about what it takes to live as an artist today. Unless you're blessed enough to be able to indulge your passion on a national stage and pay your bills, you probably have to work a day job in order to make ends meet. More »
LinkedIn doesn't make it very easy to leave, but it is possible to sever ties. Silicon Alley Insider walks you through the steps, which include navigating through non-obvious menu choices and waiting for a confirmation email from customer support. The reporter's email never came and he had to lobby customer service several times, so if you do try to break the social networking ties that bind, be prepared to do a lot of follow up. More »
There are two big calendar dates in the offing for many consumers: Valentine's Day and Tax Day. So it would only make sense to look at those stupid financial mistakes we make in the name of love. More »
Apparently, it's impossible to watch TV these days without also being online and tweeting and posting and generally letting everyone you've ever known be aware of what you're doing, so it makes sense that during the Super Bowl, when ostensibly everyone is watching TV, Internet-related activity also increases. Here's where cybercriminals rub their collective hands together in glee. More »
The Better Business Bureau sent out an alert to warn fans about Super Bowl ticket cons. The advice is geared specifically toward Sunday's big game, but rings true for most sporting events: More »
WIRED reports how a geological statistician figured out how to beat a scratch-off lottery ticket game, discovering a simple trick hidden in the numbers that let him pick winners 90% of the time before scratching the tickets at all. What's more is that the exploit he stumbled across can be repeated again and again against so-called "extended play" or "baited hook" tickets, spreadsheet-like scratch-offs featuring rows and rows of numbers and near-miss combinations. More »
Like other delicacies such as the McRib and eggnog, Girl Scout cookies only come around every so often, leaving you to spend your time craving them in abject misery. But anyone with a cookie sheet and the ability to follow directions can easily make the latter for themselves. More »
"If you read the document it really is what I've been saying for over 2+ years. The government realized, "What's the point in recommending all this ultra-healthy Whole Foods type of food if NOBODY listens to us? Let's just simplify it and listen to Tyler and what he's been saying for two years: eat less of ANY food you'd like to start off with (and learn about nutrition as you go) and just move around." - A tongue-in-cheek email about the USDA's new dietary recommendations from Tyler Weeks who documented his weight-loss journey to less than 200 lbs on 344pounds.com.More »
The big batch of winter wrath this week has caused a run on basic supplies at the hardware stores. So what if the shelves are empty where the salt usually sit? Grab a bag, box, jar or bottle of one of these alternative ice and snow melting supplies instead. More »
The Superbowl of storms is headed for the Midwest with 20" snow and 45 mph winds predicted for Chicago. Thankfully, a lot of airlines are waiving their usual ticket change fees for travelers who could be affected. 3,000 flights have already been canceled in advance of the potentially deadly weather. Don't go to the airport to see if you can make your flight, don't get stuck in an airport, stay home, stay over at your friend's house an extra day or two, and take advantage of this leniency. Here are links to the various airlines and their waiver and winter update pages and policies: More »
A lot of times when people complain about the postal service they can find that calling up their local post office is an exercise in futility. Assuming they get through to anyone, they can find the person on the other end of the line lackadaisical or difficult to understand. If this happens to you, you don't have to just cry into your Beanie Baby collection. More »
This pictures is of Melanie's house as it burns to the ground within 60 minutes. It was a fixer-upper she and her husband had poured their savings and souls into with all sorts of DIY projects, and they and their two-and-half year-old son escaped it becoming their pyre by only minutes and with only the clothes on their backs. These are 9 things she wished beforehand, now that she is wrestling with insurance and filing claims: More »
Once you shove your slow, beat-up laptop aside for a newer model, you need to decide what to do with the older machine. While it's tempting to take a baseball bat to the laptop, as the guys in the movie The Office did to the copier, there are plenty of useful functions for your digital ex. More »
Modern society has created the illusion that water is infinite and free, but the environmentally and financially conscious know that's far from the truth. More »
Although it's tempting to duck and cover to protect yourself from the onslaught of tax forms filling up your mailbox these days, it's a good idea to examine the numbers on your W2s and 1099s to ensure they're accurate. If an employer or bank screws up and reports it gave you more money than it really did and you don't notice, you're on the hook for the extra taxes. More »
Despite what those Nigerian fellas would have you believe, the road to making money online doesn't come with easy windfalls. Like any other potential cash source, you must choose your spots wisely and spend your resources efficiently to wring some extra pocket money from your endeavors. More »
The best job-hunting advice is to have powerful friends who owe you favors, but the second-best may be to have a resume that doesn't bury your chances at employment. While an excellent resume may not be able to land you a job, an awful one sure can take you out of the running. More »
Food trucks offering everything from cupcakes to waffles have sprouted in cities all over, and it sure sounds fun. Driving around, selling unique food, tweeting about it, who wouldn't want that? But before you jump in, you should know it's a darn hard grind. $100,000 in startup costs is not unheard of, and you better make sure you know the regulations. For instance, how are you going to sell food from your truck if you're not allowed to park it anywhere? More »
As someone who fights a continuing war against physical objects - any pair of sunglasses over $10 gets broken or lost, pasta dinners somehow crawl up my hand and cover it in sauce - I am appreciative of this 5-minute compilation showing you how to do a lot of everyday things faster. It shows you how to quick-dry your nails with cooking spray, peel an egg in seconds with the "tap and blow" method, and how to take off your shirt with one hand in one smooth motion. More »
You know that I love you all and would just love to prepare every last one of your 1040s this year. But between my existing clients and that centipede I can't seem to catch, I'm booked solid through tax day. More »
A classic children's toy can be a fun way to keep squirrels from gorging themselves on your bird feeders. If your feeder is on a pole, attach the end of a slinky to the top and let the rest fall down the pole. One guy who tried it out says that since then, "the squirrels will try to jump onto the pole, grab the Slinky and promptly find themselves dumped to the ground." More »
You wake up. Your toes recoil the instant they hit the floor. Your breath forms stalactites in the air. You go to wash your face, and squeak squeak, the knobs turn but no water comes out. Damnit. The pipes are frozen. How do you get the water flowing again? More »
So your BFF work friend cc'd you on that super cool Groupon and you bought in with everyone else and then a little bit down the road, regret sits in. Maybe you remembered you hate fondue. Maybe the restaurant was closed for rats when you got there. Maybe you realized you would much rather have the money for your upcoming cross-country skeeball championship. Well, you're stuck, right? Not so. Enter Lifesta, a clearinghouse site where you can buy and sell unused Groupons, coupons, discount packages, or vouchers. More »
When life gives you lemons, clean your microwave. That's one of the 55 different ways you can use a lemon that don't involve a food recipe detailed over at Coupon Sherpa. I also like the idea of using it to fend off roaches and fleas. Just add the juice and rinds to a 1/2 gallon of water and wash your floors with it. The little buggers hate the smell of lemons! Who knew? More »
Sure, this was going to be the year you worked out five days a week, but you probably haven't even gone to the gym five times this year. Just because you've broken a promise to yourself and Baby New Year that doesn't mean you can't call for a do-over and get back to the grind. More »
It's easy to feel a bit funky after a long flight. All that recycled air, lack of legroom and those six glasses of wine you downed to fight fear of flying can really take its toll. So who better to hand out tips on staying fresh on a long-haul flight than Air New Zealand flight attendants? More »
HDTVs that use DLP technology have faded in popularity, meaning you can find some great deals out there. One aspect of DLPs that tends to scare people off is that their lamps degrade over time and will need to be replaced eventually. More »
If Home Alone taught us anything, it's that even the most determined burglars get a little freaked out when it appears there's activity going on at a targeted house. Not all of us have the wits of a young Macaulay Culkin and access to life-sized, mechanized Michael Jordan cutouts, though. More »
You can spend a lot on fancy cleaners to get the scum out of your dishwasher, or you can just pop in two 10-cent bags of lemonade Kool-Aid in the soap dispenser. More »
In order to put together its awesome "Dollars for Docs" database that let readers search to see if their doctor had received pharma company payments ProPublica had to convert data from all sorts of Websites, PDFs, Excel docs and even Flash sites into one system. Not an easy task, but that kind of data wrasslin' is key for modern investigative journalism, and ProPublica have put together tutorials to show you how you can do it too. More »
Here's how to perform that heretofore impossible trick of packing a suit coat without a garment bag or putting up with wrinkles. This soundless video shows how you turn the coat inside out and perform the necessary suit origami so you can pack light and not look like a schlump. Just pay more attention to the moves than to the actor's shirt. More »
As weather conditions force people to spend more time indoors, the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning grows. The odorless gas can knock people out before they realize they're in trouble. More »
Maybe you unwrapped a new iPad, only to leave it in the box because you aren't quite ready to take it on. Or perhaps you forced a Droid X on your kindly grandmother, hoping to spread bliss, only to see her cower in fear. More »
Don't frown when you get awful, impractical gifts. They can serve as valuable currency in the countless occasions in your life in which you're required to distribute trinkets to people you don't know or care much about. More »
Holiday office parties provide spectacular opportunities for either ruining your dwindling career prospects by making an ass of yourself, or advancing your standing by playing things just right. More »
I've left strict word upstairs that the cat-sitter must be tipped well. So far, it's worked. The fancy food comes out, the litter box is kept extra clean, and I even get to sleep in the master bedroom. But not everyone is so generous with their cash. More »
One of the basic tenets of surviving December is that there must be enough alcohol to make the holidays, and the experience of answering "So, you're still single?" for the eleventy billionth time, remotely tolerable. Getting fat during the festive season? That's as unavoidable as your drunk Uncle Jim's annual tradition of passing out under the Christmas tree, so why not tip the scale and get tipsy at the same time and get it over with? More »
Since your phone is almost always close at your side, either in your pocket or bag, it's easy to skimp on security. But take a moment and consider just how precious the info you've got locked up therein and you may want to take steps to safeguard your phone. More »
The guy who writes Debt Sucks Blog and I had something in common. Both our toilets were broken for several weeks, and both of us are too frugal/stingy and busy/lazy to get out to a store and buy some replacement innards. More »
Holiday Cat here. My cousin Tax Cat is out shopping, so I thought I'd pop in and offer some helpful tips before he comes back with his calculator and thick glasses and ruins everything. So, shoppers, let's talk about store cards. Specifically, let's talk about they kind of suck. More »
Travel isn't as much about resources as it is persistence, planning and problem-solving ability. A particularly skillful globe-hopper named Steve reveals how, starting next month, he plans to hit four continents and 15 cities while spending just $418. More »
Reader Chad shares his gradual way of cleaning out his closet. What he does his shove everything to the left side and places hangers in the middle. Then he goes through and picks out his outfits like normal. When laundry happens, all the clean clothes go on the right, but he forces himself to only wear clothes from the left. More »
Back in the Stone Age, it used to be the job of radio DJs and Sam Goody employees to translate your pathetic humming and insipid descriptions of songs you like into genuine song titles, as well as the tunes' artists and albums. More »
Movies make most things seem easier than they actually are: Fighting off gangs of ninjas one-by-one, solving impossible math problems on Harvard blackboards and, most importantly, siphoning gas with your mouth. More »
Do you rent? Better know your rights. Here's a state-by-state guide with links to statutes for both landlords and tenants. If you want to negotiate down your rent, get a drippy ceiling fixed, fight an eviction, or squelch a noisy neighbor, first bone up on your renter law. More »
Jack Frost lurks outside your home like a slasher flick villain, and if you want to keep his icy fingers off your thermostat, you'd better make sure your windows are sealed tight. More »
If you're a mailman, you'll probably look just a little more kindly upon those who slip you $10 gift cards during the holidays, and may be willing to work just a little bit harder to keep them happy throughout the year. So think of holiday tipping as a way to buy goodwill that lasts year round and you'll find yourself more motivated to tip appropriately. More »
If you have a bunch of broken gold chains and necklaces and want to try selling them to a jewelry store, it's important to know how much they're worth first. Here's how to calculate their value like the pros do. More »
Yes, toothpaste is important for keeping your teeth clean and whole, but it also has many interesting uses around the house. Our friends at Coupon Sherpa compiled a list of 35 users for the wondergel, some of which may not have occurred to you. More »
Do you have a mountain of more than a year's worth of credit-card bills, ATM receipts, and pay stubs? Hanging on to every scrap of paper is not just a fire hazard. It could take you days instead of minutes to get the information you need for a tax preparer, a financial planner, or an attorney. If you're the victim of a fire, flood, or theft, locating the data you need to file a claim will just add to your stress. And if something happens to you, loved ones will have a hard time finding your medical power of attorney, insurance papers, and accounts. More »
Oftentimes, just booking a flight during the holidays is enough to give you the blues. So why not try to make your trip as comfortable as possible by making sure you get a decent seat? More »
If you read our post about Seattle residents getting the chance to opt out of phone book delivery, don't be jealous of our friends in the Pacific Northwest. It turns out anyone can stop phone book delivery, not just people who live in cities of Space Needles, markets at which they throw fish at you and pathetic football teams. More »
An Ohio State University study found that exposure to light while you sleep can fatten you up. This is especially true if you happen to be a mouse. More »
I've never changed my own oil on a car and have no interest in learning how to do so. I'm terrified that I'd screw something up and ruin my engine. Yet it comforts me to know that some enterprising people — regular guys who don't know everything about cars — can take it upon themselves to learn the fine art of oil changing and save themselves hundreds of dollars a year. More »
There's a blurry line between frugality and outright miserliness, and everyone comes to their own working definition of how far one can go to save money without crossing that line. More »
My favorite Halloween costume is Toilet Paper Mummy, which is probably the least expensive get-up you can cobble together outside the ghost-bed sheet motif. All you do is wrap yourself up in toilet paper and duct tape yourself together. The TP mummy is always good for laughs at parties, and the costume only gets better as the night goes on, making you look more and more authentic as the paper tatters and drags behind you. More »
Goblins and poltergeists have got nothing on foreclosure notices and layoff memos when it comes to fright factor. But you needn't be paralyzed by potential money problems. Instead you should anticipate possible meltdowns and plan coping strategies. More »
It's tempting to skip an expensive visit to the vet's office when you can just order the same drugs online. Sites offer the exact medications that the vet's office sells—at much lower prices, without a prescription. It's not such a good idea, though. Much like buying human drugs online from shady sources (no prescription needed) you may not get exactly what you ordered. The medications that show up on your doorstep could be ineffective, or may even harm your pet. More »
If you work from home for a while, eventually you're going to want to upgrade from your recliner or kitchen table to something a bit more professional, if only to convince others that you don't sit around all day in last night's clothes watching Simpsons reruns. Even if that's actually what you do. No, especially if that's what you do. More »
Your credit can determine interest rates for loans, as well as whether or not you'll qualify for credit in the first place. Employers also ask you to let them run credit checks on you to see if you're reliable. So it's in your best interests to avoid making mistakes that will ruin your credit rating. More »
Just because you've fired off dozens of emails every day for more than a decade, it doesn't mean you've been doing it right. You may reinforcing bad habits with each misfired message, unaware that you're rankling friends, business contacts and customer service reps. More »
Bank tellers may handle your transactions with smiles, but don't think there's not a lot of judgment going on behind those glazed-over looks. They see suckers come and go all day, and watch people make the same ill-informed mistakes again and again. More »
You can get some money if your home was ruined by defective Chinese drywall that emitted nasty-ass sulfuric fumes. The IRS yesterday said that homeowners could treat the damages to both their homes and appliances as a casualty loss and deduct it from their taxes. More »
When a cop pulls you over, what you do and say in the next few minutes may well determine whether you get pounded with a ticket for the maximum fee or skate like a celebrity. It's not so much about being able to talk your way out of a ticket — because let's face it, the cop has probably decided your fate before he asks for your license — but avoiding digging yourself any deeper. More »
John wanted online access to DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket, which lets viewers watch just about any NFL game that isn't blacked out, but he didn't want to have to order DirecTV for the privilege. When he read that the company started selling the service online — but only to those who are restricted from ordering DirecTV — he thought of a ruse that would get the provider to give him the nod of approval. More »
Store financing offers like 0% down, pay nothing for 6 months, etc, can be a way to lure those who really shouldn't be buying stuff into purchasing, but if you actually have the cash in hand already, you can leverage them into the equivalent of an interest-earning free loan. More »
In the anxiety-inducing Seinfeld episode "The Parking Garage," the gang wanders hopelessly through a parking structure, unable to remember where they left their car. Too bad they lived in the days before keyless entry panic buttons and digital cameras were ubiquitous. More »
If there's a special someone who makes your stomach churn when you see a new email from him pop up in your inbox, you're probably looking for a way to stop him from harassing you. More »
Switching banks is like going through a divorce. Lots of paperwork, hurt feelings, twinges of regret and the shaky knowledge that if you press on you'll end up in a better situation afterward. More »
Need to escape from a stalker or clean up your online identity before a potential or current employer finds out that you have a personality? Here's instructions on how to delete yourself from the internet, everything from erasing your profile from Facebook to "unGoogling" yourself. More »
The Daily Beast has come up with a list slideshow of 20 "recession-proof" cities across the U.S. The 20 that made the list each showed growth since 2007 in three categories: overall employment, per capita personal income, and metropolitan area gross domestic product (GDP). More »
Hey guys, do you know what will really sex up a special occasion? First, take off your pants to reveal your enormous crotch bulge. Then reach into your underwear and pull out a 2 liter bottle of Coke. More »
The Starbucks Frappuccino is a refreshing, wonderful, caffeine-filled, and calorieriffic treat, but it has two major flaws. First, it's quite expensive. Second, it doesn't come on a stick. Fortunately, a contributor to Instructables has devised a Frappuccino-ish frozen espresso treat on a stick. Now it's summer. More »
Our colleagues at Consumer Reports test all sorts of products to determine which are worth buying, and which aren't. This month, they rounded up some laundry products currently on the market that aren't worth picking up in the store: including a detergent blessed by Martha Stewart herself that wasn't any more effective than plain water. More »
The reason the stories of the JetBlue flight attendant who quit by sliding out of the plane and the hoax about the girl who quit her job with an email picture blast were so popular is they acted out job-ditching fantasied we all share. More »
If anyone's going to stand up for salt, it's gonna be the Salt Institute. Yahoo Shine's Green blog sifts through the organization's 14,000 uses for sodium chloride and comes up with 46 of its favorites. Here are a few salt uses from that list you may never have considered: More »
In terms of closing costs, these little transactional costs needed to process the signing of your new home, how does your state stack up? Bankrate did a survey to find out. More »
PhoneTell is adding hundreds of difficult to find customer service numbers to its free call-management app for Android. The new feature goes live next Monday, August 16th. More »
A tipster sent us a link to this short advice column on gardening at PennLive.com, where the author says upside-down planters in general aren't that great, and in dry hot summers are particularly bad for your tomatoes. More »
Emergency room bills bring a special sort of sticker shock, because they don't usually show up until weeks later, and then come packed with all sorts of over-inflated fees and add-ons. The New York Times calls them "notoriously high and perplexing," and although it's unlikely you'll ever end up paying the full amount listed on the bill, there are strategies you can use to bring that initial figure down. More »
The 2009 Consumer Complaint Survey Report is out, and it says that among the 18 states that participated in the survey, complaints about auto dealers topped the list for the second year in a row. However, the fastest-growing category of complaints were about fake foreclosure relief offers. More »
Being POTUS makes you age prematurely, and Lady Gaga is stuck in a 360 deal that takes a cut of everything she does. Screw that, I wanna be CEO. The Wall Street Journal has listed the top paid CEOs of the last decade, which is topped by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison at $1.84 billion. Steve Jobs comes in fourth with $749 million, and Capital One's Richard Fairbank is fifth at $569 million. The WSJ also notes that "four of the top 25 CEOs worked at financial companies, two on Wall Street." More »
John admits on his blog that he's responsible for falling six months behind on his mortgage. But once he got over his divorce and losing his adopted son and started trying to make things right, he ended up in loan modification limbo at HSBC. The bank never moved forward on any modification, and now he has to pay $21,638.02 today if he wants to keep his house. Logically, he's offering to burn his car and post the video online in return for donations. More »
Look, it's going to happen eventually. Whether it's pickpockets or carelessness, you're going to lose your wallet. When you do, you'll be glad you took these five steps to make recovery simple and painless. More »
Forget about coating yourself with DEET, turning on that bug zapper or buying one of those gas-powered, suction-enhanced instruments of mass annihilation. If you want to rid your yard of mosquitoes, the answer may be as simple as turning on a fan. More »
We've all been there — trapped in the labyrinth of a company's automated operator, pressing numbers, saying and repeating the nature of your problem, hoping that someone, anyone, will eventually pick up. In an effort to help, the Houston Chronicle's Frugal Confessions blog put together a helpful run-down of four things you can try. More »
It's a mad, mad world out there when it comes to traveling (hello, baggage fees and pay as you go bathrooms) and these days it's not just the airlines getting creative with their attempts to increase revenue. Car rental companies are joining in on the fun too! More »
Is using the word "consideration" in customer service interactions a magic incantation that opens up doors to a world of refunds, rebates, and discounts? More »
Meat smokers are expensive, but apparently you can make one that works just fine out of some unglazed terra cotta flower pots and various other cheap and readily available supplies. When you're done, remember 5 out of 7 Consumerist editors love BBQ. More »
Oh, those doctors, with their smug, self-important tendency to keep you stuck in waiting rooms while they play Tetris and check their Facebook. The New York Times has a remedy for what ails you, providing advice on how to get back at doctors who keep you waiting: More »
Going on vacation is supposed to be a way to soothe your nerves and forget about the worries of the world. But, in addition to all the hassles of travel, vacations are a prime opportunity for you to be taken advantage of, And don't forget that empty house back home that's now a target for thieves. More »
Over 80% of credit reports have errors on them, errors which could be lowering your credit score and keeping you from getting credit or paying more for it than you should. Here's how to fix them: More »
If you've tried watching any of the World Cup soccer games (aka Tournament of Ties) in the last week, you've no doubt noticed the Satanic bleating of the vuvuzela, a horn-like torture device that soccer fans in South Africa use to keep themselves awake during all the scorching, non-scoring action on the field. And while software companies take years to debug simple glitches, there's been no shortage of electronic attempts to silence the deafening din. More »
If the sound of vuvuzelas — those ubiquitous plastic horns used by thousands of soccer fans — has made your World Cup viewing experience seem more like a visit by a horde of 17-year cicadas, Consumer Reports has a message for you: tough luck. Nothing short of muting your TV's sound will silence the noisemakers, though there are a few ways to make them less annoying. More »
Let's face it: While flying in a plane is pretty cool, for most people the reality of air travel is a mammoth pain in the butt. Regardless, we can't all be John Madden, tooling around in a tricked-out bus so as to avoid getting on a plane. That's why Lifehacker compiled their top 10 tips for surviving your flight. More »
In case you hadn't notice, the summer vacation season is upon us. And even if people don't have the cash to rent a beach house for a full week, plenty of folks are still going off for weekends on the water. And in the interest of keeping your luggage to a minimum, the editors at Lucky Magazine had put together a handy, perhaps even dandy, guide for how to get everything you need in one bag. More »
This is an awesome new tactic for getting off junk mail lists. I just learned it from Phillip, a Consumerist reader I met at the Consumers Union Activist Summit, who is eating a sandwich next to me. He calls it "Blitz Calling" and he's used it to successfully get off seven different junk mail lists that initially tried to ignore him. More »
Kiplinger has put together a list of 10 cities that it says are primed to be great places to build a career and enjoy your life at the same time. Even better: the magazine didn't put the list in a slideshow format, so you can read the entire thing on one page! Austin and Seattle take top spots, but there are some less predictable choices on there as well; how about Burlington, VT or Topeka, KS? More »
A Consumerist reader wrote into us today to tell us how he ended up with $132 in overdraft fees, not because he went on a spending spree and didn't manage his finances correctly, but because his eager beaver roommate went ahead and deposited his post-dated rent check almost a full week early. More »
If you're like most people, you pick a new doctor by going through an approved list provided by your insurer and selecting someone nearby. Doctor Finder from insiderpages.com hopes to make the process less random by providing reviews for doctors and dentists. You can search by zip code, then narrow down results by your insurer, distance, gender, specialty, language, and experience. More »
It’s 4 a.m. in New York City. The bar is closed, you’re at the bodega, and you’re about to make a meal choice that you’ll regret in the morning. Or maybe not, says one woman who thinks we can ignore the siren’s call of the bacon-egg-and-cheese-on-a-roll and reach for something healthier at the corner store. More »
A few days ago, someone posted on reddit that he was divorced, unemployed, and now living out of his car. This prompted someone who'd already had the experience to post a list of tips for the (hopefully temporarily) homeless, including safe/legal places to park, strategies for staying clean, and how to maintain social connections. How does he know all this stuff? He lived out of his truck for over a year and saved his money to pay off $17k in debt. More »
If you're like us, you occasionally get a yearning to escape the concrete jungle or that suburban enclave and head for less familiar surroundings. But what what about your furry friend? The Chicago Tribune takes a look at a few tips and tricks to help get Rover on the open road with you. More »
Sometimes the ads and trailers at the beginning of a DVD give you interesting information about upcoming releases you otherwise wouldn't have heard of. Most of the time, though, they're just annoying as all heck. Here are some not-so-secret remote control codes that can help you skip the ads and get right to the movie. More »
If you have a digital camera and a computer, you can make some quick cash by turning your unwanted possessions into cold hard cash on Craigslist. But what makes a good Craigslist listing? How do you make your ad stand out? More »
Whether you're trying to get a job and worried about snoopy new bosses, sick of maintaining a virtual profile constantly bombarded with increasingly useless updates and pings from people that you decreasingly actually know, fed up with Facebook's attitudetowards their users, disgusted with your addiction to it, or just want you, your personal details and habits, and photos, out, deleting your Facebook profile can be done in a few easy steps: More »
Did you hit the raffle, score big at the casinos or win a car from your church raffle last year? If you did, you received a Form W-2G reporting your winnings — and so did the IRS. More »
The U.S. Department of Transportation says that despite what the airline tells you, there are certain regulations it must follow when it loses a passenger's luggage. Here are the things to remember if you're in this unfortunate situation. More »
Here at the Daily Deduction, we spend a lot of time thinking about federal taxes, but chances are high that the state tax man took a bite out of your budget this year too. More »
You can deduct as a miscellaneous expense on Schedule A (subject to the 2% of AGI exclusion) any expenses paid in connection with the "determination, collection or refund" of a federal, state or municipal income, estate, gift, property or other tax. More »
Yesterday I told you that computers and peripherals are “listed property” that require special recordkeeping and depreciation if used for business.
The IRS, in Publication 529, tells us that you can only deduct a computer as an employee if it is (a) for the convenience of your employer, and (b) required as a condition of your employment. You cannot deduct a computer if its business use is merely for your own convenience. More »
Because we all love our pets, we want to take good care of them. But since most of us aren't veterinarians (unless we have a very specific demographic no one told me about), the best we can do when talking to our pets' doctors is to ask the right questions. To help everyone along, the peeps at the FDA have put together this handy/dandy list of things you should ask your vet when getting meds for your furry friends. More »
The items that you can deduct on Schedule A under the category of “Miscellaneous Expenses” can best be described as “ordinary and necessary” expenses incurred for the production, collection or protection of income. More »
You can deduct the cost of uniforms and work clothes that are required as a condition of employment and not adaptable to everyday wear. The uniforms of firefighters, nurses, police officers, security guards and the like are deductible, as well as special jackets, hats, shirts and ties with a company logo, such as those worn by fast food workers and maintenance employees. More »
I am typing this post with a digital TV antenna stuck in my ear, and all because nobody told me that this wasn't the right way to install it. Ow! Apparently Antennas Direct of Missouri knows that there are people like me out there, because they've included some very specific warnings on their installation instructions (PDF). (Thanks to Billy!)
Spring is actually here, and do you know what that means? Spring cleaning! Consumer Reports offers tips Ugh. If you live in a wintery climate, take some time to clean up your vehicle and pretend that all that salt and gravel never happened. Our sister publication Consumer Reports shows you how. After all, who else thoroughly tests kinds of car wax? Exactly. More »
Disposable razor blades can cost $4 a pop and last only a few weeks, but Terry has been going for 20 months on the same cartridge. And yes, he still has a face. How does he do it? More »
I know of two great ways to deal with issues in one's life: drinking heavily, or seeing a therapist. I've tried both, and I have to say that the therapy route is more efficient, because if done correctly it can help you figure out why you do what you do, so that you can properly enjoy your liquor without all the tears.
The problem is that therapy sounds expensive, but there are actually affordable options out there if you know where to look. Here are some tips. More »
You can’t claim a business travel deduction for commuting — driving from home to your place of business, or your first business stop of the day, and from your place of business, or your last business stop of the day, back home. More »
In a recent item on how you can save some cash by putting certain items in the freezer, The Daily Green's Jeff Yeager says that his wife keeps the runs out of her pantyhose by keeping them in the icebox. More »
A new study finds that the young and the feckless are the most at risk for identity theft. 18-24 year olds are more likely to be victimized because they don't check their accounts frequently or thoroughly enough. You can beat the statistics, though, if 1 in 20 times you're tempted to check your friend's Facebook updates you instead scrutinize your account statements. [WashingtonPost] (Thanks to Timothy!)
My friends broke the high-efficiency (H.E.) washing machine in their new apartment last year because they were using too much soap. Alina Tugend at the New York Times says it's a common problem—one repairman told her that "most people use 10 to 15 times the amount of soap they need." More »
Last Thursday, the FCC started collecting information from consumers about the quality of their broadband service. If you've got a PC that can run Java, you can go to Broadband.gov and run the test now. (The FCC will collect your IP address and physical address, but not your name or email address, reports Wired.) If you've got an iPhone or Android smartphone, you can download an app to measure your connectivity and report it. More »
How would you like to be 1000% more awesome? You will, after you read the secrets to Timeshare selling success over at the Timeshare Coach blog. It's written by the author of ts by the author of Zero Resistance Selling: Achieve Extraordinary Sales Results Using The World-Renowned Techniques of Psycho-Cybernetics. On charming, " Charm to Timeshare Sales is like Bread to Butter, put them together and it tastes so much better. Bread without butter is dry." More »
John Tedesco of the San Antonio Express-News was badgered last week by a telemarketer who wouldn't take no for an answer. He decided to keep her talking for a while to see how many ways she'd try to get him to hand over his credit card number for a "free" cruise. Here were all the tricks she used during her sales pitch. More »
We haven't yet mastered the technique shown in this video, but once we do, we figure this will save us a few hours of time at the laundromat over the course of a year. More »
Here at Consumerist, we're constantly writing about online frauds, scams and misleading deals. But for all our writing, we're not a federal agency. That's where the Federal Trade Commission comes in. The good folks over at the FTC have just put together a short video demonstrating how easy it is for you to file a complaint with them on their site or over the phone. More »
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that the current real estate market is not exactly a seller's paradise. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of people who need to unload their homes now. The early risers over at Good Morning America put together this video highlighting 5 steps you can take to help your property stand out. More »
Now you can know what Big Brother knows about you and get access to the same dirt everyone from your boss, landlord, insurance agent, to your favorite casino has on you. Here is a comprehenisve list of websites and phone numbers for most of the "specialty" consumer reports, like your employment, rental, and check writing history. Be sure to check them out and correct any errors, before a crisis hits. More »
Considering that laptops are designed to be easily carried and stowed away — and considering just how much important personal and financial information is often stored on them — it's no surprise that they're such a target for thieves. But there are some simple things you should do now in case it's stolen in the future. More »
You're stuck in a almost-vacant airport overnight during a blizzard — What are you going to do to entertain yourself? The answer was simple for one young potential victim of boredom... Turn the empty gate into her own personal playground and capture it all on video. More »
With the exception of parking and affordable homes, there's a lot of everything in New York City... especially gyms. With this surplus of workout spots, they are all fighting to get a sweaty, muscled grip on your wallet. A 24-year-old law student in the Big Apple not only saw an opportunity to exploit this competition and score some free workouts, she's also blogging about her attempt to make it through the entire year without paying for the gym. More »
Consumer action reporter hero Bob Sullivan is doing a neat thing today, it's called the "Red Tape Fight Pledge!" Just pledge to spend one hour this month standing up for your rights by publicly posting your commitment here. Then do it and come back and tell everyone how you did. The stories will be used in an upcoming MSNBC Red Tape Chronicles story. Cool, I have a few fees that I've been meaning to get around to fighting, this could be the perfect little kick in the pants to get me started.
Life can get a little humdrum sometimes, so why not shake things up with an IRS audit? You can't just check off a box and get an audit, you've got to earn it. You've got to provoke them. Here's 10 ways to get some IRS agents knocking on your door: More »
Maximize your Craigslist profits by crafting copy that really stands out. Like this guy's rental listing that begins, "$500 HOLY CRAP! IS THAT A ROOM FOR RENT ON MY CRAIGSLIST??!?!?!?" and continues, "Do you want to be homeless? Then you better come check this room for rent out. It has WALLS and a CEILING. BLOCKS THE F****** WIND AND RAIN FOOL!" More »
Valentine's Day is soon approaching. Whatever your feelings about the day, the cold capitalist fact remains: this is a holiday when people who are not women venture into stores and attempt to purchase underthings for women. This can sometimes end badly. Fortunately, blogger Treacle over at Wisebread has broken down the essentials of lingerie-buying into four simple steps that even the most fashion-impaired gentleman can use to find a suitable gift. More »
Michael S. Rosenwald saved $15 on a pair of shoes at Macy's, $3 on a steak at Giant, $6 on a DVD set at Best Buy, and $100 off his next Verizon bill (plus a 10% discount on future bills) during one week spent haggling. In this Washington Post article, he describes how it felt to switch from the habit of paying full retail to looking at a price tag as a "suggestion," in the words of one expert he met with. The executives Rosenwald spoke with repeatedly said that bargaining is not standard practice, but that didn't stop employees and managers from making deals in order to close the sale. More »
If you've got a complaint about an airline, or you want to find out more about whether your complaint is valid, oh boy is there a treat in store for you! Earlier this month, the DOT launched a redesigned consumer aviation website at airconsumer.dot.gov. The goal of the site is "to make it as easy as possible for consumers to find the information they need to make their air travel experience as smooth and hassle-free as possible." More »
An anonymous reader wrote to us to ask what he should do about unexpected bills from a medical clinic. He chose the clinic precisely because he can't afford hospital bills in the hundreds of dollars, and was led to believe that there'd be no out-of-pocket cost. It turns out there was. More »
Wired has put together a Wiki called a "Get Paid What You're Worth" that lists seven strategies to help you maximize your salary. To start off, use a salary calculator or report to get a ballpark estimate of the going rate in your area, and remember that you have to learn to negotiate if you want to make more money. More »
We don't like services that charge for access to your credit reports, but we are in favor of making it easier to learn about the risks of runaway debt. So, we think you should go ahead and take a look at this chart from . Just stay away from those "Free Credit Report" links and head over to AnnualCreditReport.com instead. More »
Okay, honestly this sort of stuff doesn't really bother me, but if you're a neat freak or just enjoy making gross-out faces when it comes to biology, remember to always wash your new clothes before you wear them. Good Morning America tested some new blouses, pants, a jacket, and underwear to see what sort of grime they could find. Here's a tease about the results: the term "vaginal organisms" is mentioned at one point. More »
Want your credit line increased, APR lowered, or your declined credit card application approved? Begging and pleading with customer service not getting you anywhere except front row seats to your personal puddle of shame? Then give some of the "backdoor numbers" a shot.
Owning guns is fun! Bartering is fun! Trading your two-year-old for a gun, however, is just gonna land you in jail. And if that kid ever finds out what you did, she's gonna be pretty angry with you when she grows up. And really, lady, a toddler can cause just as much damage if you just give it time.
If you've been sitting on some great idea that will make life easier for the average consumer, you can try pitching it to Procter & Gamble, writes the New York Times. Swiffer, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, and Glad ForceFlex trash bags all originated outside of P&G, although in most cases these outside ideas come from other companies. Still, you can go to their Connect + Develop website to pitch your own products if you like—just don't try putting swiffer booties on cats, because they've already rejected that idea. More »
Chances are you've got forgotten food supplies in your pantry, writes Herb Weisbaum, so why not feed your family some old food for a week and ban yourself from the grocery store? The woman in Weisbaum's article tried it out, and found that there were enough unused items that when she was forced to make do, she figured out a way. More »
Is reducing your credit card debt one of your goals for 2010? You're in the right place. Josh used information that he found on Consumerist to significantly reduce his credit card interest rates and help him and his wife on their way to freedom from debt. More »
The holiday influx of shiny new gadgets pushes your old devices out of your hands, creating a number of potential pitfalls, such as possible identity theft fueled by info on abandoned hard drives. More »
CBS's The Early Show aired a segment last Friday about counterfeit holiday lights and extension cords, mostly from China and mostly available at dollar stores, that can cause fires. The problem is that the manufacturers use shoddy materials, and sometimes even fake UL stickers, to give the impression that they're following safety guidelines. You find out they're not when your tree goes up in flames. More »
You're not done with your holiday shopping when you swipe your credit card at the cash register. You've often got to navigate a potentially treacherous parking lot and get the goods home. The personal finance blog Finance for a Freelance Life offers some common yet helpful tips on how to avoid parking lot robbers. More »
It's late night at the airport and you're the only one left standing at the baggage couresel, waiting for your luggage to arrive. The same blue duffel passes you like a broken record. Reality sinks in. Your baggage is lost. Tears form. Then, a rustling of rubber flaps. A form begins to emerge from the wall. Could it be, your lost bag? No, it is a man, a baggage handler man, covered in dust. He pats himself off and plants himself before you and begins a soliloquy. He is here to tell you you the 10 ten things you need to know to keep your bags from getting lost:
There is a rare breed of individual who enjoys shopping for a new car. Likening it to one of our last remaining instances of socially acceptable bare-knuckle-boxing, Rob Gruhl is one such person. He shares his tips for not getting screwed at the dealership in this fun and lively and short presentation. More »
If you have kids, you're probably biting your nails down to the quick worrying how you're going to find—much less pay for—this year's super hot fad toy, Zhu Zhu the Robot Hamster. But don't be so stupid! The thing about fad toys like Zhu Zhu is that they're about 30% fun, 30% marketing, and 40% media hype. You can bypass all that nonsense and make your own in less than 20 minutes, and for a fraction of the cost. More »
Thanks to e-mail and online bill payments, mailboxes are a lot less personal than they used to be. According to WalletPop, each week, the average American receives 1.5 pieces of mail they might actually be interested in (yes, including bills), but 16 pieces of junk mail. Evidently, "OCCUPANT" is a pretty popular guy. But when unwanted solicitations are 90% of what's in our mailboxes, why do they keep on coming? How can you make them stop? More »
When the last Series E savings bonds left the Treasury back in June of 1980, I bet it didn't expect that it, and $16.7 billion dollars worth of his buddies, would still be out in the wild almost thirty years later, when they would stop earning interest. More »
If you're dumb, you forget that plastic surgery is surgery with an extra word in front of it, a doctor tells CNN in their article on getting nip/tucked safely. As with any surgery, there's no real way to make it completely safe, but here are five tips from their article that you should follow to improve your odds. In fact, they're probably good tips for any kind of surgical procedure. More »
—>If you're one of the ba-zillion unemployed people in America, we're guessing you might be interested in a listing of the best job search websites. If so, we have some good news for you — personal finance blog Bargaineering has such a list which includes the following: More »
—>Mint has a great article on how to protect yourself from getting ripped off by a mechanic. First and foremost, read your car's manual and learn what to ask for when you take it in. Just saying you need a tune up with a modern car flags you as an easy mark. More »
—>This is the time of year when retailers like to give back to the community by getting you to do it for them when you're buying stuff. It might feel nice to help out a good cause, but make sure you know exactly what you're paying for before you hand over any cash. Dominick, for example, just bought a Jack in the Box antenna ball when he thought he was straight-up donating to a non-Jack charity. More »
—>Here's a free Thanksgiving-themed PDF booklet from Money Management International, a non-profit that focuses on financial literacy. The booklet contains some guidelines on how to plan out the big event, how to save money on decor, and tips on shopping and saving money. More »
—>Eating The Road has posted THE definitive guide to maximizing your all-you-can eat buffet experience. From types of buffets, to pre-game preparations, to inter-diner tactics, to post-game, everything you need to know about pigging your friggin' brains out like a pro is here. A sampling: More »
—>I find those boney chicken wings really aggravating but that is apparently only because I am dumb and don't know how to eat one properly. Thankfully, I have the internet and this YouTube video. More »
—>Are you hitting that stage in life where you're thinking of becoming a homeowner? Morningstar has published two home buying articles that together offer some good, concise advice to the prospective buyer, especially if you're a first-timer. More »
—>On his personal finance blog Consumerism Commentary, Flexo wisely advocates never falling for the extended warranty trap, instead setting aside the money you might have spent on the warranty and putting it into high-yield savings. The tactic lets you subsidize the cost of a replacement with interest, creating your own extended warranty. More »
—>Buying a foreclosed home may seem like a great deal, since the bank that's selling it would rather unload it at a loss than stay on as owner. But foreclosures come with a lot of risks — including vandalism by former owners or theives who strip vacant homes of just about anything that isn't bolted down — and even things that are (you know, like toilets). More »
—>If you're like the average Google user, you've now got a lot of personal data—emails, addresses, calendars, documents, photos and videos, maybe even health records—in their system. This is fine with them, because the Google Hive Mind needs all of this data to eventually become self aware and enslave us. However, if you ever want to get that information out of Google, the company has created something they call the Data Liberation Front to make it easier for you. More »
—>If you're still floundering when it comes to paying off debt, here's a great starting place for you. The blog DoughRoller has listed 23 ways to get started on freeing yourself from debt, along with lots of links to tools and other articles or websites that can help. More »
—>Jon wants us to recommend a good lawyer to sue HP for screwing him over on laptop repairs. We do not offer legal advice like that. We do, however, believe strongly in the power of small claims court. More »
—>In this video, a blonde dame in glasses shows you how to escape your cellphone contract for free with several tried and true tips for defeating those $175 early termination fees. More »
—>If someday you have the bad luck to have one of your debit transactions entered incorrectly by a merchant, here's how to get things back to normal quickly. The important part is not to let the merchant "get back to you" at some later day. Instead, try to get your bank and the merchant on the line at the same time in order to get it rectified immediately. More »
—>Everyone likes to hate on spammers, but they're basically the houseflies of the Internet. Far more insidious and damaging are astroturfers and front groups—those corporate-funded, agenda-pushing people who don't disclose who they're really working for while they participate in online culture and the media. The Center for Media and Democracy has put together a list of tips to help you identify them from real grassroots movements, while Free Press has created a widget that reveals front groups for five large companies you frequently see on Consumerist. More »
—>If advertisers and websites would play fair with their readers, we wouldn't need to apply various filters and blocks to them. But when you're trying to read an article and every sixth word is hotlinked with a pop-up ad, while the FavIcon in the browser window blinks at you like a traffic light, while loud video clips start auto-playing when the page loads—well, it's time to shut it all down. Lifehacker has put together a great list of all the ways to reclaim your sanity when you're online. More »
—>So you suspect your health/auto/home insurer is run by the devil, but you're not sure whether the alternative you're considering is any better. Kiplinger Finance has posted a helpful article on how to find the complaint ratio of an insurer via the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' website. Update: here's how to file your own complaint.More »
—>Ryan's new Nokia Intrigue 7205, which Verizon gave him, doesn't work with the Verizon network: "48 hours ago, the phone began cycling on and off continuously." He's not the only Intrigue owner experiencing this problem on Verizon, although Verizon is following that tired old "it couldn't possibly be our fault so let's make you jump through a dozen useless hoops" protocol. Sadly, a single Google search would give them the quick fix for Ryan and other Intrigue owners. More »
—>We've never looked at a hotel's bathroom counter and thought, "I could probably roll out some dough right there." We've also never tried to use an iron for a hot plate, or shoved uncooked spinach into the coffee maker. But now that we've watched this proof of concept video from George Egg, we may consider going grocery shopping the next time we're stuck in a hotel with an overpriced room service menu. More »
—>Never, never open your door to a contractor who randomly appears offering to fix some unseen problem. You would think it's common sense, but a California senior ended up paying a shady contractor $20,000 to perform $300 worth of work, and it took a sting operation to stop a Long Island contractor who was going door-to-door offering to plug nonexistent carbon monoxide leaks. So how can you protect yourself? Here are a few warning signs to beware.... More »
—>Why waste money on Gatorade when you can brew an equally effective sports drink from sugar, lemon juice, salt and orange juice? Hit the jump for the simple, inexpensive recipe. More »
—>Last week we wrote that AT&T charged Spoco's Amex card twice for the same payment, but their CSRs refused to investigate the issue for him. After we posted his story, AT&T took notice and reversed the charge. That raises the question these stories always raise, which is, "How do I get the same result if my problem isn't published on Consumerist?" More »
—>David Pogue's continuing crusade against useless voicemail instructions knocked loose an excellent suggestion for anyone willing to re-record their voicemail greeting. Too often the standard voicemail greeting is: "Hi, you've reached so-and-so. Leave a message, and I'll get back to you." Why not make it more useful, something like: "Hi, you've reached so-and-so. Please press star (or whichever command applies to your carrier) to leave a message." More »
—>Here's the secret codes for skipping long-ass cellphone voicemail intros that cellphone companies don't want you to know about: Just remember "one star pound." More »
—>We all know the crushing defeat of logging onto an open WiFi hotspot at an airport only to discover that you need to pay to reach the internet. No more! If the portal has a space for promotion codes, go ask the gift shop if they have a coupon for free access. If they don't, you're not out of options... More »
—>Using little more than leftover soap slivers, baking powder, and hydrogen peroxide, you can brew up a powerful potion to get that damn sauce stain off your brand new shirt. Inside, Tipnut's easy recipes for pretreater and stain remover. More »
—>Here's a free handbook that's full of the sort of stuff we spend all of our time discussing on Consumerist. Sections include how to be a savvy consumer, how to file complaints, and a directory of organizations and agencies to contact when you have a problem. You can view the contents online or download a PDF copy, and you can also request a print version for your doesn't-go-online relative (although you'll have to wait for a reprinting). More »
—>So you've got a Kindle, and you have books on it, and you want to keep those books—no matter what Amazon or a publisher decides you deserve in the future. Your legal options are limited, but you do have some. More »
Wet shaving offers a closer, classier, and cheaper shave than any of the modern junk littering pharmacy aisles. Wet shaving requires a double-edge safety razor and badger-hair brush, along with a healthy dose of practice, but once you have your basic equipment razor refills cost just pennies per month.So what's the real difference between regular shaving and wet shaving?
A: Wetshaving is just what the term implies, keeping your face (or for women, their legs) wet with plenty of hot water before, and during, the entire shave. In fact, you should always shave after a hot shower, not before (if you need to shave without taking a shower, washing your face with hot water for a few minutes will suffice). With a layer of hot water between your skin and the lather, the blade skims the surface instead of dragging on it, which is the main cause of irritation, redness, and "shave bumps".Wetshaving gives you more effective shaves and better looking skin. The hot water opens the pores of your skin and relaxes your facial muscles, and it softens your whiskers for more effective cutting. Believe it or not, but your whiskers are tougher than the edge of a razor blade, and shaving "dry", or mostly dry as with the vast majority of shaving creams, foams, and gels on the market, means you're literally tugging on each and every hair on your face instead of neatly slicing it at the skin's surface and moving on without irritating your skin. The key to proper wetshaving is keeping your face as wet as possible at all times during the shave. Even if you keep your current tools and routine, you'll marvel at how much closer and more comfortable shaving can be when you keep your face hydrated at all times with lots of hot (not scalding) water.
—>I cancelled an iPhone within the 30 days buyer's remorse period recently and learned something interesting. Before AT&T will let people who bought their iPhones from Apple cancel service, they want you to return the phone first. They also want proof it was returned. They also want you to print out this proof and take it physically to an AT&T store and show it to them. Returning the phone, I have no problem with. But trekking out to a store to show someone in person a printout of an email?Madness. More »
—>Howcast has produced a quick video tutorial covering the basics of expiration and sell by dates. If you have questions about eggs, meat, canned goods, or storing things in the freezer, check it out. More »
—>Any sort of federal agency to protect consumers from abuse from the financial industry is months, or possibly years, away, notes Linda Stern of Reuters. That's why you shouldn't depend on such an agency to protect you in the meantime. In fact, you can take her advice and use it no matter what happens at the federal level. More »
—>HomegrownEvolution.com is sort of a simplified Instructables for people interested in "mead making, beer brewing, bread baking, urban poultry raising, container planting, pirate gardening, foraging, pickling," and more, according to Cool Tools. We have a feeling "pirate gardening" isn't as fun as it sounds. More »
—>There's clearly no love lost between D. and D's former employer, RadioShack. A little over a year ago, D. sent us some insider tips on what to watch out for when you shop at RS. Now here comes a follow-up, with more information on cell phone sales tricks, warranty pitches, and used merchandise. More »
—>Inspired by our post on thirty- and forty-somethings trying to snag traditionally teenage jobs? If you've always wanted to be a lifeguard, bar back, or roller coaster operator, here are some tips for beating the other applicants and letting teenagers worry about the unemployment rate. (Photo: Atwater Village Newbie) More »
—>Life is full of surprises and challenges. Luckily, there's a tax form for just about all of them. Via Kiplinger's, here's 14 major life events that allow for smart tax-saving moves, and how to make those moves. More »
—>Buying the right sunscreen could mean the difference between a pleasant day at the beach and a nightmare of splotchy pain. Consumer Reports conducted a poll to see how you people use sunscreen, and even dunked a bunch of volunteers in a tub for forty minutes to see how different sunscreens held up. Inside, the sunscreens that earned Consumer Reports' praise, and a few tips for avoiding the dreaded summer sunburn. More »
—>Sure, you could cut up your credit and debit cards and throw them away once they're closed, expired, or the account number has been stolen in a massive data breach. Or, with a few simple tools, you could re-purpose them into lovely pieces of jewelry. More »
Last week, a couple in Dallas discovered a Jesus-shaped Cheeto in their bag of Cheetos. They promptly named it Cheesus, which is a masterstroke of marketing (although not that original, it turns out), and are considering auctioning it off on eBay—with the implied threat that if it doesn't sell, they may just eat it. The big question you may be asking yourself now is, "How can I get in on this racket?" More »
—>Listen parents, we told you all those years that cleaning the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher was silly and duplicative, and now we have the Times telling us we were right! Ha! Pre-rinsing dishes is "actually triple bad" according a "senior dishwasher design engineer," because dishwasher detergent exists to attack food, and when it doesn't find any, it instead attacks your glasses. It also wastes electricity and water. And that's not the only mistake most people make. Inside, the Times' tips for keeping your dishwasher happy... More »
—>Looking for a cheap way to entertain your kids or spice up a rainy day? Make your own playdough! The homemade stuff may not come in a shiny yellow play-doh container, but you probably have most of the ingredients in your cupboard already, and the concoction won't smell or contain yucky toxins. Hit the jump for the recipe... More »
—>Before locking in your summer fare to Europe, see if you can't find a better deal by searching an airline's codeshare partners. Airlines use codeshares to sell seats on each other's planes so they can reach destinations they wouldn't otherwise serve. Since ticket prices constantly fluctuate, codeshare partners often quote different fares for the exact same flight. Inside, reader Christiana shares how she used codeshares to save almost $300 on a flight to England... More »
—>You're not getting the most out of your freezer, reports NYT. Have you tried freezing more food? It's a two-pronged process - 1) Take raw ingredients you have too much of: freeze them. 2) Take stuff you've cooked: and freeze it. Remember that a full freezer is more efficient, fight freezer burn by double and triple-wrapping food, and don't forget to label. Check the article for advice on strategies and tips for freezing various kinds of food. More »
—>Some PR person just sent us a notice about a new wallet-sized iPhone stand, which reminded us that there's an easy and free alternative, and it most probably works for a lot of other (fairly thin) media devices as well. More »
—>This sludge-filled massacre is what happens to your engine if you don't change the oil for 30,000 miles. The six photos depict abject carnage, a crime scene for cars. Good job, Enterprise-Rent-A-Car. Don't let this happen to you. Checking and changing your oil is a good weekend project, here's how to do it. [via Jalopnik] More »
—>Stop the presses! You know how most banks are glad to let you charge more than your credit limit and then charge you fees for the "courtesy?" CreditMattersBlog reports it turns out Chase will let you block these "over-the-limit" purchases. You just gotta call and ask for it, 1-800-432-3117. If you're a Chase credit card customer and sometimes find yourself going over your credit limit and incurring fees, putting an over-the-limit block on your account could be just the thing. More »
—>Chris was surprised to find that T-Mobile didn't cancel his account as promised a few months ago. What's worse, the note on his account that mentioned his cancellation request was missing, and nobody at customer service would help him. Chri works for a "very large consumer electronics company" that he won't name (we're pretty sure it's Apple) and thinks customer service is important, so he gave up on the CSR angle and instead came to our site to find contact info for T-Mobile executives. One EECB later, Chris is free from T-Mobile and the ETF they tried to apply. More »
—>Do you own an iPhone, G1, Blackberry, Windows or Nokia smartphone? Fancy phones are a nice target for thieves, and unfortunately they're often packed with sensitive information that can be too easily accessed and exploited. Why not take the time this weekend to make sure it's secure? More »
—>Here's a 24-page PDF of a powerpoint on ATM skimmers that's making the rounds in Australia. If you've been reading every ATM skimming post, most of this is review, but it contains several more examples of what skimmers can look like and what to watch out for. Though it's from an Australian bank, most of the information is general enough to apply to any ATM. A handy document to pass around to friends and family to warn them about ATM skimming dangers. More »
—>Here's a big sexy pile of escalated T-mobile contact info in case you have an intractable complaint that regular customer service can't or won't help out with. Besides the senior management and internal reporting division, It includes a way to figure out how to dial a whole mess of executive customer service reps, as well as which specific government bodies to file complaints with the situation warrant. More »
—>A lot of you have been asking to see what a skimmer looks like before it's yanked off an ATM. Are they easy to spot or virtually unnoticeable? Our reader Timeus works for a bank and deals with this sort of thing every day, and he sent in the following photos. Enjoy. More »
—>We've posted before about security keys—those little digital keyfobs that generate expiring security codes over and over and make it incredibly hard for someone to gain unauthorized access to your account. They're a great idea, and now if you own an iPhone you can install a Verisign app that will work with Paypal and eBay, as well as about two dozen lesser known sites. It's probably the easiest step you can take to vastly improve security on those accounts. More »
—>Having a baby soon? Congrats! Now you can begin the 18-year process of saving for college (not to mention the even more costly option of paying for their upbringing.) Luckily for you, the New York Times has a simple formula that makes the saving process as painless as possible, requiring only small sacrifices (over a long period of time). They dub the approach "20-20-20" and it goes like this: More »
—>If you're not done with your taxes, don't worry, just get an extension. Just send in IRS Form 4868 and you'll get 6-months to send in your paperwork. However, you still need to send in 90% of your total tax due otherwise you'll get fines. If you're getting a refund, then no sweat, just send in your extension. Don't feel too bad about not having it together in time, either; according to the IRS website, form 4868 is their most requested document. More »
From what I've seen online, if I take it to a bank, they might take it, but of course I won't be compensated. Should I turn it into the police? What should I do with it? I don't really want to just pass it along. More »
I'd love to know what to look out for when buying a diamond. Do dealers change the grades of diamonds, lie about carats, etc? Where can I buy reasonably priced diamonds? There may be a huge mark-up in store, but am I going to get scammed online? Maybe just pointing in the direction of reliable user reviews of local or online retailers, since it's so hard to know which reviews are genuine and which are the retailers inflating their stock these days. More »
—>Everyone knows that one of the best ways to protect yourself from online security disasters is to use a different password for each account. But do you do it? Probably not, because at first glance it looks like an unreasonable burden, having to either remember dozens of unique passwords or having to keep them all written down somewhere (which in itself is a security risk). The website ideashower.com offers a simple way to create a unique, easy to remember password for every account. More »
—>If airlines are hooking up passengers with deals on local hotels (due to crazy weather, canceled flights, mechanical difficulties, etc), 888-895-2320 is the number to call to get a rate on a discounted hotel room. The number won't work if the airlines haven't notified the hotels in the area that they're sending over passengers. "Hotel, motel, Holiday Inn..." (Photo: and parsecs to go) More »
—>You read the title right. When you're a high roller, the $250,000 limit of FDIC insurance just isn't going to cut it. Let me show you how you can get $50 million. It's all about rocking the CDARS. More »
—>Filing an appeal to get your property value reassessed so you can pay less property taxes appears daunting, but this video series from the California State Board Of Equalization is here to helps walk you through the process. It's designed for California, but there's things in here that you can learn from regardless of where you live. More »
—>The handover is complete and Chase now officially runs the WaMu credit card operations. Here's how to combine your WaMu credit lines with your Chase credit lines. [CreditMattersBlog] (Photo: Ed Yourdon) More »
—>Instead of having a Boston Tea party in your kitchen, check out the Homeowner's Property Tax Reduction Kit (PDF, 1.4 MB). It's got ways for you to check your assessment, identify errors, and how to appeal it. A state-by-state guide gives you the breakdown and specific laws for where you live. More »
—>PC Mag has assembled a list of instructions on how to wipe your account from a long list of websites, including Classmates.com (you'll have to call), Windows Live ID (it's complicated), and Friendster (ha ha ha). In many cases, canceling is as straightforward as clicking a link and authorizing the cancellation, but it's nice to see all the phone numbers and tips collected in one spot. More »
—>Someone wrote to us this week that a person in his family is terminally ill, and that he was told "that the cost of the casket, funeral, viewing, and burial would possibly exceed 12,000 dollars." He thinks that's an "exorbitant amount of money," and so do we. There is no reason to pay that much money for a kick-ass funeral that people will be talking about for years to come. You don't need to be a cheapskate to manage this, either—you just need to be aware of your rights and know what traps to watch out for. Here's our list of what to do the next time you have to plan a funeral. More »
—>Here's a way to get around the worst part of CDs (certificates of deposit) which give you a higher guaranteed interest rate but lock your money in for a certain period of time: Make a ladder! More »
—>We all know that just because a rep on the phone promises you something, that doesn't mean it's necessarily true. But in Alan's case, two different United reps both confirmed, repeatedly—he asked several times before completing the purchase and again before canceling—that he could cancel his tickets within 24 hours of purchase without paying a fee. A week after he canceled, he was hit with a $150 non-refundable fee that one United rep admitted was a new policy that wasn't in writing—but United still refused to reverse it. More »
—>Cable is one of the first things you should cut to keep expenses down, but that doesn't mean you should ditch your favorite shows. J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly cut his cable bill from $65.82 to $11.30 without missing a single harrowing plot twist. Here's how he did it... More »
—>Sometimes when people have trouble saving at least 10% of their income on a regular basis, it's because it hurts too much. After you pay the bills, set aside money for groceries, booze and guns, it seems you don't have enough left over to save with. So, what you can do is exploit "out of sight, out of mind," More »
—>Update: As several readers have pointed out, there's a simpler explanation for the confusion: both the OP and I were misreading the meter. The first digit should be rounded "down" to 9, so the meter in the photo actually reads 997.4 MCF—which is more in line with the previous bill. Thanks to everyone who caught this and wrote in or commented! We hope this helps you out, Michael. More »
—>Sometimes your ears get stuck during airplane rides and even an hour later, you've still got a painful pressure built-up and difficulty hearing. Here's some things you can do to unclog the works. More »
—>In case you haven't noticed, we're in the midst of an economic slump where it seems like thousands of jobs are being lost every day. Ok, maybe that's because thousands of jobs are being lost every day. This brings up an issue that more and more of us will be facing in the future: how should you talk to a close friend or relative that loses his job? Career blogger Penelope Trunk suggests the following seven steps: More »
—>Adam from Free Press sent us his tips for lowering his cable bill. Using these strategies, Adam reduced his monthly bill from $190 to $90, and added three movie networks, a sports package, and two additional boxes. More »
—>Want to know if your kid's toys got recalled? The Parents.com Toy and Product Recall finder shows you. Just enter the name, brand, or model number, or search by category. For this task, at least, it's more More organized and prettier than Google. More »
—>Add this to the Consumerist toolbelt: Star Raids. If a company is pissing off a bunch of customers and refuses to change some aspect of their product, some consumers are finding it effective to band together and thrash the product's rating. An avalanche of "zero" ratings can make a ratings score plummet, and turn away potential customers. The fall-off in sales will definitely grab their attention. More »
—>Looking for that info to load your EECB, file a letter of complaint, or reach executive customer service? ExecutiveBomb.com has entries for 861+ companies. Just type in the company name to the search box. If they've got a result, they'll spit it out to you. They also rely on users to submit contact info as well, so get to emptying your rolodexes in there. More »
From Wikihow: 12 ways to teach your kids about money. More »
—>How you relate to money money could have a lot to do with emotional connections you made to money at a young age, and these so-called "money scripts" can be a blindspot that's causing you financial pain, reports WSJ. More »
Here's one man's poignant Amazon review of how "The Secret" changed his life. We take back any skepticism we had about it. [Amazon] (Thanks to Smashville!)More »
—>A proposed settlement has been reached in the class action lawsuit against Sprint over early termination fees (ETF). It seems to basically apply to anyone who has had a time-based contact with Sprint that had an etf clause it i.e. most Sprint wireless customers. You get $90 if you were charged an ETF and can provide proof, and $35 if you didn't cancel a contract for fear of getting charged an ETF. You can file at www.sprintetfsettlement.com, and get a more in-depth and explainer of the terms over at Top Class Actions. More »
—>Do you want to be one of over eight million identity theft victims? No, but most of the services sold by "identity theft protection" companies you can get for free. Here's how. More »
—>Upgrade: Travel Better has good some ideas on how you can avoid those excessive airport rental car fees (you know, the ones like "facility fee." What is that, you have to pay a fee for the rental place having a roof? Can I choose the place without a roof then?) One idea is to rent at the airport, then drop the car off the next day downtown. This way you only pay extra airport fees on the first day. Just make sure the place isn't going to tack on a one-way dropoff fee. This is even better in Europe, which isn't as into one-way fees as America is. More »
—>Statistics show that 80% of credit histories have at least one error. Most of them are minor and inconsequential but some can have an adverse effect on your credit score, often costing your thousands on mortgages and car loans. I believe credit bureaus were so lackadaisical about accuracy because it forced consumers to buy their credit reporting services. You wouldn't know there's an error unless you paid Equifax for a copy of your report. Fortunately, federal law now makes it possible for us to police our own records and force bureaus to correct them, all on their dime. Here's how: More »
—>I got my first credit card from one of those guys on campus with a folding table and free tshirts. Back then, they gave give credit to anyone who could fog a mirror. No income? No assets? No clue? No problem! The tshirt wasn't even cool, it was for AT&T, and I got it as easily as my first beer. Nowadays, what the meltdown of our financial system and all, they actually have some requirements to pass before giving you a credit card. Crazy. So what's a young consumer looking for fresh plastic to do? More »
—>Aaron has gotten a busy signal from the Pennsylvania unemployment office call center for a month. He started filing his claim online, which was fine, until he started getting automated emails saying there were problems with the online system, and instructed him to call the toll-free call center number. That's right, the one that's a constant busy signal. So, he got in touch with his local state representative, and got results! More »
—>Consumerist empowers consumers to take on bad companies, but sometimes even the negative PR that Consumerist can bring to bear is not enough to persuade companies to behave. When that happens, you might have to sue in order to get what you want. Here is a brief guide to your options when you decide you need to escalate your complaint to the courts. More »
—>Here's a good example of how to write an effective Executive Email Carpet Bomb, or EECB, to break through the "please hold" purgatory of the company's phone system. Alicia's car's bumper was scratched by a Best Buy employee, and calling consumer relations as directed proved fruitless. Now she's got a check in her hands from Best Buy to pay for the repairs. More »
—>Nicole was hit with a surprise 6 point interest rate increase on her Citicard, so she fought back. Her story is a good reminder that you should look at all of your options and be prepared to argue on your behalf, even if you're not in a position where you can just pay off the entire balance and walk away. More »
—>Enterprise Car Rental charged Mike $560 for a scratch on the bumper he felt was unfair, but after he followed The Consumerist's instructions on sending an Executive Email Carpet Bomb (EECB), all that changed. "Long story short," he writes, "Within ONE DAY, that email was forward with highlights , such as URGENT -PLEASE RESOLVE, and ultimately reached the northeast manager, who called me and apologized profusely for their poor handling of the situation, and WAIVED ALL charges ($560 for repairs). done..all wiped... GONE!!! THANK you for publishing that thread.. it absolutely positively works!!!" More »
—>We like you, so in the interest of getting you and your family to Thanksgiving with all of your fingers attached, we'd like to direct your attention to some pumpkin carving "how to" info. More »
—>Jennifer says National City Bank has contacted her fiance to inform him that the stop payment order he placed on a check is about to expire, and he'll have to pay another $32 fee to renew it for six more months. She writes, "Have you heard of stop payment now only being 'suspend payment for six months'? This seems to me to be extortion." We're going to come down on the side of the banks in this case—but because of the recurring nature of the fee, it might just be cheaper to close the account. More »
—>We talk a lot on this blog about personal data and privacy, but not so much about how to secure that data on your own computer. That's because a.) we're not Lifehacker and b.) the solutions frequently bloat into crazy, jargon-filled recipes that scare away the non-IT crowd. Not this time! For all you novices, here is a single idea you should consider that will help keep your personal data personal, and make your identity that much harder to steal. More »
—>If you buy the newly released "Iron Man" Blu-ray disc and pop it into your computer, and it starts trying to download some mystery content from the Internet for the next 30-45 minutes, here's what's happening and how to turn it off. Thanks, Paramount, for your shoddy "interactive" quiz nonsense. More »
—>Oh Comcast, you romantic. You were so sorry to see Michal leave that you pretended he didn't. We get it: he bikes, he blogs, he helps toddlers learn Polish. But after four months of him repeatedly asking you to stop billing him, when you still won't stop it begins to look a little stalker-ish. Your computers can't always be down. More »
So what exactly is the problem? After 12 online (and phone) disputes to Equifax and 14 calls (and faxes) to the Direct Loan Servicing Center, each party seems to blame the other. More »
In the course of searching for a new place to live in Minneapolis, I found a great condo right in the area I was looking for, renting for $900/mo for a 1 bedroom which included electricity, gas, water, sewer, garbage, cable, and high speed internet! Sound too good to be true? You bet...it was a scam. More »
—>Writing to Congress is the single best way to express your view on public policy. The average consumer has a surprising ability to influence legislation by crafting a well written missive. Let's find out what the common mistakes to avoid are, how the process works, and the best ways to ensure your letter has the greatest impact. More »
—>As several readers discussed in yesterday's post, utility, phone, and cable companies usually require your Social Security number in order to perform a credit check before activating service. You don't have to provide it, but they don't have to extend their services to you either. Here's one reader's explanation of how he was able to turn on water, electricity, gas, and an AT&T land line without turning over his SSN. More »
—>Cory and his girlfriend moved from New York to North Carolina this summer. They hired Quality Van Lines out of Clifton, NJ to handle the move, but soon regretted the choice: they overcharged him, failed to deliver on promises, and damaged not only his belongings but his car. Cory wants to know what his options are now—and we want readers to know how to avoid hiring companies like Quality Van Lines in the future. More »
—>There's four things we say over and over to readers writing in with problems who have gotten their legitimate claims spurned by regular customer service. They just keep working! They're EECB, Executive Customer Service, Chargeback and Small Claims Court. Inside, what these tools mean and how to get started using one. More »
—>Harry keeps getting spammed via his fax machine. Frankly, we think fax machines stopped being relevant or useful in about 1998, but until the rest of the world catches up to our way of thinking, here are some ways you can try to limit the damages. More »
—>In yesterday's post on rude telemarketers and the people who hang up on them, reader/advice giver Amy Alkon said she just successfully sued a telemarketer in Santa Monica Small Claims Court—and won! If you're one of those unlucky people who can't get the calls to stop, here's how she did it. More »
—>When reader Nick tried to sign up for ATT "naked DSL" or "dry loop" service (getting DSL without having paying for a landline), a curious thing happened. More »
Used coffee grounds can absorb fridge odors, make your hair shiny, and exfoliate your skin. Here's a list of 11 ways you can put old coffee grounds to use. [Life Hackery] More »
—>An alleged insider for AT&T sent us the following tip on how to avoid a connection fee if you plan on getting both a regular phone line and DSL through AT&T. We don't know if it works, but you may be able to avoid a $40 charge for what amounts to "flipping a switch" at AT&T HQ. More »
—>Ready for some tough love about how to improve your financial situation? Jeffrey Strain, the man behind SavingAdvice.com, has put together a list of six "awful truths" about personal finance for TheStreet.com. The reason they're "awful," he writes, is that "these truths mean that the each person must take more responsibility and make hard decisions that they would rather leave to others." More »
—>A Consumerist reader was surprised to find that Citibank had applied a finance charge on a zero balance account. She did what every good Consumerist should do: prepared her evidence, jumped quickly ahead to a live person on the Customer Service side, and resolved the issue. Here's what happened: More »
Here's a "fun" summer project: make your own homemade Oreo cookies! Will you save money? Who can say! Will they be healthier? Probably not! Will your friends think you have too much time on your hands? Yes, but they'll appreciate the free baked goods. [Post Tribune] More »
—>Ron Burley, the man behind "Unscrewed: The Consumers� Guide to Getting What You Paid For," has published two articles on how to effectively deal with customer service reps. On the Do Not Want side, you shouldn't threaten legal action, because it will likely shut down any further communication as the company goes into automatic CYA mode. (You don't want to tip your hand about any legal action anyway.) What you should say is "Thank you," because being nice might help you stand out among the parade of complainers. More »
—>It's no secret that prescription drugs are expensive, but it is a bit of one that they don't have to be. Dr. Edward Jardini's book, How To Save On Prescription Drugs, has 20 methods that anyone can use to drastically cut the costs of long-term medications, without sacrificing quality. Here's 14 of them: More »
Who needs a bunch of words to tell you how to get out of your cellphone contract without early termination fee when a nice boy will tell you how do to it? You just sit back, grab some popcorn, and watch Ely Rosentock's video tutorial. 9 minutes later, you'll know how to break your cellphone contract without ETF, or moving to California. Video inside...
Consumer Reports has a quick "how to" for recovering "lost" photos from your digital camera's memory card. It was surprisingly easy to do with some freeware from download.com... which reminds us: If you're going to give an "empty" memory card to someone...don't just assume your photos have been totally deleted... you know? [Consumer Reports] More »
—>Verizon FiOs recently doubled its download speed for consumer and small businesses from 5 to 10mb, but reader Lindsay says she wasn't automatically upgraded. Luckily, if you're in the same boat, you can upgrade by calling 800-688-2880, entering the phone number on your account, pressing 3, then 5, then 2. Lindsay writes, "I got to a rep very quickly and she got everything switched. It cost me $3 more due to a rate change since I signed up, but that’s not too much to ask for double the download speed." More »
—>If you're trying to get your mortgage modified or just a question answered but find yourself stymied by your loan servicer's slow or lack or response, you can write what is termed a qualified written request (QWR) under section 6 of Respa, The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Under federal law, they have to acknowledge the letter within 20 working days and respond in 60. Inside, a template to follow for drafting a QWR... More »
—>Americans throw away a quarter of our food uneaten, which translates into serious wasted cash over time. The Guardian compiled an excellent list of ways to shop smarter so you end up buying what you need, and eating what you buy. More »
—>What do you do if you need a passport in less than three weeks? Don't shell out for one of those passport expediters, call your Member of Congress. They have these things called constituent liaisons, whose whole reason for existence is prodding other executive agencies. This is the number one way to get a passport quickly. Call the district office for your Congress Critter, which is the number that doesn't start with 202. A list of Members of Congress can be found here. Another thing to try is paying the extra $60 at the USPS for expedited passport service. The best thing to do is, of course, apply early, but if for some reason that hasn't happened, getting a hold of a constituent liaison is the way to go. More »
—>Our post on freezing your credit cards in a block of ice got me thinking. Anything that slows, stops, or impedes making transactions can be used as a technique for limiting your spending. Whatever it may be, cutting up your credit cards, locking up most of your money in an account it takes 3 days to transfer from, giving yourself an allowance, it will be a variation on a single principle: It's easier to put a hard limit on the future then to make the right decision in the impulsive moment. Installing some kind of an automatic hiccup can help break you out of your desire-driven action and give you the breathing room to step back and make the right choice. So if you have trouble with overspending (or overeating or any kind of bad habit) and your sheer willpower is sometimes lacking, aka, you're human, try brainstorming ways you can trip yourself up. The world is full of obstacles, it shouldn't be too hard to find one. More »
—>Personal finance blog Free Money Finance suggests that employees can improve their incomes by asking for a raise, but you have to make sure to time it right. More »
—>As we noted in this earlier post, it's technically not possible to cancel an order after you've placed it on Wal-Mart's website. A helpful reader says there are a couple of ways around this, although neither option will immediately free up any hold on your funds. More »
—>Want to get some kind of money plan in place but spreadsheets cause hives to burst all over your face? Then you might like The Envelope System, and No Credit Needed's video explaining how it works. Basically, you cash your entire paycheck each pay period and then put every dollar in a series of envelopes in different categories, with set limits for each category. Once you've spent the envelope for that category, no more spending in that category. Change goes into a piggy bank. Excess left over at the end of the pay period goes into savings or to paying off more debt. As a very "analog" "lo-fi" "old-school" method of budgeting, the envelope system is hard to beat. More »
—>Ceiling fans aren't just on/off affairs, and it's possible you could be using yours incorrectly. According to Consumer Reports, people get tripped up by the ability to reverse the direction of the blades... More »
"Praise with faint damn" is the underlying secret to how professional complaint letter writer Bruce Silverman is able to be so successful in getting companies to give him free stuff. First class upgrades, Room upgrades with views of frolicking whales, Checks for hundreds of dollars... all these and more are the fruits of Bruce's calculated typewriter clacking. Now Bruce has come out with a small book with a big promise: to teach you How To Complaint For Fun And Profit. Here's a chapter from it, exclusively on The Consumerist, detailing how he was able to turn a disappointing experience at the Ritz-Carlton in Hawaii into a long-term stream of room upgrades, comped meals, and decidedly above and beyond customer service...
—>Budgeting a key part of travel, but your usual budgeting tricks lose their potency when you leave home. Get Rich Slowly compiled a handy list of budgeting tips to keep you from overspending on your next vacation. More »
Are you trying to escalate a complaint within a company and want to see if we've posted any inside email addresses or phone numbers? Try replacing "companynamegoeshere" in the following URLs with the company you're looking for. If the company name has multiple words, remember to separate them with hyphens, i.e. washington-mutual More »
—>We've heard plenty of horror stories about people's coverage being denied for situations where they're darn sure that they were covered, and now, an insurance industry insider has come forward with some tips on how best to make an appeal. More »
—>Despite security headaches and rising fuel costs, air travel is still a popular way to get to your destination. But because of heightened security, a simple error on your ticket can result in extra fees or even leave you grounded. To help you avoid some common ticket-buying pitfalls, CNN Travel has complied 5 common ticketing errors and how tells us how to avoid them. Check them out, inside... More »
—>Some homebuyers are pissed because when the actual line item fees for various closing costs come in less than the estimation, their closing agents are simply pocketing the difference. How do you fight back? This article on LawyersandSettlements says, More »
—>The IRS has a tool that lets you find out when your Stimulus Payment will arrive. Just punch in your social, filing status, and number of exemptions on your 2007 taxes. Its usefulness is limited, though, as it can't tell you when your payment arrive until about a week before they send out the check. More »
—>According to Yahoo Finance, there are several things you can do if you are one of the many homeowners who found out that their home equity line of credit was frozen by the lender. If your HELOC is frozen you can: More »
—>It looks like AOL is up to its old shenanigans and is still making hard for some people to cancel service (yes there are still some people using AOL), but reader Richard figured out a way to finally get through to them, with a highlighter. He writes:
I could not find a way to contact AOL to stop my service. So I took a yellow marker, drew a line though that line item on my credit card bill, and wrote on the bill...."Do not pay, account in dispute". I paid all the other items on the CC bill that month. It took AOL about 2 weeks to call me.....I told them what I thought of their service, and instructed them to terminate my account, while I was still on the phone. It worked. They seem to understand when you tell them you are not going to pay.
That's one way to go about it. You could also call up your credit card company and request a chargeback, but this has the added benefit of zero hold time. First rebates, now AOL cancellations, this highlighter is starting to look mighty potent. More »
So you just spotted that gizmo you've been lusting for at unbeatable price, but the only problem is it's for sale at an online retailer you've never heard of. How do you know if they're trustworthy? More »
—>How can you avoid an IRS audit? There's a .58% chance if you make 20-50k that you'll be audited by the IRS, but that still adds up to 259,794 unlucky people. Here's some strategies on how you can avoid becoming one of them: More »
—>Reader Tom was all set to buy a ticket on Virgin America when all of a sudden the fare he thought was locked in shot up 33%. The machine told him his reservation had expired. Tom tried redoing the purchase several times, clearing his cookies, changing browsers, only to continue to be denied by Richard Branson's faceless automoton army. So then he cleared his cookies and then rerouting his signal through another computer so to Virgin America it looks like a different user is trying to buy the ticket (in technical terms, he rerouted his traffic through a SOCKS proxy server on the West Coast). Shazam, he was able to get the ticket at the old price. Whether the deal had expired because he dawdled too long, or whether he was only able to get it because it looked like he was coming from the West Coast and the fare was related to the time of day, Tom felt jerked around. If this happens to you, here's a how-to on using proxy servers. More »
—>Sometimes when you're trying to get a borrower approved for a mortgage the system will tell you something stupid like "this person is not qualified." Luckily, this internal document from Chase shows a few tips and tricks you can use to tweak a borrower's profile so they can get a stated-income asset loan (which recently has received the unfair pejorative of a "liar's loan" by the sensationalist media apparatchik) a piece of The American Dream. It's specific to Chase's internal loan approval system. Irregardless, many of the principles have universal application, no matter what level of the fast-paced exciting field of sub-prime mortgages you work. Highlights: More »
—>Today's consumer world has become increasingly fragmented and difficult to navigate, so we here at The Conglomerist put together a helpful guide on how to be a savvy shopper. It's a five-step process consisting of Research, Shopping, Paying, Customer Service, and Disposal. After the jump, let's get started with learning about how to use our dollars more wisely... More »
—>Frugal For Life points us to four sites that can help provide a lucrative reunion with long-lost cash with only a few minutes of work. We once found our parents several thousand dollars using New York's unclaimed funds page. Hit the jump for other sources of surprise cash. More »
—> Anyone who's a customer of Chase knows how hardcore they can be about direct mail advertising. Martin writes:
Over the last 12-24 months, I've been annoyed with about 3-4 mailings a week from Chase for various add-on services and useless products. Already a customer of theirs, I did not appreciate this onslaught of advertising. Here's a quick opt-out website in which you can cancel all direct marketing letters from Chase... dnmoptions.chase.com. More »
—>If you lose your charger or are in a situation where you're away from an outlet, you might want to use some of these tricks to reduce your battery drain: More »
The pricetag is no longer the final word, stores are playing "let's make a deal," and haggling is in. Consumer Reports Todd Marks tells The Today Show the secrets to haggling success:Be open and friendly in your discussion with the salesperson, ask for them to "work with you" on the priceBe... More »
—>Why pay $79 per year to read the Wall Street Journal when you can read it for free? Murdoch's crown jewel attracts readers by lowering the pay wall for visitors from Google News, Drudge, or Digg. Salon posted step-by-step instructions to help readers exploit this selective generosity. More »
Tracy Ham and Eggs shared a great tip with other readers on our Pizza Hut spam post earlier today: My last decent sized company had a "food@company" email. They opted into everyone deals and menu emails and when we wanted to order something we hit that email and searched for what we wanted. More »
—> Direct mailers don't believe in the concept of opting in, so if you want to cut down on the amount of straight-to-the-trash mail you receive, you'll need to contact them directly and request that your name is removed. ForestEthics—the group behind the Do Not Mail Registry petition we blogged about earlier, has gathered several ways to contact the offending parties. More »
—>Are you trapped in a payday loan death cycle, or have a friend or family member who is? See, the problem with a payday loan is that some people aren't able to pay the first one off (if you don't have money in the first place, you're not going to be any better off two weeks later!), and then have to take out more and more loans to cover each loan they couldn't pay off. Not only is there high interest, there's fees. A former PayDay loan lender on personalbudgettraining.com shares his advice for breaking out of the debt trap.
If you can't get out of this right now, start by advancing $50 less per pay period. Take the difference of what you were paying us in fees and start paying it into an emergency fund. Grab a job delivering pizzas, babysitting, whatever, and pay it into an emergency fund. Borrow less and less from us. Use the EF for actual emergencies. Once you are out of this, don't get back into it.
—>Once people start replying to each other's comments on Consumerist, it can be hard to keep track of all the various sub-discussions going on within a comments thread. That's why it's so great that YogurtEarl has updated his nested comments script for Consumierst once again. This is an optional add-on that makes it so comments that reply to one another appear below each other and indented. If you're a Firefox user, you can install this script if you have GreaseMonkey, Internet Explorer users if you've installed Trixie, and Opera users if you have Opera UserJS. More »
—>Impatient consumers can shoot themselves in the foot when trying to port their number from their old cellphone provider to their new one, reports the NYT. Instead, make sure you follow these basic steps: More »
—>One of the stumbling blocks when launching an EECB is figuring out the company email address format. There is actually a very easy way to do this. Just use wildcards in Google. What are those? We'll tell ya, inside... More »
—>People who are not normally required to file taxes will have to do so this year if they want a piece of the 2008 economic stimulus rebate. This applies to low-income works, and Social Security, Veterans Affairs Recipients, and Railroad Retirement recipients. In partnership with the IRS, the following sites are offering free tax prep and electronic filing if the only reason you need to files is to receive a stimulus check: More »
—>Lisa made her kids impervious to advertising by asking pointed questions that forced them to think about the source and truthfulness of ads. She knew action was needed when when her kids, who weren't old enough to read, stopped in front of the bleach while shopping to ask the advertiser's dream question: "Mom, aren't we going to buy some Clorox?" Hit the jump to see how she responded. More »
—>The Airborne dietary supplement, which claims to help ward off the cold and flu, has reached a tentative settlement in a class action lawsuit that the company misrepresented its product. You can file online or by mail here. Boxes of Airborne used to cite a study by "GNG Pharmaceutical Services Inc" that said it tested 120 people and 47% showed little or no cold flu symptoms, versus 23% of a placebo. However, an ABC news investigation revealed that GNG was a two-man operation started up just to make the Airborne study, and had no clinic, scientists or doctors. Following the negative publicity, Knight-McDowell Labs removed references to the GNG study from its packages. Maybe people just weren't reading the box carefully and failed to apply directly to the forehead. More »
Jay writes in with a question: how do you get back your deposit from a car dealership when a deal goes sour? The salesman jacked up the price after an initial negotiation, and now won't refund the deposit: "He said we'd be surprised at what he can make up to keep the deposit." More »
—>A qualified tax preparer can be the difference between a meaty refund and a soul-crushing audit. The Washington Attorney General has several excellent pointers to help you find the right professional to prepare your return. More »
—>If you want to have a successful complaint, it helps to complain like Gerald. That's the father-in-the law of this WSJ writer, and he's able to perform daring feats of consumer action, like the time he got the hardware store to replace the $800 grill that stopped working a year after he bought it. Here's how he does it: More »
—>Is Countrywide telling you your Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio needs to have reached 75%, not 80%, in order to get the private mortgage insurance (PMI) removed? Throw the book at them: tell them they're in violation of the Homeowners Protection Act of 1998. The law clearly states that PMI is to be removed after 80%:
Cancellation date.—The term ``cancellation date'' means...the date on which the principal balance of the mortgage...is first scheduled to reach 80 percent of the original value of the property securing the loan.
One reader (different from the guy we posted about before) says he was having trouble getting Countrywide to remove the PMI. They twice told him in writing that he needed a LTV of 75%. Then on the phone with them he mentioned the Homeowner's Protection Act and then all of a sudden they were magically able to remove the PMI. More »
—>With the economy on the brink of recession, many folks are concerned about their jobs. Will the company downsize or have temporary layoffs? Will employees be asked to forego raises or (gasp!) take pay cuts? The Wall Street Journal addresses this issue head-on and lists eight tips for recession-proofing your career. They offer some good suggestions, but here are two we especially like: More »
—> There's all sorts of advice online about how to disable RFID chips and tags, and now that they're starting to show up uninvited on credit cards, you might be tempted to try some of those tactics. But as a reader found out, many credit card issuers will simply swap out your newfangled RFID-enabled card for a traditional one if you just ask. More »
—>If you find yourself mistakenly on the terrorism no-fly or government watch lists and always get hassled at the airport, there's a simple way to avoid the trouble: use your middle name when you buy your tickets. It's certainly a lot easier than trying to use the Homeland Security's Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP), which was set up to help people get off the no fly lists if they're on there by mistake. Passengers complain that TRIP is slow to respond to requests and it doesn't stop them from still getting taken aside for secondary screenings much more than other passengers. It's a good thing the terrorists will never figure out this amazing and advanced alternate name technique. More »
—>If your cable television is giving you trouble, you can call up your cable company and ask the rep to send what are known as "reset codes" to your cable box. Here are some that we found: More »
Mint has gathered 30 of what they consider the best free personal finance ebooks around, grouped into categories like "Basics," "Saving & Investing," and "Security & Privacy." More »
—>AT&T is raising the rates for sending text and picture/video messages to 20 and 30 cents, respectively, giving customers a chance to break free of their contract without early termination fee if they use the now-classic "materially adverse changes to contract" argument. Inside, how to deploy that tactic, as well as the text of the rate change notice. More »
—> If you have a computer and a digital camera, there's no reason to ever pay a drugstore $8 for a couple of crummy passport photos and lousy customer service. This blogger discovered that he couldn't even get an in-focus photo from a local CVS: "When we pointed that out, he was like 'Oh really? don't worry all photos printed here look like that and no one ever came back because a photo was not accepted.'" If you're not Photoshop-savvy, just use the free epassportphoto.com website. More »
—>Unless it's due to the weather, if there's a flight delay or cancellation, passengers are entitled to some kind of refund, unless of course it's due to the weather, but are flight delays as due to the weather as often as airlines say they are? And how would you go about proving otherwise? Well, as a fascinating interview posted over at airline blog Elliot.org informs us, you could always hire the services of a forensic meteorologist. More »
—>This classic article on the art of "turboing," escalating your problem to the executive's office, has some great advice about what to say when you get there. Here's a line Rob Levandowski, himself a former Tier 2 XEROX customer service rep, uses to get his foot in the door once he reaches the CEO's secretary: More »
—>Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wants to give you 100 gallons of free heating oil to help survive the cold cruel capitalist winter. The hogshead of liquid warmth is available to anyone enduring a financial hardship who fills out a handy online form. More »
—>Here's where you can go to opt-out from annoying text message ads sent to you by Sprint. Yes, it's legit, you get to that page from the opt-out link on this Sprint page. However, they may have trouble saying goodbye. Scott, our tipster, writes, "After I sent my phone number through this page, I received 5 text messages from Sprint, telling me that I won't receive any more text messages from Sprint..." More »
—>Don't Believe The Hypebeast gives a mock tutorial on how to become a "brand strategist," basically some white douche who figures out how to make brands and products appeal to that fabled white unicorn, youth culture endowed with ungodly amounts of disposable income.
1. To be an influential and successful youth culture brand strategist, you're going to need to be a White male, preferably with an affluent upbringing, but with a penchant for rap music and 80's punk. Don't have that particular penchant? Wikipedia that shit!
Hit the link for the next five easy steps to siphon monies from big brands wanting to get jiggy with it, whatever it is. More »
—>Reader Lona says that people in her family have called her a consumer advocate since she was sixteen, and now she is going to share with us 2,177 words on the customer service tactics and techniques she uses to get satisfaction. She writes, "in 99% of situations, it allows you to reach an agreeable solution to almost any problem. It is something I do for family and friends, and for myself." Some of her methods have been mentioned in various ways on the site before but others are completely unique. And by the time you read her true success story at the end, you'll swear she has Jedi mind-control over customer service reps. It boils down to, without raising your voice, asserting control over the conversation from the beginning and then never relinquishing that power. More »
—>Baby Toolkit has a great method for silencing people who keep calling your cellphone and can never seem to get it into their head that there is no "Maria" at this number and there never will be. Create a contact called "Wrong Number" and change its ring settings so the ringer is silenced. Whenever a wrong number calls, add it to the contact. Boom, saves you cellphone minutes, aggravation, and the time it takes to dig through everything to find the phone only to find out it's for Maria, again. More »
—>Reader Jamie shares a neat workaround so that he never has to wait on hold with his credit card company. He says that whenever he calls, "I do not use the 800-number on the back of the card. Instead, I use their outside-the-US instructions on the back of the card and call them collect at their regular phone number. When the credit card thinks that they are paying international collect call charges, they do NOT put you on hold - they take your call right away!" More »
—>Cable companies must constantly prove their worth to local franchise authorities. The authorities grant the cable providers permission to operate, and can whip them into action for failing to meet basic customer service standards, as reader Darren shows. More »
—>Stores are violating their contract with the credit card companies if they set minimum or maximum charges, or force you to show ID in addition to your credit card (with the obvious exception being for age-limited purchases). Depending on your state and your card issuer, surcharges or "convenience fees" may be banned as well. The best way to straighten these guys out is to report them to the credit card company. People who have done so on the Credit Boards message board say that when they report a merchant, they get a letter from the credit card company and when they go back to the store, the shenanigans have stopped. Here's all the contact infos for the credit card companies to file a merchant complaint, as well as links to merchant agreements, in case you feel like standing up for your consumer rights. Someone better warn Amy's Ice Cream! More »
A reader writes in to say he saved $10 on his T-Mobile bill when he called up to ask why there were two different "Total Internet" options on his add-ons list. Were they the same thing? Yes. So he could switch to the cheaper one without penalty and get exactly the same add-on? Sure. More »
—>Nintendo thinks depriving potential customers of the coveted Wii is a sound business decision that will ensure its long-term survival. Sure, you want the Wii now, but your passions are fleeting and unreliable. If you can't wait for Nintendo's post-holiday production ramp-up, hit the jump and we'll tell you how we snagged our Wii. More »
—>Don't like Facebook secretly tracking your online purchases and telling your friends what you bought? Users of the Firefox we browser can use an easy add-on that jams the beacon's signal. Just install the BlockSite add-on, and then add http://*facebook.com/beacon/* as one of the blocked sites. Make sure to keep those asterisks in. If that sounds a little complicated, this step-by-step walk-through at Wikihow shows you how it's done. Alternatively, you could also add the same url to AdBlockPlus, another Firefox extension. More »
—> The basic principle of "life planning"—that to succeed at managing your personal finances, you have to incorporate personal elements like your values and beliefs—seems reasonable enough, but rushing to B&N or Amazon to buy yet another financial advice book sure feels an awful lot like more of the same. However, since this excerpt is basically the preface to the book, we thought it was worth sharing. It's like browsing in a bookstore without having to leave your desk! $avings! More »
—> A Kiplinger reader shares his strategy for getting ridiculous rate increases on his three credit cards rolled back to their original rates. It's a technique that's probably familiar to a lot of Consumerist readers when negotiating for lower rates in general: be polite but unyielding, know where you stand as far as leverage (it helps to have a perfect history with the company), start with basic customer service, and then escalate as needed. More »
—> Save some money by re-using your existing strings of light this Christmas—even if they're currently acting all wonky. Here are some handy guides on how to repair dark strings of Christmas lights, whether they're LED or the classic incandescent type. They're fairly detailed, with a sort of techy "how things work" vibe, but contain a lot of useful information. For example, just because a string of incandescents has an AC outlet at the end, that doesn't make it an extension cord—the more power you pull through the cord, the greater the current and the higher the risk of shorting out bulbs. More »
—> Anyone who has Medicare and takes lots of drugs or a few very expensive ones (or who has an older relative who does) knows about the dreaded "donut hole"—the gap in coverage that happens each year if you have to spend a lot of money on prescriptions. If you're above the poverty level but don't have good gap insurance, it can be financially devastating. The New York Times notes that for a quarter of at-risk patients, planning ahead with generics may help you skirt the donut hole altogether. The big stumbling block is that you have to be prepared to discuss your personal finances with your doctor. More »
Don't set up an irrevocable funeral trust through your insurance company, says MarketWatch columnist Chuck Jaffe. More »
The Consumer Data Industry Association estimates that 50-70,000 people have frozen their credit reports so far. Here's our post on how to freeze your own. [WSJ] More »
—> Trent at The Simple Dollar read a new finance book every week for a year, ranking them according to how original and useful they were, and now he's compiled a list of his top ten picks. According to Trent, if you read these ten books (and maybe the ones coming in at #11 and #12), "You'll have absorbed basically all the useful material in every book on the list."
His top pick is "Your Money or Your Life," by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, a "big picture" book that looks at how and why you spend your money. More »
—> Punny Money has a neat, simple trick for protecting yourself from restaurant tip fraud, which is when a waiter will change the numbers on your credit card receipt in order to increase his tip. The best way to prevent it is to match all your monthly receipts to your statement, but you can use this simple checksum technique to scan a statement and quickly spot any suspicious transactions without referring to your receipts. More »
—> Want a college education but don't want to go into debt over it? If your interests happen to coincide with the specific curricula at certain "tuition-free" schools, you might actually be able to get away with it. "There are only a handful of such schools in the U.S., which is one reason they are often overlooked by students, parents, and high school guidance counselors during the college search," says a senior policy analyst at the College Board. More »
—>Should you ever venture into a live auction, you know, gavel, real chairs that you sit in, etc, Consumerama has some tips on auctioneer scams to watch out for. Let's say the price drops to $300, and three hands shoot up. By law, he's supposed to just accept one bid at $300 and move on, but: More »
—>Finding your credit score can be hard if you've never done it before. There's scam sites, conflicting information, and the credit bureaus offering their own version of the credit score. But if you want your FICO, the real score looked at by lenders to determine your credit-worthiness and interest rates, here's where you can go: More »
—>Reader MecuryPDX left a detailed comment about how to hire a home cleaning service that was so good we thought it would make a great front-page article.More »
—> Kiplinger's "Win the Bumping Game" offers some advice on how to minimize the chances you'll get left behind when your airline overbooks a flight. The main thing you can do is arrive early—it's the last-minute arrivals, or worse, those who buy their tickets a half hour before departure, who are most likely to get bumped. The other thing you can do is avoid Delta, Comair, or Atlantic Southeast, which have the worst records of bumping passengers, and stick with JetBlue, which has the best. And make sure you have a seat assignment if at all possible. More »
—>Consumer Reports will take a full-page ad in the New York Times tomorrow to warn consumers about the pitfalls of giving and using gift cards. Their telephone survey found 27% of all gift cards go unused, and retailers took in an extra $8 billion because of unused, lost, and expired gift cards. Here's their tips for making the most of the plastic:
Register it Some cards must be registered with the issuer, especially if the card is used for purchases online or by phone.
Spend it quickly Use the card as soon as possible, especially if it expires or has a monthly maintenance fee.
Spend it to the last penny If the card balance gets so low that there's nothing to buy, ask a merchant to do a split-tender transaction. That involves using the remaining card balance for part of the transaction and another form of payment for the rest.
Hold on to it. Don't throw out the card when the balance is zero. Some merchants require it for returns.
—> Like candy canes and drunken family dinners, gift cards have become a Christmas staple. Bankrate has reviewed a wide number of them and published the results to help you pick the best one for your needs. To avoid fees, you should stick with "closed-loop" cards—that is, a card issued by a specific retailer for use only with that retailer. Almost all retailers now offer cards that don't expire and don't charge maintenance fees, with the notable exceptions of Macy's and Bloomingdales, whose cards both expire two years after purchase. However, several retailers—CVS, for example—still charge "dormancy" fees on cards that have been inactive for anywhere from 6 to 24 months, so be sure to check the fine print to see how this is addressed. More »
—> When your iPod, Zune, CueCat, HP printer, DVD player, or game console goes on the fritz, you no longer have to put it in that closet where you store all the stuff that doesn't work but that you don't think you should throw away. There's now a whole world of self-help forums and repair advice websites online where you can trade tips with other owners of consumer electronics—weird things companies would never tell you, like using a piece of folded paper as a shim to get a failed hard drive working again in your iPod. More »
—> It's your kid—you should get to decide what kinds of choking and lead poisoning hazards make up its playthings. One woman clearly didn't need any Fisher-Price plastic toy kitchen ruining her white-on-white aesthetic, so she made her own entirely out of found corrugated cardboard, contact paper, and a few household items. And if you don't feel you have the skills to replicate it by looking at the photographs, then she'll sell you a copy of the plans for $7. More »
—> "Most people spend more time picking out a can of beans than a new doctor," says one expert in a Chicago Tribune article about how to find a properly licensed doctor that you'll get along with. He and other experts recommend you arrange for a "first date" sort of interview, so you can ask general questions and get an overall feel for both the doctor and the practice, before the time comes when you need a doctor and don't have the luxury of shopping around. More »
—>Having the ability to make calls all over the world is a pretty amazing communications milestone, but that doesn't mean it's cheap and easy. The Consumerist is filled with stories of poor fools who come back from parts unknown with thousand-dollar roaming bills—and it doesn't just happen to clueless iPhone users. Here's our attempt to help make some sense out of the mess. More »
This Instructable covers the time-honored art of sending refuse back to junk mailers in their own pre-paid business reply envelopes. What's interesting, though, is in the comments on the Instructable one guy says that you can take the business reply envelopes and tape them to boxes and the post office will accept it! This greatly increases the scope, range, and weight of the objects that you can send back to junk mailers. Broken lightbulbs, bricks, this week's trash, your imagination is the limit. (Don't forget to visit optoutprescreen.com first to get yourself permanently off 95% of junk mail lists).How to get some revenge on the credit companies [Instructables]UPDATE: Actually, this only worked up until the mid-90's. Now they've changed the rules. According to Post Office Domestic Mail Manual code 8.4.6, "BRM may not be used for any purpose other than that intended by the permit holder, even when postage is affixed. In cases where a BRM card or letter is used improperly as a label, the USPS treats the item as waste."
—> We've posted recently about how to fight back when a business screws you over, and we've posted a lot of executive contact info over the years. Now we're packaging the two together into one big mega-post of usefulness: a one-stop-stop for figuring out what you need to do to start a customer complaint, or how to escalate a stalled one so that it can be resolved. More »
—>Reader Don felt compelled to share this tips about proper love and care of your electronic items' batteries so they last longer and you don't have to buy more unnecessarily... More »
—>The best way to escape from our mindless purchase economy is to ignore your credit cards in favor of pure, reliable cash. Credit cards undoubtedly have value - purchase protection, rewards, convenience - but only for consumers who use credit responsibly. No Credit Needed wrote a useful guide for anyone willing to live the credit-free life. More »
—>This nifty Instructable teaches you how to mimic the look and feel of corporate branding so you can create signs and images that blend in better. With a a digital camera and some photo editing software and skills and your creative brain you'll be keeping "on message" like the pros. Even if your message is that we should all quit our jobs and run naked through fields of broccoli. More »
—>October is here, which can only mean one thing: $50 billion in option-ARM mortgages ratcheting up to higher interest rates. Here's four posts of ours that can help affected homeowners see their way clear: More »
—>Itenarant IT consultant James Brockman was sitting outside gate 44 at Reagan airport, and after seeing a gaggle of travelers flip out over their canceled flight, decided to put together a flight cancellation primer based on his eight years of heavy air travel experience. One piece of advice, after getting in line for the gate ticket agent with a pen and paper in hand... More »
—>Some companies just don't know how to say they're sorry when they flub up customer service. Since we know many of them read our blog, here's a primer from wikiHow on how to go about your next mea culpa. More »
—>In its efforts to combat terrorism, fight human trafficking, and bust drug dealers, the Department of Homeland Security compiles a large database of where you go, who you travel with, what you read and more. If you're curious about what this record contains, you can request a copy of your file under the Freedom Of Information Act. Unsecure Flight hosts two form letters for submitting this request, along with instructions for doing so. More »
—>Here's two sites which will help you find cheaper generic alternatives to brand-name prescriptions: More »
Motorcycles, scooters, and bicycles may be too small to trigger green lights at many intersections, but not if you attach some powerful Neodymium magnets. Save time and gas. [Instructables] More »
—>Blueprint for Financial Prosperity reminds us that savvy consumers can take advantage of credit card companies hellbent on turning a profit. Most credit card companies will go to great lengths to keep their customers happily spending away. Use these tips to make them cater to your every financial desire: More »
—> If you compulsively shop, shop to cheer yourself up, experience regret after spending money you don't have, run up high credit card bills, and generally behave like a freshman college student at your first beer blast, then... well, we don't want to go all Dr. Phil on you, but you might have a little bit of a problem. Sharon Epperson, author of "The Big Payoff," offers 9 tips on how to curb your addiction. More »
—>A reader whose wife received a debt-collection notice from AFNI regarding a seven-year old Verizon account was actually just one of over a million consumers getting a similar letter, WSYR reports. More »
—>Most money-management systems presuppose a steady paycheck, but No Credit Needed shows how you can track your dollars even if you aren't sure of when they'll arrive. More »
Reader Jeff perused the contract for his new E*TRADE account and found not only a big wonkin' arbitration clause in there, but a successive clause actually giving you a chance to opt out of it and retain your rights to not have disputes moderated in a corporate monkey court beyond the reach of law.
Consumer advocate Ron Burley describes the reasons the state of customer service is in such disrepair, and the basic gist on how consumers can get what they paid for when things go wrong. More »
—>While we spend a lot of time on this site talking about the importance of writing a good complaint letter, of finding the executive contact info, and cc'ing letters to appropriate regulatory bodies, sometimes the best way to win is to stop playing Mr. Nice Guy and start playing hardball. Demonstrate, in no uncertain terms, just how much more costly it would be for the business to ignore your complaint than to resolve it. That's the lesson learned from, Unscrewed: The Consumer's Guide To Getting What You Paid For. More »
—>Credit card companies are putting magical radio chips inside your credit cards to allow for "touch n go" "contact-less" payments, but if for some reason the idea of a miniature beacon transmitting your credit card information, albeit however encrypted the companies feel like making them, there is something you can do about, blogs Cody: Dremel! More »
—>Golf doesn't have to be the expensive, effete, sport of the affluent ruling class that popular culture has made it out to be. Not if you follow five simple tips from No Credit Needed: More »
—>Botulism is an incredibly serious food-borne illness, and the Castleberry's recall means we should remind ourselves of the symptoms. According to WebMD they are: More »
—>Why pay $10 to see a movie when you can save up to 50% by purchasing several tickets at once? Several clubs and organizations offer significant discounts to consumers willing to buy a book of tickets: More »
—>Plastic bumpers are a real snagglepuss to repair but it can be done, and for less than your deductible, this Instructable by Popular Mechanics tells us. More »
—>If you're biking along and need to tighten something up on your bike, like your bike seat, here's a trick to remember even if you forgot your hex wrench. More »
—>If you want to get an iPhone but you're stuck in a contract, here's six ways to escape your service plan without paying a $175 early termination fee: More »
—>"Credit Card Arbitrage" is when you take out a 0% balance transfer check from your credit card use it to make money. Here's the basic gist of how to do it, and some of its dangers. More »
—>Why give the IRS an interest-free loan throughout the year? Instead, boost your monthly earnings by changing the amount of withholdings you claim. Kiplinger offers an easy 3-question calculator to help you figure out the right number. More »
Place a cotton cloth directly over the stain and with a dry iron (NO STEAM!) press down for several seconds on the cloth. Remove and check the stain. Keep doing until the watermarks are completely gone. It could take a minute or two to get the stain out completely.
Yes! We are going to try this. Wish us luck.—MEGHANN MARCO More »
—>Finding the perfect doctor doesn't need to be a daunting task, according to five doctors interviewed by New York Magazine. Like kids to an ice cream truck, the best doctors flow to the best hospitals. When in doubt, look for your local teaching hospital. If you have a particular malady that calls for a specialist, check the hospital department's website for a list of potential doctors and start checking credentials. Referrals from friends and colleagues can also help, especially when it's time to make an appointment.
It's all about who referred you. If you don't have someone who referred you to them, then you're sort of in the general pool with everybody else. The second most important factor is what insurance you have. Doctors will pick.
How did you find your doctor? Tell us in the comments. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER More »
Here are some of the qualities of a "business" operating under DS-MAX (now known as Innovage, though the same company owns both trademarks...) principles, an organization responsible for many complaints alleging scams, fraud, and general employee deprivation in a "sales-cult" atmosphere.
—>If you, like me, are a mosquito magnet, summer weather brings with it a particular kind of dread. Though my Brooklyn neighborhood would hardly be confused with "nature," our wee outdoor space can feel like the Everglades. Since I tend to obsess about spending summer as bugless as possible, I thought I'd share a few tips for fellow urbanites. More »
—>Free Money Finance dredged a fascinating statistic from Kiplingers that suggests 60% of homes are overvalued by assessors, and that 33% of tax appeals succeed. The stat comes from a dubious source, the National Taxpayers Union, described by the San Francisco Chronicle as the "the grand-daddy of the tax revolt organizations." Assessments guide property taxes, which are universally reviled by homeowners. Even politicians, who suckle tax revenue with the vigor of a vampire on a vein, regularly crusade against property taxes during election season. More »
Hot times are coming and you may find yourself buying a new air conditioner, but how do you figure out how many BTUs you need? Silencedotcom over in the Consumerist Forums posted this BTU guide: More »
—>Companies can order all sorts of reports on you and make judgments about you, from banks, to landlords to employers. Here's how you can see the data they're seeing and make sure the record is right. More »
—>Let's say you're the kind that can make money but don't know what to do with it once it's yours. Or perhaps you know a bit about personal finance but need some help on the more complicated matters associated with managing your money. Or maybe you don't want a thing to do with handling your finances — you simply want to turn them over to someone else. In all of these cases (and several others you can likely imagine), you may be in the market for a financial adviser. But the world of financial planners is full of sharks, say CNNMoney and USAToday:
In most states, anyone can call themselves a financial adviser, even if they don't have any training.
So how do you pick a financial planner who knows what she's doing and who won't rip you off by only working to turn your money into her money? A couple thoughts... More »
—>Using a back-tested paper portfolio and an actual case, the authors of a study published in the Journal of Marketing found that companies at the top 20% of the the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) greatly outperformed the the stock market, generating a 40% return. More »
—>Glade Scented Oil Refills Cost $0.15 per ml. Oust refills cost $0.33 per ml. Here is how to get Glade scented oil refills into an Oust Portable Fan. Yay. —MEGHANN MARCO More »
—>Here's a classic tactic for rattling the corporate monkey tree to make sure your complaint gets shoved under the nose of someone with decision-making powers. Let's call it the "EECB," or Executive Email Carpet Bomb... More »
—>Lost an important document? Misplaced your birth certificate, driver's license, passport, social security card, property deed, title insurance policy, mortgage, car title, marriage license, divorce paper, or diploma? More »
—>Curbly has a neat idea for making your own pair of vintage jeans. Take a pair of old jeans and soak them in a tub of hot water and an old sock filled with coffee grounds. In the morning, they'll have a nice patina. For further distressing, you can use a cheese grater for small scuffs and tears, or put objects in the pocket and sandpaper over them. More »
—>A former call center worker told us how to get to, and deal with, Sprint retentions department so they will fix billing errors, or waive fees. More »
—>Here's an easy and cheap way to make your own noise blocking headphones. All you need is a pair of ear-protection earmuffs ($15.50), a cutting tool, and airline/walkman style headphones. More »
—>"This last winter broken snow shovels starting appearing everywhere. I tried to track down replacement parts, but it turns out that replacement scoops don't seem to exist. So I set about to make a simple replacement scoop using basic tools and found materials," writes the author of this Instructable. More »
—>Boosting a WiFi signal can be an expensive proposition, requiring the purchase of either a second wireless router, or a wireless signal booster. Unless, of course, you build one yourself. From Instructables:
The parabolic Asian cooking (dumpling) strainer is the perfect candidate for this project. I was able to pick up 20 more access points in the city and connect to a network a few blocks away! This is BY-FAR the most simple of all Wifi extensions!
To build the booster, you need a USB extension cable, any USB WiFi adapter, and a tight-mesh parabolic cooking strainer. To reach WiFi signal heaven, stick the USB WiFi adaptor through the center of the parabolic strainer and connect it to the USB extension cable. More »
"Using the 2x4s to create small steps inside the cabinets, you can get a nice tiered look at everything in your cabinet - nice for those of us who tend to lose track of everything hidden at the back."More »
—>Organizing the chargers for your cellphone, PDA, Nintendo DS, etc. can be hugely annoying and expensive. Why expensive? When you leave chargers plugged into the wall, they're still drawing electricity—even when your phone isn't plugged in. More »
—>A chargeback is when the credit card company withdraws the money for a transaction from a merchant's account and deposited in a consumer's following a dispute. More »
It's simultaneously easier and more difficult that our previous method of stitching madly through the button holes. Men in particular should watch this video and stop asking us females to sew buttons on your shirt. Many of us don't have secret button knowledge. We just fake it so you'll think we're smart. —MEGHANN MARCO More »
—>Here's 5 more Geek Squad manuals. They're not a fascinating as the troubleshooting manual, but perhaps if you use the Geek Squad you can use them to make sure they're doing their job right. Or you could learn how to open up your own Geek Squad store. Sort of like a lemonade stand, except instead of turning lemons into a tasty beverage, you turn laptops into lemons. More »
—>Former used car salesman Alan Slone grows a conscience and reveals one of the major strategies dealership use to screw you when buying a new car. More »
—>Credit unions are nonprofit, cooperative, member-owned banking institutions, so they're less likely to screw you with fees and rules than the major commercial banks. More »
—>Eighteen insider consumer tips from ex-Tmobile customer service representatives Christof and Anon. Oh no, we're not done with that series. Not by a long shot. More »
"Dave's story is swift, proactive and in the end, he gets what he wants and needs out of his cable company: a functional product at an acceptable price. Of course, he has to, figuratively speaking, shove a fist in their love handles, rip out their gall bladder and eat it in front of them, but sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do to get his DVR..."More »
"A Money Day is 8 hours of that boring but important stuff: like starting up that Quicken file, reducing your credit card interest rate, canceling subscriptions you don't need, and opening up a higher-interest savings account."More »
Small claims or conciliation court provides a way for individuals to settle their differences with the help of a neutral referee or judge.Inside, some tips to help you win your case in conciliation court.The price of admission is generally low, between $50 and $100 most places. The plaintiff (the person who starts the case) files a short statement of the claim, pays the filing fee, and serves the defendant either by mail or by using the sheriff or other third party for personal service.Conciliation court is a great place for consumers to get some justice. Before bringing your claim, however, you will want to check with your state's conciliation court to make sure you can actually bring your case. Generally, the defendant you intend to sue must have some personal or business presence in the state. Also, the amount of money you are seeking will probably have to fall beneath a certain amount. In Minnesota, for example, the total amount of the claim must be below $7,500.You can probably find the complaint forms and other information on your state's or county's website. Fill them out carefully and completely, and bring them to court to file.Here are a few more tips for your day in court:* Spend a bit of time watching the daytime court shows. Seriously. Other than the judge's sass, they're not too different from conciliation court. Notice what the litigants do wrong.* Bring all your exhibits and witnesses with you to court. Make an extra copy of documents, and keep them organized.* Focus on the logical reason you should win. So often I see people want to tell their story. (A) There isn't time, and (B) it's irrelevant. Stick to the facts and why they matter.* Always show respect for the judge or referee. They are the ones who decide whether you win or lose. The no-fail method of address is "your honor."Conciliation court is a great way for consumers to get some justice in the courts. Build your case carefully and present it as professionally as you can, and good luck on your day in court! —SAM GLOVER
—> If, for some reason, you have a hard drive that you really, really, want to erase today is your lucky day. bbum has posted some tips for erasing a drive, and reminds you that even broken drives should be "erased." More »
Are you a budget novice? Constantly overdrafting? Never have enough money to buy what you really want? Wish you could get your shit together? We've got a sexy free Excel document to share with you. More »
—>It's good to get into the habit of recording customer service calls. It gives you proof if they mess up and maybe you'll get a really bad one that you'll want to submit to The Consumerist. Here's some tools to help you. More »
—>How can you take hundreds of pictures inside a store without getting caught? It can be really hard. If you ask for permission, it will be likely be denied. If you're too conspicuous, someone will say, "No pictures!" and you could get thrown out. More »
—>Still missing last year's W-2? We mentioned this tip a month ago, but here's the step by step process for notifying the IRS when nicely phoning the office manager hasn't worked. More »
One thing it doesn't show is that it's a good idea to cover up the rest of the phone in tape so you don't get sugar in your keypad or elsewhere. Also, be gentle and patient. Press too hard and you could scratch the phone. — BEN POPKEN More »
—>UPDATE: Commenters note that the Instructable seems to be posted by the same company selling the pricey hardware. The user name is "simplifiedbuiliding" and the parts are sold by "Simplified Building Concepts." Now we are suspicious. Maybe this Instructable should be called LACK (of integrity) Hack. More »
—>My Money Blog tells us how to submit for a federal tax filing extension if you're still waiting for some forms or you just don't think you can get it together in time. More »
—>0% balance transfers can be a great tool to cut down credit card debt as you're, obviously, paying nothing for interest. However, you need to know the rules of the game and how to play by them, or you could wind back up with a nasty APR. FiveCentNickel breaks it all down for you. He warns, More »
—>How do you know if your local CompUSA is one of 129 getting liquidated starting tomorrow? If it's not on this list, it's going out of business. More »
—>If you find an error on your credit report, fixing it is often a painless process. Notify the credit bureau and if the creditor can't verify the information, it gets removed. If it doesn't, here are steps to take towards getting your credit report right, cribbed from the Wall Street Journal.More »
Why pay a lot of money for bad mayonnaise when you can make really gourmet mayonnaise in a few minutes at a fraction of the cost? Here's a simple recipe requiring no technique, commonly available ingredients, and my favorite kitchen power tool- the hand blender!
This looks a lot better than Miracle Whip, doesn't it? What is Miracle Whip, anyway? —MEGHANN MARCO More »
Hey there. It's us, your friendly Consumer blog. We know you'd like to cancel your Verizon contract, but it can be a little intimidating... particularly because Verizon doesn't want to honor the terms of your contract, and you may be afraid of them. That's sad, but it doesn't have to be this way. Come with us now as we take a journey to month-to-month bliss. Remember, a contract goes two-ways, regardless of what some companies may think. More »
Admittedly, this is a very advanced money saving tip. Only the very seriously broke, or very seriously frugal try to wash their own cat. Some of you might say, "You don't need to wash a cat." Hey, maybe you don't, but there are people out there making a living washing cats. More »
—>As a skeptical consumer, you've probably looked at photo in the news or a piece of advertising and thought, hey, I bet that was faked. Now with a little help from Photoshop, and Tim Mathenson's tutorial, you can tell. More »
The tree is shedding needles and the cheap champagne hangover has faded along with your memory, which means it's time to think about returning all those crappy gifts you got. Consumer Reports Shopping blog has some tips on making your returns happy: More »
It's the end of the year, so we thought we'd offer some tips on charitable giving. There are only a few days left to donate items before the end of the year. Giving to charity is about more than just saving on your taxes, it's also about helping a cause that's important to you. You could save a panda, or cure a disease, or help someone who is hungry. Giving to charity is a way for you to decide where your money goes. More »
—>Despite the fact that RFID chips are not secure and can be read by hackers, any U.S. Passport issued after Jan 1 will contain an RFID chip. If you'd like to risk 25 years in prison for tampering with it, Wired has a primer on how to disable the chip and protect yourself from ID theft. More »
A letter of complaint is an opportunity to arm someone who may be unfamiliar with your problem with the fact necessary to investigate. Make sure you are clear, concise, and compelling. State the facts and how you would like the situation resolved. Lastly, provide a timeline for their expected response before you forward the matter onto a higher authority. More »
—>Inspired to by Mike D's Vonage story, Austin writes in a hot tip for all of looking to pole vault low-level CSR and reach the Valhalla of customer service. More »
—>Browsing Metafilter, we found this excellent post detailing the smart way to make a purchase from those plaid-skinned abominations who lurk in the primal shadows of every consumerist's nightmares, grinning their straight razor smiles and beckoning us to sign contracts in bilesome blood: the car salesman. More »
—>After our last post on identity theft, regular Consumerist commenter trixare4kids sent us a great, well-crafted email detailing her own experience having her identity stolen. Better yet, she wrote us a personalized How To for getting through an identity theft crisis. More »
—>Years ago, when I was a daredevil lad, I once used a pair of pogo stilts to jump off of the roof of my house and onto my backyard trampoline. It seemed like a great idea at the time. For a brief moment, I was Icarus, soaring godlike into the stratosphere. The next thing I know, the nose cone of an oncoming Logan-bound Airbus had exploded into my crotch. As I plummeted a truly terrifying distance back down to the earth, I realized that my options were not really very good: either I fell, allowing the impact with the black asphalt below to trigger the nasal expulsion of my own gelatinated pelvis, or I braced with the pogo sticks and risked jumping even higher. Possibly directly into the sun. More »
