1
budgets
budgets
Early Bird Gets The Discount Halloween Candy Worm
By Ben Popken on November 1, 2011 10:00 AM
40 Comments
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 »
Setting And Staying On A Budget In College
By Ben Popken on August 4, 2011 1:00 PM
51 Comments
Before you even step foot on campus this fall, you should know your budget as well as you know your class schedule. If you graduate with an A+ in personal finance management, that might be the best lesson you learn in your years of higher education. Here are a few tips, reminders and resources you should take advantage of. More »
Cost Of Funding SETI vs A Citibank Exec's Bonus
More »
By Ben Popken on May 4, 2011 2:00 PM
92 Comments
On the back of news that SETI, an array of satellite dishes that search for extraterrestrial intelligence, would be shut down, John at μcosmologist put together a infographic to compare the cost of running it against other things. For instance, it costs $2.5 million a year to run one SETI satellite, while one Predator drone costs $4.5 million. A Citibank exec's bonus? $19.3 million. And if just a small part of the $10.7 billion Starbucks made last year was put aside instead of paying for their employee's health insurance, we'd have ET's whole city in the bag. In comparison, continuing to send and seek out bleeps into a silent and uncaring void isn't that much. Check out the full version here, and stick around for the money shot by scrolling all the way to the bottom.More »
Calculate How Many Days Of Work That New Shirt Will Cost You
By Ben Popken on December 8, 2010 5:00 PM
40 Comments
DaysToPay is a handy little site that quickly shows you how long you will have to work in order to buy something. Enter the cost and your hourly wage or yearly salary and it shows you just how much of your sweat is going into that new Xbox Kinect. More »
Updated: DangerP's Sweet Excel Budget Spreadsheet (With Debt Snowball)
By Ben Popken on December 1, 2010 2:00 PM
30 Comments
After I uploaded my quick n easy excel budget spreadsheet yesterday, Consumerist reader DangerP sent over his to share with everyone. His is pretty cool! In addition to the regular cash flow and recurring billing item tracking, it also has a built-in worksheet for doing a debt snowball, tracking long-term debts, and an overall budget dashboard. Update: new excel file replaced to fix formula issues some people where having. More »
(Ben Popken)
Download Our Free Easy Excel Budget Spreadsheet
By Ben Popken on November 30, 2010 1:00 PM
37 Comments
Back by popular demand after the file on our server got messed up, it's Consumerist's easy excel budget spreadsheet! It lets you track your cash flow and expenses, and plan for upcoming purchases and bills. Use it properly and you'll never overdraft again. More »
Lauren's Quick And Easy Excel Budgeter
By Ben Popken on September 24, 2010 12:00 PM
27 Comments
It's hard to beat an excel spreadsheet for quickly shifting between a granular and top-level view of your personal finance situation. Here's reader Lauren's account balance spreadsheet she made to keep track of her expenditures, past, present, and future, and itemize her budget. More »
(voobie)
Being Frugal Makes You More Appealing
By Chris Walters on August 23, 2010 12:30 PM
43 Comments
According to a new ING Direct study, the word that most comes to mind when a hypothetical blind date partner is described as frugal is "smart." Sadly, "sexy" only came to mind about 3.7% of the time, but at least you'll have more chances: an eHarmony review commissioned by Ron Lieber at the New York Times "found that both men and women were 25 percent more likely to have a potential mate reach out to them if they identified themselves as a saver rather than a spender." More »
Seattle Libraries To Close For A Week To Save Money
By Chris Walters on August 23, 2010 11:30 AM
54 Comments
If you live in Seattle, make sure you don't plan any library outings between August 30th and September 6th, when all branches will be closed. As it did last year, the library system is shutting down services and not paying employees for a week to cut about $650,000 from its budget. Fortunately, you'll still be able to access several electronic services that week, including ebook checkout and online databases. More »
How To Avoid An Emergency Room Bill That Sends You Back To The E.R.
By Chris Walters on August 9, 2010 11:30 AM
25 Comments
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 »
(CyberPro)
What's Your Net Worth?
By Ben Popken on August 5, 2010 12:00 PM
91 Comments
You can't get where you're going if you don't know where you are. In order to accomplish your long-term financial goals, like saving up for travel, a home, or starting your own business, you should sit down and assess your net worth. More »
(emrank)
Rotten Economy Might Mean Big Savings On Airfare This Fall, If You Can Afford To Travel
By Chris Walters on August 2, 2010 12:30 PM
21 Comments
Travel guru Christopher Elliott thinks that airfare prices could drop significantly this fall, thanks to a double-dip recession and general economic misery. So far prices for car rentals and cruise packages are going up, but Elliott says he's hearing from travelers and travel companies about "dramatic, unexpected bargains" and "rates ... on par with last year's record-low prices" when it comes to flights. More »
Tips For Saving Money On Textbooks
By Chris Walters on August 2, 2010 9:30 AM
75 Comments
The second half of summer is "complain about textbook prices" season, and last week the New York Times put together a special section on the topic and asked experts to weigh in. Too many of the contributors just provide an overview of the situation but no solutions; a publishing industry representative actually defends textbook prices as trivial compared to other educational costs. Fortunately Anya Kamenetz, who writes for Fast Company, suggests Flat World Knowledge. And to be fair, the guy who defended textbooks prices suggests CourseSmart for ebook rentals. The Times also asked students, professors and parents to weigh in with advice. More »
Coupon Use At Record High
By Chris Walters on July 22, 2010 12:00 PM
32 Comments
According to a new report from coupon marketing company NCH, the volume of coupons redeemed rose about 8% from a year ago, and marked the seventh consecutive quarter of growth. The report also indicates that manufacturers are increasing the value of coupons but moving up the expiration dates. More »
(AlishaV)
Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Cheapskate?
By Chris Walters on July 22, 2010 8:04 AM
47 Comments
Jeff Yeager, Wise Bread blogger and author, has just published a new book titled The Cheapskate Next Door, where he interviews over 300 self-described cheapskates to find out what makes them tick. In an interview over at Daily Finance, he says that for most of his subjects, the choice to live frugal lifestyles wasn't primarily about money. More »
Like Being Single? That'll Be $388,059, Please
By Meg Marco on July 21, 2010 12:45 PM
51 Comments
According to a British price comparison website, the cost of being single from 22-75 (in the UK) is £254,082 or $388,059. The extra expense comes from having to carry mortgage, holiday costs, insurance premiums and utility bills alone — do they not have roommates in the UK? More »
Cities Are So Broke They're Outsourcing The Police
By Meg Marco on July 19, 2010 11:45 AM
110 Comments
The new trend in government cost-cutting involves disbanding the police department, says the WSJ. The paper has an article about Maywood, a tiny city southeast of Los Angeles. The city lost its insurance after its carrier decided to cancel its policy "because of the $21 million in legal expenses and judgments against the city stemming from the conduct of its police department." This means that Maywood can't employ anyone. More »
(debaird™)
United Overloads Plane, Kicks Off Passengers Who Paid The Least For Their Tickets
By Chris Walters on July 19, 2010 11:30 AM
177 Comments
Last week, a United Airlines flight from Burlington to Washington, D.C. was deemed too heavy to fly, so the company had to decide who to boot off. In a moment of what was almost certainly accidental honesty, they targeted the 20 least profitable customers. We know this was their criteria because they announced it to the rest of the passengers, so those who remained were able to rest easy knowing that all the cheapskates, budget travelers and poor people were gone. More »
Mint Makes Saving More Fun With New "Goals" Dashboard
By Chris Walters on June 30, 2010 11:30 AM
38 Comments
Mint was the cool kid on the financial website block until it cut its hair and went corporate, but the Intuit-owned service can still roll out some nifty features now and then. The latest is a "goals" dashboard, which takes advantage of our natural tendency to try harder if there's some way to see immediate feedback. Under your account there's now a goals tab, where you can activate any of the default choices ("get out of debt," "take a trip," "buy a home") or create your own ("laser hair removal," "pvc bodysuit"). Then you can link your accounts to that goal, and have a quick visual metric you can use to stay focused. More »
Billshrink: iPhone 4 Is Best Value Among Latest Smartphones, If You Watch Data Usage
By Chris Walters on June 23, 2010 11:35 AM
78 Comments
BillShrink compared the new iPhone 4 to the Droid Incredible, the Evo 4G, and the Nexus One to see which one is the cheapest in total cost of ownership, and the results were somewhat surprising given the iPhone's reputation as a money gobbler. If you opt for the cheapest data plan AT&T offers, the TCO for the iPhone 4 is the only one of the four devices that comes in under the $2,000 mark. But beware! That "cheapest data plan" conditional is a pretty tricky one. More »
