At craft shows, a maze of booths show off handcrafted original wares. Some things are common from show to show, like polymer clay jewelry, stained-glass window décor, and beaded designs, but it’s not the medium that matters, it’s the artist’s individuality and handiwork. I go into stores and see things mass produced and refuse to [...]
With the holiday season almost upon us (or already in full swing if you accept what retailers are telling us), what are your holiday tipping rules? I had a quite lively debate about this with a group of friends who had a wide variety of opinions on the subject, and I’m sure the readers here [...]
I, like every other teenager in America, learned about subliminal messages in high school. Determined not to be influenced against my will, every time I entered a dark movie theater I would steel myself against advertisers’ sly tactics. I was certain that “Buy Massive Amounts Of Buttered Popcorn And Obscenely Large Soft Drinks” flashed in [...]
I have always spread my money around in multiple accounts. I use multiple checking, savings, and investment accounts, all marked for different purposes. Some are at the same institution, but I also use several different banks, depending on my needs. When I started making money years ago, spreading it around was simply the easiest way [...]
The Best Travel Deals Don’t End in .Com: “Some of the best travel deals on the Web these days don’t end in .com but can be found on a travel company’s foreign offshoot, which usually ends with the country’s domain name, like .fr (France), and .de (Germany). Though the travel companies don’t advertise it, they [...]
I never pay any of our bills. Neither does my husband. But they get paid. Every month and on time. Now I’m not advocating ignoring your bills and racking up a ton of debt. That would be stupid and begging for bankruptcy. What I am advocating is never physically going through the process of paying [...]
I saw “DWI — You can’t Afford It” written on road signs along Interstate 40 as we passed through Texas on our recent vacation. What an interesting angle, I thought. I guess that since the fact that the risk of killing innocent people, as well as themselves, isn’t enough of a deterrent for drunk drivers, [...]
Last week, eBay sent me a message urging me to contact my state representatives in support of a bill that would exempt eBay sellers in Pennsylvania from having to get auctioneer licenses. “You may have heard the Pennsylvania State Board of Auctioneer Examiners is lobbying for eBay sellers to be licensed under the state’s outdated [...]
I didn’t pay anything for Radiohead’s download: “I didn’t pay anything to download Radiohead’s In Rainbows last Wednesday. When the checkout page on the band’s Web site allowed me to type in whatever price I wanted, I put 0.00, the lowest I could go. My economist friends say this makes me a rational being.” Consumers [...]
While I can’t guarantee that these are the absolute top 10 ways you can waste money on e-Bay this week, they certainly deserve some attention and possibly some laughs… 10. A rubber band: No joke. You can get a regular rubber band for $1 with free shipping. 9. A million ants: You can adopt an [...]
