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Defining Your Dream Life
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2008 Comment (4)Dear Alpha Consumer,
I am interested in taking more control of my financial future, but I feel that I'm more ahead of the game then some of my peers. I have a 401(k) that I contribute to, I save regularly, and I am pretty frugal—I learned to use the library instead of constantly buying new books and I love consignment clothes shops—you can dress for less AND have stuff that everyone else isn't wearing.
I don't feel like I'm doing enough , though. A lot of the advice I've found for people my age is for those who have done nothing so far which isn't really me. About eight months ago, I was $3,000 in credit card debt. I had a very restrictive budget and am now debt-free, save my student loans and car insurance. Each week I saved $10 toward various long- and short-term goals—a car, a new computer, vacation, savings, etc.
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Finding Tax Rebate Deals
Tweet Share on Facebook April 29, 2008 Comment (13)Now that a rebate check or deposit is headed your way, retailers want to help you figure out what to do with it. Perhaps driven by the fact that only 1 in 5 shoppers expects to actually spend the money, stores are doing what they can to persuade those planning to save it or use it to pay down debt to change their minds.
Retailers ranging from grocery stores to discount shops are posting specials to entice consumers to spend their rebate checks on their products. Here are some of the appealing offers:
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Checks in the Mail
Tweet Share on Facebook April 28, 2008 Comment (11)Tax rebate checks are now on their way to consumers, earlier than had been expected. Have you decided how to spend the money? A survey by TNS Retail Forward found that consumers are split on what they will do with it (more than one answer was accepted). Around one third will use it to pay bills, some 30 percent will put the money into savings, and about one quarter will put it toward everyday expenses such as food and gas. Only 1 in 5 shoppers will use it to buy something special, like a new television.
The market research firm says that will be enough to help retailers, bringing them a windfall of about $42 billion in sales. That would double third-quarter growth to 6 percent, TNS calculates.
That's good news for those in the retail business, but for the rest of us, the numbers in our own bank accounts are the more important ones. That's why so many consumers are choosing to pay off debt or boost savings instead of going for a one-time splurge.
So, what will you do with your check?
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Bloggers on Money, Lies, and Saving
Tweet Share on Facebook April 28, 2008 CommentThis week's Carnival of Personal Finance features lies we tell ourselves about money, how to save money on computers and honeymoons, and lots of other useful tips.
Next week, Alpha Consumer will be hosting the Carnival, so be sure to submit your blog entry here.
Also, I am looking for guest posts on personal finance and consumer topics while I am on vacation toward the end of May. Please E-mail me at alphaconsumer@usnews.com if you are interested in submitting one.
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Spending Away a Bad Mood
Tweet Share on Facebook April 28, 2008 CommentTricia from Blogging Away Debt recently wrote about how being in a "funk" can be bad for the wallet, because it's easier to give in to urges to spend money on fast food or other temporary pick-me-ups. She writes:
I also get strong urges to go shopping for stuff. Maybe a new pair of shoes or something. The oddest thing about this urge is that I am not normally into fashion. But the minute I go into a funk I must think I need to be a fashionista (not that anything is wrong with that—it's just totally against the norm for me). Sometimes I budget shop and buy clearance items, but sometimes I don't. Again, it's best to stick around the house and not go anywhere. I didn't do this one (thank goodness—I have enough shoes!).
That's tough—although as she notes in her post, spending money might feel good at the moment, but it isn't a permanent mood-booster. That's where bubble baths and movies come in.
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Corporate Revenge or Simple Error?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 25, 2008 Comment (4)Yesterday, when I called Susan Wones, the consumer who testified at last week's credit card hearing on Capitol Hill, she was upset. She had just found out that Chase had distributed some of her personal information, including her account numbers and home address, to congressional staff members, despite her request that her information be kept private. (Before she testified, Wones signed a waiver that allowed the company to discuss her situation, but she says she asked that the identifying information be kept private.)
By the end of the day, Rep. Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat, issued a statement calling for Chase to publicly apologize to Wones, who is from his district. "Susan showed courage and came to Washington to tell her story, and now it seems she is being punished for doing the right thing and speaking out against unfair credit card practices," Udall said in a statement. He also took issue with the fact that Chase representatives handed out a rebuttal of her testimony to reporters who spoke with Wones after the hearing.
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Video: Cutting the Grocery Bill
Tweet Share on Facebook April 25, 2008 Comment (4)For more tips on saving money at the grocery store, you can watch my discussion with Good Morning LA's Jean Martirez here. As I've mentioned, one of my favorite ideas is to use ingredients that are already at home. Martirez wanted to know what she could do with ketchup, garlic, and some old cheese. Luckily, we have allrecipes.com and foodnetwork.com to help us with that one. Allrecipes.com suggests baked spaghetti.
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Vote on Chipotle's Customer Service Move
Tweet Share on Facebook April 24, 2008 Comment (15)Imagine this: You go to a restaurant. The food makes you sick—so sick you need to visit the doctor. To compensate, the restaurant offers to pay your medical bills. Does that leave you a satisfied customer?
That's the situation more than 400 Chipotle customers found themselves in Kent, Ohio, last week. They experienced the typical signs of food poisoning, including nausea, vomiting, and worse. Test results suggest they were infected with a norovirus. To make it up to them, the company famous for its burritos said it would pay for the treatment of the sickened customers.
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Breakfast for Dinner
Tweet Share on Facebook April 24, 2008 Comment (4)Rosalie from Allentown, Pa., sent in some additional ideas for how to cut down on food prices. In addition to planning menus in advance and checking out the week's specials, she writes:
Don't overlook making "breakfast" entrees for suppers. With our lifestyles so hectic, when do you get the chance to make a wonderful omelet or strata for breakfast? Also, [try] homemade pancakes. Making the mix is so simple, easy, and inexpensive, and you can add fruits for flavor and nutrition.
I agree—there's nothing like french toast when you feel like you're not supposed to be eating it. And breakfast foods, because they usually involve basics like eggs and bread, are cheap—and you probably already have the ingredients at home.
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Should Shoppers Hoard Rice?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 24, 2008 Comment (5)With Sam's Club and Costco stores limiting how much rice customers can buy, shoppers are asking themselves: Should I stock up on the staple? After watching a news report on the rationing last night, I suggested to my husband that we should go buy several bags of the grain. He immediately made fun of me for wanting to hoard something that was not actually in short supply.
In this case, my husband is right. There is no need to stock up, because there is no shortage in the United States. (There are concerns about rice shortages in other countries, including India and the Philippines.)
There is, however, above-average price inflation going on for all kinds of food, which makes it more important to focus on cutting grocery costs—not adding to them by buying more rice than necessary.
