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Quiz: How Tightly Are Consumers Squeezed?
Tweet Share on Facebook June 23, 2008 Comment (2)Everyone knows times are tight. But do you know just how tight? Take this Alpha Consumer Quiz to test yourself on how the economic slowdown is changing consumers' daily lives.
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George Carlin, Consumer Critic
Tweet Share on Facebook June 23, 2008 Comment (5)Comedian George Carlin, who died Sunday, may be best known for his monologue "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television," but he also had some memorable lines about consumerism:
Consumption—it's the new national pastime... The only true lasting American value that's left—buying things... People spending money they don't have on things they don't need...so they can max out their credit cards and spend the rest of their lives paying 18 percent interest on something that cost $12.50. And they didn't like it when they got home anyway.
You can watch the whole profanity-laden performance here. After riffing against capitalism and Wall Street, he ends with a classic one-liner: "It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."
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Efficient Basements and Financial Help From Parents
Tweet Share on Facebook June 20, 2008 Comment (4)Here are my favorite stories from around the blogosphere this week:
• From Get Rich Slowly: Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown. You can save money and avoid long airport lines.
• From the Money & Fitness Blog: Being Efficient and Frugal in Your Basement. Tips on what to look for in a washer and dryer, and in lighting.
• From Money Under Thirty: Should You Take Financial Help From Your Parents? This blogger makes a persuasive argument for why 20-somethings should not accept money from Mom and Dad.
Also, remember that to join the Alpha Consumer Book Club, you just have to check out the book, Buying In, and send me your comments and questions for the author, Rob Walker. (Either post them below, E-mail me at alphaconsumer@usnews.com, or join the book club on Facebook.) Rob Walker suggests this site for readers looking for an overview of the book.
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Video: Grocery Shopping on a Budget
Tweet Share on Facebook June 20, 2008 CommentFor more tips on saving at the grocery store, you can watch this video that I made for WTOP.com:
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Debt Collectors Hounded Reader, Too
Tweet Share on Facebook June 20, 2008 Comment (7)After posting my item about dealing with debt collectors yesterday, I heard from another reader, Melissa from Alexandria, Va., with the same problem. A debt collector called and said she owed money to a health clinic. But the collector had the wrong person, albeit with the same, relatively common name. When Melissa explained that she wasn't the person who owed the money, she says the collector didn't believe her at first and was rude to boot.
Eventually, after multiple phone calls to the clinic, collectors, and her insurance company, she got the situation straightened out. Says Melissa: "The rudeness I encountered trying to simply get an explanation and an apology points out that there's something wrong with this industry."
Has anyone else encountered this kind of trouble?
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Podcast: Profit With Plastic
Tweet Share on Facebook June 19, 2008 CommentCurtis Arnold, author of How You Can Profit From Credit Cards and founder of CardRatings.com, recently joined me on the Alpha Consumer Podcast to talk about how to make your credit cards work for you. Arnold knows what he's talking about—at one point, he had $45,000 in credit card debt, but he has since learned to be much savvier with his plastic, even using it to cleverly fund his wedding and car purchase. You can also pick up the Alpha Consumer Tip of the Week on setting financial goals. Listen now or download
iTunes and 
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Standing Up to Pesky Debt Collectors
Tweet Share on Facebook June 19, 2008 Comment (2)A debt collection company has left automated messages on my answering machine almost every day for the past six months. Erasing them within a few minutes of getting home from work has become part of my daily routine.
At first, I assumed they were telemarketing calls and that the company would eventually give up, but after realizing I had erased approximately 100 messages, I decided it was finally time to call and ask what they wanted and if they could please, please stop calling me. The messages were starting to drive me crazy.
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Join the Alpha Consumer Book Club
Tweet Share on Facebook June 18, 2008 Comment (1)Congratulations to Cathy from the Chief Family Officer blog for winning the second edition of the Alpha Consumer Challenge! She offered her best money-saving tip, which she calls the "drugstore game." She heads to the drugstore armed with coupons and store circulars and estimates she saves hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year.
Cathy will receive a copy of Rob Walker's Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are, which is also the first selection for the Alpha Consumer Book Club. To join the book club, all you have to do is read the book (or, for those who prefer Cliffs Notes, just read about the book). Post any questions you have for the author, or send them to me at alphaconsumer@usnews.com. You can also join the discussion on Facebook by becoming part of the Alpha Consumer Book Club there. From those who post or send me questions, I will randomly select a winner to receive a free copy of the book. Then, Rob Walker will answer the questions on this blog.
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How Donating Money Can Make You Feel Richer
Tweet Share on Facebook June 17, 2008 Comment (3)I recently spoke with Lisa Philp, head of philanthropic services at JPMorgan Private Bank, who told me she has noticed an interesting gender shift in her clients over the past year or so. She used to work primarily with men, but now two thirds of her clients are women.
She attributes the shift to the growth in the number of women in leadership roles in business, as well as the fact that women tend to take the reins of family foundations. There's also a broader movement in the world of philanthropy to involve and encourage women through groups such as Women Moving Millions and the Women's Funding Network. "The women's funding movement has grown by leaps and bounds," Philp says.
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Author: Put Money Where It Matters
Tweet Share on Facebook June 16, 2008 Comment (4)MP Dunleavey's book Money Can Buy Happiness jumped out at me because instead of dwelling on the stressful side of money, it focuses on how to use it to get the life you want. Dunleavey, a columnist for The New York Times and MSN Money, advocates investing in activities that really matter, like family time, instead of the ones that might cost more but leave you feeling empty, like unnecessary shopping. I recently E-mailed Dunleavey to ask her about the changes she's made to her own money habits and to get her best advice.
As a personal finance writer, how did you get the idea to write a book that focuses so much on being happier?
One of the first things you notice as a personal finance writer is that money pretty much makes people miserable and stressed out—no matter how much or how little they have.
