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Alpha Consumer Challenge: Best Date Night
Tweet Share on Facebook July 18, 2008 Comment (23)Has the current economic squeeze killed date night? I don't think so. We just need to get more creative about it.
The third edition of the Alpha Consumer Challenge asks you to describe your most creative, money-saving strategy for date night. Do you shun $20 movie tickets for some Netflix action? Or overlook the newest hot restaurant for your favorite recipe at home? Some indulgence is OK—there's no need to spend $0—but submissions will be judged based on their originality and frugality. While $50 might be a lot for dinner, I'll be impressed if you can plan a weekend getaway on that amount.
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3 Ways to Be a Smarter Shopper
Tweet Share on Facebook July 17, 2008 CommentToday's guest post is from AnnaMaria Turano, coauthor of Stopwatch Marketing: Take Charge of the Time When Your Customer Decides to Buy. She explains how to outsmart the marketers:
Being a savvy shopper means measuring the "success" of our shopping by more than just the cha-ching of the cash register. In our stressful lives, how we spend our time and energy should be as important as how we spend our money.
Based on studying consumer shopping behaviors across a number of categories (from buying padlocks to purchasing mattresses), I have three tips for how you can be a savvier shopper and better manage your resources—the time, energy, and budget you spend shopping.
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Do You Enjoy Saving?
Tweet Share on Facebook July 17, 2008 Comment (3)A recent conversation got me thinking: Will any of our money-saving moves in response to the economy stick, even if we return to flush times again? For example, some people may have discovered they enjoy cooking at home more than going out to restaurants or buying fewer clothes to clutter up the closet. I started riding my bike to work, partly because it saves me about $70 per month in commuting costs, and now that I'm in the habit, it's one of my favorite parts of the day. Even without the savings, I would still do it.
What about you—have any changes you've made for economy reasons turned out to be keepers?
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Podcast: Why Americans Are Buried in Debt
Tweet Share on Facebook July 16, 2008 Comment (7)I interviewed Jose Garcia, coauthor of Up to Our Eyeballs: The Hidden Truth and Consequences of Debt in Today's America for the latest edition of the Alpha Consumer Podcast. He explains why he thinks consumer debt is climbing and what should be done about it. You can also hear the Alpha Consumer Tip of the Week on lowering your summer air-conditioning bill. Listen now, download in
iTunes, or subscribe to the 
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When a Friendship Is Ruined by Money
Tweet Share on Facebook July 15, 2008 Comment (2)Dear Alpha Consumer,
I sold my van to a so-called friend before I moved out of California. She couldn't pay the whole $1,000, so I agreed to let her pay in four installments of $250, with the first payment when I gave her the van in March.
The check she gave me bounced. It is now almost the end of June and I still haven't received a penny.
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Murky Etiquette and Murky Coffee
Tweet Share on Facebook July 15, 2008 Comment (19)It sounds like a cheesy sitcom scene: Man goes into coffee shop. He orders his favorite drink, a triple shot of espresso over ice. Barista declines; he says the drink goes against company policy because pouring espresso over ice ruins the quality of the coffee. Man gets angry. He leaves a tip with an expletive scrawled across it.
That's not even the end of the story. The owner of the coffee shop, Murky Coffee, then writes an open letter to the customer explaining why the barista behaved properly. (It did not enlighten me, though, as to why espresso and ice should not mix. Here is an excerpt: "OK, we don't do espresso over ice. Why? Number one, because we don't do it. Number two, because we don't do it.")
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The Financial Rights of First Wives
Tweet Share on Facebook July 14, 2008 Comment (3)Spoiler alert: The following post reveals plot twists in Season 3 of Weeds.
In Season 3 of Weeds, recently released on DVD, Mary-Louise Parker's character inherits life insurance and pension payouts from her husband, who died suddenly. Even though their marriage, which was kept a secret, lasted only a short period, the money went to Parker's Nancy Botwin, and not his ex-wife of 11 years.
This development struck me—and the ex-wife—as unfair. Why does a six-month marriage trump more than a decade of shared living (and a marriage that created a son)? Shouldn't that ex-wife get at least some of the money?
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Weekly Money Blog Roundup
Tweet Share on Facebook July 14, 2008 Comment (3)The Budgeting Babe is hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance this week, and she's picked some great posts to highlight. My favorites include musings on how to handle career frustrations, thoughts on dealing with pricey wedding planning, and advice on selling your stuff.
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Life Lessons from Mary Kay
Tweet Share on Facebook July 11, 2008 Comment (5)Over 20 years after it was originally published, the bestseller The Mary Kay Way is hitting the shelves again, in an updated version. The book outlines the "timeless principles" that Mary Kay Ash used to lead her eponymous cosmetics company. (She died in 2001; the book contains a forward from her grandson.) The book stresses the importance of making other people feel important, listening, following through, and having enthusiasm.
So much of what she says applies as much to the consumer world as it does to the entrepreneurial world. Consider these lessons:
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Debate Over Standard of Living Changes
Tweet Share on Facebook July 10, 2008 Comment (4)After I wrote about Nan Mooney's new book, (Not) Keeping Up With Our Parents, in which she argues that today's 20- and 30-something professionals are financially worse off than their parents, I received a lot of feedback from people who vehemently disagreed. One reader, Don Sherwood from Boulder, Colo., dubbed me the "whiner in chief" for even writing about the book. Others said it's up to individuals to simply save more and spend less. (A spirited debate can be seen in the story's online comments.)
My editor, Jim Pethokoukis, also disagrees with Mooney. He explained in an E-mail:
