Your smartphone may nudge your spending — or not
A recent survey by Group SJR and Liz Claiborne Inc. found that people with smartphones are three times more likely to use their devices to make a purchase than us technopeasants who have “only” a cell...
View ArticleCome on, baby — EVERYONE is saving!
The Web is not lacking in sites that are organized around the belief that publicizing your goals will help you achieve them. Some work on the make-a-list theory (My50.com), others on the play-a-game...
View ArticleWarranty cards: What are they good for?
Going through a cache of appliance manuals and instruction booklets is nobody’s idea of a good time — and do not write me if it is yours, because I do not want to know — but it’s one of those little...
View ArticleThe high, hidden costs of “free”
I’ve recently been gifted two boxes of Similac samples. This is both good — coupons for money off formula! Free tubs of the stuff my daughter has recently decided she prefers! — and not so good, in...
View ArticleThe back to school challenge: Prep without cost
Summertime, and the commuting is easy, as my going to work does not coincide with throngs of children going to school. Alas, my summer vacation from child-induced traffic jams is coming to an end — in...
View ArticleThings I’ve learned about self storage
Last weekend, a lot of strangers tramped through my house. We put our house on the market, and there have been showings nearly every week. The past month prior to listing it has been a blur of home...
View ArticleIt probably pays to snack before you shop
The next time you’ve got to make a big purchase, consider eating something first. In last Sunday’s New York Times magazine, the article “Do You Suffer from Decision Fatigue?” outlines research that...
View ArticleE-commerce: Anything but a bargain sometimes
I will happily sing the praises of some online shopping experiences (Amazon’s Subscribe & Save comes to mind), but there are drawbacks to e-commerce that no amount of technological innovation seem...
View ArticleMoney: it buys sanity when traveling with children
The decisions I made as a childfree adult traveler are considerably different than the ones I’m making now. When I’m flying solo, I’ll do everything I can to restrict my baggage to the (free)...
View ArticleWe’re not what we buy; we buy because of who we are
This is the blog’s final entry, so I am shamelessly exercising my right to get nostalgic. When I started “Dollars and Sense,” an emerging assumption about U.S. consumers was that we’d still continue to...
View Article