Now up at MSN Money is my latest column, “Useless Groupon? Cash it in.” It’s all about the secondary market for social commerce vouchers from places like Tippr, Buy With Me, Living Social and, of course, Groupon.
The advantage is twofold: You can unload deals you no longer want and, more to the point, you can look for deals you missed on the first go-round or that you didn’t know existed.
As one secondary-market host says, it’s “a catalog experience vs. an impulse buy.”
Somebody pulling out of a parking lot hit my daughter and son-in-law’s car. The driver was too busy looking off to the side to notice that she was aimed straight at the Chevy Cavalier in the left-turn lane.
Even though she wasn’t going fast, the T-boning she gave the car damaged both doors on the passenger side. Neither one will open now and there’s probably unseen damage because it felt wonky during the drive home.
As Abby notes in this post, it looks as though the other driver’s insurance company will declare it totaled, as in “It costs more to fix than it’s worth.”
Here’s the thing: Their car was old. But it was still reliable transportation. With luck it would have lasted them several more years, years during which they would have been saving for a replacement vehicle.
Earlier this month the National Foundation for Credit Counseling shared the results of a new study. Apparently a whole bunch of U.S. residents are tired of budgeting.
“Majority of Americans have frugal fatigue,” the press release trumpeted. “Significant minority found lifestyle changes to be positive.”
That’s my new favorite oxymoron – “significant minority.” I know what it’s supposed to mean: That 21% rather than 2% of the respondents found frugal lifestyle changes to be a good thing. That is significant. But I still think it sounds funny.
About that significant majority: Sixty-six percent of those surveyed are feeling the strain of having to watch their dollars. Wait…Americans are unhappy that they can no longer spend like sailors on shore leave? There’s news.
That’s me who’s sick, not the computer. I’m pretty sure it’s viral: Sore throat, slight cough, aches and malaise but no fever. Blech. This is one of those times when it’s not good to be single. If someone else were here I could ask him to please go get me a box of Popsicles.
I wanted to write something staggeringly clever and original but after a day of research/interviews for my day job, I’m feeling somewhat battered. Also acutely aware that I leave in, um, 13 days and have to turn in a lot more work unless I want to be writing from the Piccadilly Backpackers Hostel. (Hint: I don’t.)
I’m going to bed early. The rest of you can read.
The price of everything at I Pick Up Pennies
Recently my daughter noticed she was having trouble swallowing. This perplexed her until she realized what day it was: Jan. 21, the anniversary of the day she wound up in the ICU back in 1998.
What put her there was Guillain-Barre syndrome, an auto-immune disease that attacks the peripheral nervous system and, in Abby’s case, paralyzed her right up to her eyeballs and nearly killed her.
Let’s make this clear: I don’t read romance novels. But a woman I know does. No. Seriously! It’s not me!
Check out her post, “What you should be reading for Christmas,” either as an occasion for hilarity or a chance to make a reading list. Romances aren’t my cup of (overly sweetened) tea, but they might be yours.
And yeah, Christmas has come and gone – but Valentine’s Day awaits.
Julia over at Bargain Babe is giving away 11 prizes, including a $250 Macy’s gift card, to celebrate the site’s second anniversary. Click here to learn more and to enter. Do it quickly, since the deadline for the Macy’s card is 11:59 p.m. Monday.
If you don’t already read the Consumerism Commentary personal finance blog, get yourself over there and register. You earn points each time you read an article and leave a comment, or share articles via social media. The points can be exchanged for FABULOUS PRIZES!
Myself, I’m skipping the personal finance books and saving up for the Amazon gift cards:
Earlier this week I was out walking when the temperature was about 5 degrees. My body felt warm enough but boy, did my face sting. Apparently my blood has gotten thin after six years of living in Seattle, aka “the tropics.”
While I was living in Anchorage, the features reporters had to collaborate on an annual “Christmas lights” story. Acting on tips from readers, we fanned out across the city in search of the best-decorated homes in the city.
“Best” sometimes meant elegant and tasteful. Most of the time it meant “so bright you could get a tan while standing nearby.”
I didn’t have a lot of reading time this week because I stayed in Chicago for a few days after attending SaveUp 2010. Thus my recommended reading list is short and sweet. A cheaper Christmas? at I Pick Up Pennies Get a bigger check from Social Security at Kiplinger’s (hint: timing is everything) 25 a-peeling … Read more
The blogosphere sizzled, both pro and con, over a post in which University of Chicago law professor Todd Henderson claimed he and his physician wife are not rich.
Sure, they have a 4,700-square-foot home, two cars, a gardener, several kids in private school, a full-time nanny for their new baby and someone who comes in to clean a few times a month.
Wonder what that particular brand of poverty feels like? (Also, why two cars if he lives within walking distance of the university?)
Laura Rowley did a swell blog post called Why the rich don’t feel rich at Yahoo! Finance. You need to read it. You should also follow this link within her piece and enjoy economist J. Bradford DeLong as he scores points off Henderson, whom he designates an “unreliable narrator.”
Ain’t no schadenfreude like scholarly schadenfreude.
But do find time also to look at: