Remember the days when gold credit cards were the gold standard? Then platinum credit cards became the new mark of exclusivity. Since then, the platinum of platinum credit cards have morphed into black, clear, blue, plum, titanium and every other color imaginable in the status rainbow. How do you choose?

The good news is platinum credit cards are more available to average consumers. You don't need the highest income or credit scores to qualify for members only benefits, but generally just need a solid credit history and a FICO above 650. If you pass the criteria, you can earn platinum credit card points redeemable for prizes and merchandise, tap customer service benefits, accrue frequent flyer miles, get discounts and reap cashback bonuses. Most platinum credit cards also guarantee over-the-limit services, so you'll never again have to deal with the embarrassment of getting your card declined.

Let's take a look at some of the best platinum credit cards on the market.

My wife and I occasionally shop for groceries at a supermarket that allows customers to collect points towards coupons, giveaways and other discounts. This year, we collected enough points to get a free turkey.

Hooray.

In years past, we never would've considered buying a frozen turkey from a chain grocery store. Not that we're arrogant or anything, we just prefer to buy local meats whenever possible. But because of the economy, we thought it might be a better idea to just take advantage of the free turkey and put the savings towards other things.

Cyber Monday deals traditionally come once a year, the Monday after Thanksgiving, when online retailers cut prices to lure in workers who have returned to work but still need to get some shopping done.

This year there will be plenty of Cyber Monday sales on Nov. 30, but according to the CEO of Coupon Craze, that's just the start of Cyber Monday deals this year.

By working with retailers and observing the online shopping trends, which show that online shopping jumps significantly on the Mondays leading up to Christmas, Christian Gordun, the Coupon Craze CEO, has come up with a list of additional Cyber Mondays and a Shipping Monday to keep in mind.

When you settle in to watch the annual spectacular of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year, your viewing experience will be missing something. No, it's not just the cast of Glee (banished due to the show's unusual popularity on the rival FOX Network); it will also include a PETA advertisement intended for just this audience. And for once, the famously edgy animal rights group is not showing too much skin (of the gorgeous or not-so-gorgeous variety) or brainlessly offending whole classes of society.

No. This time, NBC has decided, Americans can't handle the truth about turkeys. Specifically, the truth about how turkeys are raised and slaughtered so they can end up, neatly plastic-wrapped and hard as 15-pound flesh-colored rocks, in supermarkets everywhere.

It seems like there is data (or at least numbers) on every factor that any family could ever dream of considering when selecting a college. Which colleges have the highest graduation rates? Which college produce the most Nobel Prize winners?

But let's be honest. There's one thing we really want to know. Which schools are most likely to turn kids into drunken train wrecks? Happily, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has put together some data on the topic:

On Black Friday, shoppers across America will set out in search of bargains on flat screen TVs, Verizon Droids, Snuggies and... guns? Only in South Carolina.

The Palmetto State is offering its residents a sales tax holiday beginning on Black Friday. For guns. It is the only two day sales tax holiday of its kind in the country.

The South Carolina Department of Revenue issued reminders earlier in the week for what has been dubbed the "Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday for 2009."

The two day sales tax-free event begins on 12:01 a.m. on Black Friday. During the sales tax holiday, shoppers will pay no state or local sales taxes on handguns, rifles and shotguns. Generally, the statewide sales tax rate for retail sales in South Carolina is 6%. Counties may impose an additional 1% local sales tax.

With an estimated 180 million members of frequent-flier programs and 10 trillion unused frequent-flier miles in circulation, what are the best airline rewards to spend your miles on? If you've done the right thing and accumulated most of your miles with one airline to maximize your redemption power, here's how how you can reap the benefits (or at least try):

Seats. Actual flights are the most popular use of airline rewards, but are also some of the toughest to redeem. Remember the first time you naively tried to redeem miles for a flight and found out that all dates were blacked out, sold out or would cost you triple the miles you expected?

Expiration is another problem with this particular airline reward. In fact, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) recently requested a review of frequent-flier programs for "deceptive business practices" for not giving customers a heads up that they are going to lose accounts or miles. Assuming Sen. Schumer's probe gets nowhere with solving this frustrating airline rewards problem, you need to call way, way, way ahead of your desired days of travel to get seats for the "advertised" miles. And don't neglect to research and manage your mileage program (most airlines allow three years of inactivity before miles expire, though JetBlue, AirTran and ATA only allow one year; Continental allows only 18 months; and Southwest allows 24 months).

Partners. This is where the bigger airlines rewards programs have an advantage. Continental and United; Delta and Northwest, etc., allow you to redeem miles with their partners, which increases flexibility and opportunities to get the flight you want.

The million-dollar question being asked among the faithful followers of Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing" show is this: Where is Chad getting those cakes from?

Chad Rogers, one of the three Realtors whose antics are followed each week, let the frosting out of the bag. In an interview with WalletPop, he revealed that he gets the one-of-a-kind cakes at the Brentwood bakery, Susie's Cakes.

Rogers uses them to make his open houses memorable (the $700 cake was decorated with an image of Cake Chad wearing identical clothes to Real Chad, standing in front of an exact replica of the house with a talk bubble saying "It's always a wonderful day in my neighborhood." In the show, Real Chad waits for the end of the open house and then eats Cake Chad's hair.

Do you lavish money on some things but pinch pennies on others? This interesting video by BigThink features Dan Ariely, Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University, explaining why we do this. Just in time for Black Friday madness...Happy deal hunting, everybody!