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Five fabulous Christmas crafts under $5
Marlene Alexander
Dec 16th 2009 at 3:15PM
Filed under: Home, Saving Money, Shopping, Economizer
Here are five Christmas crafts that were made using materials from the dollar store and cost less than $5 to make.
Coaster ornament. All you need to make this ornament is a pair of 5-inch cloth embroidered coasters, a small amount of batting, a length of wide ribbon and a ready-made tie on bow. The coasters cost $1 for the set of two. Put the coasters together with the patterns facing out and stitch around the gold trim near the edges, leaving a small opening in the top to add the batting and ribbon hanger. Then stitch the opening closed and attach the bow near the base of the hanger. Total cost: less than $3.
Go for Less: Vacation in Iraq?
Jason Cochran
Dec 16th 2009 at 3:00PM
Filed under: Extracurriculars, Transportation, Travel, Video
The question is, would you? Admit it: Aren't you just a little bit curious about what it's like there right now?
Granted, very few would pick an active war zone for a vacation. Except for someone like Michael Luongo, who recently joined us to talk about the cheapest ways to see Buenos Aires.
He's been to Iraq, he had a great time, and he's here to give us a perspective on what it's like for visitors. Find out what tourism means to Iraqi locals, what the double whammy of the recession and the war have done to the lifestyle there, and even how much it would cost you to visit the country, should your wanderlust get the better of you.
Sooner or later, Iraq will rejoin the world's tourism destinations. Luongo tells us if it will be within your financial reach to do so.
Coupon for sweaters and slippers at $5 each
Julia Scott
Dec 16th 2009 at 2:45PM
Filed under: Bargain Babe
Sweaters and slippers at Avenue, a plus-size women's clothing retailer, are just $5 each TODAY ONLY! Use coupon code AV91170 to get the discount, which is good on bell sleeve and square neck sweaters in the stores. Slippers eligible for the discount include the cozy spa slipper, scuff slipper and cosmetic bag slipper.
The code works online, though I had to add two sweaters in different colors for the $5 price to show up. So you may have to try a few different colors before the discount kicks in. Shipping starts at $6.
Caveats: sale ends Wednesday, Dec. 16. While supplies last. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Not valid on prior purchases.
Find an Avenue near you.
Thanks, Tina!
Flip MinoHD 40% off
Julia Scott
Dec 16th 2009 at 2:30PM
Filed under: Bargain Babe
The market for Flip cameras, those handy little devices that record video and plug right into your computer for downloading, is heating up. Amazon has knocked the price of the Flip MinoHD camcorder
from $199 to $120 -- a 40% discount -- and $39 less than the price Tuesday. The deal is part of a one day Gold Box discount, so it won't last. I have a Mino 2GB flip camera and it is a lot of fun to use. It doesn't make the highest quality video, but is perfect for YouTube or Facebook. That makes it a great gift for teens.
The Flip camera has built-in editing software and I can vouch for the simplicity of the controls. I figured it out without even reading the manual. The model Amazon has marked down has 60 minutes of recording time.
Shopping on Amazon.com supports WalletPop.
Singer returns to eBay with paper dress -- leftover Christmas giftwrap
Sarah Gilbert
Dec 16th 2009 at 2:15PM
Filed under: Extracurriculars, Celebs & Money, Green
"Wouldn't it be weird," thought Nashville, Tenn. singer Britt Savage, "if I could ask everybody to give me their old Christmas wrapping paper?" Remember, she goes on, when you were a kid and you had to save the wrapping paper, opening everything super-carefully. "You'd upset the whole family if you just ripped your gift up," she says.
The next step is logical only for someone with a mind like Savage's: make a dress from the resulting amalgam of saved paper, packing tape, velcro and staples ("a bunch of staples!"), and wear it onstage for a holiday season gig.
When I spoke to her a few hours before that gig on Tuesday night, Savage was buzzing with excitement, having just picked up a little more packing tape to secure the dress, a string of lights for her mic stand, and "granny pants. The skirt was already really short, so I went to this dancewear store, and they told me they're called cheerleading pants!" she tells me.
Holiday light sales short out
Tom Kraeutler
Dec 16th 2009 at 2:00PM
Filed under: Home, Saving Money, Technology, Recession, Green
Santa's reindeer may have a little trouble finding good little boys and girls' homes this Christmas due to a reported nationwide shortage of holiday lights. While the economy slowly rebounds, holiday light displays are selling out at home centers and discount retailers around the country.
No surprise: High fructose corn syrup is making us sick and fat
Bob Cesca
Dec 16th 2009 at 1:30PM
Filed under: Health
A new study by the University of California indicates that high fructose corn syrup could be just as unhealthy as some nutrition experts have thought.
In short, the first tests conducted on humans showed that subjects who were fed a diet high in fructose accumulated fat cells around their vital organs -- and they showed early signs of diseases like diabetes. A separate group ate a diet sweetened with sugar and showed no such signs.
The study also showed that fructose jumps directly to the liver without being digested like a normal sugar. Of course this leads to all kinds of metabolic problems, the most obvious being obesity.
Americans consume 34 GB of information a day
Madhusmita Bora
Dec 16th 2009 at 1:00PM
Filed under: Technology
Americans, it has turned out, gorge not only on food, but on information, too. A recent study shows that we consume 34 GB of video, music and text every day.Home improvement, Obama and sexy: 3 terms not normally found together
Tom Kraeutler
Dec 16th 2009 at 12:30PM
Filed under: Sex Sells, Home, Real Estate, Recession, Taxes-tax credits
Adding an entertaining dimension to the appeal of energy-saving home improvements and building on the promise of new tax incentives for homeowners, President Barack Obama termed insulation "a sexy subject" during a Home Depot visit in Alexandria, Va., on Tuesday.
"Here's what's sexy about it. It saves money," Obama noted in comments aimed at encouraging Congress to pass incentives for homeowners who insulate and otherwise upgrade their homes to make them more energy efficient.
McDonald's to offer free Wi-Fi starting in January
Josh Smith
Dec 16th 2009 at 12:00PM
Filed under: Extracurriculars, Food, Technology
Next year could be when free Wi-Fi becomes as ubiquitous as the Dollar Menu thanks to a recent announcement by McDonald's that nearly every Golden Arches location will begin offering free wireless Internet beginning in January. Currently, the service, costs $2.95 for 2 hours of service at 11,000 McDonald's restaurants across the country, but come January it will be as free as the McDonald's PlayPlace playgrounds.Offering free Wi-Fi is clearly a move to pull in more coffee shop clientele, who would normally search for a Starbucks, Panera and other non-fast-food locations that offer free Wi-Fi in one form or another. Panera and many other coffeehouses offer a free connection to anyone who walks in the door and Starbucks since 2008 has provided free wireless to anyone who makes a purchase once a month.
More bank failures expected; how you check the health of yours
Geoff Williams
Dec 16th 2009 at 11:00AM
Filed under: Banks
The banks may be paying back their bailout funds, but there's still trouble ahead for some banks. That became clear this week when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation agreed to almost double the amount of money in its 2010 budget that is there to deal with bank failures. What's more, the FDIC plans to add more than 1,600 staffers.Of course, with any luck, we won't need those 1,600 additional workers, only 84 of them who will be permanent staff members, incidentally. But this year, we've had 133 banks fail, and there's no evidence to suggest that we won't have a 134th soon. And now, with the added funds and additional staff, it's clear that the FDIC expects the possibility of quite a few more bank failures next year among the nation's 8,300 banks.
Act like a guerrilla in your job search
Aaron Crowe
Dec 16th 2009 at 10:00AM
Filed under: Career, Recession
Tired of getting nowhere in sales at a cemetery and essentially unemployed, Gail Neal decided to expand her job search.Neal, who lives in Detroit, Mich., where 15.1% unemployment makes it one of the most difficult places in the country to find a job, was working for commission at a cemetery outside Detroit and wasn't selling anything for almost a year before she decided to change her job-searching methods.
WalletPop experts answer your bankruptcy and college savings questions
Lan N. Nguyen
Dec 16th 2009 at 9:00AM
Filed under: College, Saving Money, Bankruptcy
The Dow may be over 10,000, but unease about the economy persists as unemployment hovers over 10%. To help ease some of your concerns, WalletPop is ready to answer your personal finance questions. Here's this month's sample:Question: My wife and I are in debt that I no longer can tolerate. I am retired and have burned through my 401(k) and my annuity to pay the $6,000 a month in mostly credit cards and home mortgages.
What are my options? I don't think we qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. What about Chapter 13, and what does that entail?? Do I need an attorney? How do I keep creditors from calling me day and night?
Answer from James Caher, co-author of Personal Bankruptcy Laws for Dummies
"Bankruptcy is definitely something you should look into, since it looks like you're sinking fast and probably wasting your retirement paying debts that you might be able to eliminate in bankruptcy. But there are many, many things to consider.
"I suspect that you may very well qualify for Chapter 7 (the one that does not involve a repayment plan of any kind), since you are living on retirement income. But this depends on whether your income exceeds the median income for your state, which is probably around $4,300/month before taxes. Social Security income does not count. Even if your income exceeds the median, you may qualify for Chapter 7, but you would have to pass the Means Test.
Americans ditching predatory credit cards
Martha C. White
Dec 16th 2009 at 8:00AM
Filed under: Credit cards
We here at WalletPop read a lot of comments about how angry Americans are with their credit card companies. We read a lot of missives from people who claim that the combination of rate hikes, fee increases and credit-limit cuts are pushing them to cut up their cards and cancel the offending accounts. And we've wondered, from time to time, how many Americans really do that. How many really are mad as heck and decide not to take it anymore? And how many just succumb to the inertia of a busy life and the convenience of keeping the card? A new survey from comScore clears up some of the mystery and confirms that Americans are, in fact, voting with their wallets. Consumers are protesting what they see as unfair treatment at the hands of their credit card companies. According to the survey, 9% of respondents have applied for a new card, while 8% have transferred a balance to a card with better terms. What's more, a whopping 39% say they've either stopped using a card that meted out draconian terms or closed the account entirely, while more than half -- 55% -- say they've stopped using cards that they feel penalize them.
Gatorade gets (another) makeover
Bruce Watson
Dec 15th 2009 at 6:15PM
Filed under: Extracurriculars, Food
Get ready for an even newer Gatorade. Following a tough year marked by plummeting sales and a highly public scandal surrounding one of its biggest celebrity endorsers (a certain golfer with a feline first name), the company is understandably eager to put 2009 behind it. But, as one might expect from a beverage maker that has long asked "is it in you?," the incredibly popular brand isn't facing its adversity sitting down: coming on the heels of its 2009 renaming effort, Gatorade -- or "G" -- is introducing new types of drinks and giving its old ones an overhaul -- again.
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 9)
1-08-2009 @ 2:19PM
Ronaldo said...
I have a dream also.....crushed as it may be like this man's is. My dream is that people who can't afford to help with their kids college education, stop wasting their money on the Lottery. But that is just a dream.
Reply
1-08-2009 @ 2:40PM
Donna said...
As a mother of a college student I can tell you that money spent on occassional lottery ticket is not gonna get in the way of tuition! nor is the few bucks saved from not playing gonna help any!!!!
1-08-2009 @ 4:13PM
Jean said...
wow, you are such an awsome human ... Im sure you are such a wonderful man with no flaws....let he without sin cast the first stone! I hope your blessed with every word you give onto others!
1-08-2009 @ 3:29PM
kerrry wenrich said...
a misprinted lottery ticket should never be sold but if so the buyer should notice it and inform the seller
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1-08-2009 @ 2:24PM
Keith said...
I had to laugh about several aspects of this but at the same time it does bring it home why gambling and lotteries have been illegal in many states. It is those who can't afford to live a decent life that are prone to spending money they do not have on lotteries. It's funny and sad that the gentleman in question had his "dreams" dashed, he is clueless to think $135k was going to move him, allow him to pay for kids college, and still live the life he'd always dreamed of? That $135k wasn't going get him beyond a year or two and if he didn't do something to change his financial income picture he's be in a worse position than he was in before he won it. There aren't that many people that can take a lottery win in stride in such a way as to have it really improve their life and not change it for the worse.
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1-08-2009 @ 6:14PM
Bryan said...
You hit the nail on the head. I might be able too make that last 2-3 years. Without colage,new house and other things
1-08-2009 @ 2:25PM
Justin said...
Well he never had $135,000 to begin with so he should be used to living without it and I would advise him to start investing that $3 into financial education.
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1-08-2009 @ 3:51PM
Butch said...
Come on Justin, really?? Save 3 dollars a week. How long will it take him to save for a 4 year low class college. For a 4 year total of 100,000 in tuition and living expenses (which is very low), it would take him 33,333 weeks. That's 641 years, I think a chance at $100,000 for the cost of $3 a week is a much better chance of coming true. Duh
1-09-2009 @ 2:13AM
lucy said...
Butch said it best..... $3 a week for thc chance at a dream is not so bad. You can't even go to a movie for that !!!
1-08-2009 @ 7:49PM
Angee said...
LMAO that's funny and so true. That's why they say don't count your chickens before they hatch.
1-08-2009 @ 2:26PM
EdgarLongenecker said...
P.S. Never mind, how many "mistakes," were sold, to be divided.... Divide the doubled money between the proven claimants.... who, actually filed for their money; not, any, who crawled out of the woodwork, after the fact; ie., ringer/shills of Organized Crime, AT LAW.... and, let's have a cap on winnings, so that there can be hundreds of winners, instead of one person winning the entire drop in the bucket, that, Organized Crime AT LAW, is scamming....Edgrrr....
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1-08-2009 @ 2:27PM
Brian said...
He and his family would be much better off with "safer" financial investments such as Keno.
Reply
1-08-2009 @ 2:32PM
kathy said...
I think the lottery should pay up, because it was their mistake and not the people who paid for the tickets. I think the law needs to see to it that the lottery goes ahead and pay these people.
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1-08-2009 @ 2:47PM
Eileen said...
I am reading that people should not waste their money on the lottery when the live in a basement apartment and/or can't send their children to college.
I am low-income and I buy an occasional lottery ticket. $1 won't change much in my life if I set it aside but buying that ticket does give me one thing.....hope that one day my dreams will come true. I doubt that you people out there who criticize are in the financial situation that the man in the story was so please don't judge.
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1-08-2009 @ 2:42PM
basketpam said...
You know, no one has said anywhere that this many was spending large amounts of money on lottery tickets. And an occasional little flutter by spending a dollar (pocket change) on something which you may win big money is no worse than people wasting their money on cigarettes, cigars, alcohol and tons of unnecessary junk that all of you I can GUARANTEE have wasted it on. He would have spent 10 times that amount to go to a movie or 50 times that amount if he had taken the family and yet no one would have bitched if he had taken his family to a movie. Really people, it's a damn dollar, GET A LIFE. I know how he feels. My financial picture has changed drastically in the last 2 years due to poor health and every once in a while I buy a ticket, what are you going to do, lock me up? It gives you a little something to hope for, to wish for. Is that such a crime? Apparently to you bunch of self-righteous moralizing hypocrits it is. Just think back over 2008 and think about all the money you spent on unnecessary things and then throw your stones at someone who spent a dollar on a lottery ticket. And yes, living in a basement does suck, I've done it and you spend your life feeling like you're a second rate human being. You get very little sunshine and there are often other problems. Very rarely is it a healthy environment to raise children but people who don't have big paying jobs are forced into such circumstances. Remember, before you condemn, walk a mile in someone else's shoes first, then see if you can say the same things.
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1-08-2009 @ 3:11PM
Lynda said...
basketPam..
I agree with you 110%.. People judge everyone else but never find the faults in themselves. It was just a Lottery ticket people get over it.
1-08-2009 @ 2:53PM
sherry said...
you said perfectly pam when no one walks the shoes , you'll never know how it feels...i feel sorry for the guy its not fair i hope he finds a lawyer who will take the case and fight it...i think the court will see the lottery needs to pay up something. For the some of the blogs i read the economy is bad, everyone is a rock bottom if not now , you will be and hopefully you will remember how stupid you responded to this.....and have more sympathy later.....
1-08-2009 @ 3:06PM
Keith said...
Hey, you ever "played" Ebay? It's too easy to take any amount and double it. Go to a thrift store or garage sale, you'd be amazed at how many things can be bought for under $5.00 that can be sold for over $15.00 or more. I worked the proceeds of a couple of modest watches up to where I have $40,000 in watches now, I buy them on ebay and sell them on ebay, I sell a watch a day and make $20k a month. I deal with a guy that started with $40k and turned it into $3.5 million in inventory in three years that he clears $300k a month on. Ebay can be way more hope inspiring for someone who really wants to change their life in a way that they can control. Go to a thrift center and buy coffee carafes for a buck apiece and you'll get $5.00 to $10.00 for them. Go through books and buy first editions for .50c and put them up, buy cups and saucers that sell at a good price.
1-08-2009 @ 2:45PM
Patriot said...
You know whats even better than this story? Did you know that when someone wins the jackpot in the scratch off tickets the lottery commission does not announce it so when you buy your ticket thinking you can still win it ,IT'S JUST FRAUD ?? The money was paid and thier are no more tickets for the jackpot! If anyone but the government did this they would go to jail!
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1-08-2009 @ 2:50PM
havenotgirl said...
I think they should pay up. It would be better for their business to just pay the people, because there is no way in hell I'd buy a ticket from them now. As for the people claiming that $135,000 is no big deal and he should have saved his money for college tuition..I wish we were all as well off as you. I hardly ever play the lottery but ever so often I pray that maybe I will win something, anything, with my dollar in change. Being that desperate is no fun. Besides, do you really think that 3 dollars in a savings fund will send his kids to college and get him out of a basement? Is everything you buy worth it? I hope you pinch every dime and aren't just some well to do hypocrite. More than enough of those in the world.
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