Sarah Gilbert
- http://
Sarah Gilbert
- http://
For decades, Nabisco's Wheat Thins and Honey Maid Grahams reigned as some of the healthiest choices in the snack aisle. But in the past few years, consumers have begun to sling around the words "processed foods" and "refined flours" as if they were curses, and embraced new offerings from upstarts like Kashi, a company so committed to whole grains, wheat berries are its logo. New on the list of foods that parents worry about their children eating: Ritz crackers, and the Lunchables that feature the high-calorie, low-nutrient munchable. Filed under: Food, Health, In the News
Wendy's new line of salads is reminiscent of something you'd find in a far more upscale restaurant: lolla rossa lettuce, red and green romaine, spinach, and chard. But all that fancy green is going to cost you, well, some fancy green.Filed under: Family Money, Retire
For older Americans surveyed by Allianz Life Insurance Co., death is not such a big deal. Not, that is, when it compares to the spectre of a dwindling bank account. In a poll of people between the ages of 44 and 75, 61% said that running out money was their biggest fear. The remaining 39% thought death was scarier.Filed under: Credit, Technology, Fraud
Early Sunday, suspicious activity in the Apple App Store prompted customer complaints and technology sleuths to discover an inexplicable rise in sales of Vietnamese-language books, seemingly pirated, in both the App and Apple iTunes stores. The hackers, burned customers reported, were hijacking their accounts and purchasing a large number of these apps, resulting in charges between $40 and $600 to their accounts. Those whose accounts were linked to prepaid Apple gift cards got off the easiest; many with accounts linked to debit or credit cards were left without immediate recourse. Filed under: Family Money, Shopping, Economizer
My parents are brilliant at personal finance. When they see or hear an advertisement trumpeting how much money they'll save if they just buy this, that or the other thing, they're smart enough to say, "I know how to save even more money!" How? By not buying that money-saving "miracle" product being advertised in the first place! While this may sound obvious, it's nonetheless a hurdle that many of us keep stumbling over. Filed under: Food, Family Money, Recalls, Consumer Ally
Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, Honey Smacks and Corn Pops cereals are among the 28 million boxes being recalled by Kellogg due to a "waxy" smell coming from the package liners. The company is voluntarily recalling the cereals, saying the smell could make people sick. Filed under: Food, Home, Family Money, Green
Cooking in my mother's kitchen can sometimes be a chore: She and I just don't think the same way when it comes to food, despite the many years I spent as a student under her tutelage. As a child of the Great Depression, she represents the commitment to thrift mixed with an often-blind love for the technological wonders of the last century so common in her generation (her frequent use of powdered milk is just one example). But there are times in her kitchen when I remember my roots and thank her silently for bequeathing to me a love for, and skills with, some low-tech tools that are both useful and low-cost.Filed under: Family Money
What could a mother of small children offer to the U.S. military? Some feedback, perhaps, about how badly hook-and-pile tape -- the generic term for Velcro -- holds up in a sandbox. In 2004, the Army switched to hook-and-pile tape for a number of the things formerly secured by the ancient technology of buttons and needle-and-thread, including pocket and pants closures, name patches, rank insignia, and (in a decision that always baffled me), the little U.S. flag patch. Filed under: Home, Family Money, School, Green, Economizer
Annually-released statistics such as the Agricultural Department's "cost of raising a child" report are the sort of thing that make a frugal woman shake her head. The cost of raising a child from birth to age 17, says the USDA, is $222,360 for those born in 2009; this takes into account the expenses for housing, transportation, food, clothing, health care, child care and education, and "other" (toothbrushes, iPods, and kidlit, evidently). It's a hard number to believe, especially given my possession of three hale-and-hearty boys, ages two to seven. But there was an interesting tidbit in this year's survey: as you have more than two children, your incremental costs decrease.Filed under: Shopping
While it may seem like a fortuitous turn of events, ethically and, in some cases, legally, financial errors made in your favor shouldn't be accepted and can, in fact, be considered theft. Instances of banks erroneously depositing large amounts of money in consumers' accounts, for example, did not result in early retirements on a tropical island for the consumers. Or when a staff member accidentally gets paid at the CEO rate instead of the Lowly Line Worker rate, they have had to give the money back. While disappointing, most people understand why that "found" money has to be returned. Interest Rates Provided by Bankrate.com