Tax season is just around the corner, but we also wanted to replay this video from WalletPop's archives in honor of its subject, Conard Fowkes, who passed away this week. He helped provide free tax help to generations of actors, including Denzel Washington, and will be missed. Thanks Conard!Read more!

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Breakfast for dinner? Put away the cereal -- pancakes are cheaper

Aaron Crowe Dec 18th 2009 @ 12:00PM EST Filed Under: Food, Saving Money, Economizer

When I was a kid, it was a treat to have breakfast for dinner. I've continued that tradition for my 5-year-old daughter, recently making blueberry pancakes and bacon for dinner.

Much of America is also having breakfast food for dinner, although not what I'd consider a once-in-awhile treat -- cereal.

As a way to save money in the recession during high unemployment, more people are eating cereal for dinner, according to an Associated Press story. The cheap meal has helped General Mills Inc., the maker of Cheerios, see its second quarter profit climb 50%, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Continue reading Breakfast for dinner? Put away the cereal -- pancakes are cheaper

Check, mate: England to phase out paper checks

Martha C. White Dec 18th 2009 @ 11:00AM EST Filed Under: Banks, Extracurriculars

Well, 300 years is a good run for just about anything, but it seems that the era of the paper check might just be drawing to a close across the pond.

In the U.K., a board made up of major banks called the U.K. Payments Council voted to phase out paper checks by 2018. According to this Reuters article, the number of checks written annually in Britain has been falling sharply over the past decade as a growing number of people use online banking and credit or debit cards to pay for goods and services. The article also says it costs banks one pound (about two bucks) to process a hard copy of a check. A related article from the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph projects that check usage in the U.K. will continue to fall, dropping to 1.6 million per day nationwide by 2018, as compared with 3.8 million a day last year.

Continue reading Check, mate: England to phase out paper checks

Frugal fatigue is now officially what ails us

Ann Brenoff Dec 18th 2009 @ 10:00AM EST Filed Under: Kids and Money, Saving Money, Shopping, Recession

Enough of us are apparently experiencing frugality fatigue that it's not only made it into the lexicon but may well soon be declared an official psychiatric disorder.

I am personally so relieved. Perhaps someone will come up with a 12-step program fashioned to control it? Forget group hugs; let's organize a group shop!

It seems it goes like this: Frugal fatigue, according to Word Spy, is the mental exhaustion caused by constant frugality during hard economic times. Gee, and here I thought it was plain old garden variety anxiety over losing my job and worrying about paying the mortgage.

Wrote Christopher Muther in Boston.com last month: "[I]t seems that after a year of watching our wallets, bank accounts, and 401(k) plans with the tenacity of a wheelchair-bound Jimmy Stewart in an Alfred Hitchcock thriller, some are throwing up their hands, taking out their credit cards, and wading back into pre-recession spending habits. The official term for this behavior is frugal fatigue. It started creeping into the lexicon last spring, and now frugal fatigue -- the idea that we're getting worn down and stressed out by constantly watching our budgets -- may as well be an officially diagnosed psychiatric disorder."

Continue reading Frugal fatigue is now officially what ails us

Ask the Dolans: What are the best places to invest now?

Ken and Daria Dolan Dec 18th 2009 @ 9:30AM EST Filed Under: The Dolans, Wealth, Investing, Video

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's first family of personal finance, answer your questions every Friday.

Click here to ask Ken and Daria your question.

Every Friday, Ken and Daria answer a question from a WalletPop reader. This week, they tackle a question that has come from dozens of WalletPoppers: Where is the best place to invest my money now? If you're wondering what's ahead for the market and your investments in the new year, you'll want to watch today's video!

You can get Ken and Daria's personal finance advice every day at Dolans.com or follow them on Facebook.

Snack smuggler tests AMC theater's no-food policy

Ron Dicker Dec 18th 2009 @ 9:00AM EST Filed Under: Bargains, Food, Saving Money

It is 11:15 a.m. at the AMC Empire 25 in Manhattan, and I am packing. Microwave popcorn, Cheez-Its, pineapple soda, Halloween leftovers, Chex Mix and bags of chips hide at the bottom of my backpack. Chocolate bars and more bags of chips are stuffed into my jacket pockets. Street value: about 9 dollars. If I had purchased a similar bundle of junk food at the theater concession, it would have run me about 36 big ones.

I am on a mission to preserve a way of life for the fiscally responsible movie goer: to save the smuggled snack.

Continue reading Snack smuggler tests AMC theater's no-food policy

Seven top scams that target seniors

Beth Pinsker Dec 18th 2009 @ 8:44AM EST Filed Under: Retire, The Dolans, Fraud, Retirement advice

Seniors are one of scam artist's favorite targets. More than 25 million seniors were victims of fraud last year according to the Federal Trade Commission. Seniors become targets because they are easy to reach by phone, are often home during the day, often live along, and are often more willing to talk to strangers. Here, Ken and Daria Dolan expose seven top scams that target seniors. Even if you aren't a senior yourself, keep reading and warn the seniors in your life about these scams.

Click here to read the story!

Travel insurance: $218,000 says you need it when traveling abroad

Aaron Crowe Dec 18th 2009 @ 8:00AM EST Filed Under: Health, Travel, Insurance-health

Why buy travel insurance? Cajya Darling, 28, was on vacation in Cancun in October with her husband when she had difficulty breathing.

A trip to a local hospital revealed she had a collapsed lung, and a check of her health insurance revealed she was covered, so the Mexico doctors recommended she stay there for six to eight weeks to see if her lung would heal on its own, according to Darling.

Not wanting to wait for nature to take its course, her family quickly paid $38,000 for Angel MedFlight to fly her to a hospital in Texas for treatment. The total bill for the air ambulance service was $218,000, a fee Darling expects her insurer to cover because the hospital in Mexico where she stayed is based in Florida.

Continue reading Travel insurance: $218,000 says you need it when traveling abroad

Another infant death fires up efforts to recall all Simplicity drop-side cribs

Julie Tilsner Dec 17th 2009 @ 6:00PM EST Filed Under: Consumer Ally

Reports of another infant death due to defective mechanics on a Simplicity brand drop-side crib has the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission calling for wider recalls of the popular, low-priced cribs.

The latest death involved a 7-month-old baby in Princeton, Kentucky. In July an 8-month old in Texas suffocated between the mattress and the side of the crib when a plastic connector on the drop side broke away. The CPSC is aware of at least 25 incidents to date involving the drop side detaching from the cribs, including a total of 11 deaths.

Continue reading Another infant death fires up efforts to recall all Simplicity drop-side cribs

Would you Tweet your credit card purchases?

Martha C. White Dec 17th 2009 @ 5:30PM EST Filed Under: Credit, Technology, Credit cards

The Internet marketing guru who created one of the Web's biggest ad networks has a new venture, and he'd like your credit card number.

Oh, he's not going to sell you anything. He just wants to keep track of where you shop, what you buy and how much you pay for it -- and he wants to share that with all your friends.

Is this cool or just kooky? This New York Times article describes the initiative, which is in beta mode (meaning that it's still being tested on a trial audience of the founder's acquaintances).

Continue reading Would you Tweet your credit card purchases?

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