Underrated in America

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Ann Hermes, Getty Images

Simple Things Taken for Granted

Criticism is easy; ask any comic. What's hard is appreciating the routine pleasures of everyday life -- the stores, services, places and people that make our lives better without costing us much, if anything. In this series, WalletPop bloggers highlight the 25 most underrated things in America today. See if you agree.

First Up: Layaway

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Bebeto Matthews, AP

Diners

In the age of bistros, cafes, cucinas and ristorantes, where is the love for The Great American Diner, that bastion of jukeboxes, polished steel and vinyl stools, grill jockeys in white t-shirts and aprons, and good old-fashioned American grub at prices the average American can afford?

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Next: Layaway's

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Tim Boyle, Getty Images

Layaway

Layaway was popularized during the Great Depression (although it was practiced long before that), and endured as a way to pay for products into the 1970s. Since then, the populace has grown accustomed to buying everything from a bag of potato chips to a TV on a credit card. But in these days of debt overload, layaway is making a comeback.

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Next: RadioShack

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

RadioShack

It's easy to make fun of RadioShack. But if you need an extension cord, a cheap phone, a surge protector, even a quick birthday present for a child's party, it's a handy stop. It will never be cool or cutting edge. But for solving the average family's technology problems, it is most definitely underrated.

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Next: Public Libraries

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Public Libraries

You get access to all human knowledge, written or recorded. Story books for your children, story-telling presentations. Car manuals for your grease monkey. Tunes for your teenager. Cookbooks for your chef, movies for Saturday night, novels for the beach, how-to videos for your gardening. All for free, or just $31 per person in tax dollars.

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Next: Guinea Pigs as Pets

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Guinea Pigs as Pets

A dog was just too much. Diaper-changing memories were still too close for this blogger to embrace the poop and the scoop. Cats presented allergy issues for some family members. Rabbits could be trained to a litter box, but she didn't want to do the training. Thus it was that two Abyssinian guinea pigs came in to their lives.

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Next: Vaccines

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Vaccines

This blogger gets his flu shot each fall without really thinking about the miracle it represents. In an age where our health worries focus on osteoporosis, impotence, and incontinence, it's easy to forget what horrors our routine vaccinations have removed from our consciousness.

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Next: Beets

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Beets

Just try to resist a plateful of reds, oranges, and golds, sprinkled with chevre, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar... This blogger will be eating beets while the rest of us are ordering tasteless salads with romaine trucked in from California and mealy, watery tomatoes shipped up from Chile, and she'll be smirking a bit.

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Next: Board Games

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Board Games

Board games unfortunately sound like bored games. But they're anything but. This is an activity that obliges a family to play together and that means a lot, especially as more and more outside forces -- from TV to the Internet to school activities and work obligations -- demand our attention.

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Next: Playgrounds

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Playgrounds

A new British study says that "boring" playgrounds are stifling kids' creativity and blames the problem on "kit" playgrounds that are mostly designed to contain children rather than inspire them.This blogger has her doubts. She says her rudimentary neighborhood playground offers her kids wonderful opportunities for fun, free imaginative play.

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Next: Interstate Highways

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Interstate Highways

Once upon a time, mountain roads were lined with abandoned cars which had died on the steep grades. Pavement was often so abused by truck traffic that potholes kept local tire shops in tourist-gouging bliss. Riding through the mountains in the backward-facing seat was a prescription for motion sickness. Well-maintained interstate highways have cured those ills and more.

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Next: International Grocery Stores

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Andy Nelson, Getty Images

International Grocery Stores

When this blogger moved to the Bronx about a year and a half ago, he was blown away by the increased cost of necessities. Milk and peanut butter cost almost twice as much, string cheese tripled in price, and beef was too expensive. He soon learned the joys of cheap international grocery stores.

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Next: Fire-prevention Codes

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Fire-prevention Codes

Mankind's bargain with fire has always come at a heavy price. When this blogger hears people complain about the burden of getting permits forconstruction and putting up with fire department inspections, he asks himself how they would feel watching their houses or businesses engulfed in flames.

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Next: Goats

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Goats

Barbara Kingsolver writes in her local food memoir, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, of the amazing quality of goats, who live readily on land that's impossible to farm, eating mesquite pods and grass and other food humans don't really prefer, turning it into tasty milk and lean, delicious meat without a bit of expense or fossil fuels.

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Next: The Hallmark Channel

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Hallmark Channel

The Hallmark Channel

This blogger has a dirty little secret. Sometimes, when nobody is looking, and he's sure his wife isn't around, he sneaks into his room, turns out the lights, draws down the shades and turns on the Hallmark Channel. Sometimes it's nice to turn on a channel where it's a little more like 1988 than 2008.

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Next: Buying a Condo Instead of a House

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Buying a Condo Instead of a House

If home ownership is the American Dream, a condo is the somewhat less attractive step-sister. If you're obsessed with the idea of having a white picket fence, a big private yard, and a detached home, then a condo won't offer you any of those things. But there are some great reasons to buy a condo now.

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Next: People Cooking

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Cooking from Scratch

Food cooked from scratch contains fewer of the chemicals foreign to our bodies. Scratch cooking lowers grocery bills. Food prepared from scratch also tastes better than those plastic-encapsulated, reconstituted, freezer-to-microwave meals.

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Next: Savings Bonds

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Savings Bonds

What popular American investment with more than 45 million investors has not lost one cent of its value during the recent turbulent months? Give up? It's the United States Savings Bond. Issued by the US Treasury Department, the US Savings Bond program has been underrated since its inception in 1941.

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Next: Local Hardware Stores

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Local Hardware Stores

The Lowe's may be closer, and the Home Depot only a five minute drive away, but this blogger still trundles down to the local hardware store when she needs something because it's convenient, friendly and the staff is helpful.

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Next: The Trades

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The Trades

This blogger was the first person in her immediate family to go to college, yet she makes vastly less than any of them. Why? While she was paying the big bucks for fancy-schmancy degrees, they were plying their trades. Her Dad's a pool-man and manufacturer of pool tools. Brother Dave is a sign-painter. Both are hard-working, entrepreneurial, and prosperous as a result.

More on the Trades

Next: Congressmen and Women

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Mark Wilson, Getty Images

Congressmen and Women

Did you know your Congressional representative can do all sorts of things for you including:
- Provide help with federal agencies such as housing, Veterans' benefits & Social Security
- Arrange tours at points of interest in DC
- Assist with Passport & immigration issues
- Nominate people for a U.S. Service Academy such as West Point
- Help you get a Congressional internship.
- Provide people with a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol
More on Congressmen and Women

Next: Diners

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Nati Harnik, Getty Images

Community Colleges

Bottom line: unless you're rolling in cash or receive a huge amount of scholarship money, beginning your college career at a community college is worth considering. The costs are a fraction of a private college, and you'll be able to save money by working and living at home. You can transfer to a four-year school to complete your degree.

More on Community Colleges

Next: Being Single

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Tanya Constantine

Being Single

The advantages to having a marital partner are well advertised: Filing taxes jointly, sharing a home and other expenses, and not having to spend lavishly on cologne and Versace to impress members of the opposite (or same) sex. But pairing up also has its disadvantages, especially when it comes to money.

More on Being Single

Next: Certificate of Deposit

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Certificate of Deposit

Putting money into CDs is one of the safest things you can do with your cash amid protracted economic uncertainty and volatility in the stock market and the banking sector. If you shop around, you can find rates as high as 8% depending on the length of deposit. CDs can be opened at your bank or online.

More on Certificate of Deposit

Next: Bartering

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Bartering

In the current economic climate, this blogger advocates taking the idea of bartering beyond eBay or swap sites like SwapThing. She suggests offering a service that a friend, acquaintance, or professional contact values in exchange for something that you need.

More on Bartering

Next: Nurses

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Nurses

In the last 30 years, wages have certainly gone up, but the pay for nurses still remains at a ridiculously low level. Starting pay for a new graduate is around $21.55 per hour and the job is much harder now.

More on Nurses

Next: Most Overrated in America

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Most Overrated in America

Now that you've seen the most underrated things in America see what the 25 most overrated things are.

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Most Overrated in America

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Underrated in America

Simple Things Taken for Granted

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Diners

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Layaway

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Beets

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Goats

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Buying a Condo Instead of a House

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Cooking from Scratch

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Savings Bonds

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The Trades

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