Serious Coin
Yes, yes, times are tough. We get it. But how much money do you really save on that detour to the cheap gas station across town?
Well, it turns out it’s complicated. Which is why we’re here to break it down. 
First, what you really want to keep in mind is the size of your tank. The more you spend, the more you save. If you’ve got an SUV or a pickup, you’ll save more at a far-away bargain station than if you’re in a smaller car.
Assuming the extra time you’ll spend driving is worth at least two bucks,
Eat out much? Then you know how all those little outings can add up to a big dent in your wallet. And for the frugalistas who don’t dine out on the town…don’t you kinda wish you did?
So. What’s a fiscally responsible foodie to do?
Eating less is not an option.
Well, you could try to order from the kids’ menu and mix your own vodka tonics from a flask. But there’s another option that won’t get you kicked out of the restaurant: Dine out on a Monday.
“Though it may differ depending on the market, generally Mondays are
Fact: Getting a new car is awesome.
Fact: Buying one blows.
Here’s a tip—skip the car lot feeding frenzy altogether, and go straight for the 7½ floor of car dealerships: the Internet Department.
Internet Departments do not allow you to inhabit the body of John Malkovich. Sorry, they just save you money.
What’s that? According to Philip Reed of car buying guide Edmunds.com, most dealerships have one. An untouted boon to car buyers everywhere, this department offers the one thing the lot doesn’t: a sales force with a salary. They get bonuses based on the volume of cars they move,
The organization pulled in $97 million dollars in 2010. Average project billings went up from $161,000 in 2005 to $5.3 million in 2010. Not bad in the midst of a global recession.
Especially for a group based out of Somalia. Whose primary business is piracy.
Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime. Fish out his waters, he’ll start a $97 million piracy business.
Yup. Disturbingly enough, being a Somali pirate is a pretty lucrative gig these days.
The disappearance of a solid central government in Somalia as well as an extremist Islamic insurgency has led to
Ten bucks says the next Dan Brown novel centers on this money mystery: In 1776, the Continental Congress struck a coin called the Continental Currency Dollar. In 1787, the U.S. government minted its very first coin, the Fugio cent. Both coins bore this cryptic phrase: “Mind Your Business.”
Back in the day, men were men and coins didn’t have sappy mottoes like E Pluribus Unum.
Now, of course, our coins say “E Pluribus Unum”-which translates to the Lord of the Rings-esque “Out of Many, One”-but for a minute there, some of our earliest and most important coins
So, how dirty is money? Well, that depends on where you are.
If you’re in Australia, where the money is made of a germ-repelling synthetic polymer, or Japan, where cash can be heat-sterilized by an ATM, then chances are your cash is pretty clean.
If you’re stateside, your cash is dirty. “Debbie Does Dallas” dirty.
It’s fine. The Fed has a special machine that gets rid of most dirty money.
Studies of paper currency found that smaller denominations get the most use and the most germs, but larger bills are also perfect hosts for critters like fecal bacteria (guys, really?
I thought my credit card interest was bananas. But the U.S. pays $4.15 BILLION every day in interest on our $14 trillion debt. That’s crazy, stupid money.
So what could you buy with that kind of cash money if the U.S. accidentally paid you $4 billion and you never had to pay it back or go to jail Madoff-style?
Oh, the things our fiscal irresponsibility could buy.
1. Four $1 billion homes.
Real estate! You could up the ante on this guy in Mumbai, who built the world’s most expensive home. His pad, all 27-stories and 400,000-square-feet of it,
Next time a bright-eyed college student asks you to save the children for the price of your morning coffee, think of this before shooting her down with some lame excuse: A new study suggests that we are more likely to give money to victims of natural disasters than man-made tragedies, like war.
Why? We like to believe life is fair, and we blame the victim whenever possible in order to maintain this illusion perspective, researchers say. If we believe the victim did something to deserve it, we can believe we would have to do something to trigger this misfortune too.
Here’s one way to stimulate the U.S. economy: Start using dollar coins instead of bills. Seriously.
We could save $500 million and stimulate the economy by ditching dollar bills. But then we wouldn’t get pictures like this.
Admit it. Dollar bills kinda suck.
Vending machines reject them, they get all grubby, they don’t jingle in your pocket, and if you pull out a wad of them, people think you’re a stripper.
Plus, they’re expensive.
If we switched to using dollar coins, the U.S. would save about $500 million a year. Coins are more expensive on the front end, but they
Celebs are a big waste of money for advertisers, a new study says.
Celebs are like So Great for ads! Unless you’re the advertiser.
Not a fan of Katy Perry’s war on zits? Apparently, you’re not alone.
A new study says celebs just don’t shill like they used to.
In 2010, TV ads featuring celebrities often performed worse than those that didn’t use a famous face-costing companies millions of dollars per campaign and leaving consumers with a general sense of “meh.”
Ace Metrix, which performed the study, thinks the reason for the drop in celebrities’ popularity among shoppers is
One simple phone call on the right day of the week can mean a great deal on your hotel room. Watch us break it down.
This is you negotiating for a good deal on your hotel room. You pick which one you want to be.
When you were growing up, you know how your mom would tell you can’t go to that raging party and then you’d ask your dad and he would be like yeah, whatevs? And then you would totally score, because you would get to go and technically you didn’t disobey anyone.
Well, booking a cheap hotel
Procrastinators, take note!
Tax Day, usually set for April 15, has been pushed back until April 18—giving you an additional three days of stalling, foot-dragging, I-don’t-wanna goodness. Can’t you just taste it?
Funny, it doesn’t feel like liberty and taxes go together.
Usually, Tax Day only gets moved back for reasons like national holidays or extreme weather conditions. But this year, you have President Abraham Lincoln and, erm, slavery to thank for the reprieve.
Not so rad, now is it?
Here’s the story. On April 16, 1862, Lincoln freed the more than 3,000 slaves in the District of Columbia. In
A little-known fact is that every single credit card number conforms to something called the Luhn algorithm.
We can’t believe your credit card never told you about Luhn either.
Your credit card has a secret-aside from the 40 bucks you racked up on Ventis this week.
A little-known fact about these ubiquitous pieces of plastic is that every single credit card number conforms to something called the Luhn algorithm.
What’s that? Basically, it’s a formula you can use to check any credit card number. Also, we’re pretty sure there’s a neat party trick in there somewhere.
Here’s how it goes.
Is that eye on your dollar bill the eye of God or the eye of Satan? Here’s why the conspiracy theorists have it all wrong.
Some people say it’s just God’s eye overseeing the birth of our nation. But how boring is that?
Despite the fact that we use the dollar bill on a daily basis, very few people take the time to examine its cryptic pictures.
To give you an idea of just how much symbolism is packed into each of the images, know that it took 19 days to complete the Declaration of Independence, but it took six
An investment in an overpriced brand is an investment in yourself. It’s just science.
Want to feel better about yourself? Go buy something. But not just anything. It has to have a big, fancy logo on it. Otherwise you’ll feel worse.
Why? A new study found that people who buy generic products may save money, but pay for it in self-esteem.
The subjects of the study were divided in two groups-those who were given brand-name computers to complete self-evaluation surveys and those who were given comparable but no-name computers.
Both groups were asked to estimate their monthly earning potential. Across
