Stop Buying Crap

Over Four Years of Personal Finance, Consumer Spending, Crazy Products and Boring Blog Posts. Good grief.

Latest Posts from Stop Buying Crap

Good idea: you should look for a new credit card once in awhile

It’s been a long time since I’ve looked at the credit card market. While I was never once the type to churn a bunch of credit cards, for a period of time during the college years – I was one of those guys that dabbled in 0% balance transfer cards. […]

Having a Baby? Great. $13,000, Please.

How much is that bundle of joy going to cost you? There are lots of online calculators out there, but a quick search will yield this estimator at Babycenter.com. The calculations are based on USDA’s 2010 report, wherein they take account of the region you live in, your annual income, and the type of schooling your child will eventually attend (big factor here). […]

Huh. CostCo Gas Authorization Hold on Credit Card is $150

I’ve been getting gas at my local Costco ever since the wife and I moved in the area 8 months ago — its not always the cheapest in the area, but given Costco is only 5 minutes away from the house and the line isn’t too terribly crazy, its my usual prefer choice to get gas (I’m probably using it more to justify the Costco membership too). Imagine my surprise today when I finally looked at my AmEx’s […]

BillGuard.com Review – The Easy Peasy Guardian Against Bad Credit & Debit Card Charges

Earlier this month I attended FinCon12, the financial blogger conference. While at the conference, I was met with wonderful greetings such as “So what are you doing here? You don’t even write anymore?” via Greg from WiseBread AND Ben from MoneySmartLife — at two separate occasion, no less. […]

And Then There Was Zoey: How a Baby Surprisingly Didn’t Change My Financial Outlook (Yet)

Two months ago something slightly interesting happened: My wife gave birth to our healthy baby daughter. The funny part was we were wholly unprepared for having our daughter on that particular day (but lets face it, estimates are estimates). […]

The Deception of Coupons and Discounts: Yeah, I Totally Needed Two Gallons of Milk

This probably isn’t the most novel observation in the world, but it would certainly seem that a great many people get “tricked” into spending more than they normally would by the lure of coupons and discounts (cue Captain Obvious). These “fake-ish” coupons and deals come from everywhere: newspaper clippings, TV and radio offers, Internet promotions, fliers, smartphone apps. […]

TurboTax E-File IRS Rejected, PIN or AGI Error? (When IRS PIN Website is Unable to Give Your Info Online)

So its April 17th and you’re doing your taxes the very last minute. Good news, you just got an email or text from Intuit saying your e-file was REJECTED. Fudge? I just experienced this problem over the weekend and the annoying part was that neither TurboTax nor IRS has very clear instruction on this particular situation. I used the AGI method to verify my e-file identity. […]

Uh, Is That Really “On Sale?”

Last week, I went to my local mall for the first time in many months (or was it years?). As I strolled around, taking in the sights and the bustle of our consumerist Mecca, I couldn’t help but notice all the sales I saw advertised at every major clothing retailer. JCrew and Anthropologie had multiple racks with deeply discounted items. […]

Get $25 “Free” from Google by Sharing Your Web Surfing Data

Nope. Not one of those “get paid to work for Google” scammy ads. You can get up to $25 in Amazon gift card from Google by signing up to their Screenwise panel. Essentially you get $5 for downloading the Chrome browser and installing the extension. […]

Southwest Promo Code: 15% Off! (via Visa Signature)

Wow. Just when I thought the whole Visa Signature stuff is at times pointless, out comes a fairly nice promotion from Southwest Airlines and Visa. […]