Every year in the late summer or early fall car manufacturers start rolling out their new models. This generally translates into some sort of ‘clearance’ event at dealerships as they try to sell off their old stock. But does it pay to buy last year’s car? According to a recent article on CNN/Money, the [...]

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Consumer Reports just published a series of articles on EPA mileage estimates and how they compare to real-world results. As it turns out, 90% of all vehicles surveyed got worse than expected mileage, with the biggest discrepancies (up to 50% below EPA estimates) occurring in city driving. Even those thrifty hybrids are getting in on [...]

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Are you thinking about relocating? If so, then you’re probably interested in knowing how the cost-of-living compares between your current location and your destination. Below I’ve listed a collection of online cost-of-living calculators for making just this sort of comparison between various U.S. locales.

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Have you ever found yourself in a bookstore or record shop wishing that you could check how much a certain item costs at Amazon before deciding whether or not to buy it? If so, then I’ve got the perfect solution for you. Just grab your cellphone and call Amabuddy.com. So what the heck is Amabuddy? [...]

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Well, everything went exactly as expected when we went to pick up our car, and we’re now the proud new owners of a 2005 Honda CR-V LX. Once again, our new car buying strategy worked out exceptionally well, and the actual transaction was totally painless. After a final test drive and top-to-bottom inspection, we shuffled [...]

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I just got an e-mail from the Honda dealer that we’ve decided to buy from. Our Honda CR-V LX 2WD arrived this morning, and is being put through the dealer inspection as we speak. It’ll be detailed and ready for pick up this weekend. So, assuming that it passes our inspection and final test drive, [...]

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Our Citi Driver’s Edge credit card statement just posted, and I’m pleased to report that the problems with our reward calculations have been fixed. Needless to say, I’m thrilled that this all got straightened out with a single phone call. After the adjustment, our reward balance now stands at just over $814. This’ll definitely come [...]

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And you thought gas prices were bad after Katrina… Depending on where Rita goes ashore, CNN is predicting that gas prices could go as high as $5/gallon next week, making you long for the good old days (two weeks ago) when gas was going for just $3/gallon. Why so much trouble? When Katrina hit, we [...]

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Happiness is having a video-capable cellphone in your pocket when your three and five year old sons discover a rack of auto-inflating Whoopie Cushions in the toy aisle at Walgreens. The beauty of these ‘next-generation’ Whoopie Cushions is that, as their name suggests, there’s no need to reinflate them between uses — just get up [...]

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Given our recent car buying exploits, I thought I’d point out an article outlining common car buying mistakes that I just ran across over on ConsumerReports.org. This information is abstracted from their new book, Smart Buyer’s Guide to Buying or Leasing a Car…

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