Savvy Saving Bytes

Confession time. Am about to do an about-face* on CVS’s self-service, checkout stations. When I first wrote about their sudden appearance in CVS stores in October, I was not thrilled about taking on the role of cashier and working for free. Nor was I enthusiastic about dealing with cobbled together self-checkout stations that always seemed [...]

As an Apple fan, I know how smart their products are and as a New Yorker I know our city shines even brighter thanks to Apple’s dazzling Fifth Avenue, glass cube flagship store. But today I received a surprise when, for the first time, I looked at photographs of Apple’s other stores in the US [...]

Why do some people attach more value to their material possessions than others? Why do they continually buy, buy, buy while others are content with the goodies they already own? A March study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology indicates that these big spenders may be less secure in their personal relationships than those [...]

Before exploring the country’s lowest sales taxes, I always assumed New York was the primary sales tax monster, hitting us up for 8.875% sales tax* every time we New Yawkas made a purchase. But lo and behold, another state turns out to be an even bigger tax biter: the gentle state of Tennessee charges its [...]

At first glance I thought I had saved myself a quick four bucks buying a generic brand coffee creamer (White Rose) for $1.49 instead of the big name brand (Coffee-Mate) for $5.49. And why not? Though spotted in different stores, the jars appeared to be the same size, shape and color. Even their lids were [...]

Yes, I know CVS paid a bundle to tear out their cash registers and replace them with self-service check-out stations so customers would have the convenience (cough, sputter, eye-roll) of checking-out all their own items, but I for one will not be jumping on the CVS customer-as-cashier bandwagon in New York City. Number one, their [...]