thrift

13 Stories

How to Nearly Double Your Chipotle Burrito for Free

A nation's college students rejoice

(Newser) - Are you cheap and gluttonous? Do you also love Chipotle? (Just kidding; if you're cheap and gluttonous, you obviously love Chipotle.) Then you'll want to read this method for nearly doubling the size of your burrito from the Mexican restaurant chain at no extra cost. The burrito...

Coupon Clippers Go Crazy, Turn Competitive
 Coupon Clippers Go Crazy, 
 Turn Competitive 
RECESSIONOMICS
Mar 8, 2010 12:03 PM CST

Coupon Clippers Go Crazy, Turn Competitive

Tough times drive many to save big, buy in bulk

(Newser) - While the recession has left many cupboards bare, others are sagging as the cash-strapped turn into coupon-wielding obsessives who stock up on months or years worth of groceries on the cheap. While coupon usage peaked in the '90s, it surged 27% last year—mainly due to extreme coupon users, reports...

Frugal Mainers Easily Weather Economic Storm

(Newser) - A long history of sparse employment and hardships of all stripes has built a culture of frugality that leaves Maine perfectly suited to the current recession, the Boston Globe reports. “Everybody now is into shopping thrift shops, but in most of Maine, people never stopped,” a banker says....

Experts Fret as Americans Squirrel Away Income

Savings rate jumps over job, portfolio fears

(Newser) - Even after the economy rebounds, the US will likely remain a nation of penny pinchers—and that has economists worried, the New York Times reports. Consumer spending accounts for 70% of the country’s GDP, but Americans, fretting over job security and losses in the housing and stock sectors, are...

Recession Strikes Noses as Thrifty Delay Laundry

Recession prompts thrift at the laundromat

(Newser) - The recession may be making the US a little smellier, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Americans are scrimping on laundry by buying cheaper detergent, dry cleaning less often and—in the case of 60% of shoppers, according to one poll—wearing clothes multiple times between washings.

With 203K Orders, Nano Grabs 17% of Indian Market

(Newser) - Indian automaker Tata has 203,000 domestic orders for the Nano—the world’s cheapest car—which will start delivery in July, Bloomberg reports. The first editions of the $2,500 vehicle will go out to just 100,000 eager buyers, who will be chosen by lottery and must put...

More Americans Brew at Home
 More Americans Brew at Home 
Apr 21, 2009 1:44 PM CDT

More Americans Brew at Home

Recession spurs Americans to make their own beer

(Newser) - Home brewing has grown in popularity as Americans with increasingly sophisticated taste in beer look to cut costs, Time reports. Despite layoffs and bankruptcies nationwide, a couple in Connecticut just opened Maltose Express, a beer-brewing supply shop, and are already doing brisk business. Home brewers also gather there to share...

Spend, Baby, Spend —or We're Sunk
 Spend, Baby, Spend 
 —or We're Sunk 

OPINION
Mar 15, 2009 6:38 PM CDT

Spend, Baby, Spend —or We're Sunk

(Newser) - Our massive economy will remain stuck until hoarders open their wallets and "roll the dice" once again, Daniel Gross writes in Newsweek. Investors and consumers alike must regain their "penchant for gain and risk... some of the essence of what makes us American." Until that caffeinated, delirious...

Cat Takes a Ride in Used Couch
 Cat Takes a Ride in Used Couch 
Mar 13, 2009 4:08 PM CDT

Cat Takes a Ride in Used Couch

Spokane woman gets a little something extra with her furniture

(Newser) - A Washington woman received an added bonus when she bought a used couch from a thrift store: a calico cat, the Spokesman Review reports. Callie lived in Vickie Mendenhall’s house for a few days, during which Mendenhall and her family would occasionally hear faint meowing. It turned out the...

Russia Touts 'Crisis Diet' for Cash-Strapped Citizens

Government urges return to traditional foods, for thrift and nutrition

(Newser) - Russia enjoyed the recent boom as much as any other country, as high gas prices funded quick economic expansion and citizens took a liking to Western foods such as burgers, pizza, and potato chips, Time reports. But with commodities cheap, credit crunched, and unemployment rising, Moscow is recommending a new...

Hey Big Spender, Flaunt Your Scrimping

Greed is good, as long as it's in the name of frugality

(Newser) - Recessions would be great for the rich—whose wealth insulates them from mercurial fluctuations in the economy—if it weren’t for the guilt they feel over rising poverty. But Chris Ayres has a solution for the loaded that may also revive the economy: “Flaunt your parsimony,” he...

Crisis Paradox: How to Spend When You Need to Save

How to stimulate the economy without draining your account

(Newser) - While leaders encourage Americans to stimulate the economy by spending, those who have lost jobs or investments are a lot more inclined to hoard their remaining assets. But there's a way to avoid this "paradox of thrift," in which the frugal behavior that's best for an individual...

In Tough Times, America Relearns Thrift

(Newser) - Staring down a recession, Americans are turning tail and running to their nearest shoe repair shop, reports the Christian Science Monitor, in a look at the reversal of the United States' "throwaway" society. Thrift stores and repair shops are doing brisk business while their retail counterparts languish, or...

13 Stories