In a moment of idleness, I decided to Stumble in search of sites that might interest friends of Funny about Money. Below, 25 sites full of information, leads, and tools for personal finance enthusiasts. Prepare to bookmark!
Find Help, Get Action:
Hard-to-find 800 numbers. Includes Amazon, Google(!!), Dell, Apple. Some entries give a clue to how to reach a human.
How to Complain. For our friends in the UK.
Consumer Action. Free hotline refers consumers to complaint-handling agencies through our free hotline. This nonprofit publishes multilingual educational materials; compares prices on credit cards, bank accounts and long-distance services; advocates for consumers.
Federal Reserve Consumer Help. Contact the Federal Reserve if you’re having a problem with a bank or other financial institution.
General Consumer Information
Lifehacker. The Magic 8-Ball of interesting, useful, and amazing stuff
Federal Citizen Information Center: a gold mine of information. Click “Employment” to check out “how to get a job in the federal government.”
FRB Consumer Information. Another Federal Reserve Board page: banking, credit, mortgages, personal finance, leasing, identity theft. Useful information.
Consumer Product Safety Commission. Consumer info, news, recalls.
Consumer World. A large, active site: articles, links, tips, price comparisons…
Consumer Reports. Web presence of the granddaddy of consumer organizations; unfortunately, some parts of the site are restricted to subscribers.
Consumer’s Checkbook. Nonprofit organization reviews local companies and providers. Requires a log-in.
Frugalism
Retail Me Not. Coupon codes & discounts
Local gas prices. Find the best prices in your area.
Swap Skills. Skill swapping network
DIY bath & body products: “800 bath & body recipes you can make at home.”
How to make soap. It is what it says it is.
Bizrate: Shopping online; reviews, price comparisons
Quatloos: Cybermuseum of Scams & Frauds. Funny, often informative, sometimes provocative blog
Privacy Issues
Consumer Reports on privacy. What information is being collected about you, why you need to know, and what (if anything) you can do about it. Did you know there’s a database tracking your record of returned merchandise?
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Nonprofit for consumer information and advocacy
Radio frequency identification. Clear, readable, and well researched excerpt from a law review article detailing what this is and how it will affect everyone’s privacy. Even cash transactions will be trackable…right to your doorstep. So much for any ideas about “going off the grid”!
Pest Control
Spambox. Creates a temporary e-mail address for those outfits that demand an e-mail address to “verify” when you need to download or get into a site. It forwards to your real site and then expires after a set time.
Bug Me Not. Shared logins for sites that pester you to register
Annoyance zappers. Plug-ins for zapping many common online annoyances
Junkbusters. Reduce physical junkmail.
Another good one for the UK is Money Saving Expert; the Forums have a wealth of advice. If you can get a translator in to explain what the products are, the Old Style Money Saving is almost universal and there’s a thread from people who are trying to live on £4000 ($6371.96!) for a year… A goal that it is possible to achieve when you don’t have to pay health insurance. (Gently prods hornets nest and moves away, quickly!)