At Yahoo!Finance, David Bach (author of Start Late, Finish Rich) offers four tips for vacations that give more.
According to nonprofit consumer education organization the Myvesta Foundation, the average American planned to spend $2,249 on his or her summer vacation last year. Taking the average family of four to the archetypical American vacation spot — Disney World — can cost $3,000 to $4,000 or more by the time you figure in the cost for flights, food, lodging, and all the goodies. Now, I love theme parks or pure relaxation as much as the next person. But this year, I’d like you to consider doing something a little different: Take a volunteer vacation.
Bach recommends that individuals and families explore a vacation spent doing service work: help rescue and rehabilitate endangered animals; work on an archeology dig; build homes for the needy; build hiking trails on public lands; or participate in missionary work. He gives four tips [...]

My wife isn’t one of those women who can buy hundreds of dollars of groceries for $12.93. She is, however, a frugal shopper, and can often trim an $80 bill to a $60 bill. Here are some of her top tips:

Don’t shop for groceries if you’re hungry. You’ve probably heard this before, but it’s true. Studies show that folks who shop when they’re hungry buy more. It’s true for me: If I go to the store for milk on a Sunday morning without eating breakfast, I’m likely to come home with donuts and orange juice and Lucky Charms, too.
Shop with a list. Make a list and stick to it. The list represents your grocery needs: the staples you’re out of, and the food you need for upcoming meals. When you stray from the list, you’re buying on impulse, and that’s how shopping trips get out of control. Sure, a magazine only costs $5, but if [...]

The Bargain Queen has a piece on which cosmetics to buy cheap and which to spend money on. As a guy, this is all a mystery to me.

Last fall, Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania published a study exploring the relationship between portion size and food consumption. They found that people tend to consume more when given larger portions. From the abstract:

People seem to think that a unit of some entity (with certain constraints) is the appropriate and optimal amount. [...] We propose that unit bias explains why small portion sizes are effective in controlling consumption; in some cases, people served small portions would simply eat additional portions if it were not for unit bias. We argue that unit bias is a general feature in human choice and discuss possible origins of this bias, including consumption norms.

The article — available online in PDF form — argues that the American struggle with obesity may be because we consume larger portion sizes than, say, the French.
What does this have to do with personal finance?
In the short-term, you can save money by simply eating [...]

From AskMe: How much will my father co-signing on a mortgage help me? Will the lender essentially give me the same rates they would give my dad?

Howdy, Cracked.com visitors. SmartMoney has altered its URL structure since I posted this more than two years ago. Using the Wayback Machine, I’ve managed to dig up the source article in two parts: part one, part two. Thanks for visiting, and thanks for noting the correction.

SmartMoney has a list of ten things your supermarket won’t tell you. Though this was first published five years ago, it’s still informative:

“We trick you into paying higher prices.” Frugal folk preach “buy in bulk”. But supermarkets have caught on. Now bulk isn’t always cheaper. “We found proof at a store near the SmartMoney offices, where a 12-ounce bottle of Aunt Jemima syrup cost $2.09, while a 24-ounce bottle was $4.65; a quart of Lactaid milk was selling for $1.79, while a half-gallon was $3.85.” Always check the unit pricing.
“Our ’specials’ are anything but.” Some stores raise prices on advertised specials. Coupons are often for more expensive brands. Your best [...]