Consumer Reports — my favorite personal finance magazine — is publishing a series of blogs devoted to various consumer topics. Since most of the Consumer Reports web site is behind a paywall — even for magazine subscribers (lame!) — these blogs are a handy way to keep tabs on some of the organization’s recommendations.
The CR Shopping Blog “enables us to zero in on the latest product information, news, trends, and sales figures, and reveal what retailers and e-tailers are doing to win your business. We’ll keep you posted on critical information to help you get the best deals.” This is the CR blog with the most relevance to readers of Get Rich Slowly. Unfortunately, it’s the one updated least often. Here you can find stories like:
- 6 questions to ask when you’re cruising for a discount
- Tips from a Super Shopper
- Refurbished products ban be great deals — and good gifts
- Take a lesson from our mystery shoppers
- Five ways to talk down the price on practically anything
- Costco reins in electronics returns
CR Electronics Blog will “report on important new developments, follow up on past Ratings reports posted on ConsumerReports.org, and report ongoing issues or trends. We’ll also provide occasional shopping advice, including tips on particularly good prices for models we recommend from our Ratings.” Typical articles include:
- A podcast report on new digital cameras with built-in global positioning system features.
- Reader tips on converting tapes to digital formats.
- A warning about broadband termination fees.
- How reliable is Windows Vista? and How to keep your new Vista PC safe.
The CR Cars Blog is a place for the “auto editors and engineers [to] share news, expert insights, and experiences.” Along with the model-specific information you’d expect to find, the car blog publishes pieces such as:
- Slow sales = good deals. “Lagging sales are hitting dealerships and manufacturers hard, but this can signal a good opportunity for car buyers.”
- For two years running, all of CR‘s top cars have been Japanese. For those who prefer to buy domestic, the blog offers a feature that never made it to print: 2007 top picks: American style.
- How recalls work
- How we test fuel economy
CR Tax Blog “offers information, new ideas, helpful hints, and commentary on the consumer taxpaying experience.” This blog publishes articles like these:
At the CR Safety Blog you can find “up-to-date reports of product safety hazards that can imperil you and your family. We’ll cut through the ad hype, PR spin, and government rhetoric to give you unbiased insight and analysis of safety issues.” There’s not a lot directly related to personal finance in this blog, though if you want info on poison control centers (“a vital, fragile resource“) or product recalls, you may want to subscribe to the feed.
(And don’t forget The Consumerist, my favorite frequently-updated blog of consumer advocacy!)
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I just recently signed up for broadband after many many years of dialup. I’m pretty frugal so it wasn’t without a fair amount of handwringing but I’m convinced that by using skype for most of our long-distance phone calls we’ll come out ahead.
The deal we signed up for came with a “free” router if we signed up for a 12 month plan. If we cancelled before 12 months then we would have to pay $99 (but you keep the router). The other side of the deal was that we could avoid the 12 month plan but pay $99 for the router up front.
I was happy to sign up for the 12 month deal because either way I was going to be needing to get a router. The only way I could have gotten a cheaper deal is to have bought the router from a third party (but that would only be true if we really did terminate early).
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J.D.-
Thanks for the kind words. While the Shopping Blog has been on something of a hiatus, we recently began updating it more regularly, and expect to start posting daily very soon. In addition to Consumer Reports shopping guru Tod Marks, we’re starting to feature content from ShopSmart, CR’s new shopping magazine, and the Consumer Reports Money Adviser newsletter.
Best regards,
Marc Perton
Executive Editor
ConsumerReports.org
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