Alternate Ways of Rewarding Content Creators
I’ve been thinking a lot since the last time we talked about my ongoing internal troubles with stealing entertainment. In general, my habits are tending more toward avoiding theft, even accidentally. I want to make sure that the creators know that the thing they made was good, and I want to help them make more. The no brainer: “new media” creators I’m proudly displaying DVDs for Homestar Runner (we also bought some figurines and a car window cling of The Cheat), Tiki

ING Direct Offering $121 Bonus for New Checking Accounts
Here’s a Black Friday sale I can appreciate. ING Direct is offering a $121 bonus for opening an Electronic Orange checking account today, Friday, November 27, 2009. This is a one-day only sale. According to ING Direct, consumers pay $121 in overdraft fees, on average, each year. Rather than charging overdraft fees, the Electric Orange includes an overdraft line of credit. This is different than the overdraft protection you find at most banks. As l

Consumerism Commentary Matching Charitable Donations for Thanksgiving
On behalf of myself, Smithee, and Tom Dziubek, to all those who celebrate today, have a happy Thanksgiving. I will be spending the day with my girlfriend’s family in New York. Although there’s nothing that makes one day of the calendar inherently more special than any other day, Thanksgiving is a good opportunity to think about all the good things in our lives. One thing that often comes to my mind is the fact that I am only one person among almost 7 billion on Earth and 337 million in the United States. Somehow, I beat the odds and was born in this country and have had countless opportunities generally unavailable to most people in the world.

Triage Your Finances
Over the past couple of weeks, six finalists have been auditioning for the opening of “staff writer” at Consumerism Commentary. Each is providing two guest articles to share with readers. After the six writers have shared their guest articles, readers will have an opportunity to provide feedback before we select the staff writer. This article is presented by Kelly Whalen, a mostly stay-at-home mom who writes about personal finance at The Centsible Life.

Annual Benefits Enrollment: My Cost Increasing 10%
The open enrollment period for my company’s 2010 benefits came to a close yesterday. My procrastination came to an end when I logged into our benefits management website, reviewed the options one last time, and decided to stick with the same plan I’ve had since I joined the company, an HMO plan offered by Aetna and a dental PPO plan offered by the same provider. Overall, including my other benefits such as long term disability, the cost of the deductions to my paycheck will increase 10% in 2010 over the cost in 2009. Part of this is due to a change in my company’s subsidy formula. In 2009, the company has been paying for a certain percentage of the total c