Smart Spending
Consumer trends, deals, price changes, subscription services, comparison shopping, and making smarter purchasing decisions in everyday life.
Latest in Smart Spending
Brookstone tabletop fire pits are recalled for a burn hazard, and owners can collect a full refund
About 48,700 Brookstone-branded tabletop fire pits have been recalled, and the remedy is a full refund rather than a repair or a partial credit, which...
Duke Energy must return $90.5 million to customers, about $5.62 a month on a typical bill
Florida regulators have ordered Duke Energy Florida to hand back $90.5 million it collected from customers but never needed to spend, and the money is...
People who got two or more unwanted robocalls or texts can claim up to $160 from a settlement by September 14
Up to $160 apiece is available to people who fielded unwanted marketing calls or texts pushing Farmers Insurance policies, part of a $1.25 million settlement...
True World Holdings data-breach victims can take a no-proof $50 payment before September 8
A no-questions-asked payment of $50 is available to people caught up in a 2024 data breach at True World Holdings, a national seafood distributor, but...
Parents whose children used apps carrying Google’s AdMob ads can file a no-proof claim from an $8.25 million settlement by September 14
An $8.25 million fund set up by Google and its AdMob advertising arm is now open to a group few would expect to hold a...
Anyone who paid out of pocket for the stop-smoking drug Chantix can claim part of a $44 million Pfizer settlement by September 14
A $44 million fund now sits open to a broad group of Americans: anyone who paid out of pocket for the stop-smoking pill Chantix over...
The FTC is mailing $23.8 million in Grubhub refunds to 640,000 customers, and the checks expire in 90 days
The Federal Trade Commission began mailing 640,038 payments worth more than $23.8 million to Grubhub drivers and diners on August 12, 2026, closing out an...
Walmart and Target dropped price matching, ending one way shoppers trimmed their bills
A familiar money-saving tactic just lost two of its biggest venues. Walmart and Target have both pulled back from price matching, the practice that once...
Airlines must send an automatic cash refund when they cancel or badly delay your flight
Air travelers who once got stuck with a voucher after an airline scrapped their flight now hold a firmer right to cash. Under a federal...
Billions in unclaimed cash sit with state treasurers, and one free search covers most states
Across the United States, state treasurers and unclaimed-property offices are holding tens of billions of dollars that belong to ordinary people who lost track of...
Anyone on SNAP or Medicaid can cut a phone or internet bill by $9.25 a month through the federal Lifeline program
A federal program that predates the smartphone quietly knocks up to $9.25 off a phone or internet bill every month for households that already receive...
Walmart and Sam’s Club cut prices on thousands of summer grocery and household items to win back shoppers
In early July, Walmart and its membership warehouse arm Sam’s Club announced price reductions on thousands of summer products, a coordinated push aimed at drawing...
Owners of 1.8 million recalled attic ladders can claim a free repair kit
Millions of American homeowners keep a folding attic ladder tucked into the ceiling, and federal safety regulators now warn that one widely sold line of...
A free national database can turn up a deceased relative’s forgotten life-insurance payout
A family can settle an estate without knowing that an old life-insurance policy exists. Coverage may have been purchased decades earlier, the insurer may have...
Airlines must send an automatic cash refund for a canceled or badly delayed flight when you decline alternatives
A canceled or significantly changed flight can trigger an automatic refund to the original form of payment, but only when the traveler does not accept...
Sam’s Club raised its membership fee to $60, its first increase in almost four years
Sam’s Club has reset the price of entry to its warehouses. The standard Club membership now costs $60 a year, up from $50, after the...
Certain Delta Dental members can claim up to $16.50 from a $12.67 million tracking settlement before Aug. 20
A proposed $12.67 million privacy settlement offers a $16.50 cash payment to a specific group of people who held accounts on a Delta Dental-related online...
Buyers of a qualifying U.S.-assembled new car can deduct up to $10,000 of loan interest on 2025 through 2028 returns
A temporary deduction can reduce federal taxable income by as much as $10,000 of qualifying vehicle-loan interest each year from 2025 through 2028. The car...
Billions in forgotten money sit with state treasurers, and one free search covers most states
State unclaimed-property programs hold billions of dollars that businesses could not return to the rightful owners. A free national tool can search most participating states...
$39 billion in matured U.S. savings bonds sits unclaimed, and a free federal search finds any in your name
Roughly $39 billion in United States savings bonds has quietly stopped earning a penny of interest and is sitting unredeemed, much of it forgotten in...