Whether you enjoy shopping or just grin and bear it, there are things you can do to score the best prices and make the process easier.
In this episode, we explain how to ignore the flood of marketing hype and avoid the fake sales designed to mislead you. Also, where to find hidden discounts and cash-back offers, and the potential downsides of using buy now, pay later.
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A new furnace or air conditioner costs thousands of dollars. Many homeowners don’t have that much cash on hand, which can create a financial crisis. A loan may be an option, or the contractor may offer financing, usually through a third-party lender. But beware: A recent Consumers’ Checkbook investigation found that many contractors use these emergencies to push bad financing plans on their stressed-out customers.
In this episode, Checkbook’s Executive Editor Kevin Brasler explains how some homeowners are being tricked into leasing their HVAC equipment when they thought they were buying it.
More from Checkbook: Home Improvement Financing: Watch Out for Shady Deals
Related Consumerpedia Episodes:
#30 – HVAC: Finding Good Contractors & Choosing New Equipment
#44 – Should You Repair or Replace a Broken Appliance?
#87 – Don’t Get Burned by Solar Scammers
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Americans are struggling to pay their bills and falling behind on their loan payments, fueling widespread financial stress, anxiety, and despair. Recent surveys show many feel they’ll never get ahead—and some have stopped worrying about debt altogether.
In this episode, we break down those survey results and share practical tips for regaining control of your finances. You’ll also meet two consumers who’d accumulated enormous credit card debt, realized they needed help with debt, and, with hard work and proper guidance, are now debt-free.
Additional Resources:
To find a nonprofit credit counseling agency, visit the National Foundation for Credit Counseling or call 800-388-2227.
Related Consumerpedia Episode:
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To celebrate our 100th episode, we’ve asked two veteran Chicago broadcasters to take Checkbook’s College of Consumer Knowledge quiz. Lisa Dent is the popular afternoon host at WGN Radio. Steve Bertrand, her longtime news anchor, came out of retirement to challenge her. Play along with our celebrity contestants to test your consumer IQ. The questions are difficult!
You might also want to play the online version of Checkbook’s College of Knowledge. Topics include auto, food, and your money.
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America’s children have enormous spending power. Most have cash or access to their parents’ credit cards—and plenty of influence over what the family buys through their “pester power.” Marketers know this, which is why they spend billions of dollars a year targeting minors.
Advertising can easily exploit a child’s limited ability to distinguish between entertainment and selling. AI and digital animation make it easier than ever for advertisers to cross the line. The growth of online marketing to children raises serious concerns about privacy and data collection.
In this episode, what’s being done to protect our children from the pervasive and persuasive marketing? What are the rules regarding marketing to minors, and is anyone enforcing them? And most importantly, how parents can talk to their kids about advertising.
Additional Resources:
Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU)
BBB National Programs – Children’s Initiatives
More from Checkbook:
Unsafe Toys: How to Spot the Hidden Risks That Could Harm Your Child
Are Your Kids’ Smart Toys Spying on Them?
Buying Toys on Overseas Websites Can Be Risky
Related Consumerpedia Episode: 20 – Whatever Happened to Truth in Advertising?
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The “Shop Local” movement encourages consumers to buy goods and services from independent, locally owned businesses rather than national chains or online giants. It’s both an economic strategy and a social campaign aimed at strengthening your own community’s businesses, fostering regional identity, and promoting sustainability.
In this episode: The challenge of shopping locally, ways to spend more in your community, and whether it costs more to avoid the big chain stores.
Find out more about Stacey Price at Shop Made in DC.
Related Consumerpedia episodes:
#96: Checkbook’s Holiday Shopping Tips 2025
Researchers at Consumers’ Checkbook tracked prices at 25 major retailers for six months and found that most of the advertised markdowns were bogus.
It’s now common practice for retailers to deceive their customers by displaying crossed-out “regular” or “list” prices, with lower sale prices featured nearby. But the higher “regular” prices are rarely, if ever, what customers pay. Our study found that at most of the stores we surveyed, the products tracked were offered at questionable discounts more than half of the time. And, at many retailers, the fake sales never end.
In this episode, we’ll tell you which retailers were the worst offenders, as well as the few that seem to offer legitimate discounts.
Read Checkbook’s full analysis.
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