Blog Posts by CBS MoneyWatch.com

by Ilyce Glink for CBS MoneyWatch.com

There are so many great cities in which to rent rather than buy a home right now, and for not all that much money.

-- Housing Rebound? 11 Spots Where Prices Are Rising

-- World's Most Expensive Home

-- Traffic Pain: 10 Cities with the Worst Commutes

-- 3 Reasons to Buy a Home NOW

-- Apartment Red Flags: 10 Signs You Should Steer Clear

The latest Trulia Rent vs. Buy Index shows that even though it's a better deal to buy than rent in 72 percent of the U.S. at the moment, rental rates are pretty low in most places.

Still, the study behind the index found that a "nation of renters has emerged as more Americans rent by choice or due to unforeseen financial difficulties." And yet, renting is only less expensive than buying in four of the cities covered in the study, including New York City and San Francisco.

But even though buying is a great

Thinkstockby Larry Dobrow for CBS MoneyWatch.com

Even if you're a totebag-toting member of NPR Nation, you'll have a hard time ducking the Super Bowl over the next few days. You'll be deafened by odes to Pittsburgh's legacy of winningishness and Green Bay's hayseed charm. You'll hear how the team that most relentlessly pressures the other quarterback will come out on top. Come Media Day, you'll learn whether postseason breakout star Aaron Rodgers wears boxers or briefs, courtesy of a giggly mid-market correspondent intent on setting journalism and gender relations back 15 years.

-- Report: Toxic Hot Dogs at the Stadium

-- Disappearing Jobs: 10 High-Paying Careers with No Future

-- 4 Things Not to Buy at Target

-- College Football's Dirty Little Secret

-- 10 Great Things Still Made in the USA

That said, numerous aspects of the Super Bowl experience - especially those that are neatly quantifiable

by Jodi Helmer for CBS MoneyWatch.com

Most consumers think haggling is only appropriate when buying tchotkes at a street fair or facing off against a used-car dealer. But why not negotiate the cost of medical procedures? Or a new Sub-Zero refrigerator? If you're not paying less than sticker price for these and other goods and services, you're leaving money - and often lots of it - on the table. "Everything is negotiable," says Stuart Diamond, adjunct professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and author of Getting More: How to Negotiate to Achieve Your Goals in the Real World. "All you have to do is ask."

-- Dumbest Things You Do With Your Money

-- 5 Questions That Will Save You Money

-- Best Stores for Customer Service

-- 5 Reasons Debit Cards Are Dangerous

-- True Tales of Overnight Millionaires

With that philosophy in mind, follow these tips to

by Kathy Kristof for CBS MoneyWatch.com

What does sitting in traffic cost you? About $808 on average, according to the latest Urban Mobility Report, conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute. But the cost is dramatically higher if you live in Chicago, where the cost per commuter hit a whopping $1,738.

In fact, commuters in large urban areas spend roughly 40% more on average, wasting some $1,166 per year twiddling their thumbs in traffic.

Where do these cost estimates come from? TTI calculates the cost of traffic by analyzing vast data sets to determine how many hours the average commuter spends sitting in traffic jams and then breaks the data down based on how many of these commuters are driving cars versus trucks. They then add up the cost of wasted gasoline and time. But the cost of time is considerably higher for truckers - $106 per hour - than for drivers - $16.

-- 10 Cities with the Most Drunk Driving

-- Save on Gas: 9 Ways

by Stacey Bradford for CBS MoneyWatch.com

I'm "friends" with my fourteen-year-old nephew on Facebook. His mother is not. I know who he hangs out with, where he's going and what music he listens to. Out of respect, I don't share what I read online with my sister. Surprisingly, she also doesn't ask. Sometimes I wonder if a mother should be a bit more inquisitive and monitor her son's online activity. Perhaps the key is finding a way to do it that would still allow a teenager some privacy.

-- What's the Best Car for Your Teenager?

-- 5 Ways to Cut Your Cell Phone Bill

-- Best Credit Cards for Teenagers

-- 5 Ways to Say No to Your Teen

-- Verizon iPhone: Buy Now, Later or Never?

Enter SafetyWeb, a website that allows parents to scrutinize their child's online activity. Just type in your kid's email address and the software scans over 45 online social networks, including Facebook and

by Farnoosh Torabi for CBS MoneyWatch.com

The CARD Act of 2009 banned banks and card issuers from offering credit cards to young adults under the age of 21 unless they have a qualified co-signer or proof of sufficient income to repay the debt - but those rules are apparently being broken, at least around the University of Houston. There, professor Jim Hawkins recently released a survey of 338 students under the age of 21, showing roughly 76% had received a credit card offer since the beginning of 2010. Almost 30% said they had gotten cards by successfully identifying student loans as "income" on the applications.

-- 5 Biggest College Credit Card Myths

-- Steer Clear of Store Credit Cards

-- 5 Reasons Debit Cards Are Dangerous

-- Consumer Reports: Best New Credit Cards

-- Never Pay an ATM Fee Again: 6 Tricks

Also, 47% of freshman reported seeing credit card companies offering

by Jeanne Lee for CBS MoneyWatch.com

With the holidays over, you may be looking down at the bulging evidence of too much merriment around your waistline. If you've resolved to lose weight in 2011, you might be considering signing up for a commercial diet plan, such as Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, or Jenny Craig.

The TV ads, filled with celebrity endorsers and regular people holding out their enormous "old jeans," make the diet plans sound terribly tempting. Although an FTC rule now requires testimonial ads to cite typical results, the looming question still remains: Which of these diet programs are worth your money?

To find out, MoneyWatch analyzed eight of the biggest diet plans. Three are support-only plans that don't require you to buy their food, and five are food-delivery plans. We interviewed leading nutritionists and weight-loss professionals, pored through clinical studies, and tallied up membership fees and food costs to determine the ones most likely to help

by Ilyce Glink for CBS MoneyWatch.com

New year, new list of remodeling projects to start around the house. At least that's what remodelers and contractors are hoping.

So, what remodeling projects are on top of everyone's list?

The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) conducted an exclusive poll of their top builders and developers for us and found that while most people are not starting major renovation projects due to the economy, now is the time to take care of the smaller jobs around your home.

Call it the over-arching remodeling trend for 2011: Tackling small projects while you wait to do the really big remodeling project that's on your list.

Here are 12 top remodeling trends to welcome in the "aught teens":

-- World's Most Expensive Home

-- Housing Rebound? 11 Spots Where Prices Are Rising

-- Tea Party: Don't Let Renters Vote

-- Cheap & Exotic: 8 Great Places to Retire Abroad