Big Data

Summer is finally here, and that means the 4th of July is right around the corner. The majority of households will spend somewhere around $70 on food for barbecues and family celebrations, totaling nearly $6.8 billion spent nationwide! However, many will open their wallets for the highly anticipated sales events taking place in stores and online.

Labor Day honors the 158.5 million members of the American workforce and acknowledges their many contributions such as strength, skill and monetary value to the country.

Over the last 11 years, spending on Father's Day has averaged out to around $10.3 billion a year on gifts. Even so, all too often this family holiday is a source of stress for family members who hope to find the dads in their lives the perfect present. With so many different factors to consider and so many options to choose from, it's easy to get lost and discouraged.

In 2015, my brother got married. As the best man, I felt an obligation to go off-registry and give him and his new wife what they really wanted: cash. This idea didn’t sit well with my mom. She argued against it, citing gift cards as a better option so that the new couple wouldn’t "waste" the money on mundane expenses like utility bills or paying down student loan debt.

Although there was some debate about the size of the Women's March on January 21st, what wasn't up for discussion was that when people are protesting en masse, they're not at home shopping online. While that much is obvious, we thought it would be helpful to quantify the effects of protesting on online shopping.

A few weeks ago, we told you that August 2nd was the perfect Valentine's Day from a frugal perspective. Not only did you choose to not heed our advice by spending a record amount of money on Valentine's Day (about 7% more than 2016), but even more of you waited until the last minute.