Instant gratification

Like all behaviors, your buying habits reflect your background, experiences and psychological makeup. But those things don't have to control your financial future. Here are some emotional states that drive people to make poor purchasing decisions, and some advice on how to keep those emotions from sending you to the poorhouse.

Dr. Roy Baumeister is a research psychologist who has studied the science of self-control for many years. He's also co-author of the new book Willpower. We asked him how you can boost your willpower when facing financial temptations and decisions. Here are his secrets.

If you find that you've missed the holiday shipping deadlines or don't want to waste time and gas searching local stores for the perfect gift item, you're in luck. Milo, a new online search tool, will help you research and compare products and then find out which stores near you have them in stock....

Amazon's new Disc+ On Demand program is a cool promotion which solves the biggest problem of ordering form the low priced Internet giant; the wait. While Amazon's DVD prices have traditionally been very competitive, if you wanted to pick up a new release and watch it instantly you were out of...

This week T-Mobile announced a program aimed at making it easier for customers to afford a cell phone upgrade during trying financial times. The Equipment Installment Plan spreads the cost of a new phone over a four month period without any additional financing costs. The new program is available...