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This Weekend's Best Deals

Every Friday, we scan the weekly ads, deal sites and retailer marketing emails to find the best deals available for the coming week. Here are a few of the best freebies and limited-time offers we found.

My Mom's 3 Biggest Money Management Secrets Revealed

Everything I ever needed to know to succeed in life, I learned from my mother. Although I didn't realize it at the time, her maternal management even taught me how to make the most of my money. Here are the three best tricks she ever showed me, and how you can make them work for you.

9 Great American Companies That Will Never Recover

Sometimes, companies that were once leaders fall hopelessly behind. They may struggle on for years, but their chances to engineer turnarounds have passed. 24/7 Wall St. has found nine of these companies -- names you know well, but that will never be great again.

Did Facebook Ruin the IPO Party for Everyone Else?

After Facebook's belly flop of an IPO, the next major dot-com slated to go public -- popular travel website Kayak -- is slowing down. And its not just Kayak: Twitter, LivingSocial and several others are now in an IPO holding pattern too.

Groupon Is Going to Be a TV Star

The leading daily deals website is ready for its prime-time close-up. CBS is picking up Friend Me, a sitcom about two friends who move to Los Angeles to work for Groupon. Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who played "McLovin" in Superbad, will star.

How to Save Money at the Movie Theater

Watching a movie at the theater can be a real budget buster. But it's fun to occasionally treat yourself or your family to the theater experience, and there are ways to keep costs under control.

Perfect Prom on a Budget: 13 Ways to Spend Less, Still Shine

Prom has gotten almost absurdly pricy: The average teen this year will spend $1,078 on the spring formal. Be smarter than average, and try these tips from consumer expert Andrea Woroch that could save you and your teen a ton, without making the night any less special.

American Express, Twitter Team Up to Offer Daily Deals

American Express is making a bid to bring cardholders its own version of Groupon-like daily deal offers, joining forces with Twitter in an attempt to turn America into a "couponless nation." The program will undoubtedly offer good discounts -- but can it last in the long term?

4 Types of 'Social Shopper': Which One Are You?

In a digital era defined by sites like Facebook, Foursquare and Groupon, a new breed of consumers has emerged: social shoppers, people increasingly relying on the wisdom of the digital crowd to help them make their purchasing decisions. Sound like someone you know? Read on ...

Will Discount Deal Lovers Pay to be Groupon VIPs?

Active Groupon users now have a way to sweeten their relationships with the daily deals leader -- but it's going to cost them. Groupon is rolling out Groupon VIP, a program where deal chasers pay $29.99 a year for enhanced benefits on the site.

Why Groupon Will Never Be Great Again

On the surface, it appears daily deals purveyor Groupon is more popular than ever. It ended 2011 with 33 million active customers in 47 countries, and it's growing fast. But look closer, and there are signs that "Groupon fatigue" is kicking in.

The 10 Most Important IPOs to Watch in 2012

After a year which featured lingering economic uncertainty, and underperformance from many popular IPOs, 2012 should see some exciting activity from the more than 200 companies hoping to go public. Here are 24/7 Wall St.'s picks for the top IPOs to watch.

5 Foodie Sites That Can Find You Fine Meals for Less

Frugal foodies, rejoice! A growing list of websites is making it easier to indulge in culinary adventures that won't take a big bite out of your wallet. Here are five sites designed to help you find foodie-worthy restaurants that are affordable, too.

A New Deal: Could PayPal Out-Coupon Groupon?

There's a new daily deals player, and it's a company that's near and dear to your virtual pocketbook. And if you think the online coupons sector is too saturated for a fresh entry to make a dent, you're ignoring a few important things about PayPal.

Forget the Fruitcake: Give Skydiving Lessons

Forget the material things %u2014 reindeer sweaters, clunky toys, stocking stuffers that end up as, well, stuff. How about a skydiving lesson, a spa pampering or a night at a cozy bed and breakfast This holiday season, a lasting memory is worth a thousand knickknacks.

Has the Groupon Model Jumped the Shark?

Groupon's IPO was a rousing success, but its business model still may be an endangered species. Facebook, restaurant reviews website Yelp, and dining reservations leader OpenTable have all bowed out of selling prepaid vouchers for area merchants at steep discounts in recent weeks. Here's why:

The Best Way to Play the Groupon IPO

Groupon's IPO is finally on track. The daily-deals leader will settle for a smaller offering than it had envisioned, but it should go public by the end of next week. But there are more ways than the IPO to bet on the Groupon flash sale model: Consider these dot-com smarties that are all over the niche.

Dump Groupon? Five Sites That Might Save You More

Do you really need Groupon or LivingSocial? If you answered "yes," you're among a shrinking minority. Really, Groupons are meant to entice us to try things we otherwise wouldn't. Couponing, though, is how smart shoppers cut costs on what they already buy, and these five sites can save you a bundle.

LivingSocial Users Eat Up Whole Foods Deal

If the line at your local Whole Foods Market is a little longer than usual over the next few days, don't blame it on a surge in popularity of soymilk or organic cherries. Instead, you can thank LivingSocial's national deal which offered $20 worth of groceries for just $10.

The Groupon Backlash Has Begun

Daily deals services are multiplying even faster than savings-hungry consumers can track them. But this business model is deeply flawed: A significant fraction of those who purchase a deal never even redeem their coupons, meaning these so-called "promotions" are failures, for shoppers and retailers both. And merchants can suffer when deals are redeemed.

Don't Let Your Unused Groupons Go to Waste

Tens of thousands of group deals are purchased every day from sites like Groupon and LivingSocial, but between 18% and 22% aren't redeemed. All that spent-yet-unspent money is an opportunity for a secondary market, and a handful of websites are filling the gap, providing deal-holders a quick way to cash-out on offers they won't use.

Last Week's Biggest Market Head-Scratchers

Wall Street can be fickle, leaving investors scratching their heads in bewilderment. Some of last week's biggest surprises, blunders, and flat-out bone-headed moves included Morgan Stanley's downgrading of Google, another step toward a LivingSocial IPO, and irrational exuberance with respect to Wendy's stock.

Are Group Deal Sites Costing You Too Much Time?

A penny saved, they say, is a penny earned -- which explains the popularity of group-buying websites. But they also say that time is money, which is why you may be feeling like the daily slog through all those discount deals is becoming more trouble than it's worth. But there are ways to keep the bargains and take back your inbox.

What Deals on Facebook Means to the Group-Buying Biz

Facebook dipped a big toe into the group-buying waters on Tuesday, launching a test of its Deals on Facebook service. But though it's coming late to the game, analysts and merchants say they won't be surprised if the social networking titan soon poses a viable threat to market leaders Groupon and LivingSocial.

When the 'Daily Deal' Is No Deal at All

Everyone loves to save money, and group-buying websites like Groupon and LivingSocial make it seem so easy. But they also make it easy -- and very tempting -- to buy more than you need, things that you don't, and coupons you'll never redeem. But you can tame your group-buying habit.