Are cutting credit cards up a new recession trend? The Atlantic thinks so:

“Cutting up credit cards is a classic solution to the temptations of easy credit, but as Americans have become more and more reliant on plastic, there’s been a resurgence of interest in swearing off credit entirely.”

If you’re anything like me, the life of a high-class prostitute has intrigued you since Secret Diary Of A Call Girl. But note I said high-class prostitute: this career choice only piques my interest insofar as I could earn the big money. Lucky for me, the authors of Freakonomics figured this out.  Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner have written a new book, Superfreakonomics, in which they explain the paradox of how high-class prostitutes make a crap load of money by not working very long hours.

My accountant father always complains that I’m an expensive kid. Well lookie here, Pops: the USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion just released a study that says a middle-income family will spend about $221,000 raising a child through age 17. See Dad… I’m not the only one! But since they stopped the survey at age 17, it’s scary to think that in reality, the quarter of a million dollars is only a fraction of the nearly half a million dollars parents will end up dishing out for their kid’s college tuition. Second to the pain involved in the birthing process, I think this is one of the top reasons not to have rugrats.

Do you ever feel like you’re constantly arguing with your boyfriend about going to an expensive restaurant or buying a cheapo shirt? It might be a sign that you’re meant for each other. A study from the Wharton School of Finance and Northwest University, “Fatal (Fiscal) Attraction,” has found that financial opposites really do attract. Even though most people say they would be happy to marry someone with the same spending habits, the survey found that most people date folks who do the opposite as themselves. So, spenders dig savers and savers dig spenders. Is this true for you? [Yahoo News]

Surprise! An extra marital affair dating website (what?) in the UK found that cheaters do not have their priorities straight. The average cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater spends more than $450 per month on their infidelity. Meanwhile, they only put aside about $100 for retirement. Sheesh, getting it on behind your spouses’ back is expensive! A lot of adulterers have more than one cell phone and rent hotel rooms or go on vacations to see their lover(s). And, for whatever reason, the illicit lovers are usually given more presents than the cheater’s spouse. We hope their spouses find out so these jerkfaces can spend their their “golden” years poor and alone. Heh. [Metro UK]

If you thought the easiest way to tell the financial status of a woman was by the kind of car she drives, the size of her diamonds, or how affected her accent is, guess again. A new “scientific” study claims that wealthier woman have more sons than daughters. Um, ohh-kay. A group of Dutch researchers — it’s always the Dutch, isn’t it? — studied 95,000 Rwandan women to test an evolutionary theory that suggests “when conditions are good, and babies are likely to be healthy, a mother’s best chance of passing on her genes to another generation is to have boys.” When conditions are bad, however, and pregnant women are malnourished and more likely to have sickly or weak babies, it makes more “evolutionary sense to have a girl who does not face competition to become pregnant to continue the family line.” In the polygamous tradition of Rwanda where high-ranking wives tend to have more influence and income, they have, on average more sons than daughters (99 daughters for every 100 sons). Lower-ranking, poorer wives, on the other hand, have 106 daughters for every sons. So, there you have it — scientific proof that Victoria Beckham is rich. [via DailyMail]

Is it just me or are men getting a little bit more polite? Jaded New Yorker that I am, I tend to assume anyone close to me on the subway is trying to steal my wallet or feel me up. Though the “accidental” ass-grab still happens about once a week, it’s becoming less frequent. I choose to view the lack of groping phenomenon not as a sign of my decreasing desirability, but as a sign of increasing old fashioned manners. In my semi-scientific survey I have discovered that at least three other women agree that men these days are more likely to offer gals their seat on the bus, carry heavy bags, open doors and pay compliments, even when there is no hope of sex. I have a theory: the recession. Maybe I am just searching for the silver lining on the dreary financial cloud, but I do think the economic woes have made us slightly more civilized. Before I conclusively decide exactly what factor is making dudes walking examples of Emily Post etiquette, I will postulate my three main theories.

I am not great with money. I think the problem is I don’t love money. Don’t get me wrong, I love material things, but money in and of itself doesn’t really interest me. Maybe the idea of having money isn’t as compelling because as a recent college grad, I don’t have any. Until very recently money didn’t feel real to me. I loved the things it bought me, but the dollars themselves didn’t have much value. When did my attitude towards money evolve: the very second I opened up my first pay check. During my last semester of college I spent hours upon hours tutoring freshman on the finer points of writing and not using a hangover as a reason to ask for an extension on their term paper. I loved every almost every minute of explaining the beauty of the semicolon, but I wanted that paycheck. For every minute that I could have been doing something, anything else, I wanted compensation. At eight dollars an hour I was hardly raking it in, but I was so proud of each dollar.

There’s a new book out called Smart Girls Marry Money: How Women Have Been Duped Into the Romantic Dream—And How They Are Paying For It, by Elizabeth Ford and Daniela Drake. Forget for a moment that they annoyingly refer to grown women as “girls” in their title and check out their thesis: because, for a variety of reasons, men earn more money than women, it’s a wise move to marry someone who can provide for you and your family.

It’ll cost you a whole lot to get Susan Boyle to sing a little ditty at your next party. The “Britain’s Got Talent” star is charging $203K for a 12-minute set—if you do the math, that comes out to about $16,000 per minute. This is the most preposterous thing I’ve heard in days, but corporate clients are actually booking her. Since the idea of someone actually spending $16K for 60 seconds of Susan Boyle makes me want to dry heave, I’ve compiled some items with $16,000 price tags that are actually worth the money and will last longer than a minute. (Plus, listening to your “Cats” soundtrack is totes free!) [News From All Angles]

A new study has found that the pursuit of fame, fortune, and beauty makes people less happy. One hundred and fifty graduates from the University of Rochester and Knox College in Illinois were followed for two years, and over that time, researchers assessed the graduates’ satisfaction with life, relationships, and self-esteem. Participants also evaluated their anxiety and stress levels, as well as, their physical ailments such as headaches. The researchers found that fame- and money-hungry graduates who had achieved their goals were the most dissatisfied and anxious. In contrast, participants who had a stronger sense of community and had developed fulfilling relationships felt less stress and were more confident. [am New York]

Times are tough and women are looking for ways to cut back. We at The Frisky are determined to bring you the best budget beauty out there, but we are also not going to lie to you: some things you just can’t skimp on. You may never notice the difference between a CoverGirl and a Chanel lipstick but there are certain beauty products and treatments where you will. So save yourself some medical danger and grief and read our five beauty treatments we beg you to fork over the dough for.

“No means no” is a phrase feminists have successfully integrated into the lexicon to use in halting unwanted sexual advances. And now some feminists are arguing the next terrain for “no means no” should be for cutting back on above-the-call-of-duty hours spent in the workplace.

So says the new book “Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules For Success,” by Claire Shipman, senior national correspondent for ABC News’ “Good Morning America” and mom of two, and Katty Kay, Washington correspondent and anchor for “BBC World News America” and mom of four. Their argument, as described by Salon:

[The authors] call for women to say no to 60-plus-hour work weeks and overly demanding jobs that yank them away from their families. Instead, they urge working women to use their clout in the workplace to demand fewer hours at the office, turn down non-family-friendly assignments, and take control of their time by working from home more, checking e-mail less and avoiding meetings whenever possible.

The outside world is more like a Hooters restaurant than you previously thought: a new study says that men are more likely to tip a waitress if she looks pretty wearing makeup.

Researchers studied the tips received by two waitresses from 186 male and 98 female customers. Only one third of the dudes left a tip if the waitress wore a bare, makeup-less face. (Cheap bastards!) But after a beautician applied makeup to the servers, the number of men who tipped flew up to 51 percent. Not to mention that the size of the tips rose 25 percent. Hmm, it brings new meaning to the term “makeup tips,” doesn’t it?

Yeah, money is tight these days. But some people are going to crazytown lengths to score some moolah. After the jump, the deets on a woman who faked her (and her son’s) kidnapping to get ransom money, a postal worker who stole and sold $20K worth of stamps, and a woman who kept her dead mom’s body in a spare bedroom for six years to collect the pension checks. Ever heard of getting a second job?

After reading a recent report from the BBC stating that the current recession may have more negative than positive effects on our dating life, I started thinking about whether this was really true. Yes, money worries can be a huge obstacle to relationship building, but as the author of the report, relationship psychologist Susan Quillam, points out, surely animal attraction offers the most reliable and least expensive source of comfort when times get rough, right?

It seems that all anyone is talking about lately is the economy, so why is money still such a tough topic to discuss with your nearest and dearest?  They say married couples fight over money more than anything else, but what about when you just started dating? That’s possibly even more awkward. 

New York governor David Paterson plans to target those who download porn with a sales tax. Previously, Paterson had proposed a so-called “iPod tax” aimed at those downloading music, movies, and software. Now, it turns out, that plan also includes taxing porn downloaders or those who buy their porn via pay-per-view cable. Interestingly, the tax would only apply to New York smut purveyors. The planned sales tax is a whopping 4%, which may be too steep for those who are already trying to cut back on their porn diet during these lean times. And pornographers aren’t too happy about the tax, either. Steve Hirsch, the CEO of Vivid Entertainment, one of the adult industry’s biggest production companies, says: “The last thing any of us need is an additional tax.” During the recession, “These are very difficult times and nobody can afford to lose even one customer.” Or, for that matter, one masturbator.

There are only four days left before the start of Hanukkah and only eight days left before Christmas. And we bet you could use a little extra cash to buy gifts. Our list will get you some money with little effort. Most of the things on the list will only take you a day to complete. So stop being lazy so you don’t have to be cheap, ya hear?