To kick off DIY@Artscape, on Tuesday, July 14, there will be a free screening of Handmade Nation, a documentary exploring do-it-yourself culture.

The free Handmade Nation screening starts at 7 p.m. at the University of Baltimore auditorium, 21 W. Mount Royal Ave. A question-and-answer session with the director will follow the 65-minute film. 

Discovered via The Broken Plate Company via Baltimore DIY Squad.

Then on Thursday ... 

Send me an email if you'd like to talk at eileen.ambrose@baltsun.com. Thanks.

(art by Regina Boyce)

Last night I had a fascinating discussion with attendees of a community conversation organized by Art On Purpose, a local arts organization.

The group had held art workshops at several library branches exploring themes from Edgar Allan Poe’s work, including love and loss, madness and obsession, and fear and terror.

Several Baltimore residents created pieces addressing fear about the economy, and so for last night’s talk at the Waverly branch library, we dug deeper into what money provides and what folks were doing differently in the face of economic uncertainty.

We talked about priorities, and I offered up my frugal philosophy for life: how money gives us choices, whether it’s the kind of food we eat, the place we live and the health care we can enjoy. It’s better to start saving early, because you can’t take a loan for retirement.

Several attendees talked about the struggle to budget, how jarring it can be to suddenly become aware of how little money remains after addressing fixed expenses such as rent and utilities.

Another guest spoke about blowing up fixed expenses such as utilities altogether and going entirely without gas and electricity for most of last summer.

An experiment like that would certainly make you appreciate the simpler things. Another guest shared a story about a group of pre-teen girls who put aside their fancy video cell phones for more than hour to play with an old-fashioned deck of cards.

What are you doing differently because of the recession/economy, whether it's finding more economical entertainment, or cutting back on extras and rethinking eessentials?

You can see more art from the Art On Purpose workshops at other branch libraries this month as well as at the Baltimore Museum of Art this fall. The events are free and open to the public.

But according to Robert Manning, author of Credit Card Nation, card companies are doing data mining to look at where we spend our money to determine if we might have lost our job or appear to be having money problems.

In an interview with Marketplace, Manning compiled a list of 10 things you shouldn’t buy with your credit card lest it send up red flags to your card company.

Among them:

Purchases at 99 cent stores or Wal-Mart, if you never shopped those bargain places before. From the card issuer’s viewpoint, it’s suspicious that you are suddenly a discount shopper.

Retread tires. What, you can’t afford new ones?

Porn or strip clubs. Are you trying to take your mind off financial problems?

Marriage counseling. Could it be that you are your spouse are fighting about money?

Taxes. Bad sign if you add debt on a card to pay off another debt obligation.

Check out the list and tell us what you think. Do you really believe card companies are scanning statements for such purchases?

The restaurants and cafes plan to offer similar events every Tuesday and Thursday in July, according to the Downtown Partnership.

On this site, you can search for code violations at specific city addresses, or find code violations within a specific neighborhood. Addresses with stepped-up code enforcement and court orders are listed there too.

From the Code Enforcement Legal section page, choose "case tracking" to see court orders and outcomes. 

Restoration Hardware Warehouse Sale in Edgewood! July 8 through July 12! 

RH will throw open its doors for a final closeout sale, letting visitors peruse its stock of more than 5,000 discontinued, returned or otherwise rejected furniture, lighting and home accessories.

Discounts range from 50 to 75 percent off. 

Hours of the sale are ... 

Here's the deal: One-way fares are based on the distance you're traveling. Travel up to 400 miles is $30 each way. For example, BWI to Boston or New York. (Take that Megabus.com. Well, not really, but it's close.)  Travel between 400-650 miles is $60 = BWI to Fort Lauderdale or Milwaukee. Anything more than 750 miles is $90 = BWI to San Diego or Seattle.

You have to travel between Sept. 9 and Nov. 18. Great for a fall leaf-peeping trip. (I can't believe I said "leaf-peeping" and it's not even August yet. Groan.) Book now - sale only lasts 48 hours - through 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.

Here's an email I got from Mary E.:

For our occasional international travel, we purposely keep a Capitol One Visa credit card that charges no foreign currency conversion fee. On a recent trip in Switzerland, several times when we used the card, we were asked whether we wanted to pay in U.S. dollars or Swiss francs. We did not know which would be to our advantage. In each case, we were told by the business that it would usually be to our advantage to pay in dollars. We chose dollars, but noticed when presented with the receipt that the transaction processing entity charged a currency conversion fee that was included in the exchange rate. Would we have been better off paying in Swiss francs, since our Capitol One card charges no conversion fee?

I'm somewhat familiar with Mary's issue because of an article I wrote yesterday on credit card issuers changing terms on consumers before credit card reforms kick in February.

In my reporting, Greg McBride of Bankrate.com told me that issuers have been getting more creative with fees. One of them is foreign conversion fees.

Usually, you only trigger a fee when you are making a purchase in a foreign currency. But McBride says card issuers have started adding the fee even if you are making purchases with U.S. dollars outside the country. The Caribbean, for example, is one place where you have the option of paying in dollars or other currency.

"Now we are seeing issuers assess the fee regardless of the currency...as long as the transaction takes place on foreign soil," McBride says.

If any of you know of a card that doesn't charge a foreign coversion fee, let us know. We'll pass the word onto Mary.

The group you volunteer with has to be a 501c3 organization - a place like Habitat for Humanity, for example - and you'll need a letter from the organization proving that you did the work. Then make your reservation at least 48 hours in advance at places like the Hilton Garden Inn in Orlando, the Marriott in Charlotte, the Renaissance Pittsburgh, the Doubletree Atlanta etc.

You'll have to pay the taxes and rooms are limited at each hotel - but the offer is good through Dec. 20. Plenty of time to "give a day and get a night" from Sage Hospitality, the group that operates the hotels. (They also offer 50% off for military and first responders.)

Costco has reached a settlement agreement with consumers who were short-changed on their membership renewals, with agreements that expired fewer than 12 months from the re-up date, according to Consumer Reports.

Basically, consumers would come in to the warehouse retailer months after their memberships had lapsed and sign up for another year. But the company would back-date the new agreement to when the original membership ended, so consumers who didn't spot the error would pay for a full annual membership that would expire in fewer than 12 months.

It's like paying to resume a subscription to a magazine and only getting 8 or 10 issues!

Under the terms of the Costco settlement agreement ...

Government officials say dealers can expect to be reimbursed in about 10 days after a consumer buys a car and trades in the clunker.

They also elaborated more on fraud issues, asking consumers to report suspected fraud at (866)-CAR-7891 or TTY at (800)-424-9153.

The government site at www.cars.gov adds:

 “You may also call the Hotline of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the U.S. Department of Transportation. The OIG Hotline is an important tool that is used to facilitate the reporting of allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement in the Department's programs or operations, including the CARS program. Allegations of fraud may be reported by DOT employees, grantees, contractors or the general public. The Hotline is set-up to receive allegations in variety of forms, including by email (hotline@oig.dot.gov), regular mail (DOT Inspector General, P.O. Box 708, Fredericksburg, VA 22404), fax (540-373-2090) or a toll free number (1-800-424-9071). OIG's Hotline is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is operated by a third party contractor.”

Hi All. I’m Andrea K. Walker, retail reporter at The Sun, and I’m joining the consumer blog today. Luck would have it that there’s actually news on my first day.

Just as all of us are becoming tightwads given the state of the economy, the epitome of extravagance is coming to town. Louis Vuitton is trying to convince us to open our wallets just a little – okay maybe a lot at their prices – with a new Louis Vuitton store they’re opening at Towson Town Center Wednesday.

The store is the first in the Baltimore area. It may seem counterintuitive to open such a high-end store during such a tough time. A glance at the Louis website shows a wallet can run as much as $725. But Louis joins Lacoste and Burberry among stores that have already opened up in a new luxury wing Towson Town Center launched at the height of the economic downturn.

General Growth, the mall’s owner, said the wing was planned well before the recession. And they think that shoppers will eventually splurge on luxury goods once the economy turns.

I myself felt like ...