Bling isn't the thing anymore

For most Americans, the recession hasn't ended. There are plenty of people out of work. The stock market is still a bipolar mess. Uncle Sam is up to his goatee in debt. The nation is pinching pennies to squeak by, and maybe that's a good thing?

Because last decade was a drunken orgy of a spending spree. We bought giant, expensive McMansions on credit in the suburbs because everyone in the family needed two toilets. We would eat out all the time at fancy restaurants that served "tapas," which is Spanish for "very expensive tiny plates of very little food." Americans took up golf by the millions, and that's a sport where you pay out the nose to walk around a park with a bag full of pricey toys.

Then that ended, and here we are. Hungrier, but leaner. Not completely broke, but certainly more frugal. Most Americans don't waste money the way they use to. But there are still some who insist on throwing their moolah at crapola that isn't worth the price tag. Check out our list of dumbest wastes of money! Let us know how you're saving a buck here and there.