The Best Links this Week: Hoarders, an economic-indicator cheat sheet, and home improvement tips

Mike Dang  |  07:08 PM, Friday, April 30, 2010

ECONOMIC INDICATORS, REVEALED!
Not everyone can have a mom who's an economic indicator. For a guilt-trip free economic barometer, Russell Investments built the Economic Indicators Dashboard, a beautiful interactive graphic, updated weekly, which puts data on consumer spending, employment growth and core inflation into perspective. Good news: this week, most indicators are blissfully close to their historic averages. Add The Nightly Business Report's weekly video podcast How The Economy Works to your playlist, and soon you'll be ready for your Nobel. [Russell.com]

HOME IMPROVEMENT FOR AMATEURS
Subtract the cost of labor, and everything gets cheaper. So you're no Bob Villa. Don't let that stop you. Members of the community at Instructables will show you how to make your own furniture from shopping carts, or fix a clogged sink with zip ties. Materials not included, and remember, some projects should be left to the pros. [Instructables, ThereIFixedIt]

HOARDING, A STUDY
In a nation obsessed with stuff, what's more meta than our current fascination with people who are really obsessed with stuff? Compulsive hoarders, here comes your 15 minutes. A Smith College psychology professor's new book called Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things challenges the myth that hoarders are just lazy or messy; Rick Marin's short essay about cleaning out his parents' jam-packed house offers a different take on decades of collected stuff. Or see for yourself with a tour of hoarders' rooms, courtesy of A&E, home of reality TV show Hoarders. [Time, NY Times, A&E]

SPENDING TRENDS, FOUND!
What people throw away can tell us as much about their spending as what they actually own. That's why we love Found Magazine so much. Someone in Rochester, N.Y., thinks a romantic evening requires $34 in flowers and a $12 robe. Someone in Bolinas, Calif., is desperate for emergency cash. And someone in Portland, ME., is getting a tattoo, right after s/he talks to the nice lady at the bank about a free iPod. [Found]

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