Clark Biweekly 12 18 25

Author

Sally McDonald
December 18, 2025

💵 Today’s Top Stories
Credit card spending rewards

Clark picked up this brilliant credit card rewards trick by talking to a shopper at Costco. Read our story to decide if you want to start using it too. Read more.

Money Saving Tips

Reusing floss, grabbing littered clothing off the ground outside, making laundry detergent and diluting liquid soap … these are just a few extreme measures Clark and his audience take to save. Read more.

Airport departures

This Midwestern airport earned the highest seal of approval from customers. And this East Coach airport earned the consternation of just about everyone. Read more.

Dealership car service

Dealerships are expensive and sometimes slow when it comes to maintenance. Many overlook the flaws and blindly trust dealerships. That’s a mistake, Clark explains. Read more.

Internet

Leaving your home Wi-Fi unsecured could make your personal information and network vulnerable to illicit activity. Protect yourself with these changes. Read more.

💵 Today’s Top Savings Rates

Check out our updated list of Clark.com-approved high-yield savings accounts with the highest rates. Here are the top five APYs on our list as of December 17, 2025.

Savings Rates 120425
🌭 Sam’s Club Cloning Parts of Costco

If you love Costco like Clark does, chances are you’re loving certain elements of Sam’s Club these days as well.

Costco and Sam’s Club are both renowned as warehouse membership clubs with good deals, especially on buying in bulk.

Sam’s Club scores points over Costco in the areas of membership cost (slightly cheaper) and convenience (curbside pickup).

Now Sam’s Club is trying to replicate some elements of the famous Costco food court. No, you can’t get a $1.50 hot dog and soda from the Walmart offshoot.

But Costco recently added a salted caramel brownie sundae (soft-serve vanilla ice cream with brownie bits and caramel sauce). It’s popular. And what do you know, Sam’s Club just added a “Jingle Cookie Crunch Sundae” (soft-serve vanilla ice cream with chocolate cookie crumbles and Member’s Mark mini candy cookies).

Sam’s Club undercut Costco’s version on price, $1.58 to $2.99.

Unlike Costco, Sam’s Club also allows anyone, not just members, to eat in its food court.

One isn’t necessarily better than the other. But it’s interesting to see Sam’s Club replicating some of Costco’s strengths.

📊 Stat of the Day

✈️ $11 million: The amount that the federal administration just forgave Southwest Airlines. That was the last of the $140 million fine stemming from the disastrous 2022 holiday season due to tech and systems failures that stranded more than 2 million customers. Southwest has since spent $1 billion upgrading its tech.

💰️ Deal Alert: Today’s Top Deals
Gift
Sale deals
🎙️ Podcast

Americans are getting fiercely frugal. From watering down liquid soap to tearing dryer sheets in half, people are finding creative ways to stretch every dollar. Clark and Christa discuss the responses from our poll of the extreme things your fellow Clarkies are doing to save! Also, is owning a home still the American dream to building wealth? Clark breaks down the factors you need to consider before buying a home.

☎️ Need Money Help?

The Team Clark Consumer Action Center is a free helpline that can help you navigate your money questions. Call 636-492-5275. Visit clark.com/cac for more information.

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