Sunday’s NY Times had a funny Op-Art piece that parodies the iPhone ads about which apps save you money (some are free, others cost $.99 to $30 to download). You may recall I gushed about these ads, which have been running on back page of the NY Times’ front section.

The Op-Art piece reads: “iPanic: helping you deal with the loss of your life savings, one app at a time.” A sampling of the “apps” including:

Never Mind: $3.99 “Choose a vacation from more than 1,000 popular destinations, dinner at a restaurant you’ve always wanted to try or a round of golf at any one of your favorite courses. Never Mind calculates the money you save by not going.”

4merly Hot: $14.99 “Tired of economizing alone? Upload a picture of yourself when you had money, then use your iPhone to meet other singles pretending they still have money, too.”

Fantasy Finance League: $9.99 “Field your own 401 (k). Make imaginary trades with stocks you used to own. FFL keeps score, compiles stats and automatically updates when you could have retired.”

2 Late Now: $7.99 “Create, edit and save spreadsheet files documenting all the things you wish you’d never bought.”

Scrape: $6.99 “By using your iPhone’s GPS, Scrape lists part-time jobs within a five-mile radius of your current location. Find the opportunity to match your experience and skills, from valet parking to wearing a taco costume.”

Hmmm…the message I’m getting is that even as we watch our life savings disappear, we continue to pay for luxuries like the iPhone (guilty as charged!) But in my defense, I only download free apps.

So maybe you don’t have an iPhone, but I bet you have some other secret spendy habit that you are loathe to reveal to other bargain hunters. Spill the beans!