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Everyday Cheapskate: 7 Ways to Keep Brown Sugar Soft

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

How maddening to reach for the brown sugar, expecting it to be soft and fluffy, only to find a rock-hard clump in the bottom of the box. Or how about this: Brown sugar is on sale, so you stock up. Even without opening the bags or boxes left on the shelf, the contents, in time, turn brick-hard. Should you toss the bricks into the garbage? Better ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: A Valuable Money Lesson for the Kids

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Don't assume your kids are going to learn in school how to manage money well. There is a growing recognition for the need, but few children are lucky enough to learn about money matters in school. If you have kids, teaching them about money rests squarely on your shoulders. So, how are you doing with that? Don't know where to start? Today, I've ...Read more

Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times/TNS

'We've lost our way': Clifton's operator gives up on downtown Los Angeles

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

LOS ANGELES — The proprietor of Los Angeles' legendary Clifton's has given up on reopening the shuttered venue.

It's just too difficult to do business in downtown's historic core, he says.

Andrew Meieran bought Clifton's on Broadway in 2010 and poured more than $14 million into repairs, renovations and upgrades, adding additional bar and ...Read more

Rick Kern/Getty Images North America/TNS

Billionaire investor warns sports prediction markets harm men

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

John Arnold, the billionaire energy trader-turned-philanthropist, made his fortune by predicting the direction of markets. Now, he’s sounding the alarm on fast-growing prediction markets, saying they’re harmful to young men and boys.

His concern lies in how platforms for sports-event contracts and online betting more broadly are designed to...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

The state of women's finances: How homeownership is becoming the great equalizer

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Finance is different for everyone. We all inhabit our own money realities: white people and people of color, Gen Z and baby boomers, high earners and those with lower incomes.

Women live in their own financial reality, too. One where the gender pay gap is a force holding back their progress, seeping into every aspect of their financial well-...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: What I Learned After Timing My Own Housework

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

One afternoon not long ago, I decided to conduct a little experiment. Nothing scientific. No clipboard required. Just a kitchen timer and a bit of curiosity. I wanted to know how long everyday housework actually takes.

Like many people, I sometimes catch myself thinking certain chores will take forever. Wiping the kitchen counters. Emptying the...Read more

Renée Jones Schneider/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Countertop maker Cambria wants big tariffs on cheap quartz imports. Homebuilders are fighting the effort

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Countertop maker Cambria and seven other U.S. manufacturers won a resounding victory from the International Trade Commission, which ruled that a significant increase of cheaper quartz imports from Pacific Rim countries seriously undercut their ability to be profitable.

This is the second big trade win for Cambria, the giant in the U.S. quartz ...Read more

Real estate Q&A: Should HOA pay to move fences that town says are too close lake?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Q: I live in a homeowners’ association, and our yard is enclosed by a fence that sits a few feet from the lake that my house and several others border. Our association is now telling us that the town said the fences were mistakenly allowed to be put too close to the lake. They are telling us we have to pay to move our fences farther back. We ...Read more

Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

'You have to make sacrifices': Central Floridians struggle with high costs

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

ORLANDO, Florida — At a west Orlando Walmart, Natilee Hamilton carefully considers the cost of each item she places in her cart as she struggles to adhere to a budget outpaced by inflation.

It is a balancing act that extends beyond the grocery store. In the past few years, she’s had to defer dental work, eye exams and home repairs because ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Physical and Emotional Clutter

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Not long ago, a Realtor dropped off the flier announcing plans for the annual neighborhood garage sale. "Join us to make this the biggest sale ever!" the flyer read.

Since making our move to Colorado, we have never participated in this annual ritual. This year would be no exception. I've learned the hard way that for a compulsive shopper it ...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

LA's trailblazing home builder is the latest to leave California

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

One of Los Angeles’ most influential home builders, KB Home, is relocating its headquarters out of state, becoming the latest high-profile firm to do so.

The company, which has been based in Los Angeles since 1963 and helped build its sprawling suburbs, is moving its main office to the Phoenix metropolitan area by spring 2027, in part to ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: The 10-Year Bar of Soap, Plus More Great Reader Tips

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

In the cupboard right above my washing machine, there's a bar of Fels-Naptha laundry soap standing in a coffee mug. I'm sure it's five years old, and it appears that it will be good for at least another five. When I come across a stain, I grab the soap, dip the end into water and use it to scrub the stain -- almost as if it were a big eraser -- ...Read more

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Gov. JB Pritzker's ambitious housing plan for Illinois: More four-flats, looser rules

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Above the bay windows that run up the center of a two-story apartment building in Uptown, Nick Serra stands on what had been the roof but will soon be the balcony for a new third-floor unit he’s adding.

In many circumstances, the construction work would be a sure sign that another traditional Chicago apartment building was being gutted and ...Read more

Video

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

No body

Video

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

No body

5 Easy DIY repairs which seem intimidating but aren't

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

The first time something breaks at home, the instinct is often the same: don’t touch it. Call someone. Price it out. Assume it’s complicated, expensive, or somehow beyond your skill set.

But a growing number of homeowners and renters are discovering that many of the most intimidating fixes are, in fact, approachable. With a few basic tools ...Read more

Home Robotics in the Modern World

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Home robotics, once the domain of science fiction and speculative design, has steadily moved into the mainstream, reshaping how people clean, cook, monitor and even interact within their homes. What began with simple, single-purpose machines has evolved into a growing ecosystem of connected devices that promise convenience, efficiency and, ...Read more

The Lived-In House

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

The house was not finished when it was built. It was only prepared.

Walls were painted, floors laid, fixtures installed. It was, by every conventional measure, complete. And yet, in the days and months that followed, something else began—something quieter, slower, and far more defining than construction.

A lived-in house is not arranged. It ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: The Value of Trivial Pursuits

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

For decades, I've been collecting and disseminating timesaving and money-saving tips. Readers email them to me, comment with them on my website at EverydayCheapskate.com, hand them to me on little scraps of paper and even send them in the mail. Some are hilarious, others downright weird. And the very best ones show up in this column. Thousands ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: DIY Laundry Helpers That Beat Store-Bought Add-Ins

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Walk down the laundry aisle at any grocery store or supermarket and you might think washing clothes requires an entire chemistry lab.

There are scent boosters, fabric softeners, color catchers, wrinkle releasers, stain fighters, brighteners, whiteners, odor removers and at least six products claiming to make towels "fluffier than ever." It's ...Read more

 

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