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Everyday Cheapskate: Simple Home Fixes That Prevent Big Expenses

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Summer has a way of exposing everything you meant to get to earlier. The first hot stretch arrives, and suddenly the house starts telling the truth. The air conditioner runs longer than it should. One room feels warmer than the others. The energy bill climbs. A small issue you barely noticed in spring becomes something you can't ignore. That's ...Read more

Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Ford City Mall to shut down over safety concerns, ending 60-year run on Chicago's Southwest Side

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

The main building at Chicago’s Ford City Mall will shut down permanently in about five weeks due to what city attorneys have described as unsafe conditions, ending its more than 60-year run as a top retail destination for the Southwest Side.

“The main mall will be shuttered June 22 at noon,” Assistant Corporation Counsel Greg Janes said ...Read more

Todd McInturf/The Detroit News/TNS

Rocket Mortgage sues rival UWM for $100M

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Detroit-based home lender Rocket Mortgage filed a lawsuit Thursday against local archrival United Wholesale Mortgage for alleged breach of contract.

The suit marks the latest escalation in a bitter personal and business feud between Rocket Companies Chairman Dan Gilbert and UWM CEO Mat Ishbia.

The filing from Rocket to the New York state ...Read more

Real estate Q&A: Am I responsible for mortgage after signing quit-claim deed?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Q: My ex and I divorced last year, and she kept the house. I signed a quit-claim deed transferring my interest in the property to her. I thought I was done with it. Now I am trying to buy a small place of my own, and my lender says I still appear to be responsible for the mortgage on the old house. How can that be? I do not even own it anymore. ...Read more

DON MACKINNON/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Taylor Swift, lawsuits and quirky exemptions: How empty homes tax works in other cities

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

SAN DIEGO — If Measure A passes on June 2, San Diego would join a group of cities in the U.S., Canada and abroad that tax second homes or properties that are unoccupied for most of the year.

San Diego’s “non-primary home” tax, as it is being called, would impose an initial annual levy of $8,000 on more than 5,000 homes that are vacant ...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Los Angeles' surging real estate prices have cooled, so why is nobody buying condos?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Even as the relentless rise in Los Angeles housing costs seems to have paused, condominium sales slowed to a trickle this year.

The number of condo units sold in the first two months slid to a more than 20-year low, according to figures from real estate data firm Attom. The median price of a condo fell nearly 5% in February compared with a year...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: The 80% Solution

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Provided that your basic life needs for shelter, food and clothing are being met, more money is not going to make you happier. I know, that's hard to believe, but it's a proven fact. What will make you happier is learning how to manage well the money you have already.

Today, I want to give you a simple formula you can use to manage your money. ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: The Frugal Frittata

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

It's been a hectic day. The family's hungry, the fridge offers little more than eggs and leftovers and you're fresh out of answers for the question everyone's asking: What's for dinner? The solution may be found in a single word: frittata.

A frittata is like an omelet but without the fancy pan work. It's similar to a quiche without the ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: A Big Belching House Guest

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Our house is not haunted, but just try to tell that to our guests. "Our water heater makes funny noises," I warn. First-timers respond with a smile and nod -- and forget.

"What was that noise?" is the predictable next-morning question. Some say it sounds like a big clumsy man on the roof. Children trend more toward a "monster in the wall" ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Little-Known Airline Rules That Can Trip You Up

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Imagine this: You're off on a dreamy New York-London-Paris adventure. Somewhere over the Atlantic, someone swipes your carry-on. The airline shrugs. "Not our responsibility." You roll with it. London is fabulous. So fabulous, in fact, that you skip your flight to Paris and instead hop a train a few days later.

Fast-forward to departure day in ...Read more

Renée Jones Schneider/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Minnesota lawmakers vote to limit powers of homeowners associations

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Homeowners associations across Minnesota will see their powers diminished under a far-reaching “HOA Bill of Rights” approved by state lawmakers this week.

The bipartisan measure that runs more than 50 pages is aimed at protecting homeowners by requiring more transparency from HOAs, limiting their ability to levy fines and foreclose ...Read more

Real estate Q&A: Can HOA regulate street parking?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Q: I am interested in finding out if a homeowners association can dictate that cars cannot be parked on the street in front of a single-family residence, and that they must instead be in the driveway or garage. — Sherrie

A: The answer to your question turns on a single point that most people do not stop to consider, namely, who actually owns ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: How to Soften New Denim, Make Homemade Eyeglass Cleaner and More

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Dear Mary: I used to buy a packet of "blue jeans softener" in a store that has since gone out of business. Added to the first washing, it would make a pair of new jeans feel like they had been stone-washed. I can no longer find anything like this. Do you have a suggestion for softening new denim? I've tried extra fabric softener in the last ...Read more

Nathan Howard/Getty Images North America/TNS

Data centers use lots of electricity. Should we be worried? Here are 5 key issues

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Data center proposals across the country are stoking wide-ranging questions and concerns tied to their consumption of electric power.

The facilities store racks of computing equipment, in row after row, powering main features of modern technology, especially artificial intelligence.

Keeping that machinery humming can consume as much ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Frugality on the Fun Meter of Life

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

I was not born with a natural bent toward frugality. Everything in me cries out to spend, acquire, spend, achieve, amass, spend, spend, spend! I am drawn to the extraordinary, the luxurious and the unique. I live with visions of grandeur and opulence. My fondest dreams include tailored clothing, domestic staffs, $600 silk bed sheets, manicured ...Read more

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America/TNS

An AI bubble? Not so, says this leading money manager

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

The world’s largest asset manager dismissed worries of an AI bubble and instead said that the industry is providing unrivaled opportunities to investors, in remarks Tuesday at the Milken Institute Global Conference.

Larry Fink, chairman and chief executive of BlackRock, said that despite concerns that AI is being hyped, there is legitimate ...Read more

Video

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

No body

Five tips for quick house cleaning

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Keeping a home reasonably clean does not require a full day of scrubbing or an obsessive personality. For most households, the secret is learning to focus on the areas that create the greatest visual impact in the shortest amount of time.

Professional cleaners and organized homeowners alike say that a fast, effective cleaning session often ...Read more

What Happened to the Smart Home?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

By almost any measure, the smart home should have arrived by now.

For more than 50 years, futurists have promised houses that would anticipate our needs, adjust themselves automatically and free homeowners from countless mundane tasks. In the 1960s, television specials and magazine illustrations depicted suburban families living with ...Read more

No shoes at home? House shoes, socks, or bare feet?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

By all appearances, the modern American home is becoming a shoe-optional zone.

Whether prompted by concerns about dirt, allergens, comfort or simple habit, more households are asking visitors to remove their shoes at the door. Once that happens, a surprisingly consequential question follows: What comes next?

For some, the answer is a pair of ...Read more

 

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