Lifehacker

If something needs to be scrubbed, then by all means, do it the thorough way. But some things are just fine being blasted with a hose, saving you time and energy. Here are some things you can simply haul outside to douse with water.

Along with the weather, commenting on how it seems like it’s taking longer for a piece of mail to arrive at its destination is another small talk standby. And while there’s not much you can do about these delays, you can now find out if delivery in your area is really is as slow as it seems.Read more...

While spacious kitchens have become a status symbol of sorts, that hasn’t always been the case. So if you live in an older home that hasn’t been updated, your kitchen may be smaller than you’d like, and lack the storage space you need. Or does it?Read more...

Summer’s almost here, which means rising temperatures, and with them, a constant craving for cool, refreshing beverages. And thanks to a current offer from Panera, you can get two months of free drinks this summer. Here’s what to know.Read more...

Your parents are right: They don’t make appliances built to last anymore. So when your washing machine breaks down, or it becomes clear that it’s starting to fail, you’re faced with a decision: Should you pay to have it repaired, or buy a new one? Here’s what to know.Read more...

Are you stuck at home this weekend, while your friends and family are enjoying themselves out of town? Not to worry: You didn’t miss your chance at summer travel. In fact, you can get airfare as low as $59 one-way during S0uthwest’s current sale. Here’s what to know.Read more...

For a game as complex as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, it’s remarkably bug-free. You can run around Hyrule, build whatever you want, and dive from the sky all day without encountering a single issue. Still, as with all software, a few glitches have popped up, which Nintendo has now patched in the latest…Read more...

Wearables that track activity have always done well with cardio. When you run or cycle, your heart rate is a pretty accurate reflection of how hard you worked. But strength training stresses your body in a very different way, and wearables have never really managed to get a handle on that—until, possibly, just now.Read more...

Going to college is all about filling out forms. Even before you get it, you have to fill out standardized tests, admissions and scholarship applications, and it doesn’t stop there. One of the most important of them all is your FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which helps determine your eligibility…Read more...

A pool is the sort of upgrade that can’t help but sound enticing—until you see the price tag. Add in the maintenance required, and your dreams of the pool life can fade quickly. With water use concerns also on the rise, a smaller plunge pool is an option more people are considering. To make this upgrade affordable,…Read more...

While the legendary cashless society may eventually become reality, for now cash is still a pretty useful thing. There are still scenarios in which you need some paper money, whether it’s a local restaurant that only accepts cash to an extended power outage that renders your digital payments useless. As a result, most…Read more...

If you or your child has had anxiety, anger, or other dysregulation, you may be familiar with “grounding techniques,” mindfulness exercises that help calm the nervous system. You can name objects, check in with your physical state, or use physical “tricks” such as the “butterfly hug” or by using ice to help hack your…Read more...

Summer is (almost) here, and many folk are switching from hot coffee to icy cold brew. Not me though. I’ve been drinking iced coffee this whole time. My caffeinated summer switch is a little more subtle: Instead of changing the temperature of my coffee, I switch from half & half to a plant-based “milk.”Read more...

The U.S. is days away from not being able to pay its bills. Ever since the U.S. hit the debt ceiling (aka, the total amount of federal debt allowed to be outstanding) in January, the Treasury Department has been using what it calls “extraordinary measures” to avoid defaulting on the national debt.Read more...

Prepare to bid a fond farewell to legacy compression tools like 7-zip and WinRAR: Windows 11 is soon adding native support for several archive formats, including 7z and RAR. In an upcoming update, you’ll be able to create archive files in these formats without using a third-party app.

We like to dismantle our food here at Skillet. That includes taking pigs out of blankets and deconstructing cheeseballs. In the spirit of deconstruction, I’ve taken apart the egg roll. It turns out, separating the filling from the shell is an excellent way to get the flavors and textures of this appetizer without any …Read more...

Of all the garden pests, deer can be some of the most frustrating. They don’t care if you’re sprinkling coffee grounds between your rows of tomatoes, or hanging shiny strips of tape around the perimeter. They will hop right in, eat all your beans, and hop right back out. I live in a place where roaming herds of deer…Read more...

When it comes to video games, good gameplay is the primary marker of quality. But for both developers and gamers alike, graphics are a close second. Modern games are capable of astonishing visual fidelity thanks to the latest consoles and graphics cards, and many players seek out titles that push their PlayStation 5,…Read more...

Buying a home has consistently trended toward unaffordable in the last few years, but so has renting: The median rent across the U.S. in January 2020 sat at $1,585 and peaked at $2,053 just 2.5 years later. While rent prices have begun to level out and even drop in some areas, it’s still a burden for many.

“Undo Send” is a godsend. Everyone knows you only catch the most egregious typos and remember the most important attachments immediately after you hit send on an email, so having a button that cancels your outgoing message before it hits someone else’s inbox is essential. But if you’re using your email app as-is, you…Read more...

This week, kids are committing crimes for likes, finding expensive couches on the street, and making heartfelt apologies for being too edgy. There’s something for everyone.

A trifle is the hot-mess-best-friend of desserts. It would be all over the place if it wasn’t for the giant bowl holding it together, but the good qualities outweigh the chaos. You can dress it up with with refined cake cubes, jam, and custard, but I say we let trifles be the trashy dessert of our dreams. Embrace…Read more...

If you’ve been thinking about adding Paramount+ (Star Trek! Many Yellowstone spinoff!), Showtime (Yellowjackets!), or both to your streaming lineup—or maybe subscribing in lieu of paying for your own Netflix account—now is the time to see if you like what these services have to offer, because you can get them both for half-off for…Read more...

People think we’ve got the market cornered on houselessness here in Portland, Ore., but traveling across Idaho, Utah, and Arizona this winter helped confirm that this is not a uniquely West Coast Thing; it’s endemic. Houseless folks make people anxious, which explains how housed people often react. They made me…Read more...

Investing in the stock market is one way to make use of extra cash you may have sitting in the bank, but it doesn’t pay to get into it if you aren’t prepared to make smart investment choices. If you aren’t quite ready to hire a financial advisor to help you do that, the investing app Tykr offers a potential stop-gap…Read more...

As you age, you begin to accept certain truths about yourself. For example, I know that I will never take up pole dancing, enjoy overnight oats, or get into canning. When it comes to that last one, my garden isn’t prolific enough to justify it but, more importantly, I don’t want to. My jam needs are met by Bonne…Read more...

Whether you use your computer for work, gaming, or to manage your finances, upgrading your operating system can offer some tangible quality of life improvements. If you’re a PC user running an older OS, you’d likely benefit from the stronger security features, streamlined interface, and other convenient improvements…Read more...

“Everything showers” are big on TikTok these days. When I first heard of these, my thought was: “Right, like when I wash my hair and shave my legs.” That’s the idea, but you don’t stop there.

Cornstarch is a functional, journeyman ingredient, neither sexy nor exciting. It does its job well; all you do to activate its thickening powers is mix it with a small amount of liquid to create a slurry you can stir into a hot soups, stews, pan sauces, puddings, or any liquid-y dish that needs a bit more body. Most…Read more...

One of the quirks about travel is how your whole world shrinks—time gets short, airplane seats are smaller than ever, and many of the everyday products you use suddenly become “travel size.” You might be surprised, though, to discover just how many travel size products there actually are out there—heck, there’s an…Read more...

Lots of gardeners seem to dislike finding mushrooms growing in their beds or on their lawns, but spotting a mushrooms isn’t a bad thing—it’s actually a sign the soil is healthy.

Sometimes, when a new food comes along, I have a jaded reaction. Especially when it’s a viral cookie recipe, which is sometimes too mediocre to warrant the hype, if I’m keeping it honest. Popular cookies sometimes crumble, and another take on a chocolate chip isn’t gonna fly in this expensive egg economy. It’s no…Read more...

Hydroponics used to be a nerdy hobby for homesteaders and home pot growers. What was once required a complicated setup that resulted in absurd-looking home laboratories has now been commoditized into sleek, modern towers of plastic for your home. But are commercially produced hydroponic gardening towers actually a…Read more...

The culinary world has no shortage of jargon, and occasionally it feels like an entirely different language. While I enjoy picking up a bit of French or Javanese, learning the meaning behind the name of a recipe or technique can improve your cooking. By improve, I also mean improvise. When you learn some of the basics…Read more...

Wintoys is a must-have Windows app that makes it easy to find the most useful tools on your PC. From clearing junk files and speeding up your computer, to helping you restart the graphics driver or even repair corrupted thumbnails, Wintoys makes many of these previously hidden features easily accessible...and it’s…Read more...

Headlines about fentanyl are shocking. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. increased 58% between 2019 and 2021 at least partly due to the influx of this super-charged synthetic narcotic into the nation’s illicit drug supply. As little as two milligrams of fentanyl can cause an overdose, an amount of powder that could fit…Read more...

Moving into a new home can be a chore, from figuring out how things work to unpacking boxes and arranging furniture, and it’s common to feel unsettled for a while. But whether your new home is a fixer-upper or practically perfect the day you move in, there are small upgrades you can make that have a big impact on how…Read more...

It’s a sad fact of life that pretty often, the better it feels to do something, the worse it is for you—especially when you repeat it so often it falls under the category of “lifestyle choice.” Gorging on unhealthy food once in a while is an indulgence, but living exclusively on cheeseburgers and fries is a lifestyle,…Read more...

Being a DIY redecorating fanatic is rewarding until you stumble at the finish line choosing the right colors for your projects. Or maybe you’re trying to touch up an already painted wall and you just can’t get the shade to look right.

Some months I think, why do I even subscribe to Paramount+? I can’t tell my Yellowstone spinoffs from my Yellowjackets. Then I remember that Star Trek exists.Read more...

Amazon’s biggest discount holiday of the year, Prime Day 2023, is nearly upon us, which means you can expect thousands of deals and discounts on just about every type of product you can think of. If you’re looking for details on when and where Amazon’s 48-hour shopping event will be held, you’ve come to the right…Read more...

It wasn’t that I didn’t like the fluffy corn I had popped in clarified butter. I just found it slightly disappointing (at least until I added salt, but more on that in a bit). “It’s because you drown your popcorn,” my boyfriend suggested, shoving another handful into his mouth. “That’s why you don’t like this. You’d…Read more...

A brand-new, off-the-shelf computer may be a necessary expense if you need the latest hardware. But for most of us, a refurbished device is a more affordable—and environmentally friendly—option. This refurbished Apple MacBook Air is certified to look and work like new, despite being manufactured in 2017. And right…Read more...

Sensory paths are a popular feature in schools, as they can engage kids in ways that promote focus and calm. These are all things that many adults could stand to be reminded of, so a garden sensory path doesn’t have to be just for kids.

Welcome back to The Grown-Up Kitchen, a segment of Skillet devoted to answering basic kitchen questions. Not every voting-age adult is comfortable slingin’ steaks or even heating their frozen pizza. (My stepfather insists he’s never been able to microwave popcorn without burning it.) From basic cooking skills to…Read more...

Lots of people are rightly mad at Netflix for cracking down on password sharing or still nursing a grudge over GLOW getting canceled, but lest they think nothing they do will make us happy, I’d like to take this moment to thank them for raising Nimona from the dead after Disney unjustly shitcanned it in 2021.Read more...

While we’ve all been focused on growing a bee-friendly habitat in our gardens by planting pollinator friendly varieties, there’s something else that’s vital to the health of bees that often goes unmentioned: Bees need water. In their natural habitats, bees get water from ponds, pools, and puddles that naturally occur…Read more...

Once you’re enrolled in college, you can take classes whenever you want, including spring and winter breaks and during the summer. But you can also get a jump start on your college credits before you’ve even started your first traditional semester. There are some options for you in high school to earn college credit…Read more...

The experience of watching YouTube videos somehow keeps getting worse, and if you watch them on your smart TV, get ready to begin seeing a lot of unskippable 30-second ads before your video has even started. As if that isn’t bad enough, YouTube may also start showing you ads when you pause a video.