Lifehacker

Rejoice, my fellow Grinches: This curated list of December streaming options is (nearly) Santa-free. Although it’s a rather lean month as far as each streaming service’s releases go, there are still plenty of new movies and shows sure to appeal to a broad swatch of your extended family members this holiday season.

Early in my career I had an interaction with a boss I now regret. She began by saying, “I want to give you some feedback on your work.” With a list in front of her, she began to describe all the things she felt I had been doing poorly. She made little eye contact and had a deadpan tone. As she spoke, my heart pounded,…Read more...

Your iPhone and Apple Watch want to keep you safe, but sometimes, they’re a bit overzealous about it. In an effort to save your life in the event of a car crash, they’ll reach out to emergency services on your behalf and let them know what’s going on. Only occasionally, they’ll mistake innocuous activities for…Read more...

Swiffers are kind of weird. They are pretty expensive to begin with, not to mention that you have to keep buying pads and refill liquid for them—and a good old-fashioned mop is cheaper and accomplishes the same goal. There are some unusual uses for Swiffers that a mop can’t replicate, though; so if you’ve already got…Read more...

The subreddit r/GiftIdeas is a gold mine not just for gift ideas, but also for drama. There’s the mother-in-law who rejects every gift, but also rejects the idea of not giving gifts. The “somewhat unpleasant” brother-in-law. The posts that start with “unfortunately, I must still get this asshole a gift.” If you, too,…Read more...

We can thank Sesame Street. In 1976, they came up with “Free Cookie Day,” which would later be picked up on by the Blue Chip Cookie Company and gain some traction. This Sunday, Dec 4, is National Cookie Day. But you can get free cookies even sooner at some places. Here’s where you can get free or discounted cookies…Read more...

Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas tried to warn us. Home Alone did too. Although winter isn’t peak season for burglaries, it offers would-be breakers and enterers some unique opportunities to scheme. After all, there’s no better time than the frigid months for people to leave their homes for a vacation…Read more...

Seems like everything is more expensive these days, and one of the most worrying bills hitting your bank account is for home energy use. From gas to electricity, the cost of keeping our lives lit up, warm, and connected isn’t going to get lower any time soon, so it’s little wonder people are increasingly turning to…Read more...

Giving the right gift to a DIY home renovator can be challenging. With lots to choose from, picking out just the right thing for your favorite home maintenance expert or finding something great for a kitchen cabinet self-installer can really be tricky. From beginners to DIY veterans, here are some of our favorite gift …Read more...

Do you like video games? Do you like watching video game creators win awards? Do you like free stuff? Then you’ll love Valve’s new giveaway: Watch this year’s Game Awards through SteamTV, and you’ll have the chance to win a new 512GB Steam Deck, which typically retails for $649. The video game developers may get the…Read more...

In December, my oven is primed for its biggest task of the year: epic stints of cookie baking. Over the next three weeks, hundreds of cookies will roll out with different shapes, textures, and sizes, and my most-needed tool won’t be a stand mixer or even parchment paper. It’s a fish spatula.

Cleaning your home can be relaxing for some, or an anxiety-producing nightmare for others. Everyone is different. What is slightly more unifying is the reality of watching other people clean up: It’s weirdly relaxing. It’s also informative—you can get some cool tips while watching a tidy master conquer their messy…Read more...

Wordle is still played the same way as ever, and if you just want a simple game without overthinking it, that’s all you need to know. But things have been changing behind the scenes, and that includes the way solutions are chosen.Read more...

The holidays are here, which means you’ll probably be spending lots of time in the car or with your family, or in the car with your family—packed into a confined space with energetic kids, elderly grandparents, and everyone in between. Luckily, podcasts can make that trip to Aunt Cindy’s house a little more bearable…Read more...

Caring for houseplants might seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Repotting is a simple step you can take to keep your indoor plants healthy by reinvigorating the soil and boosting available nutrients. You can also repot to transition a plant into a larger pot if it’s showing signs that it’s overgrown the one…Read more...

Hopefully you feel blissfully exhausted after sex and not too worried about what’s happening to your insides afterwards. But since sex is a full-body activity, it makes sense that you might experience some physical symptoms afterwards.

The holidays can be a chaotic time when you have a full house, and you’re just trying to do your best to impress the in-laws with your cooking. You certainly wouldn’t be the first person to burn your would-be fancy dinner, but this year, a burnt casserole or overly dried-out turkey doesn’t have to ruin the evening: T…Read more...

It’s no secret Instagram is plagued with fake accounts, bots, and impersonators. Just take a look at any comments section on any trending post and you’ll see it’s swarmed with thirst traps and crypto “moguls.” But there are far more elaborate fake accounts out there that have mastered the art of seeming genuine on the…Read more...

If you’re looking to start or restart a fitness habit in the new year, here is the best tip you’re going to get all month: start now. Yes, now, in the middle of the holiday season and end-of-year chaos. Yes, now, when nobody else is getting into it. Yes, now, even though you may not have even decided what exactly you…Read more...

MacBooks have, for the most part, been known to some of the best keyboards in the biz. For the most part. From 2015 through 2019, though, Apple “revolutionized” its laptops with the butterfly keyboard, a low-travel keyboard prone (or doomed) to failure. Sticky keys and double-presses have plagued so many users, Apple…Read more...

I’m here today to make the case for a unique space-saving technique I have employed in my apartment for two years: Mount your TV to the ceiling. Do it. You don’t need a bulky entertainment center taking up valuable wall space; your TV can simply float above your head, and look cool doing it. (But don’t tell Reddit, …Read more...

Have you ever seen a car commercial on TV and wondered where those big red bows come from? You’re not the only one—Capital One Bank even assembled an entire fact sheet about them. As silly and over-the-top as it is, there’s no denying that a car with a huge bow on it offers a certain sort of appeal. If it is an appeal…Read more...

I might just be speaking for myself here, but Andor, the just-ended series from Disney+, reignited a bit of the passion for Star Wars that had been dulled by a run of entirely competent and entertaining movies and miniseries that, nonetheless, began to feel like empty calories. The franchise doesn’t strictly require…Read more...

Some foods keep fine in the fridge for longer than others, and whether you observe the rules of the USDA (which advises that most foods be trashed after three to four days of refrigeration) or live by the sniff-and-taste model, it’s good to be aware of when the final day is near—and nearly a week out, the end is darn…Read more...

It’s the time of year when everyone shares their Spotify’s Wrapped statistics, but there’s a new and unique way that some people are sharing their top artists.

We all know recycling is a generally good practice, but it’s one of those things where it’s not really not just the thought that counts. If you recycle incorrectly, the goods you’re trying to preserve for reuse can be rendered useless. In the winter time, in particular, there are some seasonally specific recycling…Read more...

Wine culture has exploded in recent years, yielding a variety of cringe-y handicrafts (think t-shirts that say “it’s wine o’clock” and tumblers that emblazoned with “mommy’s special grape juice”). If you have a friend who’s really into wine, you might be tempted to give them some of this junk for the holidays, but we…Read more...

If you have a houseful of guests, or are engaged in a holiday baking marathon, a clogged dishwasher can really slow down your operation. Hand washing all your dishes uses more time and water than using your appliance—but getting a professional out to look at your dishwasher during the holidays can be hard to schedule,…Read more...

By now, you probably know how buggy Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are. At this point, the glitches and issues are more features than bugs. Most of the games’ quirks seem to range from harmless to game-breaking, but there are some newly-discovered ones you can use for your benefit...specifically to duplicate items and…Read more...

The medieval phenomena of witch trials and witch hunts loom large in our collective imaginations. A “witch hunt” is a political term for what one perceives as baseless persecution; anti-communist hearings inspired an allegorical play about the Salem witch trials.

The concoctions I’ve assembled over these post-Thanksgiving days has given me a lot of insight. Specifically, the idea that certain foods “go together” and other combinations don’t, is really just a load of crap. I’ve eaten a few combinations this year that I would have politely declined in the past, only to find…Read more...

As we finish up the last of our Thanksgiving leftovers, our attention must turn to the gift-giving portion of the holiday season—and that means starting to hunt for the perfect stocking stuffers. If you’re in something of a rut, though, giving the same chocolates and hot-sauce variety packs year after year, here are a…Read more...

From all the web browsers to choose from these days, Chrome is still the most popular for some reason. Practically everyone uses it, and as such, everyone knows it’s a battery hog—and the more tabs you open and the more extensions you use, the worse the energy drain becomes. While we’ve tried to help you out in the…Read more...

The days are getting shorter and with the darker days, some people feel their mood getting darker, too. While some people thrive in the spirit of the cozy season, getting their hygge on, others find themselves feeling sad, withdrawn, or even depressed during the winter months—even children are not immune from the…Read more...

TikTok’s latest trend is the “invisible body” challenge, in which users post seemingly nude videos of themselves obscured with filters. Unsurprisingly, some users are curious whether there are ways to remove the filters from said videos to reveal the uploader’s naked bodies, and they are downloading third-party…Read more...

A to-do list is probably one of the most common strategies for keeping track of tasks and goals. But the problem with long and overly ambitious to-do lists is that they can overwhelm us with how much there is to accomplish, leaving us struggling to prioritize or even knowing where to start. A long list can also…Read more...

This going-viral tweet from New York Times writer Sophie Vershbow perfectly breaks down every “gift guide” for men, listing stereotypical guy-gifts like “whiskey stones,” Jonathan Franzen novels, and grilling accessories. I wouldn’t mind some beard oil or a nice leather overnight bag, for instance, but the rest of…Read more...

Read more...

Read more...

From brutally high inflation to a record-high 7% mortgage rate, it’s been a rough year for prospective homebuyers. A lot goes into understanding this housing market, but in recent months especially, experts have been speculating whether this housing market holds the same ominous signs of a crisis like that of 2008.…Read more...

With inflation at 7.7% in October and food prices increasing in grocery stores and restaurants alike, the prospect of free food sounds more enticing every day. Especially when we’re talking about guaranteed free food “for life.” Even if we’re talking about McDonald’s. And that’s exactly what McDonald’s if offering to…Read more...

If you listen closely, you can hear the bells ringing: Christmastime is upon us, and if you’re a fan of the holiday like me, you’ll want a live countdown to the big day, no matter how you celebrate. And that’s where some fun iPhone apps can help. These iPhone apps add a little bit of Christmas cheer directly to your…Read more...

When it comes to coffee, I’m something of a veteran; I was investigating fussy brewing methods and turning my nose up at the office coffee pot long before I moved to gentrifying Brooklyn, where adherence to strict edicts over how your hot, brown flavored water can and should be prepared is tantamount to law (not…Read more...

It’s been a few days, and that giant mound of turkey is still staring at you. You’ve whittled down the pile with the usual turkey soup and cold turkey salad, but those get old fast. Finishing turkey leftovers shouldn’t feel like a punishment. Instead of a cold turkey sandwich for the fifth time in a row, make a meal…Read more...

Pizza is a delicious convenience that most of us appreciate in that moment when we want a hot meal (that we didn’t have to prepare) delivered straight to us. But what comes next—storing the leftovers—can be tricky. Pizza boxes are not exactly easy to fit into the refrigerator, but you know you’re going to want to…Read more...

I love Apple Music, but I’ll admit, at this time each year, I’m jealous seeing everyone’s Spotify Wrapped. Apple Music lets me imagine I have a sophisticated taste with an expertly curated library, while Spotify lets its customers bask in the embarrassment of their actual listening history. I, too, want to be humbled.…Read more...

In the category of reliable sandwiches, the grilled cheese reigns supreme. Simple in method, and an easy crowd pleaser, their only real drawback is they’re tough to make for an actual crowd. So I sought to develop a grilled cheese manufacturing method with all the benefits of the stove top variety, and the ability to…Read more...

Buying a new phone is exciting. It’s shiny, scratch-free, and comes with new features your old phone doesn’t have. It’s all fun and games until you realize something’s missing: Your text messages aren’t popping up on your new phone, and instead, they’re going to your old one. What gives?

As long as inflation keeps making our lives more and more expensive, it’s crucial to be as conscientious a spender as possible. The last thing you want is to keep losing money on the typically avoidable costs that come with being disorganized. As someone who has dabbled in being a disorganized procrastinator, I know…Read more...

Let’s get one thing straight: If you invite your friends over as guests at your dinner party, it’s bonkers to follow up with a Venmo request after the fact. Yet beyond this should-be-obvious etiquette, money habits between friends are often tricky territory to navigate. (In fact, I argue there are many ways you need…Read more...