Lifehacker

Some people have a natural eye for decorating, but arranging furniture and decorating your home isn’t an impossible-to-learn art. And if you have your own apartment or house, it’s worthwhile to learn some of the basic rules and guidelines of design—even if only to intentionally break them with your own style. On your…Read more...

You’ve been saving your frequent flyer miles up to plan a dream trip, but when it comes time to use them you either a) can’t find availability, b) it costs three times as many miles as you have, or c) there are five layovers in each direction, there’s a new tool that can help: point.me.

Several months into a baby formula shortage, another health-related product has become difficult to find: Tampons. Though tampon scarcity has been the topic of Reddit threads for months, it gained national attention following an article published in Time, which referred to the shortage as “the supply chain problem no…Read more...

I’m a huge fan of dinner parties. I like to go to them, and I love to host them. It’s a chance to gather with the people you love and share stories and all that warm and fuzzy stuff, and that’s great, but mostly it’s an opportunity to show off. If you’ve been perfecting Beef Wellington with homemade puff pastry for…Read more...

Whether you’re doing a gut renovation of your bathroom and starting over from scratch, or giving yours a cosmetic refresh, keep in mind that the road to your dream bathroom doesn’t always run smooth. In fact, with so much happening—plumbing, electrical, furniture, tiles, extremely heavy fixtures, etc.—there are…Read more...

Like humans, dogs can get overheated in warm or hot weather. But unlike us, they can’t use words to tell us when they need a break or some water on a sweltering day. They do send us signals, though—like panting, seeking out (and sitting in) the shade, and plopping themselves down (wherever they feel like it) and…Read more...

The cleaning products aisle of the supermarket has plenty of options for cleansing and polishing wood furniture. And while those formulated for use on wood get the job done, you don’t always need a dedicated product to get your mahogany desk or oak chairs gleaming. Here are some other ways you can clean wood—many of…Read more...

Even if the rest of a room is impeccably clean, decorated, and designed, a water stain on the ceiling can easily become the focal point, making the space look and feel dingy and neglected.Read more...

The year was 2019—January 1st, to be exact. Eight episodes of a show called “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo” dropped on Netflix, aligning perfectly with all the resolutions made the night before by people vowing to organize their homes, leaving them free of clutter. Thrift stores soon overflowed with donations of…Read more...

When we think of plants that attract pollinating insects, flowers with stamens, pistils, and visible pollen come to mind. But not everyone lives in an area where growing plants of that variety is feasible.Read more...

With temperatures and humidity levels soaring across the country, many people are cranking up their air conditioning. And while that’s completely understandable, doing so could result in a brownout. Meanwhile, strong summer storms have also become a regular fixture of the season so far, causing blackouts during the…Read more...

Those who opt to plant and maintain traditional lawns may like the look of the lush, green grass surrounding their home, but don’t necessarily want to use artificial fertilizers and other chemicals to keep it looking good. And while some turn to sand as a way to improve soil drainage, others use something a bit…Read more...

After spending so much time either alone, or cooped up with other members of our household during the pandemic, people are enthusiastically returning to travel—and many are hitting the road solo.Read more...

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When it comes to simple meals that can fit into any nutritional plan, Reddit’s r/EatCheapandHealthy is a gold mine for ideas. My favorite thread at the moment is this one in which someone asked for “stupidly easy food pairings.” Things you can just throw together on the same plate or in the same skillet and have a…Read more...

If you’ve been seeing a ton of otherworldly and hilarious picture collections on your Twitter feed, the people you follow are probably using Dall-E Mini, the text-to-image software that uses artificial intelligence to cobble together a series of pictures of literally anything you can dream of.

There are many recipes that call for one to “secure” something with a skewer or toothpick. Things like stuffed chicken breasts, meaty roulades, and bacon wrapped whatever—so many of these little food parcels need to be stabbed with a bit of wood to help them keep their form while they cook. But what if you’re out of…Read more...

You’ve heard of the intelligence quotient, or IQ, and you probably know it’s not a super reliable way to determine how smart you are. But did you know there’s a “likability quotient,” too, and you can take steps to influence yours and, thus, make yourself more likable?

Whether you wear a baseball cap on the daily, to cover up an exquisitely bad hair day or lack of recent shower, or to shield yourself from the sun while you bake at children’s outdoor sporting events, chances are that cap is not looking its best. If you’re like me, occasionally, when you remember, you toss it in your…Read more...

You know you need sunscreen and layers to protect you from the sun, lest you get a bad sunburn. It stands to reason that if UV rays can be bad for you, they can be bad for other things—even things not covered in skin. Your vehicles, for instance, can suffer sun damage, but just as you can intervene on behalf of your…Read more...

Google Lens is one of the company’s most useful and impressive tools: With it, you can scan objects in the world around you to learn more about anything from plants to pets, as well as lift text right out of an image. However, as it turns out, there’s a quick and convenient method to scanning with Google Lens that…Read more...

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been more than 2,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox across 37 different countries in 2022. While it’s true we might not be ready for monkeypox, the CDC is prepping anyone who will listen on how to lower your risk of getting monkeypox while having…Read more...

Most of the products that Apple is selling today are worth considering—but there are a few stragglers the company continues to sell that aren’t worth their tempting prices. Some of these products aren’t going to get software updates for much longer, and others have a better alternative for a slightly higher price. If…Read more...

Cars are terrible investments. New cars depreciate by about 20-30 percent in their first year, and just keep on losing value after that. Eventually, your car hits a bottom in terms of resale potential, and coasts there for a bit before descending into its final form: The beater. Of course, a car’s value isn’t measured…Read more...

A smartphone is only as good as its battery, and since the release of the first iPhone, Apple has done its part to make sure you’ll remember to charge it, hitting you with a pop-up alert when your charge drops below 20%. While that system is effective, the warning might not come soon enough: If you’re nowhere near a…Read more...

Google Assistant is a useful part of the Android ecosystem. It helps you set reminders, make calls, and even look up that odd song. But at the same time, it’s one more thing vying for your attention. If you end up accidentally triggering Google Assistant every now and then, or you just don’t feel the use for it…Read more...

While we might love to watch birds, sometimes they build their nests in dangerous or inconvenient places near our homes. It can be difficult to deal with a recurring bird nest and the mess they can make, not to mention the danger to them when they nest near vents or fans. There are some humane ways you can discourage…Read more...

In Great Britain, they used to call the summer months “the silly season” because of the frivolous news stories that would populate the media due to the lack of “real” news. It seems to work the same way with young people on the internet: Summer is the silly season, so all of these stories are ridiculous.

Caviar has been in the zeitgeist lately, thanks to a recent NYT article about “caviar bumps,” or “tasting caviar off the back of your hand,” a weird rich person trick I wrote about over a year ago. (I did not, however, call them “bumps,” because I am not a dweeb who has never been offered real drugs.)Read more...

When you’re removing hair from your face or legs, all you really need is a razor and something to cut down on friction between your sweet baby skin and the blade. But if the goal is so simple, why are there so many products clamoring to help you make it happen? (The answer is capitalism.) But it’s true that each of…Read more...

Unless you’ve sworn off Google for good, at least some part of your digital life is likely entwined with the company. Maybe you only have a Gmail account, or maybe you rely on Google for everything from personal photo storage to sharing files at work. Chances are excellent you have some important data connected to…Read more...

The latest bit of fitness misinformation is making the rounds on TikTok, but I’ve seen it cropping up other places, too. Young women are singing the praises of Pilates (sometimes alongside barre, yoga, and walking), saying it helped them lose weight and tone their muscles where lifting weights did not. Something about…Read more...

What to get my husband for Father’s Day always fills me with a small amount of agita. He’s not picky, so he won’t be upset if he doesn’t get a certain special something. (In fact, there’s nothing he really wants, except things he “can use,” which doesn’t help.) He’s already received all the framed sports…Read more...

Air travel is simultaneously a triumph of human engineering skill and a prime example of the frustrations of modern life. On the one hand, an enormous metal tube lifts into the air and transports you at incredible speed. On the other hand, you have to resort to various hacks to make the experience more tolerable.

This TikTok video from Kylo Sten begins with a bold claim: “I work in TV post production, and almost all of you guys are setting your TVs up wrong.” Below are Sten’s top three TV-set-up mistakes, plus a few of our own to add to the list.

Bluetooth devices are more common than ever. It seems the wireless technology is baked into almost every product we buy: It connects our iPhones to our Apple Watches and Fitbits, our wireless headphones to audio sources, and our game controllers to our consoles. Of course, the more tech goes wireless, the easier it is…Read more...

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We’ve all experienced a panicked, uncomfortable moment (or many) when that dreaded, all-consuming “Oh shit, I’m about to throw up” sensation seizes our body and sends us sprinting to the nearest receptacle, or sink, or patch of grass, or anyplace that is not our own shirt and pants. While we can’t promise to keep the…Read more...

The U.S. National Park Service reports nearly 300 million recreational visits to their parks in 2021. In an effort to plan for similarly robust attendance numbers this summer, many of national parks have instituted a reservation system to prevent overcrowding and traffic issues and ensure adequate staffing—so if…Read more...

People are always trying to make bananas be ice cream, and who can blame them. Ice cream really is that bitch. She’s sweet and rich, cold yet comforting, and one of the first things to go when the diet starts. These approximations aren’t bad—the frozen banana “soft serve” that nearly crashed Pinterest is admittedly…Read more...

It’s a typical day: You boot up your search engine of choice, enter a query you’re curious about, then click on a link that looks promising. Actually, it’s not that useful, so you click the back button to check out more search results. Except, the back button does nothing. You try again: nothing. This website has you…Read more...

After a wait that seemed endless, two COVID vaccines are finally authorized for children under 5 years old. The FDA’s advisory panel voted Wednesday to grant emergency use authorization to both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines for children aged 6 months and up.Read more...

The lawn occupies a fascinating niche of American culture. The most-grown crop in the country, that patch of grass in your front yard offers nothing of practical value. We remain obsessed with a pretty lawn despite the fact that it’s thirsty, difficult to maintain, and expensive.

Inflation is rampant, interest rates are raising faster than at any time in the last 28 years, gas prices are skyrocketing, and the ongoing stresses of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the lingering pandemic, supply chain issues, and other factors aren’t helping matters. All of which means we’re in unquestionably murky…Read more...

As of this week, we are officially in a bear market. The S&P 500 has lost more than 20% of its value, with some tech stocks taking a much more severe beating than that—Netflix is tanking and Amazon’s stock has dropped nearly 40%.

The best cake topping is whipped cream. It’s light, delicate, mildly sweet, and works with everything from angel food cake to double chocolate mousse. Glazes, frostings, and cream cheese icings are all great, but whipped cream is the greatest. It highlights the star components while adding richness and moisture,…Read more...

When you become a parent, you quickly realize the importance of sleep, mostly because your kids (and by extension, you) just aren’t getting enough of it. Between the struggle to get your kids to fall asleep at bedtime and the regular nighttime wakings, sleep quickly becomes the one thing you crave more than anything…Read more...

Tabletop RPGs are a great way to socialize, play, and imagine with your friends, but it’s hard to find the time to play regularly. Whether the D&D group you started during the pandemic isn’t meeting as often, or you’re simply looking for a new way to get your dice-rolling fix, I have a possible solution for you: solo…Read more...

If your sneakers are extremely dirty but you don’t want to replace them, there are ways to get them back into good shape, if maybe not to their just-out-of-the-shoebox glory days. But with the right tools and materials, you can get pretty close. These are the best ways to restore and revitalize a pair of truly gross…Read more...

There are a variety of apps and sites available these days that can help you fill your prescriptions—and even get you prescriptions for things like birth control or some antibiotics. They’re convenient, cost- and time-effective, and easy to use—but are they totally on the up-and-up?