Lifehacker

The coronavirus outbreak has made the U.S. economy so topsy-turvy that the president has been working with Congress to issue relief checks to many of us. We’ll share the details of that program as soon as they’re official, but in the meantime, make sure you don’t get duped by a scammer, OK?

Now that everything is shut down and we are all practicing social distancing, that leaves the big question of how to get out of the house safely. The important part of staying healthy, while keeping everyone else safe, is to maintain a distance of at least six feet, while also avoiding touching any surfaces that might…Read more...

Given that you’re likely spending a little extra time cooking these days, it’s possible that you’ve noticed a few dingy, neglected areas of your kitchen that could use some love and attention. I am not suggesting you spend all of your socially isolated hours scrubbing your oven, but picking a small kitchen betterment…Read more...

As Jalopnik’s resident car buying expert and professional car shopper, I get emails. Lots of emails. I’ve decided to pick a few questions and try to help out. This week we are discussing social distancing and test drives, using your credit to leverage low APR financing and potential Mad Max cars.Read more...

Yeah, my gym is closed too. So here’s a brand new workout you can do without any fitness equipment at all. We’ve got five strength-based moves here that, together, will help to build strength in every part of your body:Read more...

Just a few short days ago, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that you could delay paying your income taxes for 90 days, so long as you still filed your tax return by the usual April 15 deadline.Read more...

Ever since the coronavirus outbreak hit American shores, I’ve noticed an increase in the amount of garbage I produce. Like so many others, I bought those handy disinfecting wipes, but every time I use one and then throw it away, it feels wasteful. In addition to that, I’ve also been using far more paper towels than…Read more...

School closures are challenging for anyone experiencing them during the pandemic. But for low-income families with food-insecure children, it can be more than one big, long inconvenience: It can be harmful.Read more...

Happy Animal Crossing: New Horizons day! While you’ve probably been itching to start the long, laborious process of paying off yet another digital mortgage and shaping an island setting to your creative vision, part of the game’s fun—playing with other people—is going to be a bit modified thanks to the Coronavirus…Read more...

As we settle in for some solitude, Sling TV is opening up its library for anyone who needs free streaming TV shows or movies to pass the time. If you were looking for Netflix-like production value in Sling TV’s free offerings, you’re going to be disappointed. But if you’re looking to binge a bad-movie night with your …Read more...

Lodge Pre-Seasoned 10.25 Inch Cast Iron Skillet | $15 | Walmart | Bonus $5 Gift CardRead more...

Alright, I’ve got about 40 minutes until my next virtual meeting so let’s make this a quick one.

Amid the uncertainty of COVID-19's spread, numerous companies have taken measures to help their customers make ends meet. For example, the four major U.S. cell carriers—AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon—announced they will stop charging late fees and early cancellation fees, and in some cases, won’t shut off service…Read more...

It’s a great time to expand your horizons and play more video games. GOG—the platform formerly known as Good Ol’ Games—and indie game store Itch.io are both running “stay at home” promotions, giving away dozens of games for free as part of larger sales on their platforms. GOG’s free games are a special promotion as…Read more...

The odds are good that you’re spending more time at home right now than ever before. Maybe you’re working from home. Your partner is working from home. Your kids aren’t in school. Your pets are on top of you. And that’s a lot to handle on its own.Read more...

Whether they’re doing so voluntarily or due to orders from the state, restaurants across the country are closing their dining rooms and pivoting to take-out or delivery only, which has raised concerns over the safety and ethics of asking someone else to go pick up your food and bring it to you during a pandemic. There…Read more...

As more Americans are being asked to shelter in place and practice social distancing to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, one group of people will be particularly impacted—survivors of domestic violence and abuse, for whom home is dangerous.

Grocery stores are a madhouse right now. The bottled water is gone, staples like milk, eggs and bread are flying off the shelves, and there’s barely a roll of toilet paper to be found anywhere. Added to this equation is the risk factor of navigating a crowded store. To counteract exposure, a lot of people are shifting…Read more...

The Google Play Store unwittingly hosts malicious apps, and it seems like a new batch is discovered every other week. You should be OK as long as you follow basic data security protocols, use a reliable anti-malware service, and are vigilant about removing dangerous apps whenever they’re spotted. But here’s the thing:…Read more...

March has likely brought you a lot closer to your Netflix queue—so close, perhaps, that you’re starting to run out of things to watch. But a new month is on the horizon, and with it will come a ton of new movies and television shows on the platform.Read more...

All the legit health and policy organizations out there (the WHO and the CDC among them) are calling the coronavirus disease by its agreed-upon name, COVID-19. But a few folks are stubbornly arguing that we should call it the “Chinese” virus or otherwise peg its name to a location. That’s bullshit, and here’s why.Read more...

Cheese can be a source of comfort, particularly if it’s gooey and melted, and eaten with some sort of carbohydrate-heavy delivery system. There are many ways to melt cheese, but none are as fun as waffling, and I think everyone could use a little fun (and comfort) right about now.Read more...

I woke up this morning genuinely confused about what day it was. It was either Wednesday or Thursday, I was pretty sure about that. For as long as the week has felt, it should be Saturday, but nowadays, Saturdays are going to resemble Mondays, so does it even matter what day it is? It’s definitely Thursday (Friday?).Read more...

Who else is a little stressed out right now? There are moments, these days, when I feel so overwhelmed with anxiety or frustration or anger or disappointment that I can’t do anything else but sit with whatever I’m feeling and let myself feel it.Read more...

Now that COVID-19 has shut everything down, we all need ways of dealing with the stress of what might happen, while all of our usual coping mechanisms are gone. This is doubly true for parents with kids, now that schools and daycares are closed, the playground is no longer safe, and playdates are off the table.

I’m a big fan of Scribd, mainly because I like crawling through the site for all kinds of fun PDFs and other books that I wouldn’t normally be able to read. And since my California friends and I are starting a quarantine book club, getting free access to the service—and that’s actually free access, not a free…Read more...

If you’re new to the whole work-from-home thing, you might default to what many of us do the first time we find ourselves no longer having to commute to an office: staying in bed until the last possible moment, then spending the rest of the day doing remote work in our pajamas.Read more...

One of the biggest concerns as COVID-19 becomes more common is that healthcare facilities may be overwhelmed. That’s why we’re all trying to “flatten the curve” by making sure that even if the virus spreads, it does so at a rate the health system can handle.Read more...

Socially distancing is necessary for all of us right now, but for seniors, it’s essential. To help this vulnerable demographic, many grocery stores have started offering dedicated hours for older customers. Here’s a list of all of the stores we currently know about. If you know about one we haven’t mentioned, be sure…Read more...

If your streaming queue is starting to look a little light, we have good news: More content is coming.

Wouldn’t it be great if Olaf could read to your kids every night? Well, that’s probably not going to happen, but the next best thing already is happening—the actor who voiced Olaf is reading to your kids.Read more...

This week, to mark the technically “postponed” Game Developer’s Conference, a bunch of developers who planned to show their games at the conference have released preview versions of these titles through the Steam Games Festival: Spring Edition.Read more...

The idea of spending most of your time at home for several weeks during the coronavirus pandemic is enough to make you tired of everyone in your household. But if you live with someone who has exhibited abusive behavior, staying home could be more uncomfortable for you—or downright dangerous.

At this point, we’re all well aware of the CDC’s recommendation to wash our hands to combat the coronavirus. The cleanliness of our phones, however, is getting far less attention. In the video above, I go over the basic do’s and don’ts of disinfecting a smartphone without damaging it.Read more...

Wireless Qi Charger | $11 | Amazon | Clip Coupon

Whether you’ve always wanted to try some dice-rolling adventuring, or you’re bummed because your regular Dungeons & Dragons group might have to virtual for a few weeks (or months), now’s as good a time as any to fight coronavirus-induced boredom with tabletop gaming.Read more...

For those who are healthy-yet-stuck-inside due to the oronavirus restrictions, it’s sort of like the universe gave us an excuse to binge-watch our favorite movies and TV shows (or catch up on our gaming backlogs). Most of us will probably fire up one of the many paid streaming services to get our content fix, but…Read more...

We’re living in a time of high anxiety. There is more than enough to worry about pertaining to our own physical and mental health and financial security. And there’s another widely experienced stressor that many of us didn’t anticipate: the anxiety that sets in when someone you know doesn’t understand the severity of…Read more...

Ever seen or heard an advertisement that claims you can easily buy a home through a rent-to-own program? Some of them make it sound like all you have to do is pay rent for a few years, then boom, you own the house.Read more...

In an effort to socially distance yourself from others during the coronavirus shutdown, few would blame you if your typical workout routine fell by the wayside. After all, touching a bunch of shared equipment in a sweaty gym sure sounds like a great way to get sick. But hey, you’ve still got the internet, which means…Read more...

If you’re cooking dinner at home rather than ordering take-out or delivery this week, Michelin star chef Massimo Bottura has a treat for you: he’s teaching cooking classes on Instagram.

By now, your pantry is most likely stocked with beans and dried pasta, and your freezer is full of—I don’t know—ground beef and butter? But amidst all this stocking up on essentials, it’s important to get a few treats, a few things to amuse your bouche.Read more...

Hand-washing. It’s the 20-second chore that, up until the coronavirus came into our lives, many of us treated more like a four- or five-second chore. But now we know better and we’ve got the Happy Birthday song on an endless loop in our heads, which also is ... not great. I came across a suggestion from the meditation…Read more...

Social distancing means a lot of people are avoiding stores. Depending on where you live, those stores might even be closed for the time being. All that means that we’re all making a few more purchases online than we might ordinarily. Those delivered packages also come with a pretty big question: Are they safe?

Toilet paper is now a more precious commodity than gold—or at least, that’s how I felt when a friend of mine reported that she was offered $40 the other day for a single roll (one roll!!!) upon leaving the sold-out supermarket.Read more...

The classic pregnancy book What to Expect When You’re Expecting lists a few common questions women ask themselves before their baby’s due date, including “Can I work until I deliver?” and “Will I know labor when I feel it?” (Answers: yes, and probably.) Some questions not covered in the book: “What if my obstetrician…Read more...

For creatives and freelancers who need editing software while working from home during the COVID-19 outbreak, Adobe is briefly offering two free months of Creative Cloud access—but only for existing subscribers. Sign in to your Adobe ID on Adobe.com, then go to “Plans” and click to cancel your current subscription—but…Read more...

Working out from home is the new normal, so plenty of us who normally lift weights or do strength classes are having to figure things out on our own this week. The good news is that many online trainers and fitness personalities have been putting out great home workouts this week. Here are a few of our favorites.Read more...

If you’ve had trouble finding essentials like toilet paper and hand soap at your local grocery or big-box stores, you might have found solace in the internet. At least you can still order household supplies online and have them dropped at your door, right? We may not be able to hang out in large groups, but those…Read more...

Everyone needs a distraction right now. You know it. I know it. Game developers know it, too, and a few of them have generously decided to make their iOS games temporarily free for anyone looking for a fun distraction to help them stay sane while socially distancing.