It sounds obvious, but the best time to get security cameras is before your home gets broken into. I recently had a break-in before I could install any security cameras on my new home, and I'm convinced the reason was that I was one of the few homes around the block with no cameras. If your home also doesn't have any cameras, Amazon's Memorial Day sale currently has Blink cameras discounted up to 50% off with bundles designed for those just getting started or people looking to expand on their current system. When it comes to Blink cameras, you'll need a Sync Module if you want to use local sto ..read more

Summer vacation is fast approaching, meaning your child's screen time will most likely increase exponentially. That doesn't mean, however, that their moments glued to their tablet can't offer some value. There are plenty of apps available at no cost that you can feel good about and, in some cases, even help them avoid the summer slide. PBS KIDS Games A favorite of both of my children, the game app boasts over 250 educational and entertaining games for toddlers and older kids from various PBS KIDS properties, including Wild Kratts, Sesame Street, and Odd Squad. My youngest i ..read more

Text expansion tools are essential for anyone who finds themselves constantly copying and pasting the same information multiple times every day. Over the years we've recommended TextExpander and aText, but neither is exactly cheap. If you're looking for a free alternative and don't mind messing with configuration files, you should check out Espanso. This is a free and open source application for Windows, Mac, and Linux that can do pretty much everything those paid apps are capable of, for free. The downside: it takes a little bit more work to set up. Let's back up a little. Text expansion tool ..read more

It’s not always easy to figure out how to tackle your cleaning, decluttering, and organizing around the house. In fact, it’s hard. But it should be simple—or SIMPLE, rather. If you want a straightforward, rigid method for tidying up, the SIMPLE method could be the one for you. What is the SIMPLE method? I found out about this one from Real Simple, where pro organizer Kathy Jenkins laid out her easy steps to clean up a space. The goal of following SIMPLE is to act quickly and decisively instead of spending too much time overthinking the task at hand. There are six steps that make up the acronym ..read more

Who doesn't love new emojis? Sure, we all use the classics, but can you imagine digital life without Melting Face or Salute Face? (I certainly can't.) So, when you hear about new emojis in the works, it's always good news. Before we get too carried away, these emojis aren't ready for primetime just yet. Instead, it turns out the Unicode Consortium, the organization which maintains the Unicode standard, has released a short list of new emoji candidates for Unicode 16. This list contains seven new emoji and one new flag, and, if approved, will be included with the rest of the Unicode 16 standard ..read more

Moving into a new house is stressful, no matter how you approach it. There’s the expense, the chaos of physically moving all of your stuff, not to mention finding your new home in the first place. We all do a lot of research and due diligence when looking for a new home for our family, but that research tends to be focused exclusively on the house itself. When it comes to the location of that house, the research can get a little muddy. You probably have a good idea of the general area you want to live in, but what about the specific block you’ll be moving into? A few years ago, Trulia coined t ..read more

Getting your garage workshop in shape or setting up a good place to service and maintain your vehicle is a popular summer project. And while adding storage, organization, work surfaces, and all the other details that make your garage a great place to work on your passion projects—instead of just a place to park your car—can get pricey, there are cheaper-but-effective ways to go about it. Here are five garage upgrades you can DIY for less than $100. Add a sawhorse table Putting together a work bench or a shop table doesn’t need to be expensive. You can craft a functional and foldable bench by u ..read more

Earlier this month the Federal Reserve hit the pause button on interest rate hikes, providing a window of opportunity for savers to take advantage of elevated returns on deposit accounts. At its meeting on May 1, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided to keep the federal funds rate unchanged at a range of 5.25% to 5.5%. This follows a string of 10 consecutive rate increases dating back to March 2022 in an effort to cool inflation. Here's what to know about the Fed's rate pause, and what it means for your savings. What the Fed's rate pause means for you While mortgage rates and loan p ..read more

For as easily and quickly (and often) as we communicate digitally now, there's still a surprising amount of paper-based correspondence we have to deal with every day. Every time I remember to open my apartment's mailbox, I'm shocked to discover how many people and entities are trying to reach me in what I consider an antiquated way—but mail is still thriving. The problem is that paperwork—bills, medical forms, birthday cards, kids artwork, and on and on—can pile up and become clutter. Here's an easy way to sort them quickly. What is the FAST method? I heard about the FAST method of organizing ..read more

Netflix has an extensive documentary lineup in June, highlights of which include Black Barbie (June 19), a Shondaland film that tells the story of Beulah Mae Mitchell, Kitty Black Perkins, and Stacey McBride Irby—the three Black women at Mattel responsible for the debut of the first Black Barbie in the 1980s. Viewers who liked the Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War may want to catch Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial (June 5), a docuseries examining the rise of the Nazis through the Nuremberg trials. There's also true-crime series How to Rob a Bank (June 5), which tells the story of Sco ..read more