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Everyday Cheapskate: Easy Ways to Cut the High Cost of Pet Care

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

If the cost to keep your pets fed, healthy, cared for, and looking good has gotten so high, you're the one coughing up fur balls, take heart. There are many little ways to cut the cost of pet care that will add up to big savings.

According to one survey, owning a dog costs an average of $1,480 in basic expenses annually. For cats, average ...Read more

Daniel Slim/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Will Penn Station be Trump Station? Will Madison Square Garden move? What you need to know about the sweeping redesign

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Eight months after the federal government announced an aggressive timeline for the long-debated rebuilding of Penn Station, plans for the nation’s busiest train hub are expected to be submitted next week.

Former NYC Transit head Andy Byford — President Trump’s new Penn Station Czar — has promised New Yorkers a “top-to-bottom ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Spring Yard Fixes That Don't Require a Store Run

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Every spring the same thing happens. The sun comes out, the grass wakes up, and suddenly the yard starts whispering all the little things it needs. A loose plant leaning sideways. Bare spots in the lawn. Garden tools scattered like they had a party overnight. A hose that looks like it wrestled a garden snake and lost.

Our first instinct is ...Read more

Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Senate committee kills bill mandating insurance coverage for wildfire safe homes

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

A bill that would have required insurers to offer coverage to homeowners who take steps to reduce wildfire risk on their property died in the Legislature.

The Senate Insurance Committee on Monday voted down the measure, SB 1076, one of the most ambitious bills spurred by the devastating January 2025 wildfires.

The vote came despite fire ...Read more

Real estate Q&A: Do we have to tell potential buyers about nuisance neighbor?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Q: We are getting ready to sell our house, and one of the reasons is our next-door neighbor. He throws loud weekend parties that run late into the night, leaves trash in his yard for days and has gotten into shouting matches with several people on our street. We have called the police twice. Do we have to tell potential buyers about him? We are ...Read more

Nick Wagner/The Seattle Times/TNS

Why it is so hard to find, afford renting a Seattle single-family home

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Tracy Cambron couldn't afford to buy a house in Seattle when she moved here a decade ago. Still, she wanted to give her two kids a childhood like hers — one where they could play in a yard, trick-or-treat at neighbors’ houses and pass a football in the street.

She rented single-family homes in Seattle neighborhoods to give them that ...Read more

Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Sky-high office vacancy levels haunt Bay Area's three major downtowns

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Sky-high office vacancy rates still haunt the downtowns of San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco, despite bursts of tech lease deals in Silicon Valley that have largely bypassed the urban cores of the Bay Area’s three largest cities.

The vacancy levels for office space remain stuck above 30% in San Jose’s, Oakland’s and San Francisco’s ...Read more

Ivy Ceballo/The Seattle Times/TNS

Seattle renters, landlords clash over ratio utility billing system

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

How renters pay for utilities in Seattle has become a hot topic over the last year.

A system that divides a building’s total utility bills between units instead of a flat rate has raised fairness and transparency concerns among tenants. Some claim the system allows landlords to rake in more money while circumventing recently imposed rent ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: How Not to Feel Poor on a Fixed Income

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

It's no secret that more and more people -- especially seniors on fixed incomes -- are sinking deeper into credit card debt. Why is this? I don't think it's because we've had so many emergencies (the common reason to have credit cards, right?). It's because we don't want to feel poor.

At this point, I should define "feeling poor." It's not easy...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: 7 Ways to Keep Brown Sugar Soft

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

How maddening to reach for the brown sugar, expecting it to be soft and fluffy, only to find a rock-hard clump in the bottom of the box. Or how about this: Brown sugar is on sale, so you stock up. Even without opening the bags or boxes left on the shelf, the contents, in time, turn brick-hard. Should you toss the bricks into the garbage? Better ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: A Valuable Money Lesson for the Kids

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Don't assume your kids are going to learn in school how to manage money well. There is a growing recognition for the need, but few children are lucky enough to learn about money matters in school. If you have kids, teaching them about money rests squarely on your shoulders. So, how are you doing with that? Don't know where to start? Today, I've ...Read more

Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times/TNS

'We've lost our way': Clifton's operator gives up on downtown Los Angeles

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

LOS ANGELES — The proprietor of Los Angeles' legendary Clifton's has given up on reopening the shuttered venue.

It's just too difficult to do business in downtown's historic core, he says.

Andrew Meieran bought Clifton's on Broadway in 2010 and poured more than $14 million into repairs, renovations and upgrades, adding additional bar and ...Read more

Rick Kern/Getty Images North America/TNS

Billionaire investor warns sports prediction markets harm men

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

John Arnold, the billionaire energy trader-turned-philanthropist, made his fortune by predicting the direction of markets. Now, he’s sounding the alarm on fast-growing prediction markets, saying they’re harmful to young men and boys.

His concern lies in how platforms for sports-event contracts and online betting more broadly are designed to...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

The state of women's finances: How homeownership is becoming the great equalizer

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Finance is different for everyone. We all inhabit our own money realities: white people and people of color, Gen Z and baby boomers, high earners and those with lower incomes.

Women live in their own financial reality, too. One where the gender pay gap is a force holding back their progress, seeping into every aspect of their financial well-...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: What I Learned After Timing My Own Housework

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

One afternoon not long ago, I decided to conduct a little experiment. Nothing scientific. No clipboard required. Just a kitchen timer and a bit of curiosity. I wanted to know how long everyday housework actually takes.

Like many people, I sometimes catch myself thinking certain chores will take forever. Wiping the kitchen counters. Emptying the...Read more

Renée Jones Schneider/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Countertop maker Cambria wants big tariffs on cheap quartz imports. Homebuilders are fighting the effort

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Countertop maker Cambria and seven other U.S. manufacturers won a resounding victory from the International Trade Commission, which ruled that a significant increase of cheaper quartz imports from Pacific Rim countries seriously undercut their ability to be profitable.

This is the second big trade win for Cambria, the giant in the U.S. quartz ...Read more

Real estate Q&A: Should HOA pay to move fences that town says are too close lake?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Q: I live in a homeowners’ association, and our yard is enclosed by a fence that sits a few feet from the lake that my house and several others border. Our association is now telling us that the town said the fences were mistakenly allowed to be put too close to the lake. They are telling us we have to pay to move our fences farther back. We ...Read more

Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

'You have to make sacrifices': Central Floridians struggle with high costs

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

ORLANDO, Florida — At a west Orlando Walmart, Natilee Hamilton carefully considers the cost of each item she places in her cart as she struggles to adhere to a budget outpaced by inflation.

It is a balancing act that extends beyond the grocery store. In the past few years, she’s had to defer dental work, eye exams and home repairs because ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Physical and Emotional Clutter

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Not long ago, a Realtor dropped off the flier announcing plans for the annual neighborhood garage sale. "Join us to make this the biggest sale ever!" the flyer read.

Since making our move to Colorado, we have never participated in this annual ritual. This year would be no exception. I've learned the hard way that for a compulsive shopper it ...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

LA's trailblazing home builder is the latest to leave California

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

One of Los Angeles’ most influential home builders, KB Home, is relocating its headquarters out of state, becoming the latest high-profile firm to do so.

The company, which has been based in Los Angeles since 1963 and helped build its sprawling suburbs, is moving its main office to the Phoenix metropolitan area by spring 2027, in part to ...Read more

 

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