We found that there are significant differences in costs as cars age, underscoring how maintenance and repair expenses rise over time. The comparison for fresher cars is muddied because a number of brands, including BMW and Toyota, offer free maintenance periods on new cars. And usually, cars need very little work in the first couple…
Whether There’s Enough Seating and Storage Why it’s important: Automakers love to boast about how many cubic feet of passenger and cargo space a vehicle has. But numbers won’t tell you whether a car’s sloping roofline will cramp rear passengers’ headroom or if a small trunk opening will make it hard to load your gear….
“Mosquitoes’ larvae develop in water,” Gangloff-Kaufmann says, “and they can do it in even the small amount of water that would fit in a bottle cap.” So to get rid of mosquitoes in your yard, it’s imperative to empty outdoor water toys and remove wheelbarrows and other outdoor gear that can catch water after a…
They do have a hefty up-front cost. Most households need 11 kilowatts to cover their electricity needs, according to EnergySage, an alternative energy marketplace. After a 30 percent federal tax credit, the average cost to install a system of that capacity is $22,022. But over time, you can save tens of thousands of dollars on…
Utilities and nonprofits often provide audit services for free. Rhode Island Energy, for instance, offers a free in-home audit to eligible customers. In Iowa, the federally sponsored Green Iowa AmeriCorps does the same for state residents. When there’s a cost—between $200 and $700, according to Angi, the home-services marketplace—you can offset it with a tax…
ICF emphasizes throughout the report that its projections are based on numerous assumptions and conjectures and in many cases were extrapolated from specific data points chosen as representatives of broader expense or earnings categories. For example, the projected cost-of-living increases were based partly on academic or government studies that anticipate rising prices for a hypothetical…
If you’re learning to cook, buy yourself a good set of chef’s knives and a reliable cookware set. When you’re ready to turn yourself into a great cook or baker, invest in a food scale. A food scale is essential during food prep to measure ingredients accurately for consistent results. If you aren’t perfectly packing…
The batteries are black, triangular, and have “U004 BATTERY” or “UPPBATTERY” printed on the side. They were made in China by Shenzhen Unit Pack Power Technology Co. Ltd. and sold under the brand name “Unit Pack Power” or “UPP” at online retailers, including AliExpress, Amazon, and Walmart, from 2018 through April 2024. The CPSC says…
To help steer you to the best choices, we’ve assembled a list of the most fuel-efficient 5-year-old hybrid sedans and hatchbacks. All performed well enough in our tests to be recommended when new, and all have average or better reliability, according to Consumer Reports’ Annual Auto Surveys, in which we ask CR members to tell…
During testing, we outfit each refrigerator with thermocouples in a climate-controlled chamber and monitor it for a month, collecting more than 5.4 million temperature readings that identify warm and cold spots, to determine which models will keep your food fresh longer. We also factor in survey data from thousands of CR members to judge brand…
