Cat food—for the kitties.

James Altucher did this recently. He went to emails he’d received 10 years earlier to which he had not responded and emailed back just as if he’d received them that day. Some responded positively and he reconnected with them. Got an update from someone he’d given advice to and found out how things turned out. Goes to…

There is phone anxiety when you are initiating a call that can be dealt with by writing down topics you want to discuss or even word by word sentences that get you started. Then there is phone anxiety that erupts when a call is coming in. I have found little to help with that other than turning the ringer to silent…

Only three categories? Definitely not fiddly enough for me. I got into budgeting decades ago by carrying around a notebook and writing down every single expense. When I graduated to a financial program on my computer [Quicken circa 1996], I broke down categories even further. Instead of $40 spent at Kroger, it was…

Just blanket the entire continent with free wifi already and skip the providers. NSA, you know you want to start filling up that Utah data center.

My mom was once tempted to empty her bottle of laxative into a ziplock bag in order to squeeze in more stuff to her suitcase. She got as far as actually pouring the white powder into the baggy before she reconsidered. She was not wanting to be the 77 year old great-grandmother pulled off the flight for a drug search.

Yeah, and you can covertly use a digital audio video spy pen recorder to capture everything they promised you. . . .

I have it on good authority from an appliance repairman who says the ice maker and water dispenser in the door models give users the worst problems. He told the story of a brand new refrigerator whose ice maker would push ice out the chute instead of having the “arm” lift up and shut itself off. True enough we had the…

Try tacking on an extra day to the weekend. I’m assuming you take weekends or other days off every week. If not, start with a regular weekend and just head out of town. I knew someone who lived a few hours drive from the beach. He’d leave work after rush hour died down on a Friday night and drive to the beach. Watch…

Then there’s baking chocolate—those bitter blocks of hard dark goodness that are totally absent of any sugar—just chocolate and fat.

Would pineapple peels and coconut oil make your house smell like a Pina Colada?

That would be commenting on Lifehacker posts.

I enter every star dash they send me even if I don’t intend to use it just so they’ll send me one I will actually use like the buy 2 Starbucks coffee bags at the grocery store and earn bonus stars.

Absolutely spot on. I generally buy the ones that are the brighter shade of green and let them ripen at home. They do indeed turn almost black when they reach that “soft ripe” stage.

I am doing something similar—planks—only I’m doing one plank and increasing my time in the position. Started at 20 seconds and now up to 35. I also do side planks but have not increased past 30 each side.

I generally just cut it open and grab a spoon.

This . . . because my elastic waist pants need to be let out again.

Who needs to replace a vacuum cleaner filter every month? Even if you vacuum every day, the filter should be good for 6 months or so. As for the robotic and otherwise bag-free vacuums, I clean out the dirt holding section with a paper towel after every use and vacuum it with a conventional vacuum cleaner when I’m in a…

You can save a little money by buying bulk packages of gift cards at warehouse clubs at a discount and combining those with a coupon for a couple bucks off your purchase. If you sign up for your favorite restaurants’ loyalty clubs, you can receive regular coupons in your email program or in the restaurants’ apps. One…

I see what you are doing here, setting us up for the article: “How to Endure Caffeine Withdrawal for Three Days Without Blowing Your Brains Out”.