Important note on this is that only the last one applies to FHA mortgages. In 2013, HUD changed the rules for FHA mortgages and requires you to fully pay off a mortgage in order to get out of PMI:

It’s worth noting that dark granite tends to be less porous and may not need to be sealed. We installed a nearly black granite in our house about ten years ago and it wouldn’t even take sealant. They still look about the same as when they were installed.

Huge caveat to using your insurance’s roadside assistance: It costs your insurer money, so it’s noted as a use of your insurance. While it’s not exactly the same as having an accident and it typically costs way less, any use of your insurance can have impacts on your coverage. Excessive use can trigger an increase in…

I think it comes down to the word “investment.” Whether or not it turns out to be a good investment depends on so many factors that most people just never take into consideration. I like to use mortgage tax deduction as one of those because I fell for it when we bought our first house. The calculations they do when…

Something else to consider is the cost of credit: A friend bought a truck and while the upfront cost difference was significant if he was paying cash, he could get 0% financing for the new vehicle and much higher for the used. If he didn’t make additional payments on the used, the total price at the end would have…

We’re actually renting a Model 3 from Hertz right now to take the kids down to my parents house. I have to say the built in super charger routing is amazing for reducing/removing range anxiety and the entire process is seamless. The heat is bad in CA right now (parts of it anyway) and I’m not getting anywhere near the…

Yup, the time aspect is definitely a thing. We have coverage provided by our travel card, but it’s listed as “Secondary Coverage” only, meaning you have to make a claim with your auto insurance first and they cover the difference. We had an incident a few years ago and there was a bit of time and effort involved in…

Panera has their Charged Lemonade, which is obviously caffeinated and advertised as such. However, I wasn’t aware of the amount until after I had had several of them (not all in the same day). A large has nearly 400 mg of caffeine, which as noted in the article is the suggest daily max. Our local Panera used to have…

We have a tilt head model from 2009 (ish) that we got as a wedding present that is still working great. I just replaced the grease it, which is a messy and time consuming process, but not particularly difficult.

As I live nearby I’d like to point out that the Concord/Napa location name is a bit misleading. Concord airport is about as close to Napa as it is to San Francisco. Without traffic you’re looking at 35 min + travel time (45-60 with traffic) and the rental center at that airport can be somewhat limited at times. I’m…

I’m curious how long it would take some enterprising tinkerer to block all the tracking traffic and replace it with randomized/dummy data from a raspberrypi or similar.

Agreed. I’ve rarely seen anything worth purchase at real deep discounts because all of the less aware people start buying stuff up when they see the first 15% off thinking they’re getting some type of amazing deal. I remember when Circuit City went under and looking at movies/games. Most still around were marked down…

Can’t recommend looking into early childhood intervention programs enough. Their evaluation process and program is typically free (ours didn’t include an income limit either) and they work with local therapists for services who will often do in home visits when possible. They also work with the school district to…

Sounds like a lot of teas may be Macha do about nothing....

Since I can’t figure out how to paste a table in here. This is not as friendly as being able to copy and manipulate the data, but at least people can use it for reference vs what’s in this article and on CR.

At least the Dyson fan does a decent job of appearing bladeless (the blades are truly hidden from view). These didn’t even try...

I would err on the side of gift card or school supplies from this list, but mostly, gift cards. The “stuff” categories are great once or twice, but once you have a water bottle, you have a water bottle and you don’t need 1, 2, or 6 more. Same goes for blankets/sweaters and other physical items. The coffee maker may be…

1) Do: Laundry Stripping (TikTok link in description)
2) Don’t: Put water in your air fryer
3) Do: Using a pan to clean upholstery (https://lifehacker.com/the-easiest-way-to-clean-couches-and-fabrics-according-1849817454)
4) Don’t: Overload the Toilet [With all your cleaning products]
5) Do: Make your own disinfectant (htt…

I worked for a company a while back that did this. The problem for them was that me and the small group I worked in all had admin rights on our computers (we needed to be able to freely install client software to visit job sites). I found that I could write a script that would check the registry and automatically…

I would also add calling the water company to look at the service valve and the meter. The meter can fail overtime which may drop your pressure. Ours failed and the water company came out and replaced the meter with a new one, which immediately fixed the problem. I thought it might be the meter after I heard it making…