Why YSK: Creating a tighter air seal in your home without a means of balanced fresh air exchange can cause your home build up stale air and become negatively pressurized if using exhaust fans. The cost of installing equipment necessary to adequately address air quality issues due to improved insulation is very often not factored into the energy bill savings.

Disclaimer: this is not meant to dissuade against having homes sealed, this is based on my experience having my home sealed without knowing all the details beforehand.

Improving your home’s insulation is a great way to maintain heating and cooling while minimizing your energy bill. Many regions often have government rebates which make this more affordable if you have the means interest having the work done. What is usually not told to homeowners is how their air quality will be impacted.

When your home is well-sealed, typically with spray foam insulation, the amount of fresh air exchange with outside is significantly reduced and the air in your home becomes stale. When you (and pets, if you have them) exhale, carbon dioxide (CO2) goes into the room and will continue to build up if you don’t have some sort of air exchange or open windows/doors. Elevated CO2 can cause headaches and lack of focus and potentially worse symptoms, if prolonged.

The other issue is that the use of exhaust fans (kitchen and bathroom) depressurizes your home. When you turn on an exhaust fan, assuming it is vented outside and not in an attic or unconnected, air is sucked out of the room and blown outside. In doing this, your room will become slightly negatively pressurized and will be looking for “make-up” air to re-balance the pressure. When your home is tightly sealed, with windows/doors closed, it is very difficult for make-up air from outside to replenish what was blown out using an exhaust fan. Due to this, you may notice odd smells because air is literally finding any way it can to re-balance the room (attics, wall sockets, recessed lighting, etc.). Pressure imbalances can cause headaches and other negative health symptoms when prolonged.

One legitimate danger with a negative pressurized home is when combustible appliances are used (gas furnace, gas water heater, gas dryer, etc.). These appliances burn fuel and vent their toxic byproducts (carbon monoxide, CO2, nitrogen dioxide, etc.) outside. If the pressure is very low in your home, these byproducts can actually be drawn into your living space and can be lethal. As mentioned by CornerSolution in the comments, another real concern is the build up of radon gas that enters your home through your foundation. It is the number one cause of lung cancer in non-smokers.

So, with all the scary stuff out of the way what can you do about it?

If you have already had the work done and are looking to address the symptoms you may now have, you will need to add some sort of mechanical ventilation into your home. Depending on your budget and appetite for renovations, there are a few options. It would be best to contact a home energy or air quality assessment company to find an appropriate solution. Below are the likely suggestions they will make.

To address the issue of negative pressure with exhaust fans, the simplest method would be to have a door or window open. If you want a more robust solution, you can either have dedicated balanced ventilators (energy recovery ventilator or heat recovery ventilator) attached to each fan or have make-up air units installed. All of these options essentially bring in fresh air to replace the exhausted air but the ventilators are able to modulate the temperature (and humidity for ERV) of the incoming air. Since this is already quite long, I won’t go into the minutia of how these devices operate.

To address stale air in the home, again, the simplest method would be to frequently air the place out with open doors and windows but with cold weather or high humidity outside, this isn’t always practical. With that in mind, you will need to install an ERV or HRV. Installations can be retrofitted based on your home setup to either be fully standalone, semi-ducted, and fully-ducted to your home’s HVAC system. The only requirement of the semi- and fully-ducted options is that your HVAC fan needs to be running while the ventilator is on.

Ventilators and make-up air kits can run from a few hundred to thousands of dollars, without including installation fees. This is often not factored into the net savings of having your energy bill reduced with insulation improvement.

*Edit: a word

**Edit: added note on radon risk thanks to CornerSolution

***Edit: spelled out ERV and HRV

Why YSK - Grinding your teeth at night can cause a whole bunch of problems you might not expect, like headaches, jaw pain, and even damage to your teeth. It's often linked to stress, so figuring it out could help you tackle that too. Plus, there are ways to manage it, like wearing a mouthguard or finding ways to relax before bed. Ignoring it can lead to serious dental issues down the road, so it's better to catch it early!

Are any of you aware that you do it and if so how do you feel when you wake up?

Share your experience.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/10955-teeth-grinding-bruxism

Why YSK: When doing single-arm exercises like dumbbell curls, starting with your non-dominant arm can help prevent or correct muscle imbalances. Many people unknowingly favor their dominant side, which can lead to strength and size differences over time. By starting with your non-dominant arm (or leg for leg exercises), you ensure that this side receives the same attention and effort as your dominant side, helping you create a more balanced physique.

For example, if you’re right-handed, begin your reps with your left arm. Complete all reps on that side before moving to the dominant arm. If you’re doing alternating curls, still begin with the non-dominant side and stop the set once it can no longer perform a rep, even if the dominant side could continue. This will ensure balanced progress and can even help reduce existing imbalances.

Why YSK: Aerosol non-stick spray oils like PAM usually contain soy lecithin, which becomes gummy after being heated and is hard to remove without destroying the coating of your non-stick pans. Despite popular opinions these pans actually are "seasoned" to a degree and need to be cleaned gently, too gently to remove the sticky residue left by these sprays.

There are "pure' spray oils available, and they're advertised as such. Just read the ingredients and make sure only the oil is listed. Or just do what I do and keep translucent squirt bottles full of your oil of choice near the stove, it's cheaper and plenty convenient.

Why Ysk: dropshippers have been taking over the site, scamming people and overcharging.

This list is by no means complete nor foolproof! But I've been buying from Etsy for years now & it has worked like a charm. So it might be helpful for you too:)

Something to always keep in mind when buying from small shops is: is it possible that a small team of 1-4 people can do all this handmade crafting?

Other things that make me wary are:

1. The shop has over 50 items so sell, at all times, and you can buy multiple from the same item. (Of course excluded are items that they make to order aka don't have it in stock but create it on demand)
2. They sell over 40+ products a week seemingly without issue. (Again excluding things like products made with the help of lasercutter, printers etc.)
3. It's cheap. If you want actual handmade jewelery, it most likely won't be under 200$. In fact even that is dirt cheap and should make you wary. Actual handmade jewelry will cost you up to 2.000$. (We are talking about silver / gold that require a smith. Items made from wood/polymer clay will of course be cheaper)
4. REVERSE IMAGE SEARCH!!!
5. Check the reviews that have pictures of the products. If it's actually handmade there should be slight variables.

Hope that helps! If anyone has other tips & tricks please do tell!

Why YSK: The company cleaning our yard changed recently and the new one uses gas powered leaf blowers. I got sensitive lungs and noticed how my breathing becomes harder when they start the work every week. Today I started checking the facts about the leaf blowers and oh boy! Those little devices can be more polluting than a truck!

That and the noise which can go up to 106db!

I can tolerate this for once per week, I can just leave the house but please if you work in landscaping or just own a leaf blower and use it regularly please look up all the health warnings!

https://www.wsj.com/articles/leaf-blowers-are-loud-ugly-and-dangerous-1539903772

Why YSK: because a family friend got her tags stolen, and when she got replacements, this is what they recommended doing in the future.

Why YSK: Previously, quotes were enough to indicate that a word or phrase should be searched for exactly, without interpretations or similar terms. Now, quotes are used to group several words as a single term, but no longer to indicate an exact search.

To do it, go to tools (menu to the right of All, Images, Videos, Shopping, etc., after More), click on the All results option and choose Verbatim.

Why YSK: Middle class people worry that increasing taxes on the rich will hurt their income, but the US conducted that experiment in the 20th century and the opposite is true.

https://taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/historical-highest-marginal-income-tax-rates

There were still plenty of rich people, and a single union job could support an entire family. J Paul Getty had a tax rate of 70% in the 1970's and still was worth 6 billion dollars (23 billion in 2024 dollars).

Why YSK: More and more couples are moving in together with no plans of getting married. They are making the same huge financial decisions that normal married couples do with no discussion as to how the costs are to be shared, or what happens to those assets if the relationship terminates. Let's say one person buys(or owns) a home you live in, and only their name is on title to the property, that property (legally speaking) is almost always considered their own. If a partner moves into that home and is paying a portion of the mortgage, they likely assume that they are entitled to a share of the equity in the home. OR that is an implied arrangement until they break up, and the titled party decides they don't want to share the equity and intend to leave the other party with nothing. Co-habitation agreements are designed to protect each party with a written agreement that outlines what happens financially during the relationship and what happens in the event of a breakup.

When my girlfriend and I bought our first house together, we hired an attorney to meet with us and draft an agreement as to how we would divide the living expenses and mortgage payment. Because I make 2/3rds more income than my partner, we generally agreed to split the mortgage and monthly bills on a 1/3rd / 2/3rds basis.

Plus, in the event of a breakup, we agreed to how much of the equity in the home gets paid out to each person. So if we breakup and I decide to keep the home, I would pay my partner out 1/3rd of the equity in the home, derived from an appraised value.

Furthermore, we outlined how gifts and inheritances would be divided, that retirement plans we currently have would remain ours to keep, and that discretionary purchases outside of household items would also remain our sole property.

I am so frustrated by all the posts in r/legaladvice and r/relationshipadvice that pertain to these subjects. A boyfriend purchased a home and now expects the girlfriend to pay half the mortgage without being a titled party. Or a couple bought a home together and they've broken up and have no idea how to leave the mortgage and the real estate without taking on future liability.

If you are spending thousands and thousands of dollars purchasing a home with another person, and the two of you aren't married, you absolutely should spend a little bit of money hiring an attorney to draft an agreement that protects both of you.

I’ve bought 8 used cars from private parties and have been tricked in quite a few ways. This list should help the lay person avoid that.

Before you even see it:

Message the seller with these questions. I ask them one at a time or they will answer some and not others giving the illusion they answered you.

1. Have you had any major repairs done on it?
2. Is anything wrong at all on the car?
3. Will it pass emissions as it stands right now?
4. When was the last oil change?
5. Is there any rust on the undercarriage and body?
6. How many fobs and keys come with it?
7. Do all the fobs work?

If you like the answers, schedule a test drive in the daylight. Request that it not be driven for 2 hours prior so when you arrive you get the cold start. Ask that the fobs be available when you show up so you can test each of them.

When you arrive:

NOTE: Avoid having the seller stand too near to obstruct vision of abnormalities and talk/distract you from the inspection.

1. Inspect cosmetic condition. Dings, dents, scrapes, windshield cracks and mention your findings out loud if seller is in ear shot.
2. Check tires for tread.
3. Check that tires are wearing evenly.
4. Make sure tires aren't older than 5 years old (google "how to check tire age").
5. Check the spare tire and ensure it’s inflated.

Functionality inspection

NOTE: Order matters here as you don’t want to run certain things while the car is/isn’t warmed up.

1. Test all provided fobs.
2. Before starting it, check the oil level.
3. Turn the key to acc, see if the check engine light works.
4. Turn it on. Check the temp gauge. If the car is warmed up, ask when the last time it was driven.
5. Go to the rear and make sure no smoke come out of the exhaust.
6. Pop the hood. Get out and listen to engine for any odd noises for about 15 seconds.
7. Check battery terminals for corrosion.
8. Check that the engine bay is completely DRY. Look for leaks or wet areas.
9. Check the transmission fluid dip stick.
10. Check the brake fluid.
11. Inspect the coolant reservoir, which should show if coolant is low.
12. Get under the car and look for any leaks and/or rust.
13. Test low beams (headlights)
14. High beams (brights)
15. Blinkers (front and rear)
16. Brake lights
17. Reverse lights
18. License plate lights
19. Engage the parking break.
20. For each door: Open, get in, close it, test that the window rolls all the way up and down. Make sure it has a mat.
21. Open and inspect the hatch/trunk. Examine hydraulics if applicable.
22. Roll all windows down from drivers seat, make sure they’re all down, then roll them all up. Sunroof if applicable.
23. Honk the horn a few times.
24. Run Wipers and spray wiper fluid.
25. Slide the front seats forward and back.
26. Turn the radio on, check the speakers.
27. Test the Heater.
28. Test the AC.

Test drive

Try and drive without the seller (otherwise you’re either in for them distracting you from issues or an awkward long silence so you can listen to the car). Tell them you’re going to take it to AutoZone (or where ever) and get the codes scanned. Take it to the nearest road/freeway that you can go 60+ MPH.

1. Engage reverse and make sure it works.
2. Ensure each gauge on the cluster works.
3. Engage the 4WD if applicable. Disengage before proceeding.
4. Do a U turn, make sure power steering works. It should be silent and easy to turn the steering wheel.
5. Test the brakes. They should be responsive with no squeaking and definitely no grinding.
6. Use cruise control for at least 30 seconds.
7. Accelerate quickly, it should shift smoothly if it’s automatic.
8. Take it above 60 MPH for around 8 miles. There should be no odd noises or wobbles, and it shouldn’t pull one direction or the other.
9. Take it to an AutoZone, get the codes scanned. Tell them you're on a test drive and they can help you interpret the results.

Preparing to make an offer

1. Buy the carfax. More than 3 owners: not great. If they bought it recently: usually a red flag. Check for recent repairs that weren’t acknowledged. If there are gaps in service records, ask why. It could mean they didn’t do any maintenance during that time.
2. Acknowledge all the abnormalities you found. Consider calling the most expensive shop around and getting a quote for the repairs.

If you still want to make the offer:

1. Bring up every abnormality you found to the seller and work that into your offer (even if you know you’re not going to get the repairs done). You probably will have found at least one.

2. While the seller has the issues on top of mind, make your offer.

Why YSK: So you save yourself money and headache.

Why YSK Too many people think that just because one is aware of their bad behaviour or habits means that they will change for the better. I speak for myself as a person used to addicted to alcohol drugs, nicotine, and all sorts of substances for myself personally. I'm a very self-aware person, but just because I'm aware of my problem does not mean I'm willing to change. It was till I finally decided that I wanted a better life/healthy life without substances that I decided to change for the better, and it has little to do with self-awareness. In fact, a lot of people are aware of their toxic traits but continue to be the way they are and not improve themselves. 

Why YSK: Tearing your broken nails off or letting them get torn off, especially if the break is in the center of your nail bed, can lead to a long and painful recovery process while the nail grows out which can easily be avoided altogether. This tip doesn’t even take 5 minutes and both fixes and prevents breaks.

(Edit: Others in the comments have also provided some helpful suggestions. The reason I prefer hard gel is because it can also prevent breaks on top of fixing them, but it can also be a bit of maintenance. For instance, those with longer nails have a higher risk of their gel polish lifting, in which case it should be removed or fixed immediately to prevent bacteria from growing on your nails. Whatever way you prefer is best, and I 100% recommend looking at the comments to decide for yourself which method seems to suit you best)

This trick is safe to use as long as all nail wounds and your nail bed are completely covered. Gel nail products are marked as professionals only for a reason, but they’re safe as long as you try to keep uncured product off of your skin and wash your hands well after use.

Bare minimum materials needed: UV lamp/UV light, acetone, and UV curable hard gel

The more prep you do, the more permanent your solution will be. To make it stick extra well, do NOT wash your hands immediately before application. You can also use a rubber base coat if you wish.

Step 1: Use acetone to dry out your nail. You can just put it on a paper towel, but the more lint on your nail, the more likely your solution is to lift sooner.

Step 2: Apply your hard gel over the entire nail including the crack. Make sure not to go all the way to the side and back edges of your nail to avoid flooding your cuticles with product, which will cause your quick fix to lift sooner.

Step 3: Cure for 60 seconds using your UV light.

Step 4: Wipe the sticky layer off of the cured gel with acetone.

And you’re done. If you prep super well (which, this is not anywhere near the full amount of prep you can do), your hard gel coat can even last for months. I’m more than happy to detail the full process of prepping in the same way a nail technician would if anyone asks.

Why YSK: Most toothpastes use sodium fluoride as their main ingredient for remineralization. While it is very effective at creating an acid-resistant layer on your enamel, it does not stop problematic bacteria from growing in your mouth.

In the 1940s at Indiana University, it was discovered that fluoride ions harden enamel, and in the 1950s, a toothpaste formulated with stannous fluoride was introduced to sell. Why is stannous fluoride so beneficial: (1) it can penetrate and weaken bacterial membranes; (2) its ions can interfere with bacterial enzymes, inhibiting their metabolic processes. Studies have shown significant decreases in mouth bacteria after brushing with stannous fluoride, especially over weeks (33-61%). The antibacterial effect can last up to 12 hours after brushing. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30797255/\]

For a long time, stannous fell out of favor in dental care because old formulations had moderate to high risks of teeth staining but the companies behind stannous options like Colgate Total and Crest Pro-Health have since figured out ways to stabilize the formulations and make those risks minimal. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331100107\_Solving\_the\_problem\_with\_stannous\_fluoride\_Formulation\_stabilization\_and\_antimicrobial\_action\]

This isn't to say you have to switch toothpastes immediately and staining risks are low but not absolute zero. Plus no single intervention can perfectly protect your teeth. It's still good to floss, limit sugary drinks etc.

But thanks to the work of some awesome scientists, a single toothpaste can really help for people with excessive bacteria.

Why YSK:  These mail offers pile up, waste paper, and could increase the risk of information theft.

Calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688 -- follow the prompts) stops the offers for 5 years.  There is a mail-in option to permanently stop the offers.

From the Federal Trade Commission (FTC):

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/prescreened-credit-insurance-offers

Note that the number is 1-888. Reposted here to avoid confusion.

The unsolicited "pre-screened" offers are based on a person's credit score from the major credit reporting agencies, which is probably why SS is required to identify and opt out. Please see Federal Trade Commission (FTC) link above.

Why YSK: It's insane to me that news sites can hound you for a subscription when their interface is already more ads than news. Use https://archive.ph to get around this.

Why YSK: Many people wear cushioned running shoes to the gym, thinking they're fine for weightlifting. However, cushioned shoes compress under heavy loads, which can reduce your power and cause knee pain by pushing your knees inward. Switching to flat shoes like Converse or Vans gives you a better connection to the ground, helping you generate more force and lift safely.

For exercises like squats, deadlifts, and rows, flat shoes are usually the best option to prevent injury and improve your performance.

If you see something advertised, that ad spot cost the merchant a lot of money, and that budget is reflected in the price they charge you. Those Subway commercials with Tony Romo, Simone Biles, Stephan Curry, and Patrick Mahomes? Yeah, it's no surprise their prices have gotten out of control. It's not just the big companies that run ads - it's the ones that make a lot of money on every purchase. Companies and products with lower margins can't afford ads even if they sell a lot of product, because the cost to acquire the customer doesn't justify the profit per item sold. That's why Oreos are advertised more than bananas, restaurants more than grocery stores, Toyota more than Mitsubishi, the list goes on. Digital products like movies are even better because they have next to zero cost per user.

Why YSK: For anyone looking to save money or buy the better value product, buying something that isn't advertised is often better. Looking at what's advertised can also give us insight into what kind of margins these companies are pulling. Finally, knowing what items we need vs. what items the advertisers want us to think we need stands to reduce the consumerist culture in a lot of western countries.

Why YSK:

Hate it or love it, I use YouTube for so much of my entertainment and the couple bucks a month to make it ad free and work with the phone screen off so I can listen to podcasts and whatnot through my earbuds was worth it to me, more so even than Paramount Plus or one of these other subscription services. I almost lost it because for the last 2 weeks I noticed it as soon as I turn the screen off, one minute later the stream would stop and it wouldn't start again until I turned the screen back on, this is a feature I actually thought was a decent value add so I was understandably pissed. A quick Google search showed me that at least on my Android phone just Googling the symptoms brought me to a page where people were talking about setting things to Deep Sleep to optimize background usage of data so on and so forth which makes no sense because I have unlimited data, but sure enough there it was YouTube was set too deep sleep and now removing it from my deep sleeping apps and it works again as I expected.

Obviously this reads like a YouTube premium ad I'm sorry for that my bad, but if it's happening to any of the other apps you might be using check your deep sleeping apps to make sure that it's not affecting something you want to work in the background, also you can find the ones that you want to deep sleep and set those as well which is a nice bonus.

Why YSK: Many people feel like the web is being flooded with derivative regenerated content, especially when it comes to AI art and summaries, and want to only see human-generated content.

1. Remove most AI art from search: uBlock AI Blacklist

AI-generated art is flooding most image search pages. The blacklist tries to filter out much of this.

Instructions:

1. Install uBlock Origin (Note: No uBlock for chrome anymore, so this is firefox only)
2. Go to the uBlock dashboard and find the “Filter lists” tab.
3. Import the AI Blacklist: https://subscribe.adblockplus.org/?location=https%3A%2F%2Fraw.githubusercontent.com%2Flaylavish%2FuBlockOrigin-HUGE-AI-Blocklist%2Fmain%2Flist.txt&title=Sites%20using%20AI%20generated%20content
4. Apply changes. Images from known AI-art friendly domains will largely be filtered out.

2. Prevent AI search summaries on google

To block AI-generated summary blocks at the top of search from appearing, you can change your query in your browser.

• Update your Google search URL to: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14. This is under "Default search engine".

Edit: &udm=14 appears to also have some issues as discussed below in comments by /u/MagicPaul. May be better to use aiBlock extension mentioned below instead.

3. Remove most AI summaries and chat bots: aiBlock Extension

Works much like above, but across more sites. Extension here: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/aiblock-by-amorehumannet/agkhdnpodoibdffngdhfejhhkgbmajjm (Also on firefox)

4. Remove AI blogspam: NewsGuard Extension

NewsGuard is usually used to establish trustworthiness of a source, but does a pretty good job flagging AI-generated blogspam. Extension here: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/newsguard/hcgajcpgaalgpeholhdooeddllhedegi (Also on firefox)

Why YSK: Payday loans are small short-term loans that have incredibly high interest rates, sometimes exceeding even 100%. This often traps people in cycles of having to take out loans just to pay off older payday loans.

Some credit unions will have alternatives, usually known as Payday Alternative Loans. These loans offer the same benefits as Payday Loans, but have much lower rates. Some may even put some of your payments into a savings account for you.

If you are thinking about a Payday loan, please consider checking your local credit union instead.

There are a lot of apps on the Google Play store that allow you to access the "hidden" network settings menu. If you just search for "5G" on there, you can find plenty of popular apps that have this capability.

Why YSK: If you are out in the country, on a train, or in the city and 5G is going very slow (which sometimes happens), switching to 4G/4G LTE might give you both a boost in speed, signal strength, and reliability of your connection.

Why YSK: Cars are frequently recalled due to design flaws and defects. In many cases, the problem may be minor, but other issues can cause an increased risk of a crash or spontaneous vehicle fire even when a car is parked and turned off. There have been 800 car recalls in the U.S. in 2024 alone, affecting an estimated 21,000,000 people according to a recent study on the topic. There are many reasons why a vehicle owner wouldn’t hear about a recall from the manufacturer - a change in address, incorrect ownership details on the dealership’s side, change in ownership, and other factors can make it so you never hear about a relevant recall.

You should check whether your & your family’s vehicles have been recalled at least once or twice per year, to ensure you’re not unknowingly driving around in a dangerous car. If you’re in the U.S., you can enter your car’s VIN into the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recall search tool, linked here, to see if your vehicle has been recalled.

If you’re in Europe, you can check the “rapid alert system for non-food products” for recall details.

Stay safe out there!

Why YSK: In the U.S., nutrition labels can round down trace calories to zero, which can mislead consumers. Foods labeled as “zero-calorie” may still contain small calories that add up over time, especially if consumed in large quantities. This hidden intake could affect your diet without you knowing, so it's important to calculate based on the serving size and total weight.

Why YSK: If you don't do this your account and all your purchases are forfeit. This is the only way to preserve legal access to most games because they are inevitably removed from sale and due to the complexity of IP very few will ever return to sale once that happens. To date almost 6,000 games have been removed from Steam, often because they leverage a time-limited IP themselves like LEGO or Warhammer or the studio was acquired/bankrupted/etc.

So far GOG is the only one who has expressed support for this: until copyright law is updated they recommend getting a court order + will specifying account email or username + death certificate. This is easier than it sounds: basically you take a will and death certificate to a judge, they order the transfer.

"In general, your GOG account and GOG content is not transferable. However, if you can obtain a copy of a court order that specifically entitles someone to your GOG personal account, the digital content attached to it taking into account the EULAs of specific games within it, and that specifically refers to your GOG username or at least email address used to create such an account, we'd do our best to make it happen. We're willing to handle such a situation and preserve your GOG library—but currently we can only do it with the help of the justice system."

https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/gog-will-let-you-bequeath-your-game-library-to-someone-else-as-long-as-you-can-prove-youre-actually-dead/

Why YSK: Breville Worldwide is an Australian company that is known world-wide for their high-end appliances like espresso makers, which are sold under the Breville brand. However, they sold the rights to their brand name in Europe back in the 1980s, when globalization and the internet weren’t even a twinkle in their corporate eye.

Thus, Newell Brands, an American company, began selling their “Breville” appliances in Europe, and they continue to do so to this day. They are inferior in quality to their non-European counterparts and are equivalent to Sunbeam products in the U.S. (not good).

Europeans searching for a Breville appliance should look for the brand name Sage, which is Breville’s European mark.

TL;DR: Breville in Europe is essentially a knockoff because the company sold off their naming rights there. If you live in Europe and want a Breville product, get a Sage product.

Why YSK: If you are calling someone who wouldn't have you in their contacts and you get an answering machine that is not a voicemail message, you've gotten their call screening feature. Follow the prompts and don't hang up. The person will get a transcript telling them who you are and what you're calling for.

You will be marked as a spam caller in the recent calls list if you don't say anything.

Why YSK: I work for a large non-profit retailer and handle the scheduling of interviews for nearly 100 stores across the country. Every day I call ~100-150 applicants. My coworker has a similar workload.

Every day we have to pass up on ~ 15 applicants each. These applicants have applied and been passed on because they don't answer their phone and don't have their voicemail set up. You may ask, "Why not just email them?" To put it simply, phone calls and voicemail result to ~40% succesful contacts + call backs. Email outreach, which uses nearly identical language to our scripts for calls, has ~3% call back. People check emails even less than answering the phone.

So what happens if they don't answer after multiple attempts and we can't leave a voicemail? They get skipped. I hate that we have to do that, but it's simply a waste of time to repeatedly attempt contact with someone who likely has no idea why we're contacting them. Every position receives multiple applicants every day, which means we WILL fill that position, and I imagine this is similar for many retailers around the world. I understand that in today's world many people don't answer unknown numbers, which is fair. But, if you're expecting to hear from an employer about an application, it is in your best interest to AT LEAST ensure your voicemail works and has space to receive new messages.

This is for US folks, not sure how it may work in other countries.

If you have a bank account and transfer electronically from one bank to another via your account and routing number, this is called an ACH (Automatic Clearing House) Origination.

These transfers can take between 1-3 business days to transfer from one account to the other. This means if you’re making a car payment from your Capital One account to your Chase account, it COULD take up to 3 business days. It will also not transfer on a holiday.

This also applies for physical checks.

Why? These requests for transfers have to be processed through the Federal Reserve. This is a safety precaution for suspicious transfers. It’s not supposed to be fast.

Why YSK: If you’re someone who likes to wait until the very last second to make a car payment or transfer but need to use the ACH system, you’re going to be angry it’ll take a few days.

Source: I’ve worked at a credit union for 2.5 years.

Why YSK: Recipe pages are cluttered with ads and nonsense backstory. If you want it all in one page that's easy to read, this is your best method.

Guide:

1. Your recipe:

https://www.spendwithpennies.com/crock-pot-chicken-and-dumplings/

2. Add cooked.wiki/ to beginning of URL:

cooked.wiki/https://www.spendwithpennies.com/crock-pot-chicken-and-dumplings/

3. Generated new URL:

Slow cooker chicken and dumplings https://cooked.wiki/new/recent/c73e426b-91d7-40a2-aaa0-bf3e5f6a0fbf

Cinnamon applesauce muffins https://cooked.wiki/new/recent/9efc5d18-37d9-44c8-b9fe-56d4a2d068f2

Lemon curd https://cooked.wiki/new/recent/e633593c-8a3e-4525-93c5-9106ad6c4446

Bread (I make this recipe at least once a week) https://cooked.wiki/new/recent/4f54a709-7e40-486f-b2b9-906e4ebb418a