You put it on your hands, wipe your utensils with it before they touch your food, slather it all over your body and generally dunk yourself in it throughout your life — but is antibacterial soap safe? Or rather, is its resident germ-killer, triclosan, ineffective or even not good for you? The Food and Drug Administration is working on an answer. [More]
FDA Finally Solving The Burning Question Of Whether Antibacterial Soap Is Safe
By May 3, 2013
Flying The Friendly Skies Friday: No Tears Over Spilled Oil; Kindness Rears Its Lovely Head
By April 19, 2013
In an attempt to make Fridays even more of a delightful day, we’ve been asking you, our dear readers, for stories that made you smile while soaring through the air. Flying The Friendly Skies Friday celebrates all that is right and good in the world of customer service, and this week’s edition is no different. Keep those stories coming, and we’ll keep spreading the happy vibes. [More]
If Your Resolution Is To Finally Figure Out That Whole Hygiene Thing, Walmart Has You Covered
By January 8, 2013
It’s a new year, and you know what that means: We all make promises to ourselves that we probably won’t keep (although I swear I’m going to start my own organic dairy farm someday and have a bestselling cheese brand) or will at least give up on early in February. But hey, you, the one without a toothbrush who hasn’t figured out soap yet — Walmart is here for you. [More]
Warehouse Store Sample Server: I’m Not Here To Give You A Free Lunch
By November 19, 2012
Shoppers at Costco, Sam’s Club and other warehouse clubs are likely quite familiar with the many sample servers situated around the store, handing out freebies to eager customers. One such sample server has penned an open letter to warehouse club shoppers saying that he loves his job, but there are some things you all do that really get under his skin. [More]
TSA Will Let You Fly With Your Precious Snow Globes This Holiday Season
By November 14, 2012
Until the Transportation Security Administration started cracking down on liquids in carry-on luggage, we never knew how desperately attached travelers are to their prohibited snow globes. It seemed a bit of a cruel ban — who doesn’t love staring at fake snow gently falling on some idyllic scene? But this year, be prepared to celebrate snow globe freedom with the TSA’s updated holiday travel rules. [More]
Arm & Hammer Adds 33% More Peroxide, Subtracts .3 Ounces Of Toothpaste
By October 26, 2012
The good news is that PeroxiCare toothpaste comes with slightly more peroxide than it did before. The bad news is that this supposed improvement comes with a .3 ounce reduction in the total amount of toothpaste in the tube. [More]
Playing Doctor: Consumerist Readers Explain How To Cure Anything With Just About Everything
By August 17, 2012
Earlier this week we turned to you, our wise and experienced Consumerist readers, to tell us which home remedies you’ve had success with in treating various bodily ailments. Or maybe the treatment wasn’t so successful but you learned an important life lesson on the process. We’ve combed through your highly entertaining and definitely useful comments and have compiled a few of the most common and well, interesting ones here (ahem, earwax?). [More]
Colgate's Interpretation Of Value 3-Pack Is Two Regular Tubes, One Mini Size
By April 18, 2012
Ooh, look at that! A value pack of toothpaste that has not two, but three tubes of Colgate Total! What a steal. Or so Abie thought when she bought into the advertised deal, until she got home and actually opened the package. [More]
Use Peanut Butter, Toothpaste To Fix Scratched Discs
By March 2, 2012
You don’t need to throw away or replace a DVD just because it’s scratched up. With some careful rehab, you can get the disc back into playing shape. [More]
What To Look For In A Toothbrush
By February 20, 2012
There are better ways to shop for toothbrushes than color, price or most convincing marketing buzzword on the packaging. We recommend taking advice from a dental insurer, figuring that those in that line of work would rather take your premiums while subsidizing as few root canals and cavity fillings as possible. [More]
Morning Deals
By February 1, 2012
- Clothing
Anti-SOPA Movement Unites Trent Reznor, Opera Singers
By January 18, 2012
While SOPA and PIPA have the support of every major record label, the unions representing performing artists, and the organizations that manage licensing for musicians, some performers, writers and artists have stood up against the bills, including MGMT, OK Go, Trent Reznor and the members of OPERA America. (And Neil Gaiman, too!) [More]
Adjustments To Help You Save Time And Money
By January 9, 2012
Little tweaks you make to your daily routine can snowball into significant changes. For an example, take toothpaste. You don’t need much on your brush to get the job done, but you probably cover the entire face of the brush with the product. Cut the amount in half and it will take you twice as long to use up the tube. [More]
Places At Home To Stash Your Cash
By December 19, 2011
Most financial experts don’t recommend keeping large amounts of cash stashed at home, but that doesn’t stop people from socking their savings in corners they believe to be safe. Those who do so leave themselves vulnerable to losing huge amounts of money due to burglaries or forgetfulness. [More]
5 Commonly Counterfeited Items To Avoid Buying
By December 2, 2011
It’s one thing to purchase a generic or store-brand product that has the same ingredients or components but at a lower price; and a completely different thing to buy a truly counterfeit product that might save you cash but could end up doing damage to your body. [More]
Make Your Money Go Farther By Stretching Out Spending Intervals
By November 21, 2011
When you’re looking to cut back on spending, it’s natural to look for money-sucking activities to cut out of your life entirely. But that’s not the only way to trim a budget. Rather than eliminating what you do, you can just do those things less often. [More]
Extreme Couponers: Dollar Stores Are For Suckers
By July 12, 2011
With many people still looking for ways to save in this tough economy, you might expect bargain-hunters lined up to buy things at dollar stores. But some practitioners of the dark art of extreme couponing (soon to be an X Games event, we hope), say that you can often do a lot better by going to your regular grocery or big box store so long as you come armed with coupons. [More]
The TSA Is All Worried About Surgically Implanted Bombs
By July 6, 2011
The threat of drinking water and toothpaste has been securely locked up in a plastic sandwich bag. And those new-fangled scanners can see if you’re carrying a huge knife and/or grenade in your crotch. But a new threat has the TSA focusing its interest on something that its fancy electronics and grabby hands can’t detect so easily: Surgically implanted bombs. [More]
