Three More Bicycle Helmet Brands Get Recalled for Failing the Same Federal Safety Standard, and All of Them Were Sold Exclusively on Amazon

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red and silver motorcycle handle bar

At least three bicycle helmet brands have been pulled from Amazon in 2026 for violating the same federal safety standard, and every single one of them was sold exclusively through the same online marketplace rather than a bike shop or sporting goods chain. Federal regulators say the pattern is becoming familiar: a low-cost helmet appears … Read more

EPA Just Proposed Rolling Back Drinking Water Limits on Four Forever Chemicals It Regulated Just Two Years Ago, and States Are Pushing Back

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woman in black tank top drinking water

The Environmental Protection Agency spent 2024 telling Americans it was finally cracking down on “forever chemicals” in drinking water. In May 2026, the same agency proposed walking a meaningful chunk of that crackdown back, and most of the households whose water utilities will be affected have no idea it’s happening. What’s Actually Being Rescinded The … Read more

Samsung, LG and Maytag Just Swept the Top Spots in the Biggest Appliance Satisfaction Study of the Year, and Some Major Brands Fell Surprisingly Short

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A modern samsung dishwasher drawer built into cabinetry

Samsung, LG and Maytag took the top spot in nine of 12 appliance categories in J.D. Power’s 2026 U.S. Appliance Satisfaction Study, released this month, while brands that led the field just a year earlier, including GE and Whirlpool in refrigerators, failed to crack the top two in any fridge category this time around. Who … Read more

Federal Officials Just Quietly Rewrote the Rules on a Popular Home Energy Rebate Program, and Some States Are Opting Out of It Entirely

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a house with a solar panel on the roof

The U.S. Department of Energy quietly changed the rules on its $8.8 billion Home Energy Rebates program this spring, and the new guidance, effective May 29, 2026, bars homeowners from using the rebates to replace gas furnaces and other fossil-fuel equipment with electric heat pumps. Two states, South Dakota and Idaho, have declined to run … Read more

Women Still Do Nearly Three Times as Much Housework as Men Do, Brand-New Government Time-Use Data Shows, Though Men Pull Ahead Outdoors

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a woman washing dishes in a kitchen sink

Women spent an average of 0.81 hours a day on housework in 2025, compared with 0.30 hours for men, nearly three times as much, according to the newest American Time Use Survey data, released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on June 25, 2026. The one category where men logged more time than women: … Read more

Swapping a Handful of Fixtures for WaterSense-Certified Versions Could Cut a Typical Water Bill by Hundreds of Dollars a Year, EPA Data Shows

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Woman filling a glass with water from a kitchen faucet

A household that swaps out a handful of old fixtures for WaterSense-certified versions can cut its annual water costs by hundreds of dollars, according to data the EPA publishes on its own WaterSense program, and the savings add up faster than most people expect once showerheads, faucets and toilets are counted together instead of one … Read more

Menards Just Beat Home Depot in Customer Satisfaction for the First Time, According to a Major New Study, and Shoppers Are Spending $278 More There

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For years, the home improvement conversation was basically a two-way race between Home Depot and Lowe’s. Now there’s a name in first place that a lot of shoppers outside the Midwest have never even set foot in. The Scores Menards posted a customer satisfaction score of 690 out of 1,000 in J.D. Power’s 2026 U.S. … Read more

Lowe’s Now Lets Homeowners Pay for Renovations in Monthly Installments at Checkout, Following a New Partnership Aimed at Big-Ticket Projects

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Front view of a Lowe's store entrance with parked cars in the lot during the day.

Lowe’s shoppers checking out online or through the retailer’s app can now split big purchases into biweekly or monthly payments through Affirm, after the two companies announced a partnership on February 17, 2026 that puts installment financing directly at checkout instead of routing customers to a separate credit application.   How the Payments Actually Work … Read more

Home Canning Season Has Arrived, and Food-Safety Experts Say One Common Mistake Is Sending More Home Cooks to the ER Than People Realize

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clear glass jars with candies

Home canning season is in full swing this month, with late-summer tomatoes, green beans, peppers and the last of the stone fruit going into jars across the country. It’s also the time of year public health agencies see the same preventable mistake resurface: canning low-acid vegetables and meats in a boiling water bath instead of … Read more

First Day of Fall Is Just Two Weeks Away Now, and Skipping This Pre-Winter Outdoor Checklist Almost Always Costs Homeowners More Money Later

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dried maple leaves

Fall officially arrives at 12:06 a.m. UTC on September 23, 2026, which works out to 8:06 p.m. Eastern and 5:06 p.m. Pacific the evening before, putting the autumnal equinox a little more than two weeks out from today. That date is the unofficial deadline home-service companies and extension offices point to every year for the … Read more