Blog
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I Bought an $88 Raised Garden Bed Kit. Two Seasons Later, It’s a Grocery Store.
The receipt that broke me was $63.41 for a single paper bag of produce. Six cherry tomatoes, a sad bunch of basil, two peppers, a head of lettuce. That was the Tuesday I went home and typed raised gar…
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I Bought a 9 Drawer Dresser. First, I Measured Twice.
Two months ago I ordered a dresser. Not a thrilling sentence, but the purchase scared me more than any sofa or mattress ever has — because a dresser is the one piece of bedroom furniture you cannot hi…
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I Bought a $168 Standing Patio Heater. Here’s What It Did to My Electric Bill.
I Bought a $168 Standing Patio Heater. Here’s What It Did to My Electric Bill. \n\n The first frost warning of the season landed on a Tuesday, and my back deck — the one we’d lived on all summer — wen…
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I Bought a $398 Round Swivel Chair. Three Months Later, Here’s the Honest Review.
I Bought a $398 Round Swivel Chair. Three Months Later, Here’s the Honest Review. In October, I stayed one night in a boutique hotel and spent an unreasonable amount of time in the lobby. Not the bar …
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I Bought a $268 Hanging Chaise Lounger. My Nap Quality Has Opinions Now.
Two months ago I bought a hanging chaise lounger from FLNORW MALL — the $268 one with the removable canopy — because I had developed a very specific summer problem. My living-room recliner faces the w…
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I Bought a $300 Countertop Ice Maker Machine. Four Months Later, Here’s the Honest Review.
Four months ago I did something I had been resisting for two years: I bought a countertop ice maker machine and gave it a permanent spot on my kitchen counter, between the coffee maker and the toaster…
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Arched Glass Display Cabinet: My $178 Verdict After Two Months
Two months ago I bought an arched glass display cabinet for $178 because I could not stop seeing them. Every styled bookshelf on my Pinterest feed had one: tall, arch-topped, fluted glass doors, somet…
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Bunk Bed with Stairs: I Compared the $699 House Bunk Bed Against a $268 Ladder Model
The problem a bunk bed with stairs was supposed to solve We have three kids — nine, seven, and five — and one shared bedroom that measures ten by twelve feet. For two years that room worked because th…
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I Bought a $999 Sectional Sleeper Sofa. Three Months Later, My Guest-Room Math.
Three months ago my mother-in-law came to stay for four nights, and a month after that my sister-in-law arrived with her two kids. Our spare bedroom had quietly become my home office during the work-f…
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I Bought a $490 Outdoor Patio Dining Set. Two Seasons Later, Here’s the Honest Verdict.
I Bought a $490 Outdoor Patio Dining Set. Two Seasons Later, Here’s the Honest Verdict. Last April, I stood on my empty back patio and did some math I did not like. Our 12-by-14-foot slab of concrete …
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I Bought a $328 Navy Velvet Accent Chair for My Reading Corner. Three Months Later, Here’s the Honest Review.
For two years the northeast corner of my bedroom held a laundry basket, a floor vent, and a dying succulent. Every night I promised myself twenty minutes of reading; every night I sat on the edge of t…
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I Hung a $198 Farmhouse Chandelier Over My Dining Table. Here’s the Sizing Math Nobody Told Me.
For eleven years our dining room had the exact fixture the builder installed back in 2013: a brushed-nickel flush mount that cast the kind of flat, shadowless light that makes every meal look like it …
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I Walked 8,000 Steps a Day at My Standing Desk. Here’s My Honest $288 Walking Pad Review.
My standing desk raised and lowered beautifully for a full year before I admitted the truth: standing still is barely better than sitting. My fitness tracker said I averaged 2,800 steps a day, most of…
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I Tested a Room Divider for Studio Apartment Living. Here Is What $128 Bought Me.
I Tested a Room Divider for Studio Apartment Living. Here Is What $128 Bought Me. When my lease renewal landed last spring, I did the math every renter in a big city does: stay in my 480-square-foot s…
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I Bought a $199 LED Bathroom Mirror. The Anti-Fog Alone Justified It.
Our old bathroom mirror had one job and it failed at it for about four years: staying clear after a shower. Every morning played the same scene — I would step out of the shower, wipe a porthole throug…
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I Swapped My Nighttime AC for a $129 Ceiling Fan. The Electric Bill Answered.
My October electric bill was the one that finally got to me. Not a July bill — an October bill, after weeks of running the bedroom AC just because I sleep hot, my wife sleeps cold, and our thermostat …
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I Bought a $99 Nightstand Set of 2. Here’s the Buying Guide I Wish I’d Had.
I Bought a $99 Nightstand Set of 2. Here's the Buying Guide I Wish I'd Had. Three weeks ago my wife pointed at the plastic milk crate next to my side of the bed and said, "That leaves thi…
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I Bought a $99 Wooden Shoe Rack Bench. Two Months Later, My Entryway Finally Works.
For two years, my entryway ran on what I generously called a system and my wife called a pile. Shoes went to the strip of wall between the front door and the stairs, arranged by gravity: whatever came…
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I Bought a $199 Farmhouse Coffee Bar Cabinet. My Drive-Thru Habit Never Stood a Chance.
Every weekday at 7:40 in the morning, I am the car at the front of the drive-thru line ordering the same large latte. Same order, same nod from the barista who now recognizes my voice through the spea…
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I Bought a $388 Console Table for My Entryway. Here’s What It Actually Holds.
Our front entryway used to run on pure chaos. Keys lived wherever my hand opened first, which meant the kitchen counter, the shoe shelf, or the floor. The dog leash hung on the door handle until it di…