prices Archives

Early flights, cheap seats, less trauma

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Thinking about a summer getaway? Whether you’re dreaming of golden beaches or a family battle royale at Disney, it’s officially “stop refreshing and actually book your flight” season.

Let’s break it down.

🗺️ For international trips

If you’ve got your sights set on Europe, Asia or anywhere outside the U.S., the sweet spot is two to six months in advance, depending on the destination. Not seven anymore.

Airline prices fluctuate faster than ever, and waiting too long means you’ll likely be hit with high demand and fewer seats. Then again, you might be able to score a last-minute deal if you don’t mind the last seat near the toilet.

Use tools like Google Flights, Hopper or Skyscanner to set fare alerts. Just plug in your destination and dates, and you’ll get notified when prices drop below a threshold you set. It’s like having a personal flight hacker in your pocket.

🇺🇸 For U.S. travel

The best time to book a domestic flight is 28 to 35 days before takeoff. Yep, just about a month ahead. Booking too early, say 90+ days out, can actually cost you more. I know, it sounds backward, but data backs it up.

Book on a Sunday: You can save around 15% compared to buying midweek.
Fly on a Wednesday: It’s consistently the cheapest day to travel, especially for round trips.
Skip Fridays and Sundays unless you love crowds and overpriced tickets.
Shop one-way tickets: For example, Phoenix to New York City round trip was $523. But booking a one-way ticket from Phoenix to NYC and then booking a separate ticket from NYC to Phoenix was $413.

🛫 Insider secrets

Always book the earliest flight your cranky self can tolerate. Flights after 3 p.m.? Up to 50% more prone to cancellations. Delays pile up throughout the day, and those afternoon and evening flights get hit the hardest.

📍 TL;DR

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Food prices change while you shop, here’s what to do

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If you think food prices are high now, just wait. Grocery stores across the country are installing electronic shelf labels (ESLs), ditching those humble paper price tags for sleek little digital screens.

Sounds like a snazzy tech upgrade, right? Just wait until your eggs get a price hike while you’re still pushing your cart toward the meat section.

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Prep and pour under $50

Must-have, helpful stuff at great prices? Yes, please.

Keep your leftovers fresh with glass containers (15% off). I ditched plastic ones.
A portable oven (58% off) is perfect for picnics and road trips.
A countertop ice maker (29% off) is essential.
An electric wine opener ($30) makes happy hour happier.
Easter’s almost here! Replace your bottles with new gel food coloring set (5% off).

🐱 For your furry friends: Snag a water and pet feeder combo ($30) or a stainless steel fountain (13% off) for a nice spring upgrade.

We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.

Prices change while you shop

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Stores are rolling out digital price tags that let them raise prices in real time. Here’s how surge pricing could hit your next grocery run.

👩🏼‍⚖️ Siri’s no-show sparks suit: Apple is getting sued by shareholders for hyping Siri’s AI glow-up before it was anywhere near ready. The suit claims Apple pushed phantom features to boost stock prices, then quietly delayed everything till 2026. Siri can’t read your screen yet, but it might need to read legal briefs soon.

Almost every 24 hours

How often Chipotle plans to open a new restaurant this year. To pull it off, they’ll need lots of new hires, and that’s where AI comes in. Their “Ava Cado” tool chats with candidates, collects info and sends out offers. Apparently, it’s so good it’s cut hiring time by around 75%. Wish they could do that for prices.

🍟 Want fries with that? Different McDonald’s locations set their own prices. McCheapest maps the U.S. so you can see how expensive your local Mickey D’s is.

How to find the best prices on eBay

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Want what you want but for less? Here are some secrets to scoring the best deals on anything you’re looking for.

40%

That’s how much cooling costs can drop with an ice battery. Yes, actual ice. Buildings like Eleven Madison in NYC are freezing water at night, then using that ice to chill the place by day. It’s like time-shifting your AC to happy hour prices, potentially lowering cooling costs by up to 40%. Peak grid demand? Never heard of her.

500,000

That’s how many more home sellers there are than buyers right now. It’s the biggest seller surplus Redfin has ever recorded, including 2020 when no one was even sure if open houses were legal. Florida’s feeling the heat with six of the top 10 buyer’s markets, but sellers everywhere might want to start adjusting expectations and maybe listing prices.

🐭 Ex-Disney worker headed to prison: After getting fired, Michael hacked company servers and messed with restaurant menus. He changed prices, added curse words, locked employees out of their accounts and, the kiss of death, even marked peanut items as “peanut-free.” The penalty? Three years in prison, definitely not the happiest place on Earth.

iPhone or Galaxy? Tariffs make the choice easier

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New tariffs will drive up prices on China-made phones. That’s bad news for Apple.

🛒 Amazon carts get heavier: Thanks to new tariffs on Chinese imports, Amazon sellers have jacked up prices on nearly 1,000 products by an average of almost 30%. The White House is blasting Amazon for planning to add a “tariff cost” display price to products affected. Your $14 impulse buy just became a $27 mistake.

6.7%

PC shipments jumped 6.7% last quarter as people rushed to replace old Windows 10 laptops before support ends and tariffs yeet prices into the stratosphere. Brands like Lenovo, HP and Dell are trying to move inventory fast, before things get messy.

📦 Thrifting apps are booming: They’re up 18% in the first quarter compared to last year (paywall link). Folks are using apps like Depop and eBay for cheaper secondhand clothes and furniture since Shein and Temu are getting pricier because of tariffs. But hey, with all that demand, don’t be shocked when thrift prices start acting ~boutique~.

Avoid this costly internet mistake

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Providers want you to lock in a long-term deal. But with speeds rising and prices falling, you could end up paying more than you should.

$2,100 to $2,300

The price tag of the long-rumored iPhone Fold. That’s well above most foldable phones like the $1,899 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6. And it’s almost triple the cost of a regular $799 iPhone 16. At those prices, it’s also going to fold your bank account, too. You have a couple of years to save up.

📈 Want to go viral in 2025? Talk about tariffs. With President Trump making it a hot topic, regular folks want to know how it’ll affect their jobs and everyday prices. Just ask comedian Walter Masterson (paywall link). He posted a debate about who really pays tariffs on beans and corn (Spoiler: not foreign governments), and it became his biggest hit with millions of views.

ChatGPT can make fake receipts: Yes, like real store or restaurant receipts. From scratch, the math might be off, but if you ask it to recreate an existing one first and tweak the prices of items, it works. What does OpenAI say? They’re not worried, since every image includes a “C2PA metadata” tag showing it was made by AI. Like that’s hard to remove.

🚘 Buy a car, get $2,300: You’ll score that in Amazon gift cards if you shop on Amazon Autos. You can see prices up front and customize your ride right from your couch. When you’re ready, schedule a pickup, sign the paperwork at the dealership and drive off. In about two weeks, you’ll get two emails from Amazon, each with a $1,150 gift card.

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