Best wishes on this national holiday for gratitude and giving thanks. I hope you’re able to join with family or friends to celebrate. Ninety-seven percent of Americans say they’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving, with 26 percent saying they’ll be hosting, according to WalletHub.com, a personal finance website. About 40 million Thanksgiving meals will include a turkey being served. Read more →

As the holiday season approaches, Thanksgiving marks a day of giving thanks for American families. Despite recent inflation in the United States, the cost of Thanksgiving dinner is expected to be lower this year compared to 2022. The main reason is the falling of the average turkey prices in 2023 due to growth in production. Read more →

Influencers are required to let consumers clearly know that they’re being paid for their content. After the WHO classified artificial sweeteners such as aspartame as a possible carcinogens, influencers – including some dietitians – began posting content criticizing action. Aspartame is used in products such as diet soda, yogurt, and chewing gum. Read more →

It's amazing that as we’re all suffering from inflation so little is said about corporate price gouging and the role it’s playing in price increases. Fortunately, there’s a watchdog group that keeps researching inflation. Here’s the latest from Accountable.US: The increase in basic prices having risen at the smallest rate since September 2021. Read more →

On Friday, I had a busy day and missed the announcement that it was One Health Day. It’s a global campaign that brings attention to the need for a coordinated approach to address shared health threats at the human-animal-environment interface. I’d never heard of One Health Day before, but it addresses health concerns I’ve written about over the years: Read more →

Little did I know when I wrote about International Wombat Day a few days ago, that I’d be writing about World Lemur Day today. I wrote about wombats because I read about the special day on Facebook and thought, since I had a great photo of my niece and her son with a wombat in Western Australia, I’d write about International Wombat Day. Read more →

Lately, I’ve been busy, so when I saw an item on Facebook Sunday that it was International Wombat Day, it didn’t dawn on me until Monday to post a great photo of my niece and her son with a wombat. The photo was taken at the Caversham Wildlife Park in Western Australia. I lived in Sydney from 1965 to 1967 and wanted to visit the amazing county again. Read more →

Does it matter that there are too many residential real estate agents? Yes, says a consumer group. More than 1.5 million residential agents, including brokers, compete for home sales usually totaling 5 to 6 million annually. The plethora of real estate agents comes with costs, according to a study by the Consumer Federation of America, that include: Read more →

To help consumers, the Biden administration is cracking down on junk fees, price gouging on food, and mergers. President Biden announced the actions Wednesday the day before the fifth meeting of White House Competition Council, appointed in 2021. The council is made up of 10 cabinet members and the heads of seven agencies. Read more →

Years ago before the pandemic, I used to take sliced pineapple to parties for an appetizer. I remember taking overripe pineapples back to Costco and returning them to Safeway as well. It seemed like the quality varied widely with the pineapples often being too ripe and even rotten. When I had a tea party Friday, I decided I’d get a pineapple. Read more →