11 smart kitchen appliances that we love in 2020: Instant Pot and ...

CANBERRA: A 16.3 percent rise in Australian overall retail trading in May has seen significant increases in household goods sales, with retailers reporting an increase in spending on furniture, home entertainment, home offices, and home improvement. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics ("Stats")  preliminary retail trade figures for the month, total Australian retail turnover rose by 16.3 percent – though this followed the largest ever fall of 17.7pc in April.  Year-on-year, retail turnover was up 5.3pc. The most significant increases were recorded in retail industries that had recorded particularly low levels of trade in April, including home offices and home entertainment. These included clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing, and cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services, supported by the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. Stats' report is in line with a surge in sales seen a JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys, Harvey Norman, Bunning...

Many of us understand the basics of childproofing our homes. We know to lock up potentially poisonous chemicals and to keep electrical outlets covered. Perhaps we've even ridded our homes of candles, and switched to exclusively using the backburner of our stoves (where our children are less likely to reach for a piping hot pot). But even the most vigilant among us may not realize that the heavy pieces of furniture filling our homes can be just as dangerous as the cleaning products hiding underneath our sinks. Every 20 minutes, someone in the U.S. is injured due to an appliance, TV or piece of furniture falling over, according to Consumer Reports. It's for this reason that anchoring your furniture to prevent tip-overs is one of the most fundamental steps you can take in rendering your home a little safer. Tip-overs happen for a number of reasons, but they're often the result of people using furniture in a way it wasn't intended to be used. "The center of gr...

Even though non-essential businesses are beginning to reopen after being closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, tons of online retailers are still offering sales. If you need your weekend shopping fix, we've got you covered. Below is a roundup of just some of the retailers currently holding online sales and deals this weekend. And for those of you looking for last-minute Father's Day gifts, here is a roundup of where you can buy gift cards to send via email. Adidas The sportswear retailer currently has deals up to 30% off on sneakers, clothing and accessories with promo code "STRIPES" at checkout. Adidas has relaunched its popular packs of three face masks for $16. (Under Armour also has a face mask marketed toward athletes, but it sold out quickly.) Amazon Apple's 10.2-inch, 32GB iPad is still discounted 24%. You can also find Apple's smart keyboard discounted by 38%. Another hot deal is Apple's latest watch, the Series 5, which is on sale for 20% off. Y...

From Popular Mechanics Growing up, our vision of the future was filled with flying cars and robots that did our work for us. While the airborne vehicles of the Jetsons have yet to materialize, robot vacuums have arrived. No, they don't look like George's Rosie. Ranging in cost from a bit under $200 to over $1,000, these wafer-shaped, dirt sucking automatons come with a wide range of features and technology, like bump-n-go navigation and LIDAR floor plan mapping. Some models can mop, too. We called in a range of popular models to see how well they work and which ones do so best. If you've ever wondered if a robot vacuum is right for you, read on. Check out quick info below on the top-performing robot vacuums from our testing, then scroll down for buying advice and in-depth reviews. What You Need to Know About Robot Vacuums Keep Your Regular VacuumFirst, let's get this out of the way: You're probably not getting rid of your current vacuum. In most homes there will sti...

Builders of new homes in Northern Colorado spend more than $236,000 per acre to bring water to their developments. Land prices, in comparison, are about $40,000 per acre. Buyers of new homes will spend about 10% of their purchase price on water alone. Water and development experts say that the escalating price of water — now $62,500 per share of Colorado Big Thompson water — continues to push home prices into unaffordable ranges, particularly for first-time home buyers and those in service-related professions. Water as a price driver along the northern Front Range was the lead-off topic at the Northern Colorado Real Estate Summit, a virtual event this year hosted by BizWest. Reagan Waskom, director of the Colorado Water Center at Colorado State University, moderated a panel discussion that included a home developer, a water attorney, a landscape design expert and a water engineering consultant. The takeaway from their discussion: Water helps drive the escalating costs and ava...

What happened Shares of At Home (NYSE:HOME) surged today, finishing up 13.5% after a Wall Street analyst released a bullish research note on home-furnishing retailers. Separately, investors were also encouraged by fresh retail sales data released by the Commerce Department. So what Jefferies boosted its price targets on numerous home improvement and home-furnishing companies, including Lowe's, Home Depot, and Wayfair. The firm believes that the broad shift to remote work that COVID-19 is spurring may translate into a large number of people moving from urban cities to suburban areas, boosting homeownership in 2021. Those new homeowners are then expected to start buying more products to furnish those homes, particularly as homeowners tend to spend more on big-ticket purchases like appliances tha...

The coronavirus pandemic has massive implications for this year's tax season. Work expenses in particular have been flipped on their head, with many workers required to work from home since March or April. The ATO responded to the challenge by introducing a "shortcut" method to calculate deductions, but experts say some workers could actually end up paying more tax using that method. So, here's what you need to know about filing this year's tax return. What expenses can I claim on tax? Workers can claim the following expenses, according to the ATO's COVID-19 advice hub: Get COVID-19 news you can use delivered to your inbox. You'll also receive special offers from our partners. You can opt-out at any time. Electricity expenses related to regulating temperature and lighting the work-related space of your home (during work hours); Cleaning costs for their work-specific area; Phone and internet (apportioned to your...