With Amazon Prime Day on the horizon (the date hasn't been announced, but we know the sale will take place sometime in July), now is a smart time to make an Amazon wishlist to keep track of all the things you plan to buy using your Prime account. You can also share your list with friends or family (hint, hint) in case they need gift ideas in the future. Here’s how to do it.
How to create and add to an Amazon wishlist
To create an Amazon wishlist in your browser, hover over Accounts & Lists in the upper-right corner of the navigation bar and select Create a list from the left column. (You can also access this by clicking Accounts & Lists > Your Lists > Create a List). Enter the name of your list in the pop-up and click Create List.
To create a new list on the Amazon Shopping app, select the profile icon on the bottom navigation bar and click Your Lists. Hit the plus icon next to Your lists and registries, enter the list name, and click Create List.
To add an item to a wishlist, go to the product’s page you’re interested in and look for the Add to List drop-down (simply text on mobile) underneath the Add to Cart/Buy Now box. You can either select an existing list or hit Create a List to make a new wishlist.
How to share an Amazon wishlist
All Amazon wishlists are private by default, but you can share specific lists with friends and family. Open the list you want to send and hit Invite or Send list to others (if using Amazon via browser). In either case, you have the option to allow others to view and edit your wishlist, or view-only, and to copy the link to your list or invite other users via email.
If you decide you want to change your privacy settings, update the name of your list, or enable Alexa to add items to your list, simply hover over the three horizontal “More” dots and select Manage list. You can also toggle on Don’t spoil my surprises if you want others to be able to gift you items from your wishlist without you knowing about it.
While keeping many household items—like detergents, cleaners, and cosmetics—past their expiration dates isn't necessarily as risky as eating expired food, it can decrease their effectiveness and potentially cause more problems than they solve. For the sake of your home's cleanliness and safety, here are the products you should inspect and potentially toss.
Laundry detergent and bleach
If you aren't doing multiple loads of laundry per week, you probably don't need to buy detergent in bulk. It doesn't go bad, per se, but it does lose its cleaning power over time. Liquid detergent can sit unopened for up to 18 months at normal temperatures but should be used within six once the seal is broken. Laundry pods should also be used within six months and stored in a dry, airtight container. Powdered detergents are good for a long time unless exposed to moisture, which can result in soap deposits on your clothes.
Bleach also begins to break down after about a year, decreasing its disinfecting and sanitizing power. Look for the production date stamped on the bottle.
Cleaning products
Like detergent, the chemicals in household cleaning products degrade over time, making them less effective at keeping your home clean and sanitized. If you deep clean often and go through products in a year or two, you'll probably get your money's worth. However, if you find bottles tucked away that haven't been touched in recent memory, test them out: anything clumpy, discolored, smelly, or that fails to foam up is probably expired.
Cleaning supplies
Again, cleaning supplies don't come with an expiration date, but you're likely holding onto them way past their suggested use. Your toilet brush should be tossed and replaced every few months—otherwise, bacteria can build up in the bristles and on the handle. Kitchen sponges should be tossed out every few weeks (or swapped for an alternative that can be washed and sanitized, like a dish cloth or a silicone scrubber).
Sunscreen
If there was ever a product you want to be at maximum effectiveness, it's sunscreen. The FDA requires sunscreen manufacturers to make formulas that last for three years, so if you go through bottles quickly, you probably don't need to worry too much about expiration. But it's good practice to check bottles you haven't used in a while—like at the start of the summer—for expiration dates. You should also check the date upon purchase, and if there's no expiration listed, write one on the container.
Cosmetics and medications
Your bathroom cabinet is full of items that expire, like cosmetics, toothpaste, and pharmaceuticals. Keeping these items past their expiration can decrease their effectiveness (like toothpaste, which is good for about two years from the manufacture date) or increase the risk that the product will degrade or be exposed to bacteria and fungi. While cosmetics aren't regulated, most have a recommended shelf life listed on their labels. Mascara in particular should be tossed every few months.
Toothbrushes
Your toothbrush or electric toothbrush head should be replaced about every three months, according to the American Dental Association—more often if you are sick, or for kids who tend to chew on the bristles. An old and degraded toothbrush won't clean as thoroughly, leaving plaque behind and allowing germs to hang out around your teeth.
Filters
There are nearly a dozen appliances in your home—furnace, dryer, HVAC, range hood, etc.—that require filters, all of which need to be replaced on a regular basis to keep everything running at maximum effectiveness (which keeps your indoor air, water, and clothes clean). Depending on the type, you should be replacing filters every one to six months.
Smoke detectors and fire extinguishers
Fire safety isn't a set-and-forget situation. Smoke detectors should be tested every few months and replaced after 10 years from the date of manufacture. Carbon monoxide detectors should be swapped out every five to seven years. Disposable fire extinguishers have a shelf life of 10 to 12 years, while rechargeable extinguishers should be inspected and refilled every six years.
To make the most out of July's upcoming Amazon Prime Day, you need to be an Amazon Prime member. However, a lesser-known Amazon Prime feature is that you can share membership perks with your family and only pay one membership fee. You can add one other adult, up to four teens, and up to four children to your Amazon Household, which allows everyone in the household to access all the standard benefits, from free shipping to streaming.
With an Amazon Household, everyone creates or keeps their own Amazon account but gets shared Prime benefits, even if they don’t actually live together. Here’s how to set it up for your family.
How to share Amazon Prime benefits with your family
To get started, you’ll need an Amazon account and a Prime membership (here’s how to sign up for Amazon Prime if you don’t have it already). After logging in, head over to the Amazon Household page and select Add Adult, Add Teen, and/or Add Child, depending on who you’d like to share your account with.
If you want to add an adult, you’ll be prompted to enter their name and the email associated with their Amazon account. You’ll then have to agree to link your payment wallet and choose which types of content—apps, audiobooks, and/or e-books—you want to share. Amazon does notify you if a Household member moves one of your payment methods to their wallet.
From here, your family member will receive an invitation via email to join your Household. To accept, they’ll click Get Prime Benefits and follow the prompts to agree to wallet sharing and to cancel their own Prime membership if they have one. Invitations are valid for 14 days. If the person you want to invite doesn’t have an Amazon account, they can create one during sign-up.
To add a teen who is 13 to 17 or a child who is 12 or under to your Household, you’ll need to follow the prompts to set up a teen or child profile—for teens, this includes indicating whether and how you want to review and approve orders and selecting a linked payment method. Children can’t shop on Amazon but can access Amazon Kids content and features.
A few limitations:
Amazon Households can only contain two adults and up to four teens and four children.
Household members must have an address in the same country (but do not have to have the same address).
If an adult has left an Amazon Household, neither adult on the account can join a different one for 180 days.
If you've put off renewing your passport because the process is inconvenient, you may be about to catch a break. The U.S. Department of State has reopened a beta release of its online passport renewal system, which will allow a limited number of passport holders to submit renewal applications each day.
Online passport processing was initially announced in late 2021 but was paused in March 2023 for additional development. The standard steps for obtaining a passport include going in person to a passport agency or acceptance facility, though renewals can also be submitted by mail.
According to the State Department, the online renewal platform will open "midday eastern time" for a limited number of applications and will close once that threshold has been reached. There are a number of specific requirements to qualify for online renewals:
You are 25 years of age or older.
Your passport is or was valid for 10 years and issued between 2009 and 2015.
You are not requesting to change your name, gender, date of birth, or place of birth.
You are not traveling abroad for at least eight weeks.
You live in the United States.
You are applying for a standard tourist passport.
You have your current/most recent passport in your possession.
How to renew your passport online
Go to the MyTravelGov page to create an account or sign in using your existing login. Then click the Renew Your Passport button to start your application. (You won't be able to begin if the daily limit has already been reached.)
You'll be asked to enter information about your most recent passport, as well as your upcoming travel plans, upload a digital passport photo, and pay the renewal fee using a debit or credit card. You should receive two emails—one confirming your payment is pending and one confirming it has been received.
Make sure you keep your current passport on hand—do not mail it in. You can also sign up for status update emails one week after you apply.
Note that the online application does not speed up processing time, which remains around six to eight weeks at the time of writing. If you need expedited service (or are applying for a special-issue passport such as a diplomatic document), you must use the mail-in option.
If you own a home or are considering buying, you know that your monthly mortgage payment is only a fraction of what you'll spend each year on homeownership. There are plenty of hidden costs associated with the purchase process as well as ongoing expenses ranging from property taxes to maintenance and repairs, which you don't have to factor in if you rent (as well as utilities and insurance, which you likely do).
But it's hard to conceptualize how much this will actually set you back and easy to be caught off guard if you don't budget for expenses beyond your mortgage.
A new analysis from Bankrate looked at the average annual expenses—on top of a mortgage—that come with owning a single-family home in each state, including property tax, homeowners insurance, utilities (energy, internet, and cable), and home maintenance (calculated at 2% of median sale prices). The report then compared the hidden costs of homeownership in 2024 to those in 2020.
Across the United States, the hidden costs of homeownership and maintenance average $18,118 per year in 2024, an increase of 26% (or $3,689) from 2020. Hawaii has the most expensive homeownership costs averaging $29,015 annually, followed by California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Utah had the biggest percentage increase in hidden homeownership costs from 2020 to 2024 at a whopping 44%.
States with the least expensive homeownership costs include Kentucky ($11.559 per year on average), Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Indiana. Expenses in Alaska and Texas increased the least in the last four years at just 14%.
Amazon’s Prime Day sale is coming this July—but keeping up and keeping track of the best discounts yet to land and figuring out which deals are worthwhile may be almost impossible. As an alternative, you can have Alexa give you a heads-up about deals on products you already know you want to purchase, so you don’t have to spend time sorting through the noise.
Amazon Prime subscribers in the United States who also have Echo smart speakers can enable deal alerts to receive notifications 24 hours before discounts go live and even have your Alexa purchase these items for you. Here’s how to do it.
Then head to the Alexa mobile app and go to More > Settings > Notifications > Amazon Shopping and toggle on Deal Recommendations under the Shopping Recommendations options. This ensures you’ll receive notifications for items that appear in your shopping activity.
If Alexa finds an upcoming deal on something in your Saved for Later, your Wish List, or in your Shopping Cart, you’ll receive a pop-up alert on your Echo Show display or see a yellow light ring on your Echo speaker. You can also ask, “Alexa, what are my notifications?” to hear a list of deals it has compiled thus far.
Alexa can detect deals up to 24 hours in advance, so you can either ask it to remind you again when a deal starts or request that it buy the item when the deal goes live. Simply say, “Alexa, buy it for me,” and it’ll charge the default payment and send the item to the default delivery address on your account.
Better lighting can increase your home's safety—adding visibility will reduce trip hazards in dark hallways or stairwells, for example—and improve energy efficiency to save you money on your electricity bill. Upgraded lighting may also add value to your home when you go to sell. Here are six ways to improve your home's lighting.
Capitalize on natural light
Making your home brighter doesn't necessarily require adding a lot of artificial light (which will run up your energy bill). Natural light is free and good for your mood. You can capitalize on the natural light in your home by painting your walls lighter colors and your ceilings white, as well as placing mirrors strategically in hallways or corners and choosing sunshades or sheer curtains over heavy drapes. Keeping your windows clean helps, too.
If you have the budget for bigger renovations, larger windows and skylights as well as lighter floors and tiling can also increase how much light is let into and reflected around your home.
Keep light consistent from room to room
Having bright lights in one room and dim in another or frequent temperature variations from warm to cool requires your eyes to constantly adjust. You should consider lighting options based on the room's function and whether you need ambient, task, or accent lighting (or a mix of all three), but avoid sharp contrasts from one space to the next. Choose a consistent color temperature and wattage range—just make sure you choose the right bulbs (ideally more efficient ones) for your lamps and fixtures.
Light fixtures that point toward walls and ceilings as well as frosted glass coverings and lampshades can diffuse harsh light and reduce glare, which is easier on the eyes. Install upward-facing lighting on the tops of cabinets as well as lighting at a range of height levels, from table lamps to floor lamps to wall and ceiling fixtures. Recessed ceiling fixtures can also create softer lighting.
Brighten your kitchen and bathroom
Your kitchen and bathroom come with potential hazards, such as slipping while bathing and handling sharp or hot items while cooking, that can be mitigated with better lighting. Light strips or LED pucks work well under cabinets to illuminate your counters as well as cupboards and pantries. It's also a good idea to have a separate light fixture in your shower or above your bathtub.
Increase flexibility with smart lights and dimmer switches
Upgrading to smart bulbs allows you to control your lights from anywhere via app or voice assistant as well as set up routines that fit your changing illumination needs throughout the day, whether that's brightness or color hue. You can also install manual dimmers to increase or decrease brightness of overhead fixtures as needed.
While the deadline for filing most tax returns and paying any outstanding balance for the year has already passed, not everyone can set it and forget it until next April. June also has a major deadline both for those paying their 2024 estimated taxes and those who have extended deadlines for 2023 filing.
Taxpayers who owe estimated taxes throughout the year
If you are self-employed, an independent contractor or freelancer, or otherwise earn income that isn't taxed throughout the year, you may be required to pay estimated taxes directly to the IRS each quarter. The second quarterly installment, which covers income earned from April 1 through May 31, is due on June 17.
I've written before about how estimated taxes work and how to calculate and pay them. If you earned enough income in the second quarter of 2024 to owe taxes, you should make a payment to avoid penalties. This also helps avoid a surprise bill when next April rolls around.
Taxpayers who live abroad
U.S. citizens who live and work in other countries are still required to file taxes with the IRS, even if the income is earned abroad. These taxpayers get an automatic two-month extension every year, and those returns are coming due on June 17 (unless you file for an additional extension to October 16 via Form 4868).
Taxes are more complicated for citizens who live outside the U.S. due to various credits and exclusions on foreign income, so you may want to consult a tax pro who is familiar with both the U.S. tax system and the rules of the country you reside in.
Taxpayers who reside in designated disaster areas
Residents of locales impacted by natural disasters also receive filing extensions, though these designated areas and deadlines vary. If you live or run a business in the following counties affected by disaster declarations, your 2023 income tax returns and payments normally due in March or April are now due on June 17:
California: San Diego
Connecticut: New London County and the Tribal Nations of Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot
Michigan: Eaton, Ingham, Ionia, Kent, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, Wayne
West Virginia: Calhoun, Clay, Harrison, Roane (note that the deadline for residents and businesses in Boone and Kanawha counties has been extended again until November 1)
Amazon’s biggest sale of the year, Prime Day, is set to start in July, but many early deals will surely be rolling in, as they have in the past. To take advantage of everything the sale has to offer, you’re going to need to be a Prime Member. If you sign up for an Amazon Prime account to take advantage of Prime Day but decide you don’t want to pay for an ongoing membership, you’ll need to cancel your subscription before the end of your free trial.
How to cancel your Amazon Prime membership
You can cancel your Prime subscription via browser by first logging into your Amazon account. Amazon has an End Your Prime Membership button on its support page to launch the process, or you can follow the steps detailed from Amazon's page:
Press on the Manage Membership drop-down menu, and press the Manage Membership button in that menu.
Press on the End Membership button.
Follow the on-screen instructions to proceed to canceling your Prime subscription.
What to know when canceling your Prime membership
As mentioned, closing your account will immediately end your access. Amazon also offers you the option to pause your benefits and billing temporarily instead of canceling them completely. Either way, your Amazon account is still active—you simply won’t have Prime benefits.
Finally, if you have other subscriptions connected to your Prime account, those will end when your billing is up. And if you signed up for Prime through the Android mobile shopping app or the Prime Video Android app, you’ll have to go through Google Subscription to manage your membership.
When choosing where to stay next time you travel—or what neighborhood to move to—you probably want to check out how long it'll take you to reach the amenities you care about. Close is an interactive heat map that shows travel time to destinations such as supermarkets, schools, parks, libraries, and restaurants, via walking, biking, and/or public transit.
Credit: Emily Long
Close can be especially useful if you're traveling to an unfamiliar city and want to book an Airbnb or other short-term rental in a neighborhood—and even more so if you won't have access to a vehicle. You can check the listing's information about walkability and nearby amenities against the Close map to determine what's actually around.
How to use Close to find walkable neighborhoods
Open the Close map and type your city or county of interest into the search bar in the upper left corner. You can edit the types of amenities you want the map to show in the Destinations box in the lower left corner (click Add destination) and select whether you want to see the time based on walking, biking, or walking + transit. You can also toggle the specific amenity locations on or off—if they're on, you can click the dots on the map to see the name and address of the supermarket, restaurant, school, etc.
As you add or remove destinations, the block-by-block heat map will change to show the travel time—ranging from fewer than five minutes to greater than 30 minutes—to reach the furthest of those amenities using the transportation methods selected. You can also select a specific block to see the breakdown of transit time.
Credit: Emily Long
Close also has a breakdown of how it classifies amenities, such as the difference between supermarkets and convenience stores. Note that the tool is currently in public beta, so expect the tool to evolve a bit over time.
Welcome to "Best Summer Ever," your guide to making the most of the sunny season. Whether your idea of a perfect summer is embarking on epic adventures or blissfully doing as little as possible (preferably somewhere with good air conditioning), we've got you covered, because the best summer doesn't just happen. You have to make it happen.
Summer is upon us, and now is the time to lock in your vacation plans. A trip to the beach is always a safe bet, as are the usual resorts, amusement parks, and family events, but what if you branched out and tried something new? Here are seven unique vacation ideas to switch up your experience this summer.
Visit a ski resort
Ski resorts aren't just for winter skiing anymore. Many ski areas are open nearly year-round and offer a wide range of warm-weather activities from hiking and biking trails to gondola and zip-line rides. Plus, mountain towns host festivals and events throughout the summer, such as the GoPro Mountain Games in Vail, Colo., the food and wine-focused Summer Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and outdoor concert series held right on the slopes.
Rent a houseboat on Airbnb
Instead of settling for a lake house, book a stay on the water—literally. Airbnb has a whole category of houseboats for rent, so you can choose from places like Key West, Texas's Eagle Mountain Lake, and a cabin right on the Mississippi. Note that houseboats are usually permanently docked, so you probably won't be able to take your floating accommodation for a joy ride. However, many offer amenities like paddle boards and kayaks to enjoy the surrounding water.
Drive Route 66
Route 66 is a classic American road as one of the original numbered highways established in 1926 and later memorialized in pop culture. The route connected Chicago to Los Angeles via Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. While much of the original road has been decommissioned, there are sections that remain, and you can still cover the route via bypass roads. Use a Route 66 trip planner to map out the classic motels, ghost towns, and unique roadside attractions, such as Cadillac Ranch and the Midpoint Cafe.
Visit an animal sanctuary (and volunteer if you can)
If you love animals, consider visiting and lending a hand at a sanctuary that rescues and rehabilitates animals ranging from cats and dogs to horses, pigs, and turkeys. Some sanctuaries—like Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah—offer volunteer opportunities and overnight stays right on the property.
Hike to an overnight yurt or hut stay
Hut-to-hut hiking is a classic high alpine activity in Europe, where you can adventure across breathtaking scenery during the day and rest at cushy lodges with hearty food (and your luggage is already waiting) at night. There is also a growing network of huts in the U.S. that offer everything from rustic, bare-bones shelter to full-service dining and luxury accommodations. In some areas, you can also connect multiple huts for a multi-day adventure.
Book a museum sleepover
If you have kids, consider planning a trip around an actual night at the museum. A number of museums around the world offer sleepover experiences that allow visitors to see the museum after-hours, participate in special educational activities, and camp out in the galleries.
Play tourist in your own city
A relaxing staycation is one option for a budget-friendly, travel-free experience, but if you're staying home, consider seeing your city through a visitor's eyes. Check out popular tourist sites you typically avoid, learn about your city's history, talk to a stranger in a coffee shop, spend the night in a hotel, wander the streets—you get the idea. You may see your home with fresh eyes.
The most anticipated title to hit Prime Video in June is season four of The Boys (June 13), the satirical superhero show adapted from the same-named comic book series and starring Billy Butcher as Karl Urban, leader of the titular group of super powered individuals. In the new season, Urban has only months left to live and must work to bring his team back together to save the world. Three episodes premiere on June 13, with additional episodes dropping weekly through mid-July.
Prime Video is also streaming two original sports documentaries in June. First up is Power of the Dream (June 18), a feature-length film that chronicles how WNBA team the Atlanta Dream's support of Black Lives Matter helped flip a Georgia Senate seat and led to the election of Rev. Raphael Warnock. Federer: Twelve Final Days (June 20) offers a behind-the-scenes look—using home video footage—of the last days of tennis star Roger Federer's career.
Finally, there's My Lady Jane (June 27), an eight-episode original series that tells an alternate history of Lady Jane Grey—played by Emily Bader—in which the British noblewoman avoids execution and instead lives a life of romance and adventure.
Here’s everything else coming to Prime Video and Amazon-owned, ad-supported Freevee in June, including the blockbuster, Oscar-winning Oppenheimer (June 18), from director Christopher Nolan.
What’s coming to Prime Video in June 2024
Arriving June 1
Animal Crackers (2020)
Annie (2014)
A Raisin In The Sun (1961)
At Close Range (1986)
Basic (2003)
Battlefield Earth (2000)
Bite The Bullet (1975)
Black Dynamite (2010)
Bloodsport (1988)
Blow Out (1981)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Brewster's Millions (1985)
Brick (2006)
Bruno (2009)
Buck And The Preacher (1972)
Class (1983)
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)
Cry Freedom (1987)
Dark Angel (1990)
Dark Blue (2003)
Dawn Of The Dead (2004)
Death At A Funeral (2007)
Diablo (2016)
Duck Soup (1933)
Edge Of Darkness (2010)
Eye Of The Needle (1981)
Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)
Finding Forrester (2001)
Fireproof (2008)
Gigli (2003)
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2004)
Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah (1999)
Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla II (1999)
Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus: The G Annihilation Strategy (2003)
Godzilla Vs. Spacegodzilla (1999)
Godzilla, Mothra, And King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2003)
Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2004)
Gridiron Gang (2006)
Guarding Tess (1994)
Hackers (1995)
Hellfighters (1968)
High Noon (1952)
I Am Ali (2014)
I Am Bolt (2016)
Down (2002)
Incendies (2010)
It Came From Outer Space (1953)
Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
Juan Of The Dead (2011)
Just Mercy (2020)
Kindergarten Cop (1990)
Kindergarten Cop 2 (2016)
Las Vegas S1-S5
Last Tango In Paris (1973)
Layer Cake (2005)
Little Man (2006)
Macarthur (1977)
Man's Favorite Sport? (1964)
Midnight Run (1988)
Milk (2009)
Money Train (1995)
No Country For Old Men (2007)
No Good Deed (2014)
No Stranger Than Love (2016)
Noah (2014)
Not Without My Daughter (1991)
Ong Bak - The Thai Warrior (2005)
Open Season (2006)
Outlaws And Angels (2016)
Overboard (1987)
Pariah (2011)
Paths Of Glory (1957)
Platoon (1987)
Precious (2009)
Predestination (2015)
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Quantum Of Solace (2008)
Revenge (1990)
Saved! (2004)
Six Degrees Of Separation (1993)
Skyfall (2012)
Sleepover (2004)
Soapdish (1958)
Some Kind Of Wonderful (1987)
St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
Stomp The Yard (2007)
Superbad Unrated (2007)
Takers (2010)
Tangerine (2015)
Teen Wolf (1985)
The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert (1994)
The African Queen (1952)
The Animal (2001)
The Battle Of Britain (1969)
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1977)
The Brady Bunch Movie (1995)
The Danish Girl (2016)
The Haunting (1999)
The Hurricane (2000)
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
The Last Castle (2001)
The Man in the Moon (1991)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
The Mechanic (2011)
The Missouri Breaks (1976)
The Quiet Man (1952)
The Russia House (1990)
The War Wagon (1967)
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995)
A dog that likes to dig can pretty quickly destroy your yard. And though you can scold them when you catch them in the act, stopping the behavior entirely will likely require a bit more effort. With warmer weather on the way and yard improvement on the spring to-do list, here’s how to fix those holes (as well as a few ideas for stopping your dog from digging in the first place).
Why your dog might be digging in your yard
You can fill in the holes your dog has dug, but you'll be doing that endlessly if you don’t address the underlying reason your dog is digging holes in the first place. Dogs may dig up a yard for a number of reasons:
They’re bored and need entertainment or a job to do.
They were bred to dig.
They are searching for prey, like burrowing animals or pests.
They’re hot (or cold).
They’re trying to escape after or away from something.
How you stop the digging depends on the underlying cause, but in general, consider first what your dog might need—whether that's a toy to keep it entertained, or shade, or water. Frequent walks, minimizing unsupervised time and engaging your dog with tricks or commands can help, too. Punishing your dog generally doesn’t. And if you’re ferreting out pests, be sure to avoid toxic products that your dog could accidentally ingest.
An oft-repeated bit of lore suggests that filling holes with your dog's own poop will deter them from digging in the same spot again. It's worth a try—most dogs won’t go after their own poop, but some might. If it's a deeper hole, don't put their poop at the bottom. Add some soil first, then place the poop a few inches below the surface, and top off with more soil.
Finally, if the digging continues, you may be able to train your dog to dig in a designated area—say, a pit filled with soil or sand and your dog’s toys. Lead them to that area and reward them when they use their digging pit instead of digging in other parts of your yard.
How to repair holes your dog has dug in your yard
Filling in the holes your dog has dug doesn't sound complicated, but you shouldn’t just push the dug-out dirt back into the hole. (You probably wouldn’t be able to do this anyway, as dogs that dig typically make a huge mess by kicking dirt everywhere.) Instead, you’ll need to bring in topsoil and, if you have grass, add grass seed or a sod patch.
Follow these steps when repairing dog-dug holes.
If you're using grass seed
Fill the hole with topsoil, water it, and add just enough additional soil to bring it to the same level as the ground.
Add seed and water, following the instructions on the bag.
If you're using a sod patch
If you're using a sod patch, fill the hole with soil to just below ground level, leaving a gap equal to the thickness of your sod patch.
Roll out the sod over the hole, and cut the edges to fit.
Remove the sod and shovel out the hole as needed so the sod patch will sit flush with the surrounding ground.
Place the sod and water it daily until it takes root.
If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for June 17, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is medium difficult; I got it in four. Beware, there are spoilers below for June 17, Wordle #1,094! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.
Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)
Ready for the hints? Let’s go!
Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?
We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)
They're almost all common letters from our mnemonic today! Only one letter isn't, and it's fairly common.
Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?
Before.
Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?
There is one repeated letter today.
How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?
There are two vowels.
What letter does today’s Wordle start with?
Today’s word starts with P.
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
Today’s word ends with R.
What is the solution to today’s Wordle?
Ready? Today’s word is PRIOR.
How I solved today’s Wordle
I started with RAISE and TOUCH followed by BLIND to eliminate additional common consonants. The only possible solutions were PRIMO and PRIOR, and I guessed the latter because it's a more common word.
Wordle 1,094 4/6
🟨⬛🟩⬛⬛
⬛🟨⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Yesterday’s Wordle answer
Yesterday’s Wordle was medium difficult. The hint was “work can feel like this” and the answer contained four common letters and one fairly common letter.
The answer to yesterday’s Wordle was GRIND.
A primer on Wordle basics
The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word.
Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word: Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)
Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)
Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)
With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.
The best starter words for Wordle
What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:
CRANE
TRACE
SLANT
CRATE
CARTE
Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:
SALET
REAST
TRACE
CRATE
SLATE
Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.
How to win at Wordle
We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.
The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.
One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.
Wordle alternatives
If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:
Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.
Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.
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