City Style

Tailoring, sneakers and the smart-casual line nobody explains properly.

The only refinance number that matters is the break-even month

Closing costs divided by monthly savings gets you close, but two common tricks make a bad refinance look like a good one.

GuideSkillsWes DunbarSep 23, 20265 min

Purify Backcountry Water Without Guessing What's In It

Pick the source, strain the grit, treat it right, and keep the dirty bottle away from the clean one. The order matters more than the gear.

Ask BRO

Rehearse the raise conversation with me

Ask it

GuideOld SchoolCal BrennanSep 23, 20266 min

What Old Men Wish Somebody Had Told Them at Twenty-Five

Ask a man in his eighties what he'd change and he almost never says the job. He says the ears, the friends, and the questions he never asked his dad.

Shirts.com — Design it with AI. Wear it this week.

PartnerShirts.com

Money5 min read

Pay yourself the payment for three months before you borrow

A $12,000 loan at 12.9 percent hands the lender $3,424. Saving the same monthly amount gets you there in 36 months instead of 48, and the math is yours to check.

Poll

How often do you see your closest friends?

GuideSkillsWes DunbarSep 23, 20266 min

Sew on a button and mend a seam so they stay fixed

Eighteen inches of thread, a needle and a toothpick. Ten minutes of work that outlasts whatever the factory did the first time.

GuideOld SchoolNina CastellanSep 23, 20266 min

The four-sentence thank-you note that still does the job

My grandmother wrote three notes every Sunday after dinner, and she was never the person anyone forgot. The method takes about four minutes.

CancerDefying.com — The research, protocols and reading in one place

PartnerCancerDefying.com

GuideMoneyRay OkonkwoSep 23, 20265 min

Pay for the wedding in cash or move the date

The guest list is the budget. Everything else is decoration, and most of it's negotiable if you run the numbers first.

Quiz

Is your money actually in order?

Six questions. No email required, no sales pitch at the end.

GuideSkillsCal BrennanSep 23, 20265 min

Choking rescue for an adult, a child and a baby

The hands go in three different places depending on who's choking, and the one that works on a grown man will hurt an infant.

GuideStartupsRay OkonkwoSep 23, 20265 min

The food truck costs that aren't on anybody's spreadsheet

The truck is the cheap part. It's the commissary, the generator hours and the days you don't sell that decide whether you're still open in year two.

Ask BRO

Plan a cook for eight people

Ask it

GuideMoneyRay OkonkwoSep 23, 20266 min

Read your home insurance policy on a Tuesday, not after a fire

Six numbers in your policy decide what you actually get paid. Most people meet them for the first time standing in a wet hallway.

Coconut.com — Tell us when. We find where the sun is.

PartnerCoconut.com

GuideSkillsWes DunbarSep 23, 20266 min

Replace a broken window pane without butchering the sash

The glass is the easy part. Skip one step and your fresh putty cracks out by next winter.

Poll

Where does your best time with your kids happen?

GuideOld SchoolDean ShawSep 23, 20266 min

Grandpa Kept Ten Tools in That Box and Never Needed More

A gray metal box, ten tools, fifty years of fixing things. What was in it, why, and how to actually use each one this weekend.

GuideMoneyRay OkonkwoSep 23, 20265 min

What actually moves your credit score and what doesn't

Two things do most of the work, a dozen things do almost nothing, and one common piece of advice costs people money every month.

GermProof.com — An invisible germ barrier on your skin for hours

PartnerGermProof.com

GuideSkillsWes DunbarSep 23, 20266 min

Hang a ceiling fan that doesn't wobble, hum or fall

The whole job hangs on a part you can't see from the floor, and most failed fan installs fail right there.

Quiz

Does your wardrobe actually fit you?

Five questions, honestly answered, and a plan for the next two weeks.

Old School6 min

The first truck in the lot got the good jobs

Money5 min

The second income is smaller than the paycheck says

Ask BRO

Build me a 30-day training plan around two sessions a week

Ask it

GuideSkillsWes DunbarSep 23, 20266 min

How to get a fire going when every stick is soaked

Wet wood isn't wet all the way through. Here's the order of operations that turns a soggy woodpile into a fire that stays lit.

Names.com — The name is the first thing you sell

PartnerNames.com

Startups5 min read

The family cleaning business runs on roles, not goodwill

Cleaning is one of the few businesses a family can start this month for under a thousand dollars. It's also one of the easiest to quit by March.

Poll

Where does your best time with your kids happen?

Older articles

Older City Style stories