Everyone is now a photographer and our audience is on the small screen. But there’s a real joy in seeing a large image on a wall. The best way to do that is via the Metal Print from Costco Photo. You send a digital file to Costco online and then you pick up the piece at your local store. Your image is printed in gorgeous quality on a thick piece of aluminum sheet so that it is 100% flat and glossy – much flatter than can be done by framing. No glass or plastic cover required, which makes this style very light weight even for big pieces. And since it is frameless, and hung with an internal French cleat, it is cheap. A huge 24 x 36 inch picture, printed and ready to hang in your room or gallery, is $120. A large 11 x 14 is only $34. These show pieces really wow. Even a decent shot from a new phone will work. — KK

For generations hipsters have been retro-fitting vans into mobile homes. Once they were VW vans; today they are Dodge Sprinter vans. The best source I’ve come across for tutorials on how to remodel a used cargo van into a roaming house is a YouTube channel by Dylan Magaster. Magaster collects diverse videos of hundreds of regular folks building their vans and tiny homes in great and satisfying detail. — KK

April Wilkerson is a woodworker and her YouTube channel is filled with her projects, like a chicken coop, a multipurpose garage storage station, a cedar fence, a walking cane, and more. She’s great at showing and explaining her work, and letting you see her mistakes and workarounds, which is very valuable. — MF

I wear a watch, not as expensive jewelry, but as a clock I find easier to inspect than a phone. I have four requirements for a watch: 1) Bold, easy to read numbers on an analog face. 2) Easy band. 3) Long battery. 4) Dirt cheap. The cheapest analog-faced wrist watch I’ve found is the Casio MQ24. It costs $10. I’ve worn most of the cheap ones (Swatch, Timex) and this one lasts the longest. (What usually gives out first on these cheapies is the winding stem for changing the time.) — KK

Over the years, I’ve had to buy a variety of bras for different types of dresses and tops (racerback, backless, strapless, etc.), but the most useful purchase I’ve made has been Nippies. I’ve had these for a couple years now. They are washable, reusable and so comfortable I forget I have them on. — CD

I’m on my second one-pound bag of this flavorful Assam black tea. It’s dark and malty and my wife and I drink at least two cups each per day. At $24, it’s a great deal. — MF

I like my black tea to have a robust flavor, so I use a lot of it in each cup I make. This organic Darjeeling tea from Vahdam fits the bill. It smells wonderful and is very tasty. A 9 ounce bag costs $18. They say one bag makes 150+ cups, but I probably only get 100 cups out of it. Still a good deal! — MF

My wife has become a fan of the teas from Wild Foods, based in Austin, Texas. Her favorite is the Organic Pu-erh Black Tea, which is aged and fermented. Every order comes with samples of other products, like flavored salts, and their newsletter has interesting recipes and guides. The owner often includes a hand written note with an order. — MF

The broadway hit Hamilton is worth attending in any mode. Tickets are precious and rare, but anyone can download or purchase the musical soundtrack by the original cast. Its super popularity is not just hype: Hamilton is as great as any Shakespeare play. The lyrics are topical, timeless, profound, and linguistically witty. The entire 2.5 hour play is sung, so there are 46 songs, each one memorable. You may have heard that much of it is in rap, with different characters rapping in their own style. It’s an incredible experience just in audio. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve listened to it, but each time I derive more understanding of that period of American history, more appreciation of early American culture, and more heartbreak about the biography of a political icon. And you can sing along! If you eventually are able to get reasonably priced tickets to some version of the performance, my tip is to listen all the way through the album at least twice before you go. This play is so dense with layers, and so packed with powerful language, that your enjoyment will be multiplied by 10 each time you pre-listen. — KK

When I get a call from a fraudster (like a “Microsoft tech support” scammer or an IRS impersonator), I merge their call with the Jolly Roger bot ($12/yr). This is software that has canned voice responses designed to confuse and waste the time of the criminal who calls you. The Jolly Roger website has recordings of some entertaining conversations. — MF

Truecaller is a free, ad-supported smartphone app that blocks telemarketers’ calls. When a call from a spammer comes in, your phone will display a red screen that says “Identified as Spam.” And if a telemarketer slips through, you can easily add the number to Truecaller’s database. — MF

You can wake up Alexa by using the wake command “Computer” as in Star Trek. Go to the Alexa app on your phone. Right-swipe to open a panel with settings choices. Pick your device and scroll down to wake commands. You have a limited choice of four words, including computer. There is a movement to make that command a common voice interface among all devices. Are you listening, Siri, Cortana and Google? — KK

We installed AI into our kitchen to get a glimpse of the future. Now we talk to Alexa, and ask it to do all kinds of things. “Alexa, what is on my calendar today?” “Alexa, add granola to my shopping list.” The cheapest way to do this is not with an Echo (size of wine bottle), if you already have speakers, but with the Echo Dot. Size of a large hockey puck, it’s always on, waiting for your command. And it will get upgraded over time. — KK

Amazon Fresh is Amazon’s grocery shopping and delivery service. They sell everything a large supermarket sells, often at better prices. You can sometimes get same day delivery, but it usually takes 24 hours. This is a huge time saver for our family. You must be an Amazon prime member. — MF

Buying in bulk does save, but when we buy the large plastic container of mixed greens from Costco, it usually gets slimy after 4-5 days. I tried the paper towel hack and placed one sheet in the middle and one on top and it extended its shelf-life by one week! — CD

I bought this small $10 clock so I could avoid looking at my phone in the morning. The alarm is progressive and the ticking is as close to silent as possible. There’s a button to illuminate the time in the dark that also doubles as a snooze button. Perfectly simple and useful. — CD

The strange American habit of switching hours twice a year for Daylight Savings is a real bummer if you have wall clocks. Glancing at a clock, BTW, is a lot more handy than pulling out a phone. The solution to Daylight Savings hassle is to get an “atomic radio” wall clock which uses radio signals from government atomic clocks to keep perfect time and update themselves during seasonal changes. They come in analog or digital varieties. For several decades we’ve used La Crosse analog atomic clocks (about $22) in our kitchen and office for constant precise time and never need to think about them. — KK