If you’re renting, you know that the security deposit is a big deal—the moment you decide to move out, the top priority is getting that money back. While this is usually a pretty straightforward process—you move your stuff out, give the place a solid cleaning, and you get your money back.

Unfortunately, things don’t always go so smoothly. There are plenty of bad landlords out there, and you might get a nasty surprise when you move out in the form of surprise cleaning fees: You’re all moved out and the apartment appears to be in fine shape, but your landlord deducts several hundred dollars from your security deposit for cleaning anyway.

Landlords have the ability to deduct reasonable costs from your security deposit—that’s why it exists. But that doesn’t mean they can just invent reasons to charge you. Here’s what you can do if that happens—and what you should do when you move into your next rental to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Know that you're not responsible for wear and tear

As a tenant you’re generally not responsible for what’s known as normal “wear and tear” on the living space. This is the normal damage that occurs just from a space being occupied, like peeling paint, cracks from settling, or carpets thinning from use. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has a formal list of wear and tear items, and states explicitly that “the costs an owner incurs for the basic cleaning and repairing of such items necessary to make a unit ready for occupancy by the next tenant are part of the costs of doing business.” This is in contrast to what’s considered “tenant damages,” which include things like holes in the walls, gouged floors, or missing fixtures.

That said, always read your lease carefully and understand the specifics surrounding your security deposit and the fees the landlord might charge for cleaning—and how they define “wear and tear.” Generally, your landlord can’t simply deduct a routine cleaning fee from your security deposit, but the language you agreed to in your lease may complicate the matter. Being aware of any potentially problematic language in the lease before you move out can help you avoid problems.

Document and clean

Once you know the different between wear and tear and tenant damages, your next step is to document the condition of your apartment. The best-case scenario is to begin this process before you actually move in by creating a detailed video of the home that shows the condition of every aspect of the space. If the walls are scuffed, for instance, having proof that they were like that before you moved in will be crucial.

Once you’ve documented the condition of the place, the best way to ensure you avoid surprise cleaning fees is to clean. Cleaning on a regular schedule prevents dirt from building up and turning into a monumental chore, which will make it a lot easier to get the space into presentable shape when you move out.

If you hire cleaning professionals or have to go above and beyond in any way to clean the place, continue to document your efforts—keep receipts and copies of any correspondence with your landlord related to cleaning issues. If you note any “wear-and-tear” items or pre-existing cleanliness issues that you shouldn’t be responsible for, make sure you communicate that to your landlord and keep records of that communication.

Finally, when you’re moving out, document your cleaning and the final condition of the apartment as you leave it in another video.

If you're charged with a cleaning fee

If, despite your best efforts, you still get socked with a surprise cleaning fee when you move out that you believe is unfair, here are a few steps you can take:

• Gather evidence. Make sure you have access to your evidence of the original and final condition of the space, and gather any receipts or communications related to cleaning.

• Request details. Ask your landlord for a breakdown of costs and ask for copies of receipts if they claim to have hired cleaners.

• Write a dispute letter. Send your landlord a letter by certified mail that details the improper charges. Include specifics like the amount of your total security deposit, the amount deducted for cleaning, why the amount is unjustified, and a deadline for receiving the money. It helps if you research your state’s laws around the return of security deposits and include those details as well. You can see a sample letter here.

• Contact a tenant’s rights organization. There’s probably a local tenant’s rights organization in your area that can help you navigate the situation by providing advice and resources. If you can't find one, Renters Rising can help identify a local group.

• Small claims court or mediation. If all else fails, you can take your landlord to small claims court unless your security deposit is astronomically high (more than $10,000). You could also locate a professional mediator to help you come to an agreement over the dispute (the American Arbitration Association can help you find one in your area) if your landlord is agreeable.

A New Year’s Eve interview between CNN’s Will Ripley and a Taiwanese drag queen went off the rails Tuesday when the latter dared the network’s international correspondent to touch her “pointy boobs” and then air the moment.

CNN aired the interview in which Nymphia Wind, the winner of season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, discussed the end of the year and Wind’s plans for 2025.

Wind, whose real name is Leo Tsao, told Ripley about her evening plans, which included kicking off the new year by headlining a countdown at the ICONSIAM in Bangkok, Thailand.

To introduce Nymphia to CNN’s viewers, Ripley described her as possibly “the hardest working drag queen in the world” before he aired a snippet of a pre-recorded interview between the two.

“I’m dying, thank God this is taped,” Nymphia said before taking a drink of water. “Oh, girl.”

While commenting on Nymphia’s busy schedule, Ripley said, “How are you still standing right now? You need a vacation, girl.”

Later during their conversation, Ripley pointed out Nymphia had adopted the banana as her “brand” and pointed out her yellow outfit.

Ripley told CNN viewers that Nymphia makes most of her costumes by hand and said to the performer, “But they’re very pointy. They look dangerous, actually.”

Nymphia replied, “Do you want to come touch and try? I dare you to edit that in, CNN. Edit in my pointy boobs!”

According to Fandom, Nymphia served six months in the Taiwanese Fire Brigade and attended college in England, in addition to winning RuPaul’s Drag Race. The drag performer was also part of this summer’s controversial Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

Watch above via CNN.

If you have big aspirations for 2025—a big deadlift, a marathon, a change in the size of your body—I sure hope you haven’t translated them into the limited, pass-fail box-checking of a SMART goal. But that doesn't mean SMART goals are useless. You really need two types of goals: Dream Goals to inspire and motivate you, and SMART goals, which are a type of process goal, to keep you on the path toward those dreams.

Why SMART goals are different from Dream Goals

SMART goals have long been heralded as a goal-setting life hack, but the truth is that they were invented for managers to set quotas and such for their companies (the original “A” stood for “assignable,” as in, to an employee). Their usefulness in fitness or self-improvement is pretty limited.

A SMART goal, as it’s talked about it the fitness world today, is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Put together, this means you set a deadline by which time you expect to achieve a specific measurement of an outcome. In other words, you’ve turned it into a pass-fail test. And because you wouldn’t want to fail that pass-fail test, creating a proper SMART goal means that you need to set the bar low. The goal has to be Attainable, remember? When you look at it that way, SMART goals are not goals in the way I would think of the word, in the sense of big dreams that inspire us to keep going.

That's why you need another type of goal, which I'll call a dream goal. A dream goal is what you really want. It's the thing that inspires you, whether or not it's attainable. You might dream of deadlifting 500 pounds, or hiking the Appalachian trail, or qualifying for the Boston Marathon, or, heck, winning the Boston Marathon. We're not going to shoehorn that into the SMART goal framework. But we can set some SMART goals as benchmarks or process goals to guide our training as we work toward that big dream.

How to dream big while still setting process goals

I’ve written before that SMART goals are overrated, but to be honest, they make a good framework for process goals. Process goals are things that are fully in our control. They are Attainable, by definition. For example, going for a run three times a week is a process goal. Eating a vegetable at every meal is a process goal. Following a program that tells you to do five sets of eight reps of deadlifts every Tuesday is a process goal.

And the point of a process goal is to put you on the path to your big Dream Goal. I like to think of it this way: Your Dream Goal is a big mountain off in the distance. You know it’s there, but you don’t know exactly how far away it is, or how tough the journey will be. Your process goals are things that will keep you on the path toward that mountain. Packing your bags. Putting one foot in front of the other. Or as Peloton instructor Tunde Oyeneyin puts it (right before telling me I better beat my score from her last burpee circuit): “A goal is a wish. A standard holds us accountable.” We need both.

I can’t emphasize how important it is that we allow ourselves to dream big. “Take one minute off my 5K race time this year” is attainable, but why limit yourself to that? “Run a 5K in under 20 minutes” is a big-as-hell dream (especially if you’re around 30 minutes right now) but it’s very much worth working for. The path up that mountain might be a long one, but it’s not going to walk itself.

How to write SMART goals to support your Dream Goals

So, let’s start charting that path. As with any trip up a distant mountain, you won’t know quite what the road is like until you get there. So focus on what’s right in front of you and what you can control.

Here’s an example of how you can set some SMART process goals to guide you toward a big dream that may or may not be achievable. Let’s say you’re a runner, and you want to be a faster runner. You might chart out a journey like this:

Dream goal: Run a 5K in 20 minutes or less (someday)

Process goals for winter/spring 2025:

1. Build up my aerobic base by running a few more miles each week, until I am running 20 miles a week.

2. Run a time trial at the track on January 25, both as a benchmark and so I can calculate my training paces.

3. Follow the Hal Higdon Intermediate 5K Training Program as written, including the recommended Tuesday and Thursday strength training.

4. Run the Big Local 5K in my city this March.

5. In the week following that 5K: Congratulate myself on finishing, assess my strengths and weaknesses, and decide on a new set of process goals for summer training.

See how each of these five is a SMART goal?

• They are all Specific enough that you know exactly what to do to fulfill those goals. (I’ve given a mileage number and picked out a specific training program, but obviously you would choose your own.)

• They are Measurable: You hit the miles, or you check off the number of workouts programmed. On the day of the time trial and the race, you either show up or you don't. And you get a finish time for each, to more precisely measure your progress.

• They are Attainable: You have full control of whether or not you go out for a run, show up for a race, etc. (Obviously, if you don’t have full control over this due to life circumstances, you would write a different set of goals that take those circumstances into account.)

• They are Relevant: They all set you on the path toward being a faster runner at the 5K distance.

• They are Time-bound: From this framework, you could sit down and schedule every single run on your calendar for the next three or four months. (You would work backward from the race date to find the start of the training program, and so on.)

These goals define your process, and then you get to reassess. After the Big Local 5K, do you want to do more specific 5K training to get faster? Do you want to train for a marathon for the base-building opportunities and because you kind of like the idea of a side quest? Or might you find that your other goals in life conflict with this one—perhaps you’d rather reduce mileage this summer so you can do more paddleboarding, and return to run training in the fall?

This way, you still get to dream big, but you know you’re always on the path to those big goals—at least as long as you want to be. Shoot for the moon, and if you don’t make it, at least you’ve built a damn good rocket ship along the way.

Laura Loomer has entered the fray in the MAGA Civil War that has pitted Trump’s most loyal and nationalist following against Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and “technocrats” who have come out in favor of HB1 visas.

Loomer appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room, and was unsparing in her criticism of the technology moguls who suddenly hold such advisory sway over President-elect Donald Trump, calling them “welfare queens because their companies are receiving government subsidies and they want to take over our defense industry.”

Bannon is the former Trump advisor and still loyal supporter who has been unsparing in his criticism of Musk, who has garnered criticism for being the “shadow president” for his ubiquity at Trump’s side during the transition period.

“What we need to have a conversation about is what is it going to mean for the future of our country, our national security and the incoming Trump administration?” Loomer asked rhetorically of her host. “If we have a bunch of technocrats who are also essentially welfare queens because their companies are receiving government subsidies and they want to take over our defense industry.

“If you have a bunch of tech bros with billions of dollars and direct, unfettered access to the vice president and the president of the United States, and then they are also, you know, very cordial with our adversaries, as in China and Iran,” Loomer added, sounding shockingly similar to Retired Lt. General Russell Honoré’s New York Times essay calling Musk a “national security risk.”

“We see that Elon Musk is having these meetings off the books with Iranian officials, with Chinese officials. What does that mean for us and the future of our constitutional republic?” Loomer continued before being interrupted by Bannon.

Watch above via Real America’s Voice (h/t Breaking911)

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If you're looking for earbuds that won’t fall out mid-workout, the Anker Soundcore Sport X10, now priced at $49.99 (down from $79.99), might be worth a look. According to price-trackers, this is the lowest price these earbuds have ever hit, and they come highly rated—4.0 out of 5 and an “excellent” verdict from PCMag. Available in black or oat white, these earbuds have rotatable ear hooks (that twist 210 degrees) and come with extra ear tips in various sizes so you can adjust them for a personalized fit. That said, if you wear glasses, the ear hooks might interfere with your glasses’ arms and their placement.

Anker Soundcore Sport X10

$49.99 at Amazon

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Get Deal

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$49.99 at Amazon

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The sound profile of the Soundcore Sport X10 leans bass-forward, courtesy of its 10mm dynamic drivers and Anker’s BassUp technology, but it’s still balanced enough for casual listening. Pair that with Bluetooth 5.2 support for wireless connectivity, a surprisingly good noise-cancellation performance (for the price), and an IPX7 rating, and you’ve got a solid pair of audio gear that's ready for even the most intense workouts. (A heads up, though, that the charging case doesn’t share this durability rating.)

The on-ear controls of these earbuds are located on the top of each earbud, preventing the discomfort of accidentally pushing them further into your ears while making adjustments. These controls are customizable via the app, where you can also toggle between ANC (active noise-cancellation), transparency, and off modes, fine-tune the sound with an eight-band EQ, and explore extras like breath-training exercises. Battery life is decent, with Anker estimating eight hours per charge and an additional 24 hours from the case. Your mileage may vary depending on listening volume and how often you use ANC. If you’re considering alternatives, the Jabra Elite 3 at $42.30 is another solid option.

As Donald Trump prepares to take office in January, incoming New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim (D) said he’s worried that MAGA supporters have whitewashed the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021.

Kim, who was a representative on that day and helped clean up after the riots, spoke with Dana Bash Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

“We are coming up on four years since Donald Trump challenged what had been the peaceful transition of power on January 6th,” Bash began. “You cleaned up trash in the Capitol rotunda after the devastation…Are you worried the history of that day has already been rewritten by Donald Trump and his supporters?”

“I worry about this a lot because you know, the way I sort of talk about it is that, our country — we have this great motto of E pluribus unum, ‘out of many, one’ — and I’ve often kind of thought through like, how does that happen?” Kim said, continuing:

You know, there’s a missing verb there. How do you get from many to one? And it’s so important that we have a shared sense of this country. Its history, its definition. But we’re losing sight of this idea that we’re part of something bigger than all of us. And when I see what happened on that day, — you know, we saw it with our own eyes — those of us that were in Congress, the American people saw, people all over the world saw it. And the idea that it’s being papered over and that the people that attacked the Capitol, rioted, that they’re being talked as liberators, as prisoners now, that are being unfairly treated.

Kim added that it breaks his heart when he’s in the rotunda and thinks about “what we saw on that day.”

“This nation is such a great nation, and we were brought to such a sad moment on that day,” Kim said. “We should commit ourselves to never letting that happen again. But, instead, we see that unfortunately being a different lesson that many are taking away.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said he did not traffic in “conspiracy theories” on Sunday after ABC’s Jonathan Karl asked him to weigh in on attacks on Elon Musk by Steve Bannon.

On ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Karl made note of MAGA infighting over foreign work visa programs that has consumed GOP politics for days.

Friday and Saturday, Bannon launched attacks against Musk – who supports H-1B visa programs that allow companies to hire skilled workers from across the world. One faction of the right wants such programs suspended.

The other wants to continue to import top talent for complicated jobs.

Bannon, who is against H-1B visas, called Musk a “toddler” on his show Friday. Saturday mooring – before President-elect Donald Trump sided with Musk on the issue – Bannon referred to the Tesla CEO and other Trump tech allies as “nerds.”

When asking Lawler to weigh in, Karl noted:

There’s an all-out war on pushing back on Musk and the other tech entrepreneurs close to Trump on this issue. I mean, you’ve heard what we said at the top. I mean, Steve Bannon is calling Trump a toddler and saying this program’s a scam, and it’s about bringing indentured servants in to work for tech companies and the tech oligarchs are taking over the party. I mean, this is an all-out, I mean, you’re expressing a view as I just heard it, very similar to what Elon Musk has said.

Karl asked the New York Republican, “Why does it provoke this kind of blowback from so many other of Trump’s strongest supporters?”

Lawler replied, “Look, I don’t speak in conspiracy theories so you’ll have to ask, you know, Steve Bannon and others.”

The congressman concluded India has been producing more engineers than the US and advocated for improving th American education system so that jobs being filled now by foreign workers would someday go to American citizens.

Watch above via ABC News.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) seemed more than happy to stir the pot on what has become a full-blown MAGA civil war when he weighed in Sunday about supporting “hardworking immigrants.”

“Good to see Trump embrace Elon’s position,” Newsom posted on Elon Musk’s X platform. “Hardworking immigrants should continue to be part of our great nation. From Silicon Valley to the Central Valley, we are better off when we have competition and top talent – from farmworkers, construction workers, CEOs, and beyond.”

Of course, Trump — along with Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cohort Vivek Ramaswamy — have been speaking out in support of highly-educated tech-workers who come to the United States on H-1B visas, not laborers from Mexico and Central America that Trump has threatened to deport.

It all started a week ago when Ramaswamy praised “immigrant parents” for raising achievers that outperform Americans who settle for “mediocrity”. Musk jumped in to support foreign-born tech workers, and on Saturday, Trump backed Musk’s position — telling the New York Post, “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program.”

MAGA stalwarts like Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer were furious that any conservative would support taking jobs away from Americans.

In an earlier post Sunday, Newsom wrote “top talent is top talent”, implying that all immigrants should be welcome in the U.S. and calling out Big Tech companies like Musk’s Tesla.

“@ElonMusk is right when he said: ‘you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be.’ The same principle should apply to supporting our farmworkers, construction, and trades workers who build and feed our country. Top talent is top talent.

“Wouldn’t you agree @CAFarmBureau & @WesternGrowers, @CaliforniaBIA & @AGCofA? I know @Apple, @Meta, @Tesla, @Amazon and @Google do.”

Also Sunday, Fox & Friends Weekend commented that Trump’s position on the issue, “left a lot of people confused”.

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A Colorado man reportedly invoked president-elect Donald Trump in an attack last week, accused of shouting, “this is Trump’s America, now” while attempting to strangle Ja’Ronn Alex over the reporter’s citizenship status.

On December 18th, Patrick Thomas Egan, 39, was arrested  in Grand Junction, Colorado after police say he followed the local TV reporter’s vehicle for approximately 40 miles. The Associated Press reported Friday that Alex told law enforcement he believes Egan attacked him because he’s Pacific Islander.

Alex claims that Egan, who was driving a taxi, pulled up to his car at a stoplight and started berating him by asking “Are you even a U.S. citizen?”

The affidavit outlines Egan shouting: “This is Trump’s America now! I’m a Marine and I took an oath to protect this country from people like you!”

Per the AP, Alex claims Egan chased him after he got out of his vehicle and demanded to see his identification. An affidavit explaining the charges then claims Egan tackled Alex, put the reporter in a headlock and “began to strangle him.”

The AP notes that witnesses reported Alex appeared to be losing his ability to breathe while being attacked. Some of the events were reportedly captured on surveillance video:

Coworkers who ran out to help and witnesses told police that Alex appeared to be losing his ability to breathe during the attack, which was partially captured on surveillance video, according to the document.

According to the station’s website, Alex is a native of Detroit. KKCO/KJCT reported that he was driving a news vehicle at the time.

KKCO reached out to the taxi company Egan was driving for and obtained a statement from the general manager.

“This type of behavior has no place in our society and I strongly condemn it. I deeply regret the harm and disruption this has caused the victim, his family and co-workers. Sunshine Rides has suspended Egan pending a full investigation, will assist law enforcement and will use this incident to re-emphasize our core values and expectations with our entire team.”

Egan could face second degree assault and harassment charges in the arrest for suspected “bias motivated” crime for the apparent anti-immigration attack, and is set to appear in court next week.

MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart argued on Friday night for more legal immigration and called for people who are coming into the country for skilled labor jobs to embody “American values.”

Capehart weighed in on this week’s MAGA infighting that resulted in Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy drawing ire from conservative immigration hardliners on the issue of foreign nationals taking American jobs.

On H-1B visa workers taking jobs from Americans this week, Ramaswamy was scorned for slamming American culture. On Thursday, the venture capitalist tweeted that tech companies hire “foreign-born & first-generation engineers” over American citizens and it “isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit.” He added:

Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer). That doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG. A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.

Ramaswamy, Musk, and other prominent figures on the right have argued America should welcome the best and brightest from around the globe to improve the country.

On Friday’s edition of PBS NewsHour, Capehart said he would not be willing to outright agree with Ramaswamy while speaking with Lisa Desjardins. But he said the former GOP presidential candidate had sparked a “bigger conversation” that needed to be had.

Capehart added:

So, if Vivek has a problem with where our culture is right now, perhaps he should look in the mirror. He’s holding up that his own party is looking at now — is at war with each other. Maybe the way to solve some of the problems that he’s talking about is that if they actually start talking more genuinely from a policy perspective about the issues facing the country and, you know, the country does need the experts and their expertise to come to this country, get a solid education, and then because of our broken immigration system, have to take all of that knowledge that they learned here and bring it back home.

Desjardins asked, “Jonathan, you just said this sparks an even bigger conversation. What do you mean by that?”

Capehart replied:

Well, the bigger conversation – leave aside the cultural issue – but immigration. Like, we need to have more people in this country who are able to do the jobs that are here, but who also bring the values that reinforce American values.

Watch above via PBS.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) called this week for Congress to release the names of House members who have been accused of “harassment (sexual and other forms)” and used taxpayer money to settle the claims.

Massie, a deficit hawk and libertarian-leaning Republican, posed to X on Thursday and wrote, “Congress has secretly paid out more than $17 million of your money to quietly settle charges of harassment (sexual and other forms) in Congressional offices.”

He added, “Don’t you think we should release the names of the Representatives? I do.”

Massie’s post included a clip from a June 2024 House hearing on President-elect Donald Trump’s porn star hush money conviction. Massie said at the time that “Congress has paid over $17 million in hush money for sexual misconduct inside of the offices in these buildings. And what’s more is that was taxpayer money.”

During the hearing Massie made clear that the issue is bipartisan and pointed the finger at his colleagues, saying, “Who in here has had the taxpayer pay for their sexual misconduct charges, the hush money?”

“I bet there is some over there, there may be some over here,” he added before drawing a parallel to the Trump case. “Not a penny of it has been turned in as a campaign finance expense,” Massie declared, referring to a key allegation against Trump that led in part to his 34 count conviction and his personal attorney Michael Cohen doing jail time from 2019 to 2021.

Massie’s post comes in the wake of the House Ethics Committee report into allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). Gaetz has since threatened to return to Congress to expose all the allegations against his former colleagues as a kind of revenge.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), an ally of Gaetz and Trump, shared Massie’s post and added, “Yes. I want to release the congressional sexual slush fund list. Tax payers should have never had to pay for that. Along with all the other garbage they should not have to pay for.”

What kind of New Year’s resolution you make depends on your unique goals—which means you need a way to track your progress that is just as unique. If your resolution is to cut back on social media use and your friend’s is to run a faster mile, you won’t measure success the same way, right? There are different apps out there that will help you actually reach your goals this year.

This story is going to recommend some apps that can help you track specific resolutions. Here's a rundown of the best general progress tracking apps. 

What are the most common New Year’s resolutions?

Per Statista, the top New Year’s resolutions among people who have made one or several for 2025 are as follows: 

• To save more money (21%)

• To eat healthier (19%)

• To exercise more (17%)

• To lose weight (15%)

• To spend more time with family and friends (14%)

• To quit smoking (9%)

• To spend less on living expenses (9%)

A few from last year—like reducing work stress and lessening time on social media—didn't make the cut this time around, but I'm still including some apps for those in case you're interested in carrying on a goal from 2024. Notably, losing weight gained some traction, rising a few spots from last year, and quitting smoking is a new entrant, too. Interestingly, 43% of respondents said they're not making resolutions—if you're thinking of doing the same, consider how easy these apps would make creating and sticking to one first.

The best app for saving money: Qapital

There are a bunch of great apps out there that help you budget, but if you’re ready to get serious this year and save money in a big way, try Qapital. This one is great for a New Year’s resolution because it makes you do a little work, unlike some of the AI-powered budgeting apps that use algorithms to set aside money for you. With Qapital, you set your own rules, which means you still have to flex your own self-control muscles and actively strive toward your resolution.

For instance, you can set up a rule that says when you buy a coffee, the app also moves a certain amount into savings. You can also program it to round up change on purchases and move it into your savings account. Plus, you can set goals within the app and it will create visual representations of how much you’ve saved toward them, which is great for people who need to see their progress. It’s free for a month, but after that, you’ll pay $3, $6, or $12 per month, depending on what features you want. A basic plan lets you create unlimited savings goals and transfer money between them, plus partner with another user to save together and track joint spending. More advanced versions get you the option to have a Qapital debit card or track your weekly cash spending. 

The best app to eat healthier and/or lose weight: MyFitnessPal

I am biased, as I'm now going on 13 years of using MyFitnessPal, but the fact that I've returned to this app again and again since college at least proves it has something going for it. What I love most about MFP is that so many foods are already entered into the database, meaning I don't have to actually research nutrition facts and enter them into a spreadsheet. I just type in what I ate and get an immediate breakdown of its various nutrients, calories, and details. I'm also really motivated by anything that "gamifies" my experience, so MFP's daily reminders not to break my streak of food and exercise entries are helpful to me. Your daily nutritional intake is shown on a graph that is easy to understand and ideal for visual learners and even the free, basic version of the app is useful. Still, the premium mode, for either $79.99 a year or $19.99 monthly, breaks down carbs, protein, and fat and allows you to scan barcodes for easy inputs, so it's a better option if you're serious about tracking your nutrients throughout the year.

I also recommend this app for weight loss, if that's your goal (like it is for 15% of people compared to the 19% who want to eat healthier). When I've endeavored to lose weight before, MFP has always been helpful, since it helps me see my calorie breakdowns in a way that is very easy to understand. I've tried other apps and programs, like many of us have, and found them too convoluted and not as easy to stick with.

The best app to track exercise frequency: Strong

If you want to work out more, it will help you to see your progress with each trip to the gym (or at-home session, or whatever). For that, try Strong, an app that lets you input the exercises you do and creates graphs showing your gradual improvement in weight, sets, body fat percentage, and more. It includes instructions on how to do a variety of exercises, which is nice if you aren’t really a fitness person (yet) and feeling nervous about trying new moves in front of other people keeps you away from the gym. The free version will save unlimited workouts, but you can only add three custom routines. For everything else, it’s $4.99 per month or $29.99 per year. 

The best app for prioritizing family and friend time: Cozi

If you want to spend more time with your loved ones, try Cozi, a simple organizer that gives you a clear visual representation of your whole family’s schedule. Not only can you see when everyone is free, but you can see how much time you devote (or don’t devote) to the people with whom you share the app—which can motivate you to schedule more time together. It’s also free, which is a plus. Use the money you saved to pay for a nice night out with the people you set a resolution to spend more time with. 

The best app to quit smoking (or any habit): Days Since

A lot of people appear to be interested in quitting smoking this year, but whether you want to do that, quit vaping, stop drinking, or disengage with another habit you don't think benefits you anymore, you should try Days Since. It's a very simple app that does nothing more than track the days since you last did the thing you don't want to do anymore—which is really valuable for New Year's resolutions, since they're all about creating better habits in the new year. Start on January 1 or, honestly, whenever, and watch the color you assign to your bad habit grow into a visual streak through the app. After a while, you'll really be able to see how much progress you've made and you won't want to break the streak.

The nice thing about this app, too, is that you can reset a streak at any time, so even reverting to a bad habit can become a positive, as you can always start right back over. You can even add a note to any restarted streak so you can look back and see what happened, learn from it, and grow your streak longer the next time. Finally, while all of that is free, you can set notifications to ping your phone and remind you how far you've come, keeping you motivated throughout 2025, for an annual price of $17.99.

The best bill-tracking app: Rocket Money

Spending less on living expenses gives you more to spend on the fun stuff, which is a worthy resolution. To do it, try Rocket Money, which helps you budget, but also offers services like bill negotiation and income analysis, so you can see where you’re spending your money every month—and get rid of recurring fees you don’t actually need to be paying. Some of it is free, but if you want to create unlimited budgets, get credit reports, and access the all-important cancellation concierge (which not only identifies your recurring payments, but cancels them for you and even tries to get you fee refunds), you’ll have to pay. The app offers a sliding payment scale, so you’ll pay between $4 and $12 per month, depending on whether you want to pay monthly or annually. 

The best app to spend less time on social media: One Sec

It might seem counterintuitive to download another app when you’re trying to stay off the apps in the first place, but One Sec really might be the answer. All it does is cause a 10-second delay between when you tap a specific app, like Instagram, and when the app actually opens. It encourages you to take a deep breath, then tells you how many times you’ve attempted to open that app in the last 24 hours—and determine if you want to proceed. There are other apps out there that straight-up lock you out of your socials, but that removes the accountability from your resolution and cuts you off in a way that will be jarring and hard to stick with. Something low-stakes that doesn’t penalize you for being human and daring to open Facebook is much nicer. It’s free if you’re trying to reduce your use of one particular app, but to tackle them all, you’ll need to upgrade to a pro version for $19.99 per year or $2.99 per month. 

The best app for reducing stress at work: Moodfit

There are lots of mindfulness and deep breathing apps out there, but those aren’t great for seeing any progress, which is what resolutions are all about. Moodfit, on the other hand, gives you not only tools for managing your mood, but insights into your various mood-based patterns. You can track your mood, gratitude, mindfulness, and breathing while seeing your progress in numbers and on a chart. You can even track nutrition, sleep, and medications to see how those play a role in your mood, too. Seeing it all laid out will help you home in on what besides work is affecting you, but also see exactly when and how during work you’re getting upset, then make the effort to adjust when necessary to reduce stress. A basic version is free, but it’s $8.99 to access all the features, including personalized reports and unlimited goals. 

As a holiday treat, Bluesky is finally adding trending topics to its site and app, although they're currently in beta. The feature is a Twitter (now X) classic and has been on Threads for about nine months, so it's a no-brainer for any new social media site trying to play catch up. However, Bluesky's implementation is a bit clever—it lets you disable the feature entirely, and respects your muted keywords.

How to disable trending topics on Bluesky

At the moment, Bluesky's trending topics feed is in testing, so you may not see it right away (I didn't). To check if you have it, tap the search button in Bluesky's website or on the app. If the feature has rolled out to you, you'll see trending posts below the text box. They're not listed in any sort of order or priority, so just expect a loose collection of popular keywords rather than an organized list.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of trending topics, since they push me to engage in conversations I might prefer to avoid, and it's always unclear how genuine they are—is there actually news worth discussing, or is the algorithm just suggesting I help pump up posts on a particular topic it thinks I like?

Fortunately, for people like me, it's possible to disable Bluesky's trending topics feature altogether. Disabling it is as simple as clicking the X button next to the Trending list, but for more detailed control, go to Bluesky's content and media settings page (Settings > Content and media) to access the trending topic toggle.

It's not entirely clear if Bluesky's trending topics are as personalized (re: useless) as those on X, but we do know they aren't filtered by region, at least yet. According to Bluesky, the feature is currently only available only in English. Importantly, your muted keywords are also hidden from your list of trending topics. This way, you won't be forced to see posts about politics or other topics that you might want to avoid.

Other ways to see trending posts on Bluesky

The new feature, while no doubt handy to some, isn't the only way to find trending topics on Bluesky. For user-generated options, go to Bluesky's Feeds page and search for "trending." This will reveal other feeds that track trending posts on the social network, such as Trending News, Blacksky: Trending, and Trending Links. You can add these feeds to your profile and even set one as your default if you wish.

If that doesn't cut it, try using Sill, which allows you view only the links shared by people you follow. Sill lets you view the most popular posts first, and if you follow lots of popular accounts, you can use the service to keep a tab on Bluesky's hottest topics.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A strong majority of all Americans and roughly 70 percent of Democrats have largely tuned out of political news coverage since the November election, according to a new poll.

A Thursday survey conducted by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that people are generally “exhausted” after this year’s wild campaign, although more Democrats than Republicans had said they had turned off their TVs. The AP reported:

Television ratings — and now a new poll — clearly illustrate the phenomenon. About two-thirds of American adults say they have recently felt the need to limit media consumption about politics and government because of overload, according to the survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Smaller percentages of Americans are limiting their intake of news about overseas conflicts, the economy or climate change, the poll says. Politics stand out. Election news on CNN and MSNBC was taking up too much of Sam Gude’s time before the election, said the 47-year-old electrician from Lincoln, Nebraska. “The last thing I want to watch right now is the interregnum,” said Gude, a Democrat and no fan of President-elect Donald Trump.

The AP noted that from Nov. 5 to Dec. 13, viewership at CNN and MNBC was down 45 and 54 percent, respectively. Fox News was the only network to see an increase in viewership with ratings up 13 percent. Before the election, 53 percent of the primetime cable news audience was tuning into Fox.

As of mid-December, Fox News was a haven for 72 percent of all evening cable news viewers.

Regarding those who said they were disaffected by political news coverage, the AP reported about six in 10 Republicans and an identical share of independents who responded to the poll expressed they were “stepping back from political news.”

Among Democrats, that number climbed to seven in 10.

Ziad Aunallah, a self-described Democrat who spoke to the AP about the poll, explained why he had taken a break from news consumption.

“People are mentally exhausted,” Aunallah told the wire service. “Everyone knows what is coming and we are just taking some time off.”

Citing trends in previous election cycles, the AP offered hope for MSNBC and reported a strong likelihood that networks such as MSNBC should bounce back once emotions had settled:

MSNBC can take some solace in history. In previous years, network ratings bounce back when the depression after an election loss lifts. When a new administration takes office, people who oppose it are frequently looking for a gathering place.

[…]

But the ride may not be smooth. MSNBC’s slide is steeper than it was in 2016; and there’s some question about whether Trump opponents will want to be as engaged as they were during his first term. People are also unplugging from cable television in rates that are only getting more rapid, although MSNBC believes it has bucked this trend eating away at audiences before.

One other interesting tidbit from Thursday’s poll concerned celebrities, who turned out strongly to support Vice President Kamala Harris over now-President-elect Donald Trump.

The AP reported, “After an election season where endorsements from celebrities like Taylor Swift made headlines, the survey found that Americans are more likely to disapprove than approve of celebrities, large companies and professional athletes speaking out about politics.”

The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research surveyed 1,251  adults from Dec. 5-9 and the poll reported a margin of error at +/- 3.7 percentage points.

CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere called into question President Joe Biden’s agenda for his remaining 25 days in office, submitting that his legacy could be reduced to him being “the guy who was just in between the Trump terms” on Thursday.

Dovere commented that Biden began his term in office as a leader with ambitious goals, but had retreated “into the bushes” since Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election to President-elect Donald Trump last month.

On CNN’s Inside Politics, anchor Phil Mattingly noted Biden spent his first two years pursuing an aggressive agenda, but had since been resigned to a lame duck with low approval numbers – lower than Trump’s were when he left office in January 2021.

Mattingly asked Dovere to weigh in on Biden’s legacy. The reporter replied:

Legacy was what he had. I think you’re right. A historic first couple of years in office. More legislation on the domestic front than anybody going back to Lyndon Johnson can claim credit for. I do think that what you’ve seen is a slow receding into the bushes from Joe Biden here. I’m going to do it. I’m going to bring up a West Wing quote here. There’s a moment on the West Wing when John Spencer, as Leo McGarry, the White House chief of staff, says to his I try to rally the troops and he says, we can do more, we can effect more change in one day in this building than we will in a lifetime after we leave the building. That is not the approach that Joe Biden has been taking, at least publicly since the election, certainly – and even since he ceded the nomination to Kamala Harris. But there are things that he could be doing through executive authority. A lot of things that he could be doing would probably put a target on them for Donald Trump to go after first.

Dovere questioned Biden’s decision to travel to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands for his final presidential vacation on Thursday and concluded:

I think it’s a really difficult thing for Joe Biden to know that he came into the presidency as a rejection of Donald Trump. And here he is being replaced by Donald Trump. I think back to an interview that I did with Joe Biden. He’d been president for about three weeks. So I come from a book that I wrote and a part of the takeaway that I have with him trying to assert himself as Joe Biden, the guy who got elected president, not just Barack Obama’s vice president, not just the guy who beat Donald Trump. But now that is part of who he is. And it may define who he is a couple of weeks before the election. I had a conversation with a senior person in the White House and I said, if Harris loses most of the way that Biden is going to be remembered, at least in the short term, as the guy who was just in between the Trump terms.

Watch above via CNN.

Vivek Ramaswamy praised “immigrant parents” for producing achievers and denigrated “normal American parents” for producing a mediocre workforce in a tweet on Thursday.

Ramaswamy, a billionaire son of Indian immigrants, submitted that “The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over ‘native’ Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture” on X.

“Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer). That doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG,” said Ramaswamy.

He continued:

A culture that venerates Cory from “Boy Meets World,” or Zach & Slater over Screech in “Saved by the Bell,” or “Stefan” over Steve Urkel in “Family Matters,” will not produce the best engineers. (Fact: I know *multiple* sets of immigrant parents in the 90s who actively limited how much their kids could watch those TV shows precisely because they promoted mediocrity…and their kids went on to become wildly successful STEM graduates).

More movies like Whiplash, fewer reruns of “Friends.” More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers. More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons. More books, less TV. More creating, less “chillin.” More extracurriculars, less “hanging out at the mall.”

Most normal American parents look skeptically at “those kinds of parents.” More normal American kids view such “those kinds of kids” with scorn. If you grow up aspiring to normalcy, normalcy is what you will achieve.

Now close your eyes & visualize which families you knew in the 90s (or even now) who raise their kids according to one model versus the other. Be brutally honest.

“Normalcy” doesn’t cut it in a hyper-competitive global market for technical talent. And if we pretend like it does, we’ll have our asses handed to us by China.

“This can be our Sputnik moment. We’ve awaken from slumber before & we can do it again. Trump’s election hopefully marks the beginning of a new golden era in America, but only if our culture fully wakes up,” concluded Ramaswamy. “A culture that once again prioritizes achievement over normalcy; excellence over mediocrity; nerdiness over conformity; hard work over laziness. That’s the work we have cut out for us, rather than wallowing in victimhood & just wishing (or legislating) alternative hiring practices into existence. I’m confident we can do it.”

President-elect Trump tapped Ramaswamy and fellow billionaire Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with a mandate to cut “$2 trillion” of government waste from the federal budget.

Read Ramaswamy’s post to X (formerly Twitter) here.

The Atlantic staff writer Tom Nichols suggested President-elect Donald Trump is obsessed with seizing the Panama Canal because he has business interests in the region.

Recently, Trump has threatened multiple times throughout the week to seize the canal from Panama’s government because of the fees on American ships moving through the route. Trump claimed American workers already paid for the waterway system when thousands died during its construction from 1904 to 1914.

During a Christmas day interview on MSNBC with anchor Yamiche Alcindor, Nichols claimed that Trump’s out-of-left-field tirades” on Panama are probably related to his personal interests in the region.

ALCINDOR: Tom, how serious do you think President elect Trump is this time?

NICHOLS: He’s probably got some pebble an issue about something that’s happened in Panama that relates to his interests. That’s usually what provokes one of these kind of out-of-left-field tirades from Donald Trump. It’s important for people to remember that this wasn’t simply a gift put under a Christmas tree 45 years ago, that this is actually the relationship with Panama. And the Panama Canal is governed by a Senate ratified treaty that already lays out the relationship between the United States and Panama. And when Donald Trump says, well, we’ll just take it back, you know, just as in his first term, I think in his second term, we’re going to be saying something using a phrase that we used a lot during his first four years, which is things don’t work that way. That’s not how any of that works. So, you know, he can say it and he can complain about it and he can get big cheers about it at conservative meetings. But that’s that’s not going to happen.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC. 

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President-elect Donald Trump fired off a Christmas day message on Truth Social taking aim at his political opponents and mocking foreign leaders.

Trump first directed his Christmas message to the “wonderful soldiers of China” where he accused them of “illegally” operating in the Panama Canal while  “the United States puts in Billions of Dollars in ‘repair’ money.” Earlier this month, Trump suggested the U.S. would retake the canal because of the  “ridiculous” fees for shippers moving through the vital transportation channel.

“Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal (where we lost 38,000 people in its building 110 years ago), always making certain that the United States puts in Billions of Dollars in ‘repair’ money, but will have absolutely nothing to say about ‘anything,'” Trump wrote to his followers on Truth Social.

The president-elect then mocked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by referring to him as “governor,” and reiterated his goal to purchase Greenland from Denmark “for national security purposes.”

Trump added, “Also, to Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada, whose Citizens’ Taxes are far too high, but if Canada was to become our 51st State, their Taxes would be cut by more than 60%, their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other Country anywhere in the World. Likewise, to the people of Greenland, which is needed by the United States for National Security purposes and, who want the U.S. to be there, and we will!”

pic.twitter.com/UeCR3MJonZ

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) December 25, 2024

In a follow-up post filled with Trump’s signature Christmas cheer, the GOP leader wished a “Merry Christmas” to the “radical Left Lunatics” before slamming President Joe Biden for his recent pardons.

“Merry Christmas to the Radical Left Lunatics, who are constantly trying to obstruct our Court System and our Elections, and are always going after the Great Citizens and Patriots of the United States but, in particular, their Political Opponent, ME,” Trump continued. “They know that their only chance of survival is getting pardons from a man who has absolutely no idea what he is doing.”

Just before Christmas, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row to life without parole.

“Also, to the 37 most violent criminals, who killed, raped, and plundered like virtually no one before them, but were just given, incredibly, a pardon by Sleepy Joe Biden,” Trump concluded. “I refuse to wish a Merry Christmas to those lucky ‘souls’ but, instead, will say, GO TO HELL! We had the Greatest Election in the History of our Country, a bright light is now shining over the U.S.A. and, in 26 days, we will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. MERRY CHRISTMAS!”

ESPN

ESPN insider Adam Schefter took exception to a report claiming he was in cahoots with the agent of former NFL coach Pete Carroll.

On Wednesday, Schefter reported that Carroll was interested in returning to NFL sidelines. He last coached for the Seattle Seahawks in 2023. Not long after, ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio published his own report referencing Schefter’s scoop. According to Florio, Schefter had ulterior motives.

Florio’s report read:

Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports that Carroll wants back in. Which means, frankly, that Carroll’s agent has specifically told this to Schefter in the hopes that Schefter would broadcast it to the world, in the hopes of generating public opinion. Then, Carroll’s agent will owe Schefter big time.

And that’s how the sausage gets made.

Just minutes after Florio’s piece went live, Schefter responded on social media to shut down the implication.

“Everything you say here is 100 percent wrong,” Schefter tweeted. “Keep up the guess work and Merry Christmas.”

Schefter has recently gone out of his way to respond harshly to criticisms of his reporting. When Fox Sports radio host and college basketball coach Doug Gottlieb accused him of reporting bogus financial figures from a university, Schefter trashed him for his team’s disastrous season.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy surprised a pizza place in Baltimore with a $60,000 donation to prevent it from shutting down.

As part of his ongoing series of pizza reviews, Portnoy recently stopped at TinyBrickOven on Light Street in Baltimore. As owner Will Fagg was working behind the counter, he explained to Portnoy that his inability to acquire a liquor license meant the restaurant was no longer financially sustainable. Because of this, he planned to close TinyBrickOven on Christmas Day.

“Well, we’re just not making any money, man,” he told Portnoy in the video posted Monday. “It’s been crazy… The thing is, our politicians gave this market down here their liquor license, but they won’t give us ours. It’s been crazy, man. It’s been totally crazy.”

Portnoy then told Fagg that he hoped the pizza would be great so that the exposure could lead to more business. A few minutes later, Portnoy stepped outside to finally try it.

“OK, this is a reheat and very good,” Portnoy said after taking a few bites. “Thin, New York kinda style. I really like it… There’s no way this place should be going out of business. None.”

Portnoy walked back into the restaurant and asked Fagg a question.

“How much money do you need to stay open for like a year?” he said.

Fagg couldn’t give a firm answer, so Portnoy asked again.

“Well, if there was somebody super rich who was in the pizza business, and by serendipity was like, ‘What do you need to stay open for a year?’ you gotta give him some figure because then he’s gonna walk away.”

Fagg estimated it’d cost around $60,000, prompting an immediate “done” from Portnoy as the two shook hands.

“Oh my god!” Fagg exclaimed. “That is unbelievable!”

Watch above via Dave Portnoy

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The air fryer is an indispensable part of my cooking arsenal these days. It makes quick work of anything I'd otherwise be oven roasting—like peppers, or salmon—and unless you have a huge toaster oven model, you can probably put it away if you need the counter space back.

This year for the holidays, I'm leaving the oven available for other things and air frying my pumpkin pie.

You can absolutely bake pies in the air fryer

A great pumpkin pie is cooked gently (so the mixture doesn’t split) and has a well-baked pie crust. Managing this, whether in a conventional oven or in an air fryer, can be easy if you keep a couple things in mind.

First, pumpkin pie filling is a custard filling, also sometimes called an egg-rich filling. All this means is that eggs make up an important part of the ingredient list and they’re responsible for binding the other ingredients—but they need to be cooked gently. According to America’s Test Kitchen, “When custards such as crème anglaise are heated, they turn thick and creamy as milk and egg proteins unfurl and bond with each other. However, if they are overheated, too many bonds form and the proteins clump.” If you’ve ever had a gritty or watery pumpkin pie, this might be why. We'll avoid that with a lower fan speed. (More on that later.)

Then there's the moisture factor. Aside from the eggs, pumpkin pie includes its namesake purée, sugar, spices, and a liquid like evaporated milk, all of which make for a rather wet mixture—and wet mixtures can easily lead to soggy crusts. To prevent that from happening, pumpkin pie crusts, whether air-fried or not, should get a blind bake before you add the filling. 

Blind baking is the whole reason you can make this pie in the air fryer at all. Air fryers heat from the top, which is why you can't us them to bake double-crusted pies. Luckily, your pumpkin pie's crust will be cooked through before the filling even joins the party.

If you’re in the market for an air fryer, read about my top picks from 2024:

• Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven with Grill

• Instant Vortex 6-quart Air Fryer Oven

• Ninja Doublestack XL Air Fryer

How to air fry a pumpkin pie

Despite its reputation for aggressive convection heating, you can both blind bake and gently bake a pie in the air fryer. To tackle both of these things, use a lower temperature, and the “bake” setting instead of “air fry.”

The difference between those settings is the fan speed. Air frying triggers a much higher fan speed, while the "bake' setting is much slower. You can probably even hear the difference when you change the setting. The pie will still bake quicker than it would in a regular oven, but it shouldn't overcook on the top.

I like to crumple the parchment paper before lining the pastry so large folds don't cut into the pastry. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

1. Blind bake the crust

Set up your blind baking as you would normally. With the pie pastry fitted into a pie plate, line the pastry with parchment paper and fill it with pie weights. (I use dry beans, but you could use ceramic beads, sugar, or rice.) Place the crust in an air fryer heated to 350°F on the “bake” setting. This is easy to do in the swinging door model, but not impossible for basket-style air fryers: I have a basket model that just fits a 9-inch aluminum pie plate, so there’s no room for my hands.

To lower the pie into the basket without burning yourself or dumping your pie in sideways, make a foil strap by tearing off a piece of foil about 16 inches long. It needs to be wide enough to sit under the widest part of the pie and long enough to come up on both sides with enough extra that you can grab the ends. Fold the foil three or four times lengthwise to make a strap about two or three inches thick, like in the picture below. Grab the strap’s ends, lift and lower the pie into the basket. The strap will stay so you can take the pie out later. Bend the ends down so they’re in the confines of the basket. 

Use the aluminum foil strap to lift and lower the pie into the basket if needed. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Bake the crust with the weights in it for about 10 minutes, or until the edges are taking on color. Lift the weights out by gathering the parchment paper edges. The crust should look dry on the bottom. Use a fork and prick the bottom crust five or six times. Close the oven and bake it for another two minutes so the bottom can cook through. It shouldn’t, but if the crust puffs at all in the bottom, just use an oven mitt to press it down and flatten it.

2. Reduce the temperature and bake the pie

Reduce the temperature to 325°F and leave it on the “bake” setting.

Fill the blind baked crust with your raw pumpkin pie filling. If you’re using the basket model, leave the crust in the basket of the air fryer. It’s easier to fill while it’s already seated. If you have the swinging door variety, take the whole tray out of the oven. Fill the shell while it’s on the tray, and return the whole thing to the oven. Bake the pie for five minutes at 325°F, and then reduce the temperature to 300°F and continue to cook the pie for another 10 to 20 minutes. All the while, keep it on that “bake” function.

The pie is done when the edges of the filling are just beginning to take on color, and the center is set with the slightest hint of a jiggle. Cool the pie on a wire rack. Enjoy it warm, room temp, or chill it in the fridge if you prefer it cold. 

When baking your pumpkin pie, keep in mind that the timing will vary depending on your air fryer. That’s why the last time frame is rather wide. Air fryers models differ in their speed, pie recipes have more this and less that, and consider if your pie is deep-dish or not. Check on your pie after it's finished the initial five minutes at 325°F, then change to 300°F for 10 minutes. Depending on how set the filling is at this point, you may need to continue baking it for more time.