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The Super Bowl is just around the corner, and if you're a football fan you're probably planning a big spread for the big game. Here are a few products that we love that will make your Super Bowl party—or any get-together—a winner:

Crock Pot and Hamilton Beach slow cookers: We love slow cookers because they're big enough to make a meal for a crowd and they cut prep time to a minimum. We love the Crock Pot Cook & Carry slow cooker, which retails for about $60, and the Hamilton Beach Stay or Go slow cooker, which sells for about $40. Both have 6-quart capacities (enough to feed six or seven people) and latching lids, so your food won't spill if you fumble your slow cooker in the car while driving to the big party. Better still, the Crock Pot is available in all NFL team logos, including the Super Bowl-bound Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks.

Can't decide what to cook? Check out Stephanie O'Dea's awesome blog, A Year of Slow Cooking. O'Dea has recipes for a variety of meals, from soups and stews to meats and veggie dishes. Best of all, she photographs all the ingredients and lets you know whether or not she and her family liked the meals.

Sam Adams Boston Lager: In our last test of craft beers, our experts recommended five brews that are great with food. Our favorite, Sam Adams Boston Lager, strikes a fine balance between malty and hoppy flavors, complementing red meats, creamy pasta dishes, chicken and seafood. If you're serving finger foods, such as a meat-and-cheese tray, or a dessert like chocolate cake, try Brooklyn Lager. It's a slightly fruity brew with a touch of bitterness and notes of dark malt and hops.

Ninja Master Prep Professional Blender: Want to whip up some smoothies or frozen margaritas instead of serving beer? Then check out the Ninja. This little blender cost just $60, yet did just as well as the $450 Vitamix 5200 Blender when making smoothies, pureeing and crushing ice.  

Sabra Classic Guacamole: Guac is a great alternative to the heavy dips like ranch or blue-cheese dressings. It's loaded with monounsaturated fat (the good kind), is low in sodium, high in vitamins and has no cholesterol and little saturated fat. And among brands we've tested, no is better than Sabra Classic Guacamole, which has a wonderfully fresh taste and big chunks of avocado you can sink your teeth into.

Kellogg's Special K Popcorn Chips Kettle Corn Sweet and Salty: You're going to need some chips for your guacamole, and these Kellogg's chips score big with our testers for their sweet, salty flavor and the fact that you get a whopping 23 chips in a 100-calorie serving. 

Panasonic Viera TC-P55ST60 TV: It wouldn't be much of a Super Bowl party if you didn't have a TV to watch the game on, now would it? At $1,350, this 55-inch plasma television isn't cheap, but for that money you get a huge, vivid screen; smart-TV functionality so you can stream your favorite movies and shows; very good 3D performance; and it'll even allow you to send photos and videos between your smartphone and the TV.

Getting your kids' rooms organized is a pretty ambitious project all on its own. Teaching them how to organize themselves is something else entirely. But there are a few things you can do to help the process along.

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Why roast a chicken for over an hour when you can get it out of the oven in just 30 minutes? Mark Bittman's "secret" to cooking chicken as quickly as possible is to roast it in a preheated skillet in the oven.

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Winter has already launched its frontal assault and once again the roads prove a dangerous challenge. While the best thing to do when the roads freeze is to stay home and keep warm, you may find yourself forced to drive. If that's the case, it helps to know how the ice affects your vehicle.

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Every parent makes mistakes, even with the best intentions in mind. Some behaviors, however, are more crippling to a kid's future. If you don't want to ruin your child for life, take a look at these seven behaviors to avoid.

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There's nothing wrong with a deep cleaning, sprucing up, or renovation project here or there to boost the value of your home (or just make it more pleasant to live in). However, some of those projects may be scams, or completely unnecessary. Let's look at some of the worst so you don't throw your money away.

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Losing weight for healthy living is difficult, but that's not new. What's interesting is the role our brain plays in regulating our weight—any weight—and why that makes it so difficult to lose weight when we want to. Neuroscientist Sandra Aamodt explains in this TED talk, and discusses how eating mindfully can help.

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Let's face it: No one wakes up in the morning with a burning desire to buy everyday necessities like pet food, toilet paper, batteries, or diapers. And yet, when you're out of them, your entire world can come to a screeching halt.

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Nobody likes hiccups, and pretty much everyone has their own set of homemade remedies for curing them. The BBC takes a look at the two mechanisms that make these home remedies work.

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Praise is one of those things you want to lavish on your children. After all, the world will be indifferent enough. Someone should be in their corner. In fact, praise is a wonderful thing. You just want to watch how you do it.

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Most of us don't need to transcribe audio too often, which means that paying for a service is generally out of the question. If you just need to do it once and you're not terribly concerned with accuracy, Andy Baio suggests using YouTube's built-in captioning system.

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Sure, it may not be the most secure place to stash your valuables, but you can't argue with the coolness factor of building your very own sliding picture secret panel.

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Getting a little bored of your usual workout routine? Here are nearly 100 workout posters that will motivate you to train like Rocky, workout with the strength of Thor, or simply switch up your exercises.

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- Pope Francis seems to have made up with the world of birds.

- Angry Birds creator Rovio Entertainment Ltd. says the popular game's website was defaced by hackers Wednesday, two days after reports that the personal data of its customers might have been accessed by U.S. and British spy agencies.

- After months of tacit cooperation with rural vigilantes trying to drive out a cult-like drug cartel, the Mexican government is seeking to permanently solve one of its toughest security problems with a plan to legalize the growing movement and bring it under the army's control.

- It seems to be something of an occupational hazard for President Barack Obama: When he talks about his health care law, he's bound to hit a fact bump sooner or later.

- The federal government is ready to let farmers grow cannabis -- at least the kind that can't get people high.

- The nearly 1,000-page compromise farm bill is designed to have something for everyone. There's more money for crop insurance popular in the Midwest, higher peanut and rice subsidies for Southern farmers and the renewal of federal land payments for Western states.

Draco, a cheetah at the National Zoo, had lost interest in food and had a constricted, ulcerated area in his gastrointestinal tract.

It’s one thing to get in hot water for shoplifting but you might as well just jump into a lake of boiling water if you follow that by asking police if you can do a little heroin while under arrest. Cops in Minnesota stopped a woman suspected of shoplifting at Walmart and subsequently faced an odd request for someone in handcuffs: Mind if I do some drugs?

Officials say witnesses saw the 33-year-old woman go into a changing room with a pile of clothing, only to emerge wearing those items. She’s accused of then picking up some cosmetics to put in her purse before heading out of the store without paying, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Security officers called the cops, who took the suspect to the station and arrested her. While she was being processed she must’ve started not feeling well, as she then “continually asked” cops for “just one blow” out of her purse, meaning heroin, because she was “getting dopesick,” the police report says.

Upon searching her purse police say they found multiple bags of heroin, but that she kept insisting she only wanted one, even though “she had ten of them,” the report said.

She was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor retail theft, police said. which probably means she didn’t get to leave with any of those ten bags.

Police: Woman under arrest asks cops if she can do heroin [Chicago Tribune]

Are your dream workouts missing that extra bit of oomph? Maybe it’s just not real enough to you, you can’t believe that a carnivorous, smart and super fast velociraptor is about to chase you through a freaky dinosaur theme park. As luck would have it, the velociraptor’s cage from Jurassic Park is up for sale.

I can’t imagine anyone really trying to make their nightmares more terrifying, but if I owned the $100,000 cage that held the movie’s pair of hungry, hungry dinos, well let’s just say I wouldn’t sleep too well. And yes, I know they weren’t real. But still.

Theme Park Connection, an Orlando company that specializes in selling movie memorabilia, is auctioning off the cage from the opening scenes of the 1993 movie on eBay, with a current bid of $100,100.10. Bidding is still open for another week.

Maybe you’re still not terrified enough and would like to really scare yourself silly? A velociraptor prop from the film is also included in the sale so you can really lose sleep hurtling your body through the jungle away from that thing as fast as humanly possible, which we all know isn’t fast enough.

The popularity and rising price for the item is unexpected, the manager of the company says. He was “blown away” by the bidding, he tells USA Today. The current bid is the highest amount the company has ever sold a movie prop item for.

“We had no idea Jurassic Park had such a cult following,” he said, clearly not realizing that every time I see a glass of water shake I crawl inside myself and hide.

‘Jurassic Park’ velociraptor cage auctioned on eBay [USA Today]

Snowy, icy winters make for especially treacherous driving, so you usually see lists like this published when the first storms of the year hit. That’s not quite fair, though. Emergencies come up in any climate and at any time of year. You may not need all of them year-round, but here are a dozen things that can help you out in an emergency on the road.

Consumer Reports put together this list, which is focused on cold-weather needs like sand to dislodge a stuck car and

Hazard triangles (or flares)

Jumper cables

Flashlight

Roadside-assistance membership (which is not, strictly speaking, a thing, but it’s still important

Tow rope

Duct tape

Small shovel and bag of kitty litter or sand

Windshield scraper, emergency blanket, and hand warmers

Did they miss an item that you find indispensable? Share it in the comments, or let us know at tips@consumerist.com. Maybe in future we’ll post a Consumerist-Enhanced version of this list!

12 emergency items for the road [Consumer Reports]

In Kent’s city, Lincoln, Nebraska, Best Buy recently moved to a new building. To celebrate and let customers know about the move, they sent out this great coupon offering a gift card for 10% the value of your purchase. the problem: there isn’t a whole lot in the store that the offer applies to.

“I was contemplating buying a new iPad, so I thought I could use this to get a gift card with the offer,” writes Kent. “Guess again.” Usually coupons exempt logical things like gift cards and sales tax, as well as previous purchases. Excluding computers, tablets, many televisions, and a large portion of coupons?

I struggled to think of anything that I might want to buy at Best Buy that this coupon would cover. It seems like too much work. DVDs, maybe? A television under $999 and not made by Samsung, LG, or Sharp?

The list seems even longer when you break it down into bullet points.

• Bose audio products
• Beats by Dr. Dre
• Polk Audio
• Sonos
• TVs $999 & up
• Select Samsung home audio, TVs, Blu-ray & DVD players
• Sony home audio & headphones, TVs & 3D glasses, Blu-ray players, DVD players & set top boxes
• Select Lg TVs & Blu-Ray Players
• Select Sharp TVs
• Laptops, desktop computers and all-in-ine computers
• Leap Motion Controller
• Netbooks
• Apple iPads
• iMacs and Macbooks
• Tablets
• Monitors
• Internal hard drives
• Computer software
• Computer subscription software
• In-Home Geek Squad service
• VoIP
• Broadband
• Desktop packages (packages include computer, monitor and printer)
• Apple computing accessories
• Wacom tablets & stylus
• Apple iPad accessories
• Motorola tablet accessories
• eReader hardware & POSA cards
• Apple iPod
• Sony camcorders, digital cameras, NEX cameras, DSLR cameras, lenses & flashes
• Canon DSLR cameras, compact system cameras, lenses & lashes, G1X, S110, G16
• Nikon DSLR cameras, compact system cameras, lenses & flashes
• Coolpix A, P520 & S800c
• GoPro cameras
• iPhone and iPhone mobile devices
• Unlocked phones
• Contract mobile phones
• Mobile broadband devices
• Pacific Sales products
• Electrolux Major Appliances
• Air conditioners, fans and dehumidifiers
• Magnolia products: Samsung TVs and Blu-Ray Players, Epson projectors, Bowers & Wilkins, MartinLogan, McIntosh, Universal Remote Control, Arcam, Peachtree, Sennheiser, JVC Procision Projection, Savant, Sonus faber, Oppo and SpeakerCraft Audio and special order merchandise
• Digital music services & download cards
• Gift cards
• Taxes
• Prior purchases
• Clearance & More
• Marketplace items
• Special order, clearance, demo and open-box items

We wrote to Best Buy to ask what the point of this coupon is. We’ll let you know what they say.

Sure, you could get a cheese slicer with a metal handle. You could slice your cheese with a knife. Or you could make the phrase “say cheese” literal with a novelty cheese slicer shaped like an instant camera.

Yes, instead of ghostlike images, it develops little slices of cheese. Maybe in another ten years, insta-printing digital cameras will reach the point where you can print selfies on Swiss, but not yet.
We can’t vouch for the site that sells it, Gamago, but that appears to be the only place that sells it. And it’s not in stock. It exists, though, and that’s what’s important. (Via Foodbeast)

Times used to be, your Uncle Arnie would tend his prize pig all year leading up to the county fair, and when the time came the family could all go watch him accept the blue ribbon for his prime pork. But now that marijuana is legal for recreational use in Colorado, the planners behind the Denver County Fair have decided to join in and add a few new contests to bring ambitious competitors to the fair.

Of course you’ve got a category for Best marijuana plant (quality, not potency, and plants will at the fair only in photo form), and then there are the contests that are more consumer-related like fastest joint rolling (using oregano instead of pot) and a Doritos eating contest. It’s unclear whether it will be Nacho Cheese or Cool Ranch flavor.

Other categories: Best hemp fabric; Best homemade bong; Best brownie recipe; Best roach clip and Best tie-dye. No marijuana consumption will be allowed on-site, however, so any brownie-testing won’t be at the actual fair.

Organizers of the fair, which runs from Aug. 1-3, say it’s all about celebrating the local happenings.

“We look at the trends and what’s happening in our city, and we want to reflect that,” the fair’s marketing and creative director tells USA Today.

In order to enter you must 21 or older to attend activities in the “pot pavilion,” an area separate from the main fairgrounds so as not to shock your Uncle Arnie.

“We have a lot of families and kids at the fair, of course, and we wanted to be respectful of that,” the creator director explains.

Joint rolling, Doritos eating among pot-themed contests at Colo. fair [USA Today]

Woodbridge Man Arrested in Manassas BB&T Robbery Patch.com Police arrested a Woodbridge man who they think is responsible for a robbery Monday afternoon at a Manassas-area bank. Sean Michael Craig, 28, of Ridge View Court is charged with robbery, Prince William County Police said in a release issued Tuesday ... and more »

Historically, our staff Certified Tax Cat has handled readers’ questions about taxes, but he’s taking a leave of absence to campaign for the legalization of medical catnip. Filling in for him is Laura’s dad, a retired accountant and real live independent tax preparer. Exclusively on Consumerist, Tax Dad answers your questions.

Let’s kick things off with a question about web sites. Running them and making money from them, that is.

Hi, Tax Dad!

Thank you very much for sharing the benefit of your experience.

My tax question is about the difference between a business and a slightly profitable hobby.

I have a website with advertising. The maintenance/writing for the website takes about 1-2 hours a week and the advertising income in 2012 was $1,700.00 and for 2013 came out to about $2,400.00.

Last year, my tax software urged me to consider this as business income, but the math said I would have owed money, instead of getting the modest refund that I did. I know it’s going to come up again this year and I am not sure which way to report it. For something that I spend very little time on and only earns me a small fraction of my regular income, will I ever need to consider this business income?

Thanks

catastrophegirl

Hi Catastrophe: Yes, it sounds as if your website is growing gradually, and you should probably treat it as a business. It gets more complicated, but essentially the IRS says you are running a business if it turns a profit in at least 2 of 5 years. If it is losing every year, you have a hobby, and not tax-deductible.

Firstly–and maybe your tax software walked you through this–but are you taking all the expense deduction you deserve for your business? Do you have a home office that you could write a portion of? Computer, printer, fax, related equipment used to generate this income? You could write off part or all of these.

Do you hire assistants, or outside services? What about software you use to maintain the site, or web hosting fees?

Check out a copy of IRS Schedule C and the instructions for more ideas. Even if you decide that it is a hobby eventually, you have 5 years to decide. Good Luck.

I bought a second house this year and am renting it to my son and daughter-in-law. Do I claim the rent as income and mortgage interest as expenses? How does this work?

George

Well, George, I am assuming that you bought the house with the intent of renting it out, so you know somewhat how it works.

The big question here for IRS is if you are renting to your son at a fair market value. If you have not done so, conduct some research on this and document it. If you are claiming a loss on the rental each year, it may be questioned.

Simply put, you would claim your rental income as revenue, and deduct from this interest on your mortgage, property taxes, annual depreciation calculated on the value of the house, and expenses YOU pay, such as utilities, furnishings, appliances, lawn care, trash pickup, improvements, etc.

I cannot cover all your deductions here, but check out IRS Schedule E and Publication 17 (page 68) for a lot of fine print.

Also know that any depreciation taken will have to be accounted for, or “recaptured” if and when you sell the home.

Hey Tax Dad,

Last year I had taken legal action against an ex for back rent and a loan for a down payment on a vehicle. I since have won a judgement of around $13,000 with 5.25% interest but they haven’t paid me a dime of it – and probably won’t because they are a bum.

Can I count this as a loss on my taxes?

- Josh

Ah, ’tis the season (or climate) for bad debts.

Yes, IRS tells you that you may take a non-business tax deduction for a bad debt in the year that debt becomes worthless. A debt becomes worthless when there is no longer a chance that the amount owed will be repaid. If there is some chance that you will receive payments, you should delay write-offs.

To do this, you will need Form 8949 Part 1 with box C checked. Attach a statement to your return giving:

(1) a description of the debt, including amount and date due
(2) the efforts you made to collect the debt and
(3) why you decided it was worthless.

The results of your court decision should provide all these, except for (3). If there is a chance that you will see repayment, you can always delay and amend your return within the next 3 years. Good luck.

Dear Tax Dad,

Since it is strongly implied, though perhaps not specifically stated anywhere, that the purpose of taxes is to pay the government for doing its job… Is there any legal way to deduct a portion of my 2013 taxes owed for the 16 days in October when the government did NOT do its job?

C.E.

I am sure many taxpayers would agree with your argument, and some would argue that government did not do its job for 365 days, but IRS courts would not listen. Government as usual.

Disclaimer: The nature of free advice is that you often pretty much get what you pay for. Questions answered in the “Ask Tax Dad” column should not serve as a substitute for consulting a tax preparer, accountant, attorney, or certified tax cat of your very own. Tax Dad regrets that he cannot offer advice privately over e-mail.

(This is Part Two of a two-part feature on paying for an education. Last week’s HTNS column focused on the best way to save up for college.)

With the rising cost of college tuition, many families figure they’ll have to beg, borrow and steal to pay for the cost of higher education. If those are the only options available to you, we recommend borrowing.

Close to 60% of the nearly 20 million Americans who attend college each year need to borrow to meet the cost, according to the Almanac of Higher Education.

If your college savings plan has fallen short, it’s time to look at your borrowing options.

BORROWING FROM YOUR FUTURE

Don’t eye your retirement nest egg as a source for college funding.

Let’s repeat that for effect: Don’t eye your retirement nest egg as a source for college funding.

Just don’t do it.

If you take a loan from your 401(k) plan, you’ll deplete assets that you’ll need someday. Sure, you say you’ll pay the loan back through payroll deductions. But if you lose your job, you may have to repay the entire balance in 60 days. If you don’t, the loan would be considered an early withdrawal (if you’re under age 59-1/2). That means you’ll owe a 10% penalty and income taxes.

Plus, the withdrawal would be considered income on financial aid forms, so you could ruin your student’s financial aid chances.

Roth IRAs are another retirement vehicle that have been touted as a good source for college funding because you can take penalty-free withdrawals for qualified education expenses.

Alluring, perhaps, but why blur the lines between your long-term goals? If you have money to invest for college, stick with a college-specific account such as a 529 plan. If you’re considering a Roth because you’re not sure Junior will go to college, remember you can change the beneficiary on a 529 plan to another child, other family members and even yourself.

Remember, you can borrow for college, but no one will lend you money for retirement.

TAPPING YOUR HUMBLE ABODE

Your home’s equity might be another temptation, but it might not be the smartest choice.

While interest on home loans is usually tax-deductible, with today’s rates, you might find they’re more expensive than federal student loans — and market watchers expect interest rates may rise sooner rather than later.

Also, if you take out a home loan and park the money in your bank account, it will appear to the financial aid formulas (the calculations used by schools to determine how much aid a student needs) that you have lots of available cash, which will work against you in the financial aid arena.

Don’t forget you’re putting your home at risk if you ever have trouble paying back the loan. If that happens, you’d better hope your graduate gets a job that pays well enough to support you.

TAKING THE WRONG LOANS

There is already around $900 billion in outstanding federal student loan debt, and at least another $150 billion outstanding in private student loans, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The majority of borrowers have the right idea — always take the federal loans before you shop for private ones.

The reasons are simple: interest rates are more favorable and repayment plans are better.
Here’s a look at the current state of federal student loans (this will change every year but the rate is fixed for the life of the loan) :
Subsidized Stafford Loans for undergrads: 3.86% fixed
Unsubsidized Stafford Loans for undergrads: 3.86% fixed
Unsubsidized Stafford Loans for grads or professional students: 5.41% fixed
PLUS Loans for parents, grads or professional students: 6.41% fixed
Perkins Loans for undergrads, grads or professional students: 5% fixed

Compare that to private loans that can run as high as 19% or 20% — a no-brainer.

You can read more about the differences between federal and private loans from the Department of Education.

If you have your heart set on helping your student graduate without loans, you should still consider having her take the federal loans in her name. The rates are better than what you’d find elsewhere in most cases, and you can always take over the payments for your student.

And one morbid yet critical must-do: If you decide to take loans for your student or if you co-sign for her, consider taking out a term life insurance policy on the student for the value of the loans. A couple of hundred dollars a year in premiums could save you lots of heartache and debt should your student die unexpectedly.

SCREWING UP THE TAX WRITE-OFFS

Don’t blow your shot at valuable tax credits by taking too much from of your college savings accounts too soon.

You see, the IRS won’t let you double-dip and use two tax benefits for the same education expense.

Let’s say you have a 529 plan. You’ve benefitted from tax-free growth and tax-free withdrawals.

Let’s also say you’re also eligible for the American Opportunity Tax Credit, or AOTC — which helps on the first $2,500 of qualified education expenses.
You can’t pay for those first expenses from a 529 plan and then take the credit. The IRS calls that double-dipping. Instead, pay out-of-pocket for those initial costs so you can qualify for AOTC, then take your 529 withdrawals for the remaining costs.

The Internal Revenue Service doesn’t make it easy, and there are income phase-outs and lots and lots of exceptions and requirements for each potential tax benefit. Check out this handy FinAid.com chart which spells out which college tax benefits can be used at the same time.

To be safe, consider investing in a sharp tax preparer.

Have a topic you’d like to see covered in How To Not Suck? Or maybe you’re an expert who would like to share your insight with Consumerist readers? Send us a note at notsuck@consumerist.com.

You can read Karin Price Mueller’s stories for The Star-Ledger at NJ.com, follow her on Facebook, and on Twitter @kpmueller.

PREVIOUSLY ON HOW TO NOT SUCK:
How To Not Suck… At Saving For College
How To Not Suck… At Pre-Paying For Your Funeral
How To Not Suck… At Making Financial New Year’s Resolutions
How To Not Suck… At Last-Minute Christmas Gifting
How To Not Suck… At Saving For The Holidays
How To Not Suck… At Charitable Giving
How To Not Suck… At Disputing Credit Report Errors
How To Not Suck… At Lowering Your Utility Bills
How To Not Suck… At Home Inspections
How To Not Suck… At Understanding Credit Card Rewards
How To Not Suck… At Getting Ready For Tax Season
How To Not Suck… At Picking A Retirement Plan
How To Not Suck… At Deciding When To DIY
How To Not Suck… At Getting Out Of Debt
How To Not Suck… At First Year College Budgets

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