Editorial Policy — How We Research

The Thrifty Almanac exists to give you frugal, do-it-yourself advice you can actually trust. This page explains how we research and write, so you can judge our work for yourself.

We research; we don't pretend to test

We are a small editorial team, not a testing lab. Rather than claim "we tested this," we investigate each topic from public, authoritative sources and summarize what the evidence says. When we describe a method, we explain why it works and cite where that comes from.

The sources we prefer

Wherever possible, we rely on primary, authoritative sources, roughly in this order:

• U.S. government agencies — the EPA, CDC, U.S. Department of Energy, USDA, and similar bodies.
• University cooperative-extension services and their integrated pest-management (IPM) programs.
• Peer-reviewed research and established standards bodies.

We link to these sources directly in each article so you can read the original. We avoid citing marketing pages or content farms, and we try to point to the primary source rather than someone else's summary of it.

Numbers and claims

Every specific figure we publish — a dollar amount, a distance, a percentage — should trace back to a credible source we link to. When a number is a rough estimate or varies by region, product, or situation, we say so plainly instead of dressing it up as a hard fact.

Safety first

Our niches — home repair and pest control — carry real-world risk. We include safety caveats (for example, following pesticide labels, protecting children, pets, and pollinators, and knowing when a job is genuinely a professional's) and we tell you when not to do something yourself. See our Disclaimer for the full picture.

Independence

The Site is funded by advertising, which keeps it free to read. Advertisers do not influence our recommendations, and we do not accept payment to cover or endorse a product. If we ever use affiliate links, we will disclose them clearly.

Corrections

We get things wrong sometimes, and we want to fix them. If you spot an error, please tell us through our Contact page — what the article says and what you believe is correct. We review every report and update the article when warranted.