Which will cost you less: A five-year loan or a five-year lease?

The obvious first move: Get fattening snacks like chips and cookies off the counter and out of sight. ShopSmart says your next move is to rearrange the food in your cupboards! You want to move the healthy stuff to the front and the fattening stuff to the back.

You see plenty of appliances these days with cool new features or got-to-have styling. But Consumer Reports says this razzle-dazzle comes at a price. Many dishwashers, washing machines, even dryers, are going for $1,000 or more. But tests show you don't have to pay big bucks to get top performance.

Sales of compact fluorescent lightbulbs, or CFLs, have doubled in the last year. They're great energy savers, but there are things you need to know about them.

A Consumer Reports survey shows car owners prefer to have repairs and maintenance done at independent shops rather than the dealership.

Rather than going to Blockbuster or waiting for Netflix movies to arrive, you can now download movies onto your computer. But what if you'd rather watch those movies on your TV? Consumer Reports just tested two devices that cost around $200 or $300 that promise to make that easy.

There's a new way to recycle that's taking off. It's called freecycling. People join a local online group to give away items they no longer need, and to get things they DO need. Consumer Reports Money Adviser explored the give and take of this unique recycling effort.