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The Insider Pick:

• When you’ve got a sound machine, noisy nights don’t have to equal a lack of sleep. Of all the sound machines we researched, the Sound+Sleep High Fidelity Sound Machine is our favorite because it eases your way into a refreshing night of deep sleep with many different customizable sounds.

The dog next door is barking, someone nearby is beeping their horn, your significant other is snoring like a chainsaw, and you’re staring at the ceiling in frustration rather than sleeping soundly. Or maybe it’s not you having trouble sleeping. Instead, your baby or young child wakes up at every sound, which means that in turn, they wake you up with their unhappiness.

Noise — It’s hard to escape, especially at those times you’d most like a little peace and quiet. And that’s exactly why sound machines — also called white noise machines or sound therapy machines — were invented.

These handy devices aren’t intended to play so loudly that they overwhelm outside disruptions. Instead, they work with your brain’s natural tendency to mostly notice new or variable sounds while tuning out steady, repetitious noise. That’s why people who live near freeways or in big cities tend to “get used to” steady traffic sounds, yet awaken when a taxi blares its horn, a helicopter flies overhead, or a dog suddenly barks.

White noise machines, with their soft, steady, repeating loops of sound, help mask sudden or unusual noise, thus lulling your brain into relaxation, and eventually, sweet sweet sleep. Of course, really loud or irregular noise, such as your baby’s crying, is still going to break through, but in general, you’ll sleep far more soundly with white noise playing in the background than without.

What is white noise?

If you’re old enough, you probably remember the sound of static after a television station went off the air for the night or the hissing sound between radio stations. That’s the sound of true white noise. It’s made up of all the frequencies audible to the human ear playing all at once and at the same intensity. With no variation entering your ears, your brain interprets the sound as a steady hiss.  

But white isn’t the only “color” of sound. There’s also pink noise, which is white noise, but with the higher frequencies somewhat muted. This makes it more soothing than white noise. If you’ve ever peacefully fallen asleep to the sound of steady rain, you’ve enjoyed pink noise.

Brown noise is another popular variation of multi-frequency sound. It’s basically pink noise with even more muting of the highest frequencies. It’s also found in the natural world. Think of waves crashing on the shoreline or the sound of high winds.  

Many sound machines incorporate several white noise variations in the form of nature sounds, such as wind, waves, rain, or burbling streams.

Here at Insider Picks, we take our sleep seriously. That’s why we’ve analyzed information on the many sound machines available and whittled the choices down to the ones we feel are best.

Here are the best sound machines you can buy:

• Best overall: Sound+Sleep High Fidelity Sound Machine 
• Best for white noise: LectroFan High Fidelity White Noise Machine
• Best for a budget: Big Red Rooster Sound Machine
• Best for travel: Homedics Portable White Noise Sound Machine
• Best for babies: WaveHello SoundBub White Noise Machine and Speaker
• Best for kids: Bubzi Co Sleep Soother

Updated on 08/14/2018 by Steven John: Added a new pick for babies and another new pick for travel. Updated prices and formatting.

Read on in the slides below to check out our top picks.

SEE ALSO: The best mattresses you can buy

The best sound machine overall

Why you'll love it: The Sound+Sleep High Fidelity Sound Machine offers up just about every feature you could ask for in a sound machine. 

Want to drift off to the peaceful sound of crickets and wind in a meadow? How about adding some birdsong and buzzing bees? Or maybe you prefer to fall asleep to the sound of ocean waves. If that’s not enough, go ahead and add in some crying seagulls. Still need more? You can add in barking seals and a foghorn.

That’s just the start of the versatility offered by the Sound+Sleep High Fidelity Sound Machine. There are ten basic sounds to choose from: fireplace, waterfall, white noise, meditation, brook, rainfall, train, city, meadow, and ocean.

You can add in two additional levels of sound to each of those basics. For example, train starts with the clackety-clack of wheels on track. Two additional levels add in bells, train whistles, and the sound of train couplers tapping against each other. You also get white noise, pink noise, and brown noise options.

And these aren’t short, annoying loops, or synthesized sound. You get naturally recorded high fidelity sounds carefully mastered to relax you into sleep. Plus, the machine “listens” to the ambient noise in your bedroom, and then adjusts its volume as necessary to help protect your sleep.

Amazon buyers love the Sound+Sleep High Fidelity Sound Machine. It has more than 3,100 reviews and a 4.1-star average. Customers especially appreciate the adaptive technology that adjusts to room noise and the wide variety of sounds. A typical comment: “So far this sound machine has been completely effective in masking the sounds of a snoring spouse and a barking neighbor's dog.”

If your bed partner doesn’t want any sound at all, there’s a headphone jack so you can enjoy the peaceful tones on your own. Let the machine run all night, or set the timer to shut off after 30, 60, 90, or 120 minutes. The AC power cord is included.

Pros: Amazingly versatile, high-quality sound, many options to choose from, timer

Cons: Expensive

Buy the Sound+Sleep High Fidelity Sound Machine on Amazon for $72.53+

The best white noise machine

Why you'll love it: If you’re just looking for white noise, and plenty of it, you’ve found your match with the LectroFan High Fidelity White Noise Machine. 

The LectroFan High Fidelity White Noise Machine is just that: a white noise machine. There are no nature sounds to choose from, but that doesn’t mean your sound selection is limited. This high fidelity device has ten levels of fan sounds, including everything from industrial fan to oscillating fan. It's also got 10 levels of white noise ranging from pure white to pink to brown.

The large top speaker produces excellent sound and does a great job of masking outside noise, including tough-to-sleep-through disrupters like snoring or barking dogs.

Wirecutter chose the LectroFan as the best white noise machine, praising its excellent performance, small size, and easy-to-use controls. Amazon buyers seem to back that up. The LectroFan has nearly 6,800 reviews and an average of 4.6 stars. Buyers rave about its ability to block out all manner of annoying sounds, including barking dogs, traffic, crying babies, and snoring spouses.

You can run the device all night long, or set the timer in hour-increments. The LectroFan High Fidelity White Noise Machine comes with a USB power cable and AC adapter, so you can power it up just about anywhere. It's available in black or white.

Pros: Excellent sound quality and a large range of fan sounds and white noise, including pink and brown noise.

Cons: None to speak of, unless you’re looking for a machine with nature sounds as well as white noise.

Buy the LectroFan High Fidelity White Noise Machine on Amazon for $49.95

The best budget sound machine

Why you'll love it: The Big Red Rooster Sound Machine will set your mind at ease with its quality nature sounds and low price. 

You don’t have to pay a lot of money for a good sound machine — The Big Red Rooster Sound Machine is proof of that. This straightforward device offers six sounds: summer night, white noise, rain, brook, ocean, and thunder. The sound quality is excellent, and the loop is unobtrusive, so you won't feel like you're listening to a broken record.

With more than 3,000 reviews and an average of 4.3 stars, this is one of the most popular sound machines on Amazon. Buyers like the quality of the sound, the lack of bright or annoying light on the machine’s control panel, and the high level of volume control.

Says one pleased owner, “I cannot begin to say how much I've enjoyed my little sleep enhancer. I've had it for almost a year now and use it every night and daytime naps. I think my cats are becoming addicted to it, too.”

The Big Red Rooster Sound Machine includes an AC adapter, or you can run it off batteries for use while traveling. Let it run all night long, or set the timer to turn the device off after 15, 30, or 60 minutes.

Pros: Great price, good sound quality, doesn’t take up much room on your nightstand.

Cons: Not many sounds to choose from.

Buy the Big Red Rooster Sound Machine on Amazon for $19.99 (originally $29.99)

• President Donald Trump's trade war is causing pain for many US industries, but the tariffs could actually help US restaurants.
• The retaliatory tariffs on US agricultural goods are expected to cause a supply glut, which is already leading to price cuts for major agricultural goods.
• This means restaurants will pay less for ingredients like pork, cheese, and corn.
• According to restaurant invoice management company Plate IQ, the US restaurant industry should save just over $7.5 million due to Trump's trade war this year.

President Donald Trump's trade war is taking its toll on a slew of US industries, but there could be one that comes out on top: restaurants.

While the president's various tariffs are driving up costs for industries ranging from boat manufacturing to TVs, data provided to Business Insider by restaurant invoice management company Plate IQ showed that restaurants are actually seeing prices for ingredients fall due to the tariffs. 

For most of the goods, Plate IQ's explanation for the drop is simple: the US exports a lot of goods, so as farmers are hit with an oversupply, the price of the items will drop and make it cheaper for the restaurants.

While not on the Plate IQ list, one of the most prominent of these price changes for US farmers is soybeans. The crop is a key export, particularly to China, and the recent tariffs on US soybeans by foreign countries is causing a supply increase and a dramatic price drop.

Other US agricultural products such as pork and cheese are also falling sharply since the European Union, Canada, China, and Mexico hit the US with various tariffs in response to Trump's trade moves.

As these commodity prices drop, so too are costs for restaurants that buy these ingredients. Plate IQ used price trend data from its restaurants to determine the savings for the US restaurant industry between March 2018 and December 2018 across six major ingredients: pork, corn, apples, cheese, potatoes, and seafood.

In order to determine the expected future price change, Plate IQ looked at 500,000 restaurant invoices from July 2017 to July 2018. According to the data, seafood is the only one of those major ingredient groups that is expected to increase in price over the course of the year.

Obviously restaurants that are heavily weighted toward certain ingredients (such as pork) will see greater cost decreases than those that lean more toward seafood. But all told, Plate IQ's data shows that the restaurant industry will save roughly $8 million due to the tariffs. 

Here's a breakdown of how much the restaurant industry could save on each ingredient because of Trump's trade war.

Corn: $3,068,633 in savings

Both China and the EU imposed tariffs on US corn in response to Trump's tariffs. In response, corn futures have fallen roughly 12% since the start of June as supply continues to grow. 

Pork: $14,876,829 in savings

China and Mexico, two of the three largest markets for US pork exports in 2017 according to the US Meat Export Federation, hit the US with tariffs in response to Trump's trade fights. According to Plate IQ, the backlog of US pork will result in a 2-3% price decrease for all pork products. As part of the decline, the price of bacon is expected to drop by 7.7% for the year.

Apples: $991,570 - $1,442,283 in savings

"Mexico being the biggest customer for apple exports from the US has hit the US hard by imposing tariffs on apples," Plate IQ said. "China and India have also imposed tariffs on apples thus threatening the market."

• Tesla's board of directors has formed a special committee to examine CEO Elon Musk's preference to take the company private, according to a statement on the electric-car maker's website. 
• Three independent board members — Brad Buss, Robyn Denholm, and Linda Johnson Rice — will sit on the special committee.
• While Musk has not yet presented a formal proposal to take Tesla private, he will need the committee's approval before such a move can occur.
• Follow Tesla's stock price in real-time here. 

Tesla on Tuesday said its board of directors had convened a special committee to act on the company’s behalf as chief executive Elon Musk presses forward with his plan to take the electric-car maker private.

Two of the three special committee members — Brad Buss and Robyn Denholm — have backgrounds with Solar City, the energy company Tesla acquired for $2 billion in 2016. The third —Linda Johnson Rice — is the former chairman and CEO of Johnson Publishing in Chicago and the current CEO of Ebony Media. 

Members of the board who have previously come under fire, like Kimbal Musk, Elon's brother; the 21st Century Fox cochairman Lachlan Murdoch; and Steve Jurvetson, a venture capitalist who was ousted from his own firm over sexual-assault allegations, which he denied, are notably absent from the special committee.

Tesla also said the board has hired Latham & Watkins LLP, a legal firm based in Los Angeles, to assist with the process of going private. It also plans to hire an independent financial advisor.

"The special committee has the full power and authority of the Board of Directors to take any and all actions on behalf of the Board of Directors as it deems necessary to evaluate and negotiate a potential Going Private Transaction and alternatives to any transaction proposed by Mr. Musk," Tesla said in a statement. The  special committee has not received any formal proposal from Musk about taking the electric-car maker private.

Here’s what you need to know about the members of Tesla’s special committee

SEE ALSO: Tesla's dramatic stock rise and fall shows how skeptical investors are of Elon Musk's go-private plans

Robyn Denholm

Robyn Denholm is the chief operating and financial officer of Telstra Corp, the largest telecom company in Australia. She has served on Tesla’s board of directors since February 2017 following the merger with SolarCity, where she had been appointed to the board in November 2016.

"I am a car enthusiast and am passionate about innovation, so Tesla is the perfect board role for me," she said in an interview in January."I love being on the Tesla board as it marries many of the things I am passionate about, such as energy and technology." Denholm also said she is on her third Tesla car.

She did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Linda Johnson Rice

Linda Johnson Rice has served on Tesla's board of directors since July 2017. She currently serves as the chief executive of Ebony Media, a magazine and brand that celebrates Black culture, that was founded by her father in 1945.

Johnson came under fire from the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Writers Union when she was appointed to Tesla's board because Ebony allegedly failed to pay freelancers as much as $200,000 that they were owed.

Rice also sits on the board of Chicago-based GrubHub. According to Tesla she is a trustee at the Art Institute of Chicago and a council member of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

Rice did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Brad Buss

Brad Buss was the former chief financial officer of Solar City before it was acquired by Tesla in 2016 for $2 billion. He joined Tesla’s board of directors shortly after retiring from the renewable energy unit, in February 2017. Buss owns roughly 13,000 shares of the electric-car maker, worth $4.75 million at Tuesday’s prices.

A native of Canada, Buss also serves on the board of Marvell Technology, a California-based computer storage and semiconductor chip maker. 

Buss could not be reached for comment.

A recent Associated Press exclusive demonstrated that Google will track and store some of your location data, even if you have the 'location history' setting turned off.

Luckily, it's relatively easy to completely disable location tracking on Google, whether you're using an iOS or Android device.

Here's how to do it:

On iPhone: Click the link below, which will open Google's 'Activity Controls' page

Use this link to open the Activity Controls page, and then uncheck the 'Web & App Activity' button on that page. 

Next, scroll down a bit and uncheck the 'Location History' button

After this step, you're all set. 

On Android: Start by opening the 'Settings' tab, then click on 'Google.'

• The Money Wizard, who goes by "Sean," is a 28-year-old blogger and financial analyst saving and investing his way toward early retirement.
• Sean grew his net worth by more than $100,000 in two years, and he tracked the progress on his blog.
• He says he's learned a few shocking lessons about money so far, like the fact that real wealth comes from learning how to save (without a budget), and then investing that money into wealth-building assets.

They say you learn something about yourself when you keep a journal.

If that's true, then I think just graduated to a PhD in Me Studies. Because for the past two years, I've kept a very detailed (and very public) online diary.

It's a unique type of diary though. In it, you won't find any juicy gossip about high school crushes or family drama. Instead, you'll find a topic that might be even more juicy: raw, unfiltered talk about every detail of my personal finances.

You see, for the past two years I've publicly posted all the deets behind every penny I saved and every dollar I spent. And then, every month, I take an (often uncomfortable) look at the impact those decisions had on my net worth.

The end goal? Total financial independence in my 30s. So far, I'm $242,000 of the way there.

Each month of the journal tells a story.

• November 2016: A $6,000 plunge to my net worth. Apparently, buying a new car isn't the best move for your wallet.
• April 2017: A $3,500 boost to my savings, mostly thanks to a long-awaited promotion.
• November 2017: A wild stock market rally, and a $9,000 (!) increase in my wealth.
• April 2018: Buried in the depths of a kitchen remodel, with the $6,000 credit card bill to prove it.

And while it sure is fun to look back on those monthly breakdowns, when I zoom out from the details, some larger lessons enter focus. The whole experiment has left me with four shocking revelations I'd have never expected:

SEE ALSO: I grew my net worth by over $100,000 in 2 years. Here are 4 steps you can take today to do the same.

DON'T MISS: A 20-something who's banked $170,000 shares the simple strategy that helps him save 65% of his income

1. Forget about budgeting — simply tracking your spending will make you richer

Ahh… a budget… doesn't just the sight of the word make you shudder?

I get it. When I first tried budgeting, I felt an immense amount of pressure to build the perfect budget. It's no wonder, especially when every financial planner under the sun jumps out of their seat to share the same advice.

“Step 1 – build a budget!” they'll shout, before putting the squeeze on about how you must determine exactly how much money goes towards each arbitrary bucket.

Want to know a secret?

Since I started tracking my net worth two years ago, I increased my savings by $105,935 — and I never once used a budget.

Instead, I took a much more stress-free approach. I simply tracked my spending. That's it.

By just tracking my spending instead of imprisoning myself with a budget, I felt the pressure relax. A stressful topic turned into casual monitoring, and then, something amazing happened.

I found that tracking my spending put a spotlight on my problem areas. Before I knew it, I was getting into the game. I couldn't help but look for ways to improve my money habits, and soon enough, I found myself looking for ways to spend less and save more at every opportunity. The budgeting took care of itself.

(Today, there's even all sorts of fancy apps which can automatically track your spending for you. Personal capital and Mint are two of my favorites.)

And best of all? Your new budget will have been created naturally over time and based on your own small adjustments, instead of being rushed together in the stuffy office of an adviser, overambitious goals and all.

The result? You'll find that sticking to your naturally created budget is a breeze. And that tailwind will propel your wealth to new heights.

2. Your money can work harder than you can

Let me tell you: You haven't lived until you've come back from vacation, only to realize that despite your best efforts at racking up expensive restaurant tabs and otherwise living the high life, your net worth still increased a few thousand dollars during the month.

How is this possible? It's simple. Your money can work a whole lot harder than you can.

While you're constrained to an eight-hour workday (if you're really ambitious, maybe a little more) your money has no such limitations. Through the miracle of investment and compound interest, your money has no problem working away on your behalf, day and night.

And the money which your money earns, goes on to earn even more money.

Think about this for a moment. We can't even come up with an analogy to describe the effort your dollars are capable of. The closest comparison would be if you never had to sleep, and you could take breaks during your current job by working a second job. And that second job took breaks by working a third job. And so on.

Career-inception aside, this simple fact highlights an important distinction. Bust your chops in the office all you want, but your extra hours are child's play compared to what your money can do, and that big raise and potential promotion are just a distraction. The real needle-moving wealth building comes from learning how to save, and then investing that money into wealth building assets. Even options as simple as Vanguard or Betterment are fantastic starts to putting your money to work.

And that's what we should all be working for. Because no matter how hard saving money might feel, I can promise you it's a whole lot easier than working as hard as your investments do.

3. Investments aren't the only thing that compound

Albert Einstein is mistakenly attributed to calling compound interest "the most powerful force in the universe," and if that doesn't prove the cult-like love for the effect, I don't know what will.

And yes, as we've just discussed, compound interest can make you incredibly rich.  But there's another, far less mentioned, effect of compounding that might be just as powerful.

I call it compound spending. And if I hadn't tracked my spending every month like a crazy person, I'd have never realized its power.

I first noticed it when I spotted an almost cyclical, wave-like trend in my monthly spending reports. Some months I spent almost nothing, and other months, a little bit of spending inevitably compounded into a whole lot of spending.

The peaks and troughs were impossible to ignore, and I realized a fascinating trend. My most successfully frugal months were not the months where I displayed some amazing amount of willpower, or found some incredibly creative way to save.

Instead, the common trend in the months where I spent the least amount of money: I simply avoided tipping that first domino. I avoided that first purchase which would have started a chain of future purchases.

You certainly know this effect, even if you've never given it a name:

• "Just one drink" with friend cascades into four or five. Followed by a midnight taco trip, an expensive Uber home, and a pricey brunch to eat off last night's hangover.

• A "50% off one item" coupon turns into a shopping spree, complete with four new outfits and a lengthy receipt.

• I know I've fallen victim to an AMAZING deal on plane tickets, which compounds into pricey hotels, rental cars, and vacation spending.

So, what's the best way to control your spending?

Realize the sticker price is a lie. The sticker price of any purchase is just the first domino in a chain of spending.

So, stop that spending before it starts. Rip that weed out by the root, before it has a chance to grow out of control.

• Liz Gendreau, the Chief Mom Officer, is a 38-year-old MBA who works as an IT program manager at a large company making a six-figure salary. Her husband, Todd, stays at home with their three boys, ages 14, 10, and 3.
• She's been the primary breadwinner since shortly after they were married, over 16 years ago.
• Personal finance has been one of her hobbies since she was a teenager.
• She says everyone should know how to track their net worth, invest their savings, and align their financial goals with their dreams.

When I was 16, I picked up a book from the library called "The Wealthy Barber" by David Chilton.

That book changed the course of my financial life.

Like most teenagers, I thought only the famous or uber-successful were wealthy. Ordinary people couldn't become rich, right?!? The title of the book that drew me in, like it did millions of others. How on earth could a barber, of all people, become wealthy?

The book was fun and engaging, not dry and dull. It was told as the story of several friends who learn important money lessons from a wealthy barber (and the people hanging out at his shop) over the course of a year. I learned all the important foundational lessons about money that you don't usually learn as a teen.

It covered real estate, mortgages, taxes, retirement, investing, college savings, and so much more. That book inspired my lifelong passion for personal finance. Because of that book, I opened an IRA as a teenager, invested in a 401(k) the minute I had a job that offered one, bought a condo at 20, started investing for my boys to go to college when they were born — and a whole lot more.

The financial lessons continued to pay off even into my 30s. Having personal finance as a passion kept my family from bankruptcy. When I was 32 my husband almost died of septic shock — an event that rocked our world and continues to impact our financial life. Without the solid financial foundation I'd built, starting with this book, our lives would be totally different today.

Over the past 20 years, I've read hundreds of books, blogs, magazines, and articles about managing money. Here are the top 10 things I've learned.

SEE ALSO: I have a 6-figure job and my husband stays home with the kids — here are 10 things no one seems to understand

Don't rely on your partner to manage your money

Many women aren't taught important lessons about managing their money in the same way men are. But it's so important they're involved with their finances.

A recent report from UBS Wealth Management found that over half of married women (56%) leave long-term financial planning decisions to their husbands. Why? Because 85% of those women believe their spouses know more about finances.

Interestingly, did you know that a Fidelity study shows women investors outperform men?

Women outlive men. Nearly half of marriages end in divorce. And eight out of 10 of us will end up, at some point in our lives, being solely responsible for our money. These are all huge reasons women need to be money smart.

Relying on someone else can be a recipe for disaster. Sadly, according to that same report, 56% of these women discovered a money secret. Hidden debt. Inadequate savings. Overly conservative — or aggressive — investments.

That's a high price to pay.

Being in the dark about where your money is, where it's going, and why, is no way to go through your financial life. But taking charge of your money can be confusing and overwhelming. So where do you start?

Know where all your money is, where it's going, and why

The first step to being smart with your money is to know exactly where you are right now.

You can't make financial changes in your life without knowing where you stand. I've been tracking my net worth since I was 20 years old. It's actually a lot of fun to look back on past years and see what my financial situation was in my mid-20s, at 30, and now at 38.

We often overestimate how much can be accomplished in a short period of time, and underestimate how much can be accomplished over a long one.

There are only three things you need to know:

• What you have (and owe)— This is called your net worth, or a balance sheet in the corporate world. It's everything you own, minus everything you owe. Knowing your net worth tells you where all your money is and how much you owe.  You'll want to record what kind of account it's in, how much is there, and what it's invested in.
• Where your money is going — Note that this isn't a budget. No, it's a simple analysis of where your family's paychecks go each month. What are you spending on? What's going to expenses, debt, saving, and investments? If you don't track your money through a free tool like Mint, you can usually download the information from your bank and credit card(s).
• Why your money is where it is— Why is it invested the way it is? What's the reason you have X dollars in checking, Y in savings, and Z in these funds in retirement? Why are you spending on the things you are?

Even if you have a spouse that already tracks the money, it's important that you know the answer to all these questions. Make time to sit down together and go through the details.

Knowing where all your money is, where it's going, and why, is the beginning of smart money management. After this, you need to get to know your dreams.

Establish your dreams

What are your ultimate goals and dreams? Where do you want to go in life?

Sit down and really think about your ultimate dreams. Do you want to start a business? Retire early? Send your kids to college without debt — or finally get that degree yourself? Buy a first home, vacation home, or become location independent? Maybe your dream is to travel the world as a family before your kids grow up, or start a scholarship to help underprivileged children go to college.

Why is knowing your dreams an important money tip?

Because without clarity on your dreams and goals, you can't make your money work effectively for you. You'll be saving or investing with no purpose, which means you might not be doing the right things to get you where you want to go.  

When you know your dreams, your why will help you down the long, hard road. It will get you back on the path when you fall off, and will give you the courage to stand up to those that might mock you.

It's your "why" that will keep you going.

• Liz Gendreau, the Chief Mom Officer, is a 38-year-old MBA who works as an IT program manager at a large company, making a six-figure salary. Her husband, Todd, stays at home with their three boys, ages 14, 10, and 3.
• She's been the primary breadwinner since shortly after they were married, over 16 years ago.
• She's spent over a year interviewing dozens of other successful women in her "Breadwinning, Six-Figure, Millionaire Women" series.
• A few of the biggest things she wishes people understood: Dads who stay at home aren't babysitting, her situation isn't "lucky," and there are more female breadwinners than you may think. 

Being a breadwinning mom with a husband who stays at home with your three boys can be amazing.

When I need to travel for work, I don't need to worry about who will watch the kids. When I stay late and have dinner with the executives, I don't need to rush home to relieve the sitter. I'm able to go to conferences across the country and Skype with the boys without worrying about them. I come home from a 12-hour workday to dinner already made, kids shuttled to and from their activities, a clean house, and laundry already put away. When someone needs to get the car fixed, run to the bank, or take care of a sick kid, the "someone" isn't me.

That doesn't mean it's all sunshine and roses though.

My husband, our boys, and I are all happy with how we run our family — but other people often aren't. Sometimes they're confused, other times they're defensive, and they often make assumptions about us that just aren't true. I've gotten so many different comments over the years that it's pretty obvious there are a lot of things other people don't understand about families like mine.

So today I'm going to dispel the myths and talk about some of the things I've noticed other people just don't understand.

SEE ALSO: 9 scientific ways being a father affects your success

DON'T MISS: 8 things every parent should do if they want their children to become millionaires

I'm happy and proud to be the breadwinner

In the mainstream media, I see a steady stream of negative articles about families like mine. Millennial women are "worried" about and "ashamed" of being the breadwinner. Stay-at-home dads suffer from "stigma and isolation." Let's not forget all the articles telling us that our marriages are unhappy.

If you're the family breadwinner and a woman, you could be forgiven for thinking you're supposed to be unhappy about the situation. And trust me, other people read these kinds of articles and think that I must feel that way too.

No, I'm not unhappy. In fact, I'm proud of all my accomplishments. I'm not at all worried about out-earning my husband — I wouldn't want to be married to someone who's bothered by that anyway. I'm not ashamed that I work and he stays at home. To be honest, I'm extremely happy that I can be successful at work, pursue my passions, and have things taken care of at home so I still have plenty of time to be an awesome mom.

My husband is proud of me

The other side of the stereotype coin is that men are supposed to be embarrassed by their successful wives.

I've heard so many stories about men being ashamed of their wives paying for everything, resentful of having to take care of the kids, or generally unhappy about their wife's career success outstripping theirs. So people assume my husband must feel that way too, right?

Not here. My husband is extremely proud of my accomplishments, and he's never been embarrassed about my success.

When we were first married, we both made the same amount of money. Then I got a job in IT about a year later, and that all began to change forever. I started pursuing my MBA when our older boys were 6 and 2 and finished when they were 10 and 6. Guess who baked and decorated a cake to celebrate my graduation? And who watched the boys so I could go off to class after a full day of work? Who took care of things at home while I studied abroad in France and China?

The only thing I've ever heard from him is excitement about my success.

Dads don't babysit

One of the most annoying comments a stay-at-home dad can get out in public is: "So you're babysitting today?"

My husband has heard this one more than once while out with our three boys. Can you imagine the reverse, someone commenting to a mom out and about with her kids that she was babysitting? No, you can't. I've literally never had anyone say that to me, and yet more than one person has said it to him.

This one is particularly frustrating because of the assumptions behind the statement. People assume that a dad out and about with his kids is a once-in-a-blue-moon type of scenario. His wife, their mother, must be having a rare busy time. So Dad is out with the kids, struggling to manage them, and probably feeding them junk food.

Dads don't babysit their own children. It's called parenting.

Recent discoveries have revealed that much of the traditional understanding of the human origin story is wrong.

Until the past few years, most anthropologists and archaeologists believed that the first members of our species — Homo sapiens— evolved in East Africa approximately 200,000 years ago.

As that story goes, humanity mostly remained in Africa for the next 140,000 years, then ventured forth as part of a major wave known as the "Out of Africa" migration approximately 60,000 years ago.

In this version of history, those early ancestors took over territories once occupied by less advanced species like the Neanderthals. Then humans reached North America about 16,000 t0 25,000 years ago.

But this understanding of history has been thoroughly upended by a number of discoveries over the past few years.

There's less certainty now about how long ago modern humans truly evolved, when people spread around the world, and how we co-existed with a number of other hominid species. New findings suggest that many events happened much longer ago in history than researchers previously thought. The process of our own evolution — and our relationships with other co-existent hominin species — are also made messier by many of these discoveries.

Here are some of the recent discoveries that have begun to upend what we thought we knew about the human origin story.

SEE ALSO: Having sex and reproducing in space comes with serious scientific and ethical problems. We may need to create a new species of human to make it work.

The first Homo sapiens seem to have appeared more than 100,000 years earlier than scientists previously thought — and in different locations.

In 2017, two scientific papers published in the journal Nature described an astounding find: the discovery of remains from Homo sapiens that were more than 300,000-year-old.

The bones were unearthed in Morocco, and showed that humans had been around for far longer than 200,000 years. The discovery was also evidence that our earliest ancestors may not have been located in just one area, since this showed that even the earliest members of our species were in North Africa, far from spots often considered the birthplace of humanity.

"There is no Garden of Eden in Africa, or if there is, it is all of Africa," anthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin, who led the expedition to unearth the skulls, said at the time.

These discoveries helped lead to a new idea: perhaps Homo sapiens actually evolved all over Africa in interlinked groups that became more similar over time.

As a team of researchers described in a recent paper, groups of Homo sapiens may have evolved contemporaneously all over Africa, instead of just in one primary location.

Not all of these groups would have looked identical at the start, but they may have been close enough to all be considered Homo sapiens, even if they weren't the same as the modern versions of humanity.

So instead of first emerging in a site in East or South Africa (depending on which version of the traditional origin story you subscribe to) and then spreading from there, distantly related groups of humans across the continent could have become more similar over time.

This idea is known as the "African multiregionalism" theory.

According to this logic, distantly related groups could have all evolved from a widespread ancient hominid relative. In different locations, they may have interbred with and picked up traits from other ancient hominids, as we know Homo sapiens have done over time.

(In general, the term hominid describes great apes, humans, and all our extinct ancestors; the term hominin is a bit more narrow  referring only to humans and our more closely related extinct ancestors.)

Ed Yong at The Atlantic wrote that the best way to understand this theory isn't to think of evolution as a tree in which modern humans branched off and became a separate group. 

"It’s a braided river — a group of streams that are all part of the same system, but that weave into and out of each other,"Yong wrote. "These streams eventually merge into the same big channel, but it takes time — hundreds of thousands of years. For most of our history, any one group of Homo sapiens had just some of the full constellation of features that we use to define ourselves."

The incredible, edible egg is a popular component of some of the world's greatest breakfast dishes. But it's more than just a tasty side or centerpiece. There are health benefits, as eggs are a great source of protein, contain heart-healthy fats and a little-known nutrient, choline, which aids in brain development, according to Prevention.

So it makes sense that so many places around the world start their days with eggs. We rounded up some of the most delicious ways to eat eggs in the morning around the world. 

Enjoy a Full English in the United Kingdom.

Also known as a "fry-up," the traditional English breakfast includes fried eggs, baked beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, sausages, bacon, and toast. And what would a British meal be without a spot of tea?

A cheese and egg filled banitsa is a popular breakfast in Bulgaria.

Croissants aren't the only beloved flaky breakfast pastries. The Bulgarians have banitsa— a pie made with sheets of phyllo dough wrapped around eggs and crumbled feta cheese.

Bánh mì op la is a Vietnamese breakfast staple.

Bánh mì, which is Vietnamese for bread, is served with fried eggs topped with sausages and caramelized onions in this simple, but tasty breakfast dish. Don't forget the hot tea.

College football is nearly back and, as usual, a ton of teams will have changes to their uniforms.

The changes range from minor tweaks to full uniform makeovers as teams seek new excitement on the field. The big winner appears to be Adidas who added a bunch of FBS schools to their program.

Here is a rundown of the changes we have seen so far, with a lot of assistance from the invaluable Uni-Watch.

AIR FORCE — The Falcons have a new alternate uniform honoring the AC-130 aircraft.

ARIZONA STATE — The Sun Devils have a new head coach in Herm Edwards, and it appears they are going with a cleaner jersey. The sleeve stripes are gone, as well as the wordmark on the chest. Like several other schools, ASU has added a sublimated pattern as a reference to the state flag. Not seen here is white pants that can be worn with the white jersey and a dark grey jersey.

ARKANSAS — Some minor changes for the Razorbacks, and it appears they no longer have a matte helmet.

• There are plenty of college rankings and ways to find out the best colleges in the US.
• These colleges enroll the smartest students in the country, according to SAT and ACT scores. 
• California Institute of Technology took the top spot, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Which schools have the brightest young minds in the nation?

To find out, we asked Jonathan Wai, Assistant Professor and Endowed Chair at the University of Arkansas. He created a ranking exclusively for Business Insider of the smartest US colleges and universities based on the schools' average standardized test scores.

While these tests are often criticized, research shows that both the SAT and ACT are good measures of general cognitive ability, since they rely on a person's ability to reason. Therefore, these scores give a reasonable snapshot of a school’s overall smarts.

This ranking included all the schools that report average SAT and ACT scores to the government. ACT scores were converted to the SAT scale for the purposes of this analysis.

See more detail on methods and limitations here. 

Once again, the Pasadena-based California Institute of Technology took the top spot on the list, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, University of Chicago, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University rounded out the top five schools. 

Keep scrolling to see the 50 smartest colleges in America.

SEE ALSO: 29 awesome career choices most college kids would never think of

DON'T MISS: The best college in every state to help graduates find a job

50. Jewish Theological Seminary of America — Average SAT: 1363

• Location: New York City
• Student population: 16,655
• Tuition: $21,160
• Best known for: A Conservative Jewish center for research and training, with joint programs at Columbia and Barnard. 

50. Colby College — Average SAT: 1363

• Location: Waterville, Maine
• Student population: 1,857
• Tuition: $50,960
• Best known for: The 12th best liberal arts in the country according to U.S. News & World Report.

49. University of Virginia — Average SAT: 1364

• Location: Charlottesville, Virginia
• Student population: 16,655
• Tuition: In-state: $16,144; Out-of-state: $46,634
• Best known for: A top public research university founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson.

• Books can be great tools for improving your work life.
• Blinkist compiled a list of books that can help you figure out how to achieve your goals and tasks more efficiently.
• Some of the techniques include breaking down your day into consistent chunks, focusing on one thing at a time, and prioritizing larger tasks that put a dent in your to-do list.

We've all been there. It's the 11th hour before a deadline, and a project you've had plenty of time to complete is suddenly about to be overdue. You kick yourself for not finishing it sooner and wonder how this happened yet again.

But there's no need to beat yourself up! Just realize you need to find your perfect path to productivity.

There are tons of techniques designed to help you increase your efficiency. Yet, ironically, taking the time to research your options can be a bit unproductive. Fortunately, you don't have to spend hours buried in books. With the Blinkist app, you can learn techniques from today's top productivity titles in a matter of minutes, not hours. That's thanks to our diligent bookworms, who transform bestsellers into powerful insights you can read or listen to in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee. The Blinkist library includes a treasure trove of the best insights from life-changing nonfiction books to help you hunker down and tackle your to-dos. Here are some gems from five of our favorites:

SEE ALSO: Billionaire Richard Branson has some simple advice for those who want to succeed

SEE ALSO: Here's what's most likely to make an employee want to stay — and it's not a high salary or company cars

SEE ALSO: 21 signs you're a narcissist

1. 'The Pomodoro Technique' by Francesco Cirillo: Work in consistent chunks of time

See your productivity skyrocket when your chop your tasks into uninterrupted, 25-minute chunks followed by short, mandatory breaks. Start by splitting your to-dos into two lists — one for today and one for the future — and you'll find your work much more manageable when you commit to consistent bursts of productivity.

2. 'Eat That Frog' by Brian Tracy: Focus on the few tasks that actually matter

Odds are that only two of 10 tasks on your to-do list will actually move the needle, so focus on those "frogs" first, rather than working on smaller, less consequential efforts. Prioritize your subtasks into a list labeled A to Z, then leap through the alphabet till you attain your goal. Ribbit!

3. 'Singletasking' by Devora Zack: Show your distractions who’s boss

Quit letting distractions derail your productivity, and hack your habits to eliminate anything that takes you off track. Not only will 'singletasking' make you a more industrious worker, but you'll also become a more present person, which could benefit every area of your life.

The Navy said it would swap out the aging C-2A Greyhound aircraft used to resupply aircraft carriers for new CMV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft in January 2015.

As the service has gotten closer to deploying with its variant of the Joint Strike fighter, the F-35C, the need for the V-22's heavy-lifting capacity has grown more urgent. And after a round of tests in early August, the Navy is a step closer to meeting its resupply and logistics needs.

Aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush this month, Osprey pilots successfully performed rolling landings and takeoffs at a total weight of more than 57,000 pounds, outstripping the C-2A's maximum landing weight of 49,000 pounds.

The Osprey's vertical-lift capability, along with its ability to reach fixed-wing aircraft speed and range, make it ideal for carrier onboard delivery and vertical on-board delivery, the Navy says. That extra lifting capacity also provides a missing link in the Navy's plans for the F-35C.

The engine in the F-35C and the Marine Corps' variant, the F-35B (which has already deployed to an amphibious assault ship) is too heavy for platforms like the MH-60 helicopter and too big for the C-2A. Only the V-22 combines the range and lifting ability to get the engine over the final stretch between shore and ship — the "golden mile."

The Navy plans to replace its 27 C-2As with 38 CMV-22Bs beginning in 2020. Below, you can see how the latest round of testing went down.

SEE ALSO: The Navy is moving its aircraft carriers to ready them for a potential fight with China and Russia — here's where they're headed

Ospreys have long been in use by the Marine Corps, but the Navy's CMV-22B variant has some modifications to make it better suited for carrier operations.

It has more fuel capacity in the fuselage and wings, a special high-frequency antenna to aid navigation over open water, and a better intercom system to communicate with passengers.

Source: Navy Times

The expanded fuel capacity allows the CMV-22B to haul up to 6,000 pounds of cargo for a distance of 1,100 nautical miles, or roughly 1,265 statute miles. This beats out the Greyhound's cargo capacity of just 800 pounds and its range of 1,000 nautical miles.

Source: Navy Times

• Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, Maryland, is the alma mater of both Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
• The private school costs between $37,000 and $60,000 a year and features a recording studio, a swimming pool and a nine-hole golf course.
• Georgetown Prep is one of the most elite boarding schools in the country, with an acceptance rate of just 23%.

Georgetown Preparatory School isn't your average high school.

Located in suburban Bethesda, Maryland, Georgetown Prep's 93-acre campus features perks like a recording studio, a swimming pool and a nine-hole golf course. A year's tuition at the all-boys Catholic school costs as much as $60,000.

In less than a month, the Supreme Court could feature two Georgetown Prep alumni — Neil Gorsuch graduated in 1985, while nominee Brett Kavanaugh graduated in 1983.

Here's a look inside one of America's most elite high schools that's at the center of the political world right now:

SEE ALSO: Inside the insanely competitive world of elite New York City preschools

SEE ALSO: Inside an exclusive, strict Long Island all-boys school that counts high-powered media stars, politicians, and CEOs as alumni

DON'T MISS: The most surprising things about America, according to a Silicon Valley engineer who moved from India 7 years ago

Georgetown Preparatory School is an all-boys private high school in suburban Bethesda, Maryland, just outside of Washington, DC.

Source: Georgetown Prep

The sprawling 93-acre campus features a recording studio, student lounges, a swimming pool, an indoor track, and a nine-hole golf course.

Source: Georgetown Prep

Tuition for Georgetown Prep costs $37,215 a year …

Source: Georgetown Prep

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

If you want an idea of what types of innovative products are going to burst into the mainstream — and want to give some financial support to make them a reality — Kickstarter's tech section is a great place to look. When it comes to tech, backers especially gravitate toward smartwatches, smart home and kitchen devices, and headphones. 

While backing a Kickstarter project has potentially large payoffs, it's not without risk. Some projects are never fully produced or released, and others shut down after a few years, leaving backers with unexplained holes in their wallets or products with useless, outdated software. 

Pono Music, Neil Young's studio quality MP3 player, is one of the top-funded projects in Kickstarter history, with more than $6 million pledged by 18,220 backers, but it was discontinued in 2017. Meanwhile, smartwatch startup Pebble racked up more than $43 million in funding for three of its projects before it filed for insolvency at the end of 2016. Its assets were ultimately acquired by Fitbit. 

We've left such products out in this round-up to spare you that frustration. Each of these 26 tech projects will go down in Kickstarter history for raising more than $1 million, and they're actually worth your money. 

Blink — $1.069 million pledged by 6,879 backers

Blink Indoor Home Security Camera System 3 Camera Kit, $229.99, available at Amazon

Before Blink became an Amazon company, it was a Kickstarter project. Its home security systems are affordable and easy to set up. 

Steadicam Volt — $1.112 million pledged by 6,203 backers

Steadicam Volt, $199, available at Amazon

Steadicam, which makes the camera stabilizers used in Hollywood movies, brings its professional technology to consumers with its a handheld stabilizer for smart phones and action cameras. 

Meater — $1.251 million pledged by 9,737 backers

MEATER Wireless Smart Meat Thermometer, $69, available at Amazon

The first wireless meat thermometer helps you cook the perfect steak and chicken every time. 

• Aldi— short for Albrecht Discount — was first opened in Essen, Germany, by Anna Albrecht in 1913, before it was taken over and expanded by her sons Theo and Karl in 1948.
• The chain was then divided by the brothers into Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud, two distinct chains both operating under the name Aldi and expanding around the world. 
• Aldi is currently spending $1.9 billion to remodel existing stores and another $3.4 billion to build 800 new ones over the next four years.
• See what else you may not know about the grocery giant. 

Aldi, the grocery giant known for its super-discounted prices, has a surprisingly complicated history behind it. 

Aldi — short for Albrecht Discount — was first opened in Essen, Germany, by Anna Albrecht in 1913, before being taken over and expanded by her sons Theo and Karl in 1948. The brothers then divided the chain into Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud, two distinct chains that operate under the same no-frills principles, which have each expanded on a global scale. 

Aldi is currently spending $1.9 billion to remodel existing stores and another $3.4 billion to build 800 new ones over the next four years, Business Insider's Hayley Peterson reported last week. The company announced last week that it's rolling out a massive store overhaul that will emphasize fresh, organic, vegetarian, and vegan items in its US stores. By the time it completes the refresh in early 2019, about 20% of Aldi's grocery items will be new, the company said.

Aldi is known for its low prices and no-frills store design. One reason its prices are so low is that a majority of the groceries it carries are private-label. It also limits store sizes and hours, enforces a cart-rental system, and focuses on efficiency to lower labor costs. 

Here are some other things you may not know about the chain. 

SEE ALSO: Here's how Aldi's explosive growth transformed it from a corner store in Germany to one of the biggest supermarket chains in the world

Aldi has been around for over 100 years. It was founded as a corner store in Germany by a woman named Anna Albrecht in 1913.

Aldi is short for "Albrecht Discount," the original store name.

Albrecht's sons, Theo and Karl, took over the company in 1948.

I wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember. In fact, my husband and I started trying to have a baby less than a year after getting married. It was the one thing in my life in which I was certain that I would excel. And, I did. Together with my husband, I raised two intelligent, confident, caring, and generous human beings.

But I must’ve had luck on my side over the years, because I made my share of mistakes, especially when I had my first child.

I told people his name before he was born.

I made the mistake of telling our friends and family what we'd decided to name our son very early into our pregnancy. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time, but little did I know that every person I'd encounter would have an opinion on our unborn child's name.

To make matters worse, I had a former co-worker who started referring to my belly by a nickname that happened to be the name of a family friend. Even though my husband and I knew we'd never use this nickname for our son, it began to taint the name we loved so much.

I knew that the next time around, I would keep the name to myself. In fact, my husband and I didn't decide on our daughter's name until minutes before she was born.

I allowed too many people into the labor and delivery room.

I adore my family, but at 24 years old, I was not emotionally ready for anyone to peek between my legs every time the nurse came in to check my progression. Additionally, I believe that my fear of pooping on the table in front of a crowd of relatives subconsciously kept me from giving my all when trying to push a nearly 10-pound baby out of me.

This eventually led to a forceps delivery, an episiotomy, and a very painful recovery period. With my next child, I didn't allow anyone but my husband in the delivery room when it was time to push.

I felt shame for not being able to breastfeed.

The hours immediately after giving birth were difficult and painful. I was given IV meds to "take the edge off" which caused my blood pressure to drop suddenly, and I was in and out of consciousness. By the time I could hold my son again, he was wailing uncontrollably and wouldn't latch. I couldn't sit up in the ways the hospital lactation consultant recommended, and the trauma of the entire day finally got to me. My husband, who was visibly shaken by the whole ordeal suggested that maybe we should ask the nurse for a bottle of formula, and I gratefully agreed.

By his next feeding, I was feeling a little better and tried nursing, but my son wasn't having anything to do with my breasts. I decided that I would keep trying, and pump in between feedings. For weeks, I pumped round-the-clock, but never got more than eight total of breast milk ounces per 24 hours. I was sad, frustrated, and felt so much shame that my body wasn't able to provide the one thing my son needed to thrive. Finally, after yet another fruitless pumping session, I decided that I would use the time I'd been spending crying while attached to a breast pump to bond with my son and get to feeling like myself again.

My baby needed a happy and mentally present mom, and if that meant that infant formula would nourish him in the ways my body couldn't, I would be OK with that.

SEE ALSO: See all the products that will cost you more because of Trump's trade war

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola said on July 27 it would be raising the price of its sodas in the middle of the year. 

"There is some broad-based push on input costs that have kind of come in and affected ours and many other industries as well," CEO James Quincey told The Wall Street Journal.

Quincey cited steel and aluminum tariffs announced by Trump earlier this year as one of the causes of increased costs, but did not specify how high the price increase would be.

Winnebago

"We've had to go to the market a bit more frequently and a bit more aggressively with some price increases as of late," Michael Happe, CEO of Winnebago Industries, told The Wall Street Journal in July.

Happe did not confirm how high the prices increases were.

The company has also made changes to the design of the RV to trim costs.

Polaris Industries

Scott Wine, CEO of Polaris, a company that makes motorcycles, quad bikes, and snowmobiles, said in a recent TV news conference after the release of its second-quarter earnings that the company had raised prices on some items impacted by tariffs, such as motorcycles. 

"As we and others raise prices, it creates a real risk of inflation to our customers and the economy, which could be more harmful than the tariffs themselves," Wine said, according to the Associated Press. 

The company is looking to move production of motorcycles that it sells in Europe from Iowa to Poland to avoid being stung by EU tariffs on US products, The Wall Street Journal reported.

• Macy's is doubling down on its off-price concept, Backstage, which sells many of the same brands as a typical Macy's store, but at a steep discount. 
• In a call with investors on Wednesday, Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette said the retailer will have rolled out this concept to 120 stores by the end of 2018. He had previously said it would be added to 100 stores.
• "This has been a good story for us," he said, adding that early adopters of the Backstage model — stores that added it in 2016 and 2017 — have seen positive sales growth.
• We compared the shopping experience at Macy's Backstage and TJ Maxx to find out which off-price store is better. 

Macy's wants in on the off-price boom. 

America's biggest department-store chain is doubling down on its off-price concept, Macy's Backstage. In February, the retailer announced it would be rolling out the Backstage concept to 100 of its stores this year. On Wednesday, during an earnings call with investors, Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette updated that number to 120 stores. 

"This has been a good story for us," he said. "We are satisfied with our results ... it's clearly a strategy that is resonating with customers."

Gennette said the company is closely monitoring the 40 stores that added Backstage sections in 2016 and 2017 and has seen positive growth there. 

Macy's isn't alone in wanting to tap into the off-price model. Nordstrom has a similar concept, called Nordstrom Rack, that similarly takes inspiration from off-price stores like TJ Maxx and Ross Stores. 

It makes sense that department stores would want to emulate an off-price model. Same-store sales numbers have been strong at off-price stores while many department stores have suffered in recent years. But department stores have one major disadvantage while operating in this space. Their off-price stores have to co-exist with their full-price stores, which also offer discounted products, potentially leading to brand confusion for customers and vendors.

"The deck looks stacked against them," a group of Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note in May 2017. The analysts wrote that off-price stores such as TJ Maxx have a structural advantage over department stores since they have a large vendor base that has been built up over decades. Some of the products sold at TJ Maxx are made specifically for the store by certain brands. 

Macy's Backstage has a separate buying team and sells a mix of products from new and existing vendors, both from the current and the last season. A spokesperson for Macy's confirmed that Backstage also sells overstock from its other full-price stores but said this makes up a limited amount of its inventory.

We decided to put the two stores to the test. Here's the verdict from a trip to visit both Macy's Backstage and TJ Maxx in June:

SEE ALSO: We shopped at Target and TJ Maxx to see which was a better store — and the winner was clear

Our first stop was at a Macy's Backstage store in Queens Place Mall, New York.

Though this is a standalone Macy's Backstage store, there is a traditional Macy's store in the same mall.

We were greeted by makeshift tables with deals on Father's Day gifts at the front of the store.

We headed to the beauty section first. It was instantly apparent that this store doesn't stock only well-known brands, as there was a wide mix of lesser-known labels.

The store, overall, stocked more inventory on each item than we expected. 

I've finally found a phone that can keep up with the Pixel 2's camera in a real way, and it's called the Galaxy Note 9 by Samsung. 

Take it easy, there, I tell myself. The Pixel 2 is still the undefeated champ, winning round after round of camera comparisons. Some have come close with valiant efforts, but none as close as the Galaxy Note 9.

This isn't to say that the Galaxy Note 9 takes nearly identical photos as the Pixel 2 XL. Samsung adds its own flair to the Galaxy Note 9's camera that makes photos look good in different ways. 

For transparency's sake, I actually used the Pixel 2 XL for the photo shoot, as it's the model I had with me at the time. But both the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL have exactly the same camera, so it's fair to say that the Pixel 2 XL represents Google's latest lineup of smartphones. 

Note that some of these photos may look blurry or pretty bad on some standard 1080p resolution screens due to the high resolution of the images. 

Check out photos taken with the Pixel 2 XL and Galaxy Note 9:

SEE ALSO: Samsung's long-awaited foldable phone is 'not far away' — here are 7 things to expect from the Galaxy X

Both phones took similar photos where the details in the shadows are pretty much lost, which is fine, but it would have been nice to see a little more detail in the trees. Something to note is the Note 9 photo is razor sharp compared to the Pixel 2 XL's slightly softer shot.

Personally, I prefer the Pixel 2 XL's slightly softer look, as the sharpness in the Note 9's photo looks odd in such a calm setting. 

Both phones took pretty similar shots of the sound, too. The Galaxy Note 9 is keeping up with the Pixel 2 XL.

Here, the Galaxy Note 9 brightens up some of the darker shaded areas a little too much, resulting in a flatter-looking photo next to the Pixel 2 XL's.