Best deicers for your car and driveway

Instead, use a hair dryer to heat the key and/or use a deicing spray on the lock and around the door seal.

The full list of deicing techniques from AAA is here.

For the driveway, salt, potassium chloride and calcium chloride can all melt ice, according to Grieve Hardware president Sue Eckert.

“Middle of the road really is the best, which is potassium chloride, or a blend of all three,” Eckert said.

If you have pets, look for a cat and dog friendly brand that will cut down on potential paw cuts, scrapes, and irritation.

However, if you have concrete that is under a year old (baby concrete?) salt and chemicals can break it down, so you should stick to sand or a new volcanic mineral product.

“It’s actually good for the soil, when all the ice and snow melts,” Eckert said.

Cold and tires

“Tires seem to lose more air in the cold than in the summertime” — true words from motorist Bob Baudendistel of Dayton.

For every 10-degree temperature drop, your tires will lose a pound of pressure, said Grismer Tire manager Mark Breining.

The pressure drop will sometimes trigger your dashboard’s “low tire” indicator, something that sent dozens of people to area service centers early last week.

“Like any light on the dash, it unnerves you or makes you nervous. You think, ‘Oh, I’ve got a tire that’s almost flat,’ when in most cases it is not,” Breining said.

Most customers need a quick check of tire pressure, and a little air, said Breining.

More on tire gauges and where to find tire inflation specifics for your vehicle here.

Holiday sales growth

The verdict is in on holiday sales.

In the U.S., we spent 3 percent more on holiday purchases when compared to 2014.

The total for 2015 was $626.1 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.

The NRF calls the growth solid, when factoring in “unforeseen weather events across the country and an extreme deflationary retail environment.”

December retail sales overall were down 0.2 percent from November (seasonally adjusted) and up 3.1 percent year-over-year (unadjusted), according to the NRF.

Rachel Murray is a WHIO-TV consumer reporter. You can watch her reports on News Center 7, follow her on Twitter @RMurrayWHIO, and like her fan page on Facebook.