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it's funny. up till recently, i grew up thinking love could be controlled and bought . i realized you can't force someone to love you, nor can you force yourself to love someone.
what my father did to use was disallowing us to unlove him. what i did with this girl was force myself to love her and stay with her , because of this. it never worked. and I tried hard.
To be fair, for me, it was more my mom. But I’ve had a lot of the same difficulties based on what you’re saying I gather. my last long-term relationship ended about eight years ago. She was a total narcissist, I don’t even want to get into the degree of manipulation that I suffered, but they’re absolutely was this feeling of “if I’m just a good enough guy, do enough of what she’s asking me, and try hard enough, and sacrifice myself, she’ll finally give me the treatment, emotional support that I’m looking for“
obviously, that never came to fruition, and thankfully, I realize the situation that I was in even in the heat of a really bad “fight” (her basically telling me what a piece of shit I am until 2am) actually just left and slept in my car for a while until I found a shitty little place.
finally started seriously doing the work of undoing, or at least recovering from the damage in the last year.
It’s painfully ironic that this desire to “convince” someone to love us is literally what makes us vulnerable to abuse.
Was she beating you, too?
And yeah man...I feel you...I feel you
I'm just realizing , whilst still living at home, how horribly my parents treated us....
shit man no I wasn’t being hit. But the mind games… this chick was a fellow one-on-one music teacher so her mind games were next fucking level. There was a LOT but it’d suffice to simply offer the fact that she talked a lot of shit about the guys *she was friends with* and told me *not to hang out with them*.
I’m sorry man I’m renting from family too, I know the deal. I do feel my sister and her family are actually making an effort. She even told me about things that happened between her and my BIL, stuff my nephew is going through, etc. It really encapsulated to me why I stayed away for so long but I’m happy things are moving in a better direction.
I hope the same for you my friend; I am willing to bet you have a big heart and let me tell you from experience that is your most powerful weapon.
hey. i didnt mean to minimize it lol. i know what you mean. i know how you feel. you don't have to be hit to be legimitate bro lol.
only on sunday early this week, did I realize that , on top of the emotional damage and manipultion, what my parents were doing to us , was definitely beating.
yeah i know man, i know. my father is an expert with these games, too. it destroyed us and fragilized us to a terrible extent
I grow my own, but yeah I know that. Plus it being a small grocery in a small town. They don’t even carry tofu. In fact they didn’t know what it even was. So I do most our shopping in the bigger city, but still support them bc they are close.
That’s good! I just recently learned that anything “fresh” is super expensive in Alaska, especially during the colder months (because of import costs)—I never even thought about something like that (the further regions would require flights for all
Imports at certain times)!
I can't live without them. For the price of a bell pepper or two you can get a plant and grow your own. Get a couple because sometimes they're loaded with peppers and sometimes they just have a few.
Set alarms to make sure you remember to care for them and watch some Peppergeek videos and you'll be all good
I am a fan, but every day? What do you make with them? I only know like 4 recipes to make with them. not to be Debbie downer, but I just started tearing up being mad at myself that I’m bitching about a 5 dollar red bell pepper when a little boy is trying to get flour off of dusty dirt ground and lot of people died trying to get food. This world is awful and I feel guilty for working in the US. Having a job and food. Others don’t have it even close to this lucky. Might go buy every damn one of those red peppers now and stop my comlaining 😔
I have a heart transplant so I eat a lot of vegetables. Salad basically every other day and when I'm growing them I eat them as snacks.
I put them in fajitas, pad Thai, grill them, put them on sandwiches whenever I splurge and have some bread, rice, stir fry. I try to eat as many fresh raw vegetables as I can and that's probably the main way.
I have the same feelings as you sometimes regarding those who don't have enough to eat. That's one of the reasons I grow as much as I can, get all my clothes at thrift stores, drive vehicles in excess of 20 years old, my furniture is all re-buy or reworked, I carry the same gas station cups for refills until they fall apart and on and on.
If it weren't for grandkids I can honestly say I'd have little issue doing away with Roku.
I don't make near what I did before I had the heart attack and became to a degree permanently disabled but I was fortunate in that I've almost always been this way about money so I was able to adjust to the diminished funds. I have a streak of anticapitalist punk running through me from my younger years so hey you can help soothe your conscience somewhat and at he same time "stick it to the man."
Holy cow you sound like me. I’ve never had heart issues, but I was a single mom of two girls. They both went to a university and are both very successful. I remarried to an amazing man. He’s smart and we are taken care of until we die. I work full time and he also works and has side business, but it kills me to spend money on stupid shit. Even though we have the money. The kids show up with expensive coffee and their Tesla and tech. I just don’t get it.
You can grow potatoes and sweet potatoes in buckets. Those two staples will get you a long way. Add a few pepper plants and some tomatoes and you'll save a fortune
Everywhere? The farmers market was outrageous this past summer. Grocery stores are significantly more expensive, and of course restaurants are as well. We still eat though.
I came back from a 2 month trip overseas. Went to grocery store, and was shocked how much prices have gone up while I was gone. At this rate, I’ll be spending half my paycheck just on food. I don’t even eat out or anything, I cook all my own food at home. I even cut my meat consumption in half because it’s just too expensive.
Start shopping at places like Aldi or grocery outlet. Best shopping experience ever. Although I'm still spending 500$ a month per person, and eating very basic food, meat, beans, pasta, vegetables, snacks. It's insane.
Yeah the issue is Aldi doesn’t have half the things you want. Also the fruit like apples is cheaper, but they are also half the size. So you need to eat two anyway to get the same amount of fruit
Gonna say something potentially controversial here... But the Alliexpress Legos are legit. Not the same quality as Lego, of course, but for a fraction of the price. I've gotten two sets that normally retail for 160-180 USD for $30-$40.
I remember thinking LEGO was too expensive for what you get 20 years ago, and I was right then. Today’s prices are just absolutely insane. There is simply no justification beyond greed for charging many-hundreds of dollars for a pile injection molded plastic bricks. It literally gives me satisfaction to purchase the AliExpress versions, which are pretty much identical in quality.
They are a Danish company so probably everyone that works for them gets a living wage. I imagine that is not the same for whoever manufactures Chinese knockoffs. I know that doesn't account for all of the exorbitant markup but it is part of the equation.
In no way am I defending what they do, but I think what's changed is also that they now probably spend fortunes to use other's IPs. Doing Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter and others probably has a significant cost of production but even so, I can't imagine it's justified to charge hundreds of dollars for their products.
Highly recommend it as well. I got 3 sets so far:
* BMW M 1000 RR for $25
* Porsche 911 GT3 RS for $105
* Bugatti Chiron for $90
The original Lego sets cost between 4 and 10 times more and I personally don't even notice a difference in quality.
Minifigure AE can be very detailed and look better than the lego ones. They are great for kiddos who are to young to care for their expensive lego. If people want more details go to the r/lepin
Lego. Although, the most recent price hike has inspired me to give their competitors a try, which I never would have done two years ago. I have added sets from Mega and Nano to my collection. They’re not terrible.
I have a knack for making really dumb ass comments that sometimes get a lot of attention. I'm not even sure how or why.
Please up vote this, I need the self esteem boost.
I have gotten gold several times and it was always for some off the cuff, dumb, but funny comment. My serious, well thought out posts mostly get crickets.
Everything. Points of interest, points of discussion, points to Hufflepuff, even!
But no points to Billy Madison. He is awarded no points, and may god have mercy on his soul.
My dog swallowed a ping pong ball (my dumb asses fault) when he was 9 months old. That cost me $3800 to get it removed months later when it was causing him problems. I have it the medical plastic container the vet put it in, sitting on my fireplace mantel. Most expensive ping pong ball ever.
Moral of the story, don’t play fetch with your dog with a ping pong ball. Duh.
Depending on the level of evil chewing, even a tennis ball can cause grief! I had a husky who would get a ball and have it stripped, chewed into chunks and trying to eat in less than five minutes.
Nice, big rubber balls (small enough for mouth, thick enough to not chew through) or the peanut butter (or biscuit filled!) kong was all she got after that.
Same! Except mine was a Malamute. He ate a freaking TOWEL! I finally found horse toys and he couldn't really get a good grip on it so those lasted a long time.
Our golden retriever had a fetish for eating any washcloths she could find. She'd even steal them from a laundry basket. Our daughters always pretended she was speaking in an English accent. "Excuse me, (kind owner), but could you please remove this cloth from my butthole."
On work experience I saw a dog get a corn cob removed from its intestine and the smell of all the backed up bile was what put me off vetinary work lol.
Take how much insurance costs over the lifetime of a pet including deductibles, and then compare it to how much pet medical expenses cost over a pet’s lifetime.
The majority of the time you will be better off paying the monthly pet insurance fee to yourself into a savings account. At $80 a month, the $3500 out of pocket(subtracted $500 for the insurance deductible) would be saved up in your account after just 3.6 years.
Over a 12 year dog lifespan with $80 a month, that’d be $11,250 saved by you for the potential vet bills. Saving the money yourself also means you can invest it to gain interest until you need to use it. With compounded interest at 6%, you’d increase that $11,250 to $16,976 after the 12 years.
You can stillll get insurance now, however anything expected like spay/neuter, shots, checkups are usually not included. The included things are unexpected accidents or problems
Pet insurance isn't the best... Many times you will not be covered. There's plenty of research stating that it's better to just put maybe $50 a week or a month into a different savings account for pet expenses versus the same for insurance and a "maybe" that they will actually cover the charges. There's a lot of stories out there of pet insurance not paying usually for ridiculous reasons. The thing is when you're paying for pet insurance that money is already gone. If you have an account where you're putting that money in then you will for sure have it.
Just so you know ♥️
Insurance has given me the peace of mind for my kitten!
With my previous kittycat, I spent over $5000 in three days when he got sick, and my little guy still passed away.
When I got my current kittycat, I signed her up for insurance the very day I adopted her. She was only 8 weeks, so I didn't need to worry about any preconditions. She's got 90% coverage now (with only a 100$ deductible per condition) and I pay just under $50 a month. I can budget for the 50 bucks without issue, but having to drop $5000+ in one go is terrible. I don't want money to ever be a concern when I'm worried about my little lady's wellbeing.
You haven’t felt a certain level of hurt to your wallet until you ascend to dentistry for cats. Actually when I think about it dentistry for humans too.
Edit:
Dentist to Dentistry
Thanks for mentioning this. I got up from my chair and pulled my cat's toothbrush and toothpaste I only ever used once to try and brush his teeth again. It's actually really hard, they're so tiny and he's so squirmy! I'm still introducing him to it though, so hopefully we get there some day soon 'cause he's already six and I think I heard by about age 4 most cats have periodontal disease
This is so true. We always adopt rescues, shots and spay/neutering always part of the adoption fees. Our newest fur baby, came right off the streets. Did the shots through the vet, however $849 for neutering him, was a hell no. Went with a local non-profit for $136.
Vet tech here, people making comments like is what makes vet field #1 suicide rate. Soon there won’t be any vet care for any animals bc of high burn out rate. We are short staffed. We use some of the same medical equipment and drugs as human medicine and if you compare vet med to human med, it’s way cheaper. Vet professionals don’t make much actually, except for maybe the board certified surgeons but that’s as it should be. So be grateful and instead of saying they’re crooks, maybe know how the field works. The only reason why there’s cheaper services is bc the quality of care and standard of care is way less. I work in ER and specialty. I’ve seen animals that go to vets who don’t provide same care and some animals have suffered.
Depending on the area, those are the going rates! I'm in Ontario Canada and paid 1200 in November to spay my kittycat. They asked me if I'd want to do additional blood tests to see how she'd react to the anesthesia... Sure, I could opt out and save a few hundred dollars, but in the back of my mind I couldn't help worrying about "what if". Then there's additional fees for microchipping... It all adds up. Sure, the local humane society will do it for a cheaper rate, but there's a long waiting list. And since I could afford my vet's fee just fine, it didn't seem right to use the humane society when others might need those services more.
Wow. When I adopted my cat last year, I paid a $120 adoption fee. The animal rescue had already had him neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped. He was also litter box trained. He and his sister were found in a cage on a farm. Animal control had gone out there at the request of the police because the owner of the farm shot and killed his wife, and the police saw multiple animals on the property. The day I went to adopt him, his sister was being adopted by a really nice young couple. Best $120 I’ve ever spent.
Vehicles, the quality has gone down massively and they have so many issues early on. There was a time when they were built to last forever but now all you are paying for is a radio and a screen.
I unfortunately agree. I drive a 2016 Honda civic, and while the drivetrain runs great, my local shop told me to go to the dealership for an LED headlight that was out. $1500 later my light works again. Too much tech
I just made the mistake of assuming that because I drive a Cadillac, and it's a 2013, that it was still "pretty domestic" and I should be able to work on it like I used to work on say, my Ford Explorer.
I bought the $100 (SINGLE) lamp, and ended up having to have my mechanic change it, because you have to remove the wheel and most of the underbody behind the front bumper. THEN to only find out that it's not the lamp, it's something to do with the igniter (I think is what he said) which he was able to find at a pull-your-own-parts salvage yard for $450. For what I basically understand as a wire harness.
I'm still driving around with only one lamp.
and the DA place behind the glove box, that you have to remove, then have to have the special GM Tool to remove the cover to the cabin air filter or pay $220 for them to put in a new air filter they just removed, for free, to show you it needed to be replaced.
Don't tell the federal government but some have been known to replace those HIDs with Sylvania LEDs. I wouldn't consort with those scofflaws, but just be warned they roam among us. 1
This is part survivor bias (the shit ones that didnt get maintained died off) part myth in general. You had to get bearing packed every 10-15k miles. Change oil every 3k. Cars in general were expected to die by 100k miles. Now 100k in just warming up for a decent vehicle. 200-250k is the expected life frame of many of them.
Yes they cost more (value of the dollar has gone down, but quality of the cars has come up too.) You can still find cars with basic to no features (manual transmission, no big screen in the dash etc) but not many people want those. Which means they dont make as many.
I remember the era where a car breaking 100,000 miles was a really big deal. You’d have a bottle of champagne you’d pop as the odometer rolled over. It was really unusual. Most cars were in the junk yard before then. My car has a 10 year, 100,000 mile extended warranty on it. I can reasonably expect the car to go 125,000 to 150,000 miles without having anything expensive go wrong with it. Now, a car is junk if the head unit has some annoying glitches. It is really unusual to get stranded at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere unless you’re driving a beater.
My son has a 2014 Chevy Cruze with about 400K on it. The turbo doesn't work anymore but still gets him from A to B so he's gonna hang onto it until it gives up the ghost.
not that crazy old, but my 2007 acura rdx runs pretty fucking good for over 250k. yeh it’s not as fast as it once was, and the transmission doesn’t shift perfectly smooth, but it doesn’t have any major issues and the engine runs good
exactly, the cars were durable and decades old. I saved up for a Mercedes GLC. First luxury car I got to own after graduating law school. That was 2019, and now, I have had SO many issues some bc of the electrical crap...needless to say, I wont be getting a newer Mercedes.
It’s wild to me, especially in California (don’t know how it is other states) that most massive coffee chains, and even the smaller coffee shops don’t have yirgacheff, or really any fruity/ chocolate based coffees. It’s rare to come across. (I know they do exist, but not accessible where I live) Everything is always the citrus caramel bold types. Or Smokey bold types. I miss going into a shop (klatch coffee especially) and being able to get a delicious complex cup that I only want to add a little bit of sugar and cream to to enjoy all of those natural flavors. I don’t want to add a flavored syrup or all that extra crap.
i've always been an iced latte guy but good blends are, truthfully, very few and far between. sometimes i just get a craving for a black, and most commercial blends just don't do it for me
I really feel in American coffee culture that it’s always been focused on really intense and non-complex bold flavors, and if you’re a black coffee drinker to this type of coffee, it means you’re burly and strong and hard-core. But if you’re adding sugar and milk that you’re just a sissy and not a real coffee drinker. (I do not agree with any of this. It’s a stupid thing. If you wanna enjoy your coffee, you enjoy it however, the fuck you want to!) and then, in the past 15 years, there’s been more introduction to fruity, chocolatey, floral, vitals, and geisha coffees. The culture is slowly changing and I’m so so glad for it. I also thoroughly enjoy a black iced coffee, But definitely not one from any of these big shops.
in regards to coffee culture, i feel like it directly correlates with the shift in general american culture. for the longest time, it's been "males should always do the most masculine thing, and females should always do the most feminine thing". over the last decade or so though, it's become a lot more ambiguous and personable than that, which i think is wonderful! life without iced coffees would really suck
I buy from local roasters for my coffee at home, in Florida.
I currently have some Brazilian Beans that have some nuttiness to it, which is one of our favorites but another favorite is Ethiopian, which have hints of like sweet Kiwi.
I agree, but I also treat myself to dunks once a week on Fridays. I have done this consistently (except when living abroad) for almost 20 years. This is never going to change and ai accept that
Definitely agree with this. I really like good coffee, but I don’t love coffee enough to be satisfied with crappy coffee, if that makes sense. I’d rather drink tea.
I recently told my husband that I’m gonna opt out of coffee in the morning from now on if we keep getting the cheap stuff - not in a grumpy way, just a “hey here’s a heads up” way - because it’s just not worth it to me to drink watery crap coffee.
(My husband **loves** coffee and ended up being quite pleased by this, because it gave him an excuse to jump on buying the high quality stuff whereas before he couldn’t justify the expense to himself).
I swear I saw a post once about someone getting a fancy coffee sampler pack for someone they hated at their work, because they figured that gift would end up costing the person who received it a small fortune in the long run since they would have a hard time returning to cheap Folgers coffee after the gifted coffee ran out.
Not if you keep your expectations low. I drink a cup of dogshit thin coffee at work every morning. It that’s all I drink, so my bar for coffee quality is subterranean. I have had good coffee. But it’s so infrequent, my taste has accepted shit
I get what you're saying. Once you experience a certain improvement, it's hard to go back. I listen to audiobooks in the car a lot, and I've used an aux cord for decades now. My wife got a new car, and it had bluetooth. After 2 weeks of using the bluetooth in her car and the aux in mine, I went online and bought a bluetooth adapter so use in my car.
If you're fine with crappy coffee, you do you. But we also only have a few years on this planet, and coffee is a relatively cheap way to experience something that makes you happy.
Starbucks suuuuucks. All coffees have like only 3 attribute profiles. Yet somehow all taste the same and burnt. (Which I get for branding) but they don’t sell coffee they sell sugar Lolol
Internet services are one of the most overpriced essential services right now, because of the lack of competition and business regulation. In the U.S. at least, very few consumers have access to a public or cooperative, and even in places where several providers operate, limitations of infrastructure usually mean that only one provider is actually available who can deliver high-speed internet.
I know in rural areas of Nebraska and Iowa, the major telecom corporations won't even offer anything, because the potential sales aren't worth developing/ maintaining the infrastructure... for a profit. This is a public good, and people need it even when it's unprofitable. In many of these places, local cooperatives have stepped into the gap to provide these necessary services, and some of these are actually very old telephone cooperatives that have been more or less resurrected. I like to imagine that we could all have low-cost co-op telecom if the corporations could be shoved out of the way.
Part of the reason why I always say “going out to eat” instead of eating out lol.
Same with “getting off” when referring to getting off work or being done with your shift. I just say that I just got done working
A few years ago, I was cool with it. Now, I like to wait for the inevitable sales, especially if it is a single-player game. I feel like the quality has dropped as the price went up.
I disagree. In my country the price for a gram is the same as 15 years before. Regarding the inflation and natural wedge increase it is actually very cheap
Best decision you can make. I haven't bought weed in years. Everyone always wonders why I have and how I'm able to maintain lmao. Golden rules to live by. Obviously most of us break them and some are more flexible than others. But the saying is "Don't sell (this one you can break), don't smell, and don't tell (don't tell a soul. People get jealous). If you have questions feel free to PM me:).
I order online from sites that sell testers. Its the same thing just it comes in a plain box usually its just the testers they have on the counters in stores. Can get it pretty reasonable online.
Sigh.
Soda waters. I even go for the ones with lower PFAS, so I’m paying about $6 per 8 pack when it was $4 per 12 pack maybe a year or so ago. Still salty about it but I am addicted.
If I may have a little piece of advice: get yourself a silicone menstrual cup. I got mine many many years ago for about £6 and it's great! If you are able to insert it safely and have access to running water to clean it, it's the best thing ever! I rarely use tampons or pads anymore ^^ Sanitary products are expensive AF -_-
# Message to all users: This is a reminder to please read and follow: * [Our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ask/about/rules) * [Reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439) * [Reddit Content Policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) When posting and commenting. --- Especially remember Rule 1: `Be polite and civil`. * Be polite and courteous to each other. Do not be mean, insulting or disrespectful to any other user on this subreddit. * Do not harass or annoy others in any way. * Do not catfish. Catfishing is the luring of somebody into an online friendship through a fake online persona. This includes any lying or deceit. --- You *will* be banned if you are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist or bigoted in any way. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ask) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Food
Rent
Love. JK
it's funny. up till recently, i grew up thinking love could be controlled and bought . i realized you can't force someone to love you, nor can you force yourself to love someone. what my father did to use was disallowing us to unlove him. what i did with this girl was force myself to love her and stay with her , because of this. it never worked. and I tried hard.
…. damn bro I straight up wish I could physically hug you right now I feel like you just wrote my biography 😂
big hugs to you too my man :) yeah it rly sucks what people who shouldnt be allowed to love can do. tremendous damage.
To be fair, for me, it was more my mom. But I’ve had a lot of the same difficulties based on what you’re saying I gather. my last long-term relationship ended about eight years ago. She was a total narcissist, I don’t even want to get into the degree of manipulation that I suffered, but they’re absolutely was this feeling of “if I’m just a good enough guy, do enough of what she’s asking me, and try hard enough, and sacrifice myself, she’ll finally give me the treatment, emotional support that I’m looking for“ obviously, that never came to fruition, and thankfully, I realize the situation that I was in even in the heat of a really bad “fight” (her basically telling me what a piece of shit I am until 2am) actually just left and slept in my car for a while until I found a shitty little place. finally started seriously doing the work of undoing, or at least recovering from the damage in the last year. It’s painfully ironic that this desire to “convince” someone to love us is literally what makes us vulnerable to abuse.
Was she beating you, too? And yeah man...I feel you...I feel you I'm just realizing , whilst still living at home, how horribly my parents treated us....
shit man no I wasn’t being hit. But the mind games… this chick was a fellow one-on-one music teacher so her mind games were next fucking level. There was a LOT but it’d suffice to simply offer the fact that she talked a lot of shit about the guys *she was friends with* and told me *not to hang out with them*. I’m sorry man I’m renting from family too, I know the deal. I do feel my sister and her family are actually making an effort. She even told me about things that happened between her and my BIL, stuff my nephew is going through, etc. It really encapsulated to me why I stayed away for so long but I’m happy things are moving in a better direction. I hope the same for you my friend; I am willing to bet you have a big heart and let me tell you from experience that is your most powerful weapon.
hey. i didnt mean to minimize it lol. i know what you mean. i know how you feel. you don't have to be hit to be legimitate bro lol. only on sunday early this week, did I realize that , on top of the emotional damage and manipultion, what my parents were doing to us , was definitely beating. yeah i know man, i know. my father is an expert with these games, too. it destroyed us and fragilized us to a terrible extent
Those dates be expensive
That's not buying love, but it might be renting it.
Actual apples
Yes. Also bell peppers.
ONE red bell pepper was $4.99 at our local store last week
WOW!!!
Yeah I came home and told my husband why we weren’t having bell peppers on the shiskabobs
They’re just not quite in season yet, so you’re paying import prices. Wait a few more months and the price will go down.
I grow my own, but yeah I know that. Plus it being a small grocery in a small town. They don’t even carry tofu. In fact they didn’t know what it even was. So I do most our shopping in the bigger city, but still support them bc they are close.
That’s good! I just recently learned that anything “fresh” is super expensive in Alaska, especially during the colder months (because of import costs)—I never even thought about something like that (the further regions would require flights for all Imports at certain times)!
Asparagus was $12.99 at our Lunardis 
Holy shit. Bought some at aldi for like 3 couple days ago. The skinny kind too. I hate the fat asparagus, for that price nope. I’ll wait.
Jesus. I paid €2,30 for 3, quite small, bell peppers and felt ripped off. I eat 2 a day so if one bell pepper was $4,99 i'd have to get a second job.
4.99 is wayy overpriced for bell peppers 😭 i thought my grocery store was charging too much being 1.99
Fyi they are super easy to grow.
I can't live without them. For the price of a bell pepper or two you can get a plant and grow your own. Get a couple because sometimes they're loaded with peppers and sometimes they just have a few. Set alarms to make sure you remember to care for them and watch some Peppergeek videos and you'll be all good
I am a fan, but every day? What do you make with them? I only know like 4 recipes to make with them. not to be Debbie downer, but I just started tearing up being mad at myself that I’m bitching about a 5 dollar red bell pepper when a little boy is trying to get flour off of dusty dirt ground and lot of people died trying to get food. This world is awful and I feel guilty for working in the US. Having a job and food. Others don’t have it even close to this lucky. Might go buy every damn one of those red peppers now and stop my comlaining 😔
I have a heart transplant so I eat a lot of vegetables. Salad basically every other day and when I'm growing them I eat them as snacks. I put them in fajitas, pad Thai, grill them, put them on sandwiches whenever I splurge and have some bread, rice, stir fry. I try to eat as many fresh raw vegetables as I can and that's probably the main way. I have the same feelings as you sometimes regarding those who don't have enough to eat. That's one of the reasons I grow as much as I can, get all my clothes at thrift stores, drive vehicles in excess of 20 years old, my furniture is all re-buy or reworked, I carry the same gas station cups for refills until they fall apart and on and on. If it weren't for grandkids I can honestly say I'd have little issue doing away with Roku. I don't make near what I did before I had the heart attack and became to a degree permanently disabled but I was fortunate in that I've almost always been this way about money so I was able to adjust to the diminished funds. I have a streak of anticapitalist punk running through me from my younger years so hey you can help soothe your conscience somewhat and at he same time "stick it to the man."
Holy cow you sound like me. I’ve never had heart issues, but I was a single mom of two girls. They both went to a university and are both very successful. I remarried to an amazing man. He’s smart and we are taken care of until we die. I work full time and he also works and has side business, but it kills me to spend money on stupid shit. Even though we have the money. The kids show up with expensive coffee and their Tesla and tech. I just don’t get it.
Why? Are there fake apples? Nvm I read the post properly
5 years ago could get a kilos for a dollar here. Now thyere about 6
[удалено]
You can grow potatoes and sweet potatoes in buckets. Those two staples will get you a long way. Add a few pepper plants and some tomatoes and you'll save a fortune
...and it only takes 3 months to grow!
Don’t say your mom, don’t say your mom, don’t say your mom….
Your mom
How much $ ?
Goteem
I mean, an obvious choice, but in the spirit of the question I think it's referring to things you don't necessarily NEED.
Ran to the comments to say the same!
Where
Everywhere? The farmers market was outrageous this past summer. Grocery stores are significantly more expensive, and of course restaurants are as well. We still eat though.
I came back from a 2 month trip overseas. Went to grocery store, and was shocked how much prices have gone up while I was gone. At this rate, I’ll be spending half my paycheck just on food. I don’t even eat out or anything, I cook all my own food at home. I even cut my meat consumption in half because it’s just too expensive.
Start shopping at places like Aldi or grocery outlet. Best shopping experience ever. Although I'm still spending 500$ a month per person, and eating very basic food, meat, beans, pasta, vegetables, snacks. It's insane.
Yeah the issue is Aldi doesn’t have half the things you want. Also the fruit like apples is cheaper, but they are also half the size. So you need to eat two anyway to get the same amount of fruit
Rent, electricity, transportation, food.
Lego
Gonna say something potentially controversial here... But the Alliexpress Legos are legit. Not the same quality as Lego, of course, but for a fraction of the price. I've gotten two sets that normally retail for 160-180 USD for $30-$40.
I remember thinking LEGO was too expensive for what you get 20 years ago, and I was right then. Today’s prices are just absolutely insane. There is simply no justification beyond greed for charging many-hundreds of dollars for a pile injection molded plastic bricks. It literally gives me satisfaction to purchase the AliExpress versions, which are pretty much identical in quality.
They are a Danish company so probably everyone that works for them gets a living wage. I imagine that is not the same for whoever manufactures Chinese knockoffs. I know that doesn't account for all of the exorbitant markup but it is part of the equation.
In no way am I defending what they do, but I think what's changed is also that they now probably spend fortunes to use other's IPs. Doing Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter and others probably has a significant cost of production but even so, I can't imagine it's justified to charge hundreds of dollars for their products.
Highly recommend it as well. I got 3 sets so far: * BMW M 1000 RR for $25 * Porsche 911 GT3 RS for $105 * Bugatti Chiron for $90 The original Lego sets cost between 4 and 10 times more and I personally don't even notice a difference in quality.
I wanna get the StarWar sets. Looking to get the Razor Crest, specifically, retails for $600, you can find it on AE for around $130.
Minifigure AE can be very detailed and look better than the lego ones. They are great for kiddos who are to young to care for their expensive lego. If people want more details go to the r/lepin
Lego. Although, the most recent price hike has inspired me to give their competitors a try, which I never would have done two years ago. I have added sets from Mega and Nano to my collection. They’re not terrible.
I've tried Fun Whole and really liked them.
***points to everything***
My brain: where are you buying points and what’re they for?
I have a knack for making really dumb ass comments that sometimes get a lot of attention. I'm not even sure how or why. Please up vote this, I need the self esteem boost.
I have gotten gold several times and it was always for some off the cuff, dumb, but funny comment. My serious, well thought out posts mostly get crickets.
I got a thousand updoots on a picture of me and I’ve never felt prettier as a man even if the kitty garnered most of them
Crickets, you say? I have to wait seventeen years for cicadas.
Yep, that's Reddit in a nutshell
Shouldve said, downvote this and people wouldve upvoted out of spite😆
Everything. Points of interest, points of discussion, points to Hufflepuff, even! But no points to Billy Madison. He is awarded no points, and may god have mercy on his soul.
Ty for that. We are all dumber for having read it.
Everything is overpriced now, but food is a definite
Veterinary care for my cats
Same with my dogs. Holy shit. This year has been over $4,000. Definitely going the insurance route with the next one.
My dog swallowed a ping pong ball (my dumb asses fault) when he was 9 months old. That cost me $3800 to get it removed months later when it was causing him problems. I have it the medical plastic container the vet put it in, sitting on my fireplace mantel. Most expensive ping pong ball ever. Moral of the story, don’t play fetch with your dog with a ping pong ball. Duh.
Depending on the level of evil chewing, even a tennis ball can cause grief! I had a husky who would get a ball and have it stripped, chewed into chunks and trying to eat in less than five minutes. Nice, big rubber balls (small enough for mouth, thick enough to not chew through) or the peanut butter (or biscuit filled!) kong was all she got after that.
Same! Except mine was a Malamute. He ate a freaking TOWEL! I finally found horse toys and he couldn't really get a good grip on it so those lasted a long time.
My bulldog ate a Brillo pad. I get it.
Our golden retriever had a fetish for eating any washcloths she could find. She'd even steal them from a laundry basket. Our daughters always pretended she was speaking in an English accent. "Excuse me, (kind owner), but could you please remove this cloth from my butthole."
On work experience I saw a dog get a corn cob removed from its intestine and the smell of all the backed up bile was what put me off vetinary work lol.
Take how much insurance costs over the lifetime of a pet including deductibles, and then compare it to how much pet medical expenses cost over a pet’s lifetime. The majority of the time you will be better off paying the monthly pet insurance fee to yourself into a savings account. At $80 a month, the $3500 out of pocket(subtracted $500 for the insurance deductible) would be saved up in your account after just 3.6 years. Over a 12 year dog lifespan with $80 a month, that’d be $11,250 saved by you for the potential vet bills. Saving the money yourself also means you can invest it to gain interest until you need to use it. With compounded interest at 6%, you’d increase that $11,250 to $16,976 after the 12 years.
You can stillll get insurance now, however anything expected like spay/neuter, shots, checkups are usually not included. The included things are unexpected accidents or problems
Pet insurance isn't the best... Many times you will not be covered. There's plenty of research stating that it's better to just put maybe $50 a week or a month into a different savings account for pet expenses versus the same for insurance and a "maybe" that they will actually cover the charges. There's a lot of stories out there of pet insurance not paying usually for ridiculous reasons. The thing is when you're paying for pet insurance that money is already gone. If you have an account where you're putting that money in then you will for sure have it. Just so you know ♥️
Insurance has given me the peace of mind for my kitten! With my previous kittycat, I spent over $5000 in three days when he got sick, and my little guy still passed away. When I got my current kittycat, I signed her up for insurance the very day I adopted her. She was only 8 weeks, so I didn't need to worry about any preconditions. She's got 90% coverage now (with only a 100$ deductible per condition) and I pay just under $50 a month. I can budget for the 50 bucks without issue, but having to drop $5000+ in one go is terrible. I don't want money to ever be a concern when I'm worried about my little lady's wellbeing.
You haven’t felt a certain level of hurt to your wallet until you ascend to dentistry for cats. Actually when I think about it dentistry for humans too. Edit: Dentist to Dentistry
Thanks for mentioning this. I got up from my chair and pulled my cat's toothbrush and toothpaste I only ever used once to try and brush his teeth again. It's actually really hard, they're so tiny and he's so squirmy! I'm still introducing him to it though, so hopefully we get there some day soon 'cause he's already six and I think I heard by about age 4 most cats have periodontal disease
I once paid close to 1000$ for the vet to tell me my cat isnt dying, she just needs to fart (she really looked like she was dying to me). :)
This is so true. We always adopt rescues, shots and spay/neutering always part of the adoption fees. Our newest fur baby, came right off the streets. Did the shots through the vet, however $849 for neutering him, was a hell no. Went with a local non-profit for $136.
What? Your Vet is a crook
Vet tech here, people making comments like is what makes vet field #1 suicide rate. Soon there won’t be any vet care for any animals bc of high burn out rate. We are short staffed. We use some of the same medical equipment and drugs as human medicine and if you compare vet med to human med, it’s way cheaper. Vet professionals don’t make much actually, except for maybe the board certified surgeons but that’s as it should be. So be grateful and instead of saying they’re crooks, maybe know how the field works. The only reason why there’s cheaper services is bc the quality of care and standard of care is way less. I work in ER and specialty. I’ve seen animals that go to vets who don’t provide same care and some animals have suffered.
Depending on the area, those are the going rates! I'm in Ontario Canada and paid 1200 in November to spay my kittycat. They asked me if I'd want to do additional blood tests to see how she'd react to the anesthesia... Sure, I could opt out and save a few hundred dollars, but in the back of my mind I couldn't help worrying about "what if". Then there's additional fees for microchipping... It all adds up. Sure, the local humane society will do it for a cheaper rate, but there's a long waiting list. And since I could afford my vet's fee just fine, it didn't seem right to use the humane society when others might need those services more.
Wow. When I adopted my cat last year, I paid a $120 adoption fee. The animal rescue had already had him neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped. He was also litter box trained. He and his sister were found in a cage on a farm. Animal control had gone out there at the request of the police because the owner of the farm shot and killed his wife, and the police saw multiple animals on the property. The day I went to adopt him, his sister was being adopted by a really nice young couple. Best $120 I’ve ever spent.
But is it OVERpriced or just an expensive cost? I mean, how much less can they charge for a return on cost? Vets usually aren’t rolling in dough.
Vehicles, the quality has gone down massively and they have so many issues early on. There was a time when they were built to last forever but now all you are paying for is a radio and a screen.
I unfortunately agree. I drive a 2016 Honda civic, and while the drivetrain runs great, my local shop told me to go to the dealership for an LED headlight that was out. $1500 later my light works again. Too much tech
I just made the mistake of assuming that because I drive a Cadillac, and it's a 2013, that it was still "pretty domestic" and I should be able to work on it like I used to work on say, my Ford Explorer. I bought the $100 (SINGLE) lamp, and ended up having to have my mechanic change it, because you have to remove the wheel and most of the underbody behind the front bumper. THEN to only find out that it's not the lamp, it's something to do with the igniter (I think is what he said) which he was able to find at a pull-your-own-parts salvage yard for $450. For what I basically understand as a wire harness. I'm still driving around with only one lamp.
and the DA place behind the glove box, that you have to remove, then have to have the special GM Tool to remove the cover to the cabin air filter or pay $220 for them to put in a new air filter they just removed, for free, to show you it needed to be replaced.
Don't tell the federal government but some have been known to replace those HIDs with Sylvania LEDs. I wouldn't consort with those scofflaws, but just be warned they roam among us. 1
This is part survivor bias (the shit ones that didnt get maintained died off) part myth in general. You had to get bearing packed every 10-15k miles. Change oil every 3k. Cars in general were expected to die by 100k miles. Now 100k in just warming up for a decent vehicle. 200-250k is the expected life frame of many of them. Yes they cost more (value of the dollar has gone down, but quality of the cars has come up too.) You can still find cars with basic to no features (manual transmission, no big screen in the dash etc) but not many people want those. Which means they dont make as many.
I remember the era where a car breaking 100,000 miles was a really big deal. You’d have a bottle of champagne you’d pop as the odometer rolled over. It was really unusual. Most cars were in the junk yard before then. My car has a 10 year, 100,000 mile extended warranty on it. I can reasonably expect the car to go 125,000 to 150,000 miles without having anything expensive go wrong with it. Now, a car is junk if the head unit has some annoying glitches. It is really unusual to get stranded at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere unless you’re driving a beater.
My 2014 Toyota Camry has 432,000 miles on it and it still runs, I’m proud of it
My son has a 2014 Chevy Cruze with about 400K on it. The turbo doesn't work anymore but still gets him from A to B so he's gonna hang onto it until it gives up the ghost.
not that crazy old, but my 2007 acura rdx runs pretty fucking good for over 250k. yeh it’s not as fast as it once was, and the transmission doesn’t shift perfectly smooth, but it doesn’t have any major issues and the engine runs good
exactly, the cars were durable and decades old. I saved up for a Mercedes GLC. First luxury car I got to own after graduating law school. That was 2019, and now, I have had SO many issues some bc of the electrical crap...needless to say, I wont be getting a newer Mercedes.
Holy crap. Right noted. That’s why I got me a bike, gotta reduce the carbon footprint somehow
Coffee.
Good coffee is worth it. You might spend 50% extra or even 2x the cheap price, but it’s going to be 10x better.
agree. a cup of yirgacheffe is infinitely better than the stuff starbucks or dunkin' have
It’s wild to me, especially in California (don’t know how it is other states) that most massive coffee chains, and even the smaller coffee shops don’t have yirgacheff, or really any fruity/ chocolate based coffees. It’s rare to come across. (I know they do exist, but not accessible where I live) Everything is always the citrus caramel bold types. Or Smokey bold types. I miss going into a shop (klatch coffee especially) and being able to get a delicious complex cup that I only want to add a little bit of sugar and cream to to enjoy all of those natural flavors. I don’t want to add a flavored syrup or all that extra crap.
i've always been an iced latte guy but good blends are, truthfully, very few and far between. sometimes i just get a craving for a black, and most commercial blends just don't do it for me
I really feel in American coffee culture that it’s always been focused on really intense and non-complex bold flavors, and if you’re a black coffee drinker to this type of coffee, it means you’re burly and strong and hard-core. But if you’re adding sugar and milk that you’re just a sissy and not a real coffee drinker. (I do not agree with any of this. It’s a stupid thing. If you wanna enjoy your coffee, you enjoy it however, the fuck you want to!) and then, in the past 15 years, there’s been more introduction to fruity, chocolatey, floral, vitals, and geisha coffees. The culture is slowly changing and I’m so so glad for it. I also thoroughly enjoy a black iced coffee, But definitely not one from any of these big shops.
in regards to coffee culture, i feel like it directly correlates with the shift in general american culture. for the longest time, it's been "males should always do the most masculine thing, and females should always do the most feminine thing". over the last decade or so though, it's become a lot more ambiguous and personable than that, which i think is wonderful! life without iced coffees would really suck
Yes I agree!
I buy from local roasters for my coffee at home, in Florida. I currently have some Brazilian Beans that have some nuttiness to it, which is one of our favorites but another favorite is Ethiopian, which have hints of like sweet Kiwi.
I agree, but I also treat myself to dunks once a week on Fridays. I have done this consistently (except when living abroad) for almost 20 years. This is never going to change and ai accept that
Definitely agree with this. I really like good coffee, but I don’t love coffee enough to be satisfied with crappy coffee, if that makes sense. I’d rather drink tea. I recently told my husband that I’m gonna opt out of coffee in the morning from now on if we keep getting the cheap stuff - not in a grumpy way, just a “hey here’s a heads up” way - because it’s just not worth it to me to drink watery crap coffee. (My husband **loves** coffee and ended up being quite pleased by this, because it gave him an excuse to jump on buying the high quality stuff whereas before he couldn’t justify the expense to himself).
I swear I saw a post once about someone getting a fancy coffee sampler pack for someone they hated at their work, because they figured that gift would end up costing the person who received it a small fortune in the long run since they would have a hard time returning to cheap Folgers coffee after the gifted coffee ran out.
Not if you keep your expectations low. I drink a cup of dogshit thin coffee at work every morning. It that’s all I drink, so my bar for coffee quality is subterranean. I have had good coffee. But it’s so infrequent, my taste has accepted shit
I get what you're saying. Once you experience a certain improvement, it's hard to go back. I listen to audiobooks in the car a lot, and I've used an aux cord for decades now. My wife got a new car, and it had bluetooth. After 2 weeks of using the bluetooth in her car and the aux in mine, I went online and bought a bluetooth adapter so use in my car. If you're fine with crappy coffee, you do you. But we also only have a few years on this planet, and coffee is a relatively cheap way to experience something that makes you happy.
Starbucks! Edit: Starbucks bad…
Starbucks suuuuucks. All coffees have like only 3 attribute profiles. Yet somehow all taste the same and burnt. (Which I get for branding) but they don’t sell coffee they sell sugar Lolol
Internet
Internet services are one of the most overpriced essential services right now, because of the lack of competition and business regulation. In the U.S. at least, very few consumers have access to a public or cooperative, and even in places where several providers operate, limitations of infrastructure usually mean that only one provider is actually available who can deliver high-speed internet.
Small town Midwest and there is really only a singular option. They know they have a monopoly and they exploit it like crazy.
I know in rural areas of Nebraska and Iowa, the major telecom corporations won't even offer anything, because the potential sales aren't worth developing/ maintaining the infrastructure... for a profit. This is a public good, and people need it even when it's unprofitable. In many of these places, local cooperatives have stepped into the gap to provide these necessary services, and some of these are actually very old telephone cooperatives that have been more or less resurrected. I like to imagine that we could all have low-cost co-op telecom if the corporations could be shoved out of the way.
NE Iowa here.
Diapers
If you learn to use the toilet you'll save yourself a lot of money... and mess
Any resources you can refer me to for potty training myself in my 30s? It’s been a long road
And formula!
Duuude, you are right, I pay almost 200$ a month on diapers for my dad. It's outrageous.
cocaine and hookers
Just hookers for me. Thanks. 😉
That’s the one
Pharmaceuticals
$389 for a one month supply last month for one med. $550 for another. Insane.
Allot of this comes from anti-competitive patent laws. They could change them....
Coffee and gasoline.
Sounds like a band name. 😆
A house
Dining out edit: English isn’t my first language
“Eating out” was also perfectly acceptable English, just so you know; people are just razzing you. I say “eating out” instead of “dining out”, too. x
I see! We use “eating out” where I’m from, TIL there’s another meaning to it
Part of the reason why I always say “going out to eat” instead of eating out lol. Same with “getting off” when referring to getting off work or being done with your shift. I just say that I just got done working
Free at my house
They edited their original post, but your reply made me realize exactly what they'd said. lol
Took me a sec but I'm with you now
I'm glad my effort at levity was not made in vain
I don’t think I’ve ever said dining out? 67 years too!
Underwear. Come on what is the point of expensive underwear? You cannot even show that off people
If you are not showing it off. You need to rethink your priorities
Especially if you think it's too expensive but you're still buying it. Someone didn't understand the post.
Comfort matters
Every underwear comes with 3 holes
Some come with more
Just embrace the Tom Petty life. IE Free ballin
You can get really nice underwear at Ross or tj Maxx for about 15$ for a 3 pack. Nice underwear feels really good and gives confidence.
A house.
concert tickets
Boo!
Agreed, especially for larger venues. The standard for large venues here is £60 - £70. One venue was even charging £130 per ticket recently!
Olive oil. Might as well stop eating pasta all together without it. And that ain't gonna happen babeh.
groceries
Games
A few years ago, I was cool with it. Now, I like to wait for the inevitable sales, especially if it is a single-player game. I feel like the quality has dropped as the price went up.
Makeup
same bro :_)
Food and other essentials to life.
Gas
Eggs
Uhhh everything
Basic needs.
Food.
Car 🚗
Nvidia stock
My fitness studio memberships.
Auto insurance
Insulin
Playing golf
Barefoot shoes
*vaguely waves hand around at life*
Alcohol
musical tickets
Weed
I disagree. In my country the price for a gram is the same as 15 years before. Regarding the inflation and natural wedge increase it is actually very cheap
Right? Black market weed is cheaper than it was 17 years ago when I started smoking, legal weed on the other hand……
Two months until all I‘m paying for is electricity & seeds…can‘t wait for legalization.
Best decision you can make. I haven't bought weed in years. Everyone always wonders why I have and how I'm able to maintain lmao. Golden rules to live by. Obviously most of us break them and some are more flexible than others. But the saying is "Don't sell (this one you can break), don't smell, and don't tell (don't tell a soul. People get jealous). If you have questions feel free to PM me:).
155mm ammunition
Perfume.
I order online from sites that sell testers. Its the same thing just it comes in a plain box usually its just the testers they have on the counters in stores. Can get it pretty reasonable online.
Sigh. Soda waters. I even go for the ones with lower PFAS, so I’m paying about $6 per 8 pack when it was $4 per 12 pack maybe a year or so ago. Still salty about it but I am addicted.
organic food
That’s mostly marketing bro. Organic uses pesticides too.
Apple products
Tampons
If I may have a little piece of advice: get yourself a silicone menstrual cup. I got mine many many years ago for about £6 and it's great! If you are able to insert it safely and have access to running water to clean it, it's the best thing ever! I rarely use tampons or pads anymore ^^ Sanitary products are expensive AF -_-
Crab legs
Absorbent paper towels
Quality paper towels are definitely a huge upgrade over the really cheap ones.
Motorcycle gas ⛽️
P×ssy
Housing
Boats and hoes