Life Pro Tips

Starting from payday, I daily move some money to a piggy bank, which helps for some short term requirements.

Any other short term saving ideas? long term also?

Every single time whatever I needed fixed was done within the week!

Habits can be sustained for years and years. Goals often compel acts of heroism, which are not sustainable in the long run. As Bruce Lee once said, “long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity.”

Some apps will save the text of the webpage in your account, while others just strip everything but the text on the webpage.

If you want to ensure the article you are reading doesn't succumb to link rot, using this method ensures you'll still have the article.

Alternatively, using Firefox Reader Mode, Vivaldi Reader Mode or Safari's Reader Mode, you can email yourself the text of the article and access it anytime through your email. You can create a folder or label to organize them!

This is specially helpful if you have a keyboard-cat who loves to type gibberish. The temperament of the cat is pretty critical, so if you have a cat who already highly values human attention, this is a great behavior to teach because you're literally just teaching them to meet their needs in a way that is most comfortable and enjoyable for both of you.

Things you will need:

• a cat that doesn't hate you/humans in general and ideally one that already regularly seeks human attention and just doesn't know how to do it in a way you enjoy.
• an Altoids tin or other small hard-sided container (so they can't chew through it!)
• cat treats (mine loves temptations and they come in bulk sizes which is great for training)
• a pomodoro or excersice timer or app (I used this one)
• Optional: a training clicker. Personally, I just pick a specific phrase in a tone of voice I never use outside of training. I don't like clickers because I always misplace them, so I just say "good kitty!" in a high pitched voice. The most important thing is that it sounds just about the same every time and you never say it that way or in that tone at any other time.

Each of these steps should occur in 5, 10, or 15 minute sessions spaced out to 1, 2, or 3 times a day depending on your cat's motivation and attention span. Too long or too often will make the cat less willing to participate/learn.

Step 1 - Set Up: Prepare the space and decide on a reward sound (clicker or specific phrase/tone). Fill the small hard-sided container and leave it on the desk (or coffee table if your regular sitting area is a couch). Make sure the treats you have chosen are desirable to the cat by holding them out and seeing if the cat is willing to hop up and move at least a few feet to come get it. You may have to try a few different types of treats to find one the cat really wants.

Step 2 - Get them onto your lap: Introduce the cat to your lap. Closed spaces that they didn't pick out on their own can be stressful for a cat, so maybe start with both feet on the ground and your back straight against the chair (don't tuck your knees up or lean forward). If they are ok with being picked up, you can just set them on your lap. If they don't like being picked up, lure them onto your lap with the treat. The moment they are on your lap, use the reward phrase and provide the treat.

Step 3 - Make the lap a rewarding place to stay: if they stay longer than 3-5 seconds, give them another treat. Steadily move this up to 5-15 seconds.

Step 4 - Extend the amount of time on your lap it takes to receive a reward: This is where the interval timer comes in. I started at 30 seconds, but I could see someone needing to start at 10-15 seconds for a cat that doesn't like human attention as much. Every time the interval beeper goes off, provide a treat.

Step 5 - Keep extending the time: I increased by about 15 seconds each session, but again, my cat was very motivated by human attention. You may need to reduce the time increases to 5-10 seconds. You may find that you can only extend this period to 5-10 minutes without a treat, but my cat likes human attention a lot so she was very happy to learn my preferred cuddle method because it meant she could get more cuddles.

Step 6 - Switch from treats to a preferred petting style (if possible): My cat really likes a single finger stroking her cheeks, but others might like behind the ear or top of the head scritchies, under the chin, or even along the back (although along the back is often overstimulating and a trigger for nibbles/noms). Start alternating the treats with the preferred petting style, then you can (possibly) eliminate the treats altogether if they're a very human-social cat.

Hope this is fun and enjoyable for you all!

I know people who spend like $2.00 or 3.00 and get only like 30 bags at other stores and even when it is only 1.00 it's likely to be less then the 100 green tea bags that got for $1.25.

post edits: just some spell corrections

Get a medium to large metal coffee can, or any old metal can I guess. Make sure it's cleaned out and dry to start with, and is not rusty.

Then get some spray cooking oil and a few scraps of bread. Spray the inside of the can with cooking oil, then drop some bread scraps in there.

Now you have a roach trap, set it near where the roaches are generally at their worst, and they'll crawl out of the walls and into the can to get their munch on, but won't be able to crawl back out.

Check it every couple or few days or so, eventually the roaches will start piling up and most of them that have been in there for a bit will end up dying because they're covered in the cooking oil and apparently can't absorb oxygen.

Take the trap as necessary and either dump it in the toilet and flush them away, or if you have access to a bonfire burn pile, bag the little demons up and burn them. Then clean the can out and reset the trap as necessary.

Even with the worst infestations I've ever seen, this tends to eliminate over 99% of them within about two weeks, if not less.

A few thoughts about the different approaches between my trap vs poison...

If you poison them, then they just go back into your walls and die, further stinking the place up, is more dangerous to people and pets, and honestly isn't even nearly as effective as people would hope.

But roaches are simple and stupid. They're really easy to trap, and why the hell would I want them going back into the walls in the first place? Especially when I can just flush them instead?

Overreacting because someone doesn’t know something can make them feel crappy, embarrassed, like they’re missing out or stupid. It will make them more reluctant to talk about certain things with you.

Person 1 - I love movie name it’s a classic. Person 2 - I’ve never seen it Person 1 - Omg, how haven’t you seen it!?

Instead go with - I’d really recommend watching it, I think you’d like it. It’s about…

Or

Person 1 - Did you see person in the news Person 2 - Who’s that? Person 1 - Seriously, you haven’t heard of person

Instead go with - they are… they were in the news because of…

Doing this will build trust and a feeling of safety if they just don’t know things. They are also more likely to watch/listen/read etc the thing, and then come and talk to you about it afterwards too.

and remove random socks and underwear with tears or holes! Nothing just slightly improves your day than knowing you can pull out any pair and be good to go

If you want to offer to buy a gift for someone, especially an adult who lived on their own awhile, rather than suggest something you think they would want, say ‘I’d like to buy you a present, is there anything you need or have been putting off buying for yourself?’

Due to the cost of living these days, it will be appreciated, and you aren’t buy something they aren’t going to use.

Did you know people are statistically happier in the anticipation period before they go on vacation than they are when they’re on the vacation itself? Similarly, people are generally happier waiting to buy a material good than they are when they actually buy it. Appreciating times of anticipation in your life can be an incredible coping strategy and a source of easy happiness.

Asking open-ended questions—who, what, when, where—can be an effective social tool, but it’s often overused.

Asking too many questions in succession turns the date into an interview, and this often makes people uneasy.

Always be sure you add your own experiences, thoughts, and opinions into the conversation and show who you are.

When someone is giving an answer, be certain to BE PRESENT, rather than plotting in your head on how to keep the conversation going.

A lot of bacteria, including those which cause tooth decay, will die if they absorb xylose, which they will happily do due to xylose's resemblance of glucose, their favourite food.

Xylose is non toxic to humans and used as a calory-reduced sweetener (we're only able to get ~half of the calories off it compared to glucose).

So, snacking on half a teaspoon of sweet xylose after brushing your teeth might feel strange at first (like snacking on pure sugar), but you'll enjoy clean teeth far longer! Until your next encouter with "real" sugar.

Then you should know that you can set up some automation that will unlock and lock and the screen orientation when opening or closing certain apps.

Anyway my patient had bedbugs how'd y'all's weekend go?

(Works best for fleas since they're usually a summer pest, when that 90° weather is avaliable, but works for other things if the opportunity arises.

Tide To Go pens are AMAZING at getting out stains from your clothes. I work on the road all day, and I frequently get dirt or food stains on my clothes. I keep a Tide To Go pen in my vehicle, and I grab it and rub some on the stain, and almost every time the stain is gone five minutes later when it dries. I scratched my arm loading up this morning and didn’t notice that I got blood on my shirt. The Tide To Go pen even took the blood completely out!

Why? Because if the item turns out to be damaged or missing, you'll have an easier time when attempting to dispute charges with seller or financial institution.

Not just for packages, but any thing you buy at a store, you should just film yourself when opening them so you have evidence in case anything goes wrong.

Also secondary LPT related to this topic: In some countries (in the USA at least), using a credit card has better consumer protections than a debit card. Just make sure to pay off the balance at the end of the month so you don't incur interest.

I used to be in the small beer business and I can tell you that 95% of the time a microbrewery randomly has a raspberry or strawberry or blueberry ot whatever offering its almost without fail a beer that has gone "off" when fermenting. A beer being "off" won't make you sick or anything, but it does impart a harsh flavor, many times it will be bacto infection that hints towards vinegar. Smaller breweries don't want to toss whole cycles (shortsighted, I know), so instead they dump massive amounts of fruit flavorings to cover it up. Or turn it into a "shandy"

I implore you all to stop purchasing any seasonal shandys or fruit beers that they don't regularly advertise. The whole thing is a bruise on the industry.

Edit: Some people are interpreting this to say that fruit beers are bad, or are all repurposed. The point is just buyer beware, it's an incredibly common way to save batches that don't taste right.

And yeah... most small brewers despise brett and adjacent bacterias, with a passion... it's just stupid invasive in any system that isn't all metal and glass, and even then still can somehow find it's way.

This is something I honed during grad school. It helped me when I lived with a roommate, myself, and now with a young family (although kids will actively reverse this process so its a challenge).

-Tidying is an all day long, active process that you should master breaking down to the minutiae. For example, start with identifying an object in one room that belongs in another room. When you go to that room, take the object with you and put it away. I've now come to a point that as I put a stack of clean plates away, on my way back I'll grab dirty dishes from the table. This way Im unloading the dishwasher and tidying the table at the same time. Try not to make tidying a chore, but rather something you do along the way. If you have a lot of objects that don't belong in your room, I find a crate or something to isolate them into is a good start. Multiple crates or bags for different rooms is even better. -cleaning is a chore. Washing dishes, cleaning the toilet, etc. Tidying is to assist in this process by eliminating an extra objects and to help setup (ex: I like to bring my cleaning products to the bathroom when I go and just set them aside)

Then your password text won't look like a password, but as a meaningless text inside the mess.

It can be on any handwritten paper, such as outdated invoice, old unused reminders or notes, etc.

For the last few months my airpods have been a very quiet. I thought it was because they were getting old and the batteries were dying. After a quick scrub with some cotton buds dipped in isopropyl alcohol they sound like new again!

Really let the cleaning alcohol soak in there and dissolve all of that nasty earwax, and don't forget to let them dry before using them.

Do it now if you can, it only takes a minute :)

If you will be stuck with having to pay back student loan debt, you may have an out. Many times, these loans have been purchased, re-purchased, and generally passed around through various debt servicers. Someone along the way may have dropped the ball, i.e. the chain of ownership of the debt. Regardless, sending a debt validation letter will provide you more information about whom the original owner was, the amount claimed that you owe, who currently owns the debt, etc.

Here is a site that walks you through creating a debt validation letter for a fee:

https://www.solosuit.com/posts/make-debt-validation-letter-guide

They even provide a template if you don't want to pay:

https://dgkb7ybxr0cqd.cloudfront.net/Debt-Validation-Letter-template.pdf

What to do if the debt collector cannot validate your debt but is still demanding you pay:

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/debt-collection-faqs#report

If you really don't want someone to read what you've written in any way you can't use tipex (whiteout) since the inpression of the pen or pencil might be visible through the paper. Scribbling over with straight lines might still let someone pick out letters. The best way is, with the same writing device preferably, to write random words/letters over your text until it's sufficient obfuscated. It becomes almost impossible to discern what was originally written.

If someone you know constantly makes reproductive anatomy or other borderline jokes and you think they should stop just play dumb. After the joke just say (with a straight face) that you don't get it. When they have to explain it it the joke satisfaction is gone and then more technical words need to be used to explain it making red flags pop up for them and anyone listening. They might get in trouble and you won't need to confront the behavior directly.

Works especially well in the military (even better if it's a superior).

It might be hard distinct between the things you need to the things you want.

If you do see the distinction, prefer the things you need, even though they are not going along with the things you want, and even though you are used to prefer the things you want.

The things you need might be unique to yourself, than the things you want which might be unique to your surroundings.

This is a quite simple tutorial on how to get services for free. I won't waste your time, and get straight too it...

1. Go to one of the following: ApkMody PlatinMods Sbenny

2. Look up the service you want for free, for example, if you wanted spotify, then look up Spotify

3. Download the modded app

4. Install & enjoy your free service

All three of these sites are well known in the modding community to provide good content. You don't have to worry about viruses, or malware. And if you are that worried, then you can scan them with something like Exodus.

Modders will typically not only mod the service to get it for free, but also remove trackers, loggers, etc. from the apps.

ApkMody has some adjunk, so make sure to have an adblocker. PlatinMods & Sbenny are private forums for HQ mods, roms, etc. They don't have any ads, but will require you to sign up, and participate a little bit to get your content. It's more of a give & take system, rather than just take.

Hope you all enjoy!

The biggest life improvement for me was to get a bidet after reading about it on Reddit. It's been a game changer. It's so easy to clean up.

When I now have to go to a toilet without one I feel like a caveman. I bought the cheapest one Aliexpress, no bells or whistles, and installed it myself.

Less problems of sweaty hands and grilling laps. Pretty useful for me using Intel MacBook Pro during heatwave.

The prices of the items you buy are not based on how much they cost to produce. The price is based on what people are willing to pay. And the corporations know that most people aren't paying that much attention.

If you put things into your grocery cart without considering what the price was two weeks ago or two months ago, they'll just keep jacking up the price.

Have you noticed that the price of coca-cola has doubled in the past 5 years? Do you look for alternatives, or do you just keep putting it in your cart? Is there a point at which you'll stop buying a particular thing, or does it have to be truly egregious?

Have any info on fruits not listed? Have a veggie picking guide? Please share!

I got a bike recently, and before that I used to walk everywhere. I had classes pretty early in the morning a lot of the time, so i'd skip breakfast pretty often and it was never much of a problem. So today I did the same but rode my bike instead, and it was fine on the ride, but as soon as i got off my heart shot right up my throat and i felt like throwing up. Took like 5 mins of sitting down to feel fine again.

Don't skip breakfast, kids