Life Pro Tips

I have my text app set up so that when I swipe left or right on a text thread it sends it to the Archive folder and out of my Inbox. Occasionally there will be someone that I know I need to limit my contact with for whatever reason but I keep getting tempted to text them when I go to send a meme or something and scroll through my recent text contacts. ("Oh! They'd think this is hilarious!") Or sometimes it's someone on my shitlist and just seeing their thread irks me. But I may not be ready to full-on block them because they're family or a really old friend. That's where Archive has come in so handy. It eliminates the visual temptation or annoyance. Also, if the other person texts me it immediately comes out of the Archive folder and shows up in my Inbox again and I'll make a decision whether to read it or send it back to Archive unopened. However, it's like Block Lite and has removed a little bit of stress from my life when needed.

Hello, I’m young and work as an AI Technician at Google, which means I earn a good salary. My parents are not elderly, but they are both currently jobless and rely on my income and live in my house. I want to clarify that it’s a pleasure for me to support my parents and be there for them. However, I’m facing a small issue and would appreciate you guys' help.

My mom is doing fine, but the problem lies with my dad. He’s not addicted to alcohol like some people, but he is addicted to ultra-processed foods and consumes large quantities every day. I order healthy meals from trusted restaurants for both of them and myself, and he eats those as well, but he still indulges in a lot of unhealthy snacks like ice cream, chips, energy drinks, and candies. Like, Too much of them. This situation worries me because of the impact it could have on his health.

I’ve tried talking to him about it and convincing him to cut back and eat less unhealthy food, he always agrees but then continues to eat even more unhealthy food. My question is:

Should I intervene and try to stop him from eating that junk food forcefully altogether, perhaps by withholding money for those items or limiting his daily spending? I’m concerned about being disrespectful, as they are my parents who gave birth to me and raised me at the end of the day. It’s important to note that they weren’t always jobless; they only retired after I started my high-paying job and was able to support them.

What do you think? Should I take action to help my dad eat healthier, or should I respect his choices as an adult and not overstep my boundaries? Thank you for your thoughts.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4652511

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?

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!

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.

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