Fleppensteijn

My yearly dental works always cost a fortune, but my teeth are great now, since:

• I got an electric brush and floss sticks;
• I now drink coffee without sugar (you'll get used to it pretty quickly);
• I almost completely stopped drinking sugary drinks (mostly bubbly water now, boycotting evil companies and being poor help).

Czechia. In many supermarkets "discounts" only apply when you have a card/app. Essentially the "discount" is normal price, otherwise you'll pay nearly double.

I worked in Lisbon for a while. Salary after tax was 700 EUR and a (very tiny shared) room was provided but I couldn't afford my own place. Now I'm in Prague and although I live very, very small, at least rent is "only" half of after-tax salary.

So more of a crisis in one place than another, but it would've been nice if something more than just a one-bedroom apartment would still be achieveable.

I'm using fake names on all those things, but prices without loyalty are often insane. It's basically an extra tourist tax.

I rarely use cash. Nearly everything I spend is on supermarket and they know exactly what I buy because we're forced to use their "loyalty" programs anyway.

Then traveling: dealing with other currencies, coming home with unspendable money. And there's no interest on cash lying around.

But I hate the tendency for places to not accept cash at all, there should still be a choice.

One bonus is that I keep finding money on the streets in countries that love cash.

The point is banks purposely make their browser versions terrible and still require an app or sms for 2FA. They may offer alternatives but discourage this by making it impractical or by charging fees.

There's no point to getting a "basic" account to get around using a phone because you won't have a savings account, no investing, no multiple currencies etc.

But only on weekends when dialing in was cheaper.

For my first bank I do everything on the app. If I log in through a browser, it requires me to scan a QR.

My second bank also requires the app to log on, but SMS would be an option too (so still a phone is needed).

My third one is Revolut, which can only be used with an app.

Some other investment platforms I use, all require SMS for phone verification.

I think it's hard to find a bank that doesn't require a phone. Maybe some banks can still send printed codes for additional fees or something.

It's assumed you have a phone on you at all times, so you get things like "contact us to check in", "scan QR for time table" and digital locks that you open by phone. Of course banking is practically impossible without a phone.

I need my alarm and Google Maps and would be OK with my 10 year old phone that still works if it wasn't for banks and such. Stuff like browsing and watching videos are better on a computer anyway.

Well Americans are kind of known for not keeping to themselves and being chatty with strangers, when abroad at least. Even personal questions etc. So it's strange to draw the line at helping others.

What a strange and sexist question. I've been asked by random mothers to carry their buggy with kid up the stairs, off the train etc. before. If I would speak the local language where I live, I probably would've offered. Judging by the comments here, I'm glad I didn't make that mistake.

I also thought my youth sucked, but life only gets worse from there. Sure looking forward to upcoming retirement gave a spike of happiness to previous generations but that no longer applies to us.