How about The Romans in Their Decadence? (Thomas Couture)

I've been getting into having a pdf of the various manuals for things around the house on my phone. I recently consulted the manuals for my fridge, a new dehumidifier and the lawn mower and it was pretty awesome not having to find and dig out a paper booklet each time. My phone is on me all the time plus I can get rid of the paper copies.

Yes, the first one is goofy but it did the whole "what would an actually average person do with superhero powers" shtick before it was cool, and managed to make it funny and pretty sweet too.

Piano is way up there, not just because it's mechanically simple to learn and understand (press button, note plays, always same note in same place) but because there are just massive amounts of resources to learn how to play. When I had more time, I had a lot of fun playing songs on a light up keyboard hooked up to a computer using Synthesia. I would download a song I wanted to learn (eg Moonlight Sonata), and the keys I needed to press would light up, so I would play the song bit by bit, building muscle memory. I was able to use a music sheet just to remind me of what my fingers already knew. Is it the "right way" to learn? Probably not but it's fun and easy and that's what I wanted.

You can call me paranoid, but the first thing I thought of when I heard about it was how excited the Nazis would have been to access a database like that when they came into power. Imagine knowing the names and addresses of whatever Undesirables you wanted to single out, and exactly what percentage of "impure" they were. Ethnic makeup information can also be used against you in things like gerrymandering congressional districts to hand select voters and disenfranchise minorities. It's pretty safe to assume that once your genetic profile has been gathered by a private company, it's vulnerable to all sorts of bad actors gaining access and using that information. Would you want the KKK or the Proud Boys knowing just what percentage black you are? No thanks.

Yes, and in my experience it rarely if ever has the "gotcha" moment of victory that one fantasizes about. Either it was something with low stakes and the response is just "oh okay", or it's something more emotionally charged and the opposing side will deflect, change the subject, pretend that you're agreeing with them or that they believed what was correct the whole time. It never seems to matter.

Processed food is usually more expensive per portion than the ingredients alone. The farther you get from the raw ingredients the more expensive it gets. Plus, you're eating all sorts of junk ingredients.

I had about ten years of experience with a very tight food budget to learn what was good value for effort/ingredients.

Good:

Flour, sugar, canned tomatoes, spices, frozen veggies, fresh produce

Bad:

Presliced or pre-grated cheeses, at least in my experience, are marked up 1.5x to 2x the cost per pound of a block. Another commenter said that wasn't the case in their store, but check and see if that is true for you and if the cheeses you got are available in blocks. You can even go to a place with a deli counter and they will slice cheese for you for free, and you will get exactly how much you want with less waste (yes it's an interaction with another human, it'll be alright).

Uncrustables/swiss rolls/mac and cheese... it's not for me to judge what someone chooses for an indulgence, maybe those things are what get you through your day, but you can definitely do better value wise. Mac and cheese from a box is cheaper than those individual cups, and homemade mac and cheese from scratch is even better and extremely easy if you have any kitchen experience. Uncrustables will always be more expensive than just making the sandwich yourself. The swiss rolls... well you know they're a treat. In my opinion if you're going to treat yourself to something unhealthy spend the extra dollar and get something luxurious.

Breads and muffins, again if you could learn how to make them yourself you might be impressed with the results. Bread can be a tricky balance of time, effort and cost of ingredients, and homemade fresh baked bread is incredible, but if you're short on time there's nothing wrong with buying it. Muffins are a quick bread though that you could make at home in under an hour with a mixing bowl and a cupcake pan, and then you could control exactly how much sugar went into them and have hot, fresh muffins. It's worth making them yourself at least once to see if it's something you can add to your routine, you can get a cupcake pan for cheap from a thrift store if you don't have one.

Sauces and dips, as other people have said, they are a lot simpler than you might think to make yourself. In my experience they are one of those things you should challenge yourself to make at least once or twice and see how much effort and time it takes you, and then re-evaluate the jarred/canned stuff. Maybe after making it you realize it is worth the extra dollar or so to save yourself the effort, but maybe you realize it's not that hard and you're able to save money in the long run and have more control over the quality and ingredients.

All this stuff is incremental, and any one thing isn't going to magically fix food costs. Plus as the amount of time in your life to spend on meal prep fluctuates you might find it's worth it to spend the extra money on convenience. However it's important to at least get some experience with the alternatives so you understand what amount of time and effort you are buying by getting those processed foods. Good luck :)

I had a friend over who complimented my teapot, I love it because it's a nice color, good size and has a stainless steel infuser that fits inside. So I offered to get her one of her own only to find out that this particular color is highly collectible and worth 6-7x what I paid for it originally. Now I have a nice teapot I'm paranoid about anything happening to, haha.

I hear you. Finally ending up in a class that properly challenged me was like roller skating into wet cement.

Granted, but it's the next person anywhere to wish anything, and now Allison in Manitoba successfully remembers where she left her keys.

I lived in a walkable city for a decade and now live in a more rural area where cars are a necessity.

Now that I need a car, I need to:

• Keep my driver's license up to date
• Pay tolls/monitor my transit account
• Renew my registration every year
• Get the car inspected every year
• Pay for my car insurance
• Remember to refuel
• Keep up with oil changes and general maintenance
• Monitor tires and wipers for degradation
• Keep the interior clean and tidy
• Budget extra money away for more expensive repairs or service
• Deal with snow removal for a driveway

As someone with ADD the extra responsibilites are stressful and often slip by me, not to mention the costs add up. It's also omnipresent in my mind that on any given day that I drive, especially on the highway, statistically that is the most likely way I will die considering my current age and health. I don't miss carting my groceries around in the snow or rain, and it's nice to be able to move large, heavy items relatively easily, but man I miss the freedom of just leaving my door and walking somewhere.

I was expecting a fish out of water comedy with nostalgic fan service, got a point blank meta commentary on what it means to be a woman in modern Western society and how it influences and effects everyone including men. It's unapologetically feminist while being playful and light enough to still be fun.