Mama told me not to come.

She said, that ain’t the way to have fun.

  • 53 Posts
  • 9.99K Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • Cool, they banned my account some years ago and nothing of value was lost. And I don’t think I even did anything to violate their rules, I only used it to pay rent for a few years and a handful of eBay purchases. My best guess is that someone “hacked” my account (my PW was pretty bad and in multiple breaches), but I tried logging in after years of not using it and couldn’t do anything with it.

    But yeah, nothing of value was lost. I haven’t needed PayPal for years and don’t need it now. Just say no and pay directly on whatever site you’re buying at. I’ve bought tons of stuff from eBay and other online sites for years and it has never been an issue.

    So screw 'em, just don’t use their service.


  • Fair. Here are some that I find to be pretty consistently competitive:

    • Vultr
    • DigitalOcean
    • Hetzner

    I’ve used each and liked each. They’re rarely the absolute cheapest, but they are usually competitive at all tiers with no pretty much no shenanigans. I’m currently with Hetzner, which has been good for the few months I’ve been with them, but I’ve spent multiple years with the other two.


  • No, we avoid our local Kroger store (different name here), but when we go, I use my parents’ number since they go there a lot and frequently use the fuel rewards. Our local grocery is supplied by Associated Food stores, which has the “Food Club” and related store brands.

    The main options in my area (Utah) are:

    • Kroger sub-brand Smith’s - not very convenient in my area, but the stores are large and have everything
    • Associated Food brands - smaller, more plentiful stores
    • Walmart/Sam’s - I avoid like the plague, but they’re just as plentiful as AF brands
    • Target - crap quality and high prices, not an option at all
    • Costco - good selection and great quality for the price
    • random specialty shops - higher price, but niche selection

    Most of our spending goes to Costco, most of the rest goes to specialty shops, and we fill in the gaps with the local grocery chain. We spend something like $100/month at the grocery store, so it’s not worth interacting with their loyalty program.


  • Got pulled aside by my boss for being a bit lazy, which is totally fair (I’ve been coasting a bit). But by some miracle, he gave me a positive review for the year. I think what that means is that he was considering me for promotion, but didn’t feel I was ready.

    I’m at the point in my career where promotions are pretty rare (like every 5-8 years instead of 2-5 years), so I’m going to push this year to lock in that promotion and then probably dial it back down a bit. Doing the math, a promotion doesn’t meaningfully change my FI date (at most a year), but having that higher title might give me more leverage when I either change jobs or ask to reduce my hours, since I’d be in a more advisory role than a “doing things” role. I still want to work when FI, so I’m hopeful this will be a good move, so I can just drop most of the “doing things” bits and keep the advisory bits (I’ll shift the “doing things” to hobbies and whatnot).

    Anyway, this year could end up being pivotal for me. I should be getting an extra week of vacation as well due to seniority as well, so we’re also thinking of a big international family trip. I usually don’t use all my vacation as-is, so I’ll probably take some more random vacations and whatnot just to get a taste of FI (e.g. go mountain biking when everyone else is working).


  • That makes a ton of sense. To add some numbers to it:

    1. $1k in the bank - should be enough for any one emergency
    2. 1 month e-fund - no longer impacted by payday being late
    3. 3 month e-fund

    Getting to step 1 can be very difficult, especially for the lower class, but $10 or $20 at a time can get there. But it needs to be intentional, and that’s really hard when working two (or three) jobs, so many just don’t put in the consistent effort needed to get there. But once that first buffer is there, the rest becomes a lot easier since you’re no longer getting pushed backwards.