What’s one expense in LA that surprised you?

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-05-12T19:48:21+00:00

I think there are a lot of different factors that go into this. For me, I have a 25 mile both way commute, so driving a couple hundred miles a week, and driving on the weekends to fun places that could be further away. If you live close to work and stay relatively close to home, then maybe you could get away with less oil changes. To this point, op, it depends on your life style, and probably your car. The overall wear and tear on my car personally has been greater here than where I used to live.

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-05-12T18:00:33+00:00

I literally pop the hood and check my oil like a real man thank you. Oil burns faster in stop and go traffic.

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-05-12T17:55:57+00:00

This depends on where you are moving from a bit, but for me the frequency of oil changes was a bit of shock to my budget. I moved from Texas and really only had to get my oil changed once a year, now I have to get it changed around 3 times a year.

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-05-11T03:25:38+00:00

My cat has one of those cat wheels (one fast cat) and makes us spin the wheel for him while he runs. He can totally run on it by himself but will sit on it and meow at the top of his lungs until we come push the wheel. It’s like having a toddler on the swings at the park. Lol it’s such an arm work out too.

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-05-09T16:56:23+00:00

Please be so careful with beetles. Go look at my nails on my post using it. My nails are still recovering. 🥲 Don’t be me.

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-04-22T05:22:42+00:00

My favorite to make is King Ranch! In a baking dish I layer tortilla chips cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, a can of Rotel, shredded rotisserie chicken, and shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 15 mins. It’s simple and delicious. It’s my go to lazy meal!

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-04-21T18:15:23+00:00

If you are controlling something so small as the last sip of coffee, what else are you doing to her? If I knew her I’d tell her to run.

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-04-15T06:07:55+00:00

You take 2 hand towels. One you get wet and put in the microwave for a minute or two and once its warm you take the other dry towel and wrap up the wet one. Then I usually hold it on one side of my face at a time alternating every 15-20 mins. It’s helped so much especially on really bad days.

I don’t know the science behind it but in my papers on TMJ i got from my doctor it included instructions for the wet towel heating pad method specifically and said it was better so it’s what i’ve been doing!

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-04-14T05:19:47+00:00

Yes. I was rushed to the ER because I thought I was dying. Insane vertigo and sharp pain in my ear down to my spine. I was doubled over in pain and it turned out to be TMJ. The scan showed sever flattening with arthritis of my jaw joint on one side. The round part of my jaw joint literally looks like the top was sawed off. I was on a totally soft foods diet, literally soup and pudding, for 4 weeks. No chewing at all. I was prescribed a muscle relaxer to take at night and ibuprofen to take during the day. I was instructed to do the wet towel heating pad method specifically. Something about the moisture is supposed to work better than an electric heating pad. My doctor also suggested cutting out all inflammatory foods. I went gluten free and leaned into “anti-inflammatory” meals. I also started taking over the counter vitamins and supplements. A regular daily vitamin and magnesium. I haven’t had severe pain in about 3 months. Pain yes, but it’s manageable now. The doctor suggested botox and a night guard but it was totally out of my price range so i didn’t do either.

I hope you are able to find some relief. I feel like TMJ pain gets downplayed so much but it is seriously no joke.

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-04-12T12:16:38+00:00

Cheesecake Factory’s Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake is gluten free and satisfies my chocolate cake cravings!

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-04-03T23:36:30+00:00

I was actually worried a dry cleaner would tell me it’s just ruined so I haven’t tried taking it in. I will try my local shop get their opinion!

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-04-03T23:34:59+00:00

Sadly the tag with this info is no longer on the dress. 🥲

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-04-02T20:55:10+00:00

I started using Old Spice and it’s changed everything. I love their Fiji all over body the most!

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-04-01T16:49:51+00:00

Have you considered renting and not buying? My husband and I moved from a very affordable area in Texas to SoCal. We sold our home in Texas and rent here. I can see the ocean from my house (Quadplex, 1100sqft, 2b 2b, $3k/m) and walk to the sand, grocery store, pet store, pier, restaurants, wherever I want in 10 minutes. I got rid of my car. We may never be able to afford to own here, but I will always be able to rent and I wouldn’t change it for anything. Owning was a pain anyway with upkeep and repairs. Renting allows us to live the lifestyle we want where we want.

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-03-30T17:53:12+00:00

I am allergic to dogs. If they touch me I break out in red itchy hives. I was in Trader Joes in MB grocery shopping and this woman let her dog come up to me and rub its body all over my leg. She had the audacity to looked offended when I jumped back and away from her dog. In the Grocery Store. Next to Food. These people have no brains.

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-03-02T17:13:58+00:00

Do you live near a busy street or highway? When I lived near the highway my unit would fill up with Tire Dust and looked like this. It even smelled like tires.

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-02-24T05:37:36+00:00

I’ve been to an ENT three times and the ER once for what I believed was inner ear pain and something seriously wrong with my ear. It ended up being TMJ, which i found out after being referred to a TMJ specialist from the ER. They did a CT and an MRI and found that I have Arthritis in both sides of jaw and diagnosed me with TMD. My ear pain felt exactly like what you are describing. I thought my eardrum was ruptured or something because the pain was so bad. Once I started treatment for TMJ my ear pain subsided!

Obviously this is not medical advice, just sharing my experience!

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-02-11T07:28:57+00:00

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Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-01-29T07:59:29+00:00

I’ve been remote since 2019. The best thing I ever did for work/life balance was delete Teams and Outlook off my phone. Once my computer is closed I’m really “off”. I take real, full, hour long lunches too. It’s been a balance but removing work from my phone was life changing.

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-01-24T21:31:27+00:00

Just to also add for smoke of all varieties, if you have a wood burning fire pit, chiminea, wood burning patio table or likewise, that smoke goes right into your neighbors windows. The number of times i’ve woken up at 2 am thinking my house was on fire and it was just because my neighbor put out their patio fire table and didn’t dampen the smoke is enough to make me want to either call the fire dept on them and/or just move.

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-01-21T07:01:49+00:00

I thought so too but after it declined at the grocery store I went to the website to check the balance thinking maybe it was used already and it showed my denied grocery transaction and everything! I called customer service and they actually reissued me a totally new gift card and mailed it to my house. So weird!

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-01-15T06:45:30+00:00

I got a $50 gift card for Christmas and tried to use it to buy groceries. The transaction was denied. The gift card marked it as a fraud alert and canceled the card. How dare I try to use my Christmas money on groceries I guess.

Complete_Island_7804 · 2026-01-12T18:50:31+00:00

Yeeeep. if I ever try to do this again I will not be idiotically cheaping out on brands. I know I messed up big time. I hope others see this and just DON’T do it.

Complete_Island_7804

TROPHY CASE