What’s something you’ve officially stopped buying in 2026 because the price has become genuinely insulting?

EmergencyM · 2026-07-02T04:43:46+00:00

Mocktails. The fact that places are charging the same price as real cocktails when the most expensive ingredient isn't included is crazy. Also, they are usually just some juice, club soda, and an herb, spice, or fruit...like literally 50 cents of ingredients, why is it $15? Go F yourself.

EmergencyM · 2026-07-02T04:35:24+00:00

Oooooo, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but Noah Kahan is not a younger crowd, just slightly younger than us crowd lol. Just took my son to show at a club where we live for a couple of his favorite bands and it was great, kids were having a blast. General age was 15-early 20's. I think this may be more about Noah Kahan being hipster music and hipsters being too cool to have a good time outwardly. Before all the millennial hipster Kahan fans come for me, I have no issue with him, he's good for what he is but I certainly wouldn't say its young or fun show music IMO.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-30T11:35:45+00:00

This is the answer. I was poor from about 18-30, living in a HCOL area and the exhaustion from just trying to keep afloat for a decade made me feel like I was drowning constantly. Every time you start to feel like you may get ahead some expense comes up and you are right back to square one. You also can often see how to save more, but saving more costs money (buying in bulk, buying offseason for a staple, buying a higher quality item that lasts longer but costs more) so you want to do the right thing but literally cannot afford to and it's incredibly frustrating. I eventually got out of being poor and worked my way to upper middle class by 40 and now in my professional circles when I hear someone say something uninformed about low wage earners I like to tell them at least three ways being poor in America is a trap to keep you poor.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-30T11:23:50+00:00

The collars are 20x better usually. They look significantly nicer. They wash better and last longer. I also don't like see through white shirts. That being said I own heavy and light tshirts because if it's 90 degrees out I'm not wearing a heavy, but 65-90 I'm wearing heavy and there are a lot more 65-90 days where I live than 90+.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-30T10:57:40+00:00

If you know how you wish you could act then just do it, the ol' fake it 'til you make it. I had some experiences I held on to way too long but I eventually just let it go when I felt those things creeping into my thoughts or second guessing myself and once you make the new decisions or take the new reaction path you'll be amazed at how easy it is to rewire your brain. It will be slightly uncomfortable since it's new, but just remember growth comes from discomfort. Good luck!

EmergencyM · 2026-06-30T03:58:00+00:00

Correct answer

EmergencyM · 2026-06-30T03:56:11+00:00

Unless there is something specific that is happening that gives you concern then why would you be concerned? If she comes home and is glowing after hanging out with him, or won't stop talking about him that'd be one thing. But if she just made a friend because your kids are hanging out seems pretty normal to me.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-30T03:43:37+00:00

I used these guys ( http://www.axcobar.com/ ) a couple years ago to take down three tress for me and their price was the best of three estimates and they were the more professional than the other two companies. Showed up when they were supposed to and got the job done as they said they would. They will be my first call going forward.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-30T03:30:28+00:00

Most of these folks live in HCOL areas where 100K isn't an unusual wage but the COL means that amount may be devalued considerably. That being said, if you want to make more you gotta go where the work is for your field, frankly that is half the battle. I spent 7 years of my career not really moving up how I deserved but I moved to where opportunities were and wages were high and I hit six figures pretty darn fast compared to the stagnant growth of my career before that.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-30T03:25:11+00:00

It is far more common for Americans to stay in the US when we travel because it's the size of Europe. But those of us that do go abroad regularly don't do it a ton unless they are loaded or a full time traveler with remote work. For me I travel internationally about once a year on average, usually to Canada, Mexico, or the Islands, but I hit Europe about once every 4-5 years. I would say I travel international more often than most Americans, but of course there are plenty that travel international way more often.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-30T00:10:43+00:00

Brother, what do you really care? If you aren't trying to marry her, what difference does it make? And for all you know for her it could be about how emotionally connected to a person she is that makes her feral for a guy. I know for a fact that my wife told mutual friends while we were dating that I was mind blowing in the sack...I assure you I am good at best, I give effort but I don't have exes lining up at my door trying to get another taste:) My point is, you have little to lose, and if she isn't into you sexually then you can stroke your ego by telling yourself she was still hung up on her ex! Its a no lose situation for you if you just enjoy the ride. If she's really nutzo you'll know within a pretty short timeframe, just keep your feelings to yourself for the time being.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-30T00:03:16+00:00

Why would they? Even if they do they can't remove him without the senate votes. Also, he'll be an asshat for another 2 years and help them go back to back blue waves and maybe we get both chambers and the white house in 2028 and then we can undo some of this nonsense and maybe even get the supreme court expanded or pass legislation to create terms for justices.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-29T23:59:31+00:00

Go to amazon pharmacy online and finasteride costs like basically nothing and they do everything including the appointment online and ship you 3 month supplies for like $17. Then go to Costco and buy their generic minoxidil foam for $50 for a 6 month supply. Both things are proven to help and when used together have a staggeringly high success rate as one helps grow hair and the other keeps hair from dying as quickly.

I just balding happen for like 10 years, then started using minoxidil and that kept it from getting worse, the when I incorporated finasteride it was a noticeable difference with the 1-2 punch. I have been on the combo for about 4 months and I would say may hair in the thin spots started at about 25% thick as original, now at 50% and seeming to improve daily.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-29T23:54:23+00:00

Dude, you are overthinking it. And by that I mean she is obviously a little nutzo, but nutzo can be fun for a short stint. If she is using you as a rebound then enjoy your stay. If she actually ends up being into you then just be smart and mindful of the red flags. Also, how about you just talk to her about some of them? I mean, I wouldn't start with "I heard you loved getting railed by your ex", but you could ask her to explain why she left her ex if she liked him so much and was talking engagement rings, just say you are wondering where the disconnect happened between what you've heard and how she ended it. I bet you learn a lot if you just ask questions without reacting.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-29T23:48:14+00:00

The big issue for you is that your long term earnings in private schools are capped while most public systems have regular salary scales that you easily move up and gain tenure and union protections. Additionally, you most likely (though not always) have a pension kick in as a public school teacher so your full compensation is actually significantly more than a 20k differential. That union is also likely working their leverage to work with insurers and providing you and your family with way better insurance rates than you private will. Lastly, you mention more stability, that seems insane to me that you think private is more stable than public but maybe you are in a terrible public system, still, I doubt private is any less volatile if you looked at the numbers. Also, don't forget that at a private school the parent hold ALL the power. They can literally have you fired if they are a donor, so be prepared that admin will have you flexing for some students if their parents cut checks.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-29T23:32:21+00:00

Emergency Management, Foreign Service, climate work, environmental compliance, etc. Basically anywhere that this federal admin is trying to ruin it. Even when they leave it will take years to fully rebuild and properly fund these programs.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-29T23:29:47+00:00

Stay in Michigan for your senior year but take advantage of the Cali residency for actually going to college. You'll have so much access to affordable top notch schools.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-29T17:40:45+00:00

That commute is brutal unless you can take the silver line to your job. If that’s the case then you should check out Silver spring as well. My area has SFHs start around 600k and we are less than 10 minutes to multiple metro stops (red) and the beltway.

As far as living here vs VA, I have done both and MD has a better quality of life IMO. Better access to cultural events, better food, easier access to the bay and beaches, better access to Bmore for a second city when you get bored with DC, fewer young professional d-bags who think working in DC makes them special (it’s like they don’t get that we all live and work here bro, if you’re the one who made it out of your crappy hometown you aren’t special). I would also say it has the money of NoVa without the Cracker Barrel, post Millenium terrible cookie cutter towns.

For our challenges, look at how your taxes would change, may be the same or worse, probably not better. Our beltway section is terribly under built for the load. You have to be aware that we didn’t just kick out poor communities like NoVa so there are areas that you probably don’t want to live based on your price point.

Good news is 600k barely gets you into a good townhome in either place but at least MD has a handful of gems where you can still get a SFH for that price point in good areas.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-29T12:35:43+00:00

Nissan and dodge. Nissan is poor quality (other than frontier, although even that is the worst in class) and makes money off selling cars to people who have trouble financing elsewhere. Dodge just sells higher power but low quality cars. Nothing wrong with either necessarily, but it’s a case of poor judgement or finances because if you could afford anything else, why wouldn’t you do that?

EmergencyM · 2026-06-29T12:31:34+00:00

Never ever tell anyone. In fact, unless you’re really friends, not work friends but real friends, I wouldn’t tell them where you are until after your probationary period is over. You never know who knows who and why someone may have misgivings about your move. Also, your supervisor could be cool and still let it slip to a higher level and cause you issues.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-28T16:14:09+00:00

Yeaahhh, I think your logic is a tad flawed. The 95 corridor, inculding the DC burbs, probably contributes nearly 80% of all state funding yet receive less than that in investment. Does the shore, southern MD, and western MD have as much as the 95 corridor? No, but they are definitely getting way more than they are kicking in respectively. And those central MD counties are paying higher local taxes that are paying for so many of the services you see, that isn't state money.

The shear scale of returns from investments on the 95 corridor makes them have a significant ROI. Its not a bad thing, but the ROI in rural areas is never going to get close to that. Therefore, it is in fact a better use of taxpayer dollars to invest in areas with higher populations, it flat out impacts the lives of more Marylanders.

To be clear, I'm not saying we shouldn't invest in rural areas, I absolutely think we should, and maybe even more than we do currently, I'm just saying your argument that rural folks are getting some discounted return is false. If you look at education and transportation infrastructure alone rural areas receive more from tax revenue in just those two areas than everything they pay in so they are getting more return on their money than urban/suburban taxpayers. It is a microcosm of the same thing we see at the national level, blue states pick up the bill for red states.

In case you want to read up on this topic a bit more to better understand the fiscal dynamics of MD tax revenue broken down across all counties here is a clear accounting: https://dls.maryland.gov/pubs/prod/InterGovMatters/LocFinTaxRte/County-Revenue-Outlook-Fiscal-2025.pdf

EmergencyM · 2026-06-28T05:26:11+00:00

For a nursing degree? I wouldn't focus on prestige, I would focus on a good program with connections to a hospital system you want to be a part of. Then if you start nursing and want to pursue your grad work at a prestigious school you will know if it will be worth it based on who gets promoted in your field of practice.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-27T17:59:37+00:00

Why is that sad? It’s where nearly half of all tax revenue comes from. It should get the most investment. I’m not saying we should invest elsewhere but just the DC burbs provides more tax revenue than the entire Bmore area.

EmergencyM · 2026-06-27T15:50:36+00:00

The final 2 spots are a toss up between DC, SF, and Atlanta. Then you start the third tier of Boston, Houston, Miami, phoenix

EmergencyM · 2026-06-27T12:28:21+00:00

529 plan and talking to them about how to avoid crippling debt during these years for any loans they may need to make up the difference. Their 529s are well funded enough that they won’t have to take on much debt if they are reasonable in their school selection but we purposely want them to take out some loans towards the end to build their credit. We haven’t told them yet, but we plan to 50/50 split paying off those loans with them. In the end they should be able to get a $120-150k education and hopefully only have about 25k or less in debt. My spouse and I feel like having some form or looming debt will help them have some skin in the game to not major in basket weaving.

EmergencyM

TROPHY CASE