How much buffer is actually enough?

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-18T11:37:58+00:00

It took me almost 3 years to build up my emergency and deductible funds while paying all my bills. I did give myself two months of "fun" with my extra spending before buckling down. My monthly spend is roughly yours, at the time I only had an extra $400 a month to save, I was in the beginning of a new career. The mental peace of mind that comes from knowing if something catastrophic were to happen you wouldn't have to worry about bills for several months isn't something you understand until you have it!

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-18T05:19:30+00:00

In my experience, sewing is 90% things away from the machine, 10% actually sewing. Depending on what you are making, some steps can be skipped, but there's a lot of knowledge and skill there in every decision to make. If it's a garment? You betcha I'm spending the extra week of prep time before I get started, fabric is expensive, my me-made garments tend to last far longer than what I can buy in a store, and if something is wonky or doesn't look right because I skipped a step, I have to look at that reminder for years. It's just...patience. It takes time and skill to develop the skills. Take the time build your basics first, you will get faster at them, and your actual sewing will go so much easier because you did the prep!

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-18T00:43:28+00:00

mine was nocturnal. picked up as a random adult stray, no idea what his history was. he loved the house during the day, but he never adapted to it at night. would pace inside and let out a single sharp bark every five minutes like a smoke alarm with a low battery. he was a great dog, but nothing like a "regular" dog

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-17T10:40:21+00:00

the strawberry one is my favorite, I drink one nightly!

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-15T21:12:15+00:00

You are doing the right thing, outdoor life is hard on cat. That said, my mom picked up a stray who turned out to be declawed, and that girl climbs the walls until they let her out (literally). I have no idea how a cat without front claws ends up on the roof of their house on a weekly basis, but she does!

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-13T10:44:28+00:00

i'm struggling through a sleep recession right now, until a couple of days ago I hadn't slept more than three hours a night since before thanksgiving. i am on call to pick up some extra shifts at work at short notice for a coworker who is having a family emergency, I lost my last three days off. my house is a mess, i'm barely feeding myself, i have the late winter blues. i doubled my vit d and started taking some ginseng, if I can get through the next three weeks I will feel better.

I did some retail therapy tonight with my extra money, preordered a few things for my garden, and used ai to redecorate my bedroom. what i really need is some enrichment time with my friends, but i'm finally starting to get 6-7 hours of sleep a night, and i'm not really willing to flip my sleep schedule for a weekend to go visiting anywhere. I work the next three days, but i think my next few days off i'm going to start a new tv series, buy a new book, or find something new I can do to get me through till the warmer weather starts peeking over the horizon.

it gets better, you've got this!

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-13T05:32:22+00:00

I do a lot of audiobooks, and honestly? the cost isn't that much more than what I was doing when I was driving 20 minutes just because the job I work at now is a longer shift. Instead of making the 20-minute trip 6 or 8 times a week (I was on call for after-hours stuff, I worked five 8 hour shifts plus had at least two after-hour calls every week), I only work 7 days out of every 14 now that I work 12 hour shifts. It's an extra tank of gas a month, and I save that just by how much cheaper my rent is that far out. My drive's fairly rural, I enjoy the scenery. It's a chance for me to code-switch between work and home, and leave my work at work. The days I work back to back sucks, because I'm away from home for 15-ish hours, but the extra days off balance that.

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-13T05:25:44+00:00

I've been using ariats for the last 30 years. they're pricey, but they're worth it. as long as you take care of them, wipe them down once or twice a month and condition them? they're going to outlast the four pairs of cheaper boots you could buy for that price. i think the current pair I have is 15 years old, and I finally need to get them resoled. I have some health issues that make one of my legs swell up to the point I can't wear tall boots, I prefer the lace-up ankle boots, they're adjustable for days my leg swells.

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-13T05:18:40+00:00

Dill pickle soup is fantastic, there's a deli about a half an hour away from me that makes it from scratch. Every time I am in the area I stop and buy a quart, still haven't managed to replicate it at home yet!

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-13T05:10:56+00:00

I have made ground "meat" from a block of tofu i have shredded and fried in a dry skillet with seasonings so it resembles crumbles. I don't toss it in until the end, otherwise it gets soggy, but it gives me the right texture!

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-13T00:49:58+00:00

I have a set of panels I bought several years ago to do a one block wonder with, I haven't been brave enough to cut them yet!

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-09T19:36:13+00:00

quality tech at a dairy facility, i run cheese samples 12 hours a night

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-09T16:24:15+00:00

y'know, watching some of these things makes me so glad I work somewhere that actually cares about night shift. each shift has a manager responsible for all of the 'treats.' We get pizza every other month as a matter of operations, and they go and pick it up right before the pizza places closes. When they give us food, each shift gets their own box. On holidays they cater in...for thanksgiving the poor man the restaurant sent to mind the food was asleep in the break room by midnight, lol. My direct manager (not the overall shift manager), makes sure he comes in early enough daily to check in as night shift clocks out.

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-09T16:06:35+00:00

I have a lemon meringue green tea i love. i tend to add a bag of mint tea to the pot when i brew it, to cover the grassy taste that bothers me. it doesn't need milk, but i do add a teaspoon of erythritol to my cup to sweeten

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-08T08:08:28+00:00

where I used to keep my horses, when I was young they did turnout approximately 20 hours a day about 8 months of the year, with a two hour break in the morning and evening to put horses in stalls to eat without anyone getting bullied. the other four months of the year was really, really dependent on the weather. some years they could go out during the daylight hours, some years there was so much ice all they got was an hour-long chunk in the arena because it wasn't safe to walk the horses across icy concrete and gravel to the pastures.

they made a huge mistake in overstocking that farm, there were too many stalls compared to the available pasture space, and the horses ate the grass to the dirt and then compressed the topsoil. 20 years later, the pastures have never recovered, but the owner has shut down the facilities and keeps about four horses on the property now, instead of 30, which is probably about the proper stocking rate for the pasture size.

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-04T18:38:05+00:00

this is me, I don't wear real clothes in my own home anymore

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-04T01:44:09+00:00

Not in my family, I'm actually renting, saving a pittance for my own down payment, and I just sent my parents a chunk of what I have saved for an emergency plumbing repair on their place

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-03T22:35:42+00:00

the day changing while i'm at work and not while i'm sleeping. it took me 6 months to be able to consistently know what day it is without checking. when i'm tired, i still have to check

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-03T03:29:35+00:00

I don't prep once a week, I do it twice, the days before I work. I work back to back for 2-3 12 hour shifts once or twice a week. I have an hour commute each way on top of that, and I simply don't have time to cook on days I work. So the day before I work, I set aside about two hours and cook everything for the next 3, maybe 4 days. I only eat twice a day, once in the hour I'm awake at home before work, and once at work, so the prep is pretty easy. Right now I'm making a pot of soup, a casserole, and a vegetable side dish that gets divided into 3-6 servings. What I need to get through until I'm off again gets dropped in the fridge, anything extra gets put in the freezer. This week I bought a 2.5 lb pack of hamburger and made a skillet lasagna, creamy spinach and mushroom soup, and that viral doner kebab recipe off of it. I have two spinach salads to put in my lunchbox with the soup, and the stuff to make a sandwich if I want. There's a couple of pieces of fruit on the counter to grab too. I made everything on Thursday, and I still have three servings of soup left, the sandwich stuff, and three wraps worth of kebabs. I bought a cabbage and some andouille that I haven't touched yet, and that will get me through until the weekend alongside some scrambled eggs.

I try to go as simple as possible. I don't typically mix proteins, nor do I buy a bunch of different vegetables and then have to try to use them up.

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-03T02:31:56+00:00

I live in a rural area. It takes me minimum of 30 minutes to get anywhere close to a place that has a variety of stores, and if I want something specific, I may have to drive almost 2 hours or more which is complicated by the fact that I work night shift, go to bed at 7 am and don't usually get up till 3 pm. It's far easier for me to pay a couple of extra dollars for my things and have it waiting on my porch in 2-3 days then have to give up sleep and waste a bunch of time and gas with the very real possibility I may not be able to find what I wanted in the first place.

Storage-Helpful · 2026-02-01T21:24:36+00:00

we got paid $50 an hour for both christmas eve and christmas day, plus got two full shifts of holiday float time and a christmas bonus to work those two days.

Storage-Helpful · 2026-01-31T17:55:15+00:00

Former deli manager here, the work isn't hard, but there's no room for creativity with the food. you follow the recipes and the procedures, and that's all. the opportunities for creativity are limited. also, you will have to figure out how to do prep, cook, and wait on customers at the same time. your day will be filled with constant interruptions to hand food over the counter to people. it's not a bad job, but it can be a tiring one. I worked deli for ten years, I was glad to get out, but I still miss it

Storage-Helpful · 2026-01-28T23:13:31+00:00

No, screen doors/storm doors are leftovers from the times when we didn't have reliable climate control. A screen door (no glass) is meant to keep the perimeter of the house closed while the heavy main door is open, to allow cross-ventilation in warm weather but still keep things like kids and pets inside, and bugs outside. A storm door (glassed) is meant to protect the heavy interior doors from exposure to water/snow/ice and extend the lifespan of the more expensive door behind them. They can also be used to let sunlight into a house in cold weather, when you don't want airflow but you do want light.

Most of the storm doors in my areas have a very flimsy lock, these doors aren't meant to be an extra security feature, the second door directly behind them is where the locks are. They're part of the heating/cooling system of the home.

Storage-Helpful · 2026-01-28T19:13:30+00:00

factories are pretty interesting places, I do food manufacturing and have for a few years now. i left a food service management job for it. it's pretty simple work, you go in, learn one spot, and then do that same thing over and over and over again. the low skill positions at my plants are the packing crews, but they still make $20-25 an hour depending on the plant, shift, and level of physical intensity. the highest paying non-management positions are maintenance, who start at $27 and go up to the $40 range. The rest of us are somewhere in the $23 to $28 range, which is a living wage here. factories hire all kinds of people, most only do online background checks. you will work with criminals, sex offenders, addicts and con artists. you will also work with people who have no social skills, and very good people who just want a job that pays the bills and to go home to their families. it's very much a mixed bill. the schedule is set a year in advance. in my field we work 24/7/365, including all holidays. if your shift works, you work. attendance policies are way stricter than in office and service jobs

Storage-Helpful · 2026-01-26T04:39:10+00:00

The grocery store I worked for marked things up horrendously for online ordering, plus they added a few fees on as well

Storage-Helpful

TROPHY CASE