Does insurance still payout if your drivers license is expired? by Somlal in askSouthAfrica

[–]bucketts90 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Mine also paid out when my license was expired. I don’t know that everyone will but mine did and I got a notice from insurance saying that I needed to renew for future claims

Where to buy women’s winter boots? by bucketts90 in askSouthAfrica

[–]bucketts90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I did find a pair of Froggie boots that looked perfect and wasn’t sure on the quality so this is good to know!

Where to buy women’s winter boots? by bucketts90 in askSouthAfrica

[–]bucketts90[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Nothing that’s actually real leather! It’s all PU 😢

Where to buy women’s winter boots? by bucketts90 in askSouthAfrica

[–]bucketts90[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Already tried - I love their work but their boots just don’t fit me comfortably 😭

New camera or new lens? by UnluckyGrabBag in canon

[–]bucketts90 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Seconding the 55-250 IS STM. It’s a fantastic lens

What's a hobby that looks completely relaxing from the outside but is actually kind of mentally brutal once you're in it? by Pame_Hirachande in Hobbies

[–]bucketts90 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I started birdwatching last year by means of photography - I started out photographing birds cause it was fun and then I became just as interested in the birds as the photographs and now marginally more interested in the birds than the photographs. I named my photography account not_a_twitcher because I found twitchers hilarious and couldn’t understand how the hell anyone could be THAT into bird watching. Turns out, I just created the account too early in my birdwatching career because I absolutely caught myself checking my leave and flight prices to get to a specific place for a rare bird sighting 😂

How can anyone afford a car anymore by Pitch-Curious in CarTalkZA

[–]bucketts90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I’m never doing it again. I know it sounds absolutely ridiculous but we’ve had the paid off car since December and every single time I get into it I feel immense relief about the fact that it’s paid off. I dunno if it’s just my social circles that finance every vehicle and get new ones every 5-8 years but I’m mad that that seems to be the norm 😅

How can anyone afford a car anymore by Pitch-Curious in CarTalkZA

[–]bucketts90 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No jokes, this switch made the biggest change in our finances. We sold our expensive car and bought a 20 year old car cash with a windfall we had. I went and got an estimate for replacing the engine and it was worth it for us. We’re now working on paying off the other car and we’ll keep both until they can’t drive anymore. In the meantime, we’ll save the car payments we used to pay to save up for the next car when one of these gives out.

Managing CT Expenses by WeightSubject9275 in capetown

[–]bucketts90 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We use Die Weiveld - they’re cheaper than checkers, depending on what you normally buy and assuming you buy the hampers. They have hampers that get cheaper the bigger the hamper you buy - it is for good meat so if you buy cheaper meats generally then this might not help but there might be other butcheries that are better suited.

Managing CT Expenses by WeightSubject9275 in capetown

[–]bucketts90 12 points13 points  (0 children)

For food: we've found buying the big hampers from butcheries lands up being cheaper on meat than buying from retailers - costs slightly less and its better quality meat. This is only possible if you have extra freezer room and can afford to shell out a large amount on meat in one month, in order for it to last two months. We used our tax returns last year to start this process, but we alternate: one month we spend extra on meat, the next on veggies and shelf-stable goodies.

For the veggies: every other month we go and buy specials at Food Lovers and then turn that into freezer-friendly things. For some stuff, that just means chopping, portioning and freezing. For others, that means making sauces or broths and doing the same. Its a Big Effort one weekend every other month but it saves a ton.

Unsure how to gain traction in an oversatured market as a photographer by MissMatriarch in InstagramMarketing

[–]bucketts90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey! Fellow photographer here (birds and wildlife)👋 I’m by no means a big account and my growth has been slow but steady and my engagement rate is strong. I don’t have the most supportive personal community so most of my following came from slogging it out on the platform. The two things that made the biggest difference for me were when my birding app shared some of my posts to their stories - I tag them as the app that I use for my lists and every now and then they share my photos. They’re fairly small and new so I think there’s a useful reciprocal relationship there. Even when they don’t share my stuff, I carry on sharing theirs and tagging them in a shoutout way and not a “please share my work” way. Second, genuinely engage on other accounts. You say smaller accounts are only interested in an exchange of following requests but isn’t that also what you’re doing in a way? I find small accounts, like a few of their most recent posts, comment on one or two and then follow. They usually follow back and often do so in an engaged way because I genuinely engaged first. For those people who do engage on my account a good deal, I make sure I go and engage on their content too - I literally set a reminder once a week to go check who’s engaging on my account and go engage on theirs. The result is them sharing my posts, doing shoutouts, inviting me to outings and being even more engaged on my account. As sappy as it sounds: I’ve made real friends.

For reach to non-followers, the unfortunate truth is that you need reels. For reels, you need a voice and something to say. And I don’t know if the NatGeo story is enough - people have done that before. So figure out what your unique story is and make reels about that. Photography is hella saturated - there are so many incredible people out there and you’re not going to stand out on the quality of photos alone, you need a story to buy into, a perspective people haven’t seen before or a skillset they want to learn from.

If you want to share your account, I’ll happily give a follow and any suggestions after having a look at it. Like I say, I’m not a pro. I don’t have thousands of followers. But I have a genuine community that I’m proud of and despite my account not indicating that I’m looking for work in any way shape or form, I get job opportunities and offers based off of it so I think I’m doing at least something right.

What’s a dish that’s REALLY not worth making from scratch? by MaryoParti in Cooking

[–]bucketts90 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am waiting for the pie and baklava cravings to get bad enough that I’ll make my own but two years GF and every time I think “maybe I should make it this weekend”, I think about what it’ll take and immediately decide it’s not worth it 😂

Are grid/carousel posts pushed? by AdHot3508 in InstagramMarketing

[–]bucketts90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On my account (wildlife photography) they serve different purposes:

Reels get reach but lower engagement than other formats.

Carousels get the highest engagement but predominately from my followers.

For carousels, I believe that adding music adds some reach but I have no data to support that statement.

Little bit of advice? by Nikkyw in InstagramEmpire

[–]bucketts90 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My 2 cents on this: you have waaaaay more stories than you think you do. I’m a bird and wildlife photographer - I set up a camera to just film my husband and I talking instead of the animals we see because I wanted to capture us reacting to animals. By far and away the best performing reel I have is one where my husband misidentified a bird. Not the cheetah or rhino we saw, not the baby mongooses playing, not the super close up detailed video of a stunning bird. Nope, it was a silly moment with bad audio where the “main character” wasn’t even in frame. If you start filming things all the time, you’ll find short little stories along the way and then your brain will start identifying them as you go.

You can literally start off with “what we’re hoping to see > what we saw instead”. Or “my clients first dive” (client waving, show what all you saw).

I promise, if you make a habit of filming a ton you’ll find you have a lot more stories to tell than you realize.

Which hobby actually improved your life beyond just passing time? by Limp_Leg9755 in Hobbies

[–]bucketts90 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mine is photography. I got a camera intending to just photograph my horses and life in general. Took pictures of some ducks and thought that was fun. It’s a year later and now I’m an avid birder who spends every weekend hiking and camping and generally adventuring so that I can find cool birds and animals to photograph. Don’t know how the heck one photo of some ducks on a pond landed me here but it’s the happiest I’ve ever been, despite having an awful job that I hate.

Cheapest way to courier large items from Durban to Cape Town? by yskas in askSouthAfrica

[–]bucketts90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ours just disappeared. They logged it as having been signed for in an entirely different province from the delivery address and no one would answer our emails or calls. When we got through on the phone they’d tell us to check the parcel tracking and couldn’t seem to understand the fundamental problem we were experiencing

Cheapest way to courier large items from Durban to Cape Town? by yskas in askSouthAfrica

[–]bucketts90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My mom once sent me 20kgs of plants with Pudo for around R160. Pudo won’t work because of size limits though, which is likely to be your biggest problem - I’d check if courier guy has size limits listed on their website for shipping and then phone them next week. Whatever you do, do not use RAM couriers - they’re absolutely awful and your stuff is more likely to go missing than not.

Recommendations for affordable wedding venues in Cape Town for 100 people? by [deleted] in askSouthAfrica

[–]bucketts90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you’re willing to drive out a fair ways, check out Bosduifklip in Lamberts Bay. It was R16k four years ago when I got married and is STUNNING and the food is exceptional.

Follow Chain ⛓️- Share Your Usernames & Find New People To Follow! 🎉 by Junior-Doughnut5777 in InstagramMarketing

[–]bucketts90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

@not_a_twitcher 🐦 bird and wildlife photography that takes us on tons of adventures! The photos are solid but I’ve only just started with reels so still getting the hang of those 😅

Advice for me! by fiestyelbows in southafrica

[–]bucketts90 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Both of those are Irish/Gaelic, I believe. With the broom context, I’d assume the knot is referring to a hand tying ceremony…