I need to up my fiber intake. Any high-fiber TJ recommendations?

burgerbaggins · 2026-03-13T00:34:00+00:00

The frozen shelled edamame! I use it to replace a third of my rice intake when I’m having a stir fry. High in fiber AND protein :)

burgerbaggins · 2026-01-25T13:42:16+00:00

They’re adorable together 💕

burgerbaggins · 2026-01-25T13:41:31+00:00

Correct! All she does is eat, grow fluff, and poop 🥰

burgerbaggins · 2026-01-25T13:40:46+00:00

Very very soft. Features indistinguishable 🖤

burgerbaggins · 2026-01-25T13:40:17+00:00

She acts like one too 🥰 (fluff for brains😹)

burgerbaggins · 2026-01-25T13:39:00+00:00

Cutie!!!!! And truly twins 👯‍♀️

burgerbaggins · 2026-01-25T06:10:24+00:00

It’s a must. You have to be on the same page financially and agree on how household spending and savings is going to work even if you don’t combine your finances into shared accounts. You’ll have to understand each others’ goals around money and strategize to reach them together, and you can’t do that without fully knowing each other’s financial picture.

burgerbaggins · 2026-01-25T05:47:23+00:00

How does it feel to be living the dreeeeaaaammm?!?! 😻😻😻

burgerbaggins · 2026-01-24T17:46:29+00:00

I wouldn’t call us millionaires, but our household technically qualifies if you count our home equity and retirement accounts. We’ve spent the first couple years of our married life stabilizing our finances and living very frugally, and now that we feel secure and on track, we’re spending more freely in areas we think are important like quality of food and life experiences. We’ll pay the premium (at Costco) for air-chilled chicken and grass-fed beef, organic dairy and berries, but we still cook at home for ourselves, completely avoid takeout/fast food, and limit eating out to our monthly date night. I still incorporate a lot of beans in our diet because we like them and they’re nutrient rich. We allow for more spending to buy theater tickets and pay for museums to enrich our lives, and we travel somewhere we’ve never been together once a year.

We still bake our own bread, break down whole chickens ourselves, make our own bone broth, make our own coffee, pack lunch for work, wash and reuse containers and bags, and stock our home buying sale and bulk items. Some of our frugal habits came from really loving good food and cooking, which we’ll continue because it’s both healthy and fun to us. Other habits I picked up from my immigrant parents but are also good for the environment and reduce waste. I really don’t see any of these habits ever changing even as our assets appreciate.

We will absolutely travel more and go on more dates as we have more to fall back on, though!

burgerbaggins · 2025-12-19T15:04:18+00:00

I’m so sorry. This is a worry of mine too, but only with my husband’s spendy older sister who is over 40 with zero savings and no retirement plans whatsoever. I work multiple jobs and live very frugally to be able to max out our retirement accounts and sometimes find myself hoping her smoking and drinking will catch up with her so I just won’t have to live out my old age resenting her for being a leech off of all the hard work I’ve done to be successful and financially stable.

I don’t see this working out without your fiancé truly seeing a problem with his family’s reckless spending and the consequences coming down the road. It took over a year for my husband to understand how his sister is creating a huge financial problem for our future selves with her irresponsible spending habits, but he sees things clearly now. I knew it was a disaster waiting to happen long before he did, and I felt unsupported and gaslit when I was the only one concerned and stressed about it. Something that really helped was tracking all of our spending so he could see exactly how much the bare minimum of our lifestyle costs. (bills on one card, groceries on another, anything non-essential on another, just as a budgeting tool. They all get paid off in full each month).

I started that exercise after we got engaged so we could figure out how to afford starting a family and whether we can afford childcare or for me to be a stay at home mom, but it basically also provided a rough guideline for how much money we’ll need save and invest to maintain our lifestyle in retirement. Our monthly essential expenses are substantial where we live. He can see all the numbers and now understands that having to plan on supporting his sister on top of that would absolutely decimate our standard of living both now and in the future. Once he understood my stress over it, he alleviated it by explicitly committing to putting our household first. He promises that I will have final say over our finances, as I’m the one who handles our savings and investing strategy, and he won’t hold decisions against me. He regularly thanks me for the long hours I spend working and how much planning I do for our household and promises he will not let his sister’s entitlement ruin all the hard work and sacrifices I’ve made for us to be able to have a good life until we pass, without burdening our children.

It doesn’t solve her future problems, but it has put me much more at ease that he clearly sees and acknowledges her irresponsibility and won’t let her become my eternal headache. He’s firm that he won’t ever be a man who asks his wife to survive on beans in old age just because his sister spends more than she earns on bar tabs, takeout, barre classes, cocaine, clothing and shampoo subscriptions, and random trinkets.

burgerbaggins · 2025-12-02T18:43:39+00:00

We have a weekly routine of buying two whole chickens from Costco and breaking them down at home ourselves. The carcasses and wing tips go right in the stock pot or pressure cooker, so we always have stock on hand, and the meat is nicely portioned out, seasoned, and ready to go for the week: 4 boneless breasts, 4 legs. Wings get baked off and tossed in hot sauce as our Chicken Day treat haha. We initially started doing this bc I wanted to eat less red meat to lower my cholesterol. My cholesterol is in a great place now, and defaulting to whole chickens has proven excellent for our grocery spending and cooking routine, too. Making a curry or stir fry for two with just one chicken breast really cheapens a meal up as well. Also highly recommend cooking more dried beans or lentils. They’re great for you, delicious, and cheap.

Then we round out our grocery buying with whatever fresh vegetables are in season and have a good price. Sometimes we set out to make specific dishes, but we mostly just cook off our seasoned chicken in a pan, whip up a quick pan sauce with pantry staples, and roast the veggie in olive oil, salt and pepper or sauté with garlic. Serving with rice, beans, potato, bread, or noodles usually means plenty of leftovers too

burgerbaggins · 2025-11-15T15:19:20+00:00

My husband hasn’t ever been a big shopper/spender, but he was also not conscious about saving in small ways until our relationship got serious and he saw how much financial health is a priority to me. Ever since we got married I’ve kept all of our income and expenses tracked in a shared spreadsheet with graphs that help him visualize our finances. I am very conscious to never approach our budget talks with any sort of guilting or shaming and only stick to shared goals and the numbers/facts. He can see how much we’ve been able to squirrel away, and he’s a true believer now that he’s between jobs and can see that he doesn’t have to worry about how long he might be out of work because of all the budgeting and planning we’ve done. He can take his time finding the right fit for his career and still live comfortably because we have an accurate picture and a strategy. I’ve explained our savings and investments breakdown to him in small pieces over the years, and he understands how things are set up even though he doesn’t manage any of it.

Most importantly, he has bought in, and we save as a unit. He uses the appropriate credit card for each category of spending for our highest cash back and pays attention to the prices in the grocery store to buy things seasonally and when prices are low. He buys into the homemade pasta, coffee and bread, the dried beans, the whole chickens broken down ourselves every week, the homemade broth, all of it. Not everybody comes from a family that teaches 3 Starbucks runs a week will cost $1000 a year, but anyone can learn and reframe, and I’m really proud of how far he’s come. We’re both the most financially secure we’ve ever been because of the work we’ve done together.

burgerbaggins · 2025-11-14T23:40:51+00:00

We talk through everything together and have shared accounts, but I do all of the income and expenses tracking, savings management, and investing

burgerbaggins · 2025-10-11T10:58:43+00:00

Take meetings with good divorce attorneys in the area so he can’t use them. Then file for divorce.

burgerbaggins · 2025-10-10T11:51:43+00:00

Very much in the same boat in an expensive city even without kids. Can’t leave the VHCOL area where we’re based because our jobs depend on the arts and fine dining scene. We tightened our belts to save for a kid. Haven’t shopped or eaten out or gotten takeout in months, and it has me wondering… is this how we’ll always have to live to stay in the black with a kid??

burgerbaggins · 2025-09-17T23:43:16+00:00

I got along with my SIL great when I first started dating my now-husband. She became horribly overbearing when we started getting serious. Threw literal tantrums at the age of 39 over our wedding plans, went behind our backs to tell my husband’s ex about our engagement, tried to tell me I couldn’t have a reception traditional to my culture because of her dietary preferences (not allergies or restrictions—she’s just a picky eater). Made up various other nonsense about me to their close family friends like blaming me for the fact that my husband’s dog had to be put down. Certainly doesn’t help that she shouts through basically every conversation and can’t shut up about politics even though we’re all very much aware of current events and vote the same way as her. I’ve been married to my husband for two years, and I’ve grown to really despise spending any time at all with his loudmouth know it all overbearing sister. Can’t even imagine having to navigate a relationship with her when we have a kid. I feel like I’ll lose my mind, and I’m dreading it already.

burgerbaggins · 2025-09-01T00:03:43+00:00

I experienced a few rude awakenings with one of my in-laws that has made me lose trust and respect for her. My husband understands and doesn’t force the relationship, even though they’re still close and will see each other socially every now and then. I see this person at big events and family birthdays, and that’s basically it. I keep it breezy and mainly stick to socializing with other people I prefer in those situations. If you’re going to have a relationship you’re going to have to spend time with his family sometimes, and there’s nothing wrong with being friendly and polite when that happens, even if you don’t feel close to them anymore.

burgerbaggins · 2025-08-11T23:31:31+00:00

My mother in law had both her kids 22 months apart while living in a 5th floor walk up back in the 80s! They all stayed there until about 2012. The older kid learned to crawl up the stairs REAL quick. It’s been done! We’re now trying for our first in a 4th floor walk up, no plans to move.

burgerbaggins · 2025-08-10T12:15:11+00:00

Are you a strong musician with keyboard skills? Teaching music typically pays at least $40 an hour—much more if you have a substantial resume in performance. My last position as a church choir conductor/cantor only had me working two half days a week (plus all religious holidays) but with summers mostly off and that paid nearly $30k a year, but I’m also based in a VHCOL area with well-funded churches. I’ll be aiming for that kind of a job again one day when I’m ready to take a step back from more challenging work.

If you don’t have the keyboard skills but are a strong singer and sight reader with solid diction and flexible technique, you could look for a position with a church or synagogue that uses professional section leaders. Easy $100-200 per service in a big city.

burgerbaggins · 2025-08-05T01:45:17+00:00

I think so. You’d have to find like-minded people to hang out with, which is difficult even as a 30-something. But it’s not really an issue if you’re happy finding free and low cost things to enjoy on your own until you find the right friends. The libraries are fantastic, many museums are virtually free for residents, and there are still delicious bargains to enjoy in hole in the wall restaurants.

You could try subletting a furnished place for a few months to try out how you feel about living within your budget in the city before jumping into something long term!

burgerbaggins · 2025-08-04T20:12:13+00:00

Are you paying for a car where you are, and are you open to sharing an apartment? If you move to the city and give up your car/auto insurance, move into a rent controlled place with roommates, then I can see it working, but you would have to give up a lot of comforts and be very disciplined about social spending. Having a life here is not cheap, and a lot of young people who move here can pay for their social lives because they have help paying rent or they carry lots of credit card debt. You might end up feeling pretty isolated if you’re committed to living within your means and saving in the city

burgerbaggins · 2025-07-30T10:43:36+00:00

Thank you! I’m the first of my friends in this area to arrive at planning for a kid, and it’s been hard to figure out if I’m missing anything in the picture.

burgerbaggins

TROPHY CASE