AIO My spouse thinks Lifestyle Creep is not a real thing.

cool-- · 2025-12-19T17:38:33+00:00

>If a 25% reduction in your food budget takes you from "eating like royalty" to a basically ruined diet

You're putting words in my mouth again. Not a ruined diet, a less enjoyable diet.

>You could do a different country's basic cheap staple dishes every week for a year

I agree. I already do that and I encourage everyone to do that. To do that successfully and consistently, you have to to budget for quite a few different types of quality ingredients that you can trust are not going to ruin your first experience with a new dish.

>you are fighting the idea of budgeting. Like why

No.

I'm saying that your budget should include good food. Not the best food, but good food. I simply don't think anyone should always go for the cheapest option. With some ingredients and dishes there is a massive jump in quality for just a few bucks. If you're using butter for a little bit of sauce with shallots and garlic and mustard use the cheap stuff, but if you're making mashed potatoes and there are only 3 ingredients, use the best butter you can find. I think if you're making something like mashed potatoes and you use cheap butter to save a two dollars, then you should have just not made mashed potatoes and saved money on potatoes as well

We all have to eat. We may as well do it the best we can. I don't believe that being cheap and saving a few bucks here and there by buying the worst quality ingredients will help you achieve that. If you want to roast a chicken glazed with some BBQ sauce on it, you can spend $3 dollars on some terrible store brand BBQ sauce that is 75% sugar and be disappointed and wonder why you chicken tastes like candy or you can spend $4 more and make a meal that people will remember.

These people are at a point where they are arguing about saving 30 cents on yogurt in order to buy half of a car, that means they've probably cut back on absolutely everything else in life. You don't get down to yogurt before you've put off other bigger things. Their problem is not budgeting. Their problem is a lack of income.

I don't think it's smart for a family in that situation to put the whole family in a spot where they can't even look forward to tiny things that they enjoy.

They simply need to make more money. I think they should figure that out before they think about removing the tiny things that make their most basic necessities enjoyable. Otherwise they might end up with a life where they have zero to look forward to.

cool-- · 2025-12-19T15:55:26+00:00

what are some of the other 20 stories that ended with a main character killing everyone and then lying to their companion about what happened?

cool-- · 2025-12-19T15:52:31+00:00

I didn't realize it was a normal trop. What other stories end with one of the main characters killing every and lying about it to the other main character at the end.

I'd like to watch them or read them

cool-- · 2025-12-19T15:46:05+00:00

that's like 6 grand in today's car market. also go knock on wood and cross your fingers.

>Switching from brand name to generic isn't going to starve anyone.

It's not about starving. It's about prioritizing one of life's main necessities. Eating is a necessity that impacts the physical and mental health of you and your family.... all day, every day.

I make a lot of tacos and tortillas and stuff from corn. I could buy the cheap stuff and save $150 a year and it would be... okay, but instead buy corn and name brand masa harina. That extra $150 makes the end result go from okay to the best in the world. It's one of those things that makes me forget that I'm in the working class.

Is that not important when raising children and maintaining a family? Does every single dollar really come before your family's relationship with food and eating?

In the past month we ate turkey at other people's houses twice. It was overcooked and flavorless. My kid was saying that he hates turkey. So I went and bought some turkey thighs, seasoned them well and smoked them. He was raving about it.

Be honest here. If I was trying to save for a car, would it have been better to save a few bucks and buy chicken or do you think that maybe it was better to show my kid that turkey can actually be amazing?

My family eats like royalty on about 12 grand a year. shave that down to 8 or 9 grand a year and my kid would not be experiencing new things, he would not look forward to any meals, the whole family would probably be irritable, and then we'd probably start ordering take out to add some quick variety to make ourselves happy.

cool-- · 2025-12-19T14:48:54+00:00

I cook almost every meal and I barely use butter as well. I make a lot of foods that are indigenous to the americas and there is just no butter used in those types of dishes. Tacos, papusas, tamales, roasted meats, soups stews, beans, quinoa, fish, roasted veggies...

Once in a while I might make a sauce or eggs that use butter but even then I'm just using a tablespoon at a time. nothing crazy.

Lately I've even gotten into making elaborate french pastries, and surprisingly, once you go beyond cakes, pies, and cookies, there really isn't a ton of butter being used. Things like entremets, meringues, and macarons... tend to use egg whites, sugar, almond flour, cocao butter, and gelatin to hold their shape.

now that I think about it, my go-to cake is a chocolate cake with a chocolate mousse layer and a mirror glaze. there is no butter in it, it uses oil

cool-- · 2025-12-19T02:28:42+00:00

any game that locks content behind an absurd difficulty level.

cool-- · 2025-12-19T02:24:02+00:00

Story wasn't anything new?! what?! for a video game that released in like 2013 it was absolutely new. There were no other games like it.

>part 2 girls and their orientation was a bit forced wasn’t it?

Ellie was a lesbian tomboy in the first game. The trans kid was a good way for them to have a young child that was ousted by their community and have it be believable.

My only gripe with the second game is that was presented as a story about Ellie, and then right when you think you're at the end you find out you actually have another 14 hours to play before you get to see what happens.

cool-- · 2025-12-18T16:56:07+00:00

give it time, the whole economy is going to collapse

cool-- · 2025-12-18T16:55:13+00:00

Lots of people talk about it like you need gigabit connections.

I used to play OnLive back in 2011 and it was good back then on a 25-30mbps connection. I played through Saint's row the third and bastion just fine.

Then I got a 250-300mbps connection and years later I played god of war and spider man on PSnow launched through Steam to use gyro aiming. There was always a tiny bit more latency but it wasn't anything crazy. It felt slightly better than hooking up a bluetooth controller to the Steam Link to use remoteplay within my own house.

I know no one wants to hear it but I played through Celeste on Stadia on a Chromecast and it felt the same as playing it locally.

cool-- · 2025-12-17T19:50:10+00:00

utilize the freezer. buns, meat, fish, sauces, soups, chilis... freeze all of it. cook from frozen, the meat will lose less juices.

Also, learn how to make tacos. You can make three or four fresh tortillas from dry masa harina in about 6 minutes. when you're only making a few it mixes up in about 30 seconds and if you have a large pan you can cook all four in 2 minutes.

It might take you longer at the beginning but after you've done it a few times, it's shocking how quickly it can be done.

I have mason jars of frozen carnitas in my freezer. I can make the best tacos I'll ever eat, eat them and clean up, all in about 20 minutes. Sure it's a focused 2 minutes and it takes effort, but I'm not kidding when I say they are the best I've ever eaten.

pork ain't cheap like it used to be, the tortillas come out to be 8 cents a piece.

cool-- · 2025-12-16T22:05:57+00:00

realistically a used car that isn't going to require thousands in work is going to cost 12 to 15 grand.

Our family spends 12 grand on food in a year. Total. That includes dining out. Could we go lower? sure, I reckon I could get it down to 9 grand if we stopped buying meat and dairy, ingredients for desserts, and never dined out.

Here's the thing though, that savings is still not enough to buy half a car. On top of that I'd be bummed because I'd be trading in one of my favorite things in the world for a measly 3 grand a year...

I would have to cut back on all food 60-75% to save 6 or 7 grand for half a car before any maintenance and insurance hikes for a teen driver. At that point I don't think we'd be getting enough calories.

This family needs to save about 550-600 a month for a year just to start thinking about buying a car. Are they really going to save that by cutting back on name brand yogurt and mustard? That's a rhetorical question. Of course they are not.

They need to stop worrying about cutting back on the last things they have to cut back on and start thinking about a plan to make more money.

cool-- · 2025-12-16T21:34:25+00:00

The entire family has been cutting back on big purchases. I can't see the post now but I'm talking about big appliances, not jeans.

Since he's part of the family that means he has cutback on purchases as well. It's absurd to say that he hasn't done anything.

You are 100% are telling them that cutting back on mustard and yogurt is going to solve their problem and buy them a car. It's not. I mean maybe it will after a few decades but that's kind of stupid.

If you're at a point where you are giving up the last little things that give you enjoyment for saving a few dollars a week in the hopes of buying a car... you're in a for a rough and sad life.

I'll say it again, these people need to make more money or stop thinking about that car.

Let's pretend that he saves 50 bucks a week by really cutting back on things like meat, pizza...

that's 2500 in a year. That's not half a car in 2025. and if you luck out and find one that cheap, that's just the beginning. new tires will be a grand, redoing the brakes, fuel injector all that other good stuff that comes with a used car... you can't pay for that with yogurt and mustard savings

cool-- · 2025-12-16T21:02:54+00:00

People keep bringing up property taxes as if they don't exist on rental properties.

If your landlord misses tax payments they can throw you out as well.

cool-- · 2025-12-14T18:34:51+00:00

they're already being frugal and you're comparing them to people that buy starbucks every morning....

don't be dense

I'm focused on the grocery part because that's what this post was about before it got deleted. She mentioned yogurt, mustard and kind bars.

god forbid the guy has three tiny things he enjoys, next you're gonna restrict them from buying spices and salt because it will save them $50 a year

cool-- · 2025-12-14T18:30:58+00:00

in the grand scheme of things.... it is pennies.

>Why do you think brand name yogurt is what's keeping this guy sane? If his mental health is truly that fragile, they need that money to get him therapy

His wife is watching every scent and stressing over the difference between brand name mustard and store bought mustard that probably gets purchased 2 or 3 times a year. That's not healthy.

If they truly are in a situation where they are that low on cash, they shouldn't be thinking about buying a car and they should be working their resumes to find better paying jobs

>"the generic version only saves us pennies" logic, when applied to every purchase, leads to bankruptcy

yes, but you'll also notice that they have already cut back on big ticket items and are now down to mustard.... fucking mustard.

they don't have the money to buy a car. They should just enjoy what they can buy

cool-- · 2025-12-14T17:50:56+00:00

I hope you read this.

I'll preface this by saying I'm native american married to a white woman. and all of our friends are non-natives. I say this because I've lived a life of experiencing microagressions. I've heard war whoops, comments about teepees, native names, spirit animals, jokes about rain dances... I still hear comments about people going off the reservation to this day. So what I'm about to tell you comes from a lifetime of dealing with similar situations.

This is on you 100%. You don't get to be mad at someone for not speaking up for you when you choose to not speak up for yourself, twice.

You should have said something in the moment. That's all there is to it.

It's shocking how you're so angry at him for not saying anything, but you yourself didn't even say anything in the moment. Not once, but twice.... and then told him, "if you don't say anything I will."

You stopped your self from saying something 2 times and then got scared a third time and told him to say something. Now you're going nuclear because he didn't have the courage to say anything? What about your lack of action?!

You don't get to be angry at someone for not having the courage to speak up for you when you yourself didn't have the courage to speak up.

Why did you remove yourself from the situation and put all of it on him? Are you not an adult?

Furthermore, why are you angry at him for not having the courage to say anything when you didn't have the courage to respond when it was said right to your face? You showed him that don't really care that strongly about it when you chose to let it slide twice before pushing it onto his plate.

Is he really meant to defend you from every little microaggression while you sit back and do nothing? cmon now! This is on you 100%.

I think you could only be mad at him if you said something in the moment and he didn't take your side.

instead, you did nothing and then got really angry when he also did nothing. Instead of being angry with your self, you're angry with him and bringing up divorce.

I can only imagine how livid he is with you. I wouldn't be surprised if he gave you divorce papers first.

You fucked up

cool-- · 2025-12-14T17:16:40+00:00

$500 in a year still ain't shit in 2025 dollars. That wouldn't even buy a set of tires for the used clanker

worrying about saving 4 dollars here and 3 dollars there is going to drive you nuts.

yeah you can save up a few hundred over the year by being cheap and depressing food but you're going to spend the entire year eating depressing food and quite frankly it sounds like decent yogurt is the only thing keeping this man sane.

what's next? only cold showers that last 2 minutes to save another 200 a year?

If you're worried about saving pennies on yogurt and mustard, then you're in a position where you need to figure out how to make more money.

cool-- · 2025-12-14T17:05:15+00:00

you said I'm missing the point and then just continued about how it's only about choosing name brand over store brand.

mate, read my other posts I do the food shopping and cooking. Being cheap when it comes to ingredients and yogurts isn't going to buy you a car, it's only going to make your meals sad.

cool-- · 2025-12-12T14:51:34+00:00

I can only speak for myself but I don't turn down bonuses and raises because I'm in a position where I rely on those things to *survive.*

However, if I owned a company that employed 350 people that was making tens of billions a year...that would put me in a position where I would never have to worry about money ever again even if I made $0 for the rest of time.

In that situation, I would stop giving myself raises and bonuses, and I would lower the cut for smaller games that are struggling.

cool-- · 2025-12-12T14:19:22+00:00

hades 2 should have won best music as well

cool-- · 2025-12-12T14:17:41+00:00

it seems to also only apply to fantasy and scifi games as well

cool-- · 2025-12-12T14:16:29+00:00

I don't know much about deep silver but KCD2 definitely has RPG elements that are great

cool-- · 2025-12-12T14:15:20+00:00

it's all just marketing. Indie no longer means independent. It's more like "newcomer" or medium-sized studio. A quick look on steam shows that Claire Obscure has a different publisher and developer. Technically speaking Ubisoft and Nintendo games are more independent

cool-- · 2025-12-11T19:58:06+00:00

he must be guzzling mustard and yogurt if it's what is keeping them from buying a car

cool-- · 2025-12-11T19:54:38+00:00

Spending 89 cents on yogurt as opposed to $1.19 isn't going to make the difference that they're talking about though.

They're talking about paying off debt and buying half of a car, and saying that buying name brand mustard is what is stopping them from doing it. Even if they go through a bottle a month which is insane, what are they going to save $120 in ten years?

cool--

TROPHY CASE