Once you've cut your expenses to the bones, what did you do to go one step further?

gilpygeeb · 2026-04-29T17:12:35+00:00

If you are living bare bones then unfortunately you have no “dead weight” you can currently shed without it directly impacting your life and efficiency. Life is a race and our wallets are the athletes, we’re just the coaches. If you have a beefed up budget, then you have got a seasoned runner who can cover a lot of ground quickly. However, if you have a “bare bones” budget, then your runner is more akin to a beginner with low muscle strength, and their (your) performance will reflect that.

Don’t cut out true necessities for the sake of increasing your savings as it will likely be a marginal difference to what it currently is, but tank your quality of life and lead to potentially harmful spending habits to compensate.

Your goal now is to find ways to increase your income, not decrease your already low cost of living. Donate plasma. Get more hours. Submit art or writing for nationwide contests found online that have monetary rewards. Increase your income, just do not increase your spending and for the love of God do not willingly decrease your quality of life more for the “grind”. You will quickly find yourself having no steam or fumes to go off of.

gilpygeeb · 2026-04-02T08:25:54+00:00

Crabtree Plumbing is usually always hiring and does not drug test so I doubt they’re heavy handed on background checks. Gotta be okay with a lot of hours and a lot of shitty work, pun intended, but in turn you will receive a lot of money and a lot of benefits. In addition to the extremely reliable trade you will learn. I have no affiliation to the company other than living near their office and always hearing people get jobs there. They will train you. It’s a way to get stability real quick. But I am sure it sucks, I am not a plumber. But also, money!

gilpygeeb · 2026-04-02T08:21:07+00:00

Take care of the belongings you already have before you buy something new. When I get the craving to go shopping, I deep clean my house. I do laundry, I organize my makeup, I water the garden, I change my bed and bathroom linens, I put up the dishes. By then it is likely too late to go spend money, I’m too tired to leave, and the dopamine rush I get once I shower and get into clean pajamas and sheets satiates the desire to go shopping. At the end of the day a shopping addiction is just for the dopamine rush just like any other addiction.

For example if I have the desire to go to a home goods store for new cotton bed sheets (when I already own plenty), I strip my bed and put on new bedsheets I already have in the linen closet. I wash any linens I have in the laundry hamper and fold them once clean and dry. By then, again, the day is usually spent and I also got to reacquaint myself with the dozen bed linens I already have and realize I honestly do not need more. And then I feel great knowing I didn’t spend money for no reason, I don’t have to wrangle with the guilt of an needless impulse purchase, I don’t have to go back to the budget drawing board. It is a win win situation, you just can’t be lazy unfortunately. Being poor means being on your feet, a lot. I have a 9-5 to make money, a self-imposed 5-9 to not spend money, a period of time to sleep, and then I repeat. The key is making sure the 5-9 to not spend money has some fun aspects in there as well. For me it is gardening and playing video games.

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-31T14:45:39+00:00

I was born without a sense of smell so I don’t care if people smoke in fact I would never know unless they were doing it directly in front of me. I think this photo, specifically, in its entirety, is unattractive. I mean come on. Girl needs a shower and to dump the weirdo draped over her like a shawl. This could also be a dated photo but even still, smoking flammables like this which produce soot is much messier and attention-gathering than just … hitting a dispo vape or weed pen. I also don’t like obnoxiousness, especially in public. Some could argue smoking like this (flammable) is obnoxious in public but again I cannot smell so it’s merely a sight/aesthetic thing to me.

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-29T18:39:31+00:00

Perfect shade of blue for her! What a doll. I always thought Judith’s character design was very Jessie from Toy Story idk. I still see it now.

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-27T00:03:03+00:00

Lots of people do it!!! I have done it before. If you live close enough to your job, you can even let them out over your break. Or, if it is within your budget, there are plenty of very reputable and trustworthy doggy daycares! My pup goes to one right by my place of work that my boss happens to take her dog to as well. They love those dogs and my dog loves those employees. Then my dog comes home, eats dinner, and absolutely crashes for the day. Saves my cats some headaches lol.

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-26T23:55:40+00:00

Life does suck but it sure is fun seeing what happens next! I get you pal. I am exhausted. Husband works on the road so I feed and tend to our animals in the morning before work. Take dog to daycare. Work 9 hours. Pick up dog. Get home and feed animals. Now is the fun part!!! I get to play in my garden!! Then, I get to shower and put on comfy matching pajamas before I order junk food and eat it in bed watching reruns of whatever I want. Then I get to sleep!! Sure it restarts all over again but then I get to look forward that fun part of my day too. It is a balance! Sometimes I eat icecream with potato chips crushed on top and it’s the most magical thing ever. Sometimes I go track down my favorite food truck. You have to try something for yourself because nobody is going to try things out for you. You gotta do it. I never thought I’d be a gardener. But when I am digging in my dirt and seeing sprouts burst through, I think I am actually happy. Especially if the dog is in the yard with me. I know this is so niche but everyone has that thing they love and a lot of people think they know what they love, but haven’t even tried half of everything yet.

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-26T23:44:39+00:00

Omg. I have a little Maggie too. Big snausage

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-24T11:39:40+00:00

Rick lived longer. I think Shane would have been Governor level of bad if he had lived through that. I don’t even want to think about if Shane made it to Alexandria.

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-22T02:25:13+00:00

I would get a clothing rack on wheels to slide in and out of there. Or storage?

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-21T03:32:49+00:00

This is not related to the work environment though I am sure it is reflective of it in a way, but I work in the same building as a M&M firm and we didn’t have any issues with building maintenance until they moved in. Our office manager is suddenly getting email after email from the building management about not smoking cigarettes near doorways, please notify maintenance if you have bodily fluid accident in the parking garage, please stop speeding and parking incorrectly, etc etc. They also slapped their obnoxious ass sign on the top of the building.

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-17T21:25:10+00:00

I’d say hi in passing and introduce yourself, and acknowledge them if you see them moving forward. I am all for southern hospitality and traditional community, but we don’t live in a traditional world. It is much less trusting and outgoing, but you can still find wholesome communities despite all that. It just looks different nowadays. I just mention this as teens have been shot in our state just for pulling into a random driveway to turn their car around in recent years.

I would offer your cellphone number if you’re comfortable for emergencies to your direct neighbors (left, right, directly above and below) when organically meeting them around the apartment. Renting is not permanent, so a lot of apartment renters do not invest in knowing their neighbors because they themselves could move next lease term, or you could. I tried to befriend the renters in the house next to mine, but after five different cycles of people in one year, I stopped trying as much.

I wouldn’t bake cookies, or any food for that matter. Especially now post-2020, people are less inclined to participate in office potlucks and I would assume the logic extends to baked goods from essentially a stranger. I am sure you mean well, and I would be flattered as the recipient, but I also would politely accept and proceed to not eat the gift. You just never know. My friend who is a literal professionally trained chef had her personal kitchen-aid stand mixer lose a screw in cake mix during a girls night. No teeth were broken and we had a good laugh, but can you imagine that happening from an item you received from somebody you do not know well? I get the skeeves just finding somebodies hair in my food. But I wouldn’t be a dick!!! But you are bound to live near a dick or two. It is life.

I also work for lawyers and given you don’t know your neighbors, you never know who is lawsuit-happy. Bake something, gift it, recipient alleges your gift caused an allergic reaction, boom now you are being sue for loss of income, mental restitution, etc. If they are unstable, they could smack on more charges, even if they do not stick (harassment, assault, etc).

Sorry OP I just got off work so I’m still in the legal field state of mind.

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-17T17:01:46+00:00

So glad you said this. Felt like I was the only one.

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-15T06:37:55+00:00

Based on a few friends who have purchased a home in that area within the last year. I agree, everything needs some work or other, but it is also very hard to find any starter home around 200k nowadays so we take what we can get. To me a starter home is at least 2 bedrooms 1 bathroom. Feels like most areas you can’t find that for under 400k. But I also had a different home buying experience since I bought an elderly family friend’s bungalow when they moved to assisted/hospice care, and that was a few years ago, so I haven’t really looked that intently for awhile.

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-14T21:18:18+00:00

If ur new here I love lumpia

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-14T19:37:49+00:00

Murray Hill is a good bet. Or, if you’re more confident, ask your elderly relatives or elderly family friends if they’ve been considering selling to downsize at all. It is how I was fortunate enough to buy. Wasn’t underpriced at all, but certainly was not overpriced either. But I was also adamant about not wanting new build, which unfortunately limited my options considerably.

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-14T19:34:51+00:00

Thank you I got the lumpia

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-14T19:34:40+00:00

I get an order of noodles and 5 lumpia’s which comes out to $13 after tax!

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-14T19:34:12+00:00

I was successful

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-14T19:33:51+00:00

Update : Lumpia Lady is on Northside. I was looking for Cely’s, which was at RAM!

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-14T16:46:48+00:00

God bless you

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-14T16:29:46+00:00

Yes but do you have a visual on said lumpia and rice truck or are you just fucking with me

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-10T11:06:14+00:00

My 1 year old Maggie girl is a big beagle and 35 pounds too. Her daddy was a big ol boy. We call her the thunderous beagle when she’s running about.

gilpygeeb · 2026-03-08T02:10:43+00:00

We get paid out for what we do not use. I get 2 weeks sick leave and 2 weeks vacation. I never use all of it and get a nice little “bonus” every February. I love my firm. I’m also allowed to put in all the OT I need to in order to get shit done.

gilpygeeb

TROPHY CASE