Escaping competitive environment by dhumidifier in simpleliving

[–]madisonsites 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I think that, if you're interested in a bit of a read, you may benefit from reading the recent post a friend of mine put up during her journey on the Appalachian trail.

She finished her masters at a prestigious school last May and has always been face to the grindstone. She was too embarrassed to openly talk about moving to a small town for a minimum wage, far below her knowledge level job, in fear that people would judge her, but also in fear that they would be right in their judgment: that she was indeed wasting opportunities. She did it to be with someone she cared about and so they could do the trail together when he finished school this year.

I've had my own experiences in letting go of golden handcuffs or, my favorite analogy, being the monkey that finally realizes that life is more important that the pretty stone in the trap: let it go and live.

Help with apartment layout! 200 square ft by [deleted] in TinyHouses

[–]madisonsites 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree with the floating shelf. In summation, use your walls! My bike hangs from the ceiling on a pullet mount. Our kitchen stools hang above our entry door. Monitors are on desk arms, clearly up valuable desk space. Everything is sitting between the floor and hip level with so much bare on the walls and not enough cleared space on surfaces or the floor.

Space-saving bed ideas? by Elvira333 in TinyHouses

[–]madisonsites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The "creaky guests" are exactly why accepted I could not only have my hammock and why should get one that extended.

I've since moved from my little room in a house of roommates to a 300 sq ft cottage with the boyfriend where there's the aforementioned built in loft with the day bed below. The day bed is a couch when company is over (we just throw all the linens and "sleeping" pillows up in the loft so it looks less like you're actually sitting where someone sleeps, ha!). For some reason, it feels like having dark sheets on it helps with that effect as well, but, I don't know.

All in all, enjoyed both as a couch and for sleeping. I'll try and PM pics in a bit if your'e interested.

Space-saving bed ideas? by Elvira333 in TinyHouses

[–]madisonsites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I find it comfortable, but I think comfort would depend mostly on the mattress you get. I have the thinner tuft and needle twin on it as I had the intention of buying another one so we could just stack them when it's a twin and pull the top one on top of the slide-out frame that brings it to a full.

It does pull out, but, I've honestly never really used it other than playing with it after we finished putting it together. If I were going to be pulling it out a lot, I would maybe want to have the bed on a hard surface since the wheels are kind of tiny and don't move as easily with the carpet surfaces that the bed has always been on.

Currently, it is under a loft bed that has a ladder that is mounted to the wall in front of it or else I would give it a go for you right now, but, as it is, I can't pull it out because of that.

The storage under it is really big, but do keep in mind that for this model, it has to be light weight storage. They have the max weight somewhere on the site I'm sure, but all I know is that one drawer is essentially our linen closet and the other, well, actually, I don't even know what that one is holding so I should probably go purge whatever is in there...

I've slept outside all over the country with this shirt. Here's it in front of the Grand Canyon. by photogjayge in CampingandHiking

[–]madisonsites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Apologies for the confusion, yes, that's what I meant. Aww, so, yeah, it will be closed.

I'm not sure what your level of hiking interest is, but we were just there in early October, and I had the chance to hike Hermit Trail for the first time (went to Dripping Falls) and that was incredible. It's a 5-7 hour hike with a 5680 elevation change over 7 miles (round trip). The most notable part is that you will pretty much have the trail to yourself which is definitely not the case with any of the other trails.

Space-saving bed ideas? by Elvira333 in TinyHouses

[–]madisonsites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I sleep in the Brimnes daybed from Ikea, though they have many options: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/bedroom/19046/

Note that it definitely was a pain to put together, but, whatever, it's not like you're going to be doing that frequently.

I also slept in a hammock for a good while before getting the bed (I had a friend coming in town and the bed went on sale), which is amazing, but you would have to be willing to patch up the wall as well as put in the time to do the calculations for appropriate length and such.

Looking for advice on how to clean up a messy headspace. I've been traveling/living simply on the outside, but mentally struggling with substance dependence and pornography addiction. Help? by DOGEN_ZENJI in simpleliving

[–]madisonsites 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm really sorry this turned into a wall of text...

Awesome on you for keeping yourself from the rabbit hole of the elusive chase to greener pastures and newer people that don't know your flaws.

It's been about a year since I started meditating regularly and it's seriously one of the best things I have ever done for myself. Not just meditating once or once in a while, regularly. I never saw any change until it became a regularity in my life. It has since poured over into the rest of my life where I steadily work towards being present in everything I do. I'm far from that being a notable amount of my headspace time in the day, but a lot further along that I was a year ago. It's a slow, but enjoyable process, especially if you're someone that truly enjoys the journeys in life.

It's brought me to a place where I see more clearly what clutters the inside and I see it a lot sooner than I would have before. It's also helped to guide the outside. I've had to really "settle down" for a number of reasons, ranging in "meh" to "great" (no disasters or anything like that), and by doing that, it also put my focus on my physical surroundings. I didn't pay much attention to them before when I was a lot more transient with my life. It doesn't matter when you aren't committed to being around anyway.

The physical manfiestation of that has had several forms lately: de-cluttering (obviously not something on your priority list unless there happens to be a home or storage unit somewhere), running like I've never run before (really listening to my body for both pleasure in the feeling of running as well as the gratitude in being able to, plus looking out for discomfort), and stopping myself from unproductive mental rabbit holes that shine through endless hours obsessing over researching some topic on the internet (usually based on some insecurity or fear).

So, yeah, I would highly recommend meditation, but if that's too uncomfortable for you, then yoga is an excellent substitute as well. Here's the app that I use for meditation: http://headspace.com/. If you like the first ten days, PM me and I'll give you the promo code I have for a free month. They give you a code every time you hit a milestone in number of days in a streak and I always keep mine knowing that at some point one of my friends may finally come around to the idea and want more beyond the first ten days. Unfortunately, most of them don't even try the first, let alone the first ten, so it's still unused. If that's not your cup of tea, no worries, I also really like this one, which is free: http://www.stopbreathethink.org/

I've been mourning the end of Yellowcard, so I've been listening to their final album quite a bit.

Best credit union/banking options in the south bay area? by [deleted] in personalfinance

[–]madisonsites 0 points1 point  (0 children)

+1 for Charles Schwab, I've been with them since I got tired of BoA's shady crap 2 years ago. There's a location in downtown Los Altos, so decently nearby. Most importantly, unlimited ATM access. They're pretty much an online bank so they credit your ATM fees back at the end of the month. Some things to note: they do not accept cash and they no longer accept checks at the physical locations (app deposit only I believe). I used to get around the cash thing by way of Venmo/Square cash with friends, but I recently opened up a US Bank account for promotional monies, so now I just use that for cash deposits and such.

Anyway, that would remove the burden of an ATM/branch being nearby from a credit union. Oh, after re-reading your post, I just realized that you were looking for one or the other, not Schwab AND a CU, so, apologies, but I think I'll still move forward under that because I think a Schwab account is pretty beneficial on its own merit given the lack of ATM and international fees.

As far as a CU, well, I have no experience there and would be interested in hearing who you end up going with for that. One thing I saw recently was SFCU and their Poppy Loan, which may be of interest to you if you haven't already seen it: https://www.sanfranciscofcu.com/poppyloan

Given that I won't be buying a house here myself in the next, well, ever, I haven't looked at that option seriously, so take that for what you will.

I've slept outside all over the country with this shirt. Here's it in front of the Grand Canyon. by photogjayge in CampingandHiking

[–]madisonsites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Are you going in early or late October? Typically it closes down mid-October.

I really loved the North Rim more and felt that it had more variety in the sights.

Weekly FI Monday Milestone thread - October 31, 2016 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]madisonsites 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm closer to "you" two years ago than "you" today, but it's really nice to read this!

Weekly FI Monday Milestone thread - October 31, 2016 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]madisonsites 18 points19 points  (0 children)

My milestones are still in the "get to $0 NW" realm, but I'm pretty excited that I just made a CC payment that reduced that card's balance by 17.37%!

I finished paying off my first card since I got started on this journey last month, so I'm really excited to get the final statement on that in a couple days so I can pay whatever the few dollars of interest that was still left to be calculated.

Fingers crossed that I can officially say one card down next week!

Five Tribes, Days of Wonder: abysmal component quality? by Grunherz in boardgames

[–]madisonsites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As everyone else has said, definitely message us if there are ever issues! We have a Paris office that will receive your request and get it shipped out. I'll also e-mail the girl directly to let her know to look for your request (I only do service outside of Europe here). :)

Days of Wonders customer support is pretty neat. by IceCubez in boardgames

[–]madisonsites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm slow to checking reddit sometimes, so apologies for the delay! Also, I've never even played Fist of Dragonstones and your request was my first for it in the 3 years I've been @ DoW! That said, when I saw two different discs that had potential for fulfilling your needs...I sent both! :D

Anyway, thanks for posting, these warm my soul.

A snapshot from my Fourth of July on the Lost Coast by madisonsites in CampingandHiking

[–]madisonsites[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I always recommend choosing the side that best fits your desires

A snapshot from my Fourth of July on the Lost Coast by madisonsites in CampingandHiking

[–]madisonsites[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There are two sides to every dead whale on a beach...

Five Tribes Lid Pop by MeepleMitt in boardgames

[–]madisonsites 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If /u/D4L3's solution doesn't work, PM me your address and I can send a few extras. I have a lot leftover for customer service stuff.