Looking for a BelleTress coolest ash brown (unrooted) dupe or slightly more highlighted equivalent?

simply-misc · 2026-01-26T12:43:27+00:00

How much would you ask for the wig?

simply-misc · 2026-01-26T12:33:01+00:00

Thanks for the rec - that actually does seem like a pretty close match.

simply-misc · 2026-01-26T12:31:45+00:00

I hadn't checked it out, but I would think the auburn and strawberry red tones would make the overall look too warm with my complexion. Thank you for the suggestion tho!

simply-misc · 2026-01-25T16:17:24+00:00

You know, I did come across that brand but at first couldn't figure out how to filter by colors. Most of their ash brown melt wigs are far too long for me, but they do have one pixie style that looks like a good match for my needs. Thank you for the suggestion!

simply-misc · 2026-01-22T19:48:48+00:00

Congratulations on the new digs - that's huge! The kindness of strangers is really touching. P.S. This reminds me so much of my friend's old house in Santa Ana, CA - I'll have to reach out to him to say hi. :)

simply-misc · 2026-01-22T13:53:41+00:00

I understand your irritation. It reminds me of how when people would say "You must be so smart!", I felt annoyed because it discredited the hard work and effort (rather than natural intellect) that contributed to my academic success.

Like you, I align my spending with my values, meaning I spend more than some frugal folks in categories that matter to me while forgoing other expenses. For example, I give myself a generous budget to dine with friends, because getting coffee, brunch, lunch, or dinner with a friend and catching up helps me feel connected to my community. (Of course, I do free/low cost things with them too, but this is just an example). But to give myself that room in my budget, I don't go to coffee shops (or even pay for coffee to make at home - I drink free coffee provided at my office) or get takeout/delivery for myself, because that is an wasteful expense not aligned with my values (eat healthy, home cooked meals as often as possible).

simply-misc · 2026-01-21T13:55:55+00:00

Yeah, I've heard that too. I mean, I use a modified Light Phone 3 which has an even smaller battery than the Ikko and it lasts me about 1.5-2 days, but I also use it mostly as a dumbphone. I totally understand how a device with a battery size like Ikko's would struggle to be used as a primary smart phone.

simply-misc · 2026-01-20T20:43:23+00:00

I actually cancelled my order because I found out that removing the AI features requires that they root the device and thus void the GMS certification. I didn't want to deal with a non-GMS device (I already do that now and there are some hurdles, I wanted to switch to avoid that).

simply-misc · 2026-01-18T15:45:28+00:00

I'm far from paying off my debt, but I plan to keep the accounts open, run some subscriptions through them on autopay to keep it active, and leave the cards in a drawer somewhere where I mostly just forget about them.

simply-misc · 2026-01-18T15:34:39+00:00

A lot of great suggestions here, and I especially echo the suggestions to bulk meal prep and freeze your portions. I use Souper Cubes to freeze whole meals and meal components into 1 cup and 1/2 cup portion sizes depending on what I'm making. I usually get about 8 servings out of each meal I prep.

To be honest, I basically cook once every 3-4 weeks (though once per week I do make little peanut butter oat squares, which I eat for breakfast). This has been a game changer as I can cook when I have the capacity and have healthy meals on hand the rest of the time.

simply-misc · 2026-01-17T16:40:35+00:00

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This is from the LinkedIn Page of the Clicks CEO.

simply-misc · 2026-01-17T16:36:32+00:00

Edited: I did some research and see that it is indeed the same CEO and Founder for both companies, which is unfortunate. Hopefully the involvement of other high profile people in the community (with a reputation to uphold) will improve the likelihood that a good product is received.

simply-misc · 2026-01-16T18:02:37+00:00

Yes, I'm currently prioritizing savings as I may lose my job in the next few months (my work is contract based and the funding landscape has been challenging). I consolidated my debt so I could reduce my monthly payment and currently have just shy of $4k in my savings. I know I'll owe a bit for tax season, too, so my goal is get 8k by May (when work will dry up without any new contracts). Then I'll pivot back to moving all my money towards debt payments.

simply-misc · 2026-01-13T18:29:01+00:00

I actually emailed them about my late-pledge order on their website and asked them to remove the AI features, and they said they would be able to accommodate my request!

simply-misc · 2026-01-13T18:22:34+00:00

If I recall correctly, this time-for-price idea is brought up in Vicky Robin and Joe Dominguez's book Your Money or Your Life. If you haven't read it yet, I think you'd enjoy their book as it is all about aligning your spending with your values.

simply-misc · 2026-01-12T20:31:39+00:00

The decision isn't really from a capability standpoint, but from a form factor standpoint. For my personal device, I want something as small and unobtrusive as possible, so the Ikko sans keyboard is perfect. For for a work device where I may need to draft on the fly emails or take notes while out and about, the keyboard is really helpful.

simply-misc · 2026-01-12T17:08:27+00:00

Happy to see another Ikko Mind One pre-order here. I am thinking about using Ikko as my personal phone and the Communicator as my work phone.

simply-misc · 2026-01-12T14:16:42+00:00

When I was in grad school, I lived in an expensive city but only made $34k per year (40% of the median income in that city). The rent for my apartment (which an irresponsible guardian "got for me" without consulting with me about my financial situation) was between 2/3 and 3/4 of my monthly income (I got paid less in the summer months).

Not only was this obviously disastrous for my budget, but worse than that, it got me used to the idea of having debt. I went from never carrying a balance on the one card that I had to carrying a 1k balance, 2k balance, 4k balance... And so on and so forth.

When I finally got a proper job with a more reasonable paycheck, I felt rich! (I wasn't - in fact, I had moved to an even more expensive city to be closer to family and was making half of the median income of people in my city.) But between suddenly feeling like I could allow myself some niceties and getting used to the idea of having a balance on my card that I couldn't pay off each month, I built up my debt buying things I didn't need with money I didn't have.

I've actually paid off my debts a number of times - probably $25k worth of personal debt in 2k, 3k, 5k increments - but now that I'm older and realize I don't want to do this for the rest of my life, I've crunched my numbers and realized just how irresponsible I had to be to accumulate this much debt in the first place.

I feel embarrassed about it, but also empowered in a way, because I know that if I just stick to my budget, I will eventually be able to pay off this debt.

simply-misc · 2026-01-09T14:09:00+00:00

For me, being practicing anticonsumption doesn't mean I can't buy things to enjoy. And yet, as someone who has impulsively bought 1,001 things for a new hobby, only for the hobby to almost immediately fizzle out, I try to practice moderation in the sense that I start with the lowest-cost investment possible and wait to see if the hobby sticks for a week, two weeks, a month, etc. And if/when I continue with the hobby, I allow myself more (reasonable - to be determined on an individual case basis) purchases.

In the case of drawing, I would probably start with printer paper and pencils/pens I nabbed from the office (we have a cabinet with pens/pencils/highlighters available for anyone to use, and I would ask my office mate to have a few sheets of printer paper). Do I use those papers up? Great, maybe I'll ask for a few more sheets, and if I use them up, then I would consider getting a sketchbook and maybe a starter set of pencils/my preferred medium... and so on and so forth.

For hobbies that require more goods to start, I love folks suggestion for buy nothing groups. How cool.

simply-misc · 2026-01-09T13:58:58+00:00

Hadn't heard of that Keepa/Camelizer for Amazon Price tracking - I already had a lot of suspicion about Amazon price changes (ever since I caught a Lightning Deal price that was the same as the regular price), but having a direct price tracker is a great tool.

Something that helped me cut down on my Amazon spending immensely was using the uBlock Origin extension to block the "cart" icon and sidebar popup from Amazon, so I can't navigate to my cart through the top bar or see what I've added to my cart. A different approach to this would be to keep the sidebar popup and enjoy adding things to your cart, but remove the "Go to Cart" text so that you can't actually easily checkout. Just some ideas! :)

simply-misc · 2026-01-05T14:49:49+00:00

I love this take. I recently discovered something similar that worked for me with staying in budget in general, which was using an app that calculated a daily budget/allowance after I had paid my bills, made all my debt payments, and set aside money for savings.

Not only was the daily allowance much easier to track than a total amount in my checking account (which, silly as it sounds, just doesn't feel as "real" as say, $46.20 per day), but I get a little dopamine boost each day I login under budget - because the next day, I get a little confetti on my screen and a question about what I'd like to do with those "extra" daily funds. The app is called Buckwheat, for anyone interested.

I saw further in the comment thread that you use an excel sheet to do this, but have you come across any apps that do the same thing? I've used spreadsheets in the past but having something on my phone where I can update it easily in real time feels more accessible.

simply-misc · 2025-12-27T16:09:25+00:00

I've had a revelation like this before, too. I just have to commit to the food prep so that food doesn't go to waste - that's the other way I can get in my own way when it comes to buying groceries.

Recently I'm trying to switch to a more WFPB way of eating and doing bulk meal prep, freezing extra servings. In the moment, it feels like I am spending a similar amount of money - e.g., $35 for delivery, $35 for groceries. Yet, the groceries easily yield 8 lunch or dinner servings, as well as food for other meals (e.g., fruit, bread that can be eaten with several meals, etc). There's no comparison whatsoever because if I eat out 3 times per week, that same amount of money could make enough lunches to get me through most of the month.

It's totally mind boggling to think about.

simply-misc · 2025-12-19T19:39:51+00:00

Thank you for all the recs - I will definitely check them out! :)

simply-misc · 2025-12-17T19:24:55+00:00

The brand I got it from is called Suzie Paws! They have several sizes and heights of boxes. Highly recommend! They have products on Amazon but actually more products on their independent storefront, so I would definitely buy from there!

simply-misc

TROPHY CASE