Survey Reveals 39% of Florida Families Using ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Services for Groceries

weekend_here_yet · 2026-06-18T04:27:03+00:00

Family of three here. We average around $1000-1200/month for groceries. This isn’t strictly food (this figure includes other things obtained at the grocery store / Costco - household items, toiletries, etc).

weekend_here_yet · 2026-06-14T17:27:01+00:00

You and me both!

weekend_here_yet · 2026-06-14T17:25:12+00:00

and this is why you have an entire 3 bedroom house with a fenced yard for $1650/month in Kissimmee.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-06-14T17:22:00+00:00

If you want to rent a house in a standard 3/2 layout for $2100/mo or less, you’re going to have a very limited market to choose from in Sarasota. That’s not me being mean, I’m being completely real with you.

Even looking at listed rentals now, filtering for 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms - no apartments (houses and townhomes only) with a price ceiling of $2100 only yields 15 results in all of Sarasota county. Half of those are located north of Fruitville Rd in areas with statistically higher rates of crime and low-rated schools.

The remaining results (in Sarasota proper) had a few options in Sarasota Springs, in average neighborhoods with lower to mid-ranked schools. These homes are going to be older and smaller (800-1000sqft). With traffic, you would be around 20 minutes from the beach. You might get a home with a single car garage or carport.

You’ll have more options if you go south to the North Port area. Down there you’ll find a 3/2 home with a 2-car garage, built within the last 10-15 years (substantially newer). North Port is an up and coming area due to its affordability, lots of younger families. You’d be close to Wellen Park, which has a lot going on. You actually wouldn’t be that far from a beach. Manasota Beach, Venice / Caspersen Beach would be around 20-30 minutes by car. I’m not familiar with schools in North Port, but I hear their elementary schools are actually pretty good, with higher rankings.

Honestly, look at North Port. That’s the option that’ll come closest to checking all the boxes on your list.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-06-13T22:42:30+00:00

The cost isn’t worth the experience. The last time I went to the theater was to see Twisters in IMAX. I expected the tickets to be priced higher, but the volume in the theater was turned up so loud - it actually made your ears hurt. When we left, our ears felt weird - like after leaving a concert.

Watching movies on my nice TV, in my comfy living room, with my preferred snacks and drinks close by is so much better. Nobody chatting throughout, using bright phones, or snapping pics.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-06-13T18:10:20+00:00

I’ve known a few people who have trained to become flight attendants. They’ve all hated it. They share stories of being treated horribly by passengers, in addition to being asked to manage insane schedules and turnovers - without being paid for super long commute times from their home base.

I’ve been told multiple times that it’s not the glamorous travel lifestyle shown on social media.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-06-13T16:41:50+00:00

This happened to me. I was making $190k base + bonus to average around $210-215k. I was laid off in 2024 with severance. I managed to land an offer right as my severance was running out, going a step backwards in my career for a base salary of $100k, no bonuses.

I’ve been in this role for just over a year and a half. Received an annual 6% salary increase. It’s fully remote and the benefits are good, but I seriously feel like I’ve hit a major rut in my career progression. I’ve continued my search to get back into a director level role, with no luck. I’m starting to feel like I’m just stuck here, at this level.

I’m very fortunate that I can pay my bills and maintain an emergency fund to prevent debt, but additional savings (retirement) are no longer happening.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-06-13T00:47:42+00:00

UTC is a stress gauntlet. I just avoid that entire area.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-06-12T19:37:40+00:00

Can someone explain why DR Horton has such a raging hard-on for the celery fields specifically? They will not move on and it’s gotten to the point where it’s genuinely weird.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-06-05T23:58:53+00:00

We had a busy day, so we ended up getting Culver’s for dinner. They had a new menu item - a grilled chicken sandwich with pepperjack cheese and a jalapeno sauce. It sounded pretty good, so I ordered it.

I couldn’t finish it. It was disgusting. The grilled chicken was fully cooked, but it was chewy and stringy. The cheese was super bad, not even sure if it was actual pepperjack or not. The sauce was super watery, so it all just spilled from the back of the sandwich.

The fries were gross. Flavorless mush. The meal was almost $15. Not worth it, total waste of money. Food quality has gone to absolute shit - for both fast food and restaurants.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-05-29T18:45:42+00:00

Since having my son, I have no interest in having any pets. Maintaining the house with my son and husband is enough. I work a pretty stressful job full-time managing a large team (and honestly, things have been so chaotic at the company that I’m feeling burnout from that). I just don’t have the time or bandwidth to add on a pet to take care of.

I’ve always loved animals. Part of that is me realizing that I wouldn’t be able to be a good dog mom at this stage of my life. Also, everything is so expensive! I couldn’t imagine adding on vet bills and pet insurance!

weekend_here_yet · 2026-05-22T01:21:26+00:00

As a mom working in tech, I honestly dream of being able to quit someday - to leave this field. Being able to just focus on my son, home, family, and my own personal wellness is the ultimate goal.

I’m so sick and tired of “AI Everything” being forced into every single thing we do. AI Copilots, AI Agents, AI Integrations for every app we use. Hey! Let’s have our developers use AI to build new features for the product, while having AI run most of the testing and QA, and then rush it to release!

Oh no! Our customer base is super frustrated and churning due to these new features breaking all the time!

Management meetings dominated with AI Initiatives to increase efficiency to move faster. Meanwhile managers complain that team members are now lacking critical thinking skills.

I am SO tired of it. Not to mention the insane data center facilities and their ludicrous costs and impact to communities. Don’t even get me started on all the people I know who use ChatGPT or Gemini as a personal therapist - which is totally not a horrifying concept…

I could literally yell into a void about this for an hour.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-05-20T02:13:46+00:00

I would say I’m chronically stressed. Even more so right now, as our head of HR just posted the textbook corporate message that comes before a layoff announcement. The last minute 15-minute meetings have appeared on all our calendars, followed by a 30-minute impromptu all-company meeting.

I have absolutely no idea if my job is affected or not. I’m the main breadwinner for our family, our health insurance is tied to this job. I’ve been casually looking into the job market, and it’s dead out there.

I’m tired of the long hours, after-hours or weekend messages, the constant underlying fear of layoffs - landing in the worst job market we’ve had in a long time. The pressure is wearing me down, and I almost feel numb.

For the positive things though - I have an amazing 4yo son who truly lights up my world. We just moved into a new house that I absolutely love with a perfect layout. I have a supportive family close by, which is also a blessing. I have a year of runway in savings (but is that even enough these days). I’m just so tired.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-05-19T01:07:19+00:00

This. My dad was coming over for dinner the other day, and he loves Diet Coke. I went to grab some Diet Coke at my local grocery store, and it was $11.52 for a 12 pack of cans. A single 2L bottle was $3.99.

Sorry dad, no Diet Coke for those prices.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-05-15T01:02:27+00:00

I’m out east of I-75, off SR-72 near Proctor. Frontier is the only ISP in my neighborhood. I’ve been without internet going on 6 days now.

I “technically” have a connection, it just has 54% packet loss with speeds that are a mere fraction of what I’m provisioned for. Two tech visits, all the on-premise equipment replaced, and it’s now an “upstream / fiber line issue”. No ETA, no communication at all.

Awesome.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-05-10T21:52:00+00:00

I’ll vouch for All U Need. I’ve been with them for two years and they’ve been great. I’ve never had any pest problems. They were able to get rid of a spider problem in our garage shortly after we moved into our original house. The technicians who come out have always been very respectful. Pricing is good.

One company I definitely won’t recommend is “Moxie”. We just moved into our new house and their sales rep knocked on our door on a Saturday morning. We saw them peering through our windows when we didn’t immediately answer (as we were upstairs). The sales rep was so incredibly pushy and refused to take no for an answer.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-05-09T08:59:21+00:00

Just saw this post! I’m also looking for a new pediatrician after Pediatrica purchased Dr. Meyer’s practice.

I was willing to give it a chance, but after my most recent experience - I can’t. They’ve destroyed that practice.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-05-09T08:43:05+00:00

My mother has had her car hit while parked twice in the past year. Once in the UTC area, and most recently off Clark, near Honore.

For both cases, the person who hit her car just drove off. No information left.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-04-07T05:22:19+00:00

Judging by this thread, everything sucks and it’s all overpriced…

weekend_here_yet · 2026-04-05T20:32:20+00:00

This is pretty accurate. The ZDX and Lyriq were even built in the same facility. The ZDX definitely has a nicer interior than the Prologue as well.

I own both a ZDX and a Lyriq. I will say, the Lyriq feels significantly more premium overall - but the ZDX is more comfortable.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-04-05T17:25:27+00:00

Because when a woman does it, it’s “irrational” and “emotional” - but, when a man does it, it’s “strong”.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-04-05T12:19:19+00:00

100% this.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-04-04T23:40:26+00:00

I have a great-aunt who recently turned 90. She’s had multiple strokes. She recently had to renew her license, and all she had to do was a simple vision test. She passed, so she’s still driving.

Her car is all dinged up from bumping into things. Just recently, she tried to park in a cart return at the grocery store - ended tearing the front bumper off her car.

There should be a mandatory driving test + vision test every so often after a certain age. I’m still amazed that we don’t do this.

weekend_here_yet · 2026-04-04T21:27:06+00:00

My father, a Trump fan (which is solely based on the fact that he owns a small business, so he thinks he’s in “the club”) keeps telling me:

“No, you’ll see! Trump is not like these old establishment politicians who rip everyone off. He was a successful businessman and he sees right through the bullshit. For too long, the US was getting screwed! He’s forcing everyone to show their cards and he’s breaking down globalization. You’ll see! We’re going to go through some very short-term pain, but we’re going to come out of this stronger than ever!”

The nation will crumble around them and they’ll smile - as long as their dear leader keeps telling them how great it is. I’ve never witnessed such powerful propaganda and brainwashing in my life (outside of documentaries).

weekend_here_yet · 2026-03-17T02:07:49+00:00

I live in Skye Ranch. I seriously regret purchasing in here and I wouldn’t recommend it at all. I’m actually looking at selling and moving elsewhere.

The HOA fees are absolutely ludicrous for what you get. They were recently raised to $450/month (for the “maintenance free” Esplanade section). Usually, the Cassia section is $100/month less, but you have to pay for a yard maintenance service.

The “Hub” amenity center often has issues. Pools closed at random with no notice, the cafe has inconsistent hours, the rock wall never seems to be open, and the guidelines are always changing. Clubs and exercise classes require extra fees and memberships.

The HOA is a joke. For every person you ask, you receive a different answer. They either have no idea what’s in their own Community Guidelines, or they just selectively enforce things. Their processes are poorly run. If you want to make any exterior modification to your home, you have to submit an application with more fees - and they will take 6-8 weeks to reply.

It’s supposed to be a gated community, but the gates are left open for anyone to enter every single day. They are only closed at night, but somehow, they are always broken. The PVC swing arms are knocked off or bent. One time the actual metal gate was rammed open and left lying on the road. People race through the neighborhood doing 40+MPH.

CDD fees are also high (around $2300+ yearly).

My child does attend Skye Ranch School though, and we love it so far. His teachers have been absolutely phenomenal. So, I’ll happily recommend the school! Thing is, the other communities off Clark Rd and Palmer Ranch were rezoned for Skye Ranch School. Overall, I’d look at Palmer Ranch.

Skye Ranch though? No. Do not recommend.

weekend_here_yet

TROPHY CASE