While walking today, I came across a set of keys on the road, which had a Kroger membership card attached. I took them to the nearest Kroger and handed them to the manager, hoping they’d find the owner. It got me thinking—adding a local library card or some form of ID to your keychain might be a smart move. It could make it much easier for someone to return your keys if you ever misplace them.

Guys…if you rarely wear suits/blazers (and you do own several), store each in a garment bag with some basic labeling on the outside. This will save you time when you do need to pull one out. Same for seldom-worn dress slacks.

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We now live a casual lifestyle with my husband and son only wearing a suit or sport coat a handful of times per year for wedding, funeral, etc. These rarely-worn clothes are stored in the closet of a spare bedroom, each in a garment bag to protect from dust. We’ve collected an assortment. Some are more expensive than others. Some only work in cooler weather. There are a small range of sizes. Some can suffice “in a pinch”. Over half have no sizing tags, which boggles my mind. (Yes, we’ve looked at the inside pockets.)

So when an occasion arises, the circus begins as they start searching through garment bags…. Which navy blazer is this? Is it the “nice” one? Is that mine or dad’s? This one looks good…oh wait, it’s a suit and I wanted a blazer. I think this is the one I can only wear with a thin shirt….

After a recent round of this, I created tags from 4x6” index cards with a hole punched to fit on the hanger, outside the garment bag. I included color, size and some basic info in large, easy to read letters. Now, I plan to use this method whenever a new piece is purchased.

And I think it will also be helpful as we get rid of pieces, donating or maybe passing on to a younger cousin because we can specify the size and basic details.

LPT: According to newsnationnow.com all states offer sample ballots. According to usa.gov, “Your state may mail you a sample ballot or let you download one from its election site. The sample ballot may look exactly like the real one will.” You can then use these sample ballots to research the issue so you don’t vote yes/no on an issue that’s worded poorly or vague (intentionally or unintentionally). Additionally, you might even choose to use AI to help explain the issue, but note that AI can make mistakes.

Link: https://www.usa.gov/who-you-can-vote-for

I recently started setting a daily reminder on my phone with messages like, “Take a deep breath, you’ve got this” or “Remember why you started.” It’s amazing how much it helps when I see it pop up during a hectic day. Has anyone else tried something similar? If so, what’s your go-to reminder?

If you're selling or re-selling stuff online, add "$xxx discount off if you pick it up by 5pm Sunday, this week."

This works on higher priced items primarily- price it at a high but fair price, then discount by a chunk to what you'd take in negotiation anyway. IF YOU GET A LOW BALL OFFER, tell them 'it's fair and you get $xxx off if you pick it up ....", that's the best I can do"

It has saved me a ton of time. Last time I did it the lady next to me said, “You can do that?”

If your bread is feeling a bit stale but you’re not ready to toss it, here’s a quick trick to revive it. Grab a damp paper towel, wrap the bread in it, and pop it in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds. The moisture from the towel will soften it up, giving it a fresh, just-baked feel. For an extra touch, you can toss it in the toaster for a few seconds after microwaving to add a little crisp back to the crust. No need to waste those slices.

Citric acid comes as a powder, doesn't stink and is imho better and more convenient than both Vinegar and Baking Soda around the house. Some ways I use it:

• Descaling the kettle - fill kettle with water, boil, add as much citric acid as you like, watch the scale dissolve. Super effective and doesn't stink out out the whole house. Bonus you now have hot citric acid for descaling whatever else you have - shower heads, shower tiles, toilets, the espresso machine, whatever you like.
• Improving hard water in appliances - I've seen tips about putting a bowl of vinegar in the bottom of the dishwasher to reduce white residue for hard water. What a pain in the butt. My dishwasher is already full thanks. Just add some citric acid to the same place you add the wash powder. Problem solved. I also use it in the washing machine to help the same way.
• Hot citric acid will dissolve brown urine stains in the toilet. Make a batch while descaling the kettle or in a pan, use the plunger to push the water out of the toilet bowl and pour in the hot citric acid. Give it a scrub to get the easy stuff and leave it to dissolve the hard stains. Come back and give it another scrub and flush later. Your toilet bowl is now back to pristine whiteness.
• Pour a bunch of the powder into the bottom of the kitchen garbage can. No matter how much liquid ick leaks out of the bags it will never mold or odor again. Plus once it's dampened and dried out it becomes solid and will just sit there being awesome for years.
• Scrubbing the stove. It's a mildly abrasive powder, just like baking soda only acidic instead of alkaline. Add a little water to make an abrasive paste. If the dried on food matter still won't budge you can add some baking soda to make a fizzy abrasive powder that can lift up the matter.
• It may also be a decent replacement for CLR especially when hot but I have only tried it on calcium and limescale, not rust (CL but not R in CLR) but it might work.
• BONUS - Kids baking soda volcano and/or bath balls - premix baking soda powder and citric acid powder, add water to activate volcano. Add scented oil and press into ball for bath ball.

I'm sure there are many more uses, not even including the food preservation related uses it has.

If you live in a state with early voting, you can dramatically reduce the number of mailers and calls you get by simply voting.

Calling and mailing you costs campaigns time and money. They generally pull from the voter files to reduce the waste, so the simplest way to get fewer annoying messages is to vote as soon as possible.

https://www.azfamily.com/2024/10/21/tired-political-mailers-calls-heres-how-limit-number/

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/24/early-voting-stops-flood-of-political-campaign-texts-mailers/75825896007/

Billing departments will ALWAYS try to get you to pay shit you're not obligated to.

Medical billing departments are especially bad about this. If you have a loved one who passes, YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE for their medical debt. You can't stop them from taking it out of the estate, but you don't have to pay it. It dies with them.

Don't pay credit card bills that you didn't make. If you didn't use the card, making a payment means you claim the debt as legitimately yours even if you didn't spend it. Instead, dispute it, file a police report, and freeze your credit.

Seriously. If you get a bill and you don't remember getting the service, or you personally didn't get the service (and you didn't sign for it, bc if you co-sign, it's yours too), DON'T PAY IT

Edit: thank you guys for sharing your anecdotes and professional opinions! I really appreciate it. I do want to say that I am American and like many Americans, think the world revolves around the US sometimes 😂. So yes, this lpt was about the US.

I also want to say I'm not a lawyer. I'm sure there's some cases where this doesn't hold true. But in general, don't pay a debt that's not yours without contacting legal counsel bc you may not even be obligated to it.

Thanks again! Y'all are awesome :)

If you are going on a caving or flying maybe even cruise ships or other activities where dangerous situations can be present, you should download the entire wikipedia. its only 100gb and gives you offline access to millions of articles on any topic. you literally have almost all of human knowledge in your pocket in the case of a survival situation

Many of us have made paper snowflakes ❄️ before, by folding a piece of paper and cutting pieces out of it with scissors, then unfolding it. but somehow they often look a bit off and not like real snowflakes.

The trick is that real snowflakes always have six-fold symmetry (due to the chemical structure of water molecules)

To achieve that, first fold the paper in half, then into thirds, then into halves again.

if you don't have great visual judgement you can draw a large 60° angle on a piece of paper as a folding guide and match the corner of your paper and then the edges. Happy crafting!

Edit: Check out /uDeeJungles comment for a great video form explanation :)

Just don’t look at directly at the screen, look at the side so it LOOKS like you’re watching but focus 100% on some random point away from the screen so your brain doesn’t actually see what’s happening. Direct your mind on other stuff and think about some random shit and try to zone out and shit.

For the last couple of years, I have really gotten over buying things on Amazon. I won't bog down this post in the many reasons why Amazon isn't great. I try to buy in person to stimulate my local economy, but it's not uncommon you'll need something that isn't sold in a nearby retail store.

Amazon requires all of its sellers to have the Amazon price be the lowest across the internet, including Ebay, Walmart, their own website, etc. If Amazon finds that they're not compliant in this, they will remove the "buy" option from the item page, thus massively decreasing Amazon sales for that item. Which would be big trouble for many independent sellers. Amazon has notoriously large distributor fees, so this actually raises the price of goods across all websites.

As I've been ordering from manufacturer websites, I've noticed discounts being added after something has been applied to my cart. The item is listed for the same price as Amazon, but then a discount is added to the cart and I'm actually saving a good bit of money.

This obviously doesn't happen every time. Oftentimes I don't NEED something shipped in two days (which has not been a guarantee for me anyway) and the company [usually] has much better customer service to work with if they have a shopping infrastructure on their website. I've never had a problem with returns, and I usually don't need to since I don't ever get a wrong or damaged item like from Amazon sometimes.

You don't have to come at me in the comments if you still want to shop at Amazon. Just sharing my experiences with alternatives.

Many people make a budget for their money but squander their time. Break down your must-dos, like-to-do, and identify the time wasters.

Plan your days, weeks and year with all these things in mind and have a plan with what to do with the extra time if you have it.

Hope this helps!

Coming from experience in my sorority, usually girls want a listening ear :)

(Saw a post in r/Netflix where OP asked for movie recs to show visiting kids on Halloween. My LPT response is below.)

Strongly recommend you fully preview any movie you want to show to children. Then you'll be aware of jump scenes, flashes of gore, innuendo, etc. Reading summaries and reviews can help you narrow down choices before you privately preview the finalists.

This also gives you some protection if the parents complain afterward, "How could you have let my kids see that?"

If the parents are especially picky, let them sign off on the movie list.

Also: Sometimes the movie is ok but the previews were iffy.

If you decided to park somewhere to enjoy nature, don't forget that you drive a frying pan on wheels. Mufflers, catalystic converters and brake discs get extremely hot and could be fire hazards when in contact with weeds.

Unwanted SMS texts are actually a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Many of us are getting them lately, and senders don't realize they're violating the law.

If enough people report these texts, the sender can face serious consequences, including getting kicked off the service (not being able to send SMS any longer). Simply replying “STOP” or marking the message as SPAM doesn’t do enough to hold spammers accountable, but reporting directly to the SMS provider does if enough people do it. It's a lot of work, but it seems to get results in my experience.

Here’s why this extra work matters instead of replying STOP:

1. Replying “STOP” Confirms Your Number Is Active
   • When you reply “STOP,” you confirm to the sender that your number is active and in use. This can lead to even more unsolicited messages from other sources. Senders compile lists of people who opted out of a "SMS marketing campaign."
2. SMS Providers Can Enforce Accountability
   • By reporting the message to the SMS provider, you’re alerting them that their services and ToS are being abused/violated. SMS providers can penalize, block, or censure the sender, making it harder for them to keep spamming.
3. "STOP" Doesn't Address Non-Compliance with TCPA
   • Replying “STOP” doesn’t address broader legal violations. When you report spammers, they could face significant consequences, like being blocked or losing access to their SMS provider. This makes it harder for them to continue spamming people.
4. Potential Deception in “STOP” Messages
   • Some spammers will offer a “STOP” option without any intention of honoring it. By reporting instead of replying, you avoid falling into this trap. What's not typically understood is that spammers capture ALL responses and analyze them.

How to Report the Spam to the SMS Provider:

1. Find the SMS Provider - Use Free Carrier Lookup to find out which SMS provider is delivering the spam. Some common providers are Bandwidth, Sinch, and Telnyx.
2. Report Using the Appropriate Form - Below are some of the most common SMS providers and their reporting webpages:
   • Bandwidth: Report a Number
   • Sinch: Report Scams & Fraud (includes Inteliquent/Onvoy)
   • Telnyx: Report Abuse
   • (For a more comprehensive list of providers, check out this resource: Carrier Abuse Reports on GitHub)
3. When Reporting, Follow These Tips:
   • Keep screenshots or copies of the texts in case the provider asks for proof.
   • Be polite and firm in your message.
   • Include the exact text, as well as the date and time of the message, including time zone.
   • Clearly state that the message was unsolicited, and you want your number removed from their list, as well as lead generator's list.
   • If the texts keep coming from the same sender, be sure to mention it.
   • Fill out separate complaints for each number, even if it’s from the same company. This helps with metrics concerning ToS violations against the sender, and many providers also require it.

Hope this helps you out in your quest to cut down on your SMS spam!

I went from cigs to vapes. Not healthy still, I know. In the last year or so, I've noticed almost every disposable vape is sold with its own charger. Small, cheap, but C type and works on my phone. Last time I grabbed one the store had a whole bucket and asked if I needed an extra. If you're in a real bind, just linger at a smoker's spot and there's a good chance someone has a tiny cord for you.

I was on Xbox Microsoft customer support today trying to get a hold of an agent in live chat because the Xbox controller I bought from Target had an expired warranty when I tried to register it, I was trying to contact support for hours but it wouldn’t give me the option to talk to a real person, everything was automated until I changed my issue to billing. They then instantly sent me to a real Microsoft employee who helped me update my Xbox controller warranty to my purchase date. Easy peasy.

Stephen surveyed thousands of people in London and over 90 percent of them had wanted to play the piano at one point. It makes sense to learn an instrument no matter how old you are.

With daily practice and proper instruction at any age, increased proficiency can occur. The joy that this can bring to an individual, family and the world is beautiful. The world needs more artists, more beauty and more music in these times.

Wish I'd thought of this years ago. If you take metamucil regularly (heh) you know: gelatinous blobs are inevitable, and once they form you have to just swallow them. It's kinda gross and frustrating. Well, with a cheap tiny frother on hand, this has never been an issue since. It absolutely atomizes the blobs, aside from mixing it up well in general at the start. Game changer.

I’ve saved so many would be bland meals. A mediocre salad can go to absolute deliciousness in the flick of the wrist. Also, if you don’t want to offend anyone’s cooking abilities, you can add salt and pepper without them noticing or getting offended, and you don’t have to ask for salt and pepper.

Happened to me twice before switching dates. Also ease of mind

Example: Reporting a 10% cost reduction each quarter can be sold better than a bigger one time reduction.

Give yourself space to report on successes in a longer term view. Especially in corporations, consistent longer term improvements are key metrics, even if smaller in size.