Skincare Fridge Organization

I put this together for people who have maybe 20 to 30 minutes here and there and want to turn that into actual money without committing to anything that feels like a second job. These are all things you can pick up and put down without losing progress. Sell screenshots of aesthetically pleasing phone home screens and widget setups to people who want the look but don't want to build it themselves. The phone customization community is surprisingly active and people will pay a couple bucks for a setup they can replicate. You take 10 minutes to arrange your home screen, screenshot it, list the wallpaper and widget details, and sell it as a package. Record ambient audio from interesting environments and sell the recordings as background sounds. Coffee shop noise, rainstorms from your porch, busy street corners, birds in your backyard at dawn. People use these for focus, sleep, and content creation. You hit record on your phone in an interesting spot, clean it up minimally, and list it. Each recording takes as long as the environment lasts and you can do it while you're already there. Sell curated "aesthetic" photo packs from your phone's camera roll to content creators and small businesses. Not professional photography... just well-composed everyday shots with good light. Coffee and books, desk setups, nature closeups, food flatlays. Creators need these for social media filler and they'd rather buy a pack of 20 authentic photos for a few bucks than hire a photographer. Write very short product reviews on platforms that pay per review. Some take less than 5 minutes. You describe what you liked, what you didn't, and whether you'd buy it again. The per-review pay is small but you can knock out a few while waiting for an appointment or sitting in a parking lot. The key is being specific and honest rather than generic. Create and sell custom ringtones, notification sounds, and alarm tones. This sounds like a 2008 hustle but people still buy custom sounds, especially niche ones. Calming alarm tones, funny notification sounds, aesthetic ringtones that don't sound like a default phone. You can make these with free audio tools in 10 minutes each. Sell your Spotify playlists or build custom playlists for people on request. Music curation is a real skill and people will pay for someone to build the perfect playlist for a road trip, dinner party, workout, or study session. Each playlist takes maybe 20 minutes if you know the genre well and you can do it from your phone. Flip free digital assets into bundles that people will pay for. There are tons of free fonts, icons, textures, and graphics scattered across the internet that have open licenses. You curate them into themed bundles, package them nicely, and sell the convenience. The individual items are free but nobody wants to spend three hours finding and downloading 50 separate files. Sell solved crossword puzzles, sudoku books, and word search pages as printable PDFs. You design the puzzle once using free generators, format it into a clean printable page, and sell it as a download. Teachers buy these for classrooms, parents buy them for car trips, and older adults buy them in bulk. You can build a puzzle in 10 to 15 minutes. Record short voice clips for developers and AI companies training speech recognition systems. Some platforms pay per audio clip and each one takes 30 seconds to a minute. You read a sentence out loud, submit it, move to the next one. Accents and less common languages often pay more because the datasets need diversity. Sell "day in the life" photo journals as digital downloads for people planning trips to your city. 15 to 20 photos of your actual day with captions about where you went, what you ate, and what it cost. Tourists looking for real local experiences buy these as casual guides. You're documenting a day you were already living. Create and sell background music loops for content creators who need royalty-free audio. Even simple ambient loops made with free software sell because YouTubers and podcasters need background music they won't get copyright-struck for. A 2-minute loop of chill guitar or lo-fi keys recorded on your phone with a decent mic works fine. Sell handwritten to-do lists, grocery lists, and daily planners as printable templates. People pay for the handwritten aesthetic because it feels more personal than a typed template. You write it out nicely once, scan it, clean it up, and sell the printable. Each template takes maybe 15 minutes and sells repeatedly. Participate in academic research studies that are just questionnaires you fill out on your phone. Universities run these constantly and most of them are about your opinions, habits, or demographics. The pay per study is small but the time commitment is usually under 15 minutes and you can do them while watching TV or waiting in line. Sell AI-generated art prompts to people who want specific results but don't know how to write effective prompts. This only works if you've genuinely gotten good at prompting and can consistently produce specific styles. You sell the prompt itself along with example outputs. People who want a certain aesthetic but can't figure out the wording will pay for the shortcut. Create tiny one-page "cheat sheets" for complicated products and sell them as quick reference guides. Instant Pot settings, air fryer time charts, camera setting guides, coffee brewing ratios. You condense the manual into a single printable page that someone can stick on their fridge or inside a cabinet. Each one takes 20 minutes to design and sells indefinitely. Sell curated email newsletter recommendations as a simple list product. "10 newsletters that will make you smarter about personal finance" or "15 newsletters for people who like true crime." You've already been reading these so the curation is done. Package the list with short descriptions of why each one is worth subscribing to. Record honest video reviews of stuff you already own and post them on YouTube targeting specific product names. When people search for "is [product name] worth it" and your video shows up, ad revenue trickles in. Each video takes 10 to 15 minutes to film on your phone and targets a keyword that gets searched repeatedly. You don't need a following because the search query does the work. Sell color palette collections and mood boards as digital downloads to designers and content creators. If you have a good eye for color, you can build palettes in free tools and package them as themed sets. "Earthy autumn palette pack" or "90s pastel aesthetic" as a downloadable file with hex codes. Each palette takes 5 minutes and you can batch a dozen in an hour. Offer to test apps and games in beta before they launch and give feedback to developers. Some indie developers and startups pay real money for people to try their pre-release app and submit bug reports or usability feedback. Each testing session is usually short and you're basically just using an app and noting what broke or felt weird. Create and sell "conversation starter" card decks as printable PDFs for dinner parties, dates, and family gatherings. 50 questions per deck, themed for the occasion. Date night questions, family reunion icebreakers, road trip would-you-rathers. You brainstorm the questions in one sitting, format them as printable cards, and sell the PDF. Each deck takes maybe 30 minutes and fills a need people search for right before events. Sell digital phone wallpaper packs organized by aesthetic or season. Minimal, dark mode, cottagecore, seasonal, gradient, abstract. You can create these in free design tools or curate your own photography into themed sets. People pay a couple bucks for a pack of 10 to 15 wallpapers that match a vibe. Each pack takes under an hour to put together. Write short fictional microstories or flash fiction and sell them as collections. 500-word stories bundled into themed ebooks. Sci-fi shorts, horror microfiction, bedtime stories for adults. Each story takes 15 to 20 minutes if you can write quickly, and a collection of 20 stories is a sellable product. Niche genres perform better than general fiction. Sell "unboxing scripts" and product demo outlines to UGC creators who want structure but don't know what to say on camera. A one-page script for how to unbox and review a skincare product, a tech gadget, or a kitchen tool. UGC creators need content constantly and some of them are great on camera but bad at planning what to say. You sell the framework. Build and sell Notion, Google Sheets, or Airtable dashboards for specific use cases. A freelancer client tracker, a wedding budget planner, a content calendar for a small business. Each one takes 30 minutes to an hour if you know the tool well, and templates sell repeatedly to everyone with the same need. Sell "starter guide" PDFs for hobbies that have a confusing entry point. Getting into vinyl, setting up a fish tank, starting a sourdough culture, beginning embroidery, learning to skateboard as an adult. People want a clear simple guide that tells them exactly what to buy and what to do first. You write it once in plain language, keep it under 10 pages, and list it as a download. The whole trick with limited time is finding things where the work is front-loaded into one short session and then the product just sits there earning. What's the most creative way you've made a few bucks with barely any time to spare? submitted by /u/lionpenguin88 to r/beermoneyideas [link] [comments]

I was in a long-distance relationship with a man. We met through Tinder while we were both in our home countries (he was using Tinder Passport). We planned a trip together to a beautiful beach town for our first time meeting in person. We spent two weeks together, and it was amazing. One week was at a resort where everyone thought we were on our honeymoon, and the second week was in a private villa. The entire time he was telling me how happy he was, how much he cared about me, and he even rushed to say “I love you.” After those two weeks, we went back to our countries. He ghosted me for four days, then came back apologizing. I accepted his apology, and things continued. We FaceTimed constantly, and three weeks after our first vacation he asked me to visit him in Canada. I flew there and stayed at his place for 10 days. He was working while I was there, and every day I made sure he came home to a clean house, homemade food, and me looking my best for him. Every night he would stop and buy a bottle of wine for us to share while watching sports together. I packed his lunch for work every day. I never asked him for money. If I wanted to cook something, I bought the groceries myself. I also covered several expenses during our trips, although he was generally very much a provider. After those 10 days, we traveled to Las Vegas for his birthday. The first day was perfect. We walked around, went to a casino, played arcade games, and ended up having one of those deep conversations about our feelings. He told me how happy I made him and how much he loved me. At one point he said, “You took my shitty apartment and made it a home.” That meant a lot to me. The second day we went to a hockey game and had a great time. Later that night, he got food poisoning. We ended up spending the next four days stuck in the hotel room because he was so sick. I took care of him the entire time. I bought his medicine, food, water, and electrolytes with my own money and did everything I could to help him feel better. He thanked me constantly for taking care of him. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the rest of our Vegas plans and go back home. Once he returned to Canada, he disappeared again. This time for an entire month. I still had a lot of belongings at his place because he had suggested I leave them there, winter clothes, toiletries, luggage, and other personal items. Since he wasn’t answering my calls or messages, I decided to fly there again, partly to get my things back and partly to try to understand what was happening. When I showed up at his door, he was surprised and a little upset at first. Eventually he apologized. We both cried and had a long conversation. He told me there wasn’t anyone else and that he was simply used to being alone. He also told me he loved me. His apartment was exactly as I had left it. My jacket was still hanging by the door. My things were still in his bathroom. My skincare products were still in his fridge. My suitcase was still in his bedroom. But the apartment itself looked completely different. He’s normally very clean, organized, disciplined, and a total gym rat. This time the place looked like someone who was struggling. There were pizza boxes, chicken wing containers, and junk food everywhere. Honestly, it looked like he had been depressed. He asked me to stay, so I did. While he was at work, I cleaned his apartment and made it feel like a home again. I stayed for five days, and everything felt normal. He was affectionate, kissing me, hugging me, and acting like the man I knew. We even celebrated his birthday since we couldn’t really do it in Vegas. Before I left, I wrote him a letter because deep down I felt he was going to ghost me again. The letter wasn’t dramatic. It was simply a thank-you for all the happy memories. I told him how proud I was of him and that even if he disappeared again, I genuinely wanted him to be happy. He drove me to another city so I could catch my flight home. When we said goodbye, he had tears in his eyes. He told me he loved me. The moment I landed back in my country, he disappeared again. I haven’t called. I haven’t texted. I haven’t chased him. I just want to understand why. He still follows me on social media. I still have access to all of his streaming accounts, including a profile with my name on it. There are all these little signs that make it seem like he doesn’t completely want me gone, yet he won’t communicate with me. From a man’s perspective, what could possibly explain this behavior? Is this someone who genuinely needs space? Someone struggling with depression or avoidant attachment? Or is there something obvious that I’m missing? submitted by /u/Any-Builder7727 to r/ghosting [link] [comments]

I got a new bed side table for a birthday gift & finally got to organize everything. I’m in the process of redoing my bedroom to make my bad lupus days a little more comfortable. I’m hoping to get a little fridge to hold a few drinks & my peptides. Since I’m stuck in bed so much I always keep as much as I can of my regular use items within arms length so I don’t have to bother my care taker too much. I have my skincare basket & oil defuser on top. 1st drawer I have -Bible -wet wipes -sanitizer -dry brush -head massager for when I use minoxidil for hair loss -sleep mask -pen & notebook -back scratcher -makeup rounds -pimple patches -lip balms -microneedling -Gua sha -whitening strips -lotions -essentials oils -floss -makeup wipes -candle -snacks -remotes 2nd drawer -medicines -vitamins & supplements -stem cell patches 3rd drawer -red light mask -neck fan -thermometer -blood pressure cuff -needles for peptides -alcohol wipes & numbing alcohol wipes -castor oil & packs Underneath my bed I keep -more meds & vitamins -nail supplies to do my nails -humidifier for face -books -hair laser removal -high frequency want Next to my bed -red light therapy lamp w/ stand On my bed -grounding mat Any other suggestions or things I could add to keep it easy on bad days? submitted by /u/WittySN2020 to r/ChronicPain [link] [comments]

I got a new bed side table for a birthday gift & finally got to organize everything. I’m in the process of redoing my bedroom to make my bad lupus days a little more comfortable. I’m hoping to get a little fridge to hold a few drinks & my peptides. Since I’m stuck in bed so much I always keep as much as I can of my regular use items within arms length so I don’t have to bother my care taker too much. I have my skincare basket & oil defuser on top. 1st drawer I have -Bible -wet wipes -sanitizer -dry brush -head massager for when I use minoxidil for hair loss -sleep mask -pen & notebook -back scratcher -makeup rounds -pimple patches -lip balms -microneedling -Gua sha -whitening strips -lotions -essentials oils -floss -makeup wipes -candle -snacks -remotes 2nd drawer -medicines -vitamins & supplements -stem cell patches 3rd drawer -red light mask -neck fan -thermometer -blood pressure cuff -needles for peptides -alcohol wipes & numbing alcohol wipes -castor oil & packs Underneath my bed I keep -more meds & vitamins -nail supplies to do my nails -humidifier for face -books -hair laser removal -high frequency want Next to my bed -red light therapy lamp w/ stand On my bed -grounding mat Any other suggestions or things I could add to keep it easy on bad days? submitted by /u/WittySN2020 to r/lupus [link] [comments]

I really would love and appreciate some help and insight creating a routine to help repair the skin barrier around my eyes and get my dermatitis under control.. I have no idea what to do anymore. I’m feeling so heartbroken like I’ll never be able to wear makeup again. Makeup was a huge creative outlet for me and it’s honestly shattered my confidence and creativity. A bit of backstory…….. October of last year I used cluster eyelashes with bond and seal glue for the first time. I started having a burning feeling on my eyelids soon after applying but I was out at the time of this reaction, so when I went home I immediately removed the eyelashes… I thought this was the end of it :( After this my eyelids were very dry and flaky and I thought I was just having dry skin suddenly so I was using lots of eye cream (burt’s bees eye cream)and it eventually made the flakiness go away but every time I would use makeup the dry skin patches on my eyelids would come back. This went on for some time because I’m silly and wasn’t correlating the two, I just thought I was having dry eyelid skin. Fast forward….. it eventually got so bad when I would wear makeup I would wake up in the morning with puffy, red, itchy eyelids. It was so irritating and horrible and anything I applied to soothe would just burn. I finally booked in to see an optometrist in March of this year. She put me on a steroid ointment which I used for one week around my lash line as well as inside my eyes as she said she could see tiny irritation bumps inside my eyes as well… she then told me to keep trying new mascaras until I find one that works for me (she told me to avoid waterproof). I haven’t found any mascara or makeup that’s worked for me... my symptoms have improved slightly after the steroid treatment because now when I wear makeup the red and puffiness(maybe a tiny bit puffy but not nearly as bad) isn’t there but it definitely still feels irritating and itchy around my eyes after wearing makeup… yes even makeup I only wear on my face not anywhere near my eyes :( I’ve only had 4 trials of mascara as I like to give my face a rest from wearing makeup in between testing new products. When I try mascara I use single use mascara wands and never double dip. Mascaras I’ve tried: -Tarte lights, camera, lashes 4 in 1 -Physicians Formula Organic Wear Fake Out Mascara -100% Pure Fruit Pigmented Mascara -Fitglow Beauty Mascara The Physicians Formula and 100% Pure irritated my eyes the least but definitely still doesn’t feel comfortable on my eyes wearing them. I use Garnier micellar water to take off my makeup/eye makeup as recommended to me by my optometrist. I use the pink “normal,sensitive skin” bottle. Face makeup I use: -Kosas Concealer -Fenty Shake n Play Blush -Benefit Liquid High Beam Highlighter -Elf clear eyebrow gel After doing research of my own I’ve learned to try and stay away from acrylates and Phenoxyethanol in eye makeup products which I try to do (I know I haven’t found my exact allergy yet but I’m trying my best). Now realizing I should try this with my face makeup too?.. Skincare: I’ve always used gentle and all natural skincare products, I wash my face only with lukewarm/cold water (I read hot water can be irritating for dermatitis). I use Eminence Calm Skin Chamomile Moisturizer on my face in the morning(not around my eyes) and this doesn’t irritate my skin I love it. At nighttime I use an herbal skin oil made from my herbalist friend, she is certified and runs her own business. (I don’t use this around my eyes either but maybe I should?) The ingredients in the face oil are -Organically grown pomegranate seed -Rosa mosqueta -Jojoba -Helichrysum -Carrot seed -Vitamin E I don’t use anything around my eyes at the moment. I tried using Bioderma Intensive Eye cream but it irritated my eyes as well making them itchy. All I do around my eyes is wash gently with lukewarm/ cold water and I’ve recently been making calendula infused water I make often from my garden and keep in my fridge. I’ll soak a cotton pad in the water and apply to my eyes when they are very irritated. I’ve been on a wait list to see an allergist for a year already due to other health issues but have been “bumped up” according to my dr because of my new eye issues, and my dermatologist appointment isn’t until December. Please any help on what I should try and/or add to my routine, take away, please any advice at all. It’s so expensive trialing new products and I’ve thrown away more than half of my makeup collection. All my makeup now is brand new. I’m willing to try any products people recommend to me though, I don’t care the cost anymore honestly I just want to get better. I’ve always had sensitive skin but this is next level.. I’m feeling like I’ll never be able to wear makeup again at this point. I know it’s just makeup but it was a part of my identity that feels taken away from me. I cry about it and I hate that it upsets me so much. Thank you so much for your time and reading this submitted by

I am an active and unashamed a03 user I had a Tumblr until it got deleted (have I talked about the Tumblr yet?) My most worn summer shoes are ugly black flipflops (Nike Marina, if you're wondering) I own and frequently wear both Vans and Converse I own and frequently wear several pairs of incredibly unflattering jeans I've struggled with my weight pretty much my entire life I don't own my own car and the one I drive is an entry-level luxury SUV that's fifteen years old I don't wear much jewellery I don't replace my electronics unless they're broken and can't be fixed. E-waste and the resource extraction to produce electronics is so harmful, it's irresponsible to treat these things like they're disposable. As such, my phone is six years old and I'll be using it until it dies I don't believe in upgrades for anything, clothes, electronics, cars, boats, whatever. If it still works, who cares if it's out of style The only time I wear a headscarf is when I'm oiling my hair (or going to Latin Mass) The purse I carry most often is twenty five years old, black leather, no brand only a maker's mark, and it belonged to my mom first. Actually, she took it to the hospital when she had me, so I feel a special connection to it I have acrylic nails all year except Lent. They're long and sometimes they're even fun colors (the horror!) I get "fight someone" drunk and not silly giggly drunk I curse a lot My posture sucks I don't center my life on men and I think it's pathetic to do so I really don't care about what's trendy. If I like it, I like it, but I really couldn't care less what a group of random people online decided is fashion I cook and clean for myself, at least partially I don't like hosting. Please do not come to my house. I smoke quite a bit I've been in quite a few bad situations with bad people over the years I'm not motivated or organized.. like at all Most of my clothes were actually stolen from my older sisters' closets, and/or my mom's maternity clothes I'm lazy, like really lazy. If you need to find me, check one of the three beds I usually lay on I really don't like sailing. I get sick on boats. I like being out there with people I love, but the sport of it isn't for me I suck at playing tennis. My contribution to golf, when I'm dragged out, is to entertain my dad. I think padel is a lame version of tennis and I refuse to play based on principle. Most of my playlist is either sad girl pop music or classic rock I am not, and refuse to be, a clean girl in any sense of the term. I'm loud, dramatic, and vaguely problematic, just like many of my ancestors before me I don't own any aesthetic workout clothes. I go to every class, including my ballet classes and my mom's Pilates classes when she forces me to go, in a pair of running shorts and an old t-shirt that used to be my dad's. This is partly for modesty reasons but mostly because tight clothes, especially plastic ones, feel evil I'm not disciplined when it comes to money at all. I'm good at stock market and literally no other part of financial health The only pair of loafers I own were part of my school uniform and I hate them I wear more perfume than I probably should. I'm not bathing in it anymore, but my baseline of 'normal amount of perfume to wear' is higher than most people's. Blame my mom for that (I'll explain if anyone wants to know what that means) I'm incredibly sarcastic, to the point I don't think I could stop if I wanted to. Blame my dad and his lightskin cousin I'm just loud as a person. Loud voice, loud expressions. I am incapable of mysterious, unfortunately I don't have a pretty, delicate laugh My table manners at home are awful. Mom tells me off for this all the time I'm not particularly eloquent. I choose to blame that on speaking multiple languages I don't have a cute little dog. I have Céline, a 35kg Doberman. She's a big whiny baby who wants to sit on me all the time, but she isn't a little lapdog I think the Hermès sandals are ugly I watch trashy TV and low budget movies. So bad it comes back around to being kind of good, in an ironic way Anyone who knows me would describe me as the opposite of demure and mindful. Bold and neurotic, I guess? Literally nobody in my genetic line could be called demure or mindful, to the point we're kind of known for it. We even have a special word for it I chew gum all the time, everywhere, and I'm sure it's really annoying, but I won't stop My grades actually suck, but somehow I've passed all of my classes I eat cheese out of the fridge and then get yelled at and chased away from the fridge My favorite restaurant by far is essentially just a hole in a wall and some sketchy plastic chairs (you know the ones) in a wide spot in an alley I'm incredibly anti-cosmetic surgery, including injectables All of my skincare is from the local hypermarket I drink fizzy drinks. We go through a shocking amount diet coke in this house I think monograms, family crests, and things of that sort are tacky in the vast majority of situations submitted by /u/LoveEquivalent9146 to r/votre_amie_monegasque [link] [comments]

Marked NSFW because my room is red/a lot to take in visually. Bed buckets: One soft fabric storage cube for food (and honestly sometimes clutter), one hard plastic storage cubby for "this doesn't belong in bed but I do not have the spoons to put it where it does belong", and one soft storage caddy for nutritional shakes + as needed sleepy medications. I just used what I already had for storage bins, thus it isn't aesthetically pleasing. Bed backpack: I keep a medium sized backpack in bed, basically for all of my self-care so I can do it in bed/without standing. It contains the following: Body wipes Face wipes Skincare items (in a makeup bag) Toothbrush + toothpaste (I brush my teeth in bed, then spit into my trashcan next to bed) 2 week's worth of med planners Hairbrush Deoderant Bed desk + PC: I bought an over-bed hospital table, a clamp-style monitor arm, and a long ass HDMI cable as well as one really long extension cord. This allowed me to use my desktop in bed, which is where I spend 99% of my time. Biggest quality of life upgrade I could ever recommend, costed me like $80 for initial setup. Eventually added mini upgrades such as a clamp fan, and a clamp extension cord desk thingy so I can directly plug in phone chargers etc on my desk. Spinning organizer on bed-side table: HUGE help. In it I keep the following: Hair ties Fan remote control, AC remote control Spray leave-in conditioner (so I don't have to attempt conditioning my hair in the shower but can still get the benefits of conditioner) Cream leave-in conditioner (if I really need some extra conditioner) Cat grooming brush Nail grooming kit/a mini kit of nail clippers, nail files, tweezers, etc. Hand lotion + eczema lotion Candles on top to weigh it down/make it more sturdy. Bed side table with actual drawers: In it I keep: Bucket with my cat's inhaler setup/treats Charger cables Makeup for the rare days I have spoons for it Cleaning supplies in second drawer Misc/random stuff in third (I organize it based on which items I use the most. High usage gets priority for top drawer). Pegboard wall storage organizers: I have one kit divided into two spaces. One is next to my bed where my buckets are, one is next to my bed where my spinning organizer is. The one directly next to where I sit has high-use items as well - headphones, toilet paper I use as tissues, and sentimental items on one small shelf. I hang my mini trash can here, and always put a bag in since I brush my teeth in bed and spit in the can. Hanging the trash can means I have space below it, which I use for a gallon water jug and my medicine box. Second pegboard has my facial mirror, a shelf with tongue scrapers and flossers. Not pictured/laundry system: I have a laundry bin that I keep clean clothes in, and a laundry bag that I keep dirty clothing in. The bag makes it way easier to carry laundry to and from the washing machine, though I get help for switching it to the dryer. I keep both bag + bin in the bathroom closet, so when I go to pee first thing in the morning, I can change clothing while sitting. I tried for so many months to keep up with an actual dresser/hanging clothes and all that, it just takes too many spoons. Laundry is hard enough. Not pictured/mini kitchen setup: I have a mini fridge and microwave that I am moving into my room, currently across the hall. If I didn't have this literally a short walk away, I wouldn't be eating solids at all. I get help with vacuuming my room, switching my laundry over, doing cat litter, and cleaning the shower. Everything else, I do. I have two cats, one of which is asthmatic and needs inhalers twice daily. I wear a cheap health watch (Samsung Fit3) and sit down if my HR gets around 115-120. I live with family, and receive SSI/SSDI due to psych co-morbidities. They do take me to the rare in-person doctor's appointment, or my annual vet visits for my cats. All groceries are delivered to my door/I have Walmart+. If you qualify for SNAP or Medicaid, you can get Walmart+ for half off, which gives free delivery. Same thing with Amazon Prime. I hate these businesses, but I am too sick to use a different service. I get my meds delivered via ExpressScripts (only place I know of that will deliver all schedules of controlled medications), and if I need something short-term I have family pick it up from the pharmacy. I have Medicare due to being on disability for 3+ years, and am currently fighting for Medicaid. My state does cover my Medicare co-pays, though. I do all healthcare via telehealth, and go in-person only for tests. Let me know if you have any questions or want advice on a particular thing. Hoping this helps someone! submitted by

I just got my order in and I’m so excited and they put these spot stickers in there for free but they look super thick almost like eye patches are they reusable?? Edit: good thing I didn’t put these on my face lol, thank you! submitted by /u/Odd-Cantaloupe1847 to r/rhodeskin [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/aregeeone731 to r/BeautyViners [link] [comments]

I’m a 38-year-old mom of two living in NYC, working at a tech company. My total comp is around ~$500k/year (base, bonus, and equity), and my husband earns a similar amount. We live in a condo in NYC with our preschooler, baby, and dog. This week we had a low-key Thanksgiving with our upstairs neighbors and finally started sleep training our nine-month-old after months of brutal nights. I posted a salary story in the past, since then my base increased a bit and I got more equity. Assets and Debt Retirement balances: $370k (husband’s) / $220k (mine) Emergency fund: $100k Checking: $500 (we keep this purposefully low) Investments: ESPPs: $50k Kids’ 529s: $50k Other brokerage accounts: ~$330k Home equity: $990k Mortgage balance: $1.5M (we bought with a sub 3% interest rate in 2021) Student loans: $0 (paid off about 10 years ago) Income Main Job Monthly Take Home (after taxes, 401k, ESPP, other benefits): $8,106 Partner’s Monthly Take Home (after taxes, 401k, ESPP, other benefits insurance): $8,635 Any other income: Yearly bonus: Variable, but typically 20%: $27k gross. Husband's bonus: 10% RSUs: also variable, but I get about $275k (pre-tax) due to vest yearly. My husband gets about the same. Expenses Monthly unless otherwise noted. We definitely spend more than we bring in on a monthly basis. But we have large lump sums of income from yearly bonuses and RSU cash outs that we pull from to support these expenses. I know we should be saving more of those large payouts, but at this phase in our life spending more for childcare and daily conveniences is helping keep us afloat living in NYC without any family around. Mortgage + HOA fees: $8033 Utilities: $400 Groceries: $1000 Car lease: $1100 Nanny: ~$7000month gross via payroll + healthcare stipend (44 hours/week including overtime, plus monthly transit, all on the books; we earmarked money from last year’s variable income to fund this) Toddler school tuition: ~$30k/year, we pay in two installments (we earmarked money from last year’s variable income to fund this) Housecleaner: $740 Transportation: $70-80 Clothing rental subscriptions: ~$300 Gym membership: $240 Pilates: $100 for 4 classes Kids classes: $700 The Diary Sunday 7:00 am - Woke up a little before 7 — everyone slept through the night for once (!) and it feels like a miracle. Do the morning routine: breastfeed G (9 month old baby boy), get myself vaguely presentable, throw together breakfast for the baby and hang out with my toddler, A (3.5 year old girl) and husband, T. 8:00 am – I rush out the door with G to make it to baby gym class by 8:25. Class is a monthly subscription but this place is very easy about last minute cancellations (which happens approximately half the time) so I have a bunch of make-up classes to use too. It’s a nice time; G is becoming much more aware and engaged these days. I really love this time we have to spend 1:1 together without the very loud competing demands of my daughter. 9:30 am – G falls asleep in the stroller on the way home. I call T to see what he and A are up to and find out A is watching Frozen, which we almost never do, and T is nervous that I'll be mad that he’s letting her watch TV (I’m not). I ask if we need anything from the store. I’m starving (forgot to feed myself again) and briefly consider grabbing something out while G sleeps in the stroller but decide to make breakfast at home instead of spending $20 on something I can make at home. I grab eggs, bread, and cut mango at the store. Groceries: eggs, bread, mango – $23 10:00 am – I text our neighbor to see if their daughter P (also 3 years old) wants to come over for a drop-off playdate before nap. A is cozy on the couch, locked into her movie. T transfers G to his crib while I make breakfast and finish cleaning up the morning chaos. 11:00 am – P comes over and she and A play mostly well together for a couple hours. I make them chicken fingers with fruit and veggies for lunch. While they play, I go down a rabbit hole looking for Thanksgiving catering. We decided not to travel to see family this year, which is a relief, but it also means we need to plan the whole meal for ourselves. I love to cook, but I absolutely do not have it in me to plan and execute a big meal this year, especially knowing we probably won’t even get to sit and eat it together with the kids. I order a prepped Thanksgiving meal from a service we’ve used before. It’s definitely cheaper than it would have been for me to buy all the groceries to cook everything myself. Prepped Thanksgiving meal for 2 adults, a toddler and a very enthusiastic (but inefficient) baby eater – $125 1:20 pm – P’s dad picks her up. I put the baby down for his next nap, and T works on getting A to at least do some quiet alone time. 2:00 pm – Make myself a smoothie for lunch and get cozy on the couch with my knitting. Double nap time is a rare and special event in our home. The apartment is finally peaceful. T ends up falling asleep with A. 3:15 pm – G starts stirring, and I decide A needs to wake up too so her bedtime isn’t a disaster. We spend the afternoon putzing around the apartment and doing arts and crafts with A. 4:50 pm – Get back from walking the dog, clean up the kitchen, and start cooking dinner. We use Hungry Roots for 3 dinners a week. They aren’t exciting but they’re healthy and easy which are most important in this phase of life. 5:40 pm – We all sit to eat. G is fully in his finger-foods era now, so he eats whatever we’re having and LOVES it all. It’s messy but incredibly cute. 6:30 pm – T and I tag-team a double bath for the kids. 7:00 pm – I nurse G for bedtime, but consciously stop short of nursing him to sleep. We’re trying to follow the “drowsy but awake” advice because I’d slipped back into nursing him all the way to sleep and his overnight sleep has been awful. G really hasn’t slept through the night since he was born and we are so exhausted. It’s been really impacting my mental health, exacerbating my post-partum depression/anxiety. I’ve been so resistant to any form of sleep training but I finally hired a sleep consultant last week ($750). I know we need to change something. We haven’t officially received her plan for us yet, but I know enough to start making some changes. After he eats, we read his favorite book. I model giving the owl a kiss and he copies me, I melt. I rock him a bit and put him down awake. He fusses lightly on and off for 5–10 minutes and then he’s out which feels like a huge win. 7:30 pm – I’m on bedtime duty with A tonight. It’s the usual cajoling, negotiations, and stall tactics. I’m finally free around 8:15. 8:30 pm – T and I attempt to watch an episode of The Office, but I keep dozing off. I give up and take myself to bed. Daily total: $148 Monday 12:10 am – G is crying. T gets up with him while I crank up white noise on my phone and try to sleep through it. 1:00 am – G is still crying, so T brings him to me for a last-resort feed. We’re trying to wean off middle-of-the-night feeds, but here we are. I nurse him for about 10 minutes and hand him back; T gets him down easily. 5:15 am – My alarm goes off for a workout class. I hit snooze and bail. Feel lazy but also relieved. 6:30 am – Get up, make coffee, and sneak in some quiet knitting. 6:45 am – G wakes up. I grab him out of the crib before he wakes A and nurse him on the couch. Then I drink coffee and try to cuddle him, but he mostly wants to wiggle and explore. 7:00 am – A and T are still asleep. I start packing A’s lunch, making breakfast, and chasing G around as he explores. T and A eventually wake and the morning chaos ensues. 8:15 am – Somehow A and I make it out the door on time with everything she needs for school. I drop her off, then walk home with the dog. On the walk I call T and we talk about doing a performance review with our nanny (P) now that she’s been with us for a year. We discuss her raise: we’re between $1.50 and $2/hour and decide we can swing $2, so we go with that. We plan to talk to her when I get home in a few minutes. 8:35 am – Run into my upstairs neighbor, K. We chat about Thanksgiving and realize we’re both staying in town. She invites us over for dinner, which sounds so nice. I’ve been feeling a little sad about not seeing extended family this year. She says they’ll have too much food already, but I tell her I’ll text later to see what we can bring. 8:45 am – Our house cleaner arrives right as I get home. I don’t want to have the performance and comp talk with P while our cleaner is there, so I text T that we’ll do it later. I heat up a frozen breakfast burrito and inhale it. 9:00 am – I took the day off work to catch up on a bunch of personal tasks that I’ve neglected. I head out for my annual PCP appointment. 10:00 am – The appointment runs long because I had to wait 30 minutes, so I email my therapist and cancel today’s session. I assume I’ll be charged the cancellation fee, but I don’t ask. Therapy - I checked later, I was charged - $295 10:30 am – Home again. I gather my stuff, pump, and putter around. 11:00 am – Session with my career coach. My company gives us $3,000/year for learning & development, so I use it on her — she charges $500/hour, and my company reimburses me. Our rapport is a little awkward, but it’s still helpful for thinking through what I want to ask for in a new role I’m working with my manager on creating for myself. Career coach – $500 (reimbursable) 12:00 pm – T and I go upstairs to talk to P. We frame it as a chill yearly check-in. She seems a little surprised, and I feel guilty if it stresses her out to be springing this on her, but I also know it’ll all be good news. We tell her how happy we are with her and everything she does for the family, then tell her we’re giving her a $2/hour raise. She seems genuinely happy and touched. We talk briefly about her plans to go to grad school in the fall and I tell her that if she's able and interested in working part time with us at all then we will definitely want to work something out if we can. 12:45 pm – Head to my dentist appointment. I haven’t been in over two years, which is embarrassing. The cleaning is very painful because its been so long. I have to pay out of pocket but will get reimbursed once we submit the claim. Dentist – $350 (reimbursable) 1:45 pm – I’m starving and head to my favorite café for my usual quinoa bowl and a plum tea. While I eat, I knock out some admin: book a repair person to fix our oven and fridge and respond to the organizer about coming next week. We hired professional organizers about a year and a half ago to help organize the chaos in our house and I’m realizing that with the new baby we need help again to declutter and create some new systems. I could absolutely do the organizing work myself, but I don’t know when I would find the time. Working full time during the week I want to use any extra time to be with my kids. And our weekends are packed with kid stuff and they aren’t at the age where I can involve them in the tasks. I talked to T about it and told him that I could take 2-3 days off work to do this, but it felt unfair to me–why should I need to use my PTO to clean when he gets to use his for whatever he wants? So we agreed to hire the organizer. We’ll have 2 people come for 6 hours, it’ll be $2800 when they come. Lunch – $30 3:00 pm – Home again; Nanny took baby to pick up A from school, I handle some more household stuff while I pump. I see the scheduled Venmo payment went through to the housecleaner. We pay her to clean plus extra because she folds all of our laundry. House cleaner - $185 4:00 pm – Nanny and the kids get home; everyone’s excited to see me. I take A with me to return my Rent the Runway and Nuuly packages, and she helps me cook dinner. I ask P to hang out with G for a while longer, it makes cooking so much easier when I don’t also have to wrangle two walking death traps. 5:00 pm – I’m done with dinner and I let P know she can head out, 15 minutes early. 5:30 pm – Family dinner. A barely touches her food; G eats like a bottomless pit. 6:30 pm – Clean up, put some laundry away, and start bedtime for the baby. 7:30 pm – G goes down without any fussing (!!). I’m cautiously hopeful that the early sleep-training moves are working. I spend the next couple hours knitting, scrolling on my phone, and drinking tea. It’s a rare quiet evening. 9:30 pm – Get ready for bed, lay out my gym clothes, and half-heartedly hope I’ll get to class in the morning. 10:30 pm – Baby’s crying. T sets a timer to let him go for 10 minutes before intervening. I turn the white noise up. Fall back asleep. 11:15 pm – Baby cries again. T goes in, brings him to me to nurse, and then he puts him back to bed and G goes down easily. Daily total: $1360 ($850 reimbursable, I don’t think I can be reimbursed for the missed therapy session, ugh) Tuesday 4:45 am – I hear T in the kitchen making coffee and wonder why he’s up so early. I scroll my phone too long, then finally get up, have coffee, and get dressed for my gym class. I also knock out some mandatory work trainings while I sip coffee. 5:50 am – Leave for my strength class at the gym. Feel proud I made it out the door. The abs portion of class is humbling; my core is still recovering post-pregnancy. 7:00 am – Get home just as the kids are starting to stir. I turn the “OK to wake” Hatch light and go in. I nurse G while A lounges in bed listening to Yoto stories. 7:15 am – Baby’s fed, and we move into the morning chaos. Since I’m going into the office, T is on point for most of the kid logistics. No school for A for the rest of the week so its a bit less pressure this morning. I shower and get ready. I’m not expecting to see many people at the office right before the holiday, so I do low-effort everything: no hair wash, no makeup, baggy jeans, sweatshirt. 8:15 am – Nanny arrives while I’m wrapping up breakfast with the kids. A is out of sorts being off her normal school routine. I escape and head to the subway. Subway – $2.90 (There is a transportation subsidy at work but they changed systems while I was on mat leave and I haven’t been able to figure out the new system with the new OMNY requirements in NYC so I’m paying out of pocket) On the way, I use our company’s $30 DoorDash credit to order a $9 latte from the coffee shop across from my office. Cost to me is $0. We typically have catered lunch in the office T-Th and then $30 credit for lunch on M/F. Since this is a holiday week and most people will be out, we get the $30 credit all week. 9:00 am – Get off the subway, call T for our daily debrief (we basically never have time to talk otherwise), and talk about the morning, random admin, and start kicking around Christmas travel plans again. Pick up my latte, head into the office, and start working. 9:15 am – More people are in the office than I expected to see me in this state, oh well. 11:15 am – First meeting of the day in the lactation room while I pump. I feel like I’m constantly on the edge of needing to start formula, but I really want to make it to 11 months of exclusive breastfeeding. It’s an arbitrary goal, but I’m struggling to let go and I’m so close. This meeting is pointless; I side chat my friend about how dumb it is. I use the rest of my DoorDash credit to order a salad for lunch. 12:20 pm – Meeting runs over; I rush to pee, grab my lunch from the lobby, refill my water, and head to my 12:30. 1:00 pm – Back at my desk, eat lunch, work. 1:39 pm – Calendar reminder for a virtual gynecology appointment I almost forgot about. I want to get back on birth control. She goes over options and recommends a newer pill that works ok with breastfeeding and isn’t as time-sensitive as the other “mini-pills”. The catch is that it might not be covered by insurance. I quickly look it up and it’d be $300/month out of pocket, but there are coupon programs. Regardless, it’s clearly the best fit, so I ask her to send the script and figure I’ll tackle the cost logistics later. 2:00 pm – Pump again while trying to keep working. Only get ~1.5 oz and feel defeated. 2:30 pm – One afternoon meeting gets cancelled, amazing. I briefly consider going to Warby Parker to try glasses, but instead grab a snack and tea and decide to just head home early before my last meeting so I can be home for dinner. 3:00 pm – Leave the office and decide to pop into Warby afterall. I rush through a bunch of frames; it’s chaotic, I don’t find anything, and have to run to catch the train home for my 4:00. 3:10 pm – Send a quick voice-to-text to my neighbor confirming Thanksgiving and asking what we can bring. 3:20 pm – On the subway home, roasting in my coat. I get some knitting done. Subway – $2.90 4:01 pm – Make it home just in time for my 4:00. A close teammate is handing off a project. There’s been a lot of interdepartmental drama, so we spend too much time gossiping before doing actual work. 5:10 pm – Nanny and the kids get home from A’s swim class. This is one of my favorite parts of the day. They’re SO happy to see me, and A sprints into my arms. 5:15 pm – T finishes work and comes upstairs. We debate whether to cook or order takeout. We recently moved family dinner to 5:30 to make evenings smoother pre-bedtime, but that means we have only ~15–30 minutes after work to get dinner on the table, which is… ambitious. I realize our last Hungryroot meal is basically just reheating pre-cooked ingredients, so I throw that together while T hangs with the kids. 6:15 pm – Bath night because of swim class. T does baths; I clean the kitchen. He does G first, then I take over to get him down to sleep. 7:00 pm – G goes down without nursing to sleep or extended rocking. It feels like a miracle. 8:15 pm – A is lying quietly in her bed; we’ve apparently pulled off another bedtime. T and I watch The Office. He does some work while I knit. 9:30 pm – Peel myself off the couch and go to bed. 10:00 pm – Baby fusses; T goes in and settles him. Daily total: $6 Wednesday 2:00 am – A wakes up calling for Daddy. He goes in to lay with her until she falls back asleep. 4:45 am – A’s awake again yelling for Daddy. He goes in and quickly comes back to tell me she wet the bed. I help get her cleaned up while he deals with G, who also woke up. A comes into bed with me. 5:15 am – T calls me to help with G. We trade: I go in and nurse him back to sleep and sit in the glider a few minutes before putting him back in the crib. 5:30 am – Make coffee and head to my home office to use my walking pad and review a couple documents I owe people. 7:00 am – Head upstairs; everyone is up. I nurse the baby again (even though he just ate) while T manages breakfast. 8:15 am – We survive the morning gauntlet. Nanny arrives; we chat briefly before I head to the office. I try to use my DoorDash credit to order a latte near my office but it’s not working. I get on the subway and knit. Subway – $2.90 9:00 am – Off the subway, call T for our usual morning catch-up. I go into the coffee shop and just buy the latte myself since DoorDash was glitching Latte– $7 While I’m waiting I check again and of course the DoorDash credit is now visible. Oh well. I head into the office and drop my pumping gear in the lactation room. Only one meeting today, so it’s a nice quiet “get stuff done” day. 11:30 am – Remember to order lunch with my DoorDash credit and since I didn’t use it on coffee I have the full $30 to spend. I order nice sushi and miso soup. 12:30 pm – Finish pumping and pick up my lunch to eat at my desk while I work. 2:00 pm – I mentally tap out for the day (and rest of the Holiday week) and decide to leave. On the way out, I stop at Warby Parker again, try on what feels like every single pair of frames, and get help from two salespeople. I feel like they must be so annoyed at me but they don’t show it. I impulsively order two frames: one chunky, one wire. Because my prescription is strong, they recommend a special thinner, lighter lens for an extra $60. Since I’m already spending more than planned, I only do the special lens on the wire frames. Glasses (2 pairs, incl. upgraded lens) – $255 2:30 - I see I have a text from the oven repair person. They say it’ll be $445+ tax for parts and labor to fix the oven and ask if we want to order the part. I call T quickly to get caught up on what they discussed. He says to order the part and that he paid the $145 fee via Venmo for today’s visit. I ask about the refrigerator and he says the repair person said they’d look into the part we need for the fridge but that it likely won’t be worth the cost for the part, we can probably fix the problem with duct tape. 2:45 pm – Pop into Sephora to look at moisturizers. I love the Tatcha one but it’s so expensive so I leave without buying anything. I head to the subway and knit more on the ride. Subway – $2.90 3:30 pm – Off the subway and head to the gym. Call T to check in and decide on dinner. We order from our usual place that does healthy-ish grain bowls. I pump in the locker room while I wait for my class to start and skim the 30-page sleep training plan we just got from the consultant. It’s mostly what we expected, but it’s nice to have someone else lay it all out into a plan that’s customized for our situation. 5:00 pm – Class is over; I realize I hadn’t actually placed the DoorDash order when I thought I did, so I fix that. Dinner - $45 5:20 pm – Walk in, give everyone hugs, and take the dog for a quick walk while T plates dinner. We survive the bedtime gauntlet yet again. T later pops out to the store for a few last-minute Thanksgiving ingredients. We’re charged with making hors d’eourves. 10:00 pm – Baby fusses; T goes in and gets him back down. I go to bed. Daily total: $283 Thursday (Thanksgiving) 6:00 am – Baby wakes early. I try to let him fuss in the crib because that’s what the sleep training plan says, but T hasn’t read it yet and ends up going in to get him. 7:00 am – I make breakfast for everyone: hard-boiled and scrambled eggs with toast and avocado. T takes the dog out and we actually sit and eat breakfast together for once. 8:00 am – Lazy holiday morning, which is very out of the norm for us. We turn on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Because we only have streaming, it takes a while to find the right broadcast. T puts on CNN’s coverage but after 15–20 minutes I realize this isn’t the “real” parade broadcast I want. We end up needing an upgraded Peacock subscription to stream NBC live coverage. T is skeptical that it’s worth it; I insist. He upgrades and cancels right away so we don’t get charged for next month. Peacock upgrade for parade – $17 10:30 am – Time to start on the appetizers we’re bringing upstairs. I realize we’re missing most ingredients. T hadn’t realized that the shopping list for the apps was separate from the regular groceries. I head to the store. Grocery run – $35 Come back and start making spinach artichoke dip. Of course the baby wakes up midway through his nap, so I’m stirring hot dip one-handed while holding him until T gets out of the shower and takes over. 12:30 pm – We’re all frantically trying to get apps finished and ourselves dressed. It’s chaos and T and I are sniping at each other. We realize we forgot something else, so I run back to the store and also grab champagne and a bouquet of flowers as thank-you gifts for our neighbors hosting. Grocery run #2: $80 Our neighbor texts that 1:30ish works to come up. 1:45 pm – We finally make it upstairs, juggling kids, food, and gifts. It’s wonderful that “travel” is just one flight of stairs. A plays with their daughter, who’s a few years older and very sweet with her. We have champagne, eat appetizers, and wait for their other friends. 3:30 pm – Their friends arrive with their three kids and one grandmother. More cooking, more hanging out, more grazing. 6:30 pm – Everyone’s eaten (except A, who touched almost nothing on her plate). Baby ate a ton. It’s time for him to go to bed and A is melting down from no nap and no real food, so we bail earlier than I’d like and don’t get to help clean up. They haven’t even set out dessert yet. We promise to come back “if we survive bedtime,” which I know we won’t. We go downstairs. I put the baby to bed while T and A eat peanut butter sandwiches and then FaceTime T’s parents. 8:30 pm – A’s bedtime is rough; she’s exhausted, off routine, and over-stimulated. We finally get her down. I realize I barely ate and also feel a little sad not being with extended family this year. I have a snack and go to bed without even washing my face. Gross. 10:00 pm – Baby wakes and fusses again. T goes in to help him, even though the training plan says we should leave him. It’s hard to follow it perfectly, and we haven’t “officially” started anyway. Daily total: $132 Friday 4:45 am – Baby’s awake again. We let him fuss for 10–15 minutes, but T eventually goes in to rock him. After a bit, he brings G to me to feed. I nurse, hand him back, and then get up to make coffee and head downstairs to the walking pad to do some admin tasks. I go down a rabbit hole looking for a photographer to do last-minute family photos for a holiday card, which I do every year far too late. I email a couple people, fully expecting no one to have availability. 7:00 am – I look at the clock, realize it’s wake time for the kids, go upstairs…and everyone is still asleep. I sit on the couch with coffee and knitting for a bit longer until I hear them stir around 7:30. I go in, try to nurse the baby (he’s not really hungry since he just ate), and we all sit in bed reading books. The kitchen is still a disaster from yesterday’s cooking, so I suggest we order bagel delivery. Somehow two bagel sandwiches and a smoothie ends up being nearly $60 on Uber Eats. Breakfast delivery – $60 9:00 am – T gets back from walking the dog. I rush through skincare and get dressed for my Pilates class. One of my work benefits is subsidized fitness classes: four Pilates classes/month for $100, on top of my luxury gym membership. I head out around 9:15; classes are already paid for. 10:30 am – Pop into the coffee shop across from the studio for an oat latte. Latte – $8 10:45 am – Get home; G just went down for a nap and A is playing independently. I hang out with T and A and putter. 12:00 pm – Baby wakes up; I nurse him while A tries (and fails) to contain herself enough to be allowed to stay in the room. The baby has trouble focusing on nursing when big sister is around. T heats up the untouched prepped Thanksgiving meal from the catering company, and we have that for lunch. A wants none of it so I make her a grilled cheese. The next few hours are kind of a blur. 2:00 pm – A is getting antsy about her 3:30 haircut and just generally needs to get out of the apartment. She asks to go to the grocery store for string cheese, so we walk down the street. She immediately spots Paw Patrol string cheese and insists on that one. I know from experience that brand tastes like plastic and I’m not paying a markup for licensed garbage. I tell her she can choose between two other options. She loses it. At checkout while she’s still screaming and crying I explain that the ingredients in the Paw Patrol cheese aren’t very good, the ingredients in the one we’re buying taste better and are better for our bodies, and that the company is trying to trick us by putting Paw Patrol on the package to get our money. Shockingly, this lands and she recovers. String cheese – $9 2:45 pm – A insists on taking the bus to her haircut. I’d rather drive, but I check the schedule and it actually works out. We walk to the bus stop; she is vibrating with excitement. It's so fun to see how much wonder she has for something so mundane. Bus – $2.90 3:20 pm – She gets her haircut and is extremely subdued, partly shy and partly hypnotized by the giant Miss Rachel screen. She gets a lollipop and a bag of Goldfish on the way out. Kid haircut – $47 (incl. tip) 3:50 pm – She’s just as excited to get back on the bus home. The bus is delayed and then never shows. This is why I hate the bus. We reroute to another stop for another no-show bus, nearly give up and Uber, but finally another bus shows. Poor A is freezing but trooping through it. Bus – $2.90 4:45 pm – Finally home. G and T are hanging in the living room. I nurse G, then strategize dinner with T. A and I have decided on Thai; she wants shrimp pad thai, I want green curry. We agree to order from our favorite place if delivery ETA is reasonable, otherwise pick up from the corner spot. Thai takeout – $84 5:10 pm – Done feeding G and wrestling him into a fresh diaper. We FaceTime T’s brother and his family; A loves talking to her cousin. Our dinner arrives while we’re still chatting, so we eat Thai while talking to them on the iPad. 6:00 pm – T takes G for his bath. I set A up with magnatiles and tell her I’ll join when I’m done cleaning the kitchen. The dog “helps” by cleaning the floor. 6:45 pm – Final nurse and books for G; I rock him to sleep because we haven’t officially started sleep training yet. 7:30 pm – T takes A’s bedtime; she tries to switch to me but we hold the line. I knit on the couch. 8:30 pm – Everyone is asleep, so we watch The Office. I take off my old press-on nails. 10:00 pm – Bed. Daily total: $214 Saturday 4:45 am – Wake up and see a bunch of texts from T. He apparently decided to start implementing parts of the sleep training plan overnight and live-texted himself through it. G cried, but T only had to go in once to “assess and assure,” and then G put himself back to sleep. I had no idea this was happening. 6:00 am – Get out of bed, make coffee, knit on the couch until the kids wake up. 7:00 am – Kids wake up and we plan a breakfast outing to the diner for pancakes and then the library. 8:15 am – We get to the diner and grab a booth in the back to contain our chaos (not that anyone seems to mind). Baby is a very enthusiastic eater. We order the pancake combo for the kids to split: A gets the pancakes, G gets the eggs and any other baby-safe bits from our plates. I have my usual omelet, T gets eggs and we both drink lots of coffee. Diner breakfast – $70 9:15 am – On the way to the library we realize we should divide and conquer: T takes G home for diaper change and nap; I take A to the library. I read her six books and then tell her I need a break, so she looks at books quietly while I sit next to her and knit. A friend from school shows up and the kids play while I chat with his parents. It's an uncharacteristically relaxing morning. With the baby starting to sleep better I already feel like a completely different (more capable, sane) person. I probably should have given in to the sleep training long ago, it would have made a huge difference for my post-partum depression. 11:30 am – Head home for lunch (Thanksgiving leftovers). 1:00 pm – With G on his new nap schedule per the sleep training guide, we now have early afternoon time to kill. We go to a newish playspace where we have a membership for both kids. It’s blissfully calm because it’s nap time for most toddlers. T and I grab coffees while the kids play somewhat independently. Play space coffees – $12 1:30 pm – While T supervises the kids, I place a big Whole Foods order for our usual weekly staples and snacks plus baking ingredients. I signed up to make cookies for the school bake sale this week and holiday cookie baking is becoming a tradition for me and A. The order is more expensive than usual because of all the baking supplies. Whole Foods delivery – $300 2:15 pm – Time to head home for G’s nap. A and I pop into the grocery store to grab a few things WF didn’t have. Top-up groceries – $20 3:00 pm – Baby’s asleep and T takes the opportunity to nap too. A insists she doesn’t want to nap, so I tell her we can do quiet time, but she has to play independently while I knit. She colors, then gets cranky, then falls asleep on me on the couch. I get a quiet hour while everyone sleeps. Bliss. 4:00 pm – Wake everyone up so bedtime doesn’t get wrecked. I feed G and get some one-on-one time with him. Then A and I start making cookies. I love building these little traditions. 5:00 pm – Time to start dinner. We heat up frozen kid meals for A and G and decide T and I will order takeout after they’re asleep. 6:45 pm – I nurse G and hand him off to T, per the sleep consultant’s recommendation that he do bedtime the first couple nights so G doesn’t associate bedtime as strongly with nursing/rocking. G does shockingly well, a brief frustrated squawk and then asleep by 7. 8:00 pm – I finish A’s bedtime routine and sneak out. T has ordered pho and is heating up the broth when I come out. Pho delivery – $60 We eat on the couch and start the new season of The Morning Show. I put on a new set of press-on nails. 11:00 pm – Realize we stayed up too late. Head to bed and hope for another decent night of sleep from the baby. Daily total: $462 Weekly total: $2605 submitted by /u/Latter-Movie-7225 to r/MoneyDiariesACTIVE [link] [comments]

This is going to be a no-promotion guide; in fact I've added all of my research material I got in the spreadsheet. It includes (all free): 2,000+ High Performing Meta Ads Database https://i.redd.it/gkwwwvsjdt1g1.gif A database of 10,000+ hooks https://i.redd.it/0bg202ca2u1g1.gif If you need both of them just let me know in the comments and I'll share the link with you (not sharing the link with everyone for obvious reasons.) Now let's get back to my story. So here's the thing nobody tells you about Meta ads: you can have the best offer, cleanest creative, and a landing page that converts like crazy... and still get absolutely destroyed by your first 3 seconds no matter if the product is a physical product or digital product you sell on Whop. I got obsessed with this problem six months ago when we were burning through $15K/week on ads that looked good but died faster than my New Year's gym membership. Good engagement, decent CPMs, but conversion rates that made me question my life choices. Started screen-recording every ad I saw. Downloaded every competitor ad from the Meta library. Bought from stores just to see their full funnel. My girlfriend thought I'd lost it when she caught me at 2 AM muttering about pattern interrupts. Here's what I found after cataloging 2,000+ ads that were actually profitable (verified by looking at ones running 60+ days with creative testing indicators): The 6 Opening Patterns Pattern #1: The Instant Demonstration Surface level: Show product in use immediately What actually works: Show the problem being solved in the first 0.8 seconds, THEN reveal it's your product The difference? Most brands lead with "Check out our amazing blender!" and show it blending. The winners show a gross, chunky protein shake, immediate cut to a smooth one, THEN pull back to reveal the product. Your brain processes the problem-solution before you even know you're being sold to. Timing breakdown from what worked: 0-10s: Problem state (visual must be instantly recognizable as "bad") 10-20s: Solution state (don't explain, just show contrast) 20-40s: Product reveal + minimal context The mistake everyone makes: They make the problem "too creative." A skincare brand showed a woman looking slightly concerned at her face. Nobody paused. The ones that worked? Literal close-up of a clogged pore. Gross? Yes. Stopped thumbs? Absolutely. I tested this with a client selling closet organizers. Original ad opened with their product. $3.80 CPA, dying after 3 days. New version: Opened with a chaotic closet, clothes falling out as someone opens it (you could FEEL the frustration), snap cut to organized closet, THEN showed the product. $1.20 CPA, ran for 47 days. Pattern #2: The "Wait, What?" Violation This is NOT clickbait. It's expectation violation. Your brain has patterns for everything. Someone cooking? You expect normal cooking. Someone organizing? You expect normal organizing. The ads that printed money violated ONE specific expectation in frame 1. Examples that actually worked: Cleaning product: Person spray-cleaning their phone screen with what looks like Windex (you KNOW you shouldn't do that... wait, what is that product?) Dog treats: Owner biting the treat before giving it to the dog (your brain breaks for a second) Yoga mat: Someone doing yoga... in a full suit (???) The specific science: Your brain's prediction error system fires when expectations are violated. This creates a 0.4-second attention lock while your brain tries to reconcile what it's seeing. That's your window. Critical rules for this pattern: The violation must be in-frame immediately (not built up to) It must relate to the product usage (random weirdness dies in testing) You get ONE violation. Two makes it feel like a skit, and skits don't convert. We tested this with a coffee brand. Random version: Person making coffee in a weird location. Flopped. Worked version: Person making coffee at a normal counter, but they're making it for their dog (sits in front of the dog bowl). 0.9 seconds of "wait what?" before the text appears: "Your coffee should excite you this much." Stupid? Yes. 2.8x ROAS? Also yes. Pattern #3: The Immediate Specificity Drop Most ads open with vague promises. "Better skin." "More organized." "Easier cooking." The pattern that crushed: Hyper-specific, almost absurdly specific problem callout in the first 2 seconds. Not: "Tired of messy cables?" But: "If you've got 3 charging cables on your nightstand and you still can't find the right one at 11 PM, this is going to make you irrationally happy" Why this destroys: Specific scenarios trigger memory recall (you've BEEN there at 11 PM) The specificity signals "this person gets it" (credibility in 2 seconds) Saying "irrationally happy" instead of "happy" adds realism (people don't trust "life-changing," they trust "pretty nice actually") The data point everyone misses: Ads with specific time references (11 PM, Tuesday morning, after your workout) had 34% higher hook rates than vague timing. Your brain assigns more reality to specific times. Testing example: Meal prep containers. Generic: "Meal prep made easy" - 1.2% CTR Specific: "It's Sunday night, you're staring at the fridge, and you know you're gonna buy lunch all week again" - 4.7% CTR Same product. Same offer. The specific scenario made you FEEL the problem. Pattern #4: The "Reverse Demo" Standard product demo: Here's our thing → Here's what it does → Buy it The reverse: Here's the result → Work backward to reveal how Example that spent $400K+: Ergonomic office chair brand. Didn't open with the chair. Opened with someone standing up after work and NOT groaning, stretching their back, or limping. Just... normal standing up. Text: "When's the last time you stood up from work and felt... fine?" THEN they work backward showing the chair, the features, the science. Why this pattern crushes for certain products: Prevention products (posture, skincare, supplements) where the "result" is NOT having a problem Products where the mechanism is complex but the result is simple Anything where people don't realize they have the problem until you show them what "normal" could be The psychology: Loss aversion is powerful, but people need to know what they're losing. Showing the "normal" result first makes them realize what they're currently missing. Testing breakthrough: A blue light glasses brand opened with their glasses (failed). Opened with someone NOT getting a headache after 6 hours of screen time, confusion on their face like "wait, why don't I feel terrible?" (2.1x ROAS improvement). Pattern #5: The Contrarian Setup This is the "everyone does X, we do Y" pattern, but there's a specific formula that works. The formula: State the common approach (that actually IS common) State the specific problem with that approach (must be real, not made up) Show your different approach in action (not explained, SHOWN) One sentence of "why" (optional, but test with and without) Example that worked stupidly well: Deodorant brand. "Everyone makes deodorant that fights odor after it happens. [0.5 second pause] We thought that was backwards. [immediate cut to application] This stops it before it starts." Shows mechanism for 2 seconds. Done. 6.2% CTR. Why most contrarian openings fail: They pick a "common approach" that isn't actually common (loses credibility instantly) They explain too much instead of showing (becomes an essay) They make the alternative sound complicated (people don't buy complicated) The validation test: Before using this pattern, literally ask 5 people "How do most [product category] work?" If they don't say what your ad says, don't use this pattern. You'll look like you're arguing with a strawman. We tested this with a probiotic brand. Failed version: "Most probiotics don't survive your stomach acid." (People didn't know this was the standard.) Worked version: "Most probiotics need refrigeration. This one lives in your gym bag." (Everyone knows the refrigeration thing.) Simple contrast, 3.1% CTR. Pattern #6: The "Achievement Unlock" Moment This is the newest pattern I'm seeing dominate, especially in Q3-Q4 2024 data. The structure: Show someone experiencing a small moment of competence/achievement that your product enabled. Not excitement. Not surprise. Just... quiet competence. Examples: Kitchen gadget: Person perfectly dicing an onion, slight nod of satisfaction, keeps cooking Productivity app: Someone closing their laptop at 5 PM (not rushing, just... done), walking away Fitness product: Someone repping out their last set, controlled, then racking the weight with zero drama The psychological hook: Achievement moments trigger dopamine differently than excitement. Your brain goes "I want to feel that competent." It's aspirational without being unrealistic. Why this works NOW: People are exhausted by fake excitement. The "OMG THIS CHANGED MY LIFE" ads are getting pattern-recognized and skipped. Quiet competence feels real. Critical execution details: The achievement must be VISIBLE (a nod, a slight smile, a controlled movement) No celebration. No "wow." Just the satisfaction of doing something well. The product must be visible but not the focus (it's the enabler, not the hero) Testing proof: Cooking knife brand. Hype version: "This knife is INCREDIBLE!" with excited testimonials. 3.2% CTR, $4.10 CPA. Achievement version: Chef prep-cooking, effortless cuts, slight satisfied nod, keeps moving. No words until 4 seconds in. 7.1% CTR, $1.80 CPA. Same knife. Different psychological trigger. The Pattern-Mixing Strategy (where this gets advanced) Here's what I found in the highest-performing ads (60+ day run times, consistent ROAS): 63% combined TWO of these patterns. Most common combinations: Instant Demonstration + Immediate Specificity: Show the solution to a hyper-specific problem immediately. "It's 6 AM, you're trying not to wake your partner, and your blender sounds like a jet engine" [cut to silent blending] "Wait, What?" Violation + Achievement Unlock: Someone doing something unexpected, but doing it with quiet competence. The violation gets the stop, the achievement gets the watch-through. Reverse Demo + Contrarian Setup: "Everyone shows you the product first. Watch this..." [shows result, works backward] What DOESN'T work: Mixing three+ patterns. Becomes too complex. Your first 3 seconds need ONE clear job. The Timing Science (this is where most people screw up) Pattern choice matters, but timing is where money gets made or burned. 0-5 seconds: Pattern trigger MUST fire. If your pattern isn't recognizable in under a second, it's not a pattern, it's a slow intro. 5-15 seconds: Pattern payoff. The violation resolves, the demo completes, the specificity lands. Don't rush this. The ads that tried to cram everything into 2 seconds died. 15-30 seconds: Context/transition. This is where you can add text, voiceover, or product reveal. Your hook worked, now don't waste it with boring transition. 30+ seconds: Standard ad stuff, but you've earned the watch time now. The timing mistake I see constantly: People front-load too much information because they're scared people will scroll. The opposite is true. The best-performing ads were often SLOWER in seconds 2-4 than the failed versions, because they let the pattern breathe. The Creative Production Reality Check You don't need Hollywood production for these patterns. What you DO need: First 0.8 seconds filmed specifically for the pattern (not pulled from existing footage) Clean audio if using voiceover (bad audio kills trust in milliseconds) Lighting that makes your first frame clear (doesn't need to be fancy, just clear) What you DON'T need: Professional actors (actually tested worse in DTC) Multiple locations Complex editing (some of the best performers were single-take) The $1.20 CPA closet ad I mentioned? Filmed on an iPhone 12 by the founder's sister. Single take. The pattern was right. How to Actually Test This Week 1: Pick ONE pattern. Make 3 variations of JUST the opening 3 seconds. Same rest of the ad. Week 2: Winner from week 1 gets new middle section tests. Keep the opening. Week 3: Test second pattern with the same product. Don't: Test all 6 patterns at once with $50/day budgets. You'll get noise, not data. Do: Give each pattern $200-300 minimum spend before deciding. Some patterns take 48 hours to find their audience. The Part Everyone Forgets: Post-Pattern Creative Matters Getting someone to watch past 3 seconds is step one. Not fumbling it afterward is step two. After your pattern hooks them: Validate quickly (2-3 seconds): One sentence that confirms they're in the right place. "Yeah, that 11 PM cable thing? Fixed." Show, don't explain (3-5 seconds): Product in action. Not features. Action Social proof that feels real (2-3 seconds): Not "5,000 happy customers." More like "Ships to all 50 states" or "Restocking every 3 weeks" (implies demand without bragging) Soft CTA (2 seconds): "Link in bio" or "Shop now" but not screamed. You've built trust, don't blow it with car salesman energy. The best-performing full-ad structure: Pattern hook (3s) → Product demo (4s) → One quick testimonial (3s) → Product shot with price (2s) → Soft CTA (1s). 13 seconds total. The Resource I Built From This After cataloging all 2,000 ads, I built a pattern recognition framework that maps: Which pattern by product category Timing breakdowns to the tenth of a second The specific swipe file organized by opening type Performance metrics (CTR, watch time, CPA ranges) Common failure modes for each pattern It's basically the cheat code I wish I had before spending $50K learning this stuff. If you want access to the full pattern framework + swipe file with performance data, drop a comment below and I'll send you the link. https://i.redd.it/cus6memc3u1g1.gif Happy to answer any questions about specific patterns or how to adapt these for your product category. This stuff genuinely changed how we approach creative testing. submitted by /u/OutsideSweaty3881 to r/dropshipping [link] [comments]

My 6-Month Stay in Dalat, Vietnam (March - September 2025) Why I Chose Dalat Before Dalat, I was in Koh Samui in Thailand, but I didn't like it that much. It was very hot, very touristy, very sketchy. Every two blocks you would have a massage shop and some shady massage. I don't like the vibe there at all. So I asked ChatGPT at the time, what's the best place to go from Koh Samui that would be close with good weather? It told me about Dalat. One thing intrigued me: there's not a lot of foreigners in Dalat. Not like other cities that are swarming with Americans, Europeans, all that stuff. So I was very intrigued. I always wanted to be in a place that's not very touristy, very chill. The locals are friendly because if you have a lot of foreigners in a place, the locals usually have like a tourist fatigue syndrome. They'll be sick of tourists, they'll be trying to scam them. But if you go to places without a lot of foreign tourists they're usually more chill and more calm and more fun as well. I went there with the intention of focusing on work as much as possible because I had a lot of work going on. I wasn't in the mood for exploring, I was mostly in the mood for working and just getting shit done. But also, I wanted a place with good weather so I would work in the morning and in the evening I would go on walks, meet people, things like that. The Weather The lake next to downtown and night market The biggest advantage of Dalat is the perfect or near perfect weather throughout the year. I think one of its names is like the city of eternal spring or something like that. Even during my time there for like six months, it never got too hot or too cold. Some nights got kind of cold, but you could still sleep with an AC and even if you go outside, you could just wear a light jacket and you'll be fine. It would rain occasionally in Dalat, especially early afternoon, but from what I recall it was never too much to handle. I didn't think it was that bad and definitely didn't deter me from my daily walks. The BIGGEST Problem: No Co-Working Spaces When I first got there, the first difficult thing I noticed was that they don't have any co-working stations, any place to work. If I wanted to work, I went to a couple of coffee shops but it's not a good place. The chairs they have are very hard, it's noisy, and you're supposed to keep buying coffee. I really struggled with that at the beginning. I was contemplating going to another city because of it. I spent like two weeks trying to find a place, trying to ask around, but I just couldn't find any place. So that's the biggest con of going to Dalat. At the moment they don't have any co-working places. If you go there just keep that in mind. My Accommodation Journey Month 1: Hotel Setup I contacted a couple of hotels and told them I'm gonna book for a month, can you guys set up chairs and desks for me? I want to come there and everything is ready. I found a hotel for like 27 million Vietnamese dong, I think that would be like 700 euros. The location was great. They gave me a desk, a room, and a kitchen I could use. The kitchen was next to my desk so it was very nice because I could go there and heat things or put things in the fridge. But after a month they told me that somebody else paid for the room I was renting and they can't really afford to let me stay unless I get another room for another month. I was like, no, I'm not gonna do that. Months 2-6: My Own Apartment Because I've grown fond of Dalat, I got my own apartment very close to downtown and the lake. If you look at the pictures from Google Maps, the lake is really beautiful, especially at night. I used to go there in the mornings, do a quick walk for maybe 30 minutes and then come back and start working. I had a park next to my apartment as well. The whole place was just very green, very pleasant. I got the apartment for like 600 euros a month, which for Dalat is considered very expensive. You can find places for much cheaper, probably like 300 euros, 250 if you really look. But for me it was really important to be next to the lake and I didn't mind paying double for that. The place was very close to a mart, so groceries were very easy. There were so many shops and spots around me. But it had one problem. It was very close to a school. So it was kind of noisy, especially on weekdays. For me, I would usually sleep late, so it was kind of difficult because there was a lot of noise from the street, from the school especially. If you get an apartment in Vietnam, make sure you're in a place that's away from noise. Or if you're close to noise, just make sure your apartment is noise isolated. Setting Up My Home Office Once I got the place, I bought my own standing desk, like an electronic standing desk so you can change it from standing to sitting. The desk itself cost about a hundred euros, maybe eighty, ninety. It's not that expensive in Vietnam. The monitor was a regular price, I think a hundred euros. I also bought a chair, I think it was 70 euros, some gaming chair from China. It was decent, good enough. The whole setup with the monitor and everything cost me like three hundred euros. Overall I kinda wished I didn't waste my time with the hotel to begin with and I just went ahead and got my own apartment. At the beginning I wasn't sure if I'm gonna like Dalat or not. But after some time, I really liked it and I don't mind spending the money to get all this equipment. Daily Routine & Lifestyle I would consider my stay in Dalat to be mostly a vacation for work. It was a great time for me to focus on myself, my self-improvement. I had a very solid routine of going to the gym and doing stretching because my body can be very stiff. I would go to the gym four times a week. I would do a lot of steps, a lot of walking. I think my average was 14,000 steps. I would work out at the gym in the morning, then come back to my apartment and do my skincare routine and start working for like six hours, seven hours. In the evening I would go outside to the lake and walk there for maybe two hours or an hour and a half, listening to some podcasts or audiobooks. I definitely finished a lot of cool audiobooks when I was walking around the lake. Overall, I really liked my routine in Dalat. It's a solid, chill routine. It's not like a big city where you're meeting a lot of people and it's very active. The Local Community The Vibe Overall the vibe was very chill. There wasn't a lot of tourists. Most tourists there were actually locals, like Vietnamese tourists coming from bigger cities like Saigon. Sometimes even when I was walking around the lake late, I would get teenagers or locals who would stop me and invite me for drinks. Some of them would be sitting down and invite me, come sit down with us, drink something. Some would stop and say hello, asking where you from, things like that. Some teenagers took pictures with me for some reason. Overall the vibe was really nice. I thought the locals were very friendly. I didn't think they had tourist fatigue. Foreigners in Dalat The foreigners I saw there, Americans, Europeans, a lot of nationalities, I thought they were mostly chill. I think a lot of them are retired people with their own Vietnamese wives there. Some backpackers from time to time, but overall the vibe was chill. There's a WhatsApp group and a Facebook group. The people there are active, especially on WhatsApp. I think they meet like once a week for coffee meetup. The group was very active with bi-daily events. People would arrange to walk around the lake or go hiking, or do a meetup about AI. I thought the people in the group were very friendly as well. Many locals in the WhatsApp group too. The locals there mostly use Zalo for communication, and I think you need a Vietnamese phone number to sign up on it. A lot of the young foreigners are actually heat refugees from Thailand and other places. Because in Chiang Mai and Bangkok, a lot of places are very hot. So a lot of them came to Dalat because the weather is really nice and cool. How Friendly Are the Locals? I can't overemphasize how friendly the locals were. I remember once I was walking in the neighborhood and they had a small coffee shop. I didn't even stop, I was just walking around slowly, looking around. The lady running the shop saw me and waved to me to come inside. She called in her friend who spoke English, an English teacher. She told me that she lived in another city and came to Dalat because she likes the weather, it's much nicer, much more chill. The kids were friendly too. When I was walking around the lake or in a neighborhood, they'd always be waving to me. I remember walking next to the school because my place had a school next to it. A lot of time I would pass kids walking and a lot of them would be looking at me from far, screaming "hello, hello!" It's very funny actually, very friendly people. I think it's partly because they don't get a lot of foreigners there, so they don't have that tourist fatigue. Most Vietnamese people there weren't comfortable with speaking English but the ones who did were very eager to talk in English. I was always frequenting this coffee and smoothie shop. The lady there, she's very nice. Every time I come, she would have me sometimes try some fruits, things like that. The guy next to her runs a coffee shop too. Once he came over and started talking to me, like where are you from? He told me, oh, we have a new drink, would you like to try it? It's like a matcha latte drink, some special way to make it. I feel like the general impression of the locals there was very good of foreigners. Vietnamese Locals Love Dalat Too From my conversation with other Vietnamese locals, I met a few Vietnamese people that moved from other cities to Dalat. Apparently, Dalat is like a dream destination for a lot of Vietnamese people, especially people who work in the big cities complaining about too much traffic, maybe the air quality is bad. But you don't have any of that stuff in Dalat. The air quality is great, there isn't much traffic going on. It's very chill and the weather is always good, always nice. Food & Shopping Getting Around & Delivery They have Grab for delivery. You can order food and you can also order a bike to go anywhere. You can go from one part of the town to the other for like two euros maximum, especially on a bike. On cars it's like two times that, but it's very cheap. Grab is one app so you can order from restaurants, juices, all kinds of stuff. You can order groceries as well. I just relied on Grab bike, which tends to cost around 1 to 2 euros to go anywhere in the city. But most of the time I preferred to walk. Fresh Produce & Locally Sourced Food For me I preferred to go to the market because I lived close to the lake and they have a wet market next to it. I would go there and get fruits. They had a lot of guava, which I liked. A lot of fruits, coconut as well. It was a very nice place. You would get all the fresh produce. Not too far from my apartment there was a fruit cart parked and the lady selling there would sell duck eggs from a local farm as well. There was also an online shop you could text and they would deliver organic grass fed locally sourced eggs to your apartment! There was another one that would deliver cow milk from a local farm. Dalat is a great place if you're looking to eat locally sourced foods in my opinion. If you're a vegan or don't eat animal products there's still a lot of vegan buffet restaurants I saw throughout Dalat. Overall the Vietnamese cuisine has a lot of variety for vegans. Coffee Prices & Quality You can probably get a coffee for like a euro and a half, sometimes a euro. So it's pretty cheap. My friend who owns a coffee shop in Dalat said a lot of places, especially if they're not grinding their own beans or they're just using pre-made coffee, coffee powder or something, if they do that, it's likely their coffee is very low grade. A lot of these coffees they actually put filters in them and other stuff. So just keep that in mind. If you're a big coffee guy, you probably want to go to a place that has their own beans and their own methods to make coffee. Cooking vs Eating Out I cooked in my apartment most of the time. I think if you go to local Vietnamese restaurants it's pretty cheap, although I heard from locals that big cities like Saigon tend to have better food. There's a few good Indian restaurants and French restaurants. The WhatsApp group has a sub group for sharing those restaurants as well. Online Shopping They had Lazada. It's kind of like Amazon in some way. You can order pretty much from there and it's much cheaper than Amazon. Problem with Lazada is it doesn't have all the American products, like electronics, things like that. They have some of it, but not everything. If you order foreign products that's not Vietnamese, you're probably gonna have to pay extra. There's also fado.vn where you can order stuff from the US and Europe and they will deliver it and take care of the customs and all stuff like that. Activities & Nature You have a lot of nice strawberry farms. You can do hiking. There's a lot of cool places for hiking. A lot of people in the WhatsApp group, some people were picking up mushrooms. They did mushrooms for Roger's trip in the mountains, things like that. So all in all I thought it was really a place that's full with nature. You can go hiking, probably you can find a place to hike within like 20 minutes from downtown, 10 minutes. It's very nice. Practical Stuff Internet & Mobile The internet I had in my apartment was kinda spotty and would fail on me from time to time, but I think that's a problem only in my building cause other expats said it was fine at their place. In my apartment building there were a few power outages, but I'm not sure about other places. I used Viettel, it's the best mobile provider but you need to go to them and give them your passport. DO NOT GET esim plan from apps like Airhub, they will get you the worst mobile provider in all of Vietnam. Only get it from Viettel. Banking & Money Some ATMs charge extra fees for withdrawals, but there's a few ATMs that don't. You can ask in the Facebook group which one cause I forgot haha. But no problem withdrawing in general. Laundry I had laundry machines in my building so no problems there. Healthcare (Dentistry) When I spent my time there, I needed to go to the dentist. I needed to change a few crowns, things like that. I found actually a pretty good dentist there in Dalat. Overall the cost of treating my tooth and working on them was pretty low if you consider U.S. prices. I thought I got good quality. Although with dentists, you don't really know if they did really great work until a few years after. But it's been a few months now and I think it's a pretty good job. I'm not seeing any problems or anything like that. Safety & Environment It's pretty safe, I don't recall a sketchy situation and I walk a lot at night. The air was consistently clean. I don't recall bugs or mosquitoes being a problem either. Scams? Not Really Regarding scams or anything like that, I don't believe I got scammed, at least not explicitly, not obviously. Maybe if you go to a fruit shop, if you're not careful, maybe they can give you the tourist price. But I don't think there was obvious price gouging. I didn't definitely notice that. And I'm usually the person who would double check, maybe ask locals what they paid just to make sure I'm not getting ripped off. The Visa Situation (Important!) This is a big con of being in Dalat. If you don't have a residence visa in Vietnam and you're staying as a tourist visa, you need to leave every three months. In Dalat, it's not very well connected to other countries. There is no direct flight to another country except Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. And I believe that's seasonal. So that's the only country you can leave Dalat from in a direct flight and then come back. So that's what I did. I would go to Kuala Lumpur on the direct flight and then sleep in the hotel, in the airport hotel, and then come back the next day for my visa border run. Other people would take a bus from Dalat to Ho Chi Minh, which is like eight hours by bus. I heard they have comfortable buses, but for me, I don't think I can handle eight hours on a bus. But they go to Ho Chi Minh and from Ho Chi Minh there's a border run I think to Laos or something like that. You can go with a company as well that does that for you. Getting Fast Visas There's services that can get you a visa on the same day. Because with Vietnam, you can't order an electronic visa until you leave the country. So there's companies that can do that for you. I think they cost 80 euros, at least the ones that I contacted. So you contact them, you leave Vietnam, and then they give you a visa in a few hours. But a lot of them are trying to scam. They will try to get you to pay 400 or 300 euros, but I think the actual price is like 80 to 100 euros. Just keep that in mind. Flight Connections Maybe the biggest problem with Dalat is just the connection. The flight connections can be tricky. If you want to leave or come there, you have to keep in mind that you're going to have to take multiple stops. For some people it's fine, but if you're going to have to do a border run every 90 days and you don't like taking buses every time or doing multiple flights, then maybe it's not the best place. I think that's why a lot of people go to Danang, because in Danang you're pretty close to one of the borders so you can do a border run pretty quick. Final Verdict All in all, I think Dalat is a great place if you wanna chill and focus on self-improvement like I did. But if you wanna network, if you wanna meet a lot of people, if you wanna party, I don't think it's a good place to do this. Overall it's very laid back. I don't think there's a lot of partying or anything going down. If you wanna network, you probably wanna go to big cities like Bangkok. That's where you find young people, especially entrepreneurs with that mindset. I don't think you'll find a lot in Dalat. Most of the people there were working online and just chilling like I did. Some were retired, some just on breaks. I had my girlfriend with me so I didn't feel lonely, but I did go to a few events and met other people. Probably will not go back because honestly I'm hungry for networking in big cities. But I will always recall my time in Dalat with fondness. I would definitely recommend it to anybody looking for a chill location. I think it's good for a short trip as well. submitted by /u/cornea-drizzle-pagan to r/digitalnomad [link] [comments]

I have a tray that is organized with all my AM/PM skincare (vit C, niacinamide, retinol, etc) that I keep in the bathroom on a shelf that is out of direct sunlight. BUT, my apartment doesn't have central AC (I have to use standing units in the living room/bedroom), so during the daytime the bathroom can get really warm - at times uncomfortably so. Is it possible that the elevated temperature could compromise the integrity of the products? Would it be wiser to keep the tray in the fridge? Thanks everyone! submitted by /u/Cooperfan_1114 to r/SkincareAddiction [link] [comments]

Pictures here! Picture descriptions: My bag on the Spirit Sizer: Yay it fits! Note the shoes in the side pocket, and the water bottle is attached with a carabiner. Overview of clothes ziplocs: Sleepwear + swimwear, shorts + shirt #1, shorts + shirt #2, underthings, dresses + scarf + shawl. Overview of other ziplocs: toiletries, snacks, meds. Forgot to take pics of the makeup pouch! Bits and bobs: Kindle charger, plane ziploc with headphones, nausea meds, hand sanitizer, gum. Nicer sandals that go in the water bottle pockets. Day outfit picture: Linen Shorts, short sleeve white linen shirt, neck scarf. Linen does keep you fresh for sure, can confirm. Plane outfit. Long sleeve linen, long sleeve pants, Tevas and socks. I wore this to work with sneakers I keep on my desk. I washed it at the hotel and wore it on Monday morning as I went straight from the airport again to work. Another day outfit: Orange linen shorts, white linen shirtsleeve, neck scarf, Tevas. Linen on Linen! Tevas are such a workshoe. Nice dress #1: Long sleeve "skate dress". Found this one at a thrift shop. It's mesh on top so it's surprisingly fresh. Packs easily, no need to steam, great travel dress. Wore this with the "nicer sandals" Nice dress #2: Sparkly maxi dress with leg slit. Found this one at a thrift shop too. Wearing it with the nicer sandals. Also chose this dress because it's very versatile, easy to pack and very light. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I got a last minute invite from my cousin to join her on a work trip to NYC. Knowing I can travel on a personal item, I just got cheap Spirit tickets and started to think/plan about packing and activities. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Considerations: My non-negotiables: A pretty stocked meds pouch, safe snacks, and tea. I realized this takes about a Ziploc of space that could be a fifth outfit, but I just like travelling knowing that I have safe snacks and my preferred meds if my gut acts out. Clothes/Weather: I needed to pack at least two nice outfits and nice shoes. Clothes that remain fresh in the NY summer heat and humidity. Good walking shoes. Laundry: I felt that at this travel size I was going to have to do laundry, so I figured I'll just get some detergent when I get to NYC, do sink/shower laundry and just let stuff dry while we go out for the day. I've done sink laundry in the past without too much issue, but seeing as the room we were going to stay didn't have a closet or even a desk or chairs, I finally bit the bullet and got a laundry line (Sea to Summit per y'all's recs). Packing: I've done Ziplocs for years, but this time I kinda realized something I wish I had realized a while back, I can easily calculate my packing capacity using my gallon Ziplocs! Each Ziploc is about 3.7L, so I can comfortably fit 7 full Ziplocs into my 27L bag! Perhaps it's silly, but it really helped me visualize the carrying capacity of my bag. I used the Ranger Roll packing method for clothes for each Ziploc which helped minimize space. Travel things I've upgraded/bought: Since my last OneBag, I got a travel clothesline and Muji containers. I had refused to get more toiletry containers but I finally bit the bullet as my old containers (trial size samplers) kept breaking. What I actually brought: Bags: Kipling Seoul 15" laptop backpack (27L) and Fjallraven High Coast Hip Pack. Wearing on Plane: Linen pants, linen long sleeve, socks, tevas sandals, sweater jacket, shawl, glasses, neck pillow. Jewelry: Necklace, earrings, ring. Clothes Pants: Linen shorts 2x. Tops: White linen short sleeve 2x Dress: Nice dress 2x Underthings: Bralette 2x, swimsuit, panties 6x. Sleep: Pajama set, fuzzy socks Accessories: Small silk scarf, light shawl. Shoes: Nicer sandals Toiletries Hair: Shampoo, conditioner, wet brush, hair ties, bobby pins. Skincare: Moisturizer (face and body), sunscreen (face), petroleum jelly. Hygiene: Deodorant, travel perfume, nail clippers. Teeth: Brush, toothpaste, floss picks. Eyes: Contact solution, contacts, case. Hair removal: Razor, tweezers, facial electric shaver. Makeup removal: Micellar water, cotton rounds, q-tips. Makeup: Eyes: Concealer primer, concealer, cream eyeshadow, sparkly eyeshadows, mascara, eyeliner. Face: Benetint cheek and lip stain. Lips: Red lipstick, berry lipstick, lip primer. Tools: Eyelash curler, 4x makeup brushes. Food: Snacks: Plain crackers, fig bars x6. Tea: Ginger 5x, Green x3. Pharmacy: Pain: Ibuprofen Tummy: Dramamine (also sleep aid), Tums, ginger candy, ginger mints, probiotics. Butt: Lidocaine cream, loperamide. Bobs and Bits: Alcohol wipe, band aids, pasties, safety pins, daily multivitamin, cough drops, big band aids. Misc: Kindle reader, phone charger, fitbit charger, wallet, handkerchief, chapstick, clothesline. Travel Ziploc: Less Drowsy Dramamine, throw up bag, wet napkin, peppermint oil, eye mask, chewing gum, headphones. Clothes & Wash schedule: Wednesday flight: Plane clothes Thursday day: Orange shorts + white shirt #1 + tevas + scarf Thursday night: Renaissance painting dress + leather sandals wash #1 Friday day: Blue/Green shorts + white shirt #2 + tevas + scarf Friday night: Renaissance painting dress + leather sandals wash #2 Saturday day: Orange shorts + white shirt #1 + tevas + scarf Saturday night: Sparkly dress + leather sandals Sunday day: Blue/Green shorts + white shirt #2 + tevas + scarf Monday flight: Plane clothes + socks + tevas Thoughts after trip: Things that did not get used: Body lotion, swimsuit, hydrating face masks, most meds. feel like I could cut down on some of the meds or just reduce the amount of meds I pack it but this is a hard category to reduce for me. I also did not use my Kindle. This is definitely a first. Things I wish I'd packed: More cotton pads, not used to doing my makeup twice a day and almost ran out. Body sunscreen: It was quite sunny, the short sleeve linen tops did quite a bit to protect from the potential shoulder sunburn, but sunscreen at hand would've been nice. Things I'm really grateful I packed: -Nail clippers, unexpected MVPs, there's always a nail that breaks, things to cut through! -Plane jacket, because it's always just so freaking cold on the plane and it helped me actually be cozy and sleep a little. -Fuzzy socks, because all my roommates for this trip sleep way colder than I do so I'm glad I remembered to bring these. -Fig bars. We stayed at a hotel with no fridge or kettle and kinda terrible and heavy food options. My stomach was kind of queasy in between all the events, messed up sleep schedule and heavy dinners so I consumed almost all of them as safe and reliable foods for me. -Small silk scarf: Occupies almost no room and got tons of compliments when using it as a neck tie. Things that I'm glad I didn't pack: -Sports bra and bike shorts. Based on previous experiences, these "long weekend" trips are not long enough to justify a workout outfit of its own, as I usually won't have enough time to actually work out and I can easily stretch/yoga in my pajamas. I did pack a bralette that fits a little tight so if I wanted to so something active/mid impact, I'd be supported. I had planned a bike ride, but the bralette and linen shorts sufficed. -Heels: The leather sandals were good enough for all places we went to. Things that went wrong: This was my first time committing to sink laundry. The room we stayed was pretty small with poor ventilation and the humidity was really high so even with hand wringing, towel wringing and the clothesline I still had to finish drying most pieces with a hair dryer. The sink was also shallow and small so I ended up using a ziploc bag system to be able to actually wash stuff. Things I'm considering getting/upgrading in the future: -I am probably going to get reusable cotton pads for my next trip. I ended up doing my makeup and washing up twice a day for different things so I almost ran out of the cotton pads I brought! -My backpack itself: It has served me well, and its my EDC bag for life and work, but walking around on a full backpack in NYC made me think about getting a bag that is not that uncomfortable when full. It would be nice to have a chest strap and/or hip straps. I also really want a bag that has clamshell opening, so I can keep some semblance of organization and always be able to see all the contents of my bag. I've been eyeing the Patagonia 30L mini MLC but it's sold out on REI where I have a giftcard so I'm just gonna keep waiting until they re-stock. If anybody has any questions about the specific items lmk! This post was just getting extremely long cause I'm such a yapper :) submitted by /u/Corguita to r/HerOneBag [link] [comments]

We weren’t strangers before moving in together. We had a few mutual friends and had hung out a handful of times in group settings. It felt like we got along well enough, and since we already knew some of the same people, I figured living together would be easy. From the beginning, she’s been the type who loves being the funny one. When we’d have people over, she’d say stuff like, “OP cooked? Didn’t know we were celebrating something,” or joke about how I always “borrow” her toilet paper because I hate shopping. Even around our mutual friends, she'd make comments about my skincare routine or how I never finish anything I start, like it was just part of her comedy bit. I never said anything and I’d just laugh along with everyone else and brush it off. One night, she was telling a story about a Tinder date, and I just casually joked that Tinder should send her a ‘thank you for your service’ letter with how many times she's used that app. She got really quiet and distant for the rest of the night. The next day, she told me I humiliated her and crossed a line. She cried and said she felt attacked. I felt like crap. We went on a couple of days with minimal contact. But then she went right back to joking about me. Nothing changed. If anything, the comments picked up again. She kept making fun of my habits, my cooking, how I talk, even little things like the way I organize the fridge. A few weeks later, I tried one more playful jab. I said something like, “You’ve got enough dating stories to start a podcast.” while she was talking about another Tinder guy who ghosted her. Same exact reaction. She froze up, looked upset, and the next morning gave me another emotional talk about how I made her feel small. Again, she cried. And just like before, she kept doing the same thing. Still making jokes at my expense, still throwing me under the bus for a laugh in front of our friends. But the two times I made a single comment back? I get treated like I bullied her. She keeps insisting it’s “different” when she does it and that everyone knows she’s just joking. I’m honestly at a loss here. Anyone else deal with a roommate like this? submitted by /u/Otenbaker-Zilin to r/badroommates [link] [comments]

https://preview.redd.it/jgd9brc5ym3f1.jpg?width=3408&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf824f370a48893c514bdf001ca85fa2d42a9ba8 https://preview.redd.it/ftu5duc5ym3f1.jpg?width=4200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e4caf6b00f2626f6c029dc5b1f53f5757a2af411 https://preview.redd.it/602nmwc5ym3f1.jpg?width=3704&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1691b447a1920fc2de784c4e83263b80ed3e1dc7 https://preview.redd.it/h75u7rc5ym3f1.jpg?width=5094&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1e0c5d8b9a545db0c0a54b62bead8f777fb5b4ca https://preview.redd.it/c1ttctc5ym3f1.jpg?width=5350&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=18b5f7d97d6403e18206cee94f81e6fb2eaaac43 https://preview.redd.it/dpglpqc5ym3f1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7b93ccb3a576575d0e9852eb28fae3af2c2e5a0e Hello! I wrote this post a few weeks ago about my first attempt at zerobagging for a 5-day trip (actually was a 6-day trip, I had forgotten until Sunday that we actually were leaving on Tuesday instead of Monday. So I had an extra day I hadn't planned for but luckily still had enough for that extra day!) to Southern CA, and figured I should finally post my trip report now! I made a few changes in the few days before the flight, so I'll mention those changes below in bold as well as any comments about the items. I'll include the photos I posted in my original packing show & tell, including the one I took at the gate showing some of the changes I made between the original post and the trip. To wear on flight: Black foldable UV cap White marble half-Buff as scarf or headband - would've been fine without this but still used it daily since I had it Knix Evolution reversible bra (black/nude) - plan to wear black side as swimsuit top if needed - worked great as a swimsuit top! And I found out it dries in TWO HOURS!? Amazing Black panties - plan to wear as swimsuit bottom if needed; didn’t think any of my quick-dry ones could pass as a bathing suit bottom - worked great as swimsuit bottom! Black Teva Tirras- hopefully will be perfect for light hikes and dressy-ish enough for dinners out Uniqlo black Airism UV hoodie Uniqlo black ultra stretch dress Uniqlo black Heattech long sleeve top - love this top so much. Stuck it in my purse when I wore a dress at night and then put it on after the sunset when it got a little chilly Black leggings Flex disc (not pictured)- my period is irregular so I’m planning for any surprises, plus might help my leggings stay fresher for longer - ended up spotting so very glad I brought it! Everything else will be in my Uniqlo sling: Additional clothing (wrapped together by a hair tie for compression, which I’d be bringing anyway): Pair of ex officio boyshorts (plan to wash underwear every night and alternate) Pair of thin socks (for walking around the house) - clutch. They were a no-shoes-inside household so I'm very glad I had socks Uniqlo Airism black tank top Tech, dental, and sun protection: Anouv portable charger with built-in cables and AC wall adapter- this will be the way I charge my phone. It can charge my phone while plugged in if I end up needing that Earbuds Adapter for my earbuds go plug into my phone iPhone with card wallet on back of case Mini toothpaste from a hotel dental kit - didn't end up bringing it since husband brought toothpaste Toothbrush head from my electric toothbrush - husband brought his electric toothbrush so I got to use my toothbrush head on it Floss pick (I know it’s gross but I’ll rinse and reuse the same one for a few days) - husband brought floss too but I'm gross and just reused the same one like I always do haha Sunsense lip balm (this will also replace the vaseline I use nightly on my lips before bed) Caudalie sun stick - I changed this last minute for a La Rosee sunstick that I got on sale and wanted to use up and it was my biggest regret of the trip. It made my face SO oily, like it was drenched in water for hours, regardless of how much I rubbed it in. It also ran out much faster than I expected so I had to use my husband's sunscreens after the first day Banana boat sampler packet for the day on the boat. Will reapply with sun stick and will be wearing sun protective clothing most of the time - had a few times when I thought about using it but decided to keep using my husband's sunscreens so I could keep the travel sample since it's the only one I have and I might need it more in the future Skincare & makeup: Cerave cleanser sample - was worried it wouldn't be enough but it was plenty, and I have some left over Dr Dennis Gross peel pack x 2 -added an extra one before I left but really wouldve needed 4 since I forgot about the extra day I was there, but of course got by fine without it Skinceuticals CE Ferulic vitamin C sample bottle Micellar water in tiny daiso dropper bottles, which I plan to use in combination with a makeup remover wipe I’ll keep reusing to remove makeup at night - the 2ml glass bottles wouldn't have been enough, but I ended up getting 4ml sauce bottles from Daiso before I left and that was the perfect amount for the days I was there Caudalie eye cream sample - didn't expect to have as much left over as I did Retinol renewal cream sample (for those of you who decant retinol creams, any tips to keep its efficacy? I didn’t want to mess with the active ingredients so I just found a sample instead of decanting my tazarotene into a different container) Weleda skin food cream - didn't end up using, but still glad I brought it because I wasn't sure how my skin would react coming from humid Texas to more dryer Southern CA heat Contact case with dior forever multi-use stick foundation on one side, and a medical cream on the other side Essence matte lipliner that I’ll wear as lipstick and blush Mulac eyeshadow (plastic package took up too much room so I cut it out and kinda made up my own way of fastening it with velcro, but it isn’t the best. For additional security I’m also putting a mini binder clip on it which I’ll use on the trip to keep my sampler packets closed between uses) - went into creases shortly after I applied it so I switched this out for two Bobbi Brown mini cream eyeshadows and they worked perfectly Eyeshadow brush from a stacking travel brush set from daiso - didn't end up bringing this since I switched out my eyeshadow Muji eyelash curler Travel size clinique mascara OPI mini nail polish- I’ll do my toenails in the same color before I leave so I’ll be able to use this for touching up chipped nails- I feel like the Tevas just look more dressed up when paired with polished toes - I didn't end up bringing this. I painted my toes before I left and luckily they didn't chip too much Having permanent eyeliner, microblading, and laser hair removal done has let me skip some other toiletries! Additional toiletries & miscellaneous items: I’m thinking they’ll have shampoo available in their guest bathroom, but if not then I’ll just use soap for the one wash I plan to do while there - they had shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothpaste, different moisturizers for each sex, cotton swabs, etc etc. They definitely stocked up and spoiled us! Cattier dry oil in tiny daiso dropper bottle- I use this on my hair as a conditioner and face as a moisturizer, just a few drops goes a long way Comb Isopropyl alcohol in tiny daiso dropper bottle - q-tips can do more harm than good, so I use this instead after showering - ran out of this since I had an extra day I hadn't accounted for, next time will bring it in my 3oz daiso fish-shaped container made for soy sauce! Degree deodorant in a mini native deodorant container (which I also plan to use for anti-chafing when I’m wearing my dress without leggings) - was my first time using it for anti-chafing and it worked pretty well! But note if you're going to use it for this purpose, it must have antiperspirant in it. Had plenty left over, could have just had a chapstick sized deodorant but since I was using it for antichafing I felt like that would've taken too long to rub on my inner thighs Poopourri travel size - bigger container than I needed but based on some advice I got here, purchased some refillable spray containers at daiso! They are still bigger than I need for a weekend trip though so if any of you have suggestions for where I can find really tiny spray bottles (like the ones that come with perfume samples but have a cap to keep them from spraying perfume everywhere), let me know! Tiny emery board from hotel vanity kit Earrings 11oz water bottle I got at a hotel, attached to a small carabiner with bank line. I can use this to clip it to the outside of my sling if needed (like if I decide to shed some layers after we land) Nooz sunglasses in a Muji aluminum pen case because I read a post about how the case that comes with it can scratch the lenses. I wrap them in a cleaning cloth inside the pen case for additional protection - one of my favorite onebag purchases. I love these sunglasses A few meds in an ibuprofen travel container Seabands for motion sickness (I stick the emery board, earrings, and floss pick in the container too) Isopropyl alcohol in card spray bottle - to use as hand sanitizer and in case my clothing needs a little refresher but not a full wash Mesh jewelry pouch- I first had all of my toiletries together in here but it creates more dead space around the pouch, so I’m laying it flat and the toiletries are just disorganized in the bottom of my bag. Keeping the pouch though because I’m going to want them to be organized in the shared bathroom Moist towelette - soon-to-be-mom was in a bathroom that was out of toilet paper so this towelette ended up helping her out, which I think is a great use for it! I also ended up bringing right before I left: - liquid IV packet - I don't love the taste of regular water but they ended up stocking their fridge with all kinds of drinks so I never ended up using this liquid IV packet, maybe will skip it next time and just not be a baby about drinking unflavored tap water haha - waterproof phone holder on a lanyard- wanted to bring this for the boat ride but I ended up being in charge of baby shower games so barely used my phone. BBQ also ended up being a pool party so I could've used it then but just didn't think of it. Would've been ok not bringing it, maybe will skip next time - garlic salt from uyuni salt flats and pepper from the south of france that we got on our prior travels- I put these in contact cases and brought them as a gift so everyone could try them, I thought it was a cool gift but the contact case does look kinda weird among their other spices haha, maybe I should've thought of a more elegant-looking container for it - mini tide pen - am to clumsy to leave it behind, used it a few times - culoclean portable bidet - used it all the time. They had toilet paper but I use a bidet at home and figured I'd miss that clean feeling too much to leave this out - portable bag from daiso - packs tiny, I love this baggie and used it a few times when shopping - paper clip- I watched a Maggie Fuchs video about how many uses she finds for paper clips and brought one at the last minute. It came in handy a few times! I used it to open a board game I couldn't get the packaging off of, to draw a little face in a play-doh baby I made for a baby shower game, and then to secure the index cards with everyone's written answers for different baby shower games. I'm going to start bringing one with me everywhere! I think overall the trip was a success! I ended up sink washing or shower washing most of my clothes at least once and it worked out well. The main regret I had was not bringing a different sunstick and there were a few things I could've done without but everything fit well and I felt like I had all of the bases covered! Looking forward to trying it again sometime soon! submitted by /u/freezesteam to r/HerOneBag [link] [comments]

OH MY GOSH. I already HATED packing in the first place... My husband and I decided we need to "get away" and take a mini staycation after the craziness of the past 4 months after having our first baby. We unfortunately can't really trust his parents to look after our baby for more than a few hours at a time yet, and my parents aren't close by. Anyway, it's a good thing we're not going far and just staying at an Airbnb with flexible check-in, because MY GOSH it's taken me the entire morning just to really think through EVERYTHING to prepare and pack, how to somehow organize everything into minimal bags, how to time everything so we can still use the things we still need until we leave but then easily pack them when we go (like fridge items, baby monitor, clean bottles, etc.)... let alone needing to take out the trash, make sure we use up things in the fridge/kitchen that will go bad soon... it's SO MUCH!!!! I feel so exhausted. Like is it even worth traveling with a baby to go on "vacation" at this point, lol I just need to know... What are your packing-for-a-trip-with-baby tricks/hacks to make this more painless... or is this just our new normal now?!?! Lol... sigh. In case anyone's interested, here is my full packing list so far, though I keep finding myself forgetting stuff and adding more lol. Ugh thank God for ChatGPT for the basic outline/suggestions... but EVEN THEN!)... and this is only for 2 nights...! 😭 (The ones that are crossed out are things I've already packed... the other stuff I'm waiting for my baby's second nap to finish, then my husband will feed her while I pack up the rest. In the meantime, I'm hungry but not even sure if I'll have time to eat much of a snack lol.) 2-Night Staycation Packing List 🧳 Bag 1: Medium Suitcase (Clothing & Toiletries) HERS: 1 Thicker Jacket (WEAR) 1 Hat (WEAR) 1 Socks (WEAR) Sneakers (WEAR) 1 PJs 2 Underwear 1 Sports Bra Sandals 1 Short-sleeve shirt 1 Long-sleeve shirt 1 Pants 1 Lounge top & bottom 1 Light jacket HIS: 1 Thicker Jacket (WEAR) 1 Hat (WEAR) 2 Socks (WEAR 1) Sneakers (WEAR) 1 PJs 2 Underwear 2 Short-sleeve shirts 1 Long-sleeve shirt 1 Pants 1 Lounge top & bottom 1 Light jacket Flip Flops 🧴 Shared Toiletry Pouch Toothbrushes Toothpaste Floss Deodorant Tongue scrapers Hair comb Razor 4 contact lenses (HERS) Loofah (HIS) Sunscreen 2 Slippers Face wash, skincare 🎒 Bag 2: Diaper Bag (Daily Grab-and-Go Bag) ~5 diapers Wipes Portable changing pad 1–2 Extra baby outfits 2 Burp cloths 1 Pacifier Hand sanitizer 🥄 Bag 3: Food/Snacks (Feeding Supplies + Coolers + Snacks) Dr. Brown’s formula pitcher in cooler bag w/ ~3 ice packs (fridge) 6 pre-washed bottles Formula powder (enough for 3 days = ~96 oz) Bottle brush Small travel dish soap 🍎 Snacks/Food for Parents Apples (fridge) Pears (fridge) Cucumbers (fridge) Cucumber Salad (fridge) Overnight Oats (fridge) 4 Sparkling Waters (fridge) Trail Mix Dark Chocolate Almonds Chia / Fruit+Veggie Pouches Almond Butter Supplements (HERS) 🎒Bag 4: Backpack (husband to pack) Laptop (HERS) Bible + Journal + Pen + Book (HERS) Laptop (HIS) Bible + Journal + Pen + Book (HIS) Headphones AirPods Phone charger Wallets w/ IDs 😴 Bag 5: Baby Items (LARGE Tote Bag) Portable white noise machine CHARGER Baby monitor + camera + CHARGER SlumberPod 4-5 Toys (book, piano, contrast, etc.) Baby carrier 👶 Baby Clothes 4 Onesies 2 Pants 1-2 Shorts 2 Light jackets 2 PJs 2-3 Socks 1 Long-sleeve onesie 4 Bibs 4 Burp cloths Nose picker Electric nail filer 14 Diapers, 4 Overnight Diapers 1 Sun hat 2 Swaddles 😴 Item 6: STROLLER 1 Pacifier DreamEgg (portable white noise machine) Blanket for tummy time/floor submitted by /u/boldlybelieve to r/NewParents [link] [comments]

So this is one of those situations where I’m not sure if I should be weirded out or laugh it off. My girlfriend (let’s call her Sarah) and I have been dating for about a year. She’s great, super organized, and a huge list-maker—she has a list for everything. There’s a grocery list, a meal-prep list, a “to-read” book list, even a “Sunday chores” list on the fridge. All totally normal, right? Well, last week, I was over at her place and noticed a notebook on her coffee table. I thought it was her regular notebook, so I opened it up to see if she’d written anything funny or random, which she does sometimes. But then I saw it: “To Do: Fix (BF’s Name).” And below it was a list of things… about me. Things like: 1. Get him to start working out. 2. Make him drink less coffee. 3. Convince him to wear less black (??) 4. See if he’d be interested in learning about skincare. 5. Try to limit his screen time at night. Some of the things are understandable; I drink a lot of coffee, and my wardrobe is basically all black. But part of me felt kinda uncomfortable seeing this. It’s like I’m her latest “project,” and it’s weird because she’s never said she wants me to change anything about myself. She just laughs it off if I mention my coffee addiction or whatever. I’m torn. On one hand, I know she loves me and is just looking out for me in her own way. But on the other hand… is this normal? Like, am I being too sensitive about this? Should I bring it up, or am I overthinking? Edit: About 15 hours ago, I decided to bring up the list with her, and it turned into one of the biggest fights we’ve ever had. I asked her why she’d written all those things about me, hoping she’d say it was just a silly list or something. But instead, she got really serious and told me, “I’m only trying to help you be the man I know you could be.” When I said it felt like she was trying to control my life, she looked at me like I was the one in the wrong and said, “If you want this relationship to work, you need to start taking these things seriously. I can’t stay with someone who doesn’t want to improve.” It didn’t stop there. She basically told me that if I don’t make these changes, she’ll have to “re-evaluate” whether we’re compatible. She listed off things she thinks I need to “work on” to “keep her happy,” like cutting back on time with my friends, changing how I dress, and “learning to make better choices” (which, apparently, includes what I eat, when I sleep, and even my hobbies). I told her this all felt unfair and extreme, but she just said, “If you loved me, you’d understand why this is important.” Since the fight, she’s been giving me the cold shoulder, barely talking to me unless it’s to remind me of something on the list. She keeps saying I need to “prove” I’m serious about our future and that if I’m not willing to make these sacrifices, maybe I’m not mature enough to be in a committed relationship. I honestly feel trapped—like if I don’t do exactly what she wants, she’ll leave. submitted by /u/Visual_Breath_2981 to r/AskMenAdvice [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/gtaslut to r/makeuporganization [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/BellBeauty24 to r/makeuporganization [link] [comments]

I’ve been considering getting a mini skincare fridge lately because I live with my family so I don’t have space to put stuff in the main fridge, but I have a couple products I want to try that need to be refrigerated. My problem is that if I buy this fridge I’m going to want to keep all my skincare in it just to stay organized. So will it damage my products that don’t need to be refrigerated to keep them in a fridge? I use cerave AM and PM face moisturizers, cerave foaming cleanser, micellar cleansing water, and a custom atolla serum. Thank you in advance!! submitted by /u/Petowner5805 to r/Skincare_Addiction [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/pokepink to r/AsianBeauty [link] [comments]