even if you get along great with your family you will get along even better with them after moving out
generic is almost always just as good as name brand. But there are some things you never buy generic, including: peanut butter, ketchup, liquid NyQuil, Chips-Ahoy chewy chocolate chip cookies
just imagine the person on the other end of the phone hates talking on the phone as much as you do. Even a receptionist. I worked as one and I hate talking on the phone
at least once in your life you will go to Wal-mart to buy something under $20 like an ironing board or something and your debit card will get rejected. No one will judge. Everyone at some point in their lives has had $2.98 in their bank account.
thrift stores
everyone else is too busy panicking about everyone else noticing every tiny thing that could possibly be wrong about them to notice any tiny thing that could possibly be wrong about you
you will screw up. a lot. you live and you learn. and when you start to think too hard about that embarrassing thing that happened and how you wish you could change it, just tell yourself that what’s done is done. There’s no changing it, so just forget it and move on. It’s the only way to stay sane.
do the dishes before the sink grows its own ecosystem
you can’t put Dawn dishsoap in the dishwasher.
if you are the only one in the aisle at the grocery store, and you need to get from one end to the other without even looking at anything in that aisle, then you should totally cart-surf down the aisle. Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional. Hold on to the little things. They make all the difference.
never try to make cake from scratch at 3am. You end up with a topographical map of Middle Earth.
15% tip.
the best way to get money for food is to tell your grandparents about how you basically live on microwaved mac and cheese. Their horror may result in twenty bucks and orders to go out and get yourself “a real dinner”.
sometimes life sucks, and knowing that it might get better doesn’t always make it suck any less, but you’ll never get to the non-sucky days without enduring the suckiness.
no seriously, NEVER put Dawn in your dishwasher
Do not buy generic brand spaghetti sauce either.
Always check the type of light bulb that goes in lamps. A 60w is not interchangeable with a 40w.
Dollar store batteries work just as well as store brand.
Reward yourself from time to time when you do things that you needed to get done. It’s a good way to remind yourself to do them. Going out to pay a bill? Get Starbucks or something you don’t get often. Rewards don’t have to be huge, they can be small things like that.
Rice, pasta, flour, sugar, cheese, eggs, milk, a pack of chicken, a pack of frozen veggies and a well stocked spice cabinet go a long way food-wise. Splurge and get the biggest container of rice you can. You don’t have to go back and buy it again anytime soon and it makes a TON of meals in the meantime.
Rice can be cooked on the stove. You don’t need a fancy rice cooker. Two parts water to every one part rice (two cups water for one cup of rice for example). Get your water boiling, add rice, put a plate or lid on it, put it on low for 20 minutes. It should be done.
Keep a calendar on your pc of bill due dates. If your bills are set up at inconvenient times, like all of the services started on the first or something, then call up the company and find out if you can get your billing date switched to something more manageable. A lot of places do try to work with you.
There is no shame in calling a company and asking for an extension on a bill. Let them know what you can pay, pay that amount, and they arrange when the rest of the payment is required. This can stop you from having services shut off man. It shows responsibility on your part.
Take time to eat, even when you don’t feel like eating. Your body needs energy to live.
Wash or rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. It prevents gross caked on junk.
“The Works” is an excellent cheap toilet cleaner.
MAGIC. FUCKING. ERASERS. THEY WORK ON EVERYTHING JUST DON’T SCRUB HARD. I took the ring out of our bathtub with one. Also generic ones work just as well.
Keep some bleach around but if you use it for cleaning? Dillute it. There’s rarely ever a case where you need to pout straight bleach on anything. A cap full or two in a bucket of water works just fine.
DO NOT MIX CLEANERS. Chemical reactions are can be very dangerous. Here’s a good list. (Note that vinegar and baking soda can actually be a good combo for removing smells from things but it’s not very good at actually -cleaning-.)
If you drink? Don’t take meds at the same time it’s just not good.
Make sure you check the dosages on your pill bottles. No one wants to accidentally overdose on cough syrup or ibuprofen.
If you have a uterus make sure you have a heating pad and ibuprofen on hand for the pain. Hot baths also generally help and Ginger Tea is excellent for any nausea.
Buy a first aid kit. It’s worth it in the long run.
You can often do your taxes online at places like TurboTax.
Petroleum jelly (aka Vaseline) is good for chapped lips and you can get a decent sized tube or tub of it (generic brand version) for cheaper/same price as Chapstick.
KEEP TRIPLE ANTIBIOTIC OINTMENT IN YOUR HOUSE FOR CUTS AND SCRAPES AND SORES.
~~Medications~~
Over the counter medications (stuff you can buy right off the shelf no prescription needed) have a name brand and a generic name. ALWAYS buy generic if it’s available it is literally the same thing and way cheaper usually.
Some names to remember when you’re looking for meds!
Acetaminophen = Tylenol
Used to treat pain and reduce fever. Do not take with Ibuprofen.
Ibuprofen = Advil, Midol, Motrin
Used for pain and fever, is an anti-inflammtory. Is good for period cramps because it is an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug).
Naproxen = Aleve, Naprosyn
Treats fever, pain, arthritis pain, gout, period cramps, tendinitis, headache, backache, and toothache. Is also an NSAID.
Acetaminophen + Asprin + Caffeine = Excedrin
Usually marketed as “Migraine Relief” as a generic.
Asprin = Bayer
Use for pain, fever, arthritis, and inflammation. Makes you bleed easily so should not be used for periods. Might reduce risk of heart attacks.\
Triple Antibiotic Ointment = Neosporin
Used on cuts, sores, and scrapes to reduce risk of infection and promote healing.
Also a general mutli-vitamin isn’t a bad idea and if you don’t get a lot of fruits or milk/sunshine in your diet you might want to get vitamins C and D specifically for daily use.
if you do accidentally lapse and put dawn in your dishwasher, run it empty and put hair conditioner where the detergent goes. that’ll clean it out (tip given to me by dorm custodian when roommate did the thing).
if you live off ramen, add stuff to it! add veggies you like, don’t use the whole flavor packet to cut down on sodium and msg or don’t use it at all and add your own spices.
if you’re making something with potatoes in it (beans, stew) potatoes are done when you can easily stab a fork through them.
you can microwave a hotdog as long as you put it in a microwave safe container of water. microwaves work by making water molecules vibrate. also, when reheating rice leftovers, add a small amount of water, like maybe a spoonfull, so it doesn’t get hard and crunchy.
the rice cooking advice above is for long grain rice. if you’re making short or medium grain rice, a 1:1 ratio (one cup water for one cup rice) is better, so the rice doesn’t come out too mushy.
buy a few cans of chicken. wholesale club stores like sam’s, costco, or bj’s tend to carry multipacks for a good price. they’re incredibly useful for when you forget to defrost meat.
buy meat on sale and put it in the freezer. buy vegetables on sale, and put them in the freezer. frozen veggies are often as flavorful and good as fresh ones, keep longer, and often come in microwaveable bags or with microwave directions.
soak ink stains in milk to help get them out or at least lighten them.
soak blood stains in water as soon as possible, with a bit of detergent or stain remover. scrub at them. use cold water, heat binds proteins to fabric. tbh, there’s no real need to change the washer from cold-cold setting unless the thing you’re washing says to wash in warm water.
acetone, found in most nail polish removers, dissolves super glue.
YOU’RE ALL DOING GOD’S WORK BLESS YOU
Takes pictures, have prints made and put them in photo albums. Be IN the pictures, have someone take pictures of you and your friends. Get over not looking perfect in thw picture. Someday that friend might be gone and those pictures might be all you’ll have, you will want to be in them. I made that mistake with my best friend, i always felt weird asking for a picture together… he died of cancer January of 2014 and now i have no pictures of us together. Its my only regret in life.
This is really helpful, thank you all!
I’m the newest of new adults but I’m gonna throw these little tips in there. IF YOU HAVE AN OLD CAR:
-coolant or water if your car overheats (coolant is preferable cause it won’t hurt the engine in the long run but hey i know money is tight)
-flashlight in case you break down at night and need to check under the hood and your phone is dead
-SPARE TIRE.
-jumper cables.you will at some point leave your lights on. you just will.
AAA or any other road side service is never a bad investment i swear. (try to mooch it off your parents as long as you can though)
Know how to change a tire. You’re going to need to do it at some point in time and you can’t always rely on someone else to do it for you.
Don’t be afraid to go to your local food bank. They are there for a reason.
Don’t be ashamed to ask for help period. Life is hard, everyone needs help occasionally.
You can put a LOWER wattage bulb in a lamp that says it’s for a higher one, but don’t put a HIGHER wattage bulb in. Also, watts refer to the amount of electricity used. LUMENS refers to the amount of light put out, and can vary quite a bit between brands, even though the wattage is the same. Look for the one with the highest lumens unless you actually want a slightly dimmer bulb in a certain location.
Those dollar store batteries? Fine if they’re alkaline. “Heavy-duty” batteries, however, won’t last nearly as long.
You can microwave a hot dog and bun simply by wrapping them in a toweling for a minute, less if you don’t want them scalding hot.
Reblogging to save lives.
Two adulting (kitchen-related) tips from me!
1. Buy a roll of parchment paper from the cooking shit aisle. A big roll will last you for-fucking-ever. Pretty much any time you’re using a baking pan you can line it with that stuff and save yourself A: food sticking to the pan and B: it’s a quick rinse and it’s clean.
2. Bread can get fucking expensive, so make your own. A bigass bag of flour and a bag of active dry yeast (store it in the friiiiidge!!!) works out a FUCK of a lot cheaper than buying bread at the store, and you can do so much more with it. Bread, pizza, rolls, cinnibuns, homemade pizza pockets. It seems intimidating but it’s stupid easy.
Seriously. It’s stupid simple to make, and most of the “3 hours” to make it is sitting around surfing the internet or doing whatever the fuck you want while the dough rises. If you have an afternoon free once a week to sit and play video games or surf the net, you have the time to make your own bread on the cheap. Here’s my simple-as-fuck recipe:
2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (You can buy a bag of this stuff CHEAP in bulk stores, the little packets are hella stupid priced) 1 cup warm water (think a hot bath) 1 ½ teaspoons sugar 2 tablespoons oil (any kind works for the most part) 2 ¼ cups flour 1 teaspoon salt
1. Stir the yeast, water, sugar, and oil up in a bowl. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. It will foam up VERY high, this is the yeast getting happy! If it doesn’t get all foamy, the water may have been too hot or not hot enough. Remember, Yeast is alive! Treat it like a nice girlfriend!
2. Mix your flour, salt, and the yeast concoction up in a bowl.
3. Knead that shit for about 5 minutes. It will start sticky as heck, but will come together into a nice dough. If it’s still super sticky, toss in a bit more flour. Here’s how to knead it:
4. Put your dough in a covered, lightly oiled bowl and leave it someplace warmish for an hour. At that point it will have roughly doubled in size, give it a gentle punch to release the gasses that have built up inside. Cover it again and let it sit for a bit longer.
Boom. You have bread dough. Here are some baking times and uses for ya:
Optional egg-wash: Just crack an egg into a bowl, add a pinch of salt, and mix the bejeebus out of it with a fork. Brush (or if you’re like me, goop it on with said fork) that shit thinly on bread before baking for a nice crust.
Pizza: Stretch it on a pan, stab the fucker all over with a fork, add toppings, bake 425*F 15-20 minutes.
Bread Sticks: Make snake-shapes, let rest on pan 10-ish minutes, bake 400*F 10-20 minutes.
Dinner rolls: Make ball-sized (yes those balls) balls. Place on greased pan, let rest 10-20 minutes to rise. Egg-wash and bake 375*F 25 minutes.
Bread: Lightly score (cut) the top, let sit for 20-ish minutes on/in whatever you’re using to bake it, egg-wash, bake at 375*F for 20-ish minutes. It’s done when it sounds hollow if you knock on the bottom.
You bet your ass you can deep-fry this shit for cheapie yeast doughnuts. Roll that shit in sugar or dip it in whatever, it’s fucking tasty.
Bagels: YES. YOU. CAN. Form bagel-shapes out of the dough and boil them in salty water for about 2 minutes. Egg-wash them and bake them at 400*F for 10 minutes.
Cinnamon Rolls: Roll that shit out into a rectangle. Brush it with a mix of butter, cinnamon, sugar, and a pinch of salt (no exact amounts here, do it to your taste). Roll it up into a log, and cut it into discs. Let them sit 20 minutes in a pan and then bake at 375*F 15-17 minutes.
You can add whatever you want to the dough for some variety, just if it’s dried spices remember you really only need 1-ish tablespoons. I personally like making bread with about 1 tablespoon of dill in the dough. Roll it out flat, sprinkle it with cheddar, roll it into a log, squeeze the ends shut, and bake it like a regular loaf of bread. Cheesy dill bread OMNOMNOM.
*ahem* That got a bit long. But yeah. Bread’s expensive, yo. Save your wallet.
(Also it’s ridiculous amounts of therapeutic to bake, for me anyway)
This is long but I love it
That bread recipe though. And I’ve cart surfed down an aisle. Last year. I was 27.
I like her diet (based on 80/10/10 plus The Starch Solution even the the 80/10/10 guy is a fraud FYI but Dr Mcdougall is solid) but I hate her as a person.
She’s really vile, fatphobic, etc, and harasses other vegans and makes a lot of money off being vegan but spends no time at the farm sanctuaries in her area (not saying every vegan should but if your income is based on that you should give back if you make up to 13k a month ffs) and her partner DurianRider takes pictures of women without asking to shame their body.
@shayneelouise lives in their city and knows first hand how horrible they are.
If you like teh diet there’s a lot of youtube people doing Raw Til 4 or 80/10/10 who aren’t bad people, just search on the tags.
Also Freelee says if you only stay in teh sun a certain amount of time you don’t need sunscreen but ALL people, no matter what race do.
But I do think a low fat vegan diet is the ideal, way too many vegans, even raw ones, eat too much fat and if health is what you’re after you need to be careful. I struggle too; so easy to add lots of oils to cooking (or nuts and seeds if you’re raw) but it’s better not too.
I used to like FullyRawKristina because she would visit the animals and also was a WOC but according to @dancingnaay she eats honey now, like bees aren’t exploited as well. It’s a shame really, tho I guess her food co op has horrible quality food I’ve read.
If you’re interested in healthy veganism I recommend reading Forks Over Knives, The China Study, and The Starch Solution, all recommend a low fat vegan diet but they’re by actual doctors not YT people trying to get rich.
One of my fave vegan cooking channels that isn’t so healthy is The Vegan Zombie. It’s kistchy but cute and he started as a teen for the ethical reasons and hasn’t done any problematic
I used to like Bite Sized Vegan a lot and her information is still valid and good (she’s not in it for the money) so if you want to learn check her out, but her friendship with gary yourofsky disturbs me because of the things he’s said about rape, among other things
I think an important part of veganism is calling out problematic people and organizations because non vegans use them as a trump card to not be vegan.
My fave vegan is Pamela Anderson because unlike a lot of celebs who go “vegan” for health but still wear fur (like Beyonce who has a vegan meal delivery plan), or claim to be ethical vegans but use leather in their products (like Ellen ugh fuck her), she actually stands by her ethics and is unproblematic (unlike say, Brigette Bardot who is a full on racist but uses animal rights as an excuse). I wish Pam would start a YT channel I would watch teh shit out of it. I know people say her vegan uggs are unaccessible because of price but there’s ALWAYS been liek $20 fuggs on the market esp on amazon, pam is the first one to actually have quality ones.
Jhaha, i tots go in the sun unprotected for the vitamin d. not all the time, but like…when i’m actually able to go out when the sun is out. spf is really important, but it + clothes seems to be causing a vitamin d deficiency among dark skinned people. 15-30 minutes of sun a day (which people won’t get because not everyday is sunny, and not everyone has the time to spend that much time in the sun everyday) for people – especially darker skinned individuals – should be ok, especially with a diet full of antioxidants and other cancer fighters found in greens and other veggies. (i do use sunblock, i make my own lol).
the thing i can’t stand about fullyrawkristina other than her promotion of harmful pseudoscience like the crap she says about b12, and her promotion of racist pseudoscience like iredology is that…she is SOOOOO out of touch.
yes she’s a woman of color and that gives her perspective about a lot of things, but she’s apparently also from a family that made oil money (i think her dad is in that industry), but even if it isn’t from oil her family’s financial privilege seems to have made it difficult to understand what people mean when they claim that some of her recipes are too expensive.
she recently did a video that was titled something like “fully raw on $20 a day” A DAY, and even though she briefly stated that she knows that it would be too much for some people and they should be able to make it work for less (i mean $20 a day is $600-$620 per month), she talked about how she was going to try hard to make it work and it would be hard AND in the comments in response to so many people explaining that they CAN’T spend more than like $200 a month (or less), and how that video felt like a mockery she said (i’m paraphrasing) something like “i know not everyone can spend this much money, this was one example and please remember everyone has different priorities, some spend their money on clothes, others on gadgets, others on vacation, and some of us prioritize our health through food” and that REALLY bothered me and is super problematic. a lot of us who prioritize their health (through food) have almost nothing to spend on food daily, others of us can spend $4 a day on food, and it was extremely condescending that she dismissed all those comments as hateful negativity.
the one thing i’ll give freelee and durianrider (and i don’t like them, you know i don’t like them), is that they know that cooked food is healthy and is less expensive than fully raw and that’s one of the reasons they started promoting it.
anyway anon, if you and @lilitharcane don’t mind some of the people i recommend (in addition to the wonderful doctors listed above are):
Dr. Neal Barnard – I LOVE HIM SO MUCH AHH (not gonna lie, i find him pretty attractive :D), he’s the founder of Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (pcrm.org)
Dr. Greger – he has a youtube channel “nutritionfactsorg” in which he peer reviewed research articles relating to health and nutrition.
Dr. Milton Mills – a black physician who works among poor poc communities (specifically black communities), spreading plant based nutrition and explaining that soul food is OFTEN plantation/slavery food (based off of the scraps the white slave owners would provide) and many of the african communities were originally plant heavy/plant based (not necessarily plant exclusive) communities.
Julieanna Hever – The Plant-based Dietitian (has worked with Dr. Campbell the author of the china study, and whole. she specializes in womens health and pediatric nutrition and used to be a personal trainer)
Ginny Kisch Messina, MPH, RD
– “the vegan rd”
Jack Norris, RD – i dunno what to say, he’s awesome.
Dr. Michael Klaper – who has practiced medicine ALL OVER THE WORLD since the 1970s
Jeff Novick, RD – currently works for/with Dr. McDougall, used to work for the food industry and his main goal now is to teach us 1. how they do the shit they do and 2. how to accurately read labels.
Dr. Craig McDougall – Dr. (John) McDougall’s son who has been/has worked with insurance companies like Kaiser to promote a plant based diet as part of a treatment plan.
Dr. Baxter Montgomery – who has a “plant based cardiac practice”
Katherin Milton, PhD – a professor of anthropology at UC Berkeley (since 1980) who focuses on the diet and digestion physiology of primates INCLUDING HUMANS (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoOCazy29tM)
Doug Lisle, PhD – psychologist and co-author of “the pleasure trap.”
and so so so so many others whose names/handles i can’t remember off the top of my head.
This is SO well put together I can’t even thank you enough. It’s great to promote actual doctors rather than just trendy YT personalities.
And yah Kristina is hella rich. I agree I do like that at least Freelee understands that eating fully raw is expensive. If she wasn’t so vile if love her but she’s just awful as everyone knows.
yeah, i mean there definitely are youtubers i enjoy but the thing with youtubers is that even among the best of the best it’s still situation. youtubers are pretty much entertainers so i think that’s something people have to find on their own after they find information from the people who know what they’re talking about.
some youtubers i enjoy are (though note, many of the people i mentioned above do have youtube channels):
unnatural vegan: she’s kind of hit or miss with me, i like her intention with her channel but despite the fact that she wants to share a logical approach she often (not always, she does at times admit she’s wrong) doesn’t respond when her logic doesn’t add up and she’s responding from and emotional or personal perspective (it’s ok to have that perspective, it’s natural but when that happens she shouldn’t pretend that that is the logical response). she also comes off as arrogant – during nearly every stage of her “vegan youtube evolution” she had given the impression that “this is right, this is the right way, i’m right and the people who have been doing this for decades are wrong because the internet/cronimeter, which bothers me BECAUSE she has gone through major changes (she hates the raw diet now, her channel name used to be “fit on raw”). her channel and approach are supposed to be scientific/evidence based, and she does offer evidence for her claims, but she’s also soooo stuck in her views that i basically go through “unnatural began moods.” thankfully, she will call out problematic vegan youtubers.
heather nicholds: she’s a holistic nutritionist and her videos are mainly nutrition based. at times she still posts recipes. she used to share weekly recipes in addition to her nutrition videos but not so much anymore. she’s a great resource, and has interviews with many of the doctors, researchers, and dietitians i mentioned above. i have adored her for YEARS.
potato strong: i have been loving this channel for the last year - year and a half. i enjoyed the channel before that, but he has just upped his game because he has been interviewing many of the experts listed above, and others (like began body builders), asks them out questions…and like some of the videos are over an hour long and it’s almost like he’s trying ti share the info with people who might not be able to invest in books like whole, or the starch solution and it’s really wonderful. i think he has taken some nutrition courses, i can’t recall if he has a degree or not though. ALSO his wife bonnie is so so so so so wonderful and will put out videos on the channel AND SHE IS TRAINED AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER HOW COOL IS THAT?
Once again you are the BEST resource and thank you. I don’t have the patience to shift thru the shit to find all this!
ok so this is kind of unrelated but theres a vegan couple that has a food blog and youtube channel, some of their recipes are on the more complicated side but other videos are more simple or just them experimenting in the kitchen to inspire you to do the same, theyre not HCLF or gluten free or anything like that by any means which is why i said its kind of unrelated but theyre just really fun and enjoyable to watch and are super nice, their blog and channel is called Hot For Food.
Hey it doesn’t need to be specific. Just good channels to follow instead of giving problematic people views and money
Seconding Hot For Food they make some of the most amazing stuff
Honestly if you trust me even a little with skincare recommendations I demand that you buy even just a sample of this product. I’ve been hanging out with cosmetic chemists in spas for the past two days and they made me try this and…….my face have never been this clean before. Literally, my skin was like extracting noodles of filth…. like….clumps…. it was obscene. I think it’s better than a facial. It’s like an extraction at 1/5th the price. I feel alive.