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Our daily workwear reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.
The neckline on this scuba midi dress from Banana Republic really caught my eye. Would we call this the world’s tiniest V-neck? Regardless, I think the slightly flowy silhouette looks super chic.
I would probably wear this as a standalone piece to show off the structure but add a more substantial earring to accessorize a bit.
The dress is $250 at Banana Republic and comes in sizes XXS-XXL. It also comes in “chocolate ganache brown,” but sizes are limited.
Sales of note for 10.24.24
- Nordstrom – Fall sale, up to 50% off!
- Ann Taylor – Friends of Ann Event, 30% off! Suits are included in the 30% off!
- Banana Republic Factory – 40-60% off everything, and redeem Stylecash!
- Boden – 10% off new styles with code; free shipping over $75
- Eloquii – Extra 50% off a lot of sale items, with code
- J.Crew – Friends & Family event, 30% off sitewide.
- J.Crew Factory – 40% off everything
- Lo & Sons – Fall Sale, up to 35% off
- M.M.LaFleur – Save 25% sitewide
- Neiman Marcus – Up to 30% off on new arrivals
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – 40% off entire purchase, plus free shipping no minimum
- White House Black Market – Buy more, save more; buy 3+ get an extra 50% off
Anon
Oohhh… gorgeous!
That neckline would look terrible on me; I prefer necklines that are not at my throat. Crew necks look awful on me.
Anon
This dress is the perfect blank canvas.
go for it
+1 That high neck would choke me, otherwise it is a beauty!
B
You can get the neckline converted to a V by any tailor.
Anon
Any good recommendations for name labels for assisted living where they do the wash? Iron on won’t work for things like a fleece and if the fleece is navy, a sharpie won’t work, either. Maybe a combination of iron-in and sharpie and sew-in? And any recommendations for a site to order from that has very plain ones and not ones aimed at daycare (so no need for bubble fonts or trucks or princess crowns on them for patterns).
Anon
Label Land senior stick on labels.
Anonymous
If you have a sewing machine sewing in white ribbon written on with fabric marker would give the cleanest and most consistent look. Sharpie can eventually wash out. Should be able to pick up the supplies at any fabric store or Joann.
Digby
A silver Sharpie might work on darker colors – I have one, probably from Target.
Anon
I don’t know if this would work on fleece, but they do sell silver sharpies that work for writing on dark things. I use them to label the tops of spice bottles so they’re easier to identify without having to pick them all up.
Anon
I think make bubbles has some plss as in options. You can get custom name stamps – I bet someone of Etsy could make you whatever you want. For things like a fleece we used to get names embroidered on them.
Anonymous
I use the TinyMe ones for daycare and my grandmother in assisted living. They have some neutral/plain options and I like the multipacks with a combo of iron on / stick on / etc.
Anoon
We use name bubbles and they are awesome. Very durable in the wash and yet easy to remove– I dont know how they do it. They have plain fonts or simple borders that are not at all child-like, but still recognizable. Even fleece should have a tag somewhere (size tag or laundry instruction tag) and that’s where we stick our labels for hard-to-stick fabrics.
Anonymous
Mabel’s Labels
Anon
+1
Anonymous
Sharpie makes a laundry marker called Rub a Dub
https://www.amazon.com/Sharpie-SAN31101PP-Rub-A-Dub-Laundry-Marker/dp/B0026T6I5O/
Scilady
I’ve gotten Avery 50 ct No Iron Labels from Target for kids clothes. You label them with a sharpie, but so far they have held up to washing/ drying and are good on fleece.
https://www.target.com/p/avery-54ct-no-iron-labels/-/A-83694801
Labels
Mabel labels
Label daddy was ok
Oliver labels were terrible don’t do them
Anonymous
+1 for Oliver’s labels peeling off
Anon88
I’m in desperate need of a new hairdryer and considering splurging on the dyson supersonic on sale for prime day. Anyone own one and want to talk me in or out of it?
FP
I have thick hair and the Dyson was life changing for me. It not only uses heat but the way the air flows, it actually pushes the water off my hair. My mom was interested but she has thin, fine hair and it didn’t make a huge difference for her (like it took about 2 minutes off of her normal drying time). For context, with a normal blow dryer my thick, coarse, below shoulder length hair took about 45 mins to blow dry and even then, it wasn’t completely dry. The Dyson does it in about 15-20 minutes if I work in sections and it comes out completely dry.
Anonymous
Oh, wow. I have a lot of hair, but it’s fine and wavy and I can dry my hair in 3 minutes, medium heat with a regular dryer.
Towel on my head for 3 minutes out of the shower, 3 minute makeup, 3 minute hair drying… can’t even imagine 45 minutes!
FP
It means I can wash my hair in the morning! Like I said, life changing. My hair just absorbs a ton of water and for me, the Dyson is truly different than other blowdryers. If you don’t have this type of hair, then I’m not sure it’s worth the money. FWIW I bought mine refurbished via Dyson’s own shop within ebay, and saved a good amount by purchasing it that way.
Anon
I can’t speak to the Dyson specifically, but I literally just bought the Shark pro flex last week. It is amazing! I can tell a major, major difference. My hair is fine but I have a lot of it, and nothing I have ever used has tamed the frizz. Now my hair looks like I had it done in a salon, and I am not a skilled person at blow drying my own hair. I never knew a really good blow dryer could make that much difference.
Anon
+1 to Shark hairdryers. I love mine.
Anon
Are there any particular attachments you use?
Anon
I bought the round brush and the anti frizz. I’m not sure whether the anti frizz actually does much the dryer and round brush don’t, but it only takes a few seconds to use.
Anonymous
I think it’s worthwhile if you blow-dry your hair straight. Even just rough-drying with the Dyson somehow gets my hair nearly straight. For blowouts, it’s more ergonomic than a regular dryer because the weight is in the handle and you don’t have to hold it as far away from your head. It’s harder to store, though, because it doesn’t fit in a normal holster-style holder and the cord is very bulky.
KS IT Chick
I got one at their Independence Day sale. I love it. I have thick, heavy, curly hair. I keep it on the temp setting one up from low and the speed on low. The combination gets my roots dry in under five minutes.
If I had one quibble with the setup, it is that to go to the lowest temperature setting, I have to click the temperature up and down. It’s more of an annoyance than a real problem. Totally worth the money.
Anon
I have very thick wavy hair that I swap between wearing straight/wavy. The dyson is the best dryer I’ve ever used for both purposes. The ability to easily adjust the heat/air pressure is great, and the diffuser head is very effective.
Anon
I have very long, straight hair. It’s thin, but I have a LOT of it. I’ve used my sister’s Dyson several times and it’s fine. I don’t think it’s worth the money at all. I have a T3 and I really like it.
Anon
I won a dyson wand thing in a raffle and use it primarily as a hair drier and it is AMAZING. If I was buying for myself, I would absolutely get the hair dryer (since I barely use the other functions).
Anonymous
I love my Dyson for defusing my hair but it’s very fast when I blow it straight. Probably around 15 minutes and I have very thick hair.
NW DC Drama
Big law lawyers! I have a question about some petty NW DC drama- full details are in the Defector article A Very Ugly Year in the Life of a DC Little League. WaPo and WSJ also ran articles about the drama but they are noticeably more favorable to the instigators. Basically two lawyers have attempted to lay waste to the little league because their sons didn’t make the all star team- the fact that the settlement ended with one of them getting to coach the team I think makes clear what their ultimate motives were. I am interested in the fact that both of them issued all of their threats of legal action against the various volunteers and other parents using their work email addresses. Is there any kind of ethics code against that? I’m surprised the law firms are ok with it, but maybe because they are both partners there is no one to stop them? One of the other lawyers quoted says that her firm would definitely not be ok with that kind of thing.
Anonymous
Nah this is weirdly too involved
Anon
If you read the article, it links to the couple’s divorce litigation, which is what you sadly expect. Two lawyers. Her career is on the back burner after they have kids. He makes 7 figures and is an a$$. That is the cautionary tale for us all.
Soon to be x
Yeah, being married to an a$s should be more profitable.
Unfortunately for most people it actually costs them!
anon
Sounds like everyone has way too much time on their hands and needs to get a major grip.
Anon
Welcome to youth sports, lol
Anon
Yep
Anon
Why is it always the dads? My kid did sports so I’m familiar with how parents push their kids, and that seemed to come from both moms and dads, but the ones fighting with the coaches and each other? The dads. One dad got banned because he was so obnoxious.
This was primarily club/travel sports. My kid also played high school varsity and there was some overlap in the players and their parents from the club teams, but for those who had a kid in only high school sports and no club, the parents barely showed up. No fights. Not sure which is better!
Spectate
My son was on a team with the son of our lead clergy. That dad slash spiritual leader was such a jerk to his kid on the sidelines, coincidentally none of his sermons are about those games
Anon
Men in the throes of it rarely have the perspective that they need to get a grip.
It seems to be all about their personal masculinity by proxy via their kid.
anon
You have perfectly summed up youth sports.
Anon
IANAL, so no idea how that world operates, but I would think they’d be unhappy about how it reflects on their business! They should be, anyway.
Seventh Sister
In law school ethics class, the professors will tell you aren’t supposed to use the fact that you’re a lawyer to threaten people and doing that kind of thing is unethical. In practice, it’s not illegal to be a huge jerk and lawyers tend to get disciplined for things like straight-up stealing their clients’ settlement money. In my state, it’s rare that a big deal, Biglaw lawyer would get disciplined for anything, especially if it wasn’t something they did for a Biglaw client.
One of the most unpleasant things about being a parent is watching people become completely unhinged in their pursuit of even the tiniest advantage for their child. Are any of these kids even going to get a D1 scholarship? Do you need to worry about paying for college if your parent makes $2 mil a year? The answer to both of those questions is probably no, but people get obsessed with this kind of thing. In my own life, I’ve watch parents blow up community programs and organizations for the perceived advantage it brings to their own kid.
anon
The firm is not ok with that sort of thing but what are they gonna do? Write them up? Threaten to terminate them?
Anonymous
One would hope.
Anonymous
Bean them?
Pin them to the mat?
Foul them?
Penalty box?
Yellow card or red card?
So many sports analogies
So little time
So few readers who would care
Anon
This would be a great episode for the normal gossip podcast. Send them an email!
Anon
DH and I have never been to an all inclusive resort or really even a resort at all and are considering going to one in Mexico- for those who have/like them, what do you do while there?
Anon
Gluttony, basically. We went to a really nice adult-only one in Cabo for our honeymoon as all of our vacations were go-go-go and we wanted to be forced to just chill. It was * chef kiss *.
We went to Beaches T&C with our kids and that was for very different motivations. We went for convenience and they had zillions of kid activities. Beach, pool, resort programmed kid activities, rinse, repeat. The resort is massive, included a water park, water sports, etc and so we never felt compelled to need to leave the resort for anything.
Anon
We loooove Beaches. So expensive but very worth it with kids.
Anon
As people who have tried two of them and confirmed they prefer a different style of vacation, here’s my pro con list.
pros-
-it is a no brainer of a trip. land, get to the resort, done. If you want to just lay on a beach and not have to really plan anything ahead of time, it’s great for that.
-Likewise, for excursions, the resort probably has organized or at least recommended operators so you don’t have to research those either.
-if you like to spend some time apart on vacation, makes it easy to do that
cons-
-food is just not great (and we stayed at properties supposedly ‘oh don’t poo-poo AIs, this one has really good food! types). Too many different choices means nothing is executed perfectly; too few and it gets boring. AIs tend toward the first problem.
-drinks are also just not great. I would rather sip one good strong c-cktail than down 3 sugar bomb diluted rum punches. but because many people drink kind of all the time to “get their money’s worth” I’m sure the resorts are worried that they’ll have a bunch of blacked out guests if they mix something stronger.
-because your food and drink is included, it’s a strong disincentive to explore where you are. we prefer mixing up ‘nice tourist dining’ with casual local places, takeout, etc. and so disliked feeling like we were paying extra to leave property.
-the fine print on what activities are or aren’t included in the AI rate is annoying, and the upcharge for those that aren’t can be bad.
-the battle for good loungers can be…. intense. like people set pre-dawn alarm clocks to save front row spots and RUN to put towels out as soon as allowed.
-vacation felt short because the scene was always the same and so the days blurred together. I find our most memorable trips vary more, like renting a car and visiting a different beach each day, even if the ultimate end (lots of relaxing by the water) is the same.
Anonymous
None of your cons are really things for high end adults only resorts, aside from not leaving the resort.
No Face
Do you have examples for a high end AI? I’ve never been to one but I’m interested if it is upscale/luxury.
anon
Pueblo Bonito Pacifica, Cabo. At least it was 13 years ago on our honeymoon. I know it got hit head-on by a hurricane in the last 5-7 years. The food was outstanding, super chill vibes, no fighting for real estate by the pool. 10/10, no notes.
BeenThatGuy
This one: https://www.valentinmaya.com/en/
Anon
I’m not sure Live Aqua counts as luxury (the prices are pretty reasonable) but DH and I both loved the food there. We’ve been to several more expensive places with worse food.
Anon
Zoetry and Excellence properties are nice. Not sure I’d consider Valentin high end, as we think of it more as good bang for the buck. It used to be high end, and until several years ago the staff was the same year after year. The en they got rid of the old staff, started using artificial sweeteners in the drinks, issued way too many Groupons (and the clientele started having a lot of adult spring break type people – falling down drunk, shrieking, etc) and service went downhill. Still a beautiful property though. I think this is the kind of vacation where a travel agent who specializes in AI resorts can be very helpful. Impressions Isla Mujeres is on my “try” list but I haven’t been. Looks good though.
KJ
Completely agree. I tried staying at a series of AIs at escalating price points on continuing promises from reviewers that “the food is AMAZING” and was continually disappointed — like really disappointed. I don’t think I’m particularly picky, but I feel confident saying no meal we had was as good as what you’d get from an unobtrusive counter-order lunch spot in a US city, and many of them were much, much worse.
Anon
The food really varies. I’ve been to ones with awful food and ones with great food.
Anon
The battle for pool chairs is enough to turn me off AIs forever.
Anon
Isn’t that an issue at all beach resorts? It seems irrelevant to whether the resort also includes food and drink.
Anon
Yes it is. Much as I love Hawaii, it was a constant problem for us until we decided to throw money at the problem and rented a cabana for the days we planned to spend by the pool.
Anonymous
Why have we as a group decided that your towel reserves your chair? I feel like it shouldn’t. Has anyone ever just moved them and enjoyed the pool while they were at it? It seems silly that you should get to “reserve” them by throwing stuff on them. It’s messy and selfish. At least in theory people who want a chair now shouldn’t be shut out because others want a chair later. FWIW I haven’t personally been to a resort where this is done but it sounds stressful and silly.
Anon
Some places have signs that say you can’t reserve a chair for more than x hours, and send housekeeping around to take towels off chairs when they’ve been there for a while.
anon
I agree you shouldn’t be able to reserve chairs for hours starting at 7 am. But if I’m spending the day by the pool, I’d like my towel and other stuff to still be there if I go for a swim or go grab a drink or some food to bring back to the chair. There needs to be some pool-towel equivalent of chalking tires in a parking lot.
Anon
At good resorts they’ll have staff that monitor the chairs and remove towels when the person is clearly AWOL. I have my complaints about Beaches (especially for the $$$$ price) but that’s one thing they do really well.
Spectate
Idea: parking meters for lounge chairs and someone must add a quarter or dollar every 45 or 90 minutes or something
See me on shark tank…
wait, bad choice of words aurgh never mind glug glugdrowningglug
Anon
yeah, I don’t consider a chair to be reserved by just a towel. If I want the chair, I just toss the towel on a nearby chair. If someone is nearby in the pool or ocean they usually have personal items on the chair as well, and in that case I don’t take it.
Anon
I’m the one above who was sort of meh on Valentin, but you can buy a package that includes an assigned cabana at the pool or Bali bed at the beach. It has your name on it and they will run off anyone who isn’t you that tries to use it. It’s why I still consider Valentin an option, as I too hate the towel game.
anonn
I like them for large group trips, it makes for less coordination. Limited number of places to go and things to do, always plenty of seating to eat together, no need to arrive or leave on the same day/time (unlike a cruise) Just my husband and I went a few times and it was just not that fun? Maybe a super high-end one would be better. Our last time was for a wedding, we hit up the adults only pool with friends, read a lot, went to the spa, the beach. Just chill. We met up with college friends from all over.
Woods-comma-Elle
DH and I have done a few. He was previously against it as he didn’t think he could ‘just chill’ but this has changed as he got older.
We have been once to a resort where there was nothing else to do around it and decided that wasn’t for us and we wanted to still be able to go outside the resort to explore. Now we choose places that are in or near a town and where there are other things to do. We will do boat or snorkeling trips (in Mexico we have done Playa del Carmen so we’ve done cenotes, Isla Mujeres, Cozumel etc.), go eat in local places outside the resort and mix that with resort days where we sleep late, hang out in the pool, go for a walk around to look for animals (we like to pick bigger resorts where you can do this) and go and get massages. We are not joiners so we don’t get involved in any of the resort activities, but most places do exercise classes, dance classes, nature trails etc and there is something to do every day if you are so inclined.
Anon
Are you the 40th birthday poster from yesterday? I mentioned DH and I are going to one for our 40th. They’re not the most exciting vacation but they’re perfect if your goal is relaxing and connecting with your spouse, which is what we want to do on kid free trips. We made the mistake of going to Iceland once sans kids and although the country is beautiful, we felt like we had to make a packed itinerary to see everything and it was exhausting and left no time for relaxation and romance. We decided never again – we’ll save the active travel to do with the kids and just go to a resort when we get a getaway without them.
So yeah, there’s not a lot to it: eat, read, swim in the ocean/pool, get couples massages, repeat. DH goes to the gym. Most resorts have a few low key activities like cooking classes or wine tastings and we do some of that. Usually an excursion or two. If you’re going to Cancun in summer you can swim with whale sharks.
OP
yea that is me. it sounds like this might not be the best fit for us, but idk where else we can go in January, which is the only time we have childcare
Anon
Where are you, how long do you have to travel and what do you want to do? Europe can be fun in January if you’re ok with some rain and mild cold. It’s not bitterly cold like New England. There are lots of non-AI beach resorts in the Caribbean if you want tropical.
Passport
If you want to go farther, could try Egypt or Dubai, or Brazil would be similar time zone as US but southern hemisphere/ tropical weather
Anon
If you want warm, but more active, look at the French side of St. Martin. Someone mentioned it in the thread below for the college student mom, but it’s my favorite Caribbean island. The food is phenomenal and there’s a decent amount of non-beach stuff to do, especially hiking. You can also take day trips to Anguilla and St. Barths.
Cat
That was me, and agreed it sounds great for OP! Good range of nonstop flight options for quick travel. I specifically rec staying on Grand Case for easy access to the best dining.
Anon
I haaaate packed vacations where you never get to relax. Doesn’t feel much like a vacation that way. I feel you on that.
Anon
I’ve always distinguished between vacations and trips. Vacations are for recuperating in whatever form that takes. Trips are for doing things, seeing things, and are fairly active.
Anon
Unfortunately as a US based corporate slave, I could only do one or the other every year! We generally chose what you call a vacation, though we did drag the kids on one exhausting two week slog through three European capitals. I still remember the full day conference call I had to take from one of them…. Two weeks was the longest vacation I ever took.
Anon
Yeah I think DH & I got spoiled a bit by having to slow down to travel with babies and toddlers. You kind of have to, you can’t maintain a go-go-go pace with very little kids. Then when we went to Iceland (which was our first trip without our kids) we tried to travel like our pre-kid selves and got absolutely walloped by how exhausting it was. I certainly wouldn’t want to stay at all-inclusive resorts for all my vacations (although I love to do them once in a while!), but I do think there’s something to be said for slower travel where you leave some time every afternoon for reading in a cafe or a trip to the spa or afternoon tea or something like that.
anon
Love! I got married at one.
Anon
You can plan excursions every day if you want. I go to them when I want a lazy trip so I don’t do much, but my SIL and BIL basically treat them like a stationary cruise ship – you sleep there and eat all your meals there, but you leave every day to do a paid excursion to a different place.
Anon
Real estate ladies, have you ever heard of a lender refusing to lend to someone until they’ve been on the deed for 12 months?
We are trying to get a renovation loan and just discovered that my husband isn’t on our deed. I said no problem, quitclaim to add him, easy peasy. They responded that due to “longstanding lending custom,” they won’t lend to anyone who hasn’t been on the deed for 12 months. Has anyone heard of this? We’re putting in inquiries with other lenders, but my first thought is that “custom” isn’t a rule and give us the loan, dang it.
anon
I am in real estate and don’t know the answer. Agree with your asking an opinion of a lender or an active closing attorney to opine. BUT, I have a whole lot of questions about how you didn’t know your husband wasn’t on the deed…..?? Did you buy this home together? Assuming so, do you have a mortgage currently? Is he a party to that? Did he not sign every piece of closing paperwork right along side you? So very many questions.
Anon
OP here. Sorry for the confusion. To keep our respective DTI ratios in good shape for other needs, we only put one person on a mortgage so that the other person can pick up other loans as needed. Here, the plan was always for me to take the mortgage and him the reno loan (equal values). So somewhere during the process, the message about off the mortgage, on the deed didn’t get communicated.
Anonymous
I thought that if both parties were on the deed then both had to be on the mortgage?
Anon
I thought that if both parties were on the deed then both had to be on the mortgage?
Anon
+1. In my state, if you are on the deed, you need to be on the mortgage. The note is a separate document. If you have a mortgage and deed in your name alone and quitclaim half of your interest on the deed to a spouse (or other person really), you would have triggered a clause in the mortgage accelerating the mortgage due date. This is because the mortgage company cannot foreclose on a property against both owners unless both names are on the mortgage. If you want to add a spouses name to a deed in this scenario, you have to pay off the original mortgage/note or refinance it to add his name. Again, you could have the note in your name alone, but a spouse’s name must be on both the deed and mortgage. It cannot just be deed and not mortgage.
Anon
My husband got our mortgage under his name only due to reasons and I have been on the deed since the very beginning.
Anon
Every client who has told me that their name is on the deed but not the mortgage has been wrong. Their name is on the deed, their name is on the mortgage, but their name is not on the note. I’ve had this issue come up a shocking amount of times in my divorce practice and real estate practice. A mortgage is not the same as a note.
anon
Are you working with a qualified real estate attorney? Like, transaction attorney? The logic you’re using seems off.
IANAL but I’m in commercial real estate finance. Commercial and resi are not 100% overlapping, but they are very, very similar, but someone correct me if I’m wrong on to apply commercial context here.
That said, assuming your resi note is collateralized by your home, the mortgage (senior loan) and resi loan (junior loan) cannot be collateralized by the same asset with different borrowing parties (one party is you, one party is your husband). The loans have to “speak” to one another and you have to have common borrowing parties. Putting the deed issue aside for a moment, have you already verified this is possible, that you can be party to the first mortgage and your husband the second, but neither on one another’s?
anonn
We had this situation for our first home, I was unemployed so mortgage/underwriting was better if just my DH was on it . I made double dog sure the quitclaim to us as joint tenants with ROS was done and signed at closing. I think I still had to chase them to file it though. That’s because I worked in real estate law for years and have very little trust for title companies. To answer your bigger question, maybe find a different lender, and if you can’t, reassess if this is a good financial decision for you. get that deed done first though!
Anon
I think there are “seasoning” requirements here they’re referring to.
Unless they’re underwriting to Fannie and Freddie guidelines and selling direct to one (unlikely) their investors have their own underwriting guidelines.
Lenders will also have access to their own crop of investors and they’re not all the same. So just because one bank says no and another says yes doesn’t mean anyone is wrong. They are probably just going to sent different investors or portfolio the loan and keep it on their books.
Anon
Also, lenders are hungry for business with rates so high. I’m sure this particular lender would love to give you the loan if they could.
Anon
Talk to a mortgage broker. They talk to many, many banks and will probably find someone for you.
Anon
I’m the poster at 11:05 AM. I didn’t answer your original question. I have not heard of a lender requiring 12 months on a deed. I have heard of lenders not allowing anyone to refinance a mortgage within 12 months of the original mortgage. In my experience doing residential real estate closings, you have to be very clear with the people at the lender with what you are talking about. My experience with talking to employees at lenders hasn’t been great. I’ve had to tell multiple lenders that they needed to consult their legal department about the mortgage/deed/note issue I posted about. The regular employees use some of these words interchangeably and incorrectly even though you would think that they understand all of this since it is their job. I’d push to speak with someone higher up the food chain at the lender about this.
Anonymous
Suggestions for a special but not terribly expensive trip for our daughter’s 18th birthday at the end of January? Daughter is in the Midwest near a hub airport, husband and I are in the mid-Atlantic. We could all fly to meet somewhere, we could fly to her and drive somewhere, or she could fly to us and we could drive. I’d like to do a quick trip of 3-4 nights where we aren’t spending a full day each way on travel. Our daughter is an enthusiastic novice skier and also loves the beach. I’d like to avoid NYC because we just did that for her high school graduation. Not interested in a cruise because of germs, but all-inclusives have some appeal. On the other hand, I have quite a few Marriott points saved up. Daughter’s passport is expired but there might be time to renew it.
Anonymous
Get her passport renewed there is plenty of time.
Anon
+1 expedited passport servicing takes well under a month. There’s plenty of time.
Anon
I’m confused about the logistics here. Is she a college student or on a gap year? If she’s in school, I’d fly to her and do a weekend nearby or you run the risk of missing an exam or something else important. If she’s not a student, you have more flexibility.
Anonymous
College student on a one-week break.
Cat
the end of January is probably like the end of the first 2-3 weeks of classes, not exam time…
OP, I’d get her passport renewed. There are easy nonstop flights to a bunch of islands that time of year, that should fit lots of budgets.
Or fly into Denver for a ski weekend. West coast snow is a lot friendlier to new skiers than East.
Anon
Charleston and the outer banks, or Puerto Rico.
Anon
Where does she want to go? I’d start there!
Anonymous
Beach, skiing, or Disney. Disney is so expensive for what it is, though.
Anon
I would probably just do Disney and I say that as a certified Disney-hater.
Caribbean resorts are wildly expensive that time of year. Unless you stay at a dumpy place I doubt you can do it for less than a few days at Disney.
Anon
That time of year may be some of the cheapest rates for Disney. Weather is cool/er and crowds may be very low unless it’s a special event week.
Anonymous
maybe try to get rooms at the Swan and Dolphin? you can use points on those
Anon
I don’t have any specific opinions on this, but has she been to Colorado? That might be a fun option. Maine might also be fun.
Anon
Suggestions* not opinions. Multitasking.
Anon
I love Maine and we go every summer but it’s the last place I’d go in January. Unless you go to a ski resort, everything will be shut! Like literally 80% of the restaurants in our vacation town shut for the winter.
Anon
Oh! Good to know!
Anon
Colorado or San Diego.
Anonymous
January isn’t beach weather in San Diego.
Anon
I guess it depends – when I lived there, I went year round.
Anon
You can walk on the beach most of the year (although it often rains heavily in late January) but it’s not what most people think of when they think ‘beach vacation’
Anon
I would get her passport renewed and go somewhere in the Caribbean where you can both get direct flights.
Otherwise, I would go to Breckenridge or Vail in CO, or one of the Utah ski resorts (Park City, Deer Valley, etc.).
Anonymous
Any specific island or resort recommendations?
Cat
airports that handle a large volume of nonstops from the US, just off the top of my head – Antigua, St. Maarten, Turks & Caicos, Jamaica, Cancun.
Of these, Antigua & Turks probably on the more expensive side, and St. Maarten (Dutch side), Jamaica, and Cancun the most mass-market. Turks I might not pick in January anyway since it’s so much further north than the others. St. Martin French side has fantastic food.
Cat
oh and if passport timing is a problem, the USVI or Puerto Rico.
Anon
The Turks and Caicos airport is awful even by Caribbean standards. I’d avoid unless you have a specific need to go there. We love the Beaches resort there and put up with the airport to visit it, but if you’re choosing islands from scratch that’s not the one I’d pick, just because of the airport.
I think temps are fine in January though. Upper 70s/low 80s and the ocean is warm. I’m a Midwesterner but I’ve never had any issues swimming in the Caribbean (or even south Florida) in January.
Anon
Aruba is not my favorite Caribbean island (it’s very Americanized and basically feels like Miami/FLL to me) but the airport is good and it has a lot of non-stops to the US.
Anon
We loved St Lucia if there are direct flights from your airports. But for 3-4 nights, you also could have a great time in Grand Cayman, USVI, BVI, Antigua, etc. I think that Turks and Caicos and Bahamas run the risk of being slightly cooler in January since they are further north.
Anon
What does she want to do?
Anonymous
Iceland?
Skiing, hot spring bathing and northern lights.
Anon
This sounds like the perfect time for ski trip to Colorado.
Anon
There’s a Marriott in St Johns USVI, and we love that island. No passport required, beautiful beaches, great snorkeling if you’re into that.
Plz delete this troll post
tag yourself:
I’m “gall to do a lunchtime demonstration”
Anonymous
What about the post doesn’t seem real to you? That Israelis are some of the most racist hateful people that you’ll ever encounter, or Arab/Muslim American teens would be able to effectively articulate and advocate their interests????
Anon
What do you wish you knew before buying a house?
Anon
That I would absolutely hate having a yard.
Cb
We loved it from 2020-2021, but after that… it’s the bane of my existence.
Anonymous
Yup. Yards take a ton of time, effort, and money for maintenance, maybe as much as the rest of the house combined (ymmv). Unless you have kids, a dog, or really want one, consider going without.
My biggest homeowning “hot take” is that way more people should consider townhomes and condos; Americans are really negatively polarized against these and towards SFHs for reasons that are largely cultural. Of course, there are many good reasons to own a SFH, but I know many, many younger (late 20s through early 40s) people that wouldn’t be caught dead in a townhouse even though a 2000+ sq ft. home makes 0 sense for their lifestyle (no kids, busy careers so not at home much, travel often, HCOL areas). They’re pouring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in add’l home costs, insurance, maintenance, utilities essentially for the picket fence dream.
Anon
+ a million.
anon
Ditto!!! DH and I have owned 3 homes now and they’ve all been a big giant headache. Boomers had the time, knowledge and funds to buy and maintain homes. Many in younger generations like us are challenged on all three issues. The biggest for us has been time.
Anon
I really wish there were more ‘starter’ homes available. I do NOT want to go back to an apartment or sharing a wall in a townhouse (grew up in NYC, I am over getting bugs/rats because the upstairs neighbors are gross). But I live in a VHCOL area and all the ranches and cape cods are being torn down to put up the biggest possible houses on these lots that are rarely sized for a 4,000sq ft house. The smaller homes are greater for both younger and older families!
Anon NYC
Same! My boyfriend and I are saving up for a down payment but I’m from the suburbs and I’m afraid of horrible, loud, dirty neighbors but also don’t need a huge McMansion since we don’t plan on having kids. I’m very torn between renting forever or buying in the NYC/NJ area which is so expensive.
Anon
I’m well past the starter home phase, but I wish there were nice single family homes in nice neighborhoods that were 1400 or under square feet. Nothing of the sort exists in my area. Small homes are in neighborhoods where I as a single woman would not walk at night, and the exterior and interior finishes on the houses aren’t very nice. I’d be eminently suited for a condo or townhouse, except for the fact that I truly love gardening.
Anonymous
In theory a townhome would be perfect for me, but there is no way I am taking the risk that I might share a wall with stinky, noisy, dirty, and/or smoking neighbors in a home that I own and can’t easily get out of.
Anon B
We put the fanciest insulation we could find in the shared walls our townhouse prior to moving in. We’ve never heard our neighbors.
KJ
I hope this doesn’t come across as personal derision (it isn’t), but is exactly what I meant when I said Americans are negatively polarized against multi-unit buildings for cultural reasons. This hypothetical where your neighbors are stinky, noisy, dirty, and/or live in rat/bug infested conditions is just…not reasonable. More than likely your neighbors will be perfectly fine! Plus, nearly all these things could be problems in a SFH as well. Anecdotally, my friends who live in suburban houses don’t complain about their neighbors any more or less than my friends who share walls in the city.
Anon
Culturally, lots of American neighbors can be noisy, stinky, and dirty, and more. It’s not a hypothetical; it’s experience!
Anon
2/3 of housing in the US is owned by landlords, including units in condos and townhouses. So many people have bad experiences with slumlords who don’t maintain their properties, which then attracts slum tenants, so it’s no surprise Americans have concerns about sharing walls, drains, and vents with people who smoke, attract pests, make noise, etc.
Anonymous
I am the person who posted that she won’t buy a townhouse with shared walls. In nice, expensive apartment buildings we had all of the types of neighbors I described. They weren’t all unsavory people, but they were humans who made noise and smells as all humans do. Anyone who thinks that the desire not to share walls is based on prejudice and stereotypes has never actually shared walls with other people.
Anonymous
+ 1 million
I wish we had European style town homes. DH grew up in a 2000 sq ft townhome with a garage and lovely garden. The walls are concrete then 1 foot space then concrete so you never hear anything from the neighbors. Really lovely neighborhood and much more walkable/cycle friendly even with a garage and two car driveway for each house because the whole neighborhood (built in the 1970s) was well designed.
Here townhomes are so often seen as a cheap first house instead of a proper long term home.
Anonymous
In the US townhomes are not detached as you describe.
Anon
My parents rent an 1,800 sf 3 bed/2 bath townhouse in the Midwest US. I’m not sure of the exact specifications of the wall but it seems very well insulated. We never hear the neighbors, who are college students and presumably not super quiet. My parents LOVE it and are so glad to be done with maintaining a home and yard.
Anon
I posted below about my condo nightmare. I’ll never again get into this situation because others’ problems become your problems, very quickly.
Houston Happy
Patio homes are detached and efficient without shared wall woes. We love ours—an inner court yard, five bedrooms, and lots of light despite four or so feet between homes. We only have one covered parking space, and we have to be pretty strategic on the use of our front garden as we like attractive and productive plants. There are options!
Anon
+1. I really romanticized having a yard as a person who grew up in apartments, but neither DH nor I enjoy gardening, and it gets messy so fast.
Anon
I knew I would hate having a yard! But in my suburban area there’s really no option to buy a house without one.
Cb
I think I needed a better understanding of maintenance – we did a pandemic panic move with very limited options. Our house is the same age as me, but I’m in much better repair :). Within moving in, we needed to replace the fuse box and I feel like something goes wrong every two months, from small (broken window) to big (shower nearly falling through ceiling).
And more broadly –
I also didn’t have a sense of the school (small town, there’s 1 school) and I think I’d have reconsidered if I had time/ability to get a sense of it.
What does your commute look like realistically? Can you do a mock commute?
Anon
Our home is in the 1800s and well built in a lot of ways, but man I was NOT prepared for the oddities of antique homes. The windows/doors/hallways are all whatever size and width the owner wanted, the floors/walls are all slightly wonky (and the walls need such babying to paint given the old plaster) and the stone foundation still makes me nervous despite every contractor/engineer reassuring us that it is in fantastic shape.
Anon
Yup, my house is from 1885. It’s so charming, high ceilings, moldings, woodwork. Everything is also wonky, furniture can’t be secured to the walls because of the moldings, and we have had roof issues that have been exhausting and expensive, even though the roof was supposedly in great shape when we had it inspected.
Anon
Mine is 25 years younger and so much of this is familiar.
But husband and I look at houses all the time and we are spoiled by how solid and beautiful our old house is. I don’t think I’d be happy in a house where every room is a plain white box.
Anon
How much maintenance and upkeep is required, and how much yardwork you’ll be doing even on a ‘small’ plot.
That you don’t have to furnish and decorate it all as soon as you move in.
That it’s ok to live with the outdated bathrooms/kitchens for a bit until you know how you live in the house.
Anon
Plan on property taxes increasing each year by about 10%. Or at least have an idea of what the year-over-year increase looks like in the home’s area.
Anon
That depends on where you live. Not the case in CA.
Anon
They increase by 2% a year in CA
Anon
You need to maintain your home. Things will cost money to fix and you should get the fixes done right. Plan to stay in your home at least five years and if that’s not you, buy with an eye toward what you can keep and rent. It’s not a waste of money to update kitchens and bathrooms. Curb appeal matters, as does layout if you plan to sell at some point so don’t ignore those things. Condos are often a terrible investment and have hidden assessments that are out of your control (don’t buy property with strangers.)
Anonymous
That unless you are in a HCOL area where property values keep ballooning exponentially, home ownership is not really a path to wealth. We’ve owned our home for 20 years, and I’m pretty sure that renting would have come out about the same financially, with less hassle and less stress.
anon
That they can be harder/take longer/more expensive than I thought to sell when I was ready to move on. I have owned 3 homes so far and in retrospect I wish I would have continued to rent until the 3rd one, where I’m much more settled and expect to stay for a while.
Anon
It’s not just a place to live, and even outsourcing is a ton of work because the stakes of hiring the wrong people are high.
Anon
That owning a home is not a great investment, regardless of what the internet says. It’s illiquid, with major transaction costs at purchase and sale, and major upkeep costs.
Buy a house for a place to live and consider any money made at the end a stroke of luck.
Interest is just renting money instead of a house/apartment.
Anonymous
There are plenty of circumstances when updating a home will not pay for itself, so renos have to be planned very intelligently. It is possible to over- or under-improve your home depending on circumstances like value of the home itself compared to comps, expectations of buyers in that market or price point for the home to be on trend (reno cycles are faster and more expensive), how long you will stay in that home before selling it vs when it was updated, etc.
All of the homes in my neighborhood were built in 1990. There is no incremental sales value in homes that updated their kitchen in 2001 vs ones with OG kitchens. The only updates that realize incremental sales value of any kind are the very current renos that were sold during that trend cycle … and the cost of those renos does not often outpace the extra value. A $100k kitchen will not translate into an equivalent sales price increase in many markets.
Anon
My parents were unpleasantly surprised by this when they sold their house recently. They thought the “updated” kitchen would be worth a lot…but updated in the early 2000s means it’s dated for current buyers. They also made some renovation choices that worked great for our family of four but are expensive to correct for a family with three kids. They lost a lot of buyers that way.
Seventh Sister
My in-laws’ house has several updates/renovations that will probably lower the value of their home. The unventilated metal shop/”artist’s studio” that replaced the entryway’s coat closet and takes up half the garage is the most dangerous one, though I’m not putting any money on the continued operation of the personal elevator that resembles a hamster tube.
Anon
That it is wise to budget 2% – 4% of the home’s value in regular maintenance and upkeep costs each year. Especially if you are used to renting where you don’t pay for things beyond utilities, bake that amount in to your plan and you are in far better shape than if you hope the mortgage, utilities and other set fees are the only cost associated with owning a home.
Anon
I’ve read this here a lot, but our maintenance costs have never approached this, even in years when we’ve had bigger expenses like a new furnace. Even in a LCOL area with commensurately lower home values, this would be $10-20k per year and I think the only thing that would get us in that ballpark would be a new roof, which is hopefully a once-in-20-years thing.
Anonymous
If your home is 15+ years old you are going to have at least one major project costing many thousands of dollars every year or so. Roof replacement, window replacement, HVAC, tree removal, exterior painting, replacing rotted trim, interior painting, driveway replacement, exterior doors, refinishing the deck, replacing the deck when it rots …
Anon
This exactly. My mother’s house was built in the 1990s and costs about $5k to $10k every year in stuff. Appliances, paint, pool, roof, deck, dock for the boat, random windows needing replacement….
Anon
My home is 25 years old and we’ve never had more than about $3k/year in expenses, and it’s often quite a bit less. Roof replacement is a big expense but you only have to do it once very 25 or 30 years. We don’t have a deck. None of the other stuff costs anywhere near $20k and I think a lot of it is semi-optional (I don’t think most people repaint the interior of their home often, for example).
anon
This is really, really smart. If I buy, I would open a separate high interest savings account and put 3% in per year to save for this.
Anon
How unreliable contractors are. If they say “we’re starting demo Monday,” that may mean they show up Monday, or it may mean they show up Thursday. Or maybe they half demo on Monday and then no one shows up for two weeks.
anon
This! When we were in Houston we generally found good contractors, but we have since moved and boy oh boy. Literally nothing has been reliable- when they will come, what they will do, how much they’ll do it for. It’s been a giant PITA.
S
That you can’t actually outsource certain home maintenance things — at least in our HCOL area with an old housing stock. For example, our lightbulbs are a HUGE pain to change but a handyman is flat out not doing that for us — I’ve asked several. We can’t find someone to mow our very small patch of grass, it’s not worth their time to arrive for that and I’ve asked the folks who mow neighbors yards if they wanted to add on and they said no. We have awesome handymen etc. in our area but they are in demand and are only going to do jobs that are worth their while.
Union
And also you may have to pay people what they want and are worth and not just what you think they want
Anonymous
We should have done it sooner. Really. We were 29 and traded 2k month rent in the city for a monster commute and a small town historic home when we were in our late twenties. 2k a month in nyc was a pretty barebones apt so the move felt like an upgrade. Now more than a decade later we profited nicely off the first house and bought a bigger one in a prestigious area. Our friends who tried to move out in their late 30s and early 40s just can’t do it because prices went up and they were shelling out way more than 2k a month for the last decade leaving them in a tough spot for a down payment.
Also be really thoughtful about layout. If you’re dealing with older housing stock like we are it’s pretty simple to convert these larger ranch style homes into an open plan with a nice big kitchen- not the best choice for everyone but definitely our preference-or turn a bedroom into an office or closet. It’s really trickier to do that with a center hall colonial.
Keep your house as beautiful as possible. It’ll sell for a premium and you get to enjoy it every day.
Anon
I have immense regret at buying a condo in a small 7-unit association. I wish I had known to investigate the HOA/condo association more thoroughly. I think my realtor asked for the condo docs and that was it.
The association hadn’t met in over 2 years. We had thousands of dollars in unpaid bills, less than the recommended 10% annually going to reserves, and owners who refuse to raise the low monthly dues (that not all owners are even paying!) We had 1 trustee until very recently when I got voted on and convinced someone else to meet the minimum of 3. I’ve put in a lot of work trying to reinvigorate the association to avoid receivership, which is stressful free labor. An owner who was doing landscaping moved, so no one did it, and we had no money to cut the grass. We started getting citations from the city for code violations. It was majority owner-occupied when I bought, then several moved out so now it’s majority tenants who don’t GAF about the property. I had to fight people to get an exterminator in due to a mouse, rat, and roach problem that developed over the last 6 months. Just problem after problem.
TL/DR: I had no idea that my own safety and comfort would be so dependent on my laziest and dirtiest neighbor when owning in a condo. I didn’t realize I could be facing 5-figure special assessments due to irresponsible (lack of) management and planning for future big expenses.
Anonymous
This is a good point. There was just a story in the NYT about how owning an apartment in Miami has become a complete albatross because condo associations haven’t done a good job, at all, of asking people for money to do regular upkeep, so current homeowners are getting bills for like $254K – and they can’t sell because no one wants that.
anon
1. It’s going to be a giant time suck and money suck.
2. It’s still nice to have a place to call your own.
3. The neighborhood can change around you whether you like it or not.
Anon
I’ve read a lot of concerns about private equity in health care. Is there any easy way to figure out if that is creeping into your providers? I need to get a new PCP for ky dad and his assisted living facility has ones that will come onsite. Good, but what to be wary of though? And any experience with places like Eventus Health or similar organizations?
Also, for hearing aids, how do you find a good place? I know hearing aids are expensive but they add so much to QOL (and I have no idea of whether you need a referral, doctor, or what or you can just get a new paid when the old ones stop working).
Anon
I don’t know about KY but some assisted living facilities partner with academic medical centers to have doctors onsite for a certain number of hours per month to see patients-those patients get regular bills directly from the MD (so not free, but avoids the hassle of transportation). My dad’s assisted living had this in NY and it was quite helpful, PCP was just as available as if I had brought him to the office. Also, even if PCP is a PE owned company, it’s a low bar to transfer PCP’s so I feel like this is a low risk situation. Try it and if you are dissatisfied or if it’s concierge and you don’t want to pay a high annual fee, they you can opt out.
PE
You can usually tell from the website? The more bells and whistles the more obvious. or they link to the parent company in some way. Also glassdoor will have tons of angry employees talkign about what life is like after the “buyout”.
Anon
Honestly, hearing aids are one of those medical things that just feel scammy. For my mil, we asked her PCP for a recommendation and ended up at a hearing center. We just called and made an appointment. She was examined by an ENT, and then tested by an audiologist. The audiologist showed us a few models of hearing aids and highly recommended one so that was what we went with. Her insurance will cover 50% of a new pair every 5 years, and we bought a maintenance/extended warranty type thing on the ones we bought. I looked at my insurance after she got them and it doesn’t cover anything for hearing aids, so dh and I are now throwing some money into our HSA to fund them as we age.
Anonymous
For hearing aides, costco has amazing deals. Worth the membership.
PE in healthcare – agreed with the comments on website “polish” and employee departures. Also, they’re in assisted living and nursing homes too. And vet clinics. And hospitals. And childcare, etc.
anon
Costco for hearing aids. And keep going back for adjustments/fittings until your Dad likes them and is using them daily. They are really important for preventing dementia, depression and for life, as you say!
Most of the private companies/audiologists have huge upcharges.
Is your Dad a veteran? The VA hospitals are also good for hearing aids.
A PCP who is a Geriatrician is nice. But it can be hard to find a good PCP. I feel like anyone who comes to the home is a rare convenience, but usually the quality of those doctors is…. not great. Is your Dad disabled and wont be able to travel easily to appointments? If so, then try to gather opinions on the visiting doctors from the other residents. You could try asking around when you visit who are the popular doctors. Ask the nurses, the longstanding residents…. anyone who seems sharp/on the ball/organized. And ask “Anyone we should steer clear of….?” Honestly, if someone isn’t willing to tell me who to avoid, I don’t always trust who they recommend. Sometimes the folks who work at the Assisted Living are sworn to always saying positive things about everyone….
It can be really wonderful how some Assisted living places can facilitate doing foot care/podiatry, haircuts, physical/occupational therapy etc.. on site.
NY CPA
My mom got her hearing aids at Costco and is happy
Anon
I get my hearing aids at Costco and really like the experience and the price. Highly recommend.
Anon
Thanks for the Montway recommendations for car relocation services. Do you tip the driver? My recipient won’t know to do that but I have the driver’s cell number so I will work out an arrangement if that’s customary. Thanks!
H13
Hurricane prep question. I have a parent preparing to evacuate. They have been through this a number of times but this one feels scarier to them. We were brainstorming items or documents that they could send me pics of to have as backup. So far we’ve done car title and insurance. Anything else to recommend? Thankfully they never unpacked their go boxes from Helene so the important items are going with them to what will hopefully be a safe location.
Anonymous
This will give you ideas: https://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/2020-03/fema_safeguard-critical-documents-and-valuables.pdf
And I’d also suggest taking a video of their home/contents and back that up on the cloud so they have it for insurance purposes.
Anonymous
have them fill the bathtub up with water — you can boil it, use it to the flush the toilet, etc.
I’m surprised they don’t already have copies – during the Trump presidency I packed a go bag with photocopies of those in ziploc bags.
Anonymous
(bathtub if, once they’re able to come back, there’s no running water)
Anonymous
+1 to fill the bathtub. Speaking as someone whose town once had no water for 3 weeks due to a hurricane damaging the water treatment plant. And my town is 4 hours inland.
Anonymous
I think at this point stop wasting time on documents, they can all be replaced, and get out.
Anon
+100000000000
anon
+1
Anon
The hurricane isn’t set to land for another 30 hours. (My mother lives directly over the projected path; this isn’t me being an uncaring jerk. I have been glued to the updates.)
My main concern is that the relative should just pack those all up in a suitcase, toss it in the car, pack up some sentimental things, pack up the jewelry, and spend time boarding up the house.
Anonymous
Quick video walk through of their house to document belongings and then get out of the area asap.
anon
I grew up in Tampa and live in New Orleans. This one does feel scary! I keep my important papers together and just throw the whole file drawer in the car when we evacuate. These include identification/ personal papers, home title and insurance documents, car titles and insurance documents, wills and living wills, important contracts, and any documents/ receipts I’m saving for my next tax return.
I also take a video of what the house looks like before I leave.
Not what you asked, but if they still have a full freezer after Helene, I put the contents of my freezer in trash bags and shove the trash bags back into the freezer. Then I put a cup of water in the freezer with a quarter on top so I can see if the freezer temp got too high. If the quarter is still on top, then I unpack the trash bags and put the food back in the freezer. If the quarter drops down into the cup, I can throw the trash bags out with the food in them. If the power is out for a long time and still out when I return, the trash bags protect the freezer and me from anything too gross.
anon
New Orleans checking in to affirm this: If they are still there, EMPTY THE FRIDGE AND FREEZER of dairy/ seafood/ meat. Katrina experience says to trust us on this. This one looks big and extended power outages + rotting food is a bad combination.
Anonymous
I keep those papers in a small fireproof/waterproof box with a handle.
Anon
Great tips—both the trash bag and the ice cube.
Anon
Birth and marriage certificates
Military paperwork (particularly discharge papers) if applicable
Photo of passport (or just note the number)
If they pay bills by mail rather than on-line, copies of most recent utility bills so they have account numbers
Same for retirement accounts
Also if there is anything they cannot bring with them, they can put it in the dishwasher and lock it. It is waterproof.
Best of luck!
Anon
That last tip is one I would not have thought of!
Nina
Could you also put things in the washing machine / dryer the same way?
Anon @ 1:16
No because those are not waterproof – although the washer would be fine as long as the flooding does not reach the door. If you are staying (i.e. NOT in an evacuation zone but concerned about power loss), the trick is to do all your laundry, run a cycle with vinegar and then fill your top-loading washing machine with ice to use as an impromptu cooler.
And fill gallon ziplock bags with water and freeze them flat (cooling + water). This is in addition to filling bathtubs with water for toilets.
Anon
The dishwasher is not waterproof, nor do any modern dishwashers lock. The bottom of the door is not sealed, and if water deeper than that edge comes into the house, the dishwasher will fill with water. I see this tip on social media every time a hurricane is approaching and wonder how many people are losing important items trying this. Source: Was a dishwasher engineer for over 10 years.
Anonymous
does anyone have a music boxing machine? there are some in the prime deals and i’ve been curious…