I finally started using a password manager after my bank flagged a login attempt from another state

For years I just reused a few simple passwords everywhere. Last month, my bank called me about a login from Florida. I live in Ohio. I spent the next two days changing passwords on maybe 50 sites. It was a huge pain. I got a password manager and let it make strong, random passwords for everything. Now I only have to remember one master password. It took about a week to get everything set up, but I feel way better. Has anyone else had a close call that finally made them switch?

I always thought hostels were just for college kids until I saw the numbers

Found a travel blog that listed the average cost of a private room in a hostel in Kyoto last month, and it was only $35 a night. I always pictured big dorms, but a lot of them have single rooms too. That's way less than any hotel I've seen there. Has anyone else booked a private hostel room and had a good experience?

A guy in a Spokane boatyard told me I was crazy for running my cutterhead at 28 RPM, said it was 'asking for a twist-off'.

Appreciation post: The guy in Boise who showed me his corner bead trick

I always clipped my metal bead with tin snips and thought that was fine. Then I saw a guy on a job in Idaho just score it with a knife and snap it clean. Took him maybe two seconds per cut. I tried it with a basic utility knife and it's way faster with no sharp edges. Anyone have a better way to handle outside corners on old, wavy walls?

Wasted $75 on a 'universal' boiler gasket kit that fit nothing on my old Cleaver-Brooks

Talked to my neighbor about his xeriscape and it clicked

He's been doing it for years and just said 'you're not fighting the dirt, you're working with it.' I mean, I've been dumping water on my patchy lawn off Montgomery for months. Anyone have a good local spot for native plants?

PSA: My cheap bag of rice from the discount store had a big problem

Last month I bought a 20-pound bag of generic long-grain rice for $8 at a local discount grocery. When I opened it to make dinner last week, I found a bunch of tiny black bugs moving around inside the bag. Has anyone else had this happen with bulk dry goods, and what's the best way to check for it before buying?

Appreciation post: A meltdown at the old Johnson Foundry in 2019 changed how I handle every pour now.

I was running the cupola on a big job for a local machine shop, pouring a set of heavy gear blanks. We had a bad batch of coke that looked fine but burned way too hot and fast. The iron overheated by about 300 degrees before we caught it, and the mold wash just burned right off. The foreman, a guy named Carl, yelled 'kill the air' and we had to scramble to cool the whole line. Now I test a handful of coke in a small crucible before it ever touches the main charge, every single time. Anyone else have a simple check they added after a close call like that?

I finally gave the 50/30/20 budget rule a real shot after thinking it was too simple to work.

After tracking every dollar for a month, I found that putting 20% of my $4,200 monthly income straight into savings actually left me with more spending money than my old, messy system did.

Tried using a manual post driver for a 50-foot cedar run last week, then switched to the gas one.

The gas driver saved me over three hours and my shoulders aren't wrecked. Anyone else find the extra rental cost for power tools is always worth it on longer jobs?