The ones I’ve had do wear out over time. I’ve tried three brands and all of them have, as far as I can tell, been worthless. They don’t seem to speed drying time or reduce static. They do make noise and cause aggravation from getting tangled in fitted sheets, stuck in pants legs, and having to wrestle escaped ones from dog mouths.

I don't understand how buying store brands helps much. AFAIK most of those, although I'm sure not all, are made by the big corporations, but instead of carrying a Kellogg's (or whatever megacorp) label it has the store brand label. The megacorp is still getting your money, although perhaps a little less of it. I buy some store brands to save a little on things where there isn't a huge difference in taste or quality, but I wouldn't pat myself on the back for sticking it to big megacorp, 'cause I don't think that's true.

I haven't been following the Kellogg's situation closely, but over the last few years multiple corporations have openly said (in so many words) in their earnings reports/calls with investors that they're taking advantage of inflation to increase their profits. They know the not-well-informed masses will blame it on inflation and not notice that they (the corporations) are reporting record breaking profits.

The Sara Lee bread that DH and DS like is $2.50 a loaf at Walmart. I prefer my homemade sourdough, but I have no idea how much it costs to make a loaf. Just pennies for the ingredients, but then there's electricity cost for the oven. So . . IDK.

I eat the same things almost every day for breakfast and lunch -- Breakfast is overnight oats with a dash of cinnamon, 10 grams of raisins and almond milk Lunch is a huge salad and Triscuits or a piece of homemade sourdough bread Dinner is whatever I'm fixing for DH and DS, with extra veggies for me. If I weren't cooking for them I think dinner would most often be some sort of veggie/bean based soup. I'd probably fix a lot of different ones and freeze portions in meal sized amounts so I would have a good variety to choose from. And we always just have fruit for dessert, that wouldn't change except I'd need less.

We could buy more generic/store brand things and cut down (or out) soft drinks, Propel, juices. We could definitely eat out less. I could buy less expensive hair products, but I don't use a lot (very short hair) so that wouldn't save a lot. I could stop giving the dogs chicken breast for treats, and stop home-cooking for them (but that would be a last ditch type thing). We could stop our lawn service and do it ourselves. I'd be all for cutting our TV/streaming services, but that would be a last ditch thing for DH. I'm pretty sure we could find a less expensive phone plan. ETA: I could stop taking our younger dog to the groomer and do it myself. I've always done Avatar Dog, but younger dog was a handful when he was a puppy and it wasn't worth the money to hassle with him. But he's almost two now and has found his brain (and been trained by a good groomer).

Brush morning and night with an electric toothbrush. The current one is an Oral B but I've also had Phillips Sonicare models. All of them seem to work fine. I use Colgate Sensitive Complete Protection toothpaste. Floss at night (or during the day if something gets stuck) with a Plackers or Glide flosser. My hygienist says traditional floss is better because it wraps around more of the tooth. But my arthritic hands can't manage it, so I use the flossers even though I hate the extra plastic trash. The hygienist says they're absolutely better than nothing. Rinse at least at night (and often in the morning or during the day before going out) with Listerine Total Care Zero Alcohol. It's what my hygienist recommends and I absolutely have less plaque and tartar buildup between cleanings since I started using it regularly.

They're sort of rubbery. If you've ever used an Absorber or similar synthetic drying chamois, they're a whole lot alike. They drive very stiff, but soften up when wet. I use an Absorber when bathing dogs, but I don't find the Swedish dishcloths to be worthwhile. They're not that much more absorbent than bar mop cloths.

My MIL has them for double vision.

I use bar mop dishcloths, similar to these. Inexpensive, easy to wash (and bleachable) and long lasting. Sponges of any sort give me the heebie jeebies. ETA: I tried the Swedish dishcloths and didn't like them at all.

I think it could be done in the downtown areas of many larger cities and college towns, assuming one is physically capable of walking a lot. DS lives in Charlotte and works from home. He has a car but the only place he drives to regularly is the grocery store (and he could easily have those delivered if he wanted to) and to visit us (which would be impossible w/o a vehicle). He can walk to his primary care doctor, several urgent cares, dentist, pharmacies, tons of restaurants, etc. For longer distances but still in town he can use the light rail or Uber. There are plenty of electric scooters available. Being able to walk or use an electric scooter assumes a good degree of physical fitness, of course. It would be much more difficult the older one is, or if there are any mobility issues.

Plastic. I have several of different sizes and thicknesses. I like plastic versus wood because it's less fussy and less heavy, and the thinner ones take up less space. I can put them in the dishwasher so I know they're getting thoroughly clean, and the lighter weight is easier on my arthritic hands and wrists. I don't like using plastic, but for this it's the better choice for me.

My last Covid vaccine (in November), which if I understand correctly is the bivalent vaccine, caused a sore arm. I'd never had that before, and I've had (I think) six of them now. Conversely, the last tetanus shot I had didn't bother me at all. That was a big turnaround from all the previous ones, which caused huge goose eggs and a sore arm that lasted several days. So yeah . . it can happen like that.

We have two boys. I don't think it ever occurred to me or DH to designate any money for their potential future weddings, although of course we'd be willing to contribute a reasonable amount. Oldest DS is a high earner--he already makes fifty percent more than DH ever did, and DH made enough to support a family of four comfortably. So I kinda feel like he can easily afford his own share of a wedding (which is a good thing because it's likely he'd want a spendy out-of-the-country destination event). I doubt our youngest will ever get married, but if so I'm positive it would be a very low key thing not likely to cost a lot (he's on the spectrum and hates any sort of hoopla). FWIW, we paid fully for both of their college educations and gave them good vehicles. Getting them launched with no debt was a bigger priority for us than potential future wedding costs.

Confining choices to the U.S. -- We'd pick a place that as much as possible aligns with our values, is less likely to be severely affected by climate change, and has access to good health care. Likely those criteria would mean somewhere in the northeast or possibly Minnesota.

I will keep most medications for a year beyond the expiration date, but longer than that and I toss or take to a drug take back location. About the only OTC medicines we stay stocked on are Tylenol and Motrin, Afrin nasal spray, and a variety of BandAids and self-stick gauze.

Our cellular provider is Verizon and it seems to be working normally. Our internet provider is AT&T and it's also working normally.

I'd say that absolutely yes, anxiety triggered by any specific thing can expand into other areas or into generalized anxiety.

Our closest Costco is about 15-20 minutes from us, in an area we go to a lot. We joined last year. We'd done some homework beforehand and knew we'd almost certainly be making two large(ish) purchases in addition to staples, so it made sense for us to get the execute membership. We let it renew this year, thinking we'd see how it goes. I think storage is hard. I don't think of my house as having much, but I haven't found it difficult to store the things we buy. But we go about every three weeks, so it's not like we go and stock up enough to last for months. Obviously the packages are bigger, but I've always liked to stay stocked up on essentials, and the things we buy aren't that much bigger. Our Costco seems to be well stocked, and I'm sure we'd cover the basic membership fee just from the savings on a small handful of items we use regularly (my calcium supplement, WildBrine sauerkraut, Premier Protein drinks, Dove bar soap, dish tabs). One of our vehicles will need new tires this year, and we'll absolutely check on Costco for that. I've heard nothing but good things about their tire service. I haven't used their vision/eyeglass service, but I've heard nothing but good things about it.

No. But DH and one of the men children are lefties, so I understand!

Same. We traveled a lot when the boys were young, and I mostly hated every second of it. For health and other reasons DH and I have stopped traveling. We haven't spent a night away from home since before the pandemic, and I haven't missed it at all. But I could give several examples of snide comments people have made about the things we do spend money on while seeming to be totally oblivious of the fact that they spend in areas that we wouldn't. It's the overall lack of awareness and the "all about me/if you don't make the same choices I do you're wrong" attitude that bugs me. They're otherwise intelligent people who just don't seem to grasp that we all get to sail our own boat, and that it's perfectly okay if someone chooses to sail in a different direction than them.

I'm currently using this O'Cedar broom, which seems to be about as highly rated as brooms get on Amazon. I like it well enough, except that the handle constantly needs retightening. But I think that's due to the way I hang it rather than a problem with the handle itself.

I think a vacuum w/o a beater bar (or with it turned off) should be fine? I don't see how that could possibly hurt a floor, unless something gritty was stuck on the vac wheels? That said, I'm old fashioned and like a good, low tech broom. I haven't found a really good one yet, though. When I sweep I usually follow up with a dry dust mop to get any floaty, dusty bits. It would probably be good at picking up dog fur, too (my own dogs have hair and shed less than I do, so I can't say for sure). I take it outside and whack it against the house (brick) to clean it.

Efficiency and organization. I can somehow "see" or intuit the most efficient, organized way to go about most things. And people skills, a sort of wisdom in handling crap. I figure that's a super power a lot of us self aware women-of-a-certain-age have honed. 😉

I think it's a whole ball of lack of self awareness, tendency to judge, insecurity about one's own choices, wanting to validate (or have validated) our own choices, and lots of other things. In short -- human nature.