The Community Guide

c/ask-anything

22

caleb_sanchez•1d ago

People keep asking questions that are already answered in the FAQ

I swear half the posts in this community are stuff like "how do I bake bread" when there's a pinned guide. I saw 5 threads yesterday alone about basic forum rules that are literally in the sticky post at the top. It takes 2 seconds to scroll before typing a question. Why do people act like reading is optional? Has anyone else noticed this getting worse since the user count jumped last month?

11

faith_torres83•2d ago

Found out I was watering my plants all wrong from a random comment on here

Somebody said I was drowning my snake plant by watering it every week. I cut back to once a month and now it's pushing out new leaves for the first time in 8 months. Has anyone else overwatered plants they thought were tough to kill?

26

uma_mitchell83•3d ago

I compared my neighbor's 'lazy' garden weeding to my 'proper' method and felt like a fool

My neighbor Mary uses a little propane torch to burn weeds instead of pulling them by hand. I spent 3 hours last Saturday on my knees with a trowel digging out dandelions and crabgrass. She walked her whole front strip in about 12 minutes with that torch and it looked just as clean. I finally borrowed her tool (a Dragon BT2000 hand torch, cost like 30 bucks at the hardware store) and tried it on my back pathway. The weeds were gone in seconds and I didn't even break a sweat. Has anyone else switched to heat for weeding and felt dumb for not doing it sooner?

28

angela890•3d ago

My mom gave me a recipe card with 'salt to taste' and nothing else

I was making her chili last week and got stuck because every recipe online says a specific amount like 1 teaspoon. But after 10 years of line cooking I realized she was right, your ingredients and personal preference change it every time. How do you actually measure salt when you're cooking at home?

12

max472•6d ago

Watched my neighbor's lawn go from brown to green in 10 days flat

My neighbor Mark was out there every morning at 6am watering his lawn for 45 minutes straight. It was still half dead. I asked him about it and he said he was following the old 'water deep and infrequent' rule but doing it wrong. Turns out he was watering at 6am when it was still dew time and the sun came up too fast after. He switched to 4am watering for 8 days and the grass came back green and thick. Has anyone else found that timing makes that big of a difference on lawn recovery?

6

ruby494•7d ago

Serious question, why did nobody tell me about the tape trick for stripped screws?

Had a kitchen cabinet hinge screw that was totally stripped. Couldn't get it to bite no matter what. Tried a bigger screw, then a wall anchor, nothing worked. Finally grabbed some electrical tape wrapped it around the screw threads and boom it held. Does this actually last long term or am I just lucky it worked today?

-1

charlie37•8d ago

Question about that barista who called out my pour-over technique

A barista at Blue Bottle in SF straight up told me my water temp was too high after I bragged about my setup. Has anyone else had a coffee pro roast them in public and actually learn something from it?

14

kelly338•8d ago

Can we talk about short shifting for better gas mileage

Everyone keeps saying to redline every gear for performance. But I found a trick that actually works for saving gas. I shift at 2,500 RPM instead of 4,000 in my old Honda. Got 38 MPG on my last commute across Denver. My buddies laughed at me for driving like a grandpa. But I tracked it for two months and saved about $60 on fuel each time. Problem is, does this mess up the engine long term? Anyone else try this and see real numbers?

7

emma_smith•10d ago

My refrigerator died overnight and I didn't notice until 3pm the next day

Came home from work last Tuesday and opened the fridge to grab a drink, only to find everything lukewarm and smelling like warm milk. Turns out the compressor failed sometime around 2am, and I lost about $200 worth of groceries. Has anyone else had a fridge just quit without warning like that?

4

harris.emma•12d ago

My neighbor told me my compost pile looked like a crime scene

She said I was adding too much green waste and not enough browns, so I started keeping a 3:1 ratio of leaves to kitchen scraps. Has anyone else gotten weird feedback on their gardening habits?

22

victor_perry90•12d ago

That week in June when everything went wrong on my porch renovation

I was trying to replace the rotted deck boards on my back porch in Des Moines and it took me five full days instead of the two I planned. First my circular saw blade dulled halfway through, then I found out the joists were spaced weird so none of the precut boards fit right. Has anyone else had a simple project just snowball into a nightmare like that?

20

tyler_hernandez•13d ago

Hung my own drywall for the first time after years of paying a pro and honestly the pro did it way better in half the time

It took me 4 weekends to do what that guy could have done in a day, and I still have visible seams in the corners that I can't sand down, has anyone else tried saving money on a trade job and regretted it?

34

wright.rowan•13d ago

Spent 6 months trying to learn guitar from YouTube videos... finally caved and got a real teacher

I was dead set on being self-taught because who wants to pay $40 a lesson, right? After watching like 50 different videos on barre chords I still couldn't get a clean F to save my life. My buddy Dave kept telling me to just try one session with his teacher over at Melody Music shop downtown. I finally went in last Tuesday and within 20 minutes the guy fixed my thumb position - turns out I was gripping the neck like a baseball bat the whole time. Now after 8 weeks I'm playing stuff I struggled with for half a year. I guess some things you just need a second pair of eyes on, you know? Anyone else have that one skill where they wasted forever trying to DIY it?

26

black.patricia•13d ago

TIL my thermostat's schedule mode was overriding everything for 2 months

So I moved into this apartment back in February and I could not figure out why the heat would kick on at 4am every single day. I kept adjusting the temp before bed, you know, dialing it down, but some morning I'd wake up sweating. Finally last week I sat down with the manual for this Honeywell thing and realized the schedule mode was set to something from the previous tenant. It had like 6 different time blocks and I only looked at the main screen. 2 months of confused mornings because I never hit that menu button. Has anyone else fought with a thermostat that just seems to have a mind of its own?

11

morgan.nancy•15d ago

Just realized I've read 127 issues of one comic run without noticing until I counted today

I was reorganizing my longbox and casually added up the numbers on the spines and it hit me that I've been following this writer for over a hundred stories without even thinking about it, has anyone else accidentally tracked a milestone like that?

15

the_abby•16d ago

Hand-chopping veggies vs using a food processor for salsa

I used to think a food processor was faster for pico de gallo but it turned everything into mush. Hand-chopping takes an extra 5 minutes but the texture is way better and people actually compliment it at parties. Am I wrong or is this just the way?

19

ivan40•16d ago

Hot take: The AI voice on that gas station pump in Phoenix changed how I prep for road trips

Heard a recorded message at a Shell station on I-10 last week that listed tire pressure, coolant level, and oil grade one by one, and now I actually check all three before I leave the driveway - has anyone else had a weird public announcement make them rethink their routine?

16

carter.hugo•17d ago

Learned a brutal lesson about ladder placement at a job site in Phoenix

I set my extension ladder on some loose dirt during a 3-story gutter repair last August, and it slid out from under me at 15 feet up. Has anyone else had a close call with ladder setup that made you change your whole approach?

5

harper_singh18•17d ago

Got told my margins were a mess by a senior designer at a meetup last week

I was at a local design meetup in Austin showing my portfolio. A senior designer looked at my book layout and said 'your margins are choking your content, give it room to breathe.' She showed me how she uses a 12 column grid with 20px gutters for everything. I went home and rebuilt my whole portfolio site that weekend using that system. Now my layouts just feel cleaner and less cluttered. Does anyone else have a simple tip like that which totally changed your work?

1

wendyk63•18d ago

TIL that old wives tale about putting a penny in a vase of flowers actually works

My grandma swore by it for years and I always rolled my eyes. Last month my tulips were drooping after 2 days so I tossed a 1982 penny in the water out of desperation. They perked up and lasted a full 9 days. Anyone else had random grandma hacks turn out to be legit?

14

kelly338•18d ago

Used to hate small towns, then I spent a weekend in Marfa, Texas

I always thought small towns were boring, you know? Nothing to do, nowhere to go. But I visited Marfa last month with a friend and noticed how everyone actually stops to talk to each other at the coffee shop there. It caught me off guard because I'm used to people just staring at their phones. Has anyone else had a trip totally change their mind about a place they thought they'd hate?

7

harperb46•18d ago

Serious question, did everyone just give up on Facebook marketplace meetups or is it just me?

I used to schedule pickups at the gas station near my house back in 2019 but now I just leave stuff on the porch with a cash box because half the people flaked last month and I got stuck with a broken treadmill in my truck bed for two days.

10

skylerw87•19d ago

Told my roast was too dry for the third time

I kept making Sunday roasts for my family in Nashville and every time someone would say it was dry. My sister finally told me I was pulling it out of the oven when the internal temp hit 145, but letting it rest only 5 minutes. I tried letting it rest a full 20 minutes after hitting 145 and the juices stayed in way better. Has anyone else realized resting time matters more than temp for keeping meat moist?

15

the_sam•21d ago

Found out my dishwasher filter was the culprit after 5 months of weird noises

I kept thinking something was wrong with the motor or maybe a loose part inside. Turns out I just needed to unscrew the bottom filter and rinse off about 2 years of gunk that had built up. Anyone else ignore their appliance filters way longer than they should?

26

joseph_martinez35•22d ago

PSA: don't fall for those expensive 'smart' water bottles

I dropped $80 on one of those bottles that tracks your water intake and glows to remind you to drink. Worked fine for about 2 weeks then the sensor stopped working. The company's support ignored my emails for 10 days. Now I'm back to a regular $10 bottle from Target that does the same job without the hassle. Has anyone else had luck getting a refund from these gadget companies or is it just money down the drain?