Citizens (used to be called the JUA) is "insurer of last resort" to catch those the private market won't cover. The private market works exactly like your other comment:

• it’s more like they get a shit ton of money and then don’t pay anyone out, file for bankruptcy, and then repeat*

It's a racket, not insurance. If the state forced everyone onto Citizens, rates would go down, not up. I have made zero claims in 35 years of having old house here, and have paid so much it would have bought another house. The private companies cherry pick and overcharge, then dissolve, run with the money, and come back under a different name.

Of netpay? All of it. Of gross pay? About 12% is going into retirement accounts so I guess 88% is going to life.

My husband does a little better - we don't have to always use all of his pay (which is variable) so if you are counting household net pay, I think maybe 80% over the course of the year, 20% available, we used it this year to pay off renovations on the house which I would call desired improvement not just repair. So together we are pretty strong.

I don't know but the palmetto bugs here, I have an irrational level of fear of those. They will fly AT you. Just writing about them freaks me out.

I am sure they have a place in the world, and a function. But if I never again see a flying mating swarm of them it will still be one too many times.

I love spiders, love snakes. Rats are so interesting and clever. Love vultures and crows. Bugs in general I don't like except ladybugs, dragonflies, bees, and butterflies but only the overgrown roaches really terrify me.

Yeah ours has the vinyl and it does cheapen the look. It's on the list. The boxes though - they are just blocks made with concrete blocks and stucco-ed.

I like some gray but gray fake wood floors are among the worst, who thought that would look good for more than 5 minutes? I don't like marble floors either. Wood in a wood color is #1, terrazzo is fine, nice tile is fine.

I do know people have different taste but don't think that this exterior or interior could be pleasing to anyone, and again the house was well over a million $. Though to be fair they had to drop it from 1.5 to 1.2 to sell it, that is still too much and nobody is building anything reasonable except people who are hiring their own builders. All the speculative ones are either straight up boxes or something like this, going into a neighborhood that was just little houses, frame or block. For that $$ I would want much more kitchen too.

Near 60, tried it, can do that without warming up but I do yoga. And recommend yoga. It really does help with strength, balance, flexibility. All things that help you age better.

Agreed. I have never lived in a house younger than 70. While there are upsides beyond style (old growth forest framing, solid wood floors) there are downsides - have always been able to get central air, even in the 1925 house, but so very many things have to be changed and fixed. I wouldn't even try with a 200 year old house unless I was so rich. But if I was, I might. Or might build a reproduction with some reclaimed materials and some modern touches.

Even in our house, half 1940 half 1990, new metal roof, roof attachments, hurricane windows, and we are not yet close to the current building standards. An endless work in progress, I would enjoy that if it wasn't financially stressful, but the house I love and it's not as stressful as a mortgage and taxes on a 1.5M ugly house.

Yeah that happens here because they are knocking down one house and building two. I don't really disagree with that, honestly. But they don't need to be that big.

If you have the budget to buy the ugly box, you have the budget to buy the cardboard house, knock it down and build something you like that isn't so enormous. We didn't have the budget for either so are just slowly renovating and hardening the house we bought.

My point isn't that houses are too expensive - that is beyond question at this point. Even your cardboard box would cost too much now for most anybody. What I do not understand is rich people buying ugly prefabricated stuff in general. I would use that budget for something bespoke.

I honestly don't understand the houses going up in my neighborhood - it's getting gentrified and what is being built is so ugly. Who is buying these ugly ass houses for 1.5 MILLION dollars? If that was my budget I'd build something beautiful with a big porch like this picture, but all the "luxury" homes are boxes with big garages in front. I look at them on Zillow and they aren't even pretty on the inside.

Dude, I am skinny and all I want is for anyone who wants it, to have the experience I have. I have biases, surely, but none against the drugs that let people with disordered eating finally experience a normal appetite, to lose the constant food noise. To enjoy eating in a healthy way, get full and forget about it until physically hungry again. I absolutely do not think most fat people are just lacking willpower or whatever - I don't need willpower to eat normally, just need to pay attention to how I feel.

Maybe because I got here from anorexic and food obsessed in the other direction, getting healthy to the point eating did not make me anxious perhaps gives some perspective. Willpower did not avail me, it just harmed my body.

I do know some people who worry about the side effects of GLPs, whether that is disguised judgemental attitude I don't know. And more who think they are just so expensive it's unequally available and bad for that reason. But not many anymore who think it's just lifestyle alone that is an acceptable way to get to a healthy weight, not after seeing people's results on those drugs.

ETA nevermind on that last paragraph - I see there is someone in this very comment thread saying it's just lifestyle.

Yeah, in my experience (and at this point I'm pretty experienced) so many men are threatened when my sex drive is higher than theirs, they want to be the one who wants more than I do, no matter what they say. They feel unmanly in some way if I am not the limiting factor, or think it unladylike to want so much.

Only twice have I had a guy who really and truly was so turned on by my wanting it all the time and I married one of them. Now I get it everyday at least and more if I want, even if he doesn't get off he will do me & edge himself so that he can still do it later, and is way ok with that since he knows I will also want it whenever he's ready to finish.

I think anyone drinking daily has a problem, and anyone doing more than 3 drinks once a week or more (bingeing) also a problem.

I do like a cocktail on the weekend, usually do about 3 per week, and take 2 months off completely each year. It does seem to affect me but not much & I really don't want to be obsessive about health, just overall healthy. As long as I wake up feeling good I figure it's ok.

When I see movies and people are in situations so dangerous, they need their wits about them, and they show these people drinking, I always think that is the last thing I would want right then.