Doing my initial budget for our attorney. I wish my attorney gave me more instructions on how to do this so I’m just going through our accounts to see what we’ve been buying and how often to see where our spending is. Does this sound right?
What about things/categories that we know historically we have been underspending? My husband’s been the focus of our limited clothing budget (works in person and weight loss) and we are underspending on me although nothing fits me.
Did you put toilet paper under your personal care or clean supplies?
How did you figure out your medical/dental expenses? We both have new insurances this year so things are off but we both have typically hit deductibles or out of pocket max. How do accounts like HSA/FSA fall into this? We have these but they are not adequately funded for all of our out of pocket medical fees.

I’m 27 and This is only my second stone ever. Had my first about 2 months ago and it came and went literally in a couple of hours. I went from having terrible pain to passing it when I got to work. Now I have a 5mm in my right side and I’ve never experienced anything like this before. I had to miss work Monday, had to leave early to go to the ER yesterday, where I got officially diagnosed, and now it’s 5:30 in the morning and I’m soaking in a hot bath after waking up in tears from this damn thing.
They don’t know if it’ll pass on its own, and I’m supposed to have a follow up with a urologist within the next week, but what am I supposed to do about work? Fortunately my job is very understanding when it comes to medical issues, but it’s paying the bills that I’m worried about. You don’t even accrue a full week’s worth of PTO at this job in a year of working; and I’ve only been at this one since November. I’m sick of everyone telling me “it’ll be okay” because I literally live paycheck to paycheck and can barely afford to ever miss a day. I don’t even know how I’m going to handle the medical bills, as my insurance isn’t good either, and I have the highest deductible you can legally have for an individual plan.
It’s a desk job; I take phone calls, so if I can figure out a good pain management course, I should be able to go, but I’m just not sure what that is. I’m told 800mg of Ibuprofen every 6 hours, but that I can’t do that often or I’ll get an ulcer. The ER prescribed Norco and Flomax, as well as antibiotic since my white count was a little elevated.

Last time/win v Tigers/at the Gabba, Highlights. (Fairly 1 sided. Daniher kicked 5. Lions led by 8 goals at HT and won by 81 points)).
Injury List: Answerth (concussion) test, Robertson (shoulder) test, Bailey (ankle) 1 week, Michael (knee) 1-2 weeks, Starcevich (calf) 3-4 weeks, Ashcroft (knee) 6-8 weeks (finally with a timeline). Doedee (ACL) season and K. Coleman (ACL), Gardiner (ACL) and McCarthy (ACL) all out for the season. Answerth and Robertson should be back this week.
In the Mix:

Noah Answerth is expected to exit concussion protocols and be available. His return would put pressure on Jaxon Prior and Sunday's debutant Shadeau Brain, who were called up to play the Crows. Deven Robertson is also available after missing time with a shoulder injury, while Jimmy Tunstill and Jarryd Lyons are constantly maintaining pressure from beneath at VFL level, but would likely need a player to be rested to get a call-up. – Michael Whiting

Game Day Guide. Usual shuttle busses and free travel 4 hours before and after .
The Long Walk is on before the game (Starts 4:30pm/MC starts 5pm at Flowstate Southbank (not far from Southbank Station). Walk commences at 5:25pm. Need either a ticket to the game or buy one here).
The TAFE QLD open day for the Lions Institute of Business and Sport is happening before the game.
Will be wearing the Indigenous Guernsey this round (maroon one) and next (red one).
Josh Dunkley should play his 150th.
Cameron: "It’ll be a special moment... I get to represent my people".
Six Lions named in Under 18 Allies Squad.
Throwback: Draws over the years. (Shadeau Brain becomes the 2nd Brisbane Lion/Bear to play in a draw on debut, Chris Schmidt in 2007 the other (2 game for the Lions and 18 for the Crows from 06-11)).
For Fitzroy (who had 25 draws): Sid O'Neill in 1909 (only game), Dave Crone in 1915, Bill Byrne and Frank Strawbridge in 1917, George Gibbs and Jack Lean in 1927, Dan Murray and Seff* Parry in 1933, Ray Davies in 1954 (only game) and finally Michael Coates and Bradley Gotch in 1982.
*Seff? Full name Arnold Sefton Parry.
VFL:
Lions had a bye.
Next game: Lions v Casey Demons at Casey Fields (Melbourne), Saturday May 18th at 11:05 am AEST.
AFLW:
Around the state leagues.

Brisbane draftee Sophie Peters recorded 12 disposals and three tackles.
Brisbane draftee Evie Long played an important role in Aspley's win with 14 disposals and 10 tackles
Brisbane's Jacinta Baldwick was handy in Coorparoo's win with 11 disposals, three clearances and a goal

I've had 2 pretty bad burnouts in the past 10 years. Chronic fatigue has massively effected my life, and I've been left with lingering chronic migraines which don't seem to want to quit.
I have, however, mostly got out of the fatigue part of the trap. Other than therapy and changing my life in a few ways (work, relationship, location - basically reducing stress), nutrition was for me, absolutely key in coming back from the brink.
Yesterday I shared the 30 supplements I'd tried over these years, and tried to order them in terms of efficacy. It was awesome to hear about other people succeeding partly due to nutrition, and you all seemed to get some use out of the list, so I thought I'd write another post sharing how I benefited from hiring a nutritionist.
First up, I was reluctant to spend the money on a nutritionist to begin with - I was wiped out and as a solopreneur had cut back my working week to 3 days writing code and doing entrepreneur stuff - at that point money was tight. I thought I knew what I should be eating and amidst CFS everything felt overwhelming and difficult.
But eventually I gave in to those around me and signed up for a consultation with a nutritionist which my sister suggested.
She wasn't super expensive. She was super experienced. My nutritionist had worked for 8 years at a burnout clinic in a big city. She knew her stuff.
Over the years I had 3 'Consultations', each with a follow up or two. They always looked similar, like this:

• Sends over a prior health questionnaire.
• Sends over a questionaire, where you have to enter your typical diet for a hypothetical 5 day week.
• Decent hour-long holistic chat about all the key points in your health journey (potential origins, gut health state indicators, medications etc.), and my aims (which were obviously, get out of the CFS hole).
• Suggests taking bicarb (baking soda) stomach acid test.
• Suggests a number of supplements for you to get.
• You go away and try to inject some of the wisdom and supplements into your daily life.
• Follow up comes around way too fast, you kick it back a few weeks to more fully try the changes.
• Follow up call holds you accountable, discusses what's worked, what hasn't.
• A new plan is made, and so on.

This probably seems like a lot of work if you're currently in CFS. I feel you. But broken into little steps, it is digestable; and for me at least, it was crucial to recovery.
I learned all the ways I wasn't helping myself. I had thought that I was quite savvy with food, but I had my macro's (fat/protein/veg etc. %) all wrong. My blood sugar was out of whack, my cortisol graph was a rollercoaster.
Before enlisting the nutritionist I took supplements, but I did so haphazardly. Same with diets. Keto, vegan, etc.
With the nutritionists guidance I:

• Corrected my macros (still not perfect)
• Thoroughly gave up caffiene
• Mostly gave up alcohol
• Let go of the processed foods and sweet 'treats'
• Ate lots more (organic) vegetables
• Found the supplements which genuinely helped my body not feel abysmal
• Took some tests and promptly saw data I could use (not in 2 years like the NHS here in the UK would have me)
• Learned more about the science of CFS, metabolism, allergens etc.

Pitfalls of the experience:

• Their help is only as good as your commitment to change
• Some food choices are socially reinforced, and hard to change
• I fell over a few times, needed a few extra calls to correct course

For me the real benefits were:

• Actual trained knowledge (not instagram influencer 20s clips)
• Made me look at what I was putting in my body more clearly
• Support & Care (when in CFS we just need help, sometimes)
• Accountability (knowing there's a follow up made me endeavour to try the dietary changes seriously)

... and most importantly, it was part of what worked for me. I am no longer stuck in bed. I'm fitter than I was at the start of this forsaken part of my journey. I'm way more holistic, and I know my body far better.
As I read back through this I'm trying to find my point; and I think fundamentally it's this: When you're in Burnout it can feel like you'll never get free. It can feel like nobody can help you. It can feel fatal and exhausting. I can say, for me at least, after years of feeling that way, (dreadful), there is hope. Take small steps. Work on your mental health, your sleep, your gut, and your physhical health. Getting help from qualified, kind practitioners where you can; it's worth it.
... and finally I realise that I am privileged in being able to get this support, and that it's not available everywhere and to everyone. I hope you find the support you need to start stepping out of your abyss - either way, don't overlook your nutrition.

I've had 2 pretty bad burnouts in the past 10 years. Chronic fatigue has massively effected my life, and I've been left with lingering chronic migraines which don't seem to want to quit.
I have, however, mostly got out of the fatigue part of the trap. Other than therapy and changing my life in a few ways (work, relationship, location - basically reducing stress), nutrition was for me, absolutely key in coming back from the brink.
Yesterday I shared the 30 supplements I'd tried over these years, and tried to order them in terms of efficacy. It was awesome to hear about other people succeeding partly due to nutrition, and you all seemed to get some use out of the list, so I thought I'd write another post sharing how I benefited from hiring a nutritionist.
First up, I was reluctant to spend the money on a nutritionist to begin with - I was wiped out and as a solopreneur had cut back my working week to 3 days writing code and doing entrepreneur stuff - at that point money was tight. I thought I knew what I should be eating and amidst CFS everything felt overwhelming and difficult.
But eventually I gave in to those around me and signed up for a consultation with a nutritionist which my sister suggested.
She wasn't super expensive. She was super experienced. My nutritionist had worked for 8 years at a burnout clinic in a big city. She knew her stuff.
Over the years I had 3 'Consultations', each with a follow up or two. They always looked similar, like this:

• Sends over a prior health questionnaire.
• Sends over a questionaire, where you have to enter your typical diet for a hypothetical 5 day week.
• Decent hour-long holistic chat about all the key points in your health journey (potential origins, gut health state indicators, medications etc.), and my aims (which were obviously, get out of the CFS hole).
• Suggests taking bicarb (baking soda) stomach acid test.
• Suggests a number of supplements for you to get.
• You go away and try to inject some of the wisdom and supplements into your daily life.
• Follow up comes around way too fast, you kick it back a few weeks to more fully try the changes.
• Follow up call holds you accountable, discusses what's worked, what hasn't.
• A new plan is made, and so on.

This probably seems like a lot of work if you're currently in CFS. I feel you. But broken into little steps, it is digestable; and for me at least, it was crucial to recovery.
I learned all the ways I wasn't helping myself. I had thought that I was quite savvy with food, but I had my macro's (fat/protein/veg etc. %) all wrong. My blood sugar was out of whack, my cortisol graph was a rollercoaster.
Before enlisting the nutritionist I took supplements, but I did so haphazardly. Same with diets. Keto, vegan, etc.
With the nutritionists guidance I:

• Corrected my macros (still not perfect)
• Thoroughly gave up caffiene
• Mostly gave up alcohol
• Let go of the processed foods and sweet 'treats'
• Ate lots more (organic) vegetables
• Found the supplements which genuinely helped my body not feel abysmal
• Took some tests and promptly saw data I could use (not in 2 years like the NHS here in the UK would have me)
• Learned more about the science of CFS, metabolism, allergens etc.

Pitfalls of the experience:

• Their help is only as good as your commitment to change
• Some food choices are socially reinforced, and hard to change
• I fell over a few times, needed a few extra calls to correct course

For me the real benefits were:

• Actual trained knowledge (not instagram influencer 20s clips)
• Made me look at what I was putting in my body more clearly
• Support & Care (when in CFS we just need help, sometimes)
• Accountability (knowing there's a follow up made me endeavour to try the dietary changes seriously)

... and most importantly, it was part of what worked for me. I am no longer stuck in bed. I'm fitter than I was at the start of this forsaken part of my journey. I'm way more holistic, and I know my body far better.
As I read back through this I'm trying to find my point; and I think fundamentally it's this: When you're in Burnout it can feel like you'll never get free. It can feel like nobody can help you. It can feel fatal and exhausting. I can say, for me at least, after years of feeling that way, (dreadful), there is hope. Take small steps. Work on your mental health, your sleep, your gut, and your physhical health. Getting help from qualified, kind practitioners where you can; it's worth it.
... and finally I realise that I am privileged in being able to get this support, and that it's not available everywhere and to everyone. I hope you find the support you need to start stepping out of your abyss - either way, don't overlook your nutrition.

TLDR: Experience in DevOps and product. Want to create my own company in the next years. Right now can work on consulting sales, marketing or delivery. What should I pick?
Hello everyone. I'm looking for some suggestion and perspective on my current situation.
I've worked within a cloud consulting company for the last 10 years and built two SaaS software from scratch because they wanted to break into product (done everything here except frontend).
2 years ago I got the opportunity to become co-founder of a spinoff of this company with a new software and moved from a strictly tech position to operations. So I wrote a lot less code and moved to deal with organizing work, product and company strategy, communication, sales and so on (unofficially I've been doing this since 2020, I'm a bit rusty but getting back pretty quickly).
The product we were building was taking off, but was shut down, and now I'm being offered to become part again of the mother company. I am free to choose but the main options are:

• go into the sales team: it's a lot more like account management, I have some experience in it but for product - junior position
• go into the marketing team: write content, deal with speechs, experiment with some projects for sales and make the company website content - senior position
• go into the delivery team: write code, infrastructure and help organize the work, probably moving to technical program manager in a year or so - senior position

I searched for some other opportunity (product manager, developer relations and so on) outside but never heard back from the companies I sent the resume to.
I want to create my own company in a few years (can't right now due to financial reasons) so I want to get into something that can give me the experience to go there eventually.
In your opinion what could be the best route? There's something I'm missing?

Need to do a background check but feeling overwhelmed by all the options? I've been down this rabbit hole and emerged (hopefully) saner on the other side. I’ve scoured all the reddit posts on this topic and also the articles out there on Google and have finalized the best background check sites.
TL;DR: BeenVerified.com or TruthFinder.com are the top picks.

5 Best Background Check Sites

BeenVerified - Best Background Check Site Overall

Pricing:
BeenVerified offers different subscription plans: 1 month and three-month plans. All plans include a 7-day trial and allow you to run 100 reports per month.

• The 1-month plan costs $29.99 per month
• The 3-month plan costs $58.48, which is $19.49 per month

BeenVerified is an online background check platform offering quick access to public records, typically delivering results within minutes. It prioritizes user privacy with advanced encryption and does not share or sell information. While some find its reports less detailed than competitors', BeenVerified is still reliable and user-friendly. Membership is required, with discounted three-month prepaid subscriptions for long-term users.
Pros:

• Available on Android and iOS
• Discounts for three-month prepaid subscriptions
• Access to a variety of data sources

Cons:

• Less detailed reports compared to TruthFinder, Intelius
• No option for a single search

Features

• Quick and simple data collection on individuals
• Reverse phone number lookup, email search, checks on public records, criminal history, and social media accounts
• BeenVerified has an intuitive interface
• All features are conveniently accessible

Customer Service
BeenVerified’s customer support can be reached via the toll-free number 1-844-823-2869 from Monday to Sunday, 6:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. EST, or by emailing support@beenverified.com. These multiple contact options help establish BeenVerified as one of the top background check sites.

TruthFinder - Best for Value of Money

Pricing:

• People Search Plan: $28.33 per month; bi-monthly plan available at $23.52 per month ($47.03 upfront), includes all features and unlimited searches
• Reverse Phone Lookup Plan: $4.99 per month, provides unlimited phone reports
• Reverse Email Lookup Plan: $29.73 per month, offers unlimited searches and additional details related to email addresses​

TruthFinder is a reliable background check service providing detailed reports on individuals' criminal history, personal facts, and contact information, usually within minutes. Report delivery time varies based on the accuracy of provided information, record availability, and search complexity. Subscribers get unlimited monthly reports and can use mobile apps for on-the-go searches.
Pros:

• Unlimited reports with a subscription
• Reports may include deep web information
• Available Android and iOS apps

Cons:

• No free version is available
• Extra charges for PDF downloads
• Limited to use within the United States

Features

• Provides reverse telephone number searches, email lookups, and dark web scans for added security
• User-friendly interface allows for quick generation of reports and access to up-to-date information
• Ensures user privacy by adhering to strict data protection regulations

Customer Service
Contact TruthFinder's customer support from Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific Time, by calling (855) 921-3711 or by emailing help@truthfinder.com.

Intelius - Best Public Record Source

Pricing:

• People Search: Monthly ($25.11/mo) or Bi-Monthly ($21.35/mo)
• Reverse Phone Lookup + People Search: 5-Day Trial ($0.95) then $35.3/mo
• Address Lookup: 7-Day Trial ($0.95) then $34.95/mo

In addition to these plans, Intelius also offers a number of add-on services, such as:

• Downloadable Report Files ($3.99)
• Intelius Identity Protect (Monthly: $9.95/mo, Yearly: $119.40/yr)

Intelius, a trusted background check provider since 2003, offers quick and unlimited searches with reliable reports on criminal and traffic offenses, and geographic information. It ensures user privacy with 256-bit encryption and confidential searches, accessing millions of public records for comprehensive results. Known for its user-friendly interface and mobile app, Intelius prioritizes convenience and privacy while delivering valuable information.
Pros:

• Variety of subscription plans and pricing options
• Extensive sources of public records
• High-quality Android and iOS mobile apps
• Quick search results
• Simple-to-use interface

Cons:

• Pricing can be confusing
• Limited customer service hours
• Occasional incomplete reports

Features

• Reverse address lookup, reverse phone search, and email search
• Provides access to public records and documents such as birth records, death records, marriage licenses, and property deeds

Customer Service
You can reach customer service by calling the toll-free hotline at (877) 564-3253, available Monday to Friday from 10 AM to 7 PM Eastern Time. Alternatively, you can contact the customer service department by emailing support@mailer.intelius.com.

Instant Checkmate - Best for Ease of Use

Pricing:

• Person Reports cost $35.47 per month for a one-month membership and $28.38 per month for a three-month membership.
• Phone Reports cost $5.99 per month. Instant Checkmate also offers a number of add-on services, including downloadable report files for $3.99 and dark web monitoring for $1.99 per month.

Instant Checkmate is known for reliable results and user-friendly features, including a smartphone app and social media search function. It provides thorough reports, though there might be some delays during preparation. A monthly subscription is required, with no individual report purchases. The service allows searches of public records, including possible arrest records and criminal histories, completing most searches within minutes and presenting information clearly. Users can receive immediate alerts for updated data.
Pros:

• Detailed reporting
• Simple-to-use service
• User-friendly Android app

Cons:

• No option to purchase individual reports
• Reports may take some time to load

Features

• Reverse phone search and email search tools to gather information about unknown contacts
• Provides clear and detailed reports covering employment & education history, and social media activity
• Accessible via a web browser or mobile app

Customer Service

Customers can reach support by calling the toll-free hotline at (877) 564-3003 from Monday to Friday, between 7 AM and 4 PM Pacific Time. For assistance, you can also email help@instantcheckmate.com, and a representative will respond as soon as possible.

PeopleLooker - Best for Quick Results

Pricing:

• 1-month membership, run up to 100 reports for $23.99
• 3-month membership, run up to 100 reports per month at $19.19 per month

PeopleLooker is an online platform compiling detailed information from public records, social media, and directories, offering services like reverse phone number lookup and email search subscription plans, address searches, and background checks. Its user-friendly interface helps users find contact information, Criminal and traffic records, and other details. Accuracy may vary, so verifying critical information is recommended.
Pros:

• Comprehensive search reports
• Outstanding customer service
• Includes searches for social media and genealogy
• User-friendly interface

Cons:

• No option for single reports
• Not recognized as an consumer reporting agency
• Desktop version has fewer features than the mobile app

Features

• Quick background check using a name, address, phone number, email address
• Access publicly available information with ease

Customer Service
PeopleLooker's customer service can be reached via phone, email address, or ticket from Monday to Sunday, 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. EST. They offer a resource hub on their site for common issues and FAQs, ensuring top-notch service and swift issue resolution. Their knowledgeable representatives assist with billing, account management, and technical support. PeopleLooker's strong privacy policy and commitment to client anonymity contribute to its reputation as a leading background check service.
DISCLAIMER: You may not use any of these services or the information it provides to make decisions about consumer credit, employment, insurance, tenant screening, or any other purpose that would require FCRA compliance. Instant Checkmate does not provide consumer reports and is not a consumer reporting agency. (These terms have special meanings under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681 et seq., ("FCRA"), which are incorporated herein by reference.)"
Here's a table to help you compare prices:
Background Check Service1-Month MembershipBi-Monthly Membership3-Month Membership BeenVerified$29.99-$58.48 TruthFinder $28.33$47.03- Intelius$25.11$42.69- Instant Checkmate$35.47-$85.14 PeopleLooker $23.99-$57.57

I live with my wife and my mother together. Since my father died couple of years ago and we had loans and bills to pay, I started coding and started earning when I was just 17. Now that I am 21, I earn well and I married my girlfriend of one year.
I am coming from a third world country, it was really difficult to manage everyone for this wedding. But we did and it was all going well but my mother started getting angry even at the smallest of things.
Whenever I bought nice things for my wife, she would get really angry, when we got out and got a bit late she got angry, when we wanted to sleep more in the morning she got angry.
Not only that she openly insults me and my wife in front of me. Initially I have had a soft soft for my mother as she has no one, my father died and she suffered a lot, then my sister got married and went to a different country and she has issues with pretty much everyone and she physically gets sick and tired when she travels so she sits home all day.
Looking at her behaviour we both tried everything, we tried to talk to her but she kept showing her anger, didn't talk back, or if she talked back she showed arrogance and chose difficult words for both of us to consume.
Now my wife doesn't want to live with my mother, honestly I don't too and I know that my mother will get more and more complicated over time and will say things that will be very difficult to listen to, she did the same thing with my sister. But since my father died I wanted everyone to live together and I wanted to take care of her but if she is like this, we won't be able to live the life me and my wife dreamt of.
We are looking at houses in the city so we can go to her house and she can visit ours, we will do everything to fulfill our duty but I know that me moving out will hurt her a lot and even though she has treated us both bad in the last month she worked really hard to raise me, even though her actions hurt me a lot overtime but I am someone who doesn't want to hurt people and I just don't understand why there is not a common ground here.
TLDR: Mother treats me and my wife rudely and doesn't like us doing anything, so we are planning to live in a different house and I feel bad because my father died so she will be alone for the 12-15 days.
AITA for leaving my mother?

I am currently in Osaka and gotten quite sick since Sunday. Headache, runny nose, sore throat, dizziness and high fever, lack of appetite. People don’t recognise my voice even at the moment.
This morning had a serious incident where I literally collapsed and lost consciousness. I hope it’s just from stress and fever I’ve been having these past few days…
I’ve been extending my stay here (originally meant to go to Tokyo on Monday morning) as I didn’t want to travel sick.
I got some flu pills from local Drugstore, they make me incredibly sweaty for an hour, knock down the fever for a while, but that’s about it. Temporary.
Dragged myself to local McDonalds earlier today (nearly keeling over in the process) and managed to eat two chicken nuggets. That’s it. Can’t force food down.
I don’t know what to do. Should I go to hospital? How does that work here? I suppose I can probably ask hotel staff to call an ambulance? (I don’t think I’m in a state to go traipsing around looking for doctors on my own atm)
I am very worried about hospital bills though. I do have travel insurance, but I’ve heard many scammy stories about that…
Anyway any advice you have would be much appreciated.

I know insurance prices etc etc are through the roof blah blah. But my car insurance went up by 100 euro, was the same last year. I've 5+ years no claims, no points, same car, no medical changes, same place parked etc etc, nothing whatsoever to warrant increasing insurance. It's so infuriating!
Is it normal???
Anyone recommend any companies??
Been using the same broker for all our insurances, home house etc and they were good up until about 2 years agon

Use the link for Look After My Bills Discount Code for May 2024. The website features a wide selection of coupons, promo codes, and discount deals that are updated regularly for you to choose from and make your purchase more affordable.

So I have severe persistent allergic asthma (diagnosed/developed 1 year ago) 4 months of the year are completely awful, and the rest I'm pretty much symptom free except for the rare exertion induced symptoms or when I'm sick. I have a nebulizer provided by my doctor and keep it at my apartment, and a small handheld ultrasonic one that isn't great but I keep it on me during the 4 months/ during travel for emergencies. I fairly often spend the night at my parents house an hour or so away and when I was first diagnosed id bring the neb back and forth every time and it was a pain. Unfortunately while home over the weekend I had a pretty severe asthma attack, and had forgotten to bring either of my nebulizer with me. Luckily my inhaler helped enough. I want to get a second nebulizer to keep at their house for emergencies, but insurance only covers the one. Any recommendations on ones I can get off amazon/medical supply stores that aren't ridiculously expensive but that work better than the handheld ultrasonic ones?

Hi. I am embarrassed and at my wit's end and angry at my body and I don't know what to do at this point. This may be long, and it is as much of a desperate plea for help as it is a rant at some points. It will definitely be TMI. I apologize in advance.
My vagina stinks by the end of the day, every day. Often it takes far less time to get stinky than "the end of the day". I would describe it as sometimes a strong ammonia, sometimes fishy, sometimes bitter smell that lingers in my pants and is horrible. I have done so much research and I can't figure this out. This has been going on for at least a year at this point, after a lifetime of never having an issue and having what I would consider a healthy vagina- generally either odorless or at most a little bit soumusty after a long day. I have an IUD which has been in place since 2020.
I got a call-in treatment for oral metronidazole before all this testing- a few days into treatment, I had one day of my formerly unstinky vag before I experienced wild, possibly unrelated symptoms and had to visit the hospital. I was told to stop my course of antibiotics then, and quickly Stinky Vag™ returned. I went to urgent care and tested for BV and STDs and came back clean. Then I went to my gyno and tested for BV, all the STDs, mycoplasma and ureaplasma, everything I've read about on reddit or medical studies or sketchy sites and it all came back clean. She referred me to some natural women's health place that doesn't take insurance, so I can't afford that and don't know that I trust that anyway.
I have tried lactic acid gel. I have used boric acid suppositories, at first daily when I was hoping for a cure and now only on occasion (they provide a short term break from the stink for the day after, but do not resolve symptoms and I was tired of dealing with leakage and PUTTING SOMETHING IN MY VAGINA EVERY NIGHT). I tried vitamin C suppositories. If you're thinking maybe it's because I keep putting stuff up my vagina, don't worry, I've had plenty of time in the last year to try nothing and hope my system self-regulated eventually. (It didn't.) I have switched to scent-free detergents. I use cotton underwear. I shower regularly. I sleep without undies. I assure you, I wash regularly. I have tried no soap and just washing with water, tried pH balanced (unscented) soap, then plain freaking Dove, and nothing has gotten me anywhere. I take a high dose of oral probiotics, and drink kefir and eat other fermented things. I drink water. I am sick of throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. I don't want to keep having to think about this.
Symptoms: Odor (aren't you surprised?) Sometimes when I wipe, the paper is very yellow. Odor is way worse if I've been sweating around my inner thighs (which is pretty much everyday I'm in public).
What's wrong with me? Why did all of my tests come back clean and yet my vagina. Still. Stinks. Please help me. If you know anything, any next step I can take, anywhere else I can ask, anything at all, please.

Hello everyone. I had a question about Medi-Cal. I did not meet the income requirement to keep my silver 94 PPO Blueshield. I recently got Medi-Cal Anthem.
I have an endocrinologist I have been seeing for about 10 years. I see him two times a year and pay out of pocket for the visit. He does not take any insurance. He is not part of any networks.

1. My medications from my out of network endocrinologist... When he sends medications to the pharmacy they are fully covered by Medi-Cal Anthem. This is such a big help to me It's life-changing.

Q: I was wondering why are the meds being covered since I have an HMO and he's not in network? (I'm not complaining, just curious).

1. On my medical card is a number I can call to locate labs to draw blood.

Q: Since the insurance is covering my meds from him, will they also cover bloodwork too? Can I go to one of these labs and hand them a lab slip for my endocrinologist and draw blood?
This has been stressing me out a lot. With my last insurance Blue shield PPO I could go straight to the lab and hand them the lab order and they would draw it. Or I could go to my primary care and she would punch in the labs from my endocrinologist and run the labs for me.
Q: How can I get lab work done in my case? I'm still looking for a primary care doctor. Will my primary care Dr be able to do this for me? I only need it done once a year...maximum 2 times a year.
Thank you for your help. Please let me know if I need to clarify anything or provide more information.

My spouse and I have been working in a small software business for a few years. The team I was on completed a multi-year project (on time). As part of this multiple year project, as an incentive, I was supposed to get a substantial bonus/payout next month, and then another moderate bonus in a year if I stayed and moved over to the new company. However, the agreement with the third-party company somehow collapsed. Though they were essentially paying us the entire time for the dev work, they decided they now want to throw it all away and are not going to go through with the acquisition leaving the software company I work for, which nearly exclusively relied on this client, essentially out of business.
My goal is to somehow figure out how to rework my entire financial position to see if any of this is salvageable with the time I have left.
I could find another role but I may have to take a substantial pay cut for a short time just so I can quickly ramp up on technology that is desirable in my area and get some skin on my very barren resume as I've been with one place for so long writing very niche software for a niche platform. I'm just worried about survivability even if it's 6 months. Also burning through any retirement is truly terrifying to me at this point in our lives and I just assume I'm working until at least 67.

The good:

• I have a paid-off cabin + property in a desirable location that I could sell for at least $60k+ (maybe a little more if I didn't want to sell it quickly). I could maybe rent the cabin but I'd want to do it long term, and that would maybe bring in $6k a year? Renting doesn't seem viable, but who knows. It's too far away to make AirBNB manageable.
• I have some pretty substantial physical assets that I know I could sell off quickly if I absolutely had to for another $50-60k.
• I have other smaller assets that I could liquidate that would take time, but I could maybe get another $20k+ out of them but not quickly. It would take a chunk of time.
• I could move the family member in the rental into our current home which has essentially a separate apartment in the basement at the same rate. Combined the rental could bring in $1.5k a month, the family member would add $500/mo for a few years while they're getting on their feet, that could add $2k a month to the income stream.
• We have about $360k in total retirement, $225k in stocks, $65k is in 401k/Roth/SEP, $40k in a VUL, and $30k left in a money market account for emergencies. Also about $20k in HSA.
• There is a slim possibility I might get at least $100k, but it's all conjecture at this point and I can't make big decisions on that or trust that it will happen. From what I understand I'd have to take a hit on taxes for this money as now it'd come in as cash income instead of a stock conversion.

The Bad:

Job market collapsed in my area in '09. BK in 2010. Lost everything including a house I had moderate equity in. Had to live off 100% of my 401k withdraws and lost 10 years of retirement and equity because where I lived at the time it was so bad I couldn't even get a job at a grocery store and I had two babies at the time. I wasn't just broke, I was super-broke for an extended period of time. I still feel the scars from this.
Eventually dug myself out, learned new skills, and moved to a different area with more job options but I was still behind both in salary and definitely in retirement for years after that. This bonus was supposed to help me recover my retirement and debt from the crash + BK. Now I'm in my mid 40s, my partner is in their early 50s and we've only recently gotten ourselves to a place that started to feel safe for retirement and back on track and started putting away in our Roth + HSA regularly and wanted to start maxing that out asap.
And now it feels like quicksand all over again.

The Ugly:

The stupidest thing I did was because we'd reached this milestone towards the end of last year and I stupidly assumed it was a done-deal -- I rewarded myself by going out and getting a vehicle I'd always wanted. I paid into it with some down payment to get me in it at 3%, but because of market conditions and other programs that reduced the value of the vehicle a few months later -- even if I sold it 3rd party I'm probably at least $25k upside down in if i tried to sell it outright.
We now live in a HCOL area so housing is kind of outrageous. Due to a medical emergency with my spouses parents we had to purchase a house quickly a couple years ago to accommodate her parent with pretty significant medical issues on very short notice so we took a bit of a bath to acquire it quickly. Because of the timing we had to float mortgage payments at two properties for almost a year which burned a lot of our emergency savings and then some of the profit from selling our previous house. Also lost the 2.75% rate 😭.
She also couldn't work during most of the year so she could take care of them which didn't help.
We were able to find our current home on short notice that met their needs at the time, but then her parent died less than a year later and now we are in a house that's way more expensive and way larger than we really need. Also we are now back to the beginning of the new mortgage where we're paying almost all interest even with 20% to avoid PMI. With the market going up and what I have in it, even with the couple years of almost all interest payments, I could maybe get $150-$175k out of it if I had to sell.
We have a rental property that is nearly paid off (maybe $60k left?). We had good tenants for quite a few years, but the last one was horrid and basically destroyed it. I just put a bunch of remodeling into the house to update it and make it easier to transition between tenants if we had to. But because I'd assumed I was going to be paying it off with the bonus, I'd paid for a lot of the first round of work with cash and put the materials on a CC. Also in the process another family member was struggling with a life change so to help them get on their feet and have a second set of eyes on the property while it was all happening -- we let them stay in the house for the last year at cost (only charged them the mortgage). With that all wrapped up, now I'm in the position where it's technically costing me money to have them in there even at cost. They can't afford regular rent. That agreement is technically up in July.
I have about 40k in misc high-interest debt from material costs from the remodel.
How:
I'm trying to determine what the best course of action is at this point. I'm concerned about keeping my head above water on monthly expenses as it's going to quickly snowball to an unmaintainable nightmare if I don't get things under control fast. But at the same time I do not want to jeopardize our retirement. But I absolutely have to reduce the monthly burn rate to make this work. If anyone has insights or suggestions, I'm all ears.

1. I have to get all the high interest debt paid off first ASAP. It's more than 15% of our income per month if I don't take care of it soon. Because I depleted most of my emergency savings, should I take the rest of the cash out of the emergency fund? I could spend a couple months selling the larger assets, and either replenish the MM or go ahead and max out Roth's for the year then replenish or switch to HYSA for a couple percentage points?
2. I really don't know what the best approach on the vehicle is. I could try and see what a dealership might do on a much more sustainable vehicle for 1/3 the payment, but at the cost of throwing away $30k in cash most likely. I don't want to finance the delta as it completely defeats the point. Should I just pay it off so it's not taking up 20% of the income per month and keep it until the wheels fall off?
3. From what I understand, I assume my VUL is completely pointless at this point. The whole purpose was to provide a vehicle for the large bonus. Should I move the value in it to a more traditional investment since all the benefits were reliant on the bonus lump sum? I didn't really like the VUL as it seems insanely complicated anyway. Not sure if this should be more of a financial advisor question or not.
4. Should I keep the rental property or sell it and put that towards my current mortgage to try and greatly reduce the monthly cost of my home? With maybe $1.5k a month in rental income -- paying off my current house would save me almost $2.5k a month. Even ideally, the rental income would take 10yrs before I got the same benefit. However one of the reasons I might want to keep this property is if things got truly dire over the next few years I could throw the bulk of my stuff in storage and we could move into it if absolutely necessary because it's only about $400/mo in taxes and insurance where our current home is more like $1.2k. If I had no other choice, that is at least someplace I could always live a few years and squirrel almost everything away.
5. The mortgage is the biggest expense in our budget and at nearly $4k/mo, it is almost 1/3 of our combined current income (if nothing changes). If I take a hit on salary in the short term it could be 1/2 or MORE of current income at least for some short period of time. Does it make sense to keep it for x years and then sell since I'm already a few years into the loan and just figure out how to accelerate the principal so we can stay in it long enough to not completely have wasted the last few years of payments? Then hopefully 1031 it into a more affordable home in prep for retirement?
6. In a world where I got the $100k or more, is it worth while to pay towards my current home & do a recast, or put that in an investment? I'm a little worried about binding it up in the house, but the long term benefits may be worth while in a few years if I can just bust my ass and get the delta covered and get it to a point where I'm not burning money only on interest.
7. Literally any other suggestions! Especially the most effective uses in the case of the much smaller bonus if it does come in and what I should do with that given the current scenarios.

Hi all,
We are experience layoffs at my current company and I'm included in this round. I'm a software engineer with about 6 years of experience.
Right now I am working remotely in SEA and very much enjoying it here.
I ran numbers and I believe I have enough passive income to get by alright in SEA. So what I would like to do is close out my apartment and other expenses in the U.S. and camp over here while I'm looking for a new job (hopefully remote) to not eat into savings while also hopefully enjoying life a bit.
First of all, is there anything that's not obvious that I should be looking out for if I'm not employed and being out of the U.S. most or all of the time?
Anything I should know about being in SEA long term? I'd like to stay in Vietnam and go to a nearby country to reapply for visas and return, repeating this as long as I can. I might toggle between staying medium term between Vietnam and Thailand if possible to not trigger any border issues, but super ideal would be to not have to move my stuff and life around too much.
On healthcare: I am talking with Cigna Global and they have a U.S. insurance option you can add onto their global coverage. My state of residency in the U.S. is California and we have MediCal if you're unemployed. I'm wondering, if I have MediCal there, would I even need the U.S. option? I also doubt I'll be in the U.S. enough to warrant using it but you never really know so it could be good to have it just in case.
This layoff just happened and I'm still getting my bearings so this is all rather vague and ultra-specific at the same time, so I understand if these are difficult to answer--just thought I'd ask if anyone has any knowledge about any of this.
Thank you and good luck out there!

Hi Redditors, my mom needs to have an emergency surgery to repair her esophagus. She has been put of work due to her illness so struggling I pay bills and I help as much as I can but it's not enough.
I'm sharing her crowdfunding campaign but also my PayPal bwcuae any donations would be a blessing.
Thank you for any donations.
Crowd funding: https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/ elma-swanepoel-5848417906918734488
PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/marleenswan

Hi. I’d like to know how those who either beat or finally got on top of their anxiety were able to rebuild, if you are one of those of us who lost quite a bit because of it.
I am so anxious (good anxiety);to rebuild. Getting back to where I was career-wise, I see will be a challenge but I can meet it. But I sold my Jeep after a coma & seizures following that. I was pretty banged up & didn‘t know, neither did my doctors when or if the seizures would end or… Resigned for the same reason. And have a few small medical bills but my credit took a dive when I started selling off things, resigned etc.
I rented out my place & moved into my mom’s guest house. And today, I finally feel it’s time to jump. I have been feeling okay since last Nov but started having anxiety over starting over, which from last month I started to see as just me being scared to rebuild. It took an incident where for the 1st time, I felt I had zero independence due to my wonderful family having stepped in to help. They are my angels but I need to go out there again. Even if I crash & burn, we will restart.
Please tell me how you started the process of rebuilding… No matter where you are in the process or how it’s going. You know starting is the hardest part esp for those of us diagnosed ADHD…
Moving out will probably be the last step as for their peace of mind & theirs, we need to see if I can cope & not regress as my doctors (3 neurologists) after so many tests could only conclude major stress caused the incident which resulted in long term complex anxiety. But it’s been about 3 years now.
Thank you. Any story, suggestion, idea or word of encouragement will be appreciated. Please don’t let Anxiety make your mind it’s permanent resident. 🧘🏾‍♀️🙏🏽

Ok here's the deal.. and this is 150% TRUTH!! I was shopping at Gabe's clothing store as I got to the VERY back corner of the store to the clearance shoe section, I saw a pocket book sitting in the floor beside the bench where ya try on shoes, so I obviously glance around to look for a woman near by and saw NOBODY. The next thing I did was bend down pick it up and sat it in the front of my buggy right beside my purse, and I then did like I thought any decent person would without hesitation, I turned and started walking to the VERY front of the store where ALL their employees were standing at the registers, which are lined across the front of store. I didn't look shady, I wasn't acting nervous, and was not trying to sprint to the door! I walked normal heck even stopped for a second and looked at a few more items as I walked to the front. I was simply trying to make my way to an employee of Gabe's so i could give them the pocket book and inform them someone had left it back the shoe section probably trying on shoes and sat it in the floor when they sat on that bench I spoke of, and left the purse sitting in the floor. I am seen clear as day on the stores camera doing EXACTLY like I have described to you all. Here's where my world goes all to hell though.. Before I could even get to an employee or the registers, two officers came in and walked straight to me (still don't understand how) and they treated me like a dang criminal not letting me even tell them I was on the way to give it to the employees at the registers, they were very mean and cuffed me right there in front of everyone, then dumped my purse out, for what reason I have no clue, then of course found nothing illegal considering I am not a criminal, and they made me leave the buggy and walked me outside. We got out there and it's dark but i over hear them talking to the owner of the purse that I tried to turn in so nobody would take it. I didn't know this at first because I never looked in her purse but she had like 600.00 and a bunch of change and credit cards. She laid everything on the hood of the car made sure all was there, oh she also had a prescription for xanax in her purse, so she counted them and they were all there. She then looked over at me and thanked me so much and apoligized the cops were doing me like they were. So that alone says I DID NOT STEAL ANYTHING RIGHT? Huh, you would think.. well she got to go home and get out of the cold, while now the cops have me standing at the hood of the police car and they are going through my purse again. WHY!!! The lady just jumped for joy while thanking me for trying to turn her bag in and therefore protecting all her money and meds, so what the hell were they doing that to me again! I had my own money and its ironic but I also had my prescription for xanax. Kinda crazy ya know it lol! Anyway, I had nothing at all illegal and as I have mentioned I STOLE NOTHING AND WOULD YOU NOT THINK THAT THE COPS SHOULD KNOW THAT BY THIS POINT? I was starting to think they would take the cuffs off any minute now, but instead they shove me into the back of the cop car!!! FOR FREAKING WHAT!? I HAD NOT COMMITTED A DANG CRIME OR EVEN CAME CLOSE TO BREAKING THE LAW!!! Of course I start crying not because I am sad or scared but I was PISSED AT THAT POINT! To make it even worse, I had my 22 year old applehead chihuahua with me and I begged them to let him just sit there for like 15 min max it was Oct. so not too hot, and my fiance was going to hurry and pick him up with my car, they would not even do that for me.Instead they took him to the freaking pound!!! And even when I bonded out I had to leave my baby in there all night long. Just don't forget, I HAD NOT BROKEN A SINGLE LAW AND WAS PUT THROUGH ALL THIS CRAP! So to shorten this up sorry my fiance had to leave his job and spend 300 bucks to bond me out from being arrested for what!!! Hell the bondsman didn't know why i was even there! They left me sitting in booking probably because it was all bs, and made no sense! I had never ever been in any trouble my whole life. I just finished the medical billing and coding program through Penn Foster, and I was sick when I finally found out what they were trying to charge me with.. THEFT UNDER 1000.00 AND SIMPLE POSSESSION/CASUAL EXCHANGE!!!! Is that not so messed up? I didn't steal anything so how the hell can they do this to me and a dang drug charge! I AM BEING CHARGED WITH THE POSSESSION FOR THE PRESCRIPTION THE STRANGER LADY HAD IN HER FREAKING PURSE WTF and IN CASE YOU DON'T KNOW CASUAL EXCHANGE IS A DRUG DEAL!!! HOW THE HELL IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME? So now we are out the 300 bucks, 2500.00 for a lawyer that has not talked to me once outside of court, and court costs that will be outrageous! WHAT REALLY RIPS MY HEART OUT IS IF I CAN'T BEAT THESE BOGUS CHARGES ON JUNE 10 IT WILL SCREW ME OUT OF MY BRAND NEW CAREER THAT WAS ABOUT TO START. I WON'T GET A JOB IN THE MEDICAL FIELD WITH A THEFT AND DRUG CHARGE. This is all true not blown out of proportion at all and it is so unfair. My step dad is a cop in that county and my mother works for the sheriff himself who is best friends with my step dad and they don't like me and make my life hard every chance they can. So of course mother got into my business which should not be allowed and ran straight to my son, who I had finally started rebuilding a relationship with which made her mad, she told him I stole from someone and made a drug deal so he has not spoken to me since october and will not let me come to my only childs graduation this year and get to see my baby boy walk across the stage all because my mother ran her mouth to my child. I need advice on if and how I can maybe sue them for defamation or slander and get order of protection because this has went on for over ten years with her. She has broken laws etc and used the fact that step dad is a cop and they have went on motorcycle rides to Sturgis etc with the one and only judge who happens to be over EVERY case I have went through because of them. They took my little girl before we were even discharged from the hospital and she forged my name on the birth certificate. I can go on for days and have paper documents to prove every single thing I just don't know what to do about it. Most importantly I NEED HELP OR ADVICE VERY BADLY ABOUT THE POLICE TRYING TO STICK ME WITH COMPLETELY BULL CRAP CHARGES THAT WILL END MY CAREER BEFORE I EVEN GET TO BEGIN AND ALL THE HARD WORK IN SCHOOL WILL BE FOR NOTHING. I AM ALL TO HELL. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME
S