u/MoneyDiariesAlpaca

I’ve loved jewelry for a long time and I’ve always wanted to make it! As a kid I dabbled with beadwork and wire wrapping but none of it truly scratched my itch, because I always wanted to set stones and things.

I don’t have ANY experience; I am a ceramic artist but I’m not sure that that’s relevant at all? I’ve been reading through posts on here and I do intend to apply to signet, but outside of signet are there any best practices on how to approach folks for a possible apprenticeship? I honestly don’t anticipate being paid, but I’m happy to come in a couple times a week and learn and help out!

I’m in Los Angeles and only live a few miles from the jewelry district and really don’t mind making a fool of myself asking someone to put me on.

Thank yall in advance for your advice!

Last night I went to the grocery store (sprouts) to get things for dinner last night and sweet treats or breakfasts for the week. I spent $98. Sure there were a couple more “spendy” items, olive oil and salmon specifically (I didn’t even get wild caught!). And the meal I made WAS delicious and we have leftover for at least one meal and kinda 4-8 breakfasts/sweet treats (yogurt bowls with fruit & nuts).

The obvious place to get the cost down is to go to a cheaper store I guess, but sprouts is closest and there’s nothing significantly cheaper for about 6 miles and I live in LA so you’ve got to factor in gas cost and traffic time. Many of the things I bought were on sale. Is this what people are talking about when they say how expensive it is to eat healthy? I just made salmon, rice, and salad. $98 dollars for maybe 4 portions of that and at best 8 yogurt bowls (sometimes I’ll only eat half the yogurt cup at a time) seems insane.

For context, I just moved out of my parents house where we ate out every night. I have a lot of weird food “things” including an eating disorder (doing much better but it just means I can’t be a chicken and rice girl it HAS to be “fancy”/flavor packed otherwise I won’t eat) and contamination OCD and I’m gluten free on top of it all.

I don’t see the difference in cost anywhere. Everyone talks about how much better cost wise it is to eat at home. I don’t see it? Is there something I’m missing? My parents literally NEVER taught me anything about this. I lived away from home last summer and just didn’t think about food that much/was not paying for any other major expenses (rent, gas etc.) and was in a completely different (slightly cheaper) place. Even when we did “grocery shop” at home it was mainly just for whatever snacks or little things and on holidays for big meals which of course was expensive because it’s a big holiday meal.

I feel dumb like there’s some missing piece of adulting that I don’t understand, and I know that it’s affecting my relationship as well (I am no longer surprised that finances are the leading cause of divorce!) because I HATE having to think about these things. Like honestly it crushed me a little bit to get farmed instead of wild caught salmon (I know it’s my privilege but again if I was feeling like cooking at home we’d just get wild caught despite the price). My partner was even like you got SALMON omg and I really had a moment where I almost ran out of the house because it’s FARM RAISED salmon dude not short ribs or a rack of lamb. And I don’t know that I can live like that where making salmon at home is like an occasion.

Back to the point how do I rein in this grocery budget? I want to cook at home I want to be cost effective I want to be healthy, I just don’t understand how. This is not the only week like this, a couple weeks ago I made bolognese blanco and it was similarly expensive and about ~4 portions so ~$25/serving.

I know that I sound like a troll perhaps but I promise you I’m not I’m just a spoiled little princess in her late 20s trying to make it all work.