u/Yogospiracy

This happened a couple weeks ago. My wife and I are expats from Australia, and have been travelling in Europe. We decided to end our busy year in a little AirBnb in the Italian countryside. Lo and behold, we have to carry approx 80kg total worth of bags, suitcases, and a couple of guitars in hard cases with us the whole way. It's very difficult to hold everything close together when changing trains.

We were exhausted after a big day of travel. On the last train to the middle of nowhere, two of our massive suitcases started rolling across the floor. I got very flustered, but a lovely man caught them at the last second, and he also helped us get our stuff off the train at our stop. We were very grateful.

That weekend, my wife and I had dinner in a little pizzeria in this tiny town. Just as we were leaving, a couple at another table beckoned me over. I didn't understand what was going on (I don't speak Italian, and they didn't understand my English). The woman got out Google Translate and started writing what her husband was saying: "Do you remember me, the guy who helped you on the train?"

I didn't recognise him at first, but he was the guy! I got excited, shook his hand, and gave him a big hug that transcended any language barrier.

A random act of kindness and a coincidental reunification. It really is a small world in a country town.

TLDR: An Italian stranger helped us get our stuff off the train, and we bumped into him by coincidence at a restaurant later. Gave him a hug of gratitude.

Frugality teaches us that a few bucks is more precious than our time and attention. I say this as someone who used to live off $25/week of groceries.

Is it really worth it to spend a whole frustrating minute of your day to squeeze out the last drop of toothpaste worth 1c, or spend an extra 2 hours cooking and washing up to turn a chicken carcass into bone broth that will take up a quarter of your fridge space for 3 months, to salvage $10? Or constantly stress about unplugging appliances and the TV every night, which saves roughly $1-2 of energy per year?

Not to mention people’s houses that reek of vinegar because they want to use their homemade cleaning products, which often take twice as much scrubbing.

At the end of the year, you’d be lucky to save a thousand bucks by implementing a couple dozen of these frugal hacks. Yes, it adds up, and for some people that’s a lot of money. But the cost could easily be 100 hours of free time, plus the constant background anxiety that you’re losing money every time you forget one of these habits. From a financial perspective, most people could spend 100 hours per year investing in skills to build a rewarding side hustle/hobby business that could make 5x the amount saved from being frugal.

Hi!

On 1 Aug I will be participating in the Rostock Hella Marathon, which will be my first ever full marathon race. I have spent a little bit of time in Rostock before, and even did a practice half marathon on the map route a couple of months ago. Has anyone else here completed the event, or know what to expect?

I am looking for advice. From my understanding on the map there will be water stops. Is there a chance to go to the toilet during the race? Are there any other things to be aware of (either for a first time marathon runner, or about the Rostock race specifically)?

Thank you so much! I am very excited, and hope to see some of you there.

I'm starting a new sales campaign, but I can't upload more than one creative on the ad level (even after creating new ads and duplicating them under the adset) because of the new UI. Usually I have this structure:

Ad 1 Campaign
...Ad 1 Adset
......Ad 1 Video with hook 1
......Ad 1 Video with hook 2
......Ad 1 Video with hook 3

Ad 2 Campaign
...Ad 2 Adset
......Ad 2 Video with hook 1
......Ad 2 Video with hook 2
......Ad 2 Video with hook 3

Etc. I do this to test different hooks (a different first 3 seconds) of the same core ad. This is extremely useful for me to see the metrics of which hooks are most engaging, so I can scale my ads with the winning hooks. It also helps me test budgets and adjust adset budgets over time.

For whatever reason, the UI has changed (with a whole bunch of AI slop recommendations), and I can't seem to edit or upload new media to new Ads on the ad level. Where it usually says "Ad Creative" with the button "Edit or change media", it is just blank with no button.

Has anyone come across this issue? It's the first time I've had this problem in 2+ years of doing FB ads through meta business suite.

Hello!

My wife and I will be moving back to Canberra in September, and we are looking to buy our first home. We previously rented in Griffith/Kingston, and we adore the location because of the proximity to work, the lake, and the nice amenities in a slightly quieter part of the inner south.

We're happy to just buy a 1-bedroom unit/apartment to live in for a few years, until our family grows, and then we plan to hold onto the property as a long-term investment.

Our budget is $400k-$500k (with a decent deposit saved). Our preference is somewhere in old Kingston, nearby an R6 or R2 Bus, close to Kingston shops/Manuka, but it's not a deal breaker. If there is a great option on the cheaper side in other parts of the suburb, we'll gladly consider it.

Our main concern as first home buyers is being cautious about hidden strata costs. We've heard horror stories of Canberra apartment defects (Geocon, etc). While doing our research, we've also read news stories about structural defects in inner-south complexes like Leahy Close, costing unexpected tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars per owner. For example, we've seen a lot of McMillan Crescent apartments/studios go up for sale recently, so perhaps there are red flags about strata or building defects?

Does anyone have any insights or experience owning units/apartments in Griffith/Kingston? What are the specific complexes or red flags to avoid? Any recommendations?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read. Any help is gladly appreciated! :)