I put down that I don’t think I’ve “saved more” from having health insurance than I’ve paid in, on a lifetime basis.
I’ve been on my own, and on my own health insurance coverage, for 34 years, since I was 24.
For the first 16 years of that, I nearly never had to go to the doctor. I likely wasn’t paying a lot into the system – I was on employer-provided coverage, so I was only paying a small portion of my total premium – but I wasn’t a utilizer.
After being diagnosed with diabetes in 2005, I started going to the doctor regularly, and taking prescription meds. However, I haven’t had any major health bills beyond those, and even the savings I get (lower overall costs due to negotiated rates, only having to pay co-pays and deductibles) might not outweigh what I’ve paid into the system, especially as, for three years, I was self-employed, and had to buy my own insurance, paying over $1000 a month in premiums during that time…
On the good china question, I answered yes, but it really needed an other or more specific question.
We have a good set, handed down by my wife’s grandmother, split among her four granddaughters. But the poll asked ‘that you use for special occasions’. We have never used it. It sits in a box, gathering dust, because we don’t see any use for it. When we entertain (very, Very rarely), our normal stoneware is perfectly fine, and can go in the dishwasher at the end of the meal.
In the past decade, apart from a pair of wide sandals, the only shoes I have bought are the “Five Fingers” ones – it is as close to going barefoot as is allowed in public places. There are no socks that work with them, so I just go without socks. Hence, “other”.
I have favorite socks, for various weather. But they’re favorite by type, and quality ones are, or used to be, made by more than one company. I don’t go by the brand; I go by the materials, whether the size is available, and whether they look decently made.
However, if anyone is currently selling properly made cotton boot socks for some remotely reasonable price per pair, they might become my favorite brand, because I can’t seem to find those any longer. Decent quality wool boot socks are all over the place, and great for cold weather. Decent quality cotton boot socks seem to have disappeared, and they’re what I need in hot weather. Dickies (I think it is, whatever they’ve got at Tractor Supply) makes some, but they stretch out of shape within a few wearings and become too thin, so my feet slide in the shoes.
Darn Tough & Bombas are my socks of choice. Darn Tough socks come with a lifetime warranty. They’re expensive but you never have to replace them. I use them for running and hiking.
Bombas aren’t cheap either and they last a good while. I’m only now getting holes in some of mine and it’s been probably six years at least. These are my everyday socks.
‘Good china’ is truly a generational thing. Yes, we got a set from my mother in law who got it from her mother who got it passed it down from her mother…who no doubt treasured them her whole life. They get ceremonially brought out for use once a year. They occupy their very own cabinet the other 364 days of the year. I suggested unloading them but they have too much sentimental value for Mrs. Cardigan. ‘Good’ china and silverware is really not a good use of space or resources for most families in the 21st century.
That was exactly my thinking. My parents have a set of China that pretty much gets used on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and sits in the China cabinet the rest of the year. I, personally, don’t see the point of owning a set of dishes that only get used maybe twice a year.
My grandparents also used to have ‘good’ towels and washcloths in their bathroom that were ostensibly intended for the use of guests but in practice were never used. They also had a plastic runner (I’m serious) like you’d see in furniture stores protecting the carpet through their living room. The grandkids weren’t supposed to sit in the living room walking on the good carpet and sitting on the good furniture. No, we did that in the ‘den’.
Their generation was definitely more about having your cake than eating it.
We have a set of “good china,” most of which was given to us as wedding gifts; over the first few years of our marriage, we added in some of the pieces we didn’t already have. It doesn’t get used often, maybe once or twice a year, and we haven’t used it at all since COVID.
We also have a set of “Christmas china,” with a Christmas-tree motif on it; it wasn’t as expensive as the other set, but we use it when we have people over during the holidays (which, again, we haven’t done in several years).
For socks, I discovered Bombas about four or five years ago, and they are now the only socks I wear. I indulge in some of their funky patterns and colors.
Yeah, we’ve got a set of Christmas china and glassware too. Use to get used once a year without fail. I really like how the stuff looks so I go out of my way to now use it frequently throughout the whole month of December during the ‘Christmas season’ to justify its continued existence in our house.
I inherited my mom’s wedding china about 20 years ago, and I’ve never used it. First, it’s pretty, but the pattern is orange blossoms along the rim, which is so literally “wedding.” Plus, it has a platinum edging which requires hand washing. No thanks.
So Bombas are good? Their advertising made me think they were cheap with a quality that reflected that. But if they’re decent quality, I might try some.
This. I generally find that piercings squick me out, but whatever, you do you. Tattoos, on the other hand, almost never squick me out. And some are gorgeous. And some are really ugly. And the electrician with Nazi symbols tattooed on his forearms didn’t get rehired. But i find most tattoos either attractive or meh.
Anyway, i only comment on them if i like them, and even then, only if it’s sometime i know.
Yeah. If it was a place i rarely shopped at, I’d be annoyed either way, but wouldn’t bother to return to the store to make the adjustment unless it was a lot of money. (Maybe $50?) So that’s how i voted. But if it was a place i shopped at regularly this is what I’d do. Bring it up next time i was there. (With the extra item, if that was the error.)
Most of my socks are either Superheroes, Looney Tunes characters, or Looney Tunes characters playing Superheroes*. No idea what brand - whatever was the cheapest bid in China that month, I guess.
My socks are compression socks and unexciting. I try to find brands that last through many washings and I order wide-calf because I’m tall and the only way to get knee high socks that come up past the widest part of my calf is to order the ones for wider calves. Left compressionless, my calves start retaining enough water to be wide anyway.
I see Bombas has compressions socks. I may try a pair.
Some of my socks say “Hanes,” others “Gildan,” others nothing. I pretty much just buy whichever one is the cheapest crew sock multi-pack I can can find on amazon. Brand is not really a consideration.
I am much more fond of gold toe than i would have expected to be. I like merino wool in my socks, and that’s a widely available and well made brand that has a lot of it.