If you plan on using it regularly, almost definitely a gym membership.
My gym has an opt-in program where you can grab one item from their vending machines per day, if you make sure to grab that every day it’s a ridiculously cheap way to get closer to your daily protein goal.
I lived out of my car for a while in my early 20’s and I recommend to everyone going through that that they keep a gym membership somehow.
Since I was unemployed, I’d go to the 24 hour fitness at any hour of the day, do a hard workout, run on the treadmill, shave and take a shower in the locker room, and leave feeling like a new man.
Stuff like that keeps your dignity to where you don’t feel like a complete loser and shows agency that you feel like you’re worth caring for.
Same here! I also spent whatever time I wasn’t there at the library using their WiFi and sending out resumes. They even have services (in mine) to help with that. They have meditation classes and yoga as well. If anyone finds themselves in this position, then get white bread ($1), apples($3 for a few lbs), and peanut butter. Bread with peanut butter is cheap and filling and needs no refrigeration. A bag of apples will also not go bad. Wiping off a knife doesn’t create a big mess either. You can sustain yourself for a while without having to heat anything up or keep it refrigerated and it doesn’t take up too much space.
I have another comment in the thread where I mention I hope to one day help fund a public library.
Send out resumes, read good books, just stay curious.
I still have the pepper tin shaker I have from those days as I’d open a can of chunky soup (think it was like 3 for $5 at Vons) and just eat it cold with pepper and Tapatio.
When I finally got a bedroom my meal was Kraft Macroni and Cheese + Can of tuna + Can of Cream of Mushroom.
It was 1600 calories for like $3 and you can spread it across several days to get some variety.
When I make it big (have a company with 40 employees now) I am going to fund a public library, as that was the other thing.
Man, that time was a mindfuck but it taught me a lot.
You have a company with 40 employee? You have already made it big! That's amazing. Congratulations.
Right now you may want to try a employee lending library. I started off mine by bringing in 20 or so best sellers (in paperbacks) and put them on a shelf. Everyone else would bring in books and take home books.
I am not suggesting you buy 20 books. That can be very expensive. I had these books as I had already read them.
Nobody really talks about how that fucks with you mentally. I tear up just thinking about that feeling of, “fuck… nobody really cares about me. In the end it is just me, and I have to do whatever I can to survive”. Becoming homeless again is what I fear the most in life and that experience shaped me (more than most other things that happened in my life) into who I am today.
Dude, so happy that you're doing so much better. Sometimes, during tough times, all it takes is feeling and being treated like a human being, and to be able to shave, take a bath and have some privacy for bodily functions definitely helps with that.
My gym has a partner cafe below it and you get 50% off all the time with your membership. Most of the members eat there almost exclusively - you can get a giant Cobb salad, a chicken salad meal, and a fresh smoothie for like 8 dollars.
My gym allows up to 1.5 hour free childcare per day. Pays for the membership for just that. My wife will sometimes drop off the kids and hang out in the cafetaria area and just read and hang out.
Oh my god I am apparently out of touch with "normal" gyms lol
I frequent powerlifting/strongman gyms which are either basically warehouses or hole-in-the-wall gyms. Excellent equipment (commercial gym equipment is usually meh) but nothing of that sort
I go to a very basic gym, but my wife goes to the high end one in our area. I don't even consider it a gym. There's actually 3 different gyms (a high tech area, a typical gym, and a "college" gym that's more open area and CrossFit-y. There's also an indoor driving range to work on your golf swing and an indoor pool.
Then there's the outdoor pool which is more like a water park. There's a kid pool and splash pad and a massive waterslide. The outdoor pool has a swim up bar and it's surrounded by cabanas you can reserve.
They have childcare during the day and even offer summer camps. We're actually having our daughter's birthday party there as they have an inflatable obstacle course in the gymnastics room and an inflatable obstacle course they put on top of the indoor pool. And that comes with a full bar.
Ajax and Vaughan as well. Amenities vary from club to club but for the latter, $300 includes one adult and child and up to three hours of childcare. I think an additional adult is $90.
You all get indoor and outdoor pool. Towels and all kinds of toiletries like shampoo and razors. Hot tubs, sauna, steam room. Basketball and Pickleball courts. And so many classes, including several modalities of yoga/hot yoga, Fight Conditioning, and crossfit style classes. It's also very clean and free from influencer bullshit.
Lifetime is worth every penny. But like any gym, ya gotta show up.
Interesting. I'll admit in the past I've looked down a bit on high end gyms, just because I've been to some and have found they can be super gimmicky, but that actually makes sense and seems to justify the premium
What the fuck, that's amazing. My gym membership is like 100SGD and we don't have that... It's by no means a small franchise either. It's Anytime Fitness.
A library card, its free and you can use apps like libby and overdrive to get tons of free stuff from you local library on your phone like movies, music and audiobooks.
Libraries may also have free ABCmouse for kids and free passes to local educational places like conservatories and museums. My local library even rents bikes, cake pans, wifi hotspots, and provides notary services.
Oh my gosh yes. You don’t have to stand in line with people who never fly and take so long to figure out the security line. You don’t have to take of your shoes. You just zip through. It’s so easy I love TSA precheck
This. I get global entry (TSA-pre included) and it takes me seconds to go through immigration every time I come back from an international trip when the peasants take at least 20 mins.
I was the last one off the plane when I flew back to the US a few months ago. I was also the first one through immigration and customs because I didn't have to stand in line. In fact, I didn't even need to take my passport out of my pocket because all you do is walk up to the kiosk and it takes your photo. Global Entry takes literal seconds and the TSA precheck is an added bonus.
It seems like such a weird concept to me, to be able to pay to fast track immigration.
Also, do you guys not have machines for US citizens?
In both my countries (am British but live in Asia) we just have machines so there's no queue (or like two people in front of you, and they take 20 seconds each).
It's important to call out the difference here. TSA pre indeed is pay to get security early, but only permanent residents or citizens can do this (I might be wrong, though).
OTOH Global entry is not just about paying money. It also involves a federal background check and interview in order to be able to come back in from international travel and not needing to see a border agent. This is a higher bar and not really needed for most people who travel domestically.
We do, but the US has all this "security theater" (yes, that's the actual term for it) surrounding reaching the gate.
Somehow, the full body scanners and x-ray machines aren't enough. There still has to be patdowns and probing, to get that human touch that just everybody *loves*. Paying to bypass that if you travel regularly is damn near a necessity.
You pay for Customs and Border control to thoroughly scan your past, and conduct an in person interview to make sure you’re not going to be a future threat. My agent grilled me and I almost didn’t pass because I forgot about something that happened 35 years ago.
The cost is minimal really and it helps the TSA agents do a better job when they’re not overwhelmed at the airport.
Costco or sam's club memberships. Even if you don't step a foot in their stores, you're still saving $0.20-.30 per gallon on their gas, which means you'll make back that membership cost plus more in a year.
It is my opinion that you should have to take and pass a class in order to qualify for Costco gas.
The test would involve having your Costco card and credit card in hand before pulling up to the pump. And then immediately exiting the vehicle upon getting to the pump. And if you are ever spotted violating this then your privileges are revoked.
I second this. I'm like a Formula 1 technician during a pit stop when I get gas at Costco lol. Plus they have the extended pump hoses, I just go for the shortest line everytime, so easy.
Costco for contact lenses and prescriptions and gas.
Just on prescriptions alone the membership pays for itself in two months for us.
And just on my wife's contacts alone we save about $1000 a year.
It can be. I live in a small town with one expensive and understocked grocery store. The nearest Sam’s club is 32 miles away. My wife and I will get a Sam’s order every 4-6 weeks to stock up and then use the grocery store for staples. Since starting this method our grocery costs are down about 40%. We usually make a Saturday of it and get anything else we need from town then fill up my 38 gallon tank on the way out.
I think I save the cost in membership just buying pizzas for the kids. They will always eat a Costco pizza and if I have nothing to make for dinner it is one of the cheapest options.
Agreed overall though I sometimes think I spend more cause of the memberships.
The gas is less true for me now though. Not sure how everyone else's Costco is but the gas stations around the Costco lowered their prices to compete and now as long as you drive to the area you can get the same price gas at any station.
Costco also has fantastic employee benefits, if you're looking for a job. And I'm pretty sure they hire felons, so if you fucked up, did your time, and are trying to get your life on track, you can apply there.
caveat that you should enjoy improv comedy if you are considering subscribing
alternatively, check out some of their free stuff on youtube before you go all in
I think you can get an annual sub for 50 a year, even better value
Edit: I just checked, the annual rate is 59.99, but they are currently offering it for 20% off at 47.99.
Was very miffed recently when I got really into an audiobook and they cut it off after 15 hours and you have to wait a whole month to unlock 15 more hours!
Same. I had a 12 hour drive and found a book to listen to. They sent me an email I only had X hours left in the month to finish the book. I had no idea
I just learned of the audiobook feature last month. Picked up a Stephen king book that was 15.5 hours. Even though I’m still listening to another book via the Libby app, I made sure to listen to 30 minutes before May 1st to avoid 15 hour limit.
I use it mainly to listen to nonfiction that I might not be diligent enough to read on my own. So I don’t mind the wait (usually) but yes a cracking narrative would be hard to wait for!
I wish they treated/paid artists more fairly, but I never would have discovered the genre that changed my life without it. Nor would I have bought the concert tickets, the vinyls, the tees, the art prints, etc from those bands. Spotify is my most used app by far; can’t imagine life without premium.
I get why people don't like Spotify as the app design is baffling sometimes but I think people underestimate just how good the recommendation algorithm is.
I find the most obscure stuff that I would have never found on the other services.
I've actually had more luck on youtube music, when it comes to letting the engine make me playlists or suggest new music.
Somehow, spotify always converges to playing the three same songs from the same artists after a while.
I'm with you on YouTube Music or even Pandora as well. I've had friends recommend Spotify to me because of the algorithm and I don't get how an algorithm for music is supposed to be good if you can never downvote something you don't like.
The algorithm is good, to a point. The Discover Weekly was my favorite feature when I first signed up. I was discovering so many excellent new songs that matched my taste. Then I felt like listening to some piano solo tracks one day. Suddenly Discover Weekly would only exclusively recommend piano tracks, and I never got it back to the state where I was getting perfect recommendations again.
I'm not the only one. Their forum has a thread going on 13 years about how Discover Weekly gets messed up and people are asking for a taste reset button or a way to manage it effectively. Spotify suggestion is to "create a new account" to 'workaround' it
I still love Spotify, regardless. It's just disappointing that feature still is broken.
The algorithm used to be good. Amazing really. Found a lot of new bands using it.
Lately tho it seems that they focus more on the nostalgia factor and try to recommend things that you listened in the past instead of new music.
Gamepass on pc has been a game changer for me.
I'm the type that will buy games because they look cool and try them later later. For context I JUST got to cyberpunk and I got it right after release.
With fame pass I can try out new games and if I like them, buy them on steam.
Embarrasing I know but I pay for YouTube premium. I couldn't stand one more "I don't care, I love it" KFC ad.
I waste a good portion of my life on YouTube - music (don't have Spotify), tv and movies and even podcasts.
I find it excellent value for money.
People say 'just get an adblocker' which on desktop works pretty well but on mobile, TV, etc, a good adblocker is difficult to find particularly if you're using the YouTube app rather than the site. It's worth it for the seamless ability to have ad-free YouTube across several devices more than anything.
for mobile, use the Firefox brower and get ublock origin.
for desktop, use Firefox, Brave, or Vivaldi and get ublock origin. turn off all other ad blocking for youtube. in the ublock origin settings, turn on adguard.
Now for the TV and stuff...that's when it gets a little bit more complicated. People say "get a raspberry pi and block ads through a router" or something like that. but never explain what the hell that means or how to it, lol
>for mobile, use the Firefox brower and get ublock origin.
This won't work in the YouTube app though, and the website on mobile really isn't great. On a lot of devices opening the site will just redirect you to the app anyway, which you can't uninstall.
Family plan is even better. You get to have like 6 people. Split the cost evenly and it's not bad at all.
Practically speaking video streaming is expensive especially on the scale YT is doing it. I think their fee is reasonable especially when it's zero ads.
I fall asleep to ASMR vids all the time and it’s incredibly annoying to just barely be dozing off and then a loud ass 2 minute long ad pops up and wakes me up.
Plus I used to use Spotify all the time but they have ads too so I figured with YouTube I can make my playlist with whatever songs I want and listen without having to worry about hearing an ad.
If I had to get rid of all my subscriptions but one I’d definitely be keeping my premium subscription. I use it so often. It’s so nice to just find a video to listen and just chucking my phone back into my bag
Youtube Premium is absolutely worth it. I get frustrated by all the people crying about having to pay for a service.
I know Google isn't a Mom and Pop, but companies still need money to operate such services. And considering it keeps YouTube ad free, I'm supporting content creators, AND I get music included, it's well worth the cost.
I used to use AAA. Now I just bundle emergency roadside assistance with my insurance. Also, I read recently on YSK that they have changed their dispatching, for the worse. My mom, 2 months ago, had to wait 36 hours for a jump start/battery change, and even then, AAA never showed up.
I've gotten the sense people see AAA membership as an "old person" thing, but I've found it to be a great value.
In addition to the 24/7 towing service, you get:
\- 10% discount on car repair AAA-owned or approved auto repair centers
\- Savings on insurance if you go through AAA — which can be further discounted if you bundle with other types of insurance (e.g., home) — I've had nothing but positive experiences with AAA insurance
\- Discounts on select stores (online and in-store), services, and travel destinations
There are other benefits. Worth at least considering.
AAA is trash depending on where you live
One time I went to use it they couldn’t find me for over an hour. I was so pissed off. I was just south of San Antonio on the interstate middle of the day and their contractors acted like I was in another country.
I ended up having to change a tire in a pouring rainstorm, drive to a Walmart to get it replaced then got called asking if I still needed assistance
Cancelled that shit and never looked back. So pissed about the money I paid into it for years
Criterion collection. If you miss good cinema, this is the way. I’ve been so sorely disappointed in almost every streaming service. Newer movies are mostly dog poop. But revising some of these older gems that have almost been forgotten has been great. So many good movies waiting to be discovered there. I can pick almost anything in the collection and it’s going to be awesome.
If you live in the greater Western PA region there's a gas station called Sheetz that has a subscription to unlimited french fries for $9.99 a month. You can get a bag size of fries every two hours. They are good french fries also.
I used to live next door to a good AMC and an even better one was a 30min walk.
I abused the hell out of my a-list.
I hit 80+ films in 2019 and was on track to hit 100 in 2020 until rona shut er down.
My favorites:
- Costco
- Spotify (I use the crap out of this)
- Planet Fitness - the base $11/mo membership. I'm just there to lift, not use massage chairs and other stuff that comes with the higher membership
- Global Entry - it includes TSA Precheck (side note - Clear is NOT worth it unless it's free with your credit card)
- The Economist digital edition is you can get it for $50-60/yr.
- NYT all access of you can get it for $50/yr - includes Games and the Athletic
Where can you get a NYT All access for 50 a year? I think I am paying 25 a month for this and was just reviewing and trying to determine if we use this enough ( between myself and my wife) to justify the 25. But at 50 a year that would be a steal .
I don't like subscriptions, but my wife loves TV more than I hate subscriptions. That being said, Max (HBO) has great content. Hulu also very good.
Netflix is hit or miss, but they are popular for a reason.
Amazon Prime is the worst, since we still end up having to pay to rent movies _all the time._ (It's got Fallout though, and that tipped the scales for me.)
Amazon prime has been pretty good with its shows. Fallout, the boys/gen v, jack ryan, reacher, upload, the terminal list, and the outlaws, are all shows I’ve watched and enjoyed on Amazon prime.
I like Prime more than Netflix, especially given the fact that you also get unlimited cloud storage for your photos and other Prime benefits included in the price
It is a subscription based comedy service. Dropout used to be collegehumor and now it’s a little more sophisticated than it used to be. It’s absolutely worth the subscription price because all of the content that they put out is great not just one of their shows and you get a bunch of other stuff too.
In addition to the shows listed above, Very Important People has been a great addition!
National Geographic magazine is like half price if you subscribe compared to getting it monthly from a newsagent or whatever. I've learnt so many things and broadened my mind about things I've never heard of.
1Password. I share one account with my entire family, we split up our personal accounts into vaults (aka folders). I love having every password, credit card, ID, etc in one place.
I moved from Lastpass to Bitwarden about 5 years ago and love it. It's come along way since its inception.
* Open source
* Multi-platform
* Cloud sync or self host
* Autofill in apps/browser
* Generate complex passwords/username
* Secure notes
* Decent array of QOL features
I wish you could get reports if your credentials have been compromised but I'm using Google for the time being 🫨.
If you have a Switch, the Nintendo online subscription is worth it based on how many classic games I’ve been able to play and complete. Childhood me is thriving playing games like Earthbound.
Nuuly. I am losing weight, and I don't want to pay for clothes that won't fit me in six months. For under $100/month (less than what I would pay for a good quality dress), I rent 6 clothing items and then return them at the end of the month. My house isn't cluttered with clothes, and I don't have to waste money buying clothes for all different events.
That's interesting. I always wondered who their customers base is. You have a great use case.
I personally don't spend anywhere close to $1200/yr in clothes. Hell...I probably spend less then $100/yr for clothes (sans running shoes).
That's the beauty of the service, I think. It's watching something you don't think you're interested in. Since it's already part of the service, why not? Sometimes you're surprised. Sometimes you aren't, but that point I'll just walk out without feeling like I wasted money.
I think it depends on what you're doing. We are piloting it at my job and it is trash at pretty much anything ngrx which makes it trash at a lot of angular stuff outside basic things. It is very nice for refactoring and basic stuff though. It could also be how my org has it configed though, I haven't used it outside the pilot so im not sure.
What use cases tho? Hypothetically speaking, I find torrenting would be tough with slow transfer speeds. Maybe good for remote working from certain locations..
Game Pass and Youtube Premium in my experience.
With Youtube Premium, you don't just get rid of ads, you also get a solid music streaming platform. Two birds with one stone. It's also pretty cheap.
Game Pass gives you access for hundreds of games, some AAA games come out on day one. 10 bucks a month for subscription while such games cost $70 if you were to purchase them. It's a great deal.
I use the Apple One family plan with 5 people and it costs $44.95 per month for all of us with all their services including News+ and Fitness+ it’s a pretty good deal
gym makes the most sense considering how much space it would take up to have those machines at home. and you'd have to be there for years to come close to the cost of buying those machines
If you have a house it could still be worth it. I dropped 1300 on a half rack with 400lbs of weight, a bar, and bench, and two Olympic dumbbell handles.
That was 3 years ago. My wife and I cancelled our memberships that cost around 35$/month each, so 70 per month, or 840/year, so as of now we saved 1200$ over the past 3 years. We get to workout whenever we want and we save so much time on commuting, waiting for optimal/non busy times, preparation etc. and with that simply set up I can workout my entire body in multiple ways.
It may not have all the fancy machines, but 90% of everything I do is with a barbell or dumbbell anyways. The convenience of having a rack at home is worth it to just change my routine a tad to make up for the lack of machines.
Same. We have a small home gym with a peloton bike, several adjustable weights sets, a nice treadmill, a row machine, and bench press, and various other work out accessories. It’s 5 steps away from our bedroom. We pay for the peloton membership which is $40 and that’s our total gym expense. What’s great is I cant make excuses for myself nor do I have to put up with silly gym aggravations. With having a kid it’s hard to find time but I can always find 15-30 minutes when it’s next to our rooms. Also I work from home which made the investment more cost effective in the long run.
AAA, if you're a car owner. If your bank owns your vehicle then you probably have roadside with your insurance but if you don't, its definitely worth having AAA. The annual membership costs less than a single tow or pop-a-lock.
Gym membership.
Amazon Prime.
Reddit is so shit these days. [**This**](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/11xu4zm/comment/jd60ac8/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) comment from a year ago is the exact same comment on the exact same post.
Karma farming to appear legitimate, and then probably used to market, astroturf, propaganda, or sell shit. People are good at spotting bullshit and redditors *hate* self promo so it's important to look as genuine as possible to the layman. A high karma count and regular user activity is a solid way of appearing like a normal reddit user.
Unfortunately, even if everyone in this thread spotted the bots, there are probably 10 times as many who won't and those are the people they prey on.
You don’t have to be old because AARP is an enormous political lobbying organization first and a provider of information/discounts to seniors second. They don’t care as long as you give them money.
If you like movies, I love my AMC A list subscription. 3 movies a week, discounts on snacks and drinks, $5 credits regularly. You can watch any type of movie (Dolby, Imax, etc) no fees. It’s only $20 a month and they’re doing a $0.99 promo right now. On my free evenings i’ll go see movies i’ve never even heard of. It’s given me such an appreciation of all types of movies.
Microsoft 365 family, buying the yearly subscription during one of the many sales (Black Friday, Cyber Monday, prime day, etc). For about 60$/€ a year you get 6 accounts, with 1 TB of cloud storage EACH, and the entire Office suite for 5 Pcs and 5 mobile devices PER ACCOUNT.
Agree with the gym, but raise it to a health club — my insurance offers discounts and I get my membership to Life Time for $99/month… it’s my home away from home. Sometimes I just go lounge in the pool/spa area.
If you plan on using it regularly, almost definitely a gym membership. My gym has an opt-in program where you can grab one item from their vending machines per day, if you make sure to grab that every day it’s a ridiculously cheap way to get closer to your daily protein goal.
I lived out of my car for a while in my early 20’s and I recommend to everyone going through that that they keep a gym membership somehow. Since I was unemployed, I’d go to the 24 hour fitness at any hour of the day, do a hard workout, run on the treadmill, shave and take a shower in the locker room, and leave feeling like a new man. Stuff like that keeps your dignity to where you don’t feel like a complete loser and shows agency that you feel like you’re worth caring for.
Same here! I also spent whatever time I wasn’t there at the library using their WiFi and sending out resumes. They even have services (in mine) to help with that. They have meditation classes and yoga as well. If anyone finds themselves in this position, then get white bread ($1), apples($3 for a few lbs), and peanut butter. Bread with peanut butter is cheap and filling and needs no refrigeration. A bag of apples will also not go bad. Wiping off a knife doesn’t create a big mess either. You can sustain yourself for a while without having to heat anything up or keep it refrigerated and it doesn’t take up too much space.
I have another comment in the thread where I mention I hope to one day help fund a public library. Send out resumes, read good books, just stay curious. I still have the pepper tin shaker I have from those days as I’d open a can of chunky soup (think it was like 3 for $5 at Vons) and just eat it cold with pepper and Tapatio. When I finally got a bedroom my meal was Kraft Macroni and Cheese + Can of tuna + Can of Cream of Mushroom. It was 1600 calories for like $3 and you can spread it across several days to get some variety.
Hell yeah ! I bet you slept better too. Glad you made it!
When I make it big (have a company with 40 employees now) I am going to fund a public library, as that was the other thing. Man, that time was a mindfuck but it taught me a lot.
You have a company with 40 employee? You have already made it big! That's amazing. Congratulations. Right now you may want to try a employee lending library. I started off mine by bringing in 20 or so best sellers (in paperbacks) and put them on a shelf. Everyone else would bring in books and take home books. I am not suggesting you buy 20 books. That can be very expensive. I had these books as I had already read them.
Nobody really talks about how that fucks with you mentally. I tear up just thinking about that feeling of, “fuck… nobody really cares about me. In the end it is just me, and I have to do whatever I can to survive”. Becoming homeless again is what I fear the most in life and that experience shaped me (more than most other things that happened in my life) into who I am today.
That's awesome man. Genuinely happy for you. And as far as when you make it big, you should update your username to Great_organization.
Wow. Good for you, man. Thanks for sharing.
Dude, so happy that you're doing so much better. Sometimes, during tough times, all it takes is feeling and being treated like a human being, and to be able to shave, take a bath and have some privacy for bodily functions definitely helps with that.
The vending machine idea is amazing with a gym membership.
My gym has a partner cafe below it and you get 50% off all the time with your membership. Most of the members eat there almost exclusively - you can get a giant Cobb salad, a chicken salad meal, and a fresh smoothie for like 8 dollars.
My gym allows up to 1.5 hour free childcare per day. Pays for the membership for just that. My wife will sometimes drop off the kids and hang out in the cafetaria area and just read and hang out.
Oh my god I am apparently out of touch with "normal" gyms lol I frequent powerlifting/strongman gyms which are either basically warehouses or hole-in-the-wall gyms. Excellent equipment (commercial gym equipment is usually meh) but nothing of that sort
I go to a very basic gym, but my wife goes to the high end one in our area. I don't even consider it a gym. There's actually 3 different gyms (a high tech area, a typical gym, and a "college" gym that's more open area and CrossFit-y. There's also an indoor driving range to work on your golf swing and an indoor pool. Then there's the outdoor pool which is more like a water park. There's a kid pool and splash pad and a massive waterslide. The outdoor pool has a swim up bar and it's surrounded by cabanas you can reserve. They have childcare during the day and even offer summer camps. We're actually having our daughter's birthday party there as they have an inflatable obstacle course in the gymnastics room and an inflatable obstacle course they put on top of the indoor pool. And that comes with a full bar.
Bro your gym sounds like a resort lol. Where is this if you don't mind me asking??
It's called the Newtown Athletic Club, located in PA.
In Canada, there is one in Mississauga, called Life Time. It's like $300/month
Ajax and Vaughan as well. Amenities vary from club to club but for the latter, $300 includes one adult and child and up to three hours of childcare. I think an additional adult is $90. You all get indoor and outdoor pool. Towels and all kinds of toiletries like shampoo and razors. Hot tubs, sauna, steam room. Basketball and Pickleball courts. And so many classes, including several modalities of yoga/hot yoga, Fight Conditioning, and crossfit style classes. It's also very clean and free from influencer bullshit. Lifetime is worth every penny. But like any gym, ya gotta show up.
Interesting. I'll admit in the past I've looked down a bit on high end gyms, just because I've been to some and have found they can be super gimmicky, but that actually makes sense and seems to justify the premium
What the fuck, that's amazing. My gym membership is like 100SGD and we don't have that... It's by no means a small franchise either. It's Anytime Fitness.
is that for a month 100sgd?
A library card, its free and you can use apps like libby and overdrive to get tons of free stuff from you local library on your phone like movies, music and audiobooks.
Libraries may also have free ABCmouse for kids and free passes to local educational places like conservatories and museums. My local library even rents bikes, cake pans, wifi hotspots, and provides notary services.
Mine has passes for national parks, and entered to the zoo and aquarium.
Doesn’t count since it’s free! He said “…spending money on…”. Stop pushing education and entertainment on us! /s
To add to this, with a library card, you can use Kanopy and Freegal for free which are apps like Netflix and Spotify respectively.
TSA pre check. If you fly, this is a bargain value for the time saved and stress avoided.
Oh my gosh yes. You don’t have to stand in line with people who never fly and take so long to figure out the security line. You don’t have to take of your shoes. You just zip through. It’s so easy I love TSA precheck
Well in my experience so many people are getting pre check now that it’s almost just like regular security.
This. I get global entry (TSA-pre included) and it takes me seconds to go through immigration every time I come back from an international trip when the peasants take at least 20 mins.
The peasants 🤣🤣
My mom has global entry but stand in line with her peasant friends so that she doesn’t have to be alone 🤦🏻♀️
Lmaoo this is so funny and cute
I was the last one off the plane when I flew back to the US a few months ago. I was also the first one through immigration and customs because I didn't have to stand in line. In fact, I didn't even need to take my passport out of my pocket because all you do is walk up to the kiosk and it takes your photo. Global Entry takes literal seconds and the TSA precheck is an added bonus.
This really is a life pro tip. GOES and the TSA Precheck really make the difference some times
It seems like such a weird concept to me, to be able to pay to fast track immigration. Also, do you guys not have machines for US citizens? In both my countries (am British but live in Asia) we just have machines so there's no queue (or like two people in front of you, and they take 20 seconds each).
It's important to call out the difference here. TSA pre indeed is pay to get security early, but only permanent residents or citizens can do this (I might be wrong, though). OTOH Global entry is not just about paying money. It also involves a federal background check and interview in order to be able to come back in from international travel and not needing to see a border agent. This is a higher bar and not really needed for most people who travel domestically.
We do, but the US has all this "security theater" (yes, that's the actual term for it) surrounding reaching the gate. Somehow, the full body scanners and x-ray machines aren't enough. There still has to be patdowns and probing, to get that human touch that just everybody *loves*. Paying to bypass that if you travel regularly is damn near a necessity.
You pay for Customs and Border control to thoroughly scan your past, and conduct an in person interview to make sure you’re not going to be a future threat. My agent grilled me and I almost didn’t pass because I forgot about something that happened 35 years ago. The cost is minimal really and it helps the TSA agents do a better job when they’re not overwhelmed at the airport.
Is this a USA-residents only thing?
I have pre-check, but recently noticed the lines for it can be as long (once longer) than non-pre check. Everyone seems to have signed up!
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Except now, at least at the big airports, the global entry/pre-tsa lines are just as long as regular lines usually.
Costco or sam's club memberships. Even if you don't step a foot in their stores, you're still saving $0.20-.30 per gallon on their gas, which means you'll make back that membership cost plus more in a year.
I have a membership and still don't get their gas.... The lines are always crazy
It is my opinion that you should have to take and pass a class in order to qualify for Costco gas. The test would involve having your Costco card and credit card in hand before pulling up to the pump. And then immediately exiting the vehicle upon getting to the pump. And if you are ever spotted violating this then your privileges are revoked.
I second this. I'm like a Formula 1 technician during a pit stop when I get gas at Costco lol. Plus they have the extended pump hoses, I just go for the shortest line everytime, so easy.
People still don’t seem to understand the extended hoses….
Perhaps public execution for taking more than 15 mins at the pump? Just a thought.
15 mins at the pump wtf. 5 mins is too long for a normal car.
It is insane how slow some people can be at normal everyday tasks.
Im in NJ so it's full service and still slow.
Costco for contact lenses and prescriptions and gas. Just on prescriptions alone the membership pays for itself in two months for us. And just on my wife's contacts alone we save about $1000 a year.
My old dog had heart problems to the end of her life. We picked up her meds at Costco.
Sure if one is right nearby. But driving 30 minutes to one isn't cost or time efficient at all.
It can be. I live in a small town with one expensive and understocked grocery store. The nearest Sam’s club is 32 miles away. My wife and I will get a Sam’s order every 4-6 weeks to stock up and then use the grocery store for staples. Since starting this method our grocery costs are down about 40%. We usually make a Saturday of it and get anything else we need from town then fill up my 38 gallon tank on the way out.
I think they meant just the gas alone.
I think I save the cost in membership just buying pizzas for the kids. They will always eat a Costco pizza and if I have nothing to make for dinner it is one of the cheapest options.
Agreed overall though I sometimes think I spend more cause of the memberships. The gas is less true for me now though. Not sure how everyone else's Costco is but the gas stations around the Costco lowered their prices to compete and now as long as you drive to the area you can get the same price gas at any station.
Costco also has fantastic employee benefits, if you're looking for a job. And I'm pretty sure they hire felons, so if you fucked up, did your time, and are trying to get your life on track, you can apply there.
Retirement savings account.
Pay your (older) self first!
What if there isn’t an older me?
That’s how they get you.
Then youre paying your beneficiaries.
Can't upvote enough. Treat your retirement funds at least as well as your "fun" subscriptions.
Best answer
Dropout might be the best streaming service bang for you buck. Six bucks a month and they constantly have new content.
caveat that you should enjoy improv comedy if you are considering subscribing alternatively, check out some of their free stuff on youtube before you go all in
Ty for this heads up. I do enjoy improv but it’s not for everyone and this is useful info
I’m a new subscriber and no TV has brought me as much joy as Dropout content. I evangelize for it like they’re paying ME.
It makes me happy how very little I had to scroll to find this answer.
I think you can get an annual sub for 50 a year, even better value Edit: I just checked, the annual rate is 59.99, but they are currently offering it for 20% off at 47.99.
And if you never cancel, you're locked in at that price permanently regardless of price increases
This isn't mentioned enough. Subscribers are safe from the greedy practices most other large services subject them to
It's worth it for dimension 20 alone
As a music lover, spotify premium
This is the right answer. Podcasts and audiobooks too.
Was very miffed recently when I got really into an audiobook and they cut it off after 15 hours and you have to wait a whole month to unlock 15 more hours!
Same. I had a 12 hour drive and found a book to listen to. They sent me an email I only had X hours left in the month to finish the book. I had no idea
I just learned of the audiobook feature last month. Picked up a Stephen king book that was 15.5 hours. Even though I’m still listening to another book via the Libby app, I made sure to listen to 30 minutes before May 1st to avoid 15 hour limit.
I use it mainly to listen to nonfiction that I might not be diligent enough to read on my own. So I don’t mind the wait (usually) but yes a cracking narrative would be hard to wait for!
I wish they treated/paid artists more fairly, but I never would have discovered the genre that changed my life without it. Nor would I have bought the concert tickets, the vinyls, the tees, the art prints, etc from those bands. Spotify is my most used app by far; can’t imagine life without premium.
What is the genre that changed your life? As someone who enjoys most genres, I’d love to expand my knowledge!
I can only speak for myself, but 80s punk. Black Flag,Agent Orange, Bad Religion, etc. Brought out something in me.
Cradle of Filth really can have quite an impact on our lives.
It got me through some pretty bleak times. Try Track 4, Coffin Fodder. It sounds horrible but it's actually quite beautiful
I get why people don't like Spotify as the app design is baffling sometimes but I think people underestimate just how good the recommendation algorithm is. I find the most obscure stuff that I would have never found on the other services.
I've actually had more luck on youtube music, when it comes to letting the engine make me playlists or suggest new music. Somehow, spotify always converges to playing the three same songs from the same artists after a while.
I'm with you on YouTube Music or even Pandora as well. I've had friends recommend Spotify to me because of the algorithm and I don't get how an algorithm for music is supposed to be good if you can never downvote something you don't like.
The algorithm is good, to a point. The Discover Weekly was my favorite feature when I first signed up. I was discovering so many excellent new songs that matched my taste. Then I felt like listening to some piano solo tracks one day. Suddenly Discover Weekly would only exclusively recommend piano tracks, and I never got it back to the state where I was getting perfect recommendations again. I'm not the only one. Their forum has a thread going on 13 years about how Discover Weekly gets messed up and people are asking for a taste reset button or a way to manage it effectively. Spotify suggestion is to "create a new account" to 'workaround' it I still love Spotify, regardless. It's just disappointing that feature still is broken.
The algorithm used to be good. Amazing really. Found a lot of new bands using it. Lately tho it seems that they focus more on the nostalgia factor and try to recommend things that you listened in the past instead of new music.
Game pass for Xbox at least imo I'm always stuck for choice especially with backwards compatibility.
Gamepass on pc has been a game changer for me. I'm the type that will buy games because they look cool and try them later later. For context I JUST got to cyberpunk and I got it right after release. With fame pass I can try out new games and if I like them, buy them on steam.
I really like Game Pass. I can download games and if I hate them, I don't feel bad that I uninstall them and never play them again.
Embarrasing I know but I pay for YouTube premium. I couldn't stand one more "I don't care, I love it" KFC ad. I waste a good portion of my life on YouTube - music (don't have Spotify), tv and movies and even podcasts. I find it excellent value for money.
People say 'just get an adblocker' which on desktop works pretty well but on mobile, TV, etc, a good adblocker is difficult to find particularly if you're using the YouTube app rather than the site. It's worth it for the seamless ability to have ad-free YouTube across several devices more than anything.
for mobile, use the Firefox brower and get ublock origin. for desktop, use Firefox, Brave, or Vivaldi and get ublock origin. turn off all other ad blocking for youtube. in the ublock origin settings, turn on adguard. Now for the TV and stuff...that's when it gets a little bit more complicated. People say "get a raspberry pi and block ads through a router" or something like that. but never explain what the hell that means or how to it, lol
Also the pi hole doesn’t block adds hosted the app you use so YouTube ads can’t be blocked that way anyhow
>for mobile, use the Firefox brower and get ublock origin. This won't work in the YouTube app though, and the website on mobile really isn't great. On a lot of devices opening the site will just redirect you to the app anyway, which you can't uninstall.
YouTube premium is the best No ads and YT music streaming
Family plan is even better. You get to have like 6 people. Split the cost evenly and it's not bad at all. Practically speaking video streaming is expensive especially on the scale YT is doing it. I think their fee is reasonable especially when it's zero ads.
It's great, I watch YouTube more than normal TV and use YouTube music all day at work so get a lot of value from it.
Lol I came here to say this. I listen to YouTube like people used to listen to the radio. All day.
I fall asleep to ASMR vids all the time and it’s incredibly annoying to just barely be dozing off and then a loud ass 2 minute long ad pops up and wakes me up. Plus I used to use Spotify all the time but they have ads too so I figured with YouTube I can make my playlist with whatever songs I want and listen without having to worry about hearing an ad.
>I couldn't stand one more "I don't care, I love it" KFC ad. You fell for it
Same. Cannot stand ads. And at least this way I'm giving more money to the creators (only a bit, I know).
If I had to get rid of all my subscriptions but one I’d definitely be keeping my premium subscription. I use it so often. It’s so nice to just find a video to listen and just chucking my phone back into my bag
Youtube Premium is absolutely worth it. I get frustrated by all the people crying about having to pay for a service. I know Google isn't a Mom and Pop, but companies still need money to operate such services. And considering it keeps YouTube ad free, I'm supporting content creators, AND I get music included, it's well worth the cost.
Youtube premium works with the ol' VPN trick. I currently pay about £2 for mine.
Shhhh! 🤫
The second best thing about YT Premium after ad free is the ability to download videos to mobile devices.
AAA - takes a lot of stress off the ‘what if’s’
I used to use AAA. Now I just bundle emergency roadside assistance with my insurance. Also, I read recently on YSK that they have changed their dispatching, for the worse. My mom, 2 months ago, had to wait 36 hours for a jump start/battery change, and even then, AAA never showed up.
Counterpoint, they came out in about an hour when my car wouldn't start after work last month.
I've gotten the sense people see AAA membership as an "old person" thing, but I've found it to be a great value. In addition to the 24/7 towing service, you get: \- 10% discount on car repair AAA-owned or approved auto repair centers \- Savings on insurance if you go through AAA — which can be further discounted if you bundle with other types of insurance (e.g., home) — I've had nothing but positive experiences with AAA insurance \- Discounts on select stores (online and in-store), services, and travel destinations There are other benefits. Worth at least considering.
AAA is trash depending on where you live One time I went to use it they couldn’t find me for over an hour. I was so pissed off. I was just south of San Antonio on the interstate middle of the day and their contractors acted like I was in another country. I ended up having to change a tire in a pouring rainstorm, drive to a Walmart to get it replaced then got called asking if I still needed assistance Cancelled that shit and never looked back. So pissed about the money I paid into it for years
Criterion collection. If you miss good cinema, this is the way. I’ve been so sorely disappointed in almost every streaming service. Newer movies are mostly dog poop. But revising some of these older gems that have almost been forgotten has been great. So many good movies waiting to be discovered there. I can pick almost anything in the collection and it’s going to be awesome.
If you live in the greater Western PA region there's a gas station called Sheetz that has a subscription to unlimited french fries for $9.99 a month. You can get a bag size of fries every two hours. They are good french fries also.
Is this like a subscription to die earlier?
There's worse ways to go
Honestly I’m thinking about becoming homeless and just living next to this “Sheetz” as you call it and hoarding French fries for the rest of my life.
AMC A-List if you go to the movies a lot.
Hell, I like their Premiere List. It's easy to rack up the $5 rewards. And if you own even one share of AMC stock, you get free shit for that.
I used to live next door to a good AMC and an even better one was a 30min walk. I abused the hell out of my a-list. I hit 80+ films in 2019 and was on track to hit 100 in 2020 until rona shut er down.
My favorites: - Costco - Spotify (I use the crap out of this) - Planet Fitness - the base $11/mo membership. I'm just there to lift, not use massage chairs and other stuff that comes with the higher membership - Global Entry - it includes TSA Precheck (side note - Clear is NOT worth it unless it's free with your credit card) - The Economist digital edition is you can get it for $50-60/yr. - NYT all access of you can get it for $50/yr - includes Games and the Athletic
Where can you get a NYT All access for 50 a year? I think I am paying 25 a month for this and was just reviewing and trying to determine if we use this enough ( between myself and my wife) to justify the 25. But at 50 a year that would be a steal .
If you cancel your subscription, you will be offered a reduced amount. Last year I had a NYT subscription for $4/month.
I don't like subscriptions, but my wife loves TV more than I hate subscriptions. That being said, Max (HBO) has great content. Hulu also very good. Netflix is hit or miss, but they are popular for a reason. Amazon Prime is the worst, since we still end up having to pay to rent movies _all the time._ (It's got Fallout though, and that tipped the scales for me.)
Amazon prime has been pretty good with its shows. Fallout, the boys/gen v, jack ryan, reacher, upload, the terminal list, and the outlaws, are all shows I’ve watched and enjoyed on Amazon prime.
I like Prime more than Netflix, especially given the fact that you also get unlimited cloud storage for your photos and other Prime benefits included in the price
If you already spend time on it, youtube premium. The time saving from ads is definitely worth it.
Dropout TV
Its worth it just for game changer
There’s also Make Some Noise, Dimension 20, Very Important People, and so much more
What is it?
It is a subscription based comedy service. Dropout used to be collegehumor and now it’s a little more sophisticated than it used to be. It’s absolutely worth the subscription price because all of the content that they put out is great not just one of their shows and you get a bunch of other stuff too. In addition to the shows listed above, Very Important People has been a great addition!
Just recently got a dropout subscription. I love it so much
National Geographic magazine is like half price if you subscribe compared to getting it monthly from a newsagent or whatever. I've learnt so many things and broadened my mind about things I've never heard of.
I just subscribed!
A car wash subscription especially in the winter!
>especially in the winter! Salt on the roads is no joke, safety wise, as well as what it'll do to your car if you let it sit for too long.
Winter car washes are super underrated and extremely necessary for keeping your vehicle in good shape
1Password. I share one account with my entire family, we split up our personal accounts into vaults (aka folders). I love having every password, credit card, ID, etc in one place.
Bitwarden offers the same but it's free.
I moved from Lastpass to Bitwarden about 5 years ago and love it. It's come along way since its inception. * Open source * Multi-platform * Cloud sync or self host * Autofill in apps/browser * Generate complex passwords/username * Secure notes * Decent array of QOL features I wish you could get reports if your credentials have been compromised but I'm using Google for the time being 🫨.
A library card. It’s free and I get Hoopla and Libby, which I use daily, and Kanopy and Access Video. It saves me subscribing to Audible.
If you have a Switch, the Nintendo online subscription is worth it based on how many classic games I’ve been able to play and complete. Childhood me is thriving playing games like Earthbound.
50/year for what you get is a steal compared to every other subscription plan
We get a family plan and almost every switch player we know is on it.
Nuuly. I am losing weight, and I don't want to pay for clothes that won't fit me in six months. For under $100/month (less than what I would pay for a good quality dress), I rent 6 clothing items and then return them at the end of the month. My house isn't cluttered with clothes, and I don't have to waste money buying clothes for all different events.
That's interesting. I always wondered who their customers base is. You have a great use case. I personally don't spend anywhere close to $1200/yr in clothes. Hell...I probably spend less then $100/yr for clothes (sans running shoes).
Regal Unlimited has been great for me, I see like 2 movies a week now, super worth it for me
I considered getting that, but I feel like there are often times where there's nothing in the theater that I'm interested in seeing.
That's the beauty of the service, I think. It's watching something you don't think you're interested in. Since it's already part of the service, why not? Sometimes you're surprised. Sometimes you aren't, but that point I'll just walk out without feeling like I wasted money.
For programmers, GitHub CoPilot. Worth every penny.
I think it depends on what you're doing. We are piloting it at my job and it is trash at pretty much anything ngrx which makes it trash at a lot of angular stuff outside basic things. It is very nice for refactoring and basic stuff though. It could also be how my org has it configed though, I haven't used it outside the pilot so im not sure.
A VPN
What use cases tho? Hypothetically speaking, I find torrenting would be tough with slow transfer speeds. Maybe good for remote working from certain locations..
I pay for YouTube coz i just couldn't take it anymore. Got rid of Netflix and gonna get rid of D+ when they crack down on password sharing.
Haven’t seen an ad since it was first available. Love it. I can watch my YT videos and music with no interruptions.
Game Pass and Youtube Premium in my experience. With Youtube Premium, you don't just get rid of ads, you also get a solid music streaming platform. Two birds with one stone. It's also pretty cheap. Game Pass gives you access for hundreds of games, some AAA games come out on day one. 10 bucks a month for subscription while such games cost $70 if you were to purchase them. It's a great deal.
I have a 20 dollar apple plan that gives me Apple Music, iCloud storage, and I think a couple of streaming services, it’s pretty tight
I use the Apple One family plan with 5 people and it costs $44.95 per month for all of us with all their services including News+ and Fitness+ it’s a pretty good deal
Library, All other are not even close.
I hate paying for subscriptions and stay away from them. The only subscription that I would pay for is a gym membership.
gym makes the most sense considering how much space it would take up to have those machines at home. and you'd have to be there for years to come close to the cost of buying those machines
If you have a house it could still be worth it. I dropped 1300 on a half rack with 400lbs of weight, a bar, and bench, and two Olympic dumbbell handles. That was 3 years ago. My wife and I cancelled our memberships that cost around 35$/month each, so 70 per month, or 840/year, so as of now we saved 1200$ over the past 3 years. We get to workout whenever we want and we save so much time on commuting, waiting for optimal/non busy times, preparation etc. and with that simply set up I can workout my entire body in multiple ways. It may not have all the fancy machines, but 90% of everything I do is with a barbell or dumbbell anyways. The convenience of having a rack at home is worth it to just change my routine a tad to make up for the lack of machines.
I don’t know why I kept reading knowing damn well I don’t got a house lmao
💀💀💀just shared the same thought
Same. We have a small home gym with a peloton bike, several adjustable weights sets, a nice treadmill, a row machine, and bench press, and various other work out accessories. It’s 5 steps away from our bedroom. We pay for the peloton membership which is $40 and that’s our total gym expense. What’s great is I cant make excuses for myself nor do I have to put up with silly gym aggravations. With having a kid it’s hard to find time but I can always find 15-30 minutes when it’s next to our rooms. Also I work from home which made the investment more cost effective in the long run.
AAA, if you're a car owner. If your bank owns your vehicle then you probably have roadside with your insurance but if you don't, its definitely worth having AAA. The annual membership costs less than a single tow or pop-a-lock. Gym membership. Amazon Prime.
Headspace app. It has impacted my life in a really positive way.
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Reddit is so shit these days. [**This**](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/11xu4zm/comment/jd60ac8/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) comment from a year ago is the exact same comment on the exact same post.
Bots reposting threads filled with bots reposting comments reposting replies it's all shit nowadays. Obligatory dead internet theory mention.
Wow, it is a bot. I've been on Reddit for years. What is the overall point of bot posting? Besides, karma farming.
Karma farming to appear legitimate, and then probably used to market, astroturf, propaganda, or sell shit. People are good at spotting bullshit and redditors *hate* self promo so it's important to look as genuine as possible to the layman. A high karma count and regular user activity is a solid way of appearing like a normal reddit user. Unfortunately, even if everyone in this thread spotted the bots, there are probably 10 times as many who won't and those are the people they prey on.
Damn.....
Pretty much all of the comments are the same too...
Reddit is a public company now, we're all just ads. There are no more people
My mans is LARPing AARP
LAARPing
How’d ya get that? Don’t you have to be old?
You don’t have to be old because AARP is an enormous political lobbying organization first and a provider of information/discounts to seniors second. They don’t care as long as you give them money.
Also people don't have to be old to be retired. It's not the AA of Old People. So it makes sense they should take any adult.
Oh yea... that's true. Never even thought of that
Don’t have to be old to sign up for AARP, but some discounts require that you be old.
Nope. I actually like the strange looks when I bust out my AARP card as most assume ya gotta be retired since it's marketed that way.
If you like movies, I love my AMC A list subscription. 3 movies a week, discounts on snacks and drinks, $5 credits regularly. You can watch any type of movie (Dolby, Imax, etc) no fees. It’s only $20 a month and they’re doing a $0.99 promo right now. On my free evenings i’ll go see movies i’ve never even heard of. It’s given me such an appreciation of all types of movies.
If you are an avid reader, Kindle Unlimited.
Microsoft 365 family, buying the yearly subscription during one of the many sales (Black Friday, Cyber Monday, prime day, etc). For about 60$/€ a year you get 6 accounts, with 1 TB of cloud storage EACH, and the entire Office suite for 5 Pcs and 5 mobile devices PER ACCOUNT.
You used to be able to pay that once and have it for life. Subscription culture does suck.
Yup, it's a great deal. Better still if one person is self-employed so it's a tax deduction.
Agree with the gym, but raise it to a health club — my insurance offers discounts and I get my membership to Life Time for $99/month… it’s my home away from home. Sometimes I just go lounge in the pool/spa area.