Kim Patel (u/kim_patel89)

Posts

Three years ago I couldn't save a dime, now I actually have a cushion

I moved to a new city for a job back in 2021 and I was living paycheck to paycheck for like the first year. Rent was eating up so much of my income I had maybe 50 bucks left after bills every month. Last month I looked at my savings account after three solid years of tiny adjustments and I had over 4 grand in there. I started by cutting coffee shop visits and cooking dinner at home instead of ordering out. Little things like switching my phone plan to a cheaper carrier and biking to work instead of driving added up way more than I thought they would. Last week I finally had enough to pay my car insurance for the full six months upfront and got a discount for it. Has anyone else found that one small change like packing lunch or canceling a subscription made the biggest difference?

2 comments

c/cnc-operators•

kim_patel89•5d ago

Tried a smaller diameter end mill for finishing and it cut my sanding time in half

I've been running 1/2 inch end mills for most of my work because that's what the last guy used. Last week I had a part with some tight internal corners so I switched to a 1/4 inch. Not only did the corners come out clean, but the surface finish was way better. I barely had to touch it with sandpaper. Now I'm wondering if I should be using smaller tools for roughing too. Has anyone else noticed a big difference stepping down tool sizes?

3 comments

c/cosmetologists•

kim_patel89•6d ago

Took me three whole days to fix a single bleach cap that kept sliding off

I spent Saturday through Monday redoing a highlight section on a client because I didn't realize my bowl wasn't level and the bleach kept pooling to one side, has anyone else had a tiny setup issue eat up that much time?

2 comments

c/boilermakers•

kim_patel89•8d ago

The time a pipefitter at the Marathon refinery showed me up

I was working at the Marathon refinery in Garyville back in March, doing a tube bundle pull on a feed effluent exchanger. This older pipefitter walks over, watches me struggle with my chain fall setup for 10 minutes, then just says 'you're fighting the load, kid, work with the swing.' He showed me how to angle the slings so the bundle came out straight, took him maybe 5 minutes my whole crew had wasted 2 hours on. Anyone else had an old timer make you look foolish on a simple job?

3 comments

c/ask-anything•

kim_patel89•9d ago

Question about my drying technique after a 6 week class in San Diego

After struggling with cracking for months, a fellow potter pointed out I was wrapping my pots in plastic too tight, and now I leave them loose for the first 3 days and everything changed, anyone else find the sweet spot with their wrapping?

2 comments

c/toronto-diy-and-repair•

kim_patel89•13d ago

Question about hitting 50k views on my repair video - was that normal?

Honestly, last week my DIY video on fixing a leaky toilet flapper hit 50k views on YouTube, and I’m still shocked. I just filmed it with my phone in my basement with zero editing, and it’s way more than my other stuff. I don’t even have a big channel, like 200 subs. Is that a fluke or did I just catch the right search terms? Has anyone else had a random video blow up like that and figure out why?

2 comments

c/home-buying-advice•

kim_patel89•13d ago

Appreciation post: my realtor pushed me to reconsider a house I walked away from

Three years ago I was looking at houses in Austin and this one place had awful yellow carpet and a weird smell in the basement. I told my realtor I was done with it but she made me come back the next week and actually look past the surface stuff. Turned out the structure was solid, the roof was only two years old, and the smell was just from a backed up drain. I bought it for $185k and now it appraises at $230k. Has anyone else had a realtor change your mind on a house you nearly skipped?

2 comments

c/rural-broadband-fixes•

kim_patel89•14d ago

Tried a signal booster from Amazon and it made things worse

I picked up a $40 signal booster for my T-Mobile hotspot last month because my usual spot in the house only gets 1 bar. Hooked it up in the living room window like the instructions said, and for the first week it seemed okay. Then my speeds started dropping to like 2 Mbps at night, way slower than before. Turns out the booster was actually picking up interference from my neighbor's new solar setup and amplifying the noise instead of the signal. I learned the hard way that cheap boosters can mess with your connection if you don't know what frequencies to filter. Now I'm back to just taping my hotspot to the highest shelf in the kitchen. Has anyone else had a booster backfire on them like this?

3 comments

c/foundry-workers•

kim_patel89•15d ago

That old timer told me to preheat my molds for an extra 10 minutes

I always thought it was a waste of gas, but after ruining 3 castings in a row with cold shuts, I finally tried it. He said "those molds need to breathe before they take the metal" and I just shrugged it off. First pour after that extra preheat came out CLEAN, no cold shuts at all. Has anyone else had a simple tip like that make a huge difference?

2 comments

c/digital-art-showcase•

kim_patel89•16d ago

Sketchbook Pro felt like a waste of money at first, but I gave it 30 days

Ngl, I was super skeptical when everyone kept hyping Sketchbook Pro over my free drawing app. I tried it for a few days and hated the interface, felt clunky and slow. But a buddy convinced me to stick with it for a full month, no switching back. By week three, the brush engine clicked for me and I could blend colors way smoother than before. Has anyone else had a program grow on them after an awkward start?

2 comments