Had to choose between cloud backups and a physical drive after a scare

Last month my laptop started making a clicking noise and I panicked about losing 3 years of photos. I had to decide between paying $10 a month for cloud storage or buying a $60 external SSD once. I went with the SSD because I hate recurring fees, but then I realized I never actually plug it in to back up. Now I set a weekly reminder on my phone every Sunday night to run the backup. Has anyone else found a way to actually stick with a backup routine?

Question about using plastic staples on fiber lines in Denver

I was on a job in Denver last month and saw a crew using plastic staples to hold fiber lines along a wall, but my supervisor says metal staples are the only way to go for long term hold. The building had concrete walls so drilling anchors would have taken forever, and the plastic ones saved tons of time. What do you guys use when you're stuck on a tough surface like that?

Learned the hard way why you don't skimp on post hole diggers

Bought a $30 auger bit off Amazon last spring for a job in Tulsa, figured it'd handle 20 holes no problem. By hole 6 the blade was bent and I spent 2 hours digging the rest by hand with a clamshell. My old $120 Bosch bit from the supply house is still sitting clean in my truck and I should've just used that from the start. Anyone else get burned by cheap augers that can't handle rocky clay?

Binged all 300 episodes of One Pace in two weeks and my sleep schedule is wrecked

I thought watching the faster paced fan edit would save me time, but I just ended up watching twice as many episodes per day. My eyes are red and I kept nodding off at my desk yesterday afternoon. My coworker asked if I was sick and I had to admit I was just tired from anime marathoning. Has anyone else tried One Pace and ended up binging harder than the original?

Rant: The sink drain under my kitchen cabinet took 4 tries to fix

I had a slow drain under my sink in Denver last weekend and thought it would be a quick 30 minute fix with a new trap. After taking it apart three times and finding a cracked pipe hidden behind the wall, it ended up taking 5 hours total. Has anyone else run into a simple plumbing job that turned into a whole day project?

Rant: Wasted $80 on a fancy digital angle finder that died after 3 months

Thought I was upgrading from my old Swanson speed square, but the thing stopped holding zero in the middle of a stair stringer layout. Has anyone else had bad luck with those battery-powered angle finders holding up on site?

Van life before and after: How my riding setup changed when I switched from a tent to a cargo trailer

Rant: Tired of seeing wireless sensors mounted right next to metal ductwork

I was on a service call Tuesday at a house in Arlington and found three door sensors all showing intermittent faults. Pulled the covers and every single one was within 4 inches of the HVAC return. I mean come on guys, that cheap metal mesh kills the signal. I had to move all three and re-pair them. Cost the homeowner an extra hour of labor. Do y'all not test range before you stick these things on?

Wasted $150 on a fancy smart thermostat that fought my old HVAC system

Honestly, my 20-year-old furnace just couldn't talk to this Nest thing I bought last spring. It kept cycling on and off like crazy and I lost two weekends troubleshooting it before I just went back to the basic dial model for $30. Anyone else have a fancy upgrade backfire on older equipment?

Hot take: paying off a 0% APR card early is a waste of money unless you have no discipline

Here's the thing - I got a 12 month 0% APR offer on a store card for some furniture, about $1,200. Everyone says pay it off ASAP to avoid risk. But I took that same $1,200 and threw it into a 5% high yield savings account for 11 months. Made like $55 in interest, then paid the card off the month before the promo ended. My buddy says I'm playing with fire if I miss the deadline. But really, who misses a deadline by accident if you set a reminder? What do you all think - is it smarter to just be safe and pay early, or is leaving money on the table dumb?