I have 2 really tough cleaning tasks that I wonder if anyone has ideas about.
Any suggestions?
I had brown hard water stains in my toilet, and Zep acidic toilet bowl cleaner has worked very nicely. It does need to sit for longer than they tell you, depending on how bad it is, but otherwise removes everything with a little light scrub from the toilet brush.
If it is orange-y brown it may be iron (ie “rust”), which, if it is, I highly recommend Iron Out. CLR doesn’t touch the iron in my water, and Iron Out makes quick work of it in an almost magical fashion.
Barkeeper’s Friend?
Husband likes these for tough spots.
Tried it! I use it to moisten the pumice stone but it doesn’t work alone or at all on the counter
Weird, do you have a liquid version? Mine is a powder!
Ooh, that might be perfect for the toilet because the pumice stone is working, it just isn’t pointy enough! Thanks!
Still nowhere in the counter… The toilet rim is one thing but I don’t want to risk scratching the counter.
It comes both ways! Wirecutter recommends the liquid for toilet cleaning.
I thought Substack was an email newsletter service (like Mailchimp). But lately I’ve seen multiple people referring to it as social media. Can anyone explain this to me?
I definitely get Substack newsletters in my email.
I have been along for this ride (kind of). I think it began/was intended as a newsletter service. But the app/website now has a function called “notes,” which is functionally the same as a FB newsfeed or Twitter. When I scroll through it I see things posted by people whose newsletters I subscribe to, but also people I’ve never decided to “follow.” I think some creators see the “notes” as a way to get more followers, but some people are very annoyed by it because it just feels like more social media.
I started reading Substack as newsletters in my email, and eventually I got the app and all I did was scroll through it reading “notes.” Then I forgot to even read the articles by the people I actually wanted to follow. So I am annoyed by the transition.
But if you are just interacting with it through your email I don’t think the experience has changed for you/you don’t need to worry about what it’s called.
Also, if you read the newsletters on the site instead of email, there is often a comments section.
Thank you, that’s a very clear and comprehensive explanation! I will continue to resist all their invitations to get the app with the knowledge that I am doing it for reasons other than stubbornness 
Very high household earning year. Dont quality to do Roth IRA at all, dont qualify for the deduction for regular IRA. Is it still worth contributing to my IRA?
ETA relevant? We’re not maxing the 401k, just to employer match, but their fees are super high.
Can you do a backdoor Roth, or do have funds in a traditional IRA already and would be dealing with the pro rata rule?
In the latter case, I’d just go with a taxable brokerage.
Oh, seeing your edit, 401k max might still be better with high fees, but depends on your goals, tax bracket, and exactly how high is high for the fees.
Already have funds in a standard IRA. And this would be my Ira, spousal contributions/im a SAHM, I don’t know if that factors in
Yeah, we both have Trad IRAs too, so we can’t do backdoor ROTHs either. As far as I know, putting money into a Traditional IRA when you’re not eligible for the deduction doesn’t have any benefits compared to a Taxable brokerage, but is subject to the withdrawal age restrictions, so I would definitely not fund it. EDIT: forgot that the the earnings grow tax deferred so there is a small benefit.
I would probably do the 401k personally, especially because if you’re at a high enough income to not be eligible for ROTH, you are in a highish tax bracket now. But I have 0 regrets about having some money in a taxable account that we could use freely right now too,
Husband looked up the pro rata rule and doesn’t think it applies in our case? (Idk why, but it’s early AM/kids are waking up so conversations are very intermittent lol) I’ll have him check with our CPA on that though. Make a plan going forward idk.
Does anyone have any freelance income to start a solo 401k? That’s what I did and used that to consolidate all pretax retirement, which then allows me to do the backdoor Roth. But getting everything set up is A Whole Thing, and not all pretax savings are eligible to be rolled into a solo 401k (I think, it’s been a second since I did my reading, heavily plan dependent). In the absence of that I’d max the 401k. Tax deferred growth is more valuable than is intuitive, unless you think you’ll be in that plan for decades. The boggle heads wiki has a section on this: 401(k) - Bogleheads under Expensive or mediocre choices