Meganfm's Profile

It's definitely possible! We had almost 20 people in our 600sq foot apartment for Thanksgiving 2 years ago. We don't have a dining table, so everyone brought whatever packable table and folding chairs they had. Some people sat on the window ledge. Some stood around the kitchen island. Was it glamorous? No. Was it perfect? No. But everyone had an amazing time. Nobody complained about sitting on a folding chair or the food being sprawled across various tables in the apartment.

I'm in a 600 square foot apartment and do a lot of Costco shopping. I'm the same as you, it's not even as much about the price, it's just knowing that everything I need is there when I need it. My "pantry" (i.e. the cabinet above the fridge) is jammed full of pasta, cereal, canned goods, and pasta sauce. But I'm conscious of what I buy-I limit the fruits/veggies I buy in bulk there except for what we eat all the time and can use up quickly.

If a 24 pack of TP is on sale, I tuck it in the bottom of my closet or on top of the washing machine.

When we renovated our condo, we bought all new stainless steel appliances. Our budget was $5000, and would have been significantly cheaper if it wasn't for one big hurdle: our condo had originally installed these fancy Jenn-Air downdraft ranges where the vent is part of the range so that they could put the range in the kitchen island. It's basically a $3000 appliance I hate, but the old one was 15 years old and starting to rust on the top so it had to be replaced and there is no way of altering the kitchen to put in a vent hood without a serious construction budget.

Knowing that, we tried to save money on the fridge and dishwasher. The fridge we lucked out on, getting a Maytag floor model with the freezer on the bottom for $750. The only issue with it is it's at the far left of our "corridor" style kitchen, and because it was a floor model we were only able to get a model that swings open to the right, which isn't ideal but for the price it doesn't bother me.

Our dishwasher is a Blomberg-originally we were going to go with the cheapest dishwasher they had on offer, but the appliance guy recommended this (which, on sale, was only $700 versus the $500 one we were looking at) because it's much quieter. I love it-it does a great job with the dishes, looks sleek, and is whisper-quiet.

Just like someone previously mentioned, I just googled the nutritional info for the ume plum vinegar. 1tsp is 44% of your sodium intake for the day-YIKES! I think I'll be substituting it for Nori instead.

Is that..... 1/3 lb of turkey or 1.3lbs?

You don't have to go all out extravagant for a birthday party. I used to always try to go out, but finding a place that all my friends liked and could afford was too difficult. This year I just crammed 20 people into my 600sq ft apartment, told everyone to BYOB (my friends are all really heavy drinkers or I would have bought it for them), and provided snacks and a cake. A few people brought presents, but I didn't ask/expect them. Everyone had a great time-I will definitely be doing the same next year (minus the drinking 2-3 bottles of wine part).

In Vancouver, I love the convenience of the skytrain but hate taking the bus. I used to have an hour commute each way to school on the train/bus and I loved it because it let me do all my reading for my classes, prep for tests, or just take a nap. But I also got on/off at the first/last stop, so I was always guaranteed a seat and the bus came so frequently that I could wait for the next one.

I live in a very walkable neighbourhood, and my (new) job is just a quick bus ride away. But I still use my car to go out on the weekends or make Costco runs. If you're not going anywhere along the skytrain or you're traveling outside downtown, it's almost way faster and more convenient to drive.

I guess I'm the only one here, but I HATE Corelle. When my boyfriend moved out his parents gave us some of their extras, and I've been desperate to replace them every since. I think they feel very cheap and flimsy-or maybe that's just because my parents always used very hefty white dinner plates.

I've dropped them a handful of times. Twice they survived on our wood floors. Twice they turned to DUST. At least a normal plate would break into large shards that could be picked up. I had to vacuum every groove in my wood flooring to get every last bit of the disintegrated dish up.

After those experiences....no Corelle.

" So if you have a large family and everyone's taking a shower, doing the laundry and dishes at the same time, a tankless water heater might not be up to the task or suitable for your family's particular needs."

It doesn't take that much to overpower the tankless water heater. My parents used to have 2 tanks in their house (one for our basement suite and one for the 2 upper floors) which was replaced with 1 tankless. With my bathroom being on the top floor, I can't remember a single time I ever got to wash my face with warm water. It took a good 5 minutes for the warm water to reach the top floor. Also, if I took a shower and nothing else was running in the house, ANYONE flushing the toilet on any floor of the house would turn the shower ice cold-with the tanked system, it only went cold if flushed on the same floor as the shower. I absolutely hated that thing.

To the person who said white is a mess to clean up-it depends if you go with a flat finish or high gloss. We have high gloss doors in our kitchen, and they are MUCH easier to keep clean than the oak ones that were original to the condo. It's so easy to just swipe off a spill-everything comes off very easily.

Wish I could say the same for the white cesarstone countertops I insisted on splurging on......what a mistake.