What’s something you know you do differently than most people?

I bought $400 in $0.01 books on Amazon this year.

I sleep in the bath tub in the summer.( With pillows and blankets.) I have taken baths in the dark for the last 20 years.

I run out and play in the rain and during hail sometimes.

I do not rotate car tires for performance reasons.

Yes this is more expensive but the tires are always properly worn in for front or rear duties.

I also rev match using the heel and toe method when downshifting my manual gearbox:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnhFAy-hbow&nohtml5=False

I also add motor oil based on engine feel and sound, ignoring the dipstick.

I don’t see the road the way most motorists do. I am programmed to take the most efficient line. This means I might get scary close to that median cap at an intersection.

Yes, I got what seems like way too close to you while you wait at the light to make your left turn, but unlike most I know where the corners of my car are. That’s also why there is no curb rash on my wheels from parking.

I am not a text freak like most people.
I think Face book is super stupid.

I have never had a mobile phone. I call the glove compartment of my truck the jockey box.

I’m extremely thrifty. I will find any way possible to not spend money, or if I must spend money I will spend as little as humanly possible.

When I want a new handbag I make one, with fabric I got for free on Craigslist.

When I want new earrings, I make them, with supplies given to me by a jewellery-making friend who changed his aesthetic.

Instead of buying furniture, I keep an eye out for things people throw away, or leave on the curb, or dump by the railroad tracks, then take those things home and fix them up. Between that and things given to my husband by homeowners that contract him for flooring work, I haven’t paid for a single stick of furniture in my home, other than some plastic shelving for my craft supplies, which cost $12. I even refinish the furniture with leftover flooring supplies.

I barter with friends for stuff. Trade handwoven fabric for camping supplies, etc. I got $100 worth of cots and lanterns and tent stakes for about $35 in yarn that I ultimately paid about $12 for, and a few hours of time spent weaving while I watched Star Trek: Voyager again.

Ask @johnpowell how I shop for computer components.

My left-click is right-click and my right-click is left-click.
My piano technique is unique to me because I’m self-taught.

^ SEEK is one cheap broad. She is actually doing the mail in rebates.

However, she did listen to me and went with a better PSU than the one that came with the case. I think in the long run this was best.

I tend to watch very obscure and adult-themed movies. I don’t care for the current stuff.

I have a taste for rare obscure items in general and movies and books specifically.

I know more about computers than most girls around me. Some of their computer problems seem stupid to me.

^ Like.

At least 3 times a year, I take my indoor plants into the shower and rinse them over and under and then gently wipe down each leaf or blade to keep them shiny, or I’ll take them all outside during a heavy rain.
I also collect water from my down spout to give them fresh rain water.

I don’t buy commercial soap products. I make my own. I don’t carry a purse. I wear a back pack. I haven’t driven a car in years, even though I know how.

I pee and poop standing up!

lol, jk. I only poop standing up.

@trolltoll Do you pee superman style?

I’ve made my own croissants from scratch, though I used a recipe popular on Food Network, so I’m not so sure how unique that is. It was a full half-day of work, and my family scarfed them up in less than that. The next time around, I hid half (to pace everyone), and frowned enough that they felt guilty if they ate them too quickly.

If I have a choice between a desk and the floor to work, I choose the floor 95% of the time. (Usually it’s the chair’s fault.)

I rearrange my room when I’m bored. It keeps me from going stir-crazy.

I have a habit of saying things with more certainty when I am making them up or am not sure if they are true. Inversely, I have a habit of saying things uncertainly that I’m pretty sure about. It leads to all sorts of confusion. Usually I can catch myself…

I’ve found that I don’t get stressed in traffic anymore. I’ve got a tiny pickup truck with a 4-cylinder engine. I get her up to speed eventually, but I’m used to being the object-in-the-way and I don’t take it personally. Instead, I imagine the lives of everyone in their cars around me, how busy and tired they must be. When someone swerves in front of me, I simply believe they are having a bad day, and I wish them a better one. It makes driving much more pleasant.

Similarly, I’ve found that I don’t get impatient when I’m on customer service call-waitings. I doodle/draw to pass the time, and imagine how busy and tired the customer service reps must be. Actually, my roommate got indignant for me today.

@RedDeerGuy1 I prefer the flying wallenda

I miss coupons. I do ‘pant’ all my cans and bottles (which means I return them to the store for the few kroner deposit.) I also pick up discarded cans and bottles with pant value I come across, but not to the degree of picking through the public city rubbish bins. I learned to be thrifty from my mother, but I’ve had to take it to extreme degrees living in the most expensive country in Europe as a single mother/unemployable immigrant.

I sometimes toss M&M’s from our bedroom window onto the soft heads of unsuspecting passers-by.
It’s better if they’re wearing hats because if my aim is true, I can get one to rest on there, although I won’t deny the satisfaction of one cascading off of a bald man’s shiny pate

I put the butter in the pan when I make a grilled cheese. I didn’t know that was unusual.

I also eat my sandwiches so I try to get fairly equal amounts of crust in each bite. I do that with pizza too.

When I put sugar in my hot tea (I don’t always sweeten my tea) I don’t stir it. I like it very sweet on the last few sips.

I do BOTH. I butter the bread AND put butter in the pan. Yummmm… fried bread.

@RedDeerGuy1 You bought 40,000 books? Also, how do you sleep in a bathtub, I thought you were a pretty big guy. And, I hope that hail isn’t golf ball sized!

Interesting answers! GA all around.

I’ve played in the rain as an adult, @RedDeerGuy1, and I wonder how @Pandora keeps the dirt in her flowerpots with that rinsing!

@kritiper tops the technophobes. Even I have a mobile phone, if no text or Facebook.

@Seek is the queen of cheap, but there was a time I probably could have given her a pointer of two. As A kid I had to collect purchase proofs from the laundromat trash to send in for rebates. (We had home wash & dry.) @cazzie‘s in the club, but I worry about her lavish butter use.

I’m the guy that stops and backs up a bit when I’m still 3’ from your vehicle, pulling out of a parking spot, @SecondHandStoke. You’re welcome. Witness the curb rash on my tires.

Don’t frown them down, @Soubresaut. Hide a croissant or two for yourself and allow them the extravagance of scarfing. (And get that hunk-of-junk moving! J/K)

Do you have a psychedelic sidewalk below your window, @ucme, from the misses?

Not stirring your tea seems very Southern to me for some reason, @JLeslie.

My husband and I sleep in separate beds. (which royalty and rich people often do too :P)

Not to mention the rich and famous, @anniereborn. Ricky and Lucy always had twin beds. ~

It seems like often when couples grow older, they sleep separately. Maybe lack of intimacy and maybe sleeping difficulties and wanting their own space?

I don’t know what I do differently than most people. I like my yogurt to be plain vanilla and I add real berries and ground walnuts. I don’t know if that’s anything astronomical. I’m not particularly squeamish about germs and sanitizing my hands and stuff. I use soap but not sanitizer. I’ve survived 50 years without sanitizing constantly.

@ibstubro They get swept up & yeah, we have staff for that

@ibstubro Butter is cheaper than margarine here. I rarely make grilled cheese. My kid doesn’t like it.

I hate margarine. Butter is more expensive than margarine here but I wouldn’t eat margarine even if I ran out of butter. I love grilled cheese but I rarely have proper bread in the house to make it.

I was J/K, @cazzie. I have no idea the price of oleo here – it holds no interest for me. Most things I saute, I fry in a dab of real butter.

I don’t eat grilled cheese a lot, either, @cazzie & @jca. It’s a shame, because there’s nothing much easier or more versatile. As a matter of fact, I have feta and Kalamata olive in the fridge – I might have to make a Greek grilled cheese!
Problem is, I’m finicky about having grease on my fingers. Truth told, that’s why I’m shy on grilled cheese.

I knew someone who used to make grilled cheese with mayonnaise instead of butter. It was good. It made no sense, but it tasted good.

I’m game, @jca. Did it turn out looking like grilled cheese, or was it french toasty looking?

@ibstubro: It was just like grilled cheese, because it was grilled cheese. It was cheese in the middle, but grilled with mayo instead of butter.

Ooh, @anniereborn – I didn’t even think of that. Hubby and I sleep separately, too. He snores like crazy, and I’m a very light sleeper (eye mask, noise cancelling headphone, white noise machine, the whole bit. And I still go without sleep some nights). Also he overheats easily and I’m apparently a furnace. It’s best if we just stay apart while sleeping.

Update: I just made a piece of fry bread using mayo, and it was good! Mayo on bread, hot griddle.
I’ll try it as a sandwich later. Thanks, @jca – I never heardof the like!

I used to get “the furnace” complaint a lot, too, @Seek.
Or compliment, depending on the weather. lol

@ibstubro I’ve never heard that before. It’s hot tea, so a lot of the sugar does dissolve, but usually it’s not hot enough that all of it does.

Never heard of which? @JLeslie

I’ve never heard that not stirring your tea is Southern.

I didn’t mean that it was, @JLeslie.
It’s just that, given the Southern penchant for sweet tea, it seems to me like a very Southern thing to end a tea with a very sweet finish.

@ibstubro I think of the southerners drinking very very very sweet iced tea, better known as sweet tea. Lol. But, I see where you are coming from.

@anniereborn

Salvador and Gala Dali slept in different houses.

I also run my car with only about $5 worth of fuel in the tank.

This improves dynamic balance and acceleration.

Drives my wife nuts.

^ The many neuroses you have about your car drive me nuts just reading about it.

It’s a mode of transportation, not the Space Shuttle. Jaysus.

I’m right-handed, but favor my left hand for most things besides writing and wanking.

@anniereborn The cost was $0.01 plus 6.49 delivery /book. For the sleeping in the bath tub I lime the tub with blankets and pillows , and I adjust every 15 minutes.

I like to add Chili Garlic Sauce to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (think Thai peanut sauce flavors).

I like to eat fat free plain yogurt. No need to add anything to it. I also like to put a dollop of it on Mexican food, instead of sour cream.

I like broccoli and Jalapeños on pizza.

I do most of my Christmas shopping at least 6 months before Christmas.

I shop for most of my clothes at thrift stores.

I don’t drink alcohol or eat meat.

I do not participate with Twitter.

I hate most sports (watching or participating in) except for figure skating and gymnastics.

I almost never get bored. I can’t actually remember the last time I was bored.

I kiss dogs on the lips.

I find This Man to be extremely attractive. He makes me go weak in the knees, actually.

I enjoy hanging out with my brother. It always makes me sad when I hear people say that they don’t like, or don’t get along with, their siblings.

I love the architecture of churches and I love choir music, but I am not a Christian, nor am I religious or spiritual in any way.

I have only tasted one cheese that I didn’t like.

@jca I have always preferred to sleep in my own bed.

@ibstubro You’ll never know. LOL Actually, I just wait till the dirt is dry and tip it to the side and use a detatchable shower-head to rinse the leaves and then in the end I give it a good watering and proceed to lightly dry the leaves so there are no water spots. The pots are lighter to hold when the soil is dry like cake and it the soil doesn’t slip out. Some are also easier than others, like Philodendrons and spider plants. My really large plants I just take them outside and use the hose and then wipe it down.

Yeah, my wife and I sleep separate as well. And we’re far from an older couple, nor is it a lack of intimacy. But when it’s time to sleep we both like to have our space.

@Seek

Neuroses? Really?

Actually that’s impossible because I gave reasons for all the things I do. There are reasons why the rear wiper and motor have been removed, same for the terrestrial antenna and motor. There’s a reason why I don’t run with a spare tire.

I’m just one of those people that feels that if one must do something it might as well be fun. Wearing clothes, eating, fucking, etc.

I’m also one of those people that cannot help but think “what can I do to make this thing or experience better?” It’s people like us that have made the things you have as good as they are.

The Space Shuttle was purely a “mode of transportation.” Sure it might have been a blast and half to experience, but no one took the Shuttle out for kicks.

Neurosis? I think you mean hobby.

My legs automatically go up onto my desk when I’m on my iMac with ankles crossed. It is going to destroy my knees. My chair reclines. I hate sitting up.
I would not go to a grocery store without foundation, blush and lipstick.
I have a very expensive, long term vitamin supplement habit.
I buy 100% of my wearing apparel over Ebay. I hate going through racks of clothes.

@Aster: You wear foundation, blush and lipstick but nothing on your eyes?

I sort my grocery shopping three times into categories of destination. Cold, pantry, fruit and veg, miscellaneous. The three times are in going into my trolley, going onto the conveyor belt, and going into my bags. The supermarket never shelves things in categories so it gets mixed up. And the till assistants never respect the order.

I know someone who has to hang each item of clothing on the line with matching pegs. Two blue for this shirt, two red for that towel etc. I like it…

@jca that is correct.

@Seek

Nudging the throttle in between gear changes feels like pushing pigment around a canvas.

Neurosis?

No, technology based hedonism.

I put ice cubes or cold water in my coffee so I can drink it right away.

What was the single cheese you didn’t like, @Kardamom?

That’s a personality type, @Stinley. I remember I first encountered it when someone mentioned that they read they were a personality type because they counted the eggs when they moved them from the carton to the fridge. I was like, “Well, duh! Who wouldn’t?”

I unload groceries from the cart onto the conveyor belt in a very specific order:

Box-shaped things
Can-shaped things
Jar shaped things
Bottle-shaped things
Bagged nonperishable things
Cold things
Meat things
Produce things
Squishable things.

I don’t expect the baggers to share my neurosis, but it truly pleases me when they play along. I sort the groceries at home in much the same way (bagged nonperishables go in jars).

Geez @Seek Neurosis? Planning like that you could cargo load the Space Shuttle. Lol.

Hey, it keeps them from bagging spaghetti sauce on top of my bread.

We don’t have baggers here. Anywhere.

@ibstubro yeah, it was someone at work. We are all like that here. It’s what makes us great at librarianing

@Seek That’s not neurotic. It helps the people who are bagging. My mom taught me to organize the groceries so they were easily packed together with like items in each bag. Not doing it is considerate inconsiderate (that might be a strong word) in my family. Although, we also are “NY Jews” so neurotic is our normal.

Not just spaghetti sauce in bread, but also frozen items together stay colder (less of a problem in Norway than Florida) and frozen if it develops some condensation can get a box of cereal a little wet.

Not even a minute to edit!

On bread not in bread.

@ibstubro haha, you got it :) they will be thanking you!!

When I put the groceries up for the cashier, I put the cold stuff together, the produce together and the dry stuff (box, can) together.

@jca Maybe it’s a NY thing? I’m including @Seek as a New Yorker in this case. It keeps the line moving faster if like items are grouped together. I’m sure people from other cities do it too, but I think densely populated places tend to be more aware of doing things in a way that takes the least amount of time.

Also, when I lived in MD the cashier did the bagging and she didn’t have those large spin racks with bags like Walmart. I think NY it was the same as MD. So, the cashier was scanning and putting the items in a bag. When like items weren’t grouped together the cashier would sometimes reach down the belt for a like item.

Well, it only makes sense to put the heaviest stuff on the belt first. Chemicals, if you have them, like detergent or bleach. Then canned and bottled. Dry goods like pasta and any heavier boxes. Frozen. Refrigerated. Veggies. Meat. Bread and chips.

I prefer to just buy in small quantities and self check. Or Aldi, and use a shallow, flat box like a strawberry crate where everything is in a single layer.

^^Funny enough, when you use paper bags or larger insulated bags, all the heavy stuff together doesn’t work so well. The bags are so large you need to stack items, so you need heavy on the bottom and lighter on top. The plastic bags usually just have items side by side, because they are smaller.

So, when I’m using my insulated bags I put canned goods then lighter things like potato chips or napkins, and then do some heavier items again, etcetera. The naggers who usually bag plastic have trouble bagging larger bags sometimes.

The military bases they usually had 2 or 3 paper bags at a time set up, and lined the bottom of the three bags with heavy and then lighter weight on top. This way if heavy items for more than one bag came down they had a place for it and could keep up. We always bought a large amount when we went to the base to shop. Most people don’t live on base, so if you make the trek you stock up.

Last up I put the fragile stuff like bread and eggs. That way it goes on top of everything else in the cart, or up front with my pocketbook.

Most of our bread comes just as a whole loaf… uncut. Every store has a bread slicing machine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se2BM2vk7GU So, I buy my loaves whole and slice them in these machines. I don’t really notice anymore, but when I have visitors from the US, they all say that our bread is really really good. A week or so ago, because of the Easter holiday, there were not very many loaves of bread on the shelves. I grabbed one and it was a bit warm. I didn’t really think about it, and I put it in the cutter. Of course, it squished the loaf. I showed it to the service bakery and they said they would replace it, but I felt so bad about it, I just took it to the check out and bought it. It was not good.

That’s crazy, @cazzie! lol
I can’t imagine anyone in the US cutting their own bread in any but the smallest boutique shops. I’d love it! Even better if you could slice ½ and leave the other part whole, for later.

Thanks!
The Best of Fluther nomination!

@ibstubro So far, there has only been one cheese that I have actually consumed that I didn’t like. I know all about that maggot cheese and I wouldn’t touch that on a dare. The one cheese that I didn’t like was some type of blue cheese, but I couldn’t tell you which one exactly, because I like most blue cheeses. This particular one had the moldy specs looking a kind of gray color, and it smelled like regular stinky blue cheese, but it had the flavor of what I think sweat socks and body odor smell like. I’ve inadvertently eaten it more than once, at different places, so I don’t think there was anything wrong with it, it’s supposed to taste like that. I wish I did know what it was, so I could avoid buying or eating it again.

I might have tasted of it and just assumed it was bad, @Kardamom.

Now that I think of it, I believe I’ve had blue cheese go bad, and it was something like that. Maybe you’ve had bad blue more than once?

@Kardamom I have a cheese for you to try. It is called Gammelost. Literally translated it means, Old cheese. It isn’t a blue cheese, but it very very special.

Isn’t there more than one legendary Norwegian cheese?

Yep. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Norwegian_cheeses

LOL
“Fløtemysost” sounds like something that’s harmful to the ozone layer!

Gamalost is visually unappealing.

I have a joke photo I took at a grocery store. They had a stack of Gamalost marked 50% because of it’s ‘best used by date’. It seemed the silliest, most ironic thing I saw that day.