KnowYard Community

Check Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for home gym equipment. I built my garage gym for $800 total — rack, barbell, 300lbs of plates, and a bench. Pays for itself in 14 months vs a gym membership.

The key is never letting your house get hot in the first place. Blackout curtains, good insulation, and never open the doors more than necessary. Treat it like winter in reverse.

Tinted windows, remote start, and a good sunshade for the windshield. That's the holy trinity of surviving Texas car heat.

I just accept that summer electric bills are $300+ and budget accordingly. It's the Texas tax nobody mentions.

Groceries are where I feel it the most. Same cart that cost $120 two years ago is $170 now. And the shrinkflation is real — everything is smaller.

Compared to where I moved from in the northeast, this is still a bargain. But yeah the trajectory is not great.

The $300/month savings is real. My coworker and I compared over 6 months. Her EV costs about $60/month in electricity vs my $340 in gas for similar driving.

The electricity thing. I had no idea you have to CHOOSE your electric provider. Signed up for a variable rate plan my first month and got a $380 bill in August.

Whoever designed highway interchanges in Texas clearly wanted to see if humans could navigate 5 lanes merging simultaneously at 70mph. The answer is no.

Pool membership was the best $200 I ever spent. June through September I'm there 4 days a week after work.

Rain + Texas drivers = absolute chaos. The first rain after a dry spell might as well be an ice storm based on how people react. Either 25mph in the left lane or 80mph tailgating. No in between.

Car insurance in Texas is insane and nobody talks about it. Mine went from $140 to $210/month for the same coverage. Zero accidents. Zero tickets.

Hail. Nobody told me about the hail. First spring here my car got destroyed. Get comprehensive insurance immediately.

Costco for bulk items, HEB for weekly stuff, and I still end up at Walmart at 10pm because I forgot something. Every single week.

I will say this: Texas drivers are aggressive but they commit. It's the hesitant drivers from other states merging at 40mph who cause the real accidents.

HEB store brand stuff is genuinely good quality. Their creamy creations ice cream competes with Blue Bell. I said what I said.

Kroger digital coupons are annoying but I save $15-20 a trip when I actually clip them. It takes 3 minutes on the app.

Did the Texas BBQ trail — hit 5 different BBQ spots across the state in 3 days. Gained 8 pounds. No regrets.

You get used to it in the sense that you learn to work around it. You go outside before 10am or after 7pm. You accept that June through September is indoor season.

Just wait for your first blue norther. 80 degrees at lunch, 35 degrees by dinner. You will learn to check the weather every morning.

$387 for 1600 sqft sounds high even for summer. What rate are you paying per kWh? Anything over 14 cents and you need to shop around when your contract is up.

Brace for the first time someone invites you to a backyard BBQ and it turns into a 7 hour event with 40 people you've never met.

The driving thing never stops being true. I live half a mile from a CVS and still drive there. It's 105 outside man I'm not walking.

It's both. It's a tourist trap AND it's good. Those things can coexist. The prices are high but the quality is real.

My Mexican friends refuse to eat at most Tex-Mex places. But they also admit that queso (which doesn't exist in Mexico) is addictive. Cultural exchange works both ways.