What parts of your life/lifestyle are unapproved by DCUM standards?

[Anonymous]

Live in Pennsyltucky

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We travel the world doing home exchanges, house sits, farm stays and budget flights.

My 5yo has been to 7 countries, 2yo has been to 4 countries, but no luxury resorts here despite a $300k HHI.

Tell me more about this. What sites do you use? I want to do this with our rowhouse in DC, but afraid no one will want to trade with a house cluttered with kid crap! (oldest is 3.5, youngest is an infant)

The vibe I get on home sharing sites is that everyone is an empty nester or a DINK.

We use HomeExchange and PeopleLikeUs. You have to target other families and it's GREAT. Aside from my family, it's my favorite part of my life. We've had so many wonderful experiences. We aim to swap or sit for families with kids the same age as ours and it makes travel a breeze to arrive at a house with toys, bikes, stroller, high chair, crib, etc. My kids LOVE rolling up to a house of new toys and it even makes the down time of travel enjoyable when DH and I can have coffee or a glass of wine together because the kids are happy exploring the house/yard. We've swapped cars and car seats. We've swapped childcare! My 5yo literally asks all the time "Mom, when can we go live in another kid's house again?". We've made dear friends all over the world. Cannot recommend it enough, truly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We travel the world doing home exchanges, house sits, farm stays and budget flights.

My 5yo has been to 7 countries, 2yo has been to 4 countries, but no luxury resorts here despite a $300k HHI.

Tell me more about this. What sites do you use? I want to do this with our rowhouse in DC, but afraid no one will want to trade with a house cluttered with kid crap! (oldest is 3.5, youngest is an infant)

The vibe I get on home sharing sites is that everyone is an empty nester or a DINK.

We use HomeExchange and PeopleLikeUs. You have to target other families and it's GREAT. Aside from my family, it's my favorite part of my life. We've had so many wonderful experiences. We aim to swap or sit for families with kids the same age as ours and it makes travel a breeze to arrive at a house with toys, bikes, stroller, high chair, crib, etc. My kids LOVE rolling up to a house of new toys and it even makes the down time of travel enjoyable when DH and I can have coffee or a glass of wine together because the kids are happy exploring the house/yard. We've swapped cars and car seats. We've swapped childcare! My 5yo literally asks all the time "Mom, when can we go live in another kid's house again?". We've made dear friends all over the world. Cannot recommend it enough, truly.

DP here. Are you okay with people being in your "stuff" - or how do you hide your personal stuff?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m addicted to Oreo cakesters. I don’t even like Oreos. It’s like I can taste the cakiness and all the chemicals that I know are causing the addiction, but I like them. I don’t live in DCUM land, but I do live in the SF Bay Area. I’m practically a pariah because of my addiction to cakesters amongst the healthy eaters. There was a naked homeless guy yelling outside the office the other day and I said that I bet he’d chill and be happy if I gave him some cakesters. Everyone was like, I can’t believe you’re joking about his plight or your addiction. True story-hand on the Bible level truth-he took a dump on the sidewalk 10 minutes later. I was like, “see? He had tummy troubles. Cakesters might have helped him go with less discomfort.” I said that because they’ve changed my digestive system. My tummy makes noises it didn’t before. I’m pretty sure we’re using more toilet paper in our house and I’m pretty sure the reason is me. And cakesters. And I’m pretty sure DCUM won’t approve of any of that lifestyle choice.

I’ve bought all of them at every Safeway, Target, and Walgreens (the only stores I’ve seen them in locally). I did a Target delivery order at work the other day and I was beside myself when I saw they had cakesters available. The shopper called to say they were out of stock and to see if I wanted them to substitute anything else. I said no thanks because regular Oreos are a different texture and he said he totally understood and lamented how hard it is to find cakesters. At first I was happy to find a kindred spirit, then I felt really irritated because he’s been eating my cakesters! I ordered all the ones I could find for under $7/box on Amazon. I’ve had to resort to having to order them from target online.

Otherwise I’m a healthy eater. Normal weight, no excesses. I eat at nice restaurants. I do hello fresh and eat salads and all that BS. Cakesters though. They’re like heroin.

For once DCUM has left me speechless.

Cakesters lady here. First, you’re welcome. I enjoy being part of new experiences for people, so that was great for me too. Second, I’m really curious which part of the bolded got you there. Was it that there was a naked guy yelling who then pooped on the sidewalk, that my coworkers thought I was nutty for making jokes, or that I was speculating on the effects of my favorite treat on naked homeless dude?

Last weekend my stomach was making some scary noises but I had run out of cakesters and was detoxing. DH commented on the noise and I said I thought it was a withdrawal symptom. He said A) that’s not true and B) whether that’s true or not, I definitely have a cakester problem.

To the PP who said they’re off to buy cakesters now, don’t do it! I’m not even sure they taste good anymore. But if you do buy some, grab some quilted northern triple ply while you’re there. You’ll thank me later.

[Anonymous]

Cakesters person, how many do you eat a week?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We travel the world doing home exchanges, house sits, farm stays and budget flights.

My 5yo has been to 7 countries, 2yo has been to 4 countries, but no luxury resorts here despite a $300k HHI.

Tell me more about this. What sites do you use? I want to do this with our rowhouse in DC, but afraid no one will want to trade with a house cluttered with kid crap! (oldest is 3.5, youngest is an infant)

The vibe I get on home sharing sites is that everyone is an empty nester or a DINK.

We use HomeExchange and PeopleLikeUs. You have to target other families and it's GREAT. Aside from my family, it's my favorite part of my life. We've had so many wonderful experiences. We aim to swap or sit for families with kids the same age as ours and it makes travel a breeze to arrive at a house with toys, bikes, stroller, high chair, crib, etc. My kids LOVE rolling up to a house of new toys and it even makes the down time of travel enjoyable when DH and I can have coffee or a glass of wine together because the kids are happy exploring the house/yard. We've swapped cars and car seats. We've swapped childcare! My 5yo literally asks all the time "Mom, when can we go live in another kid's house again?". We've made dear friends all over the world. Cannot recommend it enough, truly.

DP here. Are you okay with people being in your "stuff" - or how do you hide your personal stuff?

If you're doing a simultaneous with a family then you are both in each other's stuff technically so there's mutual trust there. We keep our office locked with our personal documents and such. I've never rifled through someone's stuff and no evidence of people rifling through ours. Some families clear a section of their closer or drawer in their dresser. Pretty much everyone clears bathroom and kitchen countertops, but bathroom drawers are still full of their stuff. Our kid woke up in the middle of the night in Spain with a fever and I texted the other family and they let me know which kids meds were in the medicine cabinet and translated the dosing for me. Everyone knows they are heading to someone's main home. No one is expecting airbnb or rental quality. Both sites have reviews too so you can see reviews of people as both hosts and guests. In general, people who are up for home swapping are warm, welcoming, adventurous, and it works out. Knock on wood we haven't had a bad experience. Everyone makes a home manual and outlines where things are and how to use them and will note anything that may be off limits. It's really just a community built on trust, mutual respect, and love of travel. We always bring a small gift from our city and we've arrived to fresh bread or desserts, local wine or coffee, cards made my the kids, we had one host tell me to send over my grocery list, I pay paled her for it, and all of our groceries were waiting for us in the fridge/pantry.

[Anonymous]

Home exchange PP adding for food/drink items, the general consensus is people clean out their fridge and pantry down to the staples which you are welcome to use but replace if you use all of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cakesters person, how many do you eat a week?

Depends on how many I can find. I try to ration them. Fortunately, I'm the only one in my home who likes them. Generally, 1-2 boxes a week, but stores aren't restocking them quickly, and I really don't want to run out, so I'm trying to get to a strict 2 cookies per day policy. Every time I run out, I think, "I should quit now that I'm forced to detox." Then I see them again in the grocery and I can't resist. One day I ate 14 cookies, which is more than one box. I deluded myself into thinking it wasn't that many because I had 2 boxes open and was having some from both boxes. I'd grab a package and think, oh, there are 3 packages left, I haven't had that many today. But no, I had 14 cookies throughout the day. To be fair, they did make up an entire meal, so that was almost 1/3 of the day's consumption, so I'm not sure it's fair to count them in the total.

They come in a box with 5 packs of 2 cakesters, so 10 in a box but in 5 servings. I gave a package to a coworker and she tried them at work. She liked them and said she thought they'd be really good with milk. I offered her another package of 2 two her so she could have them at home with milk. She looked at me funny and said she had only eaten one so she saved the other for when she got home to try with milk. I think I had a mini stroke or something trying to imagine only eating one of the two. Also it's kind of offensive that she'd sully their chemical cakey goodness with milk, but I try not to judge.

[Anonymous]

I nursed my kids for 2 -2.5 years
Married for 25+ years.
We always had live-in maid until the kids started high school.
My kids were admitted to numerous Ivy League school without ever having a tutor or college counselor.
No one in my family ever had therapy.

[Anonymous]

I stay in airbnbs.

[Anonymous]

I tip at restaurants and coffee shops and everywhere someone sticks a iPad in my face for a tip.

[Anonymous]

Cakester lady here. My boss just brought me 5 boxes of cakesters. He said he saw them and thought of me, so he grabbed all that they had. I hope this lasts me through the weekend. I might have diabetes come Monday.

Best. Day. Ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I nursed my kids for 2 -2.5 years
Married for 25+ years.
We always had live-in maid until the kids started high school.
My kids were admitted to numerous Ivy League school without ever having a tutor or college counselor.
No one in my family ever had therapy.

Did they have a governess? A butler?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I nursed my kids for 2 -2.5 years
Married for 25+ years.
We always had live-in maid until the kids started high school.
My kids were admitted to numerous Ivy League school without ever having a tutor or college counselor.
No one in my family ever had therapy.

Did they have a governess? A butler?

No governess and no butler.

[Anonymous]

I think Millie's sucks.