KnowYard Community

High school football being a religion. I thought people were exaggerating. Then I saw a high school stadium bigger than most college stadiums. These people are not playing.

Chick-fil-A is the gold standard and I'm tired of people trying to find something better. It's sweet tea. They perfected it. Move on.

$200/month HOA and they can't even maintain the common areas? Request a financial audit. You're entitled to see where that money goes.

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

Raising Cane's sweet tea doesn't get enough credit. It's dangerously good.

Show up to HOA board meetings. Seriously. Most boards are 3-5 retired people with nothing better to do. You show up with 5 neighbors who are also sick of it and you can vote them out.

Any southern home cooking restaurant. The ones with the big plastic pitchers on the table. That's where the real sweet tea lives.

McDonald's sweet tea for $1 is the best value in fast food beverages and I will die on this hill. They put an absurd amount of sugar in it.

I fought a similar violation. Sent a written response requesting the specific bylaw and photos of other houses in violation. They dropped it. They count on people just complying without question.

Counterpoint: standards are what make Texas BBQ great. If we stop caring about quality we end up like every other state's mid BBQ. Gatekeeping has a purpose.

Look for areas near good school districts. Even if you don't have kids, school district quality correlates with neighborhood safety and maintenance. It's a useful proxy.

Read your CC&Rs cover to cover. Half the violations HOAs send out are either not actually in the rules or they're enforcing selectively. If your neighbor's trash can is visible too, document it and bring it up.

Facebook marketplace for house rentals. A lot of smaller landlords don't list on Zillow or Apartments.com. Some of the best deals are private listings from owners.

Year 8 here. You don't stop hating it. You just hate it quietly and then enjoy October through April knowing you earned it.

Enforcement is basically nonexistent unless you're going 95+ or visibly drunk. I drive the same highway every day and haven't seen a speed trap in months.

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

Older suburbs that haven't been "discovered" yet by flippers. The apartment complexes built in the 90s-2000s that are well-maintained but not trendy. Those are the sweet spot.

I use a pellet grill and I'm tired of pretending I'm sorry about it. The brisket is good. My family loves it. I don't care about your offset smoker opinions.

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.

Hot take: Texas drivers are aggressive but predictable. They're going fast and they expect you to keep up. Northeast drivers are passive-aggressive which is somehow worse.

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

The no turn signal thing drives me INSANE. It's a lever. Right there. On the steering column. Takes zero effort.

I found a garage apartment behind someone's house for $950/month. Private entrance, quiet street, great neighborhood. Wouldn't have found it on any apartment website.

The smoke ring discourse is out of control. It doesn't even affect flavor. It's just a visual marker. Relax.

The merge thing is the real danger. Who taught people to merge at 40mph onto a 75mph highway? That's how accidents happen.