Ann Campbell

Good call. Two more knee-friendly tweaks: set your bike saddle so your knee has only a slight bend at the bottom of the pedal stroke and keep walking strides short with a quick cadence, especially on any downhills. Add a 5-minute warm-up (ankle circles, leg swings, easy marching) and, once or twice a week, a quick strength mini of sit-to-stands, glute bridges, and calf raises to keep the joints happy as you build up.

On $2,900 take-home try: rent 1,100; utilities/phone/internet 200; groceries 350; transit 150; fun 100; household/misc slush 100; and auto-save about 900 to your emergency fund and... with $3,000 already, that gets you to a 3‑month cushion in roughly four months, then you can dial savings back and top up fun or sinking funds. Biggest pitfall is underestimating groceries and random buys, so keep that slush and tweak categories by $25–50 as you learn and not the savings amount.

Try a fast three-pass: 1) trash and obvious no’s, 2) duplicates (keep the best one), 3) 90/365 rule - keep what you used in the last 90 days or will need in the next season. Since replacement is slower in a small town allow one clearly labeled “-in-case” bin; seal it with a date, and if you don’t open it in 60 days and donate it as-is. In your hour, tackle one surface or one drawer and stop when your donate/trash bags are full so you get a clear win.

Start by picking two recurring things you can show up to every week, because familiarity does most of the heavy lifting. Think trivia night at a nearby pub, a beginner class at a climbing gym, a community center course, or a weekly volunteer shift at the library or food bank. Check your city parks and rec calendar or the library events page for low cost stuff, then commit to going three weeks in a row. When you're there, use simple openers like Hey, is this seat taken or Have you been to this before, I just moved here. After a few familiar faces, ask one person for a recommendation and then follow it with We should check that out next week if you're down. Use neighbor channels because they create easy excuses to talk. Join a Buy Nothing group or the neighborhood Facebook group, post a small giveaway or ask for moving boxes, then thank whoever helps and say I owe you a coffee. Learn micro routines that make you visible, like walking the same route at the same time, sitting at the same coffee shop corner, or hitting the Tuesday run club that meets at 6 pm. If you feel up to hosting, keep it simple with a pizza and board games night or a Sunday morning coffee walk, invite two people you met and tell them they can bring a friend. When you swap numbers, send a concrete invite with a day and time, and do not take no response personally because most attempts will fizzle before a few stick.