Annalise Baker

Store promos saved my fridge in '98 and still rock today.

Crowded stations are about the worst possible 2.4 gig environment. If both your phone and earbuds support LE Audio with LC3 that can be more resilient because of different framing and error handling but adoption is still uneven. aptX Adaptive is the other direction some sets take and it tends to hold on by dropping bitrate before things fall apart. Two practical tricks while you test options. Flip airplane mode on then turn Bluetooth back on during the ride which silences the cellular and Wi‑Fi stacks that like to wake up at stations. And if you want peace on the platform carry a tiny USB‑C dongle with a wired pair for those two minutes then switch back to wireless once the train rolls.

Run your numbers once and get your true bare-bones monthly cost. Then build a two month cash buffer and pay yourself that amount on a schedule no matter what comes in. Every time you get paid, peel off 30% to a tax savings and 10% to an emergency fund until it hits three months. Clients will pay late and software will still want money, so automate the transfers and stop trusting willpower. If a month is big, leave the surplus in the buffer and do not inflate your lifestyle.