Yeah, I used to be one of those "if it ain't broke don't fix it" people. Thought I was saving time and money by not worrying about stuff that seemed fine. But after a water pipe burst in my basement wall last winter, I totally get what you're saying. A small check would have saved me a ton of headache.

Yeah that's actually more common than you'd think... 3/16 inches doesn't sound like much but when you're talking about door sensors that work in millimeters it's a whole different ballgame. We finally caught it because the doors would close fine most of the time but hiccup on the last inch or so just enough to throw the safety edge.

Oh man, the dentist waiting room is a new one to me but honestly that's genius level frugality right there. I had a similar thing happen when I found out my local library not only has free water but also a coffee machine for like 50 cents. Best part is nobody glares at you for sitting there for two hours reading magazines you didn't pay for. That's my go-to now when I need to kill time without spending money. Plus you get to pretend you're being productive by browsing the self-help section.

Oh, did your friend's mat do the same thing mine ended up returning? Except hers got all crinkly and then started smoking in the oven, which was real scary. @sarah_mason is right about the heat distribution thing, but honestly the worst part was the smoke alarm going off while she was trying to impress her new neighbors with cookies. She learned that thin mats are basically just fancy plastic that can't handle real heat, so now she just uses parchment paper she already has in the drawer. Sometimes sticking with what works is better than trying to save a few bucks on something that'll just fail anyway.

Oh wow, maybe we're all just writing our own little time capsules without realizing it, @abbyg60.