My Spotify got hit like two years ago and that was my wake up call too. The backup codes thing is huge, saved me when I broke my phone last summer. Idk why more people don't just do it, takes like an hour to set everything up.

Oh man that soggy ramen tragedy is too real! Honestly your best no power move is stuff you don't gotta cook at all, like canned beans with a pull tab and a bag of plain chips, way cheaper than replacing wasted groceries.

That feeler gauge trick is smart but there's a whole other layer to this that almost nobody talks about. The crush marks are not just about pressure, they are about where the pressure lands. If your press boards are thinner than your book block, the board flexes in the middle and sends all that force right into the spine fold. I had this happen with a batch of pamphlet stitch books where I used scrap 1/4 inch plywood, and the boards bowed just enough to pinch the signatures even though my gap felt fine. Thicker boards or a stack of them spread the load evenly, so you can press harder without the middle digging in. Your gauge tells you the gap, but board thickness and flatness decide whether that gap even matters. Worth checking both next time.