Pocketful of Joules

Instead of doing specific resolutions for 2018, I’m just trying to make each aspect of my life a little better.

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

A Better 2018: Stop Hoarding the Good Stuff
A Better 2018: Unfollow the Hate Reads
A Better 2018: Make More Friend Plans

For this month, I’m going with: Make it Easier to Save Money

I feel like everyone always has a resolution to save money, right? We all want to stick to a budget and magically have 10k extra show up in our savings account… but we also like those little treats like $5 Starbuck’s drinks or $25 manicures. I’ve actually done really well at breaking my Starbucks habit, but I admit that when I get a ‘on sale now’ email… I click over to check it out.

I’m going to make it a little easier on myself by removing temptation – I’m going to unfollow and unsubscribe from everything that makes me want to spend money online.

Step 1: Unfollow
I’m going to unfollow those Instagram accounts that make me want to spend money. Whether it be Boden showing me their amazing new spring dresses or Rothy’s with their latest colors… I’m hitting unfollow so that I’m not tempted by stuff I really don’t need.

Step 2: Unsubscribe
I’m also going to hit “unsubscribe” for those store emails that tempt me. I did this about 6 months ago, but through various purchases somehow got re-signed up for a few stores. It’s fine if I’m LOOKING for an item or sale, but I don’t need to be reminded that Old Navy has everything 50% off a million times a month! (This does not apply to men’s suit stores, as I’m still looking for a great deal.)

Step 3: Move around my Apps
I mentioned before that having the Poshmark app on my phone is terrible for me (6 Tips for Buying on Poshmark), but I had to add it back to my phone to sell some more items. I find myself clicking on it when I’m bored and then I add things to my “like” list… before you know it, the seller has offered me a private discount and BOOM I buy something. Oops.

I can’t delete the app from my phone again because I need to know if I get offers on my items I’m selling, so I decided to move the app button to the third ‘swipe’ page, making it harder to access. By having to swipe further to find the app, I’m hoping it helps me break my habit of scrolling around in it when I’m bored.

Do you have any tips for removing buying temptation that you’d like to share?

Do you all remember when Apple came out a few months ago and was basically like, ‘um, we totally slow down all your phones. Our bad. We’ll cut the rate of a replacement battery to $29 to make up for it”? If not, you can read the press release here. I have an iPhone 6s and couldn’t even get through half a day without having to recharge my phone, so I decided to wait a few months and get myself one of those new batteries.

Let me start by saying it was a HUGE pain in the butt.

I went online and tried to find the phone number for a nearby Apple store, but that was basically impossible. Instead, you get the ‘main’ Apple number with their customer service. I then decided to use their online chat feature to figure out how to get an appointment for a new battery. After going through a whole process to see if I qualify for a new battery (I did) they then told me it would be 4 – 6 weeks.

Um… nope.

So, I shut down the chat and ignored it a bit longer.

A few weeks later I was near an Apple store, so I walked in and made and appointment for a battery replacement for a week later.

Seems pretty easy, right?

WRONG.

Sure, I made the appointment. But then, I had to go through the process of completing an online survey to make sure I qualify for a battery replacement (I did!) and then wait to see if a new battery was available, and then wait to see if it would be shipped to the store in time for my appointment. THEN, the morning of the appointment I get to the store right when the store opened and there were literally 100 people standing in line.

WHAT. THE. HECK.

I was told to stand in a line in the center of the store, while the majority of the people stood in a line to the left. After checking in and confirming that YES I have an appointment, I waited for about 10 more minutes. Then, an Apple lady came over to have me do yet another survey on her iPad. Finally, when it was confirmed that I CAN get a new battery and it was THERE FOR ME, she took my phone and told me to come back in 2 hours.

Sigh. (It was fine though, I did a little shopping.)

I got back to the store just in time… and was told to wait 15 more minutes.

DOUBLE SIGH.

THEN. It happened.

I paid them $29, they gave me my phone back… and it could actually hold a charge for a whole day! It’s like a brand-new phone! It’s life changing. Or, at least social media/blog life changing. And yes, it was an absolute pain to get it done… but I’m happy that I did.

Have you taken advantage of the $29 battery replacement deal? Did it go smoothly for you, or was it a huge pain?

I planned to have an actual blog post for you today, but it’s Finals week for me and after work and finals… I don’t really have much brain power left. However, I did just get the race photos from the 10k I ran over the weekend (blog post here) and holy crackers did I have a pretty ridiculous photo.

Wanna see?

I have no idea how I got that much air in mile 4 or 5… but I look awfully happy, don’t I?!

Or maybe just crazy. Because I totally registered for another 10k in 6 weeks…

When we moved into our house 6 years ago, I was pretty excited to have an in-kitchen pantry. I organized it back in 2013 and it pretty much stayed exactly the same ever since. Which, I guess, means that the organizers I bought worked really well.

The problem is Costco.

I try to only go to Costco every 4 – 5 weeks or so. Each time I go I pick up a huge piece of salmon, which I then cut into 4 pieces and stick in the freezer. We eat salmon once a week (it’s part of my lowering cholesterol diet), so once it’s gone… I need to go back to Costco. I also like to buy a huge bag of mixed nuts (each bag lasts us one week of packing lunches), a huge jug of olive oil for refilling our regular bottle, bulk portions of goldfish and cheese-it’s, toilet paper, paper towels, etc.

This stuff does NOT fit in the pantry. So, instead I would just kind of pile it up on a table sitting in my laundry area. We don’t really have a laundry “room” because there is no door. Instead you can actually see the laundry area from the corner of the den. There is also a door to our backyard there, as well as a door to my garage.

I put a table across from the laundry machines as a way to have some nice hidden storage, but it wasn’t cutting it. I forgot to take a photo of the actual table, but here is our stash piled on top the washer/dryer after I removed it:

Here is the space where the table used to live… next to the door to my garage:

It’s a perfect little area that is hidden from the den, but still pretty accessible for easily grabbing and refilling stuff… like goldfish.

We took a fun family trip to Ikea (MEATBALLS!) and after wandering around the store in a stupor for an hour, I picked up a HINDO shelf unit. Specifically, a HINDO shelf unit and a HINDO cabinet unit which totaled $119.

My husband brought in the two flat pack boxes and then escaped to the garage while I put it together. I’m actually one of those weird people who really enjoys putting together furniture, so it worked out well for both of us.

Here’s the bottom part all assembled:

After putting the top shelving unit together, I grabbed some drywall anchors and secured the entire unit to the wall. This is super important to do if you have a kid in the house, because you don’t want a heavy unit to fall on them!

Here is a close up of one of the straps:

A strap wraps around the bar and then gets screwed right into the drywall anchor on both sides of the unit.

And here is my new overflow storage area:

{Swoon}

I LOVE it. I’m actually at that point where I will just randomly wander into the laundry area and stare at the storage unit. It does look close to my garage door, but it doesn’t get in the way when I open it. The cabinet area stores accessories for our vacuum cleaner and steam cleaner. The upper shelves hold all our bulk pantry stuff with room to grow. The cabinet and shelving area are both super sturdy and I’m really happy with how it all turned out!