Product Reviews - Pocketful of Joules

Do We Need an Inflatable Hot Tub?

When we were traveling for Thanksgiving, we passed a store selling hot tubs. Which lead to me googling hot tubs to see how much they cost. Which than led me to Amazon, where I found inflatable hot tubs. Which led to me reading (aloud) a bunch of reviews where people freaking love their inflatable hot tub. Which led to my husband and I deciding that for Christmas this year we should probably buy an inflatable hot tub.

Yeah, it snowballed pretty quickly.

When we travel, we do enjoy renting places with hot tubs. And an inflatable hot tub seems like a pretty low stakes way to try it out to determine if it would get enough use at our house to justify the purchase.

See, still talking myself into it.

This is the one we are considering: Coleman SaluSpa Inflatable Hot Tub. It supposedly fits four, which means it should be fine for the three of us. Even if one of us is a giant. You basically blow it up, plug it in, fill it with water and BOOM you have a hot tub. There IS maintenance that needs to be done, where you put in chemicals regularly to keep from icky things growing in there. It also comes with a lid.

The reviews are pretty great – on Amazon over 9,800 people have reviewed it and it has 4.4 stars. Which is pretty surprising to me. I didn’t realize there were so many inflatable hot tubs out in the world!

Part of our backyard is fenced in and there is a door to access the area in our sunroom. So, I’m thinking I can keep some towels/robes in the sunroom (maybe a shelf or some hooks?) so that we have them ready to go for hot tubbing time. It’s also right by our laundry room, which is nice for wet swimsuits.

We have a hose out that side of the house, so filling it up should be easy-peasy. We don’t have an outside plug there, but we DO have one on that side of the sunroom — so we can cut a little slit in the screen/plastic window and feed the plug through.

There are a couple potential issues though. (1) The ground isn’t completely flat. So, we may need to put the inflatable hot tub a little further away from the house (and use an extension cord). (2) There are conflicting reports on whether you can just plop the inflatable hot tub on the ground (grass/pine needles/dirt). I’m not really concerned about killing grass, but I’m not sure if we need to dig out a circle to make it more level? I found this hot tub mat that is supposed to help level it, and provide cushion and heat installation to the bottom, so that may be the way to go?

Also, I’m imagining throwing some holiday lights up around the nearby trees. Or fence. Or side of the house. I don’t know – my imaginary hot tub sanctuary has twinkle lights. They also have lots of random light up hot tub accessories, which could be cool.

So yeah, we are letting that idea marinate a bit. If you have an inflatable hot tub or if you know someone with one, I’d love to hear about your experiences with it!

Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

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On my Black Friday Shopping Watch List

While I’ve never been one of those wake-up-early-and-camp-outside-a-store people for Black Friday, I am quite the internet deal finder. So, each year I make myself a little ‘watch list’ for items that I want to purchase utilizing those Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals.

Instead of having a list of appliances and electronics, I tend to use Black Friday sales to replenish items that are running low, or to see if a coveted item falls within my price range. Here is my list for this year:

Sunday Riley: I’ve been running low on my favorite face moisturizer, so I’ve been stalking the Sunday Riley site to see if the C.E.O. Hydration Cream will go on sale. (UPDATE: I just saw that it went on super sale on Amazon… marked down from $65 to $39!).
Athleta: I tried on the Coaster Luxe Jogger in the store and really loved them, but would prefer to spend less than $79 on a pair of joggers. I’m planning to check the Athleta website over the holiday weekend to see if any good deals pop up on these.
L.L. Bean: I shared the $149 Signature Cotton Fisherman sweater in a post (here’s the post) a few weeks ago and I’m crossing my fingers that L.L.Bean adds a discount of more than 10% (which is lame).
The Perfect Jeans: Another past blog post share was when I replaced my husband’s jeans with The Perfect Jeans. He could use one more pair, so I’m planning to check the website for any holiday deals! Here’s the post with a $20 promo code if you’re looking for jeans for your man or kiddo.
Nespresso pods: I love my Nespresso machine (blog post here), so I always keep an eye out for pod sales. My current favorites are a Nespresso chiaro pod mixed with a Starbucks espresso pod (I add them both to some frothed milk and a squirt of vanilla cold foam. YUM!) So, I’ll be doing a quick check over the long weekend to see if any deals pop up and restock if they do.
Jack’s List: I’m also planning to have Jack write up his Christmas list tonight and put it on an Amazon Wish List, so that way I can keep an eye on whether any prices dip low over the weekend. Typically there are some STEM toys and video games I can snag from either Amazon, Target or GameStop when the sales start.

Are you planning to do any online Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday or Cyber Monday shopping?

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Honest Review: Hoover PowerDash Pet Compact Carpet Cleaner

This review is very overdue, since I bought this carpet cleaner back in 2019. However, I just pulled it out of the closet to give my living room carpet a nice refresh and it still works as perfectly as the day I got it… so I figured now is actually the PERFECT time for a quick review!

Over the years, I was always a ‘rent a carpet cleaner from Home Depot’ kind of girl. I did this every few years in my townhouse I owned (before husband and kiddo) and I did it every 1-2 years in our current home (husband and kiddo are dirty). When searching the blog to check for the last time I rented a carpet cleaner, it was actually in April 2019, followed by buying my own carpet cleaner in August 2019.

Since then, carpet cleaning has become SO. DANG. EASY.

I no longer have to drive to a store, stand in line, rent a ginormous and heavy machine, drag it out of the store, load it into my car, load it out of my car, drag it into the house, use it, drag it out of the house, load it into my car, load it out of my car, and drag it back into the store. Oh, and pay money each time (typically around $40 for a day of rental).

Now, when my living room carpet is looking a little dingy, or someone has accidently dripped purple popsicle juice (?!?!) on it, or if the dog has an accident of any sort… I just grab my carpet cleaner out of the front hall closet, use it, and then return it to the closet. It’s convenient. It’s easy. It does a fantastic job. And even better, I paid $119 four years ago and it doesn’t cost me any additional money.

This is the exact one I have:

It is the Hoover PowerDash Pet Lightweight Compact Carpet Cleaner and it currently costs $119 on Amazon. I keep a bottle of carpet cleaning solution (I have this one) under the kitchen sink and pull it out for any carpet cleaning or spot cleaning needs. The one container has lasted me for the past 4 years, so a little really does go a long way.

Benefits of the Hoover PowerDash — it is very lightweight. The container on the side is easy to detach and fill with water and carpet cleaner. And the little tub at the bottom is super easy to remove and carry to clean out the dirty water. For my living room, I usually go through about 4 containers of water in a session.

Because it’s so easy to use and lives in my front hall closet, it also takes no pre-planning if I want to clean the carpet. In fact, just last week after I dropped Jack at the bus stop, I grabbed the carpet cleaner and cleaned the entire living room in about 20 minutes before logging into work for the day. Everyone was out of the house until evening, so the carpet had plenty of time to dry and looks so, so, much better!

Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

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