Category: Product Reviews

Since it’s been almost a decade since I purchased my last house, I’m suddenly being reminded of all the “fun” stuff that comes along with a home purchase.

One of those things I forgot about is the massive amount of signing* my own name. You sign your name a bunch. And when I say a bunch, I mean you sign a freaking craptastic amount of forms. Whether it’s to put in the initial contract, secure your new mortgage or actually go through the settlement for your new home, you’d better bone up on your full signature because you’ll be signing it over and over and over again.

Ok, I’m back on track from my tangent — one of the things that slipped my mind was that I’d have to call around and get quotes for homeowners insurance.

Even though we won’t be moving until the end of the month, in order to fully process our paperwork our mortgage guy needs to know that we have insurance lined up, as well as a quote for how much to include in our escrow account total.

When I did this forever ago for my townhouse, I asked around to see if anyone was happy with their insurance. A friend highly recommended Erie Insurance (offered through Patterson Insurance in Odenton, Maryland), so I switched my auto policy over to them when signing up for a homeowners insurance policy.

Unfortunately, when my husband and I got married and wanted to merge our auto insurance plans, they wouldn’t take him because he had a couple recent tickets and accidents. We switched both of our auto policies to Geico and kept the homeowners plan with Erie since Geico didn’t offer one at that time.

When we sold our townhouse, we discontinued our homeowner’s insurance plan and instead signed up for a renter’s insurance plan through Geico which gave us a multi-policy discount. Patterson Insurance was awesome about this and promptly sent me out a refund for the remaining money in my account.

Now that we’re in the market for homeowner’s insurance again, I figured I’d quote around at a couple different places. I asked my Facebook friends for their recommendations and got a few to work with. I also checked my account page on Geico to see if they offered the plan, but gave up after looking around and not finding anything.

So, I called the first company on my list – my previous company of Erie (through Patterson). The lady who I spoke to on the phone (yes, it was a REAL PERSON with no touchtone prompts!) was both super nice and super knowledgeable.  In less than 10 minutes, we went over every aspect of the new house and answered a ton of questions so that she could determine its value. She came back with a quote that was 20% less than the mortgage guy guessed it would be. She also went the extra mile to let us know that if we switched back our auto policies (which we can now do since there are no recent tickets or accidents), we could save an additional $200 each year.

Once I got off the phone with her, she emailed me the quote within 5 minutes and included the note that she’d be happy to prepare an auto quote if I send over our VIN numbers.

SOLD!

I didn’t have to yell at a computer for 15 minutes before finally speaking to a human?
There was no pressure to buy their services?
They offered full coverage at great prices?
The lady was knowledgeable about the plans and FRIENDLY?

I don’t even feel like I need to call anywhere else to get additional quotes, since I’m perfectly happy with what they’re offering!

And THAT is how you get business.

So let me do my part to pass on the positive reviews – if you’re looking to get a quote on an auto or homeowners insurance policy, take 10 minutes and call the Patterson Insurance Company.

*I accidentally mistyped that as singing my name, which sounds even more fun. And now I’m singing my name over and over in my head…

This may not come as a surprise to some of you, being that I’m a dorky visual person who keeps an “idea box” with stuff that sparks my creativity for graphic design projects. I also tend to keep magazines for way too long because I loved something about a particular page… only to find the magazine months or years later and not remember which page I liked and why.

One of my little pleasures is decorating (or re-decorating) a room for a ridiculously small budget by doing everything myself. In fact, I’m currently in the middle of a bunch of different projects for our baby’s room, which will most likely all be completed next week since I have time off from work.

I guess I should just come out and confess… I’m obsessed with Pinterest.

For anyone not familiar with the website, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard which allows you to organize and share stuff you find on the internet. Whether it is a super snazzy white ceramic owl or an inspiration room where you’re obsessed with the wall color, you can “pin” it on your very own board for future viewing.  The best part is that the original link that you found is included in the pin, so you can find it again in the future.

So right now I have boards with ideas for our baby’s room, our new house, cool maternity stuff and even a tattoo sleeve that I’m in love with. If you’re bored and want to check out my pins, click on the Pinterest link on the right hand side of this page and search for JoulesDellinger to find me.

Anyways, while tooling away on the website, I came across a framed image of “21 Suggestions for Success” by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. that really resonated with me. If you’re not familiar with his work, I wanted to share it with my fabulous Pocketful readers in case it sparks something with you too:

21 Suggestions for Success
By H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

1. Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.
2. Work at something you enjoy and that’s worthy of your time and talent.
3. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
4. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
5. Be forgiving of yourself and others.
6. Be generous.
7. Have a grateful heart.
8. Persistence, persistence, persistence.
9. Discipline yourself to save money on even the most modest salary.
10. Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.
11. Commit yourself to constant improvement.
12. Commit yourself to quality.
13. Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power, prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect.
14. Be loyal.
15. Be honest.
16. Be a self-starter.
17. Be decisive even if it means that you’ll sometimes be wrong.
18. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life.
19. Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you’ll regret the things you didn’t do more than the ones you did.
20. Take good care of those you love.
21. Don’t do anything that wouldn’t make your mom proud.

I know some of them are pretty typical and you’ve heard them time and time again (and probably skim over them with your eyes half-closed). However, at this particular moment in time, I have four standout favorites: #3, #5, #11 and #13.

So on this Christmas Eve Eve, think about whether there is something on his list that you need to keep in mind. And if you happen to be that inevitable person who will be in line ahead of me tonight when I finish my holiday shopping…please, please, please take # 17 to heart!

I know that’s a pretty big promise to live up to. I’m about to give you the one secret that can make everyone you deal with happier.

Crazy, right?

Impossible!

But let me ask you this. What is the one thing that you’ll never hear anyone say?

“I really love to feel unappreciated!”

Okay, maybe you’d hear it if someone was being totally sarcastic. However, nobody is ever thrilled to feel like someone is taking them for granted.

This is true in the workplace, as well as in your personal relationships. To keep someone around, they need to feel valued. If they don’t feel valued, you can bet that they’ll be looking around for someone else to value them – whether it be on match.com or monster.com.

As a manager or business owner, it is important to realize that by recognizing employees for doing a good job, it actually helps motivate them to continue performing well. Although some business have an entire employee morale program complete with a large budget, many things can be done for less than $100. Check out “1001 Ways to Reward Employees” by Bob Nelson, PH.D. for a bunch of great ideas and low-cost activities you can implement at your company.

I’ve given it a lot of thought though and I really think I know the best tip ever invented.

Are you ready for my awesome secret of making everyone happier?

Here it is in one little word: Praise.

Praise your employees.
Praise your spouse or significant other.
Praise your friends.
You can even praise your freaking dog.

It’s that simple. If someone is doing a good job – TELL THEM!

If you appreciate someone for doing something awesome, or even just consistently being a super friend or supportive spouse – TELL THEM!

If you value an employee and you want them to continue working for you, TELL THEM that you value them. Otherwise, when they hand in their resignation… it will be too late.

So my Pocketful readers,* let’s spread the love. Here’s your homework for the day: the next time someone does something great – whether it be the super friendly waitress that takes your order or the fact that your husband finally remembered to put the dishes in the dishwasher – tell them what a great job they did!

*By the way, my sweet and sassy Pocketful readers, I owe you a bit of praise. I appreciate and value every single person who has taken a minute out of their day to read my ramblings.