Product Reviews - Pocketful of Joules

Reviewing Citrus Lane: Was it Worth it?

I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to give myself the gift of Citrus Lane. Since each month’s box o’ presents is a surprise until you receive it, I really didn’t know what to expect.

Well, I received the March gift box in the mail and I figure I’d share my thoughts on its contents.

The theme of this month’s gift box is “Dining Out” which I thought would be perfect for us since we have an addiction to restaurants. In the last two weeks that Jack has been home, we’ve taken him to eat out with us at least 5 times and he’s totally slept through about 80% of it.

So, what did this magical box contain?

• A pacifier made out of organic rubber by Natursutten ($7.95 value)

• One “Itsy Ritzy Bib, Burp and Bath Cloth” ($12.99 value)

• A full-sized bottle of Mommy’s Bliss Gripe Water ($11.99 value)

• A teething toy by ZoLi ($5.00 value)

• Weleda Almond Soothing Facial Lotion and Cleansing Lotion for Mommy ($53.00 value)

• A few promo codes for 10% – 20% of the products in the gift box

• A $10 off promo code for anything at AbesMarket.com

Based on the values given in the accompanying brochure, the gift box has a total retail value of $90.93 + promo codes.

Would I have paid $90 for everything inside?

No.

But I was totally happy to pay the monthly subscription cost of $30.*

Most of the things in the box aren’t things I would have gone out and purchased, but that’s kind of the point. They put together a few things that people love but I might not have known about and send it to me. Brilliant!

My favorite thing so far is the bib/burp cloth/bath cloth – its super soft and a really great size.

And look, it totally works as a blanket too!

It will work out well as a burp cloth while Jack is still small and then snap around his neck to be a super absorbent bib. When he outgrows the bib, it can be used as a wash cloth when giving him a bath. I have a bunch of different kinds of burp cloths from various shower gifts, but I can already say that I like this one best.

I tried the fancy schmancy face wash and lotion today when I took a shower (yes, I totally took a shower today while staying home with the baby all by myself. YAY me!) Did it make me insanely beautiful and take 10 years off my face – um, no.

Here’s a close up of the results (with mostly wet hair, sorry. I showered… what more do you want from me??). My skin looks exactly the same as it always does.

I already religiously use my Origins face wash and face lotion with SPF, which is a bit pricy but nowhere as expensive as the Weleda stuff. I’ll stick with Origins – it smells way better and also protects my skin from UV rays.

Jack would totally be smizing if his eyes were open.

We haven’t tried out the pacifier and teething toy since Jack is sleeping. Here he is modeling them though.

I was pretty excited about the last thing in the box, Mommy’s Bliss Gripe Water. Apparently my baby takes after his daddy, because he is super gassy. Not just normal gassy, I mean this kid farts ALL THE TIME. He sleeps great during the day, but most of the night he sits there and just grunts as hard as he can until a toot finally comes out. It’s hilarious, but I could totally use some sleep! I had asked my doctor about gripe water and she said that some people swear by it, so I had planned to pick some up when I had a chance.

I tried it out yesterday and gave Jack a teeny tiny serving to see if it helped. And honestly, I can’t tell if it helped at all. I’m going to try again tonight and give him the serving directly before we try and go to bed, so cross you fingers that we can all get some sleep!

All in all, I think this month’s Citrus Lane box was worth the price. I like the anticipation of receiving a present in the mail (its way better than bills) and trying out products that I would have never known about.

April’s gift box is all around the theme of “Bath and Bedtime – creating a healthy, relaxing bath and bedtime routine”. As you can tell by this picture of Jack’s first real bath (he was just getting sponge baths), he’s not quite a fan yet and we can use a relaxing bathtime routine!

The washrag is strategically placed for Jack’s modesty. And to ensure he doesn’t totally hate me when he grows up.

* I actually only paid $20 for the March gift box because I used a promo code. You can use it too. Click here and use code 20TODAY to save 20% off the cost of any subscription.

PS — I reviewed another Citrus Lane box here.

Buying Myself Presents

So, in case you didn’t know this about me – I have a total weakness for clever marketing tactics. It’s like I should know better, but I just can’t help myself!

My latest obsession is such an awesome product that it’s almost like the maker was spying on me when they came up with it.

It combines my love of awesome packaging, presents, surprises, a low price and oh yeah, the fact that I just popped out a baby. They’re spying on me, right??

Anyways, it’s a company called Citrus Lane and they offer specialized care packages filled with adorable products for you and your baby. When signing up you tell them your child’s age (0 – 3) and they will send you out a box each month filled with full sized products for both of you to enjoy. You don’t know what’s in the box, that’s a surprise – but based on their previous boxes it’s sure to be awesome!

Each month has a theme and March is “Dining Out with Baby” month. Since my husband and I have pretty much eaten out most meals* for the last three weeks, I anticipate this being a perfect fit for us.

I can’t wait to get my first box in the mail and I’ll be sure to fill you all in on whether it was worth it. Either way, it’s a brilliant marketing idea and I wish I would have thought of it first!

If you’re interested in signing up for Citrus Lane and experiencing it with me, click here. Also, here’s a special little code for my readers, use 20TODAY and you can save 20% off the cost of the subscription.

PS. I was not rewarded in any way for mentioning Citrus Lane on my blog. I just think it’s an awesome concept and I’m excited to try it out!

* Since Jack has been in the hospital, we’ve pretty much eaten dinner out every night. Since the NICU is closed between 6:30 – 7:30, it’s a convenient way to spend the hour. However, I never thought I would say this, but I am REALLY SICK of restaurant food!

Good Customer Service Rocks My Socks Off

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…