The Ultimate Staycation is a second home in the same city. I literally can’t make this stuff up. I have an idea that sounds crazy to most… I explore the topic by Googling it and wallah… others are doing the same!
Four years ago the Wall Street Journal wrote an article describing how couples from New York to Florida to California are pursuing this trend. Here are a couple of examples from the article:
“Different neighborhoods have different experiences,” said New York City real-estate agent Shaun Osher of Core, who said he has several clients with more than one home in the city. “If you walk on the street in the West Village, it’s like a different world to the Upper East Side.”EXACTLY!
Empty-nesters Alan and Sue Ravitz live primarily in a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park neighborhood. Instead of buying a larger home, “we thought it would be much more fun to have a completely different environment in the city for us to experience,” said Ms. Ravitz, 58. YEP!
See also: 👀 After rash of racist incidents, Airbnb partners with NAACP to help Black people cash in (The Grio) #airbnbwhileblack
Earlier this week I ordered contacts online. When I found out they were scheduled to be delivered by UPS on a day I was traveling, I immediately went online to request that UPS to hold the package (or deliver it on another day). This service usually costs $5.
To my surprise, there was another “hold” option available: Have UPS deliver my package to my local CVS for me to pick up later. Say what now??! I immediately selected that FREE option and as I am now sitting in another state, I just got a text alert that my contacts were just delivered to my local CVS (a place I pass by at least twice a day). It will be in safe hands for me to pickup anytime during CVS’ normal business hours over the next seven (7) days. This is a much better option than having my package sit outside on my front porch.
Way to go UPS and CVS! You can select one of CVS’s 12,000 stores nationwide or pickup UPS packages at Michael’s and Advance Auto Parts stores.
CNBC reports that consumers are demanding more ways to pickup and return packages, which is driving these types of corporate partnerships. A few more examples include: FedEx at Walgreens and Amazon at Kohl’s or UPS. In similar news, UPS’ drone technology will soon be used to deliver prescription drugs to CVS patients at their home. Read more here or watch below.
If you’re a #plannergirl like me, this post is just for you! I’ve shared my planner setup before (see Louis Vuitton GM/Large Agenda Setup); but, today I thought I would share my new favorite (shops). All shops notes below are ran by women and made in the U.S.A. 🇺🇸
Preferred: My first love was SessaVee (instagram). I ABSOLUTELY LOVE her clean design, font selection, spacing and how she uses variable line width to make certain sections of her inserts pop. Unfortunately, product availability is SUPER sketchy so I no longer use this shop’s selection as the anchor in my planner. She now has printables on Etsy but I’m SSSOOO not into doing that. PS…. I wish she would bring back the originals!!!!
I am signed up for Sessa Vee’s product launch announcement and am hoping for the best! 🤞🏽Actual Inserts (New): 8Lotus (instagram) is a new shop for me. The designs are classic, chic and minimalist. The packaging is great, flexible layouts and the line spacing is phenomenal.
Other Goodies: Cloth & Paper hands down for stickers and sticky notes – they are gorgeous. I also LOVE her yearly calendars and dividers!!!! I can’t use her planner inserts or note paper because the lines are TOO WIDE! They are beautiful but when I used them I feel like hooked on phonics, like I have to write super big to fill the space. Valuable room is being wasted here! Also, the time on the dailies only go until 10 pm. #bummer (if you’re listening, please offer college rule, thanks!!!)
I also like Minted Sugar (instagram) for their pink (textured) line paper. I use this for specialty things… planning a vacation, packing list, special occasions, etc.
So those are my fav’s. I also have a new favorite #plannergirl that I follow on YouTube. Check out her video below.
Psst… I’m thinking to do a planner setup video on YouTube so, so stay tuned to my channel!
During the month of July I expect to have long commutes one day a week. Of course my OCD-like behavior (as well the well-known dreadful Atlanta traffic conditions) has me researching how to best maximize my travel time to/from work. There are lots of services available out there that seek to capture and keep your attention, so how do you pick which services/features to pay attention to? How do you know where to start? Keep reading below for my recommendations!
Since the obvious goal during a long to commute is to get home as quickly and safely as possible, we MUST start with a travel app. There are many available including Google Maps, Apple Maps, Mapquest (yes… that still exists 😳) and Waze. I’ll just jump ahead and tell you right now that Waze wins and will be at the center of my long commutes. Not because it’s such a great app (it is! users report crashes, cop sightings, slowdowns, etc.); but, more so because Waze plays nice with others.
Let me explain. Yes, I will be commuting; but, I also want to do other things to help the time go by faster and ease the pain. I want to do things like listen to music, audiobooks or podcasts. When I say Waze plays nice with others I mean it seamlessly integrates with other apps or services. For music, it’s Spotify. For Podcasts, Stitcher and for books, Audiobooks. These tight integrations or hook ins allow you to select songs/playlists/books right from within the Waze app itself. There’s no need to leave the Waze app itself to start listening to another service.
(By the way, this post is a great synopsis of what I do for a living… software and process integration. I spend my days focusing on optimizing user experience for the software we use to run our business for things like taking orders, billing customers, etc. and automating those processes. I identify opportunities for integration/automation, lead projects to implement them and also streamline (or lean) complex processes to make them simpler #techie 💁🏽♀️)
Now, you may prefer Apple Music over Spotify; but, for me the days of tech giants producing great isolated products/services are over. Partnerships (or tightly integrating with others) will always prevail and Apple is not so good at that part yet. Waze, on the other hand, makes integrating easy. Because Waze will be at the center of my long commutes and I value integration, I choose the following:
Now, don’t get me wrong. All of these services are great and honestly, any one in isolation will do the trick; but, if you want MORE, go with services that tightly integrate with other services/features you also value. Your life will be easier because of it!
Vector subscription business model concept in flat style – pricing plan for app or website service
A few weeks ago I started an adulting series called RWA (Reading, Writing, Arithmetic). The first post focused on Writing using a technique called Bullet Journaling. Today’s post is the second in that series, focused on Arithmetic and Subscriptions.
Subscriptions are those things you sign up and are automatically billed for each month. You don’t even have to think about renewing the service because the company automatically does it for you (by way of an invoice or more frequently an automatic payment from your bank account or credit card). Items that fit this category are: Spotify (music), Netflix (movies), Audible (books), iCloud Storage and the recently popular subscription boxes (wine clubs, book of the month, beauty products). Just about every company has a Subscription model these days and why not, it’s easy cash for them!
The subscription model is a booming field. In recent years, this market has grown by more than 100% a year, increasing from $57 million in sales in 2011 to $2.6 billion in 2016. This is from a recent article in Stanford Business Journal that also predicts that, “Everything you purchase — from transportation to entertainment to groceries — will soon come with a monthly plan.”
Sure, the costs are nominal; but, this discussion is not about being able to afford the service or not. I’m sure most people reading this could sign up for 10 or more of these monthly services and still be ok financially. I say JustSayNo because once you get sucked in, it’s hard to get out. Gym membership anyone? 🏋🏽♀️🏋🏽♀️🏋🏽♀️
Do you remember that infomercial from back in the day about a popular cooking device that had the popular slogan, “Set it and Forget It.” That’s EXACTLY how I think about subscriptions. Often times we sign up for products/services and either use it VERY SPARINGLY or completely forget about it altogether!
When it comes to expenses, they can of course be need vs want; but, the actual payments themselves can also be PUSH vs PULL. When expenses are PUSHED, you consciously send your money somewhere for something you decide you want. For example, I saw Michelle Obama on the Today Show and decided I would like to read her new book, Becoming. As are result of that conscious decision, I purchased her book. Under this scenario, I have just given my money to someone for a product I chose. Conversely, when expenses are PULLED youunconsciously send money to someone for something you may or may not want to experience/enjoy or chose. Sure, the monthly charge appears small (i.e. $9.99/month for Spotify); but, the real question is are you using the service and getting value from it or do you keep it around as a nice-to-have or because of a “just-in-case” philosophy. As in, just in case there’s a new movie, book or album I want to partake in this month…
For needs (rent/mortgage, long term disability insurance, student loans, car insurance), I’m completely ok with the PULL technique – it saves me time and energy on things I know I have to pay anyway; however, when it comes to wants (entertainment, luxuries) I prefer to PUSH at intervals I consciously choose.
Didn’t there used to be a time when people wanted to decide where their money went and for what? Now, we’re ok letting complete strangers decide for us?? 🤔 Are they smarter or more in tune with our actual needs, wants and desires than we are? A popular finance blog, MoneyCrashers lists the cons of popular product-based subscription boxes this way:
Overbuying – While a subscription box usually costs less than buying all the items in it separately, there’s a good chance you wouldn’t buy all those items if they didn’t come in your box.
Unclear value – You get a different assortment of products every month, and you don’t even know what they’re going to be.
Problems With Returns – Sometimes companies won’t return/exchange items you don’t use. Most often people just don’t bother.
Difficulty of Quitting – As long as the fee is low enough to make it seem like a good deal, it won’t seem worthwhile to cancel the service.
There is a such thing as a subscription hoarder. According to GQ magazine, people spend more than twice as much on subscriptions as they think they do. The average initial estimate was $79.74 per month. The actual average was a whopping $237.33 per month. When companies uncouple your payment from your enjoyment of their product, it’s easy to forget you ever paid.
I currently have one monthly subscription- Netflix – and that’s because we actually use it. On everything else, I consciously choose to pass. Don’t get me wrong, all subscriptions are not bad; however, the adulting tip of the day in this RWA series is that when it comes to subscriptions, choose wisely!!!
If you’re a #plannergirl like me, this post is just for you! I’ve shared my planner setup before (see 
Let me explain. Yes, I will be commuting; but, I also want to do other things to help the time go by faster and ease the pain. I want to do things like listen to music, audiobooks or podcasts. When I say Waze plays nice with others I mean it seamlessly integrates with other apps or services. 
Do you remember that infomercial from back in the day about a popular cooking device that had the popular slogan, “
Bri Alys, LLC 