Disneyland App - very helpful at Disneyland!

I wanted to introduce you to MOUSEWAIT.   I understand this may not be an EVERYDAY app, but I had to include it because we just got back from Disneyland and it was quite helpful!

It's the first time we've had the opportunity to use this app and I was very excited about it!  When you first open it up, you see the screen shot above, on the left.  It shows you the hours for the day at each park and then what the 'crowd index' is.  That's pretty much a percentage of how full the park is.  It also shows the rides that are closed for the entire day.  Then you can choose whether to look at Disneyland or California Adventure and you will see the above right screen shot: a list of all the rides in the park, listed alphabetically or by "land" and it will show their current wait time.  This is SO great because instead of walking ALL THE WAY to the other side of the park to find out there is a 70 minute wait, you can save yourself the trouble by checking this app.

 

Also, as you see above, you can ask for the "restrooms near you" or "food near you" or "events near you" and it will bring up the closest ones and list them.  Yes, all of this is on the Disney maps that you receive BUT this saves you the step of finding where you are on the map first OR having to get out the map every time you need to go to the bathroom.

 

Now, I would say that most of the time the app was spot on...BUT there are times where I do feel like it was a little delayed....for example, we went to go ride a ride and got there and it was temporarily closed...could be just for 10 minute or an hour...they couldn't tell us.  But it wasn't updated on my app yet.  And then I checked it 10 minutes later and instead of the wait time it said CL for closed...so it does update for those, just sometimes not right at the time it happens. 

 

But overall I found this app very helpful! So for sure, if you are going to Disneyland or Disneyworld, I highly suggest giving this app a download!  Good luck!

Organize Your PINTEREST

Organize your Pinterest?  I know what you're thinking...the purpose of Pinterest is to help you organize all of your ideas, to do stuff & interests, so why do you need to organize IT?

Let me tell you, I LOVE pinterest.  But have you noticed the more you use it, the more the pins pile up on one board and before you know it, you go to look for that Cheesy Potato Wedges recipe you've been dying to try and it takes SO long to scroll through your hundreds of pins that you've pinned to "FOOD".

Here's what I decided works wonders for me:

Tip #1 : BE SPECIFIC. Create boards as specific as you can.  This will save you a lot of time in your searching later! Don't just have a FOOD board, but maybe separate your foods into sub categories, like soups, breakfast, drinks, etc.  Trust me, you 'll be glad you did it. 

Tip #2 :  SMART BOARD NAMES. Create board names that will be easy to find alphabetically.  For example, if we are separating our FOOD board into more specific categories like Salads, Soups, Crock Pot, etc then I would suggest naming them Food - Salads, Food - Soups, etc.  This is because when you go to pin a new pin and need to choose which board it needs to go to, it will be easier to find. All you'll need to do is go to FOOD and all your subcategories will be right there.  I have categories called Fashion- hair, Fashion - skin, Fashion - clothes, or Holidays-Thanksgiving, Holidays-Christmas, etc.  It's saved me!!

So if you are somewhat new to Pinterest and are still creating "boards"...remember those tips!

Here is mine, and you can see my board called "Yummy Food Recipes".  That's what I started out with and it still has a lot of pins in it, but it had way more before I started doing the sub categories under Food - _____.  You can see all of the boards that follow.  I even did boards labeled DESSERTS - cookies/brownies, DESSERTS - cakes, etc

As for those of you who already have a couple thousand pins, it's not too late for you!  Just take a few minutes here and there every now and then to RE-Sort your Pins.  It's now hard to do this.  You just click on a pin that you already have, for example, I found a casserole recipe that could be moved into my FOOD-casserole file.  Click on that little pencil looking icon

It will bring up a box that will allow to create a new board OR, find the board you've already created

Yes, it can get a little time consuming to edit them all, but I swear it will be worth it!! At least make sure all the pins you pin from here on out go into a new board that is more specific. 

 

Hope this helps you!!

Good luck!!

Pinterest App

Pinterest came into my life only a couple years ago.  I remember when my cousin first introduced me.  I looked at the computer screen and was overwhelmed with what I was looking at.  But once I figured it out, I decided that it is a GENIUS idea.  A way to categorize and organize ideas and interests.  I would compare it to your FAVORITES on your computer.  You know, if you use a certain website a lot, or if you've found something you don't want to forget, then you would add the webpage to your FAVORITES so it's easy to access later.  Using Pinterest helps you stay MUCH more organized!   Sorry if most of you are feeling like saying DUH to all of this babbling, but I have several friends and family who don't use it and I think they are crazy (you know who you are).  A lot of people are worried about having one more thing to spend time on electronically.  Some people complain that they spend hours on it.  Well, let me just say that of all things to spend time on, I think this is the most useful.  And it's just like anything else on the internet...YOU CHOOSE how much time you spend on it.
 

Here is what your "boards" might look like:

It is up to you which boards you create to hold all of your "pins" (ideas)
Some of your boards might be "organization", "crafting", "recipes", etc

 

And then on your home page, it will show you the latest "pins" from the people you follow

 

All you do is glance through, and if you see something that peaks your interest, you can REPIN it onto one of your boards so that you can refer to it later.  You don't have to go to the actual website and read all about it or anything.  You've simply placed it in a file to look at it later.

Yes, you have followers and you can follow as well, but it's ultimate purpose is not keeping in touch with others or revealing personal information.  It's simply a way to be organized.  So really, it doesn't matter who follows you. 

Ok, so this might all be old news to some of you, and I know a lot of people who might use Pinterest at home on their computer, but you MUST put the Pinterest App on your phone or other mobile device and I'll tell you why:

  

1. Accessibility - If I am at the store and need to look up a quick recipe for ingredients or the items needed for a craft idea, all I have to do is get into my pinterest app, find the board I need and click on the pin to get my information.

2.  Passes The Time - If I am stuck waiting in line at a store, or at a bus stop, or let's admit it...we all have chosen to read on the toilet, right? Well, pinterest can serve the same purpose.  haha  Seriously though, it's nice to have it on hand for those few minutes here and there with nothing to do.  It's fun to use it looking for new ideas to add to my collection. 

3. Liberty - Many people will confess that they could sit on their computer and be on Pinterest for hours.  Well, the App leaves you free to look at pinterest wherever you may be, which leads to less time sitting in front of the computer. (refer to #2)

 

If you haven't tried it yet, I hope you can have some fun with it! Stay tuned for my post about how to ORGANIZE your Pinterest. ;)

AWESOME Budgeting App to SAVE MONEY!

Let me introduce you to
GoodBudget!!

My husband I starting using this app this year and I really think we've done better than we ever have with our money.  It's comparable to the cash envelope system that is highly recommended by many finance professionals.  This is when you divide your income up as soon as you get paid.  When you decide on how much each envelope will get per pay period, you put that cash in your envelope and that's ALL you get for the month.  When the cash runs out, then too bad for you!  You literally have no more money!  This works well for a lot of people and keeps you from spending more than you have.

I liked the idea, but it didn't always work well for me.  It was an extra trip and extra time to pull all the cash out and divide it up, not to mention I would get nervous about carrying a certain amount of cash around with me.  Overall, I'm too lazy. ;)

GOODBUDGET gives you this SAME envelope system idea, but you don't have the hassle of the actual cash.  We still use our credit card, but as soon as we spend something, we go to the app and take it out of the envelope we spent from and it AUTOMATICALLY shows you how much you have left.  It even tells you things like "you might want to stop spending for 5 days, you're falling behind"

The only CON I can find with this is that it's always a risk to use your credit card because when you're money on the app runs out, that doesn't mean that your credit card is unusable.  So you have to take it seriously.  When your cash is gone in your "envelope" you are DONE for the month.  No excuses!

I know a lot of financial experts will say that credit cards are a big NO NO, but if you can follow your budget, there is one big PRO to doing it this way.  REWARDS.  Find a credit card that gives you a % back on your spending.  We end up paying for most of our Christmas at the end of the year on the rewards that we earned on things we were going to pay for anyway.  And I have family that use the airline's credit cards so that their spending helps them to accrue mileage.  They often times travel for free because of it. 

But all this budgeting will not do you any good if you don't pay your credit card off EVERY MONTH.    So when you sit down and decide what you budget amounts will be, then be very realistic.  And if you can set your amounts a little lower than your "realistic amount" then you can put the extra $$ into savings.  I'm telling you, it will start to add up and you will be amazed.

And the BEST part about this system is that you can SYNC it to your spouse!  So while you are both out and about doing separate things, you each have the same budget and updates at your fingertips.  GENIUS!  We LOVE it! 

PS:  Everyone just needs to find what works for them.  If cash is how you've got to do it to keep things under control, then do it.   It doesn't matter how you do it, as long as you are staying out of debt and even better, saving some money.  Good luck to you all!!

The Best Apps - Theme #2

February is here and with it comes a new theme!  I have given you so much to think about and so much to work on last month with Preserving Your Memories, so I will take it easy on you this month by just introducing mobile apps that I've found help to keep me organized.  So hopefully this will give you information that might be useful as well as give you time to continue working on some of your projects to preserve your memories.  Sound good?

Here is what we've talked about so far:

 

A great app to keep your BUDGET in check

25 Fun & Random Questions for a Kids Interview

With this month's theme being "Preserve Your Memories", one of the ways you can do that is by doing an interview!  My last post was on doing an interview as husband and wife, which you can find HERE.  But this post will focus on doing an interview with your children! Some people like to do this once a year and then it's fun to see how they've changed from year to year, but even if you just get one interview out of their entire childhood, it will be so great to have!

You can print out the questions and fill out their answers and then slide the page into a baby book

OR

It would be even more fun to capture the interview on video.  Trust me, you will cherish this for years and years to come. 

When you are doing a video, it is fun if you can get their personality to come out. You don't want to be stuck with a lot of one word answers.  Try hard to get them talking. Hopefully some of these questions can help with that:

1.  What is your name?
2.  How old are you and what grade are you in?
3.  What is your favorite_____ and why? = Color, Movie, Game, Book, Food, Drink, Sport, Restaurant, Activity, TV Show, School subject, things to do in your free time, Song or Music
4.  Who are your friends? And what do you like to do with them?
5.  What is your favorite thing to do with your family?
6.  What do you love about your mom, dad, brother, sister?
7.  What do you absolutely hate to do?
8.  Which food grosses you out the most?
9.   If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
10.  What do you want to be when you grow up and why?
11.  What are you afraid of?
12.  If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why?
13.  What are you really good at?
14.  What is something you want to get better at?
15.  If you were granted one wish, what would you wish for?
16.  What could you eat 10 of right now?
17.  What is your favorite store to shop at?
18.  Do you have a favorite joke?
19.  What chores do you have to do and what do you think about them?
20.  If you could meet anyone famous, who would it be?
21.  What is something your mom always says to you?
22.  How strong is your dad?
23.  Do you think you'll ever get married and have kids someday? How many kids?
24.  What is the nicest thing you have done for someone? Or that someone has done for you?
25.  Have you lost any teeth? How did they come out?

Interview Questions for a Couple

As our month's theme "Preserve Your Memories" comes to a close, I wanted to talk a little bit about videos this week. And I'll start with the idea of videotaping an interview. 

About 5 years ago, I saw a video online of a young couple being interviewed about how they met, etc and thought it was the best thing ever.  As I had started doing wedding videos, I started to offer a "Love Story" as an extra service.  Here is an example of one of my first ones.  Click on the HD before you watch them!:

Love Story - Jon and Jaclyn from Aub Howell on Vimeo.

And I decided this is an amazing idea, that EVERYONE should have one of these.  No matter how old you are!  My aunt and uncle wanted one for their 25th anniversary.  So here is a little part of it:

Lauri & Scott - Interveiws from Aub Howell on Vimeo.

And then just a year ago, my sister in law asked if I'd do one for their 10th anniversary. 

Kam & Rosi - A Love Story teaser from Aub Howell on Vimeo.

When you do one after being married a while, there is a lot more to talk about and so those videos ended up being about 30 minutes...so those videos above are just a sample of each one.  And granted, you don't need to do anything this fancy, but how fun will it be to look back on this later in life, or for your kids to have.  I think it would have been so fun to have something like this from my parents! 

All you need is a video camera, a tripod and some video editing software.  It can be so simple. And like I said, you do not need to do anything fancy with it...you will just love having the interview.  But you can always hire someone like me to do it for you. ;)  I know you will love having it on video so much more, BUT another option is to just write it all down. ;) That's better than nothing. 

 

Here are some sample questions you might use for your interview:

 

**TIP** It can be REALLY fun to do your interviews separately, without the other spouse listening in.  It's fun to see their viewpoint on everything without being influenced by the other person.

For an engaged or newly married couple:
1.  How did you meet?
2.  What was your first impression of him/her?
3.  Tell about your first date and/or a memorable date.
4.  First kiss?  First time saying 'I love you'?
5.  How did he/she propose?
6.  What do you love about him/her?
7.  Describe him/her as if you were telling someone who didn't know them.
8.  What do you look forward to in the rest of your life together? Hopes, dreams, etc

For a married couple:
1.  All of the above questions
2.  You've been married for ___ years.  How would you summarize those years together?
3.  Describe your spouse in 5 words and why each word
4.  What do you remember about the day you got married? (Schedule, feelings, etc)
4.  What are some of your happiest memories?
5.  Have there been any significant experiences or trials that you'd like to tell about?
6.  When did you decide you were ready for kids to join the family?
7.  Your children...how many, your experience as each of them came into your life, etc....can be very general or very specific. It's up to you.
8.  What would you like to say to him/her?

This can also be a GREAT gift idea...for an anniversary or even Valentines Day.  Good luck to you!!!