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Budget Decorating: Master Bedroom

2016/07 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

Budget decorating doesn't have to be a buzz-kill, use tools to shop smartly with store coupons and Ebates!

I am exhausted. But I’m also contented.

I am going to die in this home because the mortgage process was a nightmare, and moving was not exactly my favorite thing, especially during a freakish heatwave. Those niggly things aside, my husband did a great job picking out our house (I was away on business the weekend he looked at it and put in an offer) — I love our home! I’m having a blast, challenging myself to shop smartly and employ budget decorating (so we can get more rooms done while spending less).

Budget decorating doesn't have to be a buzz-kill, use tools to shop smartly with store coupons and Ebates!

After living in a cramped cottage for two-and-a-half years, I’m embracing the spaciousness of our new home (it’s 3x the size of our last house) and enjoying Christmas-like moments as we open boxes that have been in storage for three years. I’m also excited to finally, truly merge households with my husband (it’s only taken us 5 1/2 years, but hey, better late than never, right?). We’re having fun furniture shopping together, so both of our tastes are reflected in our home.

Decorating is expensive, so I’ve found some great shortcuts that I’m more than happy to pass along.

The master bedroom is an entirely different beast, as I wanted an all-new bedroom. Our old furniture would go to the guest room, so we’d be starting from scratch. This is where Pinterest comes in incredibly handy, as I was able to shop and pin ideas to a dedicated board.

I wanted to create a new bedroom for my husband and myself, without breaking the bank, so I used my savvy shopping skills to get it done. First, if you don’t have a free Ebates account, stop and sign up NOW! Sign up using my Ebates referral link and you’ll get $10 to start your account balance!

Okay, now that you’ve started your Ebates account, you’re ready to shop! A handful of items I found for the master bedroom happened to be on the same site, Overstock.com. I wanted a clean, simple look with sharp lines, which is why I decided to go mid-century modern with the room.

Budget decorating doesn't have to be a buzz-kill, use tools to shop smartly with store coupons and Ebates!

Nightstand on the left is West Elm, purchased at great savings in their Lancaster outlet store, and duvet cover from IKEA “As Is” bin

Is it strange that I planned our bedroom around a…dresser (that we didn’t even own)? In fact, the dresser was the last piece I purchased! I fell in love with a patchwork dresser on Overstock, but it wasn’t as much of a necessity as the bed or the mattress (and is out of stock more often than it is in). With my first purchase at Overstock, I logged into Ebates to ensure that I got 2% back on my purchase, and then ordered the platform bed, two sets of sheets, and a Club O membership (5% back on purchases). My coupon paid for my Club O membership, I earned 5% back on that purchase AND I earned 2% of that purchase back on Ebates. Whew! Did you follow all of that?

We love our platform bed; incredibly easy to assemble and superior quality design. What’s even better is the company who makes it: eLuxurySupply.com. Their story is simple, and the company is veteran owned and operated out of Indiana. eLuxurySupply is a company that is now on our radar for future purchases, and should be on yours as well.

I can’t forget the mattress. We went from a Queen bed to a King, so we also needed to purchase a new mattress. After seeing all of the hype from Purple’s clever “egg test” advertising, I decided to shop for similar mattresses in the market. One way or another, I stumbled upon Ghostbed, probably through Facebook advertising, and chose them for several reasons; Ghostbed’s CEO is a veteran, and as such, he gives back to military members and veterans, even extending the military discount to family members of servicemen and women (a proud Air Force brat, I took advantage of the discount). Secondly, Ghostbed is 100% USA made. Admittedly, this wasn’t the main reason I chose them, but rather, an added bonus. The mattress is divine, by the way! Oh, and Ghostbed has an awesome referral program — through their Share the Love program, you can save $50 off of your mattress purchase (and I’ll receive $50 towards the purchase of a mattress from them)!

Budget decorating doesn't have to be a buzz-kill, use tools to shop smartly with store coupons and Ebates!

My next steal was this vintage chest of drawers ($85, found on Craigslist) and the antique mirror ($14 at an antique store + the cost of yellow paint). The mirror was a chance purchase, as we were driving on a back country road and happened to see an antique store going out of business; I nabbed the mirror for 50% off and we got an $800 coffee table for…$128!

My next purchase was for our living room, which isn’t yet finished — still have to order a sofa from Joybird — so I won’t go into much detail. Our living room is basically windows, lots and lots of windows. I purchased sheers (Ebates 6% back +  Kohl’s super sale + coupon + additional % off for using Kohl’s card + Kohl’s cash + Rewards) and curtain hardware; the curtain hardware I purchased through Overstock, again using Ebates to get 2% back, used a coupon and applied my Club O rewards from the previous purchase. I’m saving some serious money here, my friends — if you need tips, just shoot me an email!

Budget decorating doesn't have to be a buzz-kill, use tools to shop smartly with store coupons and Ebates!

I custom-ordered the drapes for our bedroom from a manufacturer overseas; not only was I able to find a unique print, I was able to have the drapes custom-made for just over $100. I used a birthday gift card to order the curtain hardware for the bedroom through Amazon style=, and as you can see in the above photo, my drapes were too heavy for the size/quality rod I purchased (I should have known better than to cut corners!), but the dip in the middle was solved by picking up additional brackets (we have two windows in the bedroom) from Home Depot, to anchor the middle of the rod.

Then came the final items — the patchwork dresser and our headboard. Again, I used coupons for these items (I ordered separately), again using Ebates, and applying my Club O rewards to the purchases. I won’t lie, it took me an entire day to assemble the dresser, but it was SO worth it!

Now that our master bedroom is complete, save for a few yellow nicknacks (and maybe a few macrame air plant holders), my focus is back to the living room (and eventually the master bathroom — I’ll just keep that door closed for now). We have sheers hung, I just need to have drapes made and order our sofa. My husband and I had a great time choosing the fabric and wood for our sofa, now I just need to be patient and wait for our Joybird sofa to arrived (October 2016 – the wait might kill me!). My sofa purchase is your reward, though — if you use my referral link, you can save 20% off of your first Joybird purchase!

Joybird-Liam

I can’t wait to receive our bright and lively Liam sofa from Joybird!

What tricks do you have for decorating your home, without breaking the bank?

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MommyCon Washington D.C. Ticket Giveaway

2016/07 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

Use code LOWREN16 to save $5 off of your general admission ticket purchase!

 

I’m not sure where the past year has gone, because it feels like I was just a MommyCon DC a few months ago! MommyCon DC 2016 is just three weeks away, and I have TWO tickets to give away for you and a friend!

MommyCon DC takes place Saturday, July 23 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. There’s a little something for everyone, take a look at the schedule:

Seattle 2016 Schedule and Map

And of course, the trade floor will again be packed with amazing vendors! If you’re available to attend the conference Saturday, July 23 (please only enter if you’re able to attend), and are 18 years of age or older, go ahead and enter through the form below:

MommyCon DC Ticket Giveaway




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So Fresh (and So Clean): Tide Purclean

2016/06 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

This post was sponsored by NEW! Tide purclean as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. 

What’s the dirtiest laundry you’ve ever done? Athletic clothes after completing a mud run? Silt-stained shorts and suits from tubing down the river? For me, it’s cloth diapers.

Tide purclean is the first bio-based detergent with the cleaning power of Tide, keeping your colors bright and clean without optical brighteners.

We became a Tide family about a year into cloth diapering, when mainstream cloth diaper detergents stopped working and my son’s diapers developed ammonia crystals and a barnyard stink — lovely, eh? If you’ve done cloth diaper laundry, and I know many of you have, you know that there are times when you definitely don’t think anything will get the smell and stains from your diapers, especially in the heat of the summer.

Instead of experimenting with different routines, soaks and stripping, I decided to give Tide a try…and I’ve never looked back. Part of my motivation to cloth diaper was because it’s an environmentally friendly alternative to using disposable diapers, and I was determined to keep harsh chemicals away from my baby’s skin. Fast forward two years, to the release of Tide purclean.

Tide purclean is the first bio-based detergent with the cleaning power of Tide, keeping your colors bright and clean without optical brighteners.

Tide purclean is the first bio-based detergent with the cleaning power of Tide, keeping your colors bright and clean without optical brighteners.

So many of the ingredients in mainstream detergents scare cloth diapering families away from using them on their babies’ diapers. Tide purclean’s ingredients are as transparent as the detergent itself: water, plant derived surfactants, coconut derived cleaning agent, plant derived processing aid, bio-derived enzymes, mineral based enzyme stabilizer, pH adjuster, chelant and fragrance. Total aside, but did you see that it contains coconut? Seriously, we all know that coconut oil is the multi-purpose, cure-all household staple for families with babies!

Furthermore, Tide purclean is free of dyes, chlorine, phosphates, ethanolamine and optical brighteners — all of the nasties we try to keep away from our little ones. If you’re familiar with how laundry detergents can effect the environment, you’ll be happy to know that Tide purclean is a member of the USDA BioPreferred Program, with a formula that is 65% bio-based (again, read the ingredient list above).

Not only is Tide purclean the first bio-based detergent with the cleaning power of Tide, but its formula is made with 100% renewable wind power electricity and is produced at a zero manufacturing waste to landfill site. Simply put, Tide purclean is a detergent you can feel confident using.

When you have little ones, a trip to Target is an adventure. Bright white floors, fluorescent lighting, bright, colorful items on every endcap, and the constant barrage of “Can I have that?” I try save my browsing trips to Target for after 7pm, when running there for deodorant takes one, glorious hour of alone time. I digress.

PurClean_logo

Tide purclean is now available at Target AND if you Cartwheel (which you should anyway), you can save an additional 10% off of your purchase of Tide purclean…and a myriad of other fun items at Target! After perusing the entire aisle of Tide products — yes, an entire aisle — I was unable to find what I was looking for — Tide purclean. My husband’s eagle eyes caught two shelves of purclean on an endcap, and we were in business. While my Target was not offering a neckhanger coupon, I do know that there is a $1.00 off neckhanger coupon being offered at other stores. You know what that means? DOUBLE savings! There is a Cartwheel coupon currently running for 5% off, with a 10% coupon beginning 7/17, so be sure to grab Tide purclean on your next Target run to maximize your savings!

Tide purclean is the first bio-based detergent with the cleaning power of Tide, keeping your colors bright and clean without optical brighteners.

I have a new washing machine (a Samsung Activewash — love it!), so I’m always looking for reasons to do laundry. The first load I washed with Tide purclean was my kitchen linens, which are comprised of cloth napkins and dishtowels in the bright and bold designs of Marimekko for Target. As expected, Tide purclean has the cleaning power of Tide original, without all of the additives (and the strong Tide fragrance). The smell of Tide original doesn’t bother me, but I know a lot of people are put off by the strong fragrance, which is why you’ll love purclean. I purchased Tide purclean in Honey Lavender scent, which is unbelievably light. In fact, if I hadn’t known that I’d thrown my linens in the dryer, I would have guessed that they had been lined-dried, because the fragrance is light and fresh. To me, Tide purclean’s fragrance smelled lightly of the outdoors, which made sleeping in my clean bed linens absolutely lovely.

Alright, so whaddaya waiting for? Head to Target and give Tide purclean a try!

To find out what’s new with Tide products, and for great stain fighting tips, visit them on social media via Facebook and Twitter. And don’t forget to download Target’s Cartwheel app, if you haven’t already!

 

This is a sponsored post, and may contain affiliate links throughout; all opinions expressed are my own.

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Filed Under: reviews|sponsored, sponsored

OurPact: Manage Your Child’s Screentime

2016/06 By Lauren B. Stevens 1 Comment

Until a couple months ago, I had no reason to worry about my [almost] four-year-old son accessing content I’d rather he not see on the internet…until he was gifted an iPad. Not only did his LeapPad Ultra (which didn’t allow him to surf the web) get pushed to the side, but a true screen addiction began.

The OurPact app helps parents manage their children's screen time at the touch of a button.

After having D answer a couple of my phone calls on his iPad (super stressful because they were about our mortgage application), and several tantrums over screen time, I instituted the use of an egg timer. Based on behavior, my son was allotted 15-30 minute increments on his iPad, and when the bell rang, he was to turn it over. Then I was introduced to OurPact.

In under 5 minutes, I was able to upload the OurPact app, register an account, install the app on D’s iPad and begin scheduling, or granting, screen time for D and his tablet. If you really want to drive your kiddo nuts, select the block feature from your device — all of my kiddo’s apps disappeared from his iPad (I was able to restore them before the waterworks began).

The best part of OurPact is that you, as a parent, are able to manage your children’s devices from any internet-enabled device. Away from home and the sitter texts you to let you know your kiddo is misbehaving? With the touch of a button you’re able to take away their internet privileges! Ah, the control. Seriously, my egg timer is a great example of how little I rely on technology (I still use a paper planner and handwrite checks to pay bills), but OurPact really is a great way to manage your children’s screen time. Maybe I’ll explain why D’s iPad “stops working” when he gets older, but right now, the whole, “I don’t know why it’s doing that, I think you need to give it a rest” bit works.

OurPact allows parents to block out times when apps (including social media) or internet access is disabled from their children's devices.

Want to make sure that your children only use their phones for emergency calls during school hours, or have no distractions in the evening during homework time or bedtime? You’re able to block out times when apps (including social media) or internet access is disabled from your children’s devices. While I don’t have a teenager, I can definitely see how this can come in handy for enforcing internet rules of usage and safety.

Those of you with older children will appreciate the OurPact Family Contract, easily downloaded and printed from the website. Since open communication is one of the best ways to keep your child safe online, print out the contract and have a discussion with your pre-teen or teen before signing. Questions can be addressed in the conversation, so there are no grey areas in the future.

Now that you’re excited about all of the benefits OurPact offers, I have something even more exciting to share with you — the app is FREE! Yes, you can download the OurPact app for free, available for iPhone, and features a Web app for parents to easily access from any device. OurPact is able to manage your children’s iOS and Android devices. Don’t wait to have the conversation with your children, download the OurPact app and contract, and get started.

You can discover more about OurPact by visiting them at OurPact.com, and staying up-to-date the latest news and updates via Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Don’t have a tablet, but want to test OurPact on one? Enter this giveaway for an iPad Air, sponsored by OurPact:

OurPact is giving one lucky winner an iPad Air!

OurPact iPad Air2 Giveaway

*This post is sponsored by OurPact; all opinions expressed are my own.

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Rout.com: Shopping with Ease

2016/05 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

As I sit here, with my fingers crossed that we are able to close on our new home within a day or two of our scheduled closing, I’m also thinking about outfitting our new home with furniture and window treatments. If you’re an online shopper, like I am, Rout.com is your shopping nirvana.

Rout.com helps consumers shop with ease, by notifying them when select items experience price drops. The best feature? It's free to use!

In the five years my husband and I have been married, we’ve not purchased a lot of furniture together. We both came to the marriage with our own homes full of furniture and favorite pieces, carefully selected throughout our 20s and 30s, which we’ve attempted to pare down over our years together. We’ve also rented homes because we’ve moved frequently for my husband’s job, and we weren’t ready to commit to custom furniture, selected specifically for a home that we would just be, well, renting.

After we started the home buying process, just six weeks ago, I got busy planning each room in the house (my office being my favorite project). I can’t tell you how much fun it’s been, creating vision boards for each room, able to decorate any way I want! Since it’s not especially practical to buy all of the furniture at once, unless you have a ton of disposable income, it helps to have idea boards with select pieces for each room. What helps even more is to have our ideas saved in our Rout.com account, so that we’re notified when an item has a price drop — who doesn’t love buying at the best price possible?

I’m thrilled when I feel as though I’ve been able to negotiate a deal on something (our car and home being the last two “big” negotiations of mine), and Rout.com helps me feel that I’m getting the best price on items I want. Take a look at my master bedroom board:

Rout.com helps consumers shop with ease, by notifying them when select items experience price drops. The best feature? It's free to use!

 

With Rout.com, you’re not just limited to housewares (that’s just my current focus). With over 150 participating stores, and over 85 million products, Rout.com allows you to search for virtually any item you’re looking for — and it’s perfect for planning your holiday shopping!

Price Tracking

Once you’ve created your free Rout.com account, it’s time to start “window shopping”! I decided to create boards based on each room I’m planning to outfit: Master Bedroom, D’s Room, Office, Living Room. When I’m ready to start serious shopping, I select those items I’m positive I want to purchase and select the “Start Tracking” link for each item:

Rout.com helps consumers shop with ease, by notifying them when select items experience price drops. The best feature? It's free to use!

 

I’m pretty positive that this is the upholstered headboard I’m going to purchase for our bedroom, so I enter the price at which I’ll jump on the item — $295 sounds good to me — and input that number to begin tracking. I’m not sure I’ll get the headboard at that price, as it’s currently at it’s lowest price historically (down from $329), but we’ll see (I have time to wait).

Price History

If you’re a numbers or statistics person, you’ll love Rout.com’s price history feature. You’re able to input a date range to take a look at your item’s pricing history, and can possibly spot trends in price drops. Here’s an example chart for an area rug I have my eye on:

Rout.com helps consumers shop with ease, by notifying them when select items experience price drops. The best feature? It's free to use!

So, while I await word from my agent about closing, I’ll happily distract myself by adding items to my Rout.com boards (hoping that we’ll be able to outfit our home soon). Well, what are you waiting for? Get shopping!

You can learn more by visiting Rout.com and opening a free account for yourself. Be sure to visit Rout.com on social media via Facebook and Twitter.

 

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Blue Apron Meals: The Final Verdict

2016/05 By Lauren B. Stevens 2 Comments

When I was offered a Blue Apron coupon code, I was initially reluctant to give them a try. I’m not a fan of subscription boxes, and quite frankly, I consider myself an expert home cook. From my perspective, what could Blue Apron really offer me?

Well, a lot actually. As I shared in my two week check-in, Blue Apron came at the perfect time, as our lives went from zero to sixty when my husband was offered a job out of state. While we were preparing for a big move at some point in the next year, we definitely didn’t expect it to happen this quickly, and to purchase a home within six weeks (if we do, actually, make our closing on the 31st).

After trying for a month, I want to share my $20 off Blue Apron coupon code for you to enjoy the ease of meal kit delivery!

I’ve spent the past month scrambling to get together paperwork and funds to purchase our home, in addition to keeping afloat with my clients. The beauty of freelancing is that I set my own schedule, but the downside is that you really don’t get any vacation time. I just started with a new client, Net Nanny, so I’m reluctant to ask for a break. What does all of my babbling mean? Well, I’m incredibly harried and having Blue Apron deliveries has been an unbelievable time saver.

So, yes, Blue Apron absolutely saves you time, without sacrificing quality. Not only does Blue Apron take care of my meal planning, but they send you exactly what you need to prepare healthy meals (with the exception of pantry staples such as olive oil). No more scrambling to figure out what to do the remainder of the bundle of leeks you bought for the recipe that only required ONE, and no more letting bunches of celery, spring onions, or any other produce, go to waste in your refrigerator. I really love this aspect of Blue Apron, but this convenience does have associated waste.

Since Blue Apron sends you exactly what you need for your recipe, almost every item is packaged in small baggies, bottles and containers. That’s a lot of waste. There is good news, however. While we’re recycling our Blue Apron boxes by using them for our current move (they’re perfect for packing kitchen items), Blue Apron does offer a recycling program for all of their packaging.

In addition to being a time-saver, Blue Apron is great for new cooks. Not only do they provide recipe cards with step-by-step instructions and photos, but they will teach new cooks one of the most difficult things to learn about cooking — time management. I like how Blue Apron guides users through the recipes, telling cooks what to prep and at what stage to prep it, as well as what you should be doing as one part of dinner simmers. The recipes really can be prepped and cooked in 30-40 minutes, but they’ll taste like you spent hours preparing the meal.

If you’re interested in Blue Apron to help with portioning meals, I will warn you that Blue Apron portion sizes are hearty. This is great for enthusiastic eaters, but can be bad for those wanting help in keeping their portion sizes to a minimum. For example, I ordered Blue Apron meals for a family of four. Each meal was able to feed the three of use for two nights.

Because Blue Apron uses premium quality ingredients from specially selected sources, everything in your box will be of the highest quality, from the meats and fish to your produce. In fact, a couple of times I was unable to get to cooking Blue Apron until 4-5 days after delivery a couple of times, and the produce was still in excellent condition (however, I don’t really recommend doing this, especially if you have fish).

And again, the packaging your Blue Apron items arrive in is specifically tailored to keep your items fresh until you get home and are able to unpack the box. In fact, the ice packs they send with your food, and they send plenty of them, typically take several days to thaw. I would feel perfectly comfortable with my box being delivered during a summer heatwave, and sitting on my doorstep until I get home from work.

My verdict? I give Blue Apron two thumbs up for premium ingredients, excellent packaging, step-by-step recipe guides and saving me a great deal of time.

If you’re interested in trying Blue Apron for free, contact me, I have 3 invites to send out. Want to dive in now? Use my Blue Apron coupon code to save $20 off of your first order:

$20 Off Your First Blue Apron Order

*I was offered a Blue Apron subscription, at no cost to myself, for the purpose of this review; all opinions expressed are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

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My Thoughts On Greeting Card Holidays

2016/05 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

Fresh off the wave of Mother’s Day greetings, salutations and a slew of Facebook posts, I thought I’d share a little about why you saw no mention of Mother’s Day on my Facebook page. It’s simple, really, I’m just not that into greeting card holidays.

greeting-card-holidays

If you’re not familiar with what a greeting card holiday is, or more often known as a Hallmark holiday, the name is pretty self-explanatory. Here’s an explanation from Wikipedia:

“Hallmark Holiday” is a term used predominantly in the United States to describe a holiday that is perceived to exist primarily for commercial purposes, rather than to commemorate a traditionally or historically significant event. The name comes from Hallmark Cards, a privately owned American company, that benefits from such manufactured events through sales of greeting cards and other items. Holidays that have been referred to as “Hallmark Holidays” include Grandparents Day, Sweetest Day, Boss’s Day, and Secretary’s Day. Some people also consider St. Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day to be such days.

Sweetest Day is an interesting holiday, one I’d never even heard of until I attended college in Northwest Pennsylvania — yep, it’s totally a greeting card holiday.

Anyway, I just don’t feel the need to make a big deal out of many of these holidays because a.) they’re commercially driven, and b.) why don’t people celebrate others all year round? In fact, my husband and I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, at my request (plus, our wedding anniversary is two weeks after V-Day).

I’m grateful that my husband shows his love for me year-round, and doesn’t need a special day or occasion to send me flowers — we work well this way. However, I do understand that for many women, and many of my girlfriends, Valentine’s Day is one of the only days a year that their significant other bestows flowers upon them, or goes out of his way to show how much he appreciates his wife or girlfriend. This makes me sad, because if you only do something once a year, the concept seems special or even foreign, instead of just being a natural occurrence in daily life. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had friends be disappointed with Valentine’s Day because their significant other’s ministrations did not meet their fantasy or expectations (or that they didn’t have a special someone to celebrate with). And then there’s the whole oversharing bit on social media, wherein my feed is populated with photos of bouquets and jewelry for the entire day.

Mother’s Day is an especially strange “holiday” because children should show their appreciation for their mother year-round, no? I don’t know about you, but I’d like more than one day a year. Perhaps the best part of greeting card holidays is that they often serve to enforce quality family time, in an age when people seem busier than ever. And really, the best part of my Mother’s Day was the fact that my husband did not work Mother’s Day for the first time (since I became a mother), and we spent the day hiking and enjoying each other’s company. That’s what it’s really all about, right?

So, my thoughts on greeting card holidays can pretty much be summed-up in one word: “meh”. Give me “just because” any day. How do you feel about Hallmark Holidays?

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Blue Apron: The First Two Weeks

2016/05 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

When I was offered a Blue Apron promotional offer, my first thought was that I already had everything under control. I enjoy cooking, and had been doing rough meal planning for a few months, so things were relatively smooth going for me. What could I possibly gain by trying Blue Apron?

Then life hit. In a whirlwind few weeks, my husband was interviewing for a job in another state, we were house hunting, I was canceling camp and school plans here, researching and registering my son for a new school in the area where we’d be moving, and working…a lot. Blue Apron really couldn’t have come at a better time.

Blue Apron has allowed me to focus my energies elsewhere, taking meal planning and food shopping off of my plate so that I can focus on more pressing things (although, yes, feeding my family is important as well). I’ve been using Blue Apron’s meal service for two weeks and here are a few of my thoughts.

blue-apron-open-box

The boxes come insulated, with all of your ingredients packaged for the number of servings you’ve signed up for. This, my friends, means that you’re not wasting stalks of celery, or packs of green onions, tomatoes, or whatever produce that usually goes bad before you can use it. I absolutely love this aspect of Blue Apron. The only thing that would make this easier is if all of the vegetables were already washed, prepped and chopped (but that’s not really practical, is it?).

Last night’s @blueapron meal was our favorite yet! Roasted Pork & Carrots w/ Farro Salad. #nofilter #pork #nomnomnom #blueapron #blueapronmeals

A photo posted by Lauren Stevens (@laurenbethstevens) on Apr 28, 2016 at 12:52pm PDT

Blue Apron boxes come packed with exceptional care because the ingredients are top notch. Grass fed, responsibly fished, humanely kept and free range meats are the proteins you receive in these boxes, so you can feel good about what you’re eating. The produce is beautiful, and Blue Apron even includes the little things you may not have readily available in your refrigerator or pantry — ginger root, butter, farm fresh eggs and sauce bases.

So, Blue Apron has been a true help these past two weeks, allowing me to feed my family healthy, flavorful and inspired meals while giving me the time to focus on transitioning for a move.

I’m trying Blue Apron for a month to really gauge the impact it has on my household, so stay tuned for another post with all of my thoughts on Blue Apron meals.

To find out more about Blue Apron meal delivery, head to their website at BlueApron.com. To check out some of the recipes they’re sending and serving, visit Blue Apron on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Interested in checking out Blue Apron for yourself? Click on a Blue Apron promotional offer below:

2 Meals Free on Your First Blue Apron Order

$20 Off Your First Blue Apron Order

*Blue Apron sent me items to facilitate this post, however, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

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Filed Under: Natural Living, products, reviews|sponsored, sponsored

Newsflash!

2016/05 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

The past month has been an incredibly busy one for both myself and my family. Not only has my workload increased, but we’ve been busy making plans for the summer. Big plans.

We’re not planning a vacation, we’re planning a move! It’s all been hush-hush, waiting for pieces of the puzzle to fall into place, but I’m now able to share. My husband was offered a position in Baltimore, one that was too good to refuse. After years of working 12+ hour days, and often weekends, he’s been offered a position allowing him to work fewer hours, spend less time commuting and, most importantly, a quality of life.

While it was not an easy decision, my husband’s leaving his company of 10 years, being out of operations was a goal. For the past 4 years, I’ve been left alone with my son during Hurricane Sandy, severe storms, power outages and snow storms, as my husband set up camp at work to ensure that everything proceeded smoothly. Now, if a snow storm hits, my husband will be able to play in the snow with our son AND I won’t have to shovel the driveway by myself!

Fellow moms will understand this — the week my husband interviewed, I researched schools in the area where we’ll be moving and registered my little guy. Not only does my son need the stimulation and socialization provided by preschool, but I need those hours to get freelance work done. School spots fill quickly, as many of you well know, and he is currently on a waitlist for a 4-day program. I’m a little bummed because he was enrolled in a 5-day program here, and may now only be in a 3-day program, but I’ll figure out a way to make it work…so that I can work. Shoot, I may be back to 4am wakeups!

With schooling taken care of, housing was next. We spent several weeks researching areas to relocate, and looking at hundreds of homes for sale, so when the job offer finally came, we were ready! So ready, in fact, that my husband received his letter of offer on a Friday and I had arranged an appointment for him to look at one of the two homes we were considering on Saturday.

Friends, we are set to close on a beautiful home May 31…and I’ve never stepped foot inside! I was out of town conducting a writing workshop when my husband looked at the house. Having viewed around 40 photos of the home, I gave my husband the go ahead to submit an offer if he felt that it was the house for us. Here it is:

home-office

If all goes well, this will be OURS May 31! (My husband said that the perfect room for my office is the one where I’ve drawn the arrow – I can’t wait to check it out!)

Thank goodness for smartphones — I was able to sign legal documents while I was on the road and get the process started. When I got home I hit the ground running! I lost a day of work to scanning and submitting documents for our mortgage, and then dove into writing my first piece for an awesome new client — Net Nanny.

I’ve also been trying to unload all of my son’s baby items, which is not a task for the feint of heart. Honestly, local donation centers are getting some AMAZING clothing and gear donations! I’ve posted in online sale groups, Craigslist, and have been spending the last few days entering items into the system for my local consignment sale — Growing Express — which takes place this weekend.

This is basically my long-winded way of saying that the quiet around here and on my Facebook page is due to me being insanely busy planning, plotting and organizing, and will likely continue through our move. So, forgive me if you find typos and egregious errors in this post — I’m on deadline for a client and just wanted to publish an update…

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Filed Under: all, Editorial

Wild Selections®: Eat Responsibly

2016/04 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment


You’re likely familiar with the #DrinkResponsibly campaign, but Wild Selections® wants you to #EatResponsibly as well. We spend time researching our produce, and time making sure we’re that we’re purchasing only humane and locally sourced meats, so why wouldn’t we do the same with our seafood?

Wild Selections, in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund, makes it incredibly easy to eat seafood responsibly.

 

Overfishing is a very real problem, with fish populations become scarcer each year, as fishermen plunder the seas to fulfill demand. My husband has worked in the food industry for 20+ years, and his ideals about food don’t stop at door. Treating our seafood as he would in any restaurant, my husband ensures that we’re following the Monterey Bay Aquarium seafood guidelines.

If you’re not familiar with Monterey Bay’s Seafood Watch, they rate seafood with 3 classifications for consumers: Best, Good and Avoid. If you’re at the store, simply input the fish you are planning to purchase to received detailed information about how that fish is caught, whether fishing for that fish affects other species (bycatch) and to what extent, in addition to information about how that fishery is impacting the surrounding sea habitat.

As parents, we need to be concerned about the food we feed our families, and more importantly, our children. Not only do we want to make the best choices for our table, but we need to be mindful of our children’s tables in the future. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, “As a result of prolonged and widespread overfishing, nearly a third of the world’s assessed fisheries are now in deep trouble—and that’s likely an underestimate, since many fisheries remain unstudied.”

wild_selections_infographic

I know, you’re busy. We’re all busier than ever, but Wild Selections®, in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund, makes it incredibly easy to eat seafood responsibly. Wild Selections® is making a difference, not only in the way we eat, but for marine habitats around the world.

  • Wild Selections® gives back to the oceans by donating 13 cents from every can sold to World Wildlife Fund marine conservation and fishery improvement projects
  • Wild Selections® is the only full line of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified sustainable seafood.  The blue MSC eco-label tells you the fish in your can comes from well managed fisheries and healthy fish stocks
  • Wild Selections® is premium quality, sustainably sourced fish that’s 100% traceable; visit WildSelections.com to learn where the fish in your can was caught
  • Wild Selections® fish is premium quality, delicious and all-natural
  • All Wild Selections® tuna is Non-GMO Project verified

Wild Selections, in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund, makes it incredibly easy to eat seafood responsibly.

I know, I know, this is all well and good, but how does it taste, right? Delicious. I’ll be honest, I’ve only ever used canned tuna to make tuna salad, and not often at that. Wild Selections® canned tuna is premium chunk tuna (I actually had a difficult time getting it out of the can without breaking it up too much), perfect for a myriad of recipes.

Rigatoni-Tuna-Sun-Dried-Tomatoes

Eager to try something new, I scoured Pinterest and came across a recipe, from Pampered Chef, for Rigatoni with Tuna and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. This is a super-quick, easy to prepare, healthy meal! My family loved it, and it’s now gone onto my Pinterest board of recipes to keep. Usually a pasta-lover, my son was bypassing rigatoni to pluck chunks of tuna out of all of our bowls. Two [chubby toddler] thumbs up and responsibly sourced — it doesn’t get much better than that!

You can find out where Wild Selections® premium seafood products are being sold near you by using their convenient Store Locator. Get social! Visit Wild Selections® on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Well, what are you waiting for? Mangia!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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Filed Under: all, Editorial, reviews|sponsored, sponsored

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Lauren B. Stevens is a former publishing rep-turned-writer, whose work can be found on ChildVantage, The Huffington Post, Scary Mommy and Care.com, among many other websites. When she's not chasing her precocious preschooler, Lauren pens hilarious and heartwarming stories about her life as a mother, ghostwrites blogs for businesses, and sometimes even finds the time to write a bit of creative non-fiction.
Look for Lauren's published essays in the books listed below:

i’m in these books!

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