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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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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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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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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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ModCloth: What I Wore to the White House

2016/03 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks, but I finally have a few moments to share my not-so-glamorous, oh-so-fumbling tale of my trip to the White House. It all started with an email.

WHITE HOUSE

I opened my inbox on Tuesday afternoon to an email entitled, “Special Invitation to the White House.” Intrigued, I opened the email, not sure what to expect. It was, indeed, a “special VIP invitation for you to attend an exclusive event being held at one of the most prestigious residences in the United States: the White House.” Zoiks! I forwarded the email to my husband at work for his thoughts, and we both started trying to finagle childcare, work, etc. so that I could attend the event that was just SIX days away!

After seeing that DC hotels were $350+ because of the cherry blossoms, I put a call through to my girlfriend in Baltimore, seeing if I could stay at her place the night before the event (I’m in Philly, so it would have been a long drive to do it the morning of). After confirming that, I went into panic mode about my wardrobe.

You see, my friends, I have a uniform that I wear to work from home — yoga pants, tank tops and sneakers — which is not really appropriate for a White House business casual event. By this time it was Wednesday, which meant that I had TWO business days to get my clothing ordered and shipped to me (I don’t do malls, so all of my clothing is ordered online — it works out well because I use Ebates to get cash back on all of my purchases). There’s also the fact that I wear a women’s size 13 shoe and HAVE to order shoes online.

white-house

The White House looking resplendent, despite it being an overcast and rainy spring day

I placed my first order with ModCloth in the fall, for my trip to Portland to meet Darude, admiring their line of dresses but not having an occasion to buy one, so I knew that I would be searching for my outfit from there. In my mind, a White House event called for a dress, which narrowed down my ModCloth options to, well, about 270 options! From there, I knew that I wanted a dress with pockets and something with a pop of color.

ModCloth

After a couple of hours (seriously), and a consultation with my husband, I narrowed down my pick to three dresses. I won’t bore you, so I’ll get right to it — my choice was the Coach Tour Dress in Houndstooth with the Charter School Cardigan in Honey. I knew I’d be walking a lot in the city, and walking through the White House Kitchen Garden, so I wanted a pair of practical, yet stylish shoes — I settled upon a pair of black Mary Janes (but again, ordered 3 pairs of shoes to make sure I found ONE that would work). I also ordered an awesome pair of yellow tights, and paid $16 for rush shipping, but they didn’t arrive in time (Grrrr!).

Outfit in-hand, last minute hotel room booked (it was just easier than trying to get into the District at 8am), childcare booked, I was ready to go. And now for all of the unglamorous details. I stopped at a rest stop off of I-95 to get gas, and the unthinkable happened. I’ve seen it in videos, and now I was that person, you know, the person with the gas spilling out of the tank all over the ground (and her new shoes). The lever didn’t switch off and I was in lala-land, so it took me a second or two to realize that I had gasoline spilling out of my tank and all over my shoes.

I head into the store to let someone know and get cash for the hotel valet and housecleaning tips (I never carry cash), and the clerk already seemed to know that the pump had an issue (thanks for the warning) and the ATM wasn’t working. If you’re not familiar with the drive down, there’s really no place convenient to stop for cash, bathrooms, anything, unless you want a 20-30 minute detour. Without cash, I piled into my car and proceeded to breathe in noxious gasoline fumes the remainder of the drive into the District. My husband’s texting me that I should probably *just* buy new shoes when I get there, because the gasoline smell could pose a problem getting into the White House, while I inwardly fumed at the fact that he suddenly didn’t remember that I’m unable to just walk into a store and buy shoes off the shelf. Nope, these shoes would just have to work, damnit!

In an effort to pack light, I also bypassed bringing my laptop, instead packing my iPad and ordering a Bluetooth keyboard to be rush-shipped to me. It came just before I left, so I hastily threw the box into my bag and left — I found out that it needed batteries only when I was settled in my hotel room, planning to get a little work done (I had an insane week of deadlines, on top of losing two days of work to travel for the White House event). Instead, I found myself trekking around the city in search of somewhere to purchase batteries (if you’re not familiar with DC, the sidewalks in many areas roll up after 7pm, so…). Batteries in-hand, it was only then that I realized I had forgotten to get cash back for tips – crap! I’d figure it out in the morning.

IMG_0758

The morning of the event, I awoke to a rainy day in the District. No worries, I had packed my trusty totes umbrella! Nope. My umbrella must have rolled out of my bag into the front seat of my car, which was now parked in a lot somewhere in the city. I called the front desk and they let me know that there was an umbrella in my closet; a big, not packable, definitely not stowable umbrella that would cost me $20 if I failed to return it (I almost wrote a reminder in marker on my hand because, forgetful!).

The White House event? Yes, I did make it there, you know, after my first two Uber drivers canceled on me. Snafus aside (look, I’m a mom, I can handle it!), it was a wonderful experience, aside from the gasoline and coffee spills. I was able to cover the event for Bonbon Break on social media, and publish an event recap with them as well — read all about it HERE.

You would never know I was so NOT put-together, thanks to ModCloth! In fact, my choice of color was a good one, as you can see from the official White House photo of the event:

Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy

Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy

The moral to the story, my friends, is that if you find yourself in need of a dress, or want to update your wardrobe with timeless, fashionable pieces, you should definitely check out ModCloth!

Do a lot of online shopping? Sign up for your FREE Ebates account and start getting cash back on all of your online purchases!

*This post contains affiliate links.

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Filed Under: Editorial

Swap.com: Online Consignment Review

2016/03 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

From my first sale, I’ve been a children’s consignment sale junkie! So, when I discovered Swap.com (and no longer had to wait for semi-annual sales) I was immediately sold. Well, addicted may be the more appropriate term (I placed two significant orders within the first two weeks using the site!). I wanted to share Swap.com with all of you, in case you’ve not yet discovered the site.

Save 20% on top of swap.com savings & get FREE shipping with my coupon code!

Not only am I a fan of the recycling aspect of shopping on consignment, but the deals are hard to beat. I receive so many comments on my son’s clothing, and it’s hard to admit that I only spend around $100 per size (yes, I said size, not season). I have a go-to thrift outlet where I’m able to buy most of my son’s clothing (Gap, Polo, J. Crew, Children’s Place, etc.), and I tend to shop on their 50% off days, which means that I get Gap and J. Crew sweaters and cords for my little guy for around $2 a piece (not kidding).

3-outfits

 

The remainder of my son’s shopping I do through semi-annual consignment sales; this is where I go to find high-end shoes, sandals and inexpensive pajamas for my son (we’re still going through a pair of pjs a night). We tend to find a lot of great children’s books at these sales as well, something you can never have too much of! I keep a running list of items I need for my son in the months leading up to each sale, but it’s a little nerve-wracking to make sure that I find everything in each shopping trip [knowing that I’ll need to pay full retail price if I miss something].

Shoes are super expensive, especially when you consider how little time your kiddo is in them (my son wears a new size every 3 months or so these days). I was able to purchase top brands — pediped, See Kai Run, Robeez, Stride Rite — for a fraction of the cost new (think $5-$8 a pair). Score!

Imagine my delight when I discovered online consignment store, Swap.com, and no longer needed to trek 45 minutes to my favorite thrift outlet or wait for a semi-annual sale! I stocked up on my first Swap.com purchase, outfitting my little guy for spring with a few key pieces. I’ve put together a few outfits to show you what I found:
Headphones-$

 

 

I love this fun and funky outfit…and so does my son (who never really cares about his clothes). In fact, he insisted on wearing this outfit for the remainder of the day, and had a blast prancing around modeling it!

 

 

 

Seattle-$

 

I

picked up this outfit in preparation for summer camp — D usually runs around in sweatpant material shorts all summer (or in the buff), so I needed make sure that I had at least 5 different nice outfits (read: not bummy or for fishing salamanders out of ponds) for him to wear throughout the week.

This year is the first time my little guy is attending summer camp, which lasts 5 weeks and runs from 8:30am-3:30pm. The best part about the camp is that it is at a Friends Meeting School approximately two blocks from our house. I’m already beginning to plan all of the things I’ll be able to get done in that time!

 

TwoShirts-Headless-$

This is a fun spring pick and will likely be the outfit he wears for Easter. We channeled my husband’s 1980s preppy look with the layered shirt and popped collar (I’m bummed that I didn’t find a pink Polo shirt this year — that would have totally made the outfit!). The blue chambray pants are long, but the rolled cuffs give the outfit a less formal look — he’ll be wearing these light and breezy pants throughout the summer. The Vineyard Vines shirt my husband scored from the store clearance rack, not from Swap.com, but the clearance price was worthy of mentioning.

The items I did purchase from Swap.com — headphones tee, space needle tee, cargo shorts, chambray pants, polo shirt — I grabbed for a grand total of $19.50. It’s not often you can find quality children’s clothing, three complete outfits, for under $20.

Swap.com’s quality standards are high, and each item came individually packaged in ‘like new’ condition. I’ve been extremely pleased with my purchases so far (my second purchase was comprised of summer shorts and tees for the little guy), and actually send two large boxes to Swap.com for consignment. All of my maternity clothing and all of my little guy’s outgrown summer clothing and shoes are waiting to be photographed as I write this. It’s a heck of a lot easier to pack those boxes than it is to tag and enter 100+ pieces for semi-annual consignment sales! I’ll let you know how my consigning experience goes with them in a future update.

So, if you’re looking to grab brand-name clothing at clearance prices (they have women’s and maternity clothing as well), then you need to check out Swap.com!

Start shopping now — use my referral link to save 20% off of your first Swap.com purchase!

*This post contains a referral link. I purchased items from Swap.com to facilitate this review, all opinions expressed are my own.

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Filed Under: all, Editorial, ideas, Natural Living, Parenting, topics

Sitterberry App: Never Get Left in a Lurch

2016/03 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

Fellow parents, how many times have you had to cancel plans because you couldn’t find a babysitter or your sitter canceled last minute? What if I told you that being left without a sitter was a thing of the past, as is scrambling to find cash to pay your sitter? Well, my friends, the Sitterberry app is helping parents and sitters everywhere!

The Sitterberry app allows parents to view their pool of babysitters' availability and easily book and pay sitters at the touch of a button.

My experience with sitters isn’t great. We live away from family and friends, so our network for finding good sitters is, well, nonexistent. I’m pretty laid back when it comes to parenting, but I have a difficult time trusting a complete stranger to watch my kiddo when I’m not around.

For about nine months before D. began nursery school, my solution to getting work done during the week was to hire a mother’s helper. I really just needed someone to occupy my little guy and make sure that he didn’t climb the bookshelves or draw on the walls while I worked in the next room. Using Care.com, I struggled to find anyone, and the mother’s helpers I did find and hire weren’t especially committed to the job. Womp-womp!

After speaking with Kathleen Malone, founder of the Sitterberry app, I discovered that I was going about things all wrong. Care.com findings show that it’s normal for families to go through 4-5 sitters per year. Here I was, throwing all of my eggs into one basket and then scrambling when my mother’s helpers left. My downfall? According to Malone, “it’s important to have 4-5 babystters on hand at any given time.”

What I was doing right, however, was using a service like Care.com to find and screen sitters, though word of mouth or recommendations from friends are close seconds. If you’re like me, living in an area with little to no connections, Malone suggests asking camp counselors, after school activity teachers or preschool teachers/teacher’s aids. In fact, the summer camp Malone’s children attend provides parents with a sheet of contact information for those camp counselors on staff who are also available for babysitting jobs. Genius!

So, how does the Sitterberry app fit into all of this? Once you have 4-5 sitters in your hopper, or 5+ if you’re really lucky good, it’s time to use Sitterberry so that you’re never left without a babysitter.

@Sitterberry helps parents book/pay babysitters at the touch of a button! Download FREE today!

Click To Tweet

The Sitterberry app allows parents to add their pool of sitters within the app, and in turn, their sitters use Sitterberry to load their calendars of availability. Each sitter’s information is stored, allowing parents to check availability and request them at the touch of a button. No more phone tag, no more phone chains; all of your sitters in one place!

The Sitterberry app allows parents to view their pool of babysitters' availability and easily book and pay sitters at the touch of a button.

It gets better, my friends. You can pay your babysitter through the Sitterberry app, using Venmo. I can’t tell you how many times I found myself having forgotten to get cash (I never keep cash on hand) and uncomfortably asking my sitter if it was okay if I wrote her a check. Many, many times. With the Sitterberry app, you simply navigate to your sitter’s contact information and select “Pay”. The app will carry over the rate, so you need only enter the number of hours and tip to calculate your payment — brilliant!

As for me, I’m working on gathering together a pool of trusted sitters so that I’m able to use Sitterberry. Anyone have any leads on a great sitter in the Philadelphia area?

You can discover more about Sitterberry at sitterberryapp.com. To find out the latest news and information from Sitterberry, connect with them on Facebook and Twitter.

Download Sitterberry for free on iTunes today, and breathe new life into your social game!

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Filed Under: all, blog series, Editorial, featured WAHMs, Parenting, topics

A Bevy of Panties

2016/02 By Lauren B. Stevens 7 Comments

Just 3 months ago, I wrote a post about panties. These weren’t any ordinary panties, they were period panties. No, not your battered, beaten and stained “time-of-the-month” granny panties, these were stylish, sexy and functional THINX period panties. I took it upon myself to find out if THINX period panties lived up to the hype, and dropped $75 on three pairs of panties so that I could be a guinea pig for you. You see, I know that you, my readers, love reusable menstrual products as much as I do, so I thought I’d throw a little something different in the mix — no cup, no mama cloth, just THINX.

In just 3 months, I've been able to donate $10k worth of pd. panties to organizations helping women. To celebrate, I'm giving 10 people the chance to win!

Anyway, I shared my embarrassing period HERstory, with all of my menstrual mishaps described in gory detail. At the end of the piece, after sharing some of my most embarrassing moments, I gave THINX panties a rave review and shared my referral link for readers to save $10 on their THINX purchase. The thing is, my friends, for every purchase made with my referral code, I’m sent a $10 gift card for THINX panties. Awesome, right?

Well, I’m here to say that much as you feel you can never have too many tampons/pads/cloth, you definitely can have too many pairs of period panties. I mean, how many pairs of period panties does a gal really need for her time of the month? Definitely not as many as I had credit for, to be certain.

Referral gift codes began rolling in, and after I sent period panties (dubbing myself the panty fairy) to every girlfriend of mine who was interested, I continued to accrue gift codes. With the accrual building, I contacted my local domestic violence agency, Laurel House, to see if they were interested and if they would accept them; I was given the go-ahead and began placing orders.

You will not believe how many referrals I began getting a day — sometimes up to 40 in a single day! It became clear to me that I needed to find another organization I could send panties to, and after some research, I found a local chapter of Days For Girls. Days For Girls, if you’re not already familiar, is an organization that provides quality, sustainable feminine hygiene products, allowing women in impoverished areas the opportunity to attend school, learn trades, become educated about reproductive health and so much more! Again, I reached out, and again, my panty offer was accepted.

In just 3 months, I've been able to donate $10k worth of pd. panties to organizations helping women. To celebrate, I'm giving 10 people the chance to win!

Here’s where it gets really crazy, my friends. As of last week, I have donated over $10,000 in period panties to Laurel House and Days For Girls — that’s a lot of panties, my friends! In just three months I’ve been able to give SO much to young ladies and women in need!




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Filed Under: all, Editorial, Giveaways, ideas, Natural Living, products

38 Is Great (But 40 Will Be Better)

2016/02 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

I distinctly remember conversations with one of my “regulars” at the college bar I tended (I’ll call him Bill), and his words have remained with me throughout the years. I was twenty-one at the time and recall alumni coming into the bar for homecoming weekend, a weekend consisting of college friends partying from Friday through Sunday. Most of the alumni were in their late twenties and, egads, early thirties. They were drunk, they acted like jerks, and in my twenty-one-year-old mind, they were pathetically aged. I mean, who wants to relive their drunken college days?

38-great

Bill was a University administrator in his early 40s, and we often chatted about school and life during my bar shifts. On this occasion we were trading stories about the crazy alumni antics of the previous homecoming weekend, of which he was one (alumni, that is, not crazy). In a moment of seriousness, Bill turned to me and said, “You know, your 30s are better than your 40s, and your 40s are better than your 30s.”

I smiled and gave him an “Ummkay,” quite possibly accompanied by an eye roll. Bill went on the explain all of the ways life got better when we aged. Our thirties presented us with family, financial freedom and a greater sense of self, while our forties were filled with even greater career/family/financial satisfaction. I likely shook my head and carried on tending bar after that conversation, but Bill’s words resonated somewhere in my subconscious.

At the time of the conversation, I was putting myself through college by tending bar on weekends and doing clerical work in an insurance office during the week. When I wasn’t at work, I was at school (or doing schoolwork) and vice versa. I was in a state of continual motion, so the thought of reaching a state of stability, in both my career and finances, was a goal I had yet to achieve – I could only dream of working a 9-5!

When I turned thirty, I thought about what my twenties had held – ten years of transition, career-building and uncertainty. I had a Master’s degree under my belt, was in a stable job at the time (the best I’d had to date), so Bill’s words did make a great deal of sense. I was living in Baltimore, discovering more about myself, earning an income greater than I had expected, and enjoying a healthy social life with other single thirty-somethings in the city. I was beginning to plant geographical roots for the first time in my life (I’ve lost count of the number of times I moved in my twenties). Life was good and I couldn’t imagine it getting better, apart from rising up the corporate ladder.

I met my husband-to-be when I was 33 and he was almost ten years my senior. If I had any preconceived notions of how forty-somethings behaved, my then-boyfriend shattered every one of them. He was fun loving with a great sense of humor, in a solid career, and possessed a zeal for life. In essence, my husband shattered my idea of one’s 40s being boring, tired, stuffy and routine.

I turned 38 last summer, and the thought that I’m creeping closer to 40 crossed my mind without inducing any type of panic or triggering a mid-life crisis. I’m pretty happy where I’m at and am stoked to turn 40. The strangest thing is that I often feel like I’m still in my twenties, with my youthful attitude towards life and in my sense of humor — the only difference is the life experience I’ve amassed, which causes me to proceed through life with a bit more caution (parenthood will do it to you). At 38, I’ve reinvented myself and my career, successfully navigating through the identity crisis of motherhood. My husband and myself both love parenthood, and all of the ways it’s changed us, yet we still retain our youthfulness (some may call it immaturity).

While I’m not yet 40, I have a sneaky suspicion that Bill was onto something when he told me that my 40s would be better than my 30s. I won’t use the “fine wine” cliché, but I will say that I’m looking forward to entering the next decade in life. You know what I say? Bring. It. On.

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Filed Under: all, Editorial

Easy To Locate: Not Your Child Corp

2016/02 By Lauren B. Stevens 12 Comments

My son started nursery school in the fall, which was the first time he had been in the care of other adults, strangers to me, in the three years since he was born. Had you talked to me two years ago, I would have vowed that I was not going to send him to school, and was even contemplating homeschooling him; of course, all of this was due to the fear that something might happen to my only child. Then life happened.

Not Your Child Wearable GPS Tracking Device

 

My son became more independent, I began taking on more work, and after 6 months with a mother’s helper, I felt confident that enrolling my son in nursery school was the right decision for everyone. Nursery school would allow my son to exercise his independence away from me, socialize with other children his age, and even get to do lots of crafts that I just don’t have the patience to do at home. When September rolled around, he was ready…and so was I.

I dropped my son off on the first day of school, and he shot a casual look over his shoulder as he went to join the other children sitting around a table in his classroom. No tears, no cajoling, he was ready. And despite the slight fear I felt in the pit of my stomach, I was ready as well.

A Not Your Child Corp wearable GPS tracking device would definitely put my mind at ease with the school milestone. Not Your Child Corp sent us one of their GPS tracking devices in December, letting us get a feel for the device and its capabilities. I’m not the most tech-savvy of people, especially when it comes to electronics, so flashing LED lights are one of my favorite features, indicating charge level, connectivity and whether the GPS is fixed on the device’s (my child’s) position.

Not Your Child Corp’s team was incredibly helpful in setting up the device, and the site dashboard is easy to navigate in setting up your account with customized alerts and tracking your child’s location. You can set your notifications to email or text alerts, and listen up, parents of teens — you can use the Not Your Child Corp GPS tracking device to monitor your new driver! You can set your notifications to alert you when your child (the device) is speeding, idling, stopped, etc. Genius!

While I’m not quite at the driving stage with my son (and heaven help me when we get there), Not Your Child Corp’s wearable GPS tracking device does give me peace of mind when he’s in the care of others (my biggest worry in sending him to school). No matter the age of your child, or even your elderly parent (the GPS tracking device is great for elderly adults, with a fall alert feature), the Not Your Child Corp GPS tracking device is a welcome addition to any household.

The Not Your Child Corp’s Wearable GPS Tracking Device is available for purchase, visit them at notyourchild.com. To stay tuned to the latest news and happenings, follow Not Your Child Corp. on Facebook and Twitter.

 


*This post is sponsored by Not Your Child, however, all opinions expressed are my own.  


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

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BlogHer

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:

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