Reviews and Giveaways

HTC Incredible – DROID

April 28, 2010 by Kathryn

So I’ve been playing around with the Motorola Droid for a few weeks and I’m gonna share some thoughts on the experience soon. However, I’m first going to jump to the end and say that I LOVE the Droid.

I had all but decided to buy one when I found out that its hotter younger brother was coming to town April 29th so after much thought, consideration, reading rave reviews, plunking down $199, squealing, and stalking the UPS package online, I am pleased to announce that our new command center is safely home A DAY BEFORE RELEASE and charging happily on the windowsill. I’m not sure if you can see but he already has a Wanda fingerprint on his face. I’m sure he likes it. I hope he doesn’t catch her ear infection.

I’ll be sure to let you know if it lives up to all the hype when I surface from the technological honeymoon.

Palm Pre Plus – Too Soft For This Goldilocks

April 15, 2010 by Kathryn

Almost everything about the Palm Pre Plus is cooler than my previous phone, the HTC Touch Pro running Windows Mobile. I thought my phone was the hotness. I thought my phone was the greatest thing ever. The Pre is hotter. The Pre is the greaterest thing ever.

The hardware design is sleek and lovely. The OS looks and feels fabulous. After a brief learning curve I was able to pick up all the gestures and navigational tricks and I grew to really enjoy the interface. It can do cool things like navigate with Google Maps and it can act as a mobile WiFi hotspot, serving up to 5 other devices with wireless internet – very cool for a long roadtrip.

The problem is that although it’s cuter, prettier and faster than my stolen phone, it just doesn’t do everything I’ve come to expect. While I was trying it out, I kept saying, “But it’s so cute. Why can’t it do X?” or, “I want this to be my phone if only it could…”

The Pre works with Microsoft Exchange so it syncs my calendars and contacts, which is great. However, the calendar functionality is limited. There are little things that have come to be very important to me that you cannot do on a Pre calendar. The most critical problem for me is that I can’t add attendees to a calendar appointment. Whenever I’m out and about and make a new appointment, I add Dan as an attendee and the event goes to all of our phones and calendars within minutes. This makes family planning (not that kind) very easy and I feel like I need it, although “need” is a funny word.

Another downside to the Pre is that there is currently no way to edit documents. It comes with a document viewer installed and on the Dataviz website, there’s a page saying that a fully functional document editor will be released early in 2010. But it’s April and that’s a deal breaker for me.

Dataviz has document editing apps for every other phone and its dog but not for the Pre. And therein lies the rub. Not many people are designing apps for the Pre. Palm is up for sale so its future is uncertain. I’m sure developers don’t want to pour resources into creating apps for an OS that may be off the market shortly. They’re putting their eggs into the basket of Apple and Google and hopefully Microsoft when their new (supposedly groundbreaking) Windows Phone 7 gets released later this year.

Because we’re so entangled with Microsoft, I was hoping my previous phone would get me through until the release of The Windows Phone Hotness but with my phone gone, I need to get something now.

I wanted it to be Palm. I loved the Pre. But this Goldilocks, like my burglarific predecessor, has very specific needs and is moving on to the next bowl of porridge.

If you’re looking for a smart phone that’s beautiful, sleek, easy to use and well-designed that doesn’t have a lot of gadgets and apps but has great web-browsing and simple personal calendaring, take the Pre out for a spin.

This week I’m exploring the world of <DROID>. The <> around DROID indicates that I’m saying it like a robot. Say it with me. It’s fun.

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In this case, I’m borrowing phones to try out and then I plan to purchase the one I like best.

Yes… And

March 29, 2010 by Kathryn

Last weekend, I took a young woman friend of mine into Seattle to have lunch with Nintendo, that nebulous Mario-ridden empire of a company, some women and girls doing amazing mentoring work in the community, and stylist Jennifer Rade. It was a fun mix of people talking about goals, games, fashion and eating chocolate calzones. We had a blast.

As part of their promotion for their Style Savvy game for the DS, Nintendo asked Jen, who does not want to be pigeonholed as a celebrity stylist although she’s dressed Angelina Jolie and pretty much every famous person for pretty much every event known to man, to come and speak about her journey in the fashion industry.

They invited Powerful Voices, a Seattle-based group that mentors young girls, to come hear her speak and eat some great food at a pizza restaurant (I try to avoid using the term Pizzeria because of what it rhymes with.) that was transported all the way from Italy. They actually took apart an Italian pizza joint, shoved the pieces in a storage container, shipped them here and reassembled them. When I told Dan about the place, he laughed and asked why they had to bring the actual restaurant here. I told him that they brought it here so I didn’t have to go to Italy and leave him alone with the kids for 2 days while I went out for lunch.

Jen was fascinating to listen to. Her life path and mine are so completely different and she had so many great stories and experiences to share. She really has worked with everyone and done just about everything a costume designer/stylist can do.

I often worry about being pigeonholed in my fledgling writing career. Kathryn Thompson, the blogger, Kathryn Thompson, the children’s author, Kathryn Thompson, the non-fiction writer. This fear keeps me from branching out because I worry that if I find big success in one genre, I’ll have a hard time being taken seriously in another and I have a wide range of interests.

Jen is a testament to the power of hard work and never taking no for an answer. When people tell her she can’t do something, she just sees it as a challenge and works to prove them wrong. I really liked that, along with her down-to-earth nature. She also has a theory that I love and that has served me well in my life, although I’ve never given a name to it. She calls it “Yes… and.”

The basic idea is that when someone asks you if you can do something, you respond with, “Yes… and,” and then blow them away with all you’re capable of, opening up all kinds of doors for future success. I totally agree. Doing the bare minimum and hoping to be noticed will not get you very far in your career or in life. Next time you’re looking for some growth and adventure, try responding with a, “Yes…and,” and see what happens.

As part of the celebration for Powerful Voices, my favorite Nintendo executives and PR people surprised each attendee with her own DSi and a copy of Style Savvy. My date and I got one too. Yippee! I have to tell you that I bought the DS with birthday money last year, thinking the DSi wasn’t worth the extra money but now that I have both, the DS is feeling a bit lame in comparison. I gave it to Dan and I’m feeling some serious jealousy coming from his direction.

Mine can surf the web, take and edit pictures, download games directly to the device, and best of all make little flip-notes animated videos. I love this because it’s a way to feed my kids’ digital addictions while forcing them to be creative. And I was not expecting to ever play Style Savvy, having given up playing dress-up with Barbies many moons ago. However, they had us try it out at the lunch and the game is stupidly addictive. I’ve never played Farmville but I’ve seen the hold it has on people and as far as I can tell, this game is like Farmville for fashion, except you don’t send out updates to all of your friends and family members every time you unlock something new so everyone doesn’t have to know just how much time I spend “building my business” and stocking my store.

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Howling Holidays

December 13, 2009 by Kathryn

Between bouts of illness, we had about 24 hours to squeeze in some fun last weekend. The planets aligned just in time for us to head out on a short vacation to the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, WA. They were hosting a special blogger event with discounted pricing and a blogger breakfast meet-up and we couldn’t pass up the chance to go back there. We had so much fun the last time.

This time they were promoting their Snowland experience, the lodge decorated from top to bottom with snowflakes, sparkles and lights. Santa was there and a few times a day they did a “holiday show” and had a real fake indoor snowfall. Of course it also still had wolves and things that are great and lodge-like things. Hence the name.

I’m a big fan of Great Wolf Lodge. I love the way my kids’ gray matter explodes when we go there. They can’t put into words how much fun they’re having but they keep spontaneously giggling and their faces are split into ridiculous half-insane grins the entire time. Since we got home, Magoo’s been saying “Thank you for the Great Wolf Lodge,” every single night in his prayers. I also really like that all the employees, no matter what their job title, greet you and make eye contact when they see you in the halls.

There were a few things I don’t like. I don’t like this:

The check-in line was insane. It’s nice that business is so good at the Lodge but they need to find a more efficient way to process all those visitors.

I’m also not a fan of animatronics.

We missed the nightly story time last year because we were frolicking in the water. This year we were sure to dry off and get there in time for what turned out to be sort of an underwhelming, hard to hear, semi-creepy animatronics extravaganza followed by a real live story time. The kids enjoyed it but I think they would have been happier in the water. I know I would have.

Wanda shocked us all by tolerating the whole experience quite well. Being inside the water park itself was like stepping into a giant white-noise machine and put her quickly to sleep. She was warm enough in her little swimmy suit with a towel wrapped around her and in a year she’ll be having a blast in the kiddy area. Her only trouble came late that night when everyone else was sleeping and she wanted me to stay up and rock her on the couch while watching Jeopardy on mute.

You know how unfulfilling it is to watch Jeopardy on mute and never know if your answers are right? What is – VERY frustrating? Luckily within minutes of starting that late night ritual I got a text from one of my blogging mom friends who was hanging out with some of our ladies down in the restaurant. They’d all put their children away and were enjoying some nocturnal girl time. They took turns passing Wanda around until she was zonked and I headed back upstairs and put her to bed. It was lovely and much more fun than mute Jeopardy.

Overall I’d still recommend taking a trip to a GWL if you have one near you. Your kids are guaranteed to have an awesome time and you’ll likely enjoy yourself too, especially if you like your children. Personally, I’d rather go when they’re back to doing what they do best without all the plasticky holiday noise. I don’t really want my kids to associate Christmas with lavish water parks and crazed animatronic moose and trees singing carols. I guess I’d rather have them associate it with storm troopers and old dead artificial foliage.

Read my other review for more details on why we’ll likely be back. Also – a tip – pay for the buffet for one meal and then bring the rest of your food from home. The restaurant was okay but nothing fabulous and it’s worth the money to watch your kids freak out over the sheer volume of choices they have to choose from in the buffet.

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Full Disclosure – FTC Regulation and the Blogosphere

June 30, 2009 by Kathryn

The FTC is in the process of placing new standards on bloggers who review products for compensation. They do not distinguish between monetary compensation and compensation by way of product samples. I’m not sure if product samples that are then given away as prizes will be included in this forbidden zone of review topics. I have done this several times in the past , reviewed a product for my blog and then passed along the review copy to my readers in the form of a giveaway.

I’m all about full disclosure. If Laylee were providing me monetary compensation to blog about how cute she looked in her ballet recital, I’d for SURE let you know. It’s kind of the other way around though. I think I paid about 3 million dollars to see her in that green tutu for 5 minutes and it was worth every penny.

If a company is compensating me to write about their products, I sure as heck am not going to act like I just happened to discover this lovely $200 set of maternity clothes by happenstance. Your trust is more important to me than that. But if I gush about it, the gushing is sincere.

This blog is primarily the documented journey of my life as a mother, a woman and an attempted humorist. Within those roles, there are often products I use and love and want to tell you about. Sometimes I do. Nearly every day I am also offered free products to talk about on my blog. I say “no” to the VAST majority of these offers either because I don’t think I’ll like the product, I feel like my blog is turning into something too commercial (It was never meant to be a “product review” site.) or because I just don’t feel like doing it that day.

My policy is this —

I will never review a product for monetary compensation. I personally believe that being paid cash to endorse a product on a personal blog is not in line with my values or the intent of this writing outlet.

I will never accept free product with the understanding that I will write a positive review about the product. First of all, I try not to accept a product unless I think there is a good chance I will really like it and want to tell my readers about it. On the few occasions that I have received a product I did not particularly like, I have either offered to send it back to the company, given it away with no review attached hoping someone else would like it, or given a review that points out its failings.

Where book reviews are concerned, I do not talk about books I do not like unless I’m trying to offer a buyer-beware type of warning. I do not always point out that a particular book was sent to me by Harper Collins or some other publisher as a review copy, because of the low price of the items and the frequency with which they are sent to me, but I only review about 1 in 10 books sent to me. I don’t want to waste my time talking about a book that I wouldn’t recommend anyway. Now you know. Some of the books I review are sent to me by authors, book publishers or publicity firms. I will give honest reviews regardless of how I obtained the book.

The practice of receiving something, reviewing it and then giving it (or one of its clones) away has three benefits:

1. I can give an accurate review of a product only if I actually get my hands on it and try it out. Isn’t it nice to hear that I wore those maternity clothes and washed them a ton and they still didn’t ball or pill?

2. When my readers get free stuff, I usually get a boost in readership, which I like.

3. I love to get great free stuff and therefore love to give it away. Isn’t it so much more fun to plan and pick out the gifts you’ll give for Christmas than to see what you’re going to get. I, like Oprah before me, really enjoy finding something great and giving it away to someone who’ll love it. I believe my serotonin levels rise when someone who desperately needs a stroller gets one for free because I was able to give it away on my blog.

So there you have it. All reviews and giveaways on this blog express my actual and true opinions. If I say I really like something, I really really like it. I do not pretend to be an expert in consumer safety so if your little Jimmy wins a trike on this site and then the handlebars fall off, resulting in catastrophic facial injury, I am not liable for his sad demise. I am not Consumer Reports or an independent safety testing agency. I did not, for example, attempt to light my maternity clothes on fire to see if they would burst into flame.

I just periodically want to tell you about stuff I like.

Maggie Maternity — Review and Giveaway

June 28, 2009 by Kathryn

So I’m pregnant and I know a guy, a guy (well gal) who works with Maggie Maternity and wanted to hook me up with some maternity clothes to review on my blog. The clothes looked gorgeous and more expensive than I’m used to paying for maternity clothes so I said, “Sure.” Besides, on their site they mentioned that Angelina Jolie was seen wearing their tank top at the Cannes Film Festival and I thought it would really do her self-esteem some good if she found out she was wearing the same clothes as me.

So they sent me their summer box and I was a bit skeptical because everything in it was black. However, I know black is slimming (which I need) and decided I’d try and wear it mostly in air-conditioned locations or on overcast days (which we have a lot of here).
I was pregnant with both of my other kids primarily during the winter and nearly everything I have is dark, thick and long-sleeved. When I wear it, I boil.

That is not the case with these clothes. Despite being black in color, they’re very lightweight and breathable. They really are perfect for summer. The fabric is a Spandex/Rayon blend and feels amazing next to my skin. These truly are the most comfortable clothes I have ever worn, maternity or otherwise, including pajamas.

I decided to do my serious testing of “the box” when I was running our PTA fundraiser. The event lasted for 4 days and I spent much of my time on my feet working with kids and walking around the school. For 3 days I wore at least one piece from the box and felt like I was walking around in my most comfy PJs. The best part was that I got compliments on everything I wore. Words like “elegant,” “classy,” and “why are you so dressed up?” were thrown at me.

I felt super cute when I wore them and again, you can’t beat the comfy. After my 4-day test was over, it had sort of become a tradition to wear them… every day. I wear at least one piece almost daily. I wear them to church, to the park, to dance recitals and just lounging around the house. When we leave for summer vacation, they’ll be the first things I’ll pack. I’ve washed them all several times and they are holding up great. The look of the fabric has changed slightly but they haven’t balled or pilled.

They are machine washable but should be laid flat to dry. I hang them on a drying rack. I love them. Honestly I’m a very cheap person and I look for bargains in maternity clothes because you wear them for such a short period of time, but if I get pregnant again and my size has changed, I plan on buying another set of these in my current size. Because they’re so versatile, you wear them so often that it makes them worth the price. The sizing is a bit generous. I was wearing a 14/16 when I got pregnant and I got the biggest size they make (4) which says it’s a 12/14 equivalent and if anything they’re a tad on the large size.

The pants are probably my favorite piece because of the way they’re designed. You can wear them folded over at the beginning of the pregnancy but then pull them up as you get bigger or to avoid showing a waistline under your shirt. They work well as take-your-kids-to-the-park pants or you can dress them up with a classy top and wear them to the ballet and no one knows that you secretly feel like you’re wearing nothing on the bottom. The skirt is a close second favorite. It looks great and is cooler for summer weather.

If you’re pregnant, plan to be, or know someone who is, you should check out the site. For now, leave me a comment on this post and I’ll enter you to win a $100 gift certificate to Maggie Maternity. I’ll chose a winner on Thursday at noon PST.

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Everyone But Papa Survived

May 25, 2009 by Kathryn

My parents were out visiting from Montana this weekend and we wanted to hang out with them in a relaxed way, a way that didn’t involve driving into downtown Seattle to see something quintessentially Seattle-like.

Instead, we ate steel-cut oats, played games and explored the Titanic… in Redmond. Country Financial is sponsoring a free traveling exhibit of artifacts from the world’s most famous shipwreck and it happened to be in Redmond this weekend. I was pumped to go. I think my parents were a little less than pumped but they just wanted to hang out with and spoil Laylee and Magoo so they came along for the ride. Maybe their reticence was due to the fact that my dad had a premonition he wouldn’t make it out of the exhibit alive.

There’s something about that boat that’s always fascinated me long before Leonardo DiCaprio cavorted around on the silver screen. I’ve seen movies, documentaries and pictures about the events surrounding the disaster and the efforts to recover the artifacts from the ship and I’ve always wanted to go down in one of those bubble ship things and, I don’t know, look for ghosts and jewelry and such.

The exhibit was set up in a mall parking lot with a few huge semi-trucks linked together to form an impromptu museum. We got our picture taken in front of a backdrop of the grand staircase and each of us was given a boarding pass with the name of an actual passenger on the Titanic. They told us that at the end of the exhibit we could find out if our passenger survived or not. Is it just me or does Magoo look a bit trepidacious about spending his Memorial Day weekend entering things called “exhibits” that look like giant trucks smooshed together, where the chance of survival is highly unlikely?

In a fun gesture, the exhibit organizers gave local bloggers special treatment, letting our group skip the lines and giving us permission to take pictures inside, although picture taking was not allowed by people who do not publish their thoughts, opinions and whims online. The coolest thing they handed out to the geeks in attendance was a certified piece of coal that was actually retrieved from the titanic. I’m not sure what to do with said piece of coal. If I had a coffee table, maybe I could put it on there on some sort of special gilded dish and wait for people to ask me about it. In all likelihood its usefulness will only come next time I play Two Truths and a Lie at a sleepover party and I’ll say, “I have a piece of coal from the Titanic in my sock drawer.”

As we entered, I heard one tween boy rush ahead, “Come on mom. Let’s just hurry through. I just want to see if we survived.” Laylee and Magoo seemed equally unimpressed by the artifacts although they peeked inside each case and listened intently as we explained what an iceberg was and how the ship crashed and sunk. They have a great and strange love of all things morbid.

In the end, everyone but Papa survived. Pretty good odds, I’d say considering the odds of the actual passengers on the ship.

This sign puts a lump in my throat:

Go to the site and have a look to see if they’re coming to your town. It was a cool exhibit and the price was right. It’s a great chance to teach your kids a little history and maybe instill in them a healthy fear of ice. It may be good in a watered-down glass of ginger-ale when you’re pregnant but when you least expect it, it’ll tear a hole in your hull and send your one true love on a one way trip into the frigid drink.

*Besides the lump of coal in my stocking, some silly putty and the chance to cut in line, I was not compensated for attending or writing about this exhibit. I just appreciate a company willing to support the arts and education in these tough financial times so I’m giving a shout out to Country Financial.*

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Stop Second Guessing Yourself

April 30, 2009 by Kathryn

Jen Singer of MommaSaid.net recently sent me a copy of her new book Stop Second Guessing Yourself – The Toddler Years and I’m really enjoying it’s no-nonsense crash course in raising a child through the crazy times. I’m pretty sure Magoo is officially no longer a toddler although he’s still crazy and I’m getting a bit nervous about heading back into toddler-land a couple of years from now. I’m afraid I will have forgotten everything. Luckily Jen covers just about every topic imaginable in her book. Hopefully it will be like riding a bike and I’ll have no problem slipping back into the power struggles, the messes and the non-stop thrill seeking.

To help with my transition, she wrote me this letter:

Dear Daring Young Mom,

You sure do take your title seriously, because only a daring mom would go for the trifecta — a third baby — especially after you’d successfully navigated the toddler years and were pulling away from all its tantrums and teething and poop. But now? Here you go again.

It’s been a few years since you had a toddler around (which might explain why you’re so cheerfully willing to do this all over again), and it’ll be here soon enough. I just published a book about toddlers, so I’m well versed on all things 1- through 3-year-olds, from the potty training (you’ll be singing about pee again) to the milestones you won’t tell Grandma about (i.e. gets naked to answer the door).

Right now, you’re just waddling behind your older kids, but in about a year or so, you’ll be running after a little one shouting, “Get back here!” and “Stop that toddler!”

Right now, you’re looking forward to that baby smell and all that cuddling, but it won’t be long before you’re putting back all the Tic Tac boxes that your toddler had reshelved under the People magazines at the supermarket.

Right now, you’re thinking about cute “wittle” baby socks, but soon enough you’ll be turning the car back around to go retrieve a Barney light-up sneaker tossed into the intersection.

It’s coming, and you’ll remember it all again as it happens all again. All of it, from the first words to the first big kid underpants, you’ll remember it. And you’ll embrace toddlerhood in all its glory and love your kid, just like you love her/his older siblings. But this time, you’ll think twice about starting all over again, won’t you?

Best of luck,
Jen Singer
Author, Stop Second Guessing Yourself — The Toddler Years
Creator, MommaSaid.net

You Need a Budget — Giveaway

January 20, 2009 by Kathryn

Usually I give stuff away on this site because someone sends it to me or asks me to review it. Today I’m reviewing a product because I love it LOVE IT and I’m giving it away because I asked the creator if I could have a copy to give away. So here goes the longest review ever with a little embarrassing personal history thrown in.

Dan and I have never been great at budgeting. I was taught to budget and balance a checkbook when I was really young. My dad’s an accountant for the love of chicken and I vividly remember him sitting at the kitchen table paying bills and balancing the checkbook. He and my mom were always careful with money and they taught me to be as well.

Then college hit and I got a bit lax. I learned to only start thinking about money when it ran out and I was always confused. “Like, how come my check totally bounced?” Now, I’m a smart girl but I guess I just decided that I was too smart to waste time tracking every penny. I always did okay, made my rent and tuition payments on time and graduated college with very little debt. I think I only called my parents for a massive bailout package once or twice.

Then after graduation, Dan and I got married. I was supporting him through school, working full time while he held down a part-time job. Suddenly the expenses were shared and the income was more than I’d had before. We weren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination but for college students we were doing fine. We had a TWO bedroom apartment with no holes in the walls and a non-shag carpet. I didn’t think we needed to be strict with money.

I planned on staying home once we had kids but I was nervous about how it would feel to be financially dependent on another person. Somehow I got Dan to agree to let me plan and budget our money. I thought that being “in charge” would help me feel like I had a stake in our finances even though I wasn’t the one bringing home the bacon once I became a mom.

But I never really got a handle on the situation. I tried budgeting software, Excel spreadsheets, using a cash-only budget, where when I ran out of cash I ran out of spending power. I bounced from plan to plan but never found a good fit.

Dan and I have grown to equate money with fear. We don’t know how much we have and we don’t always know how much is coming. To me, unexpected income is “free money” and although we (especially Dan) feel a sense of duty to put it towards upcoming major expenses, we want to spend some for fun too and then end up feeling guilty about it. We don’t really have any debt and we have a good amount of savings but we’re not progressing and it seems like we dip more and more into our emergency reserves because our paycheck didn’t quite cover what we spent the previous month.

We make a good living but feel guilty when we spend money on wants because we don’t know if we should and we’re always worried that we’re not managing things right. Financial lame-ish-ness is one of the major causes of stress in our marriage. I’m in charge so whenever we want to buy something, Dan will ask, “Do we have it in the budget?” and I’ll look down at my shoes and say, “We have it in the bank, I think.” And he’ll decide we probably can’t afford it. But then sometimes I’ll buy it anyway and then we’ll be happy for a minute with a vague feeling of guilt. It’s not okay.

So a couple of months ago my sister called me ranting and raving about the new budgeting software she’s using. It’s called YNAB, which stands for You Need a Budget. I winced at the B-word but decided to hear her out. By the end of our conversation I was convinced that I’d at least give it a try, knowing that they offer a money-back guarantee.

Well, it’s $50 I won’t be getting back because I cannot say enough positive things about this software. It’s easy to use. It lets me feel like I’m controlling my money, not the other way around. It’s intuitive. It’s fast and simple to set up. It’s complex enough to do everything I need it to do without being so confusing I want to beat my head against the keyboard, a problem I’ve had with budgeting software in the past. It’s created for families, not businesses and that’s very apparent, although my sister uses it to track her business expenses as well. It comes with instructional material that focuses on living within your means, building up a buffer so you’re not living paycheck to paycheck and really being accountable to yourself and your spouse.

The company is small and they really want to get it right. They have helpful forums and great response time. When I posted a question, I received a personal email and a fix for my problem within a few short hours, even though it was on a weekend.

I set up all the categories in my budget and then Dan and I have a meeting to go over everything. There has been no tension in our meetings, just sort of a giddy feeling of relief. Relief that we have a plan. Relief that there is enough money to do the things that are really important. Relief that he can finally trust me with our family finances.

We have a category for fun money for each of us and one for clothes. We can’t put a lot of money into these categories each month but the money accrues so next month if I haven’t spent my $10, I’ll have $20 and eventually I’ll be able to buy a whole sweater. In the past if I’d budgeted $10 for clothes, I’d rush to spend it so I wouldn’t lose it. The same thing goes with birthday money. I knew that if I didn’t spend my $20 from Grandma right away, it would be absorbed and end up paying for pull-ups or something so I’d buy a $20 piece of uselessness just so I could spend the money on me.

Now I just add my birthday money to my fun-money budget and watch it grow.

This accumulation feature allows us to do things like set up small budgets for several different projects without needing actual separate accounts. I have an account for haircuts and I budget a third of a hair cut each month so I can go in and have it done every three months with no worry about whether or not we can afford for me to live without split ends.

But if I overspend one of my categories, I’m not penalized for it specifically the next month. If Magoo suddenly outgrows all his clothes and I go $100 over-budget on the kids’ clothing category, $100 is taken from the OVERALL budget the next month. I love this feature because sometimes things come up and I don’t want to feel like if I overspend in an area, I’m toast in that area for months. I like that I can spread out the squeeze.

My favorite thing about it is the honesty. Sometimes in the past, when I’d go shopping, I’d hurry to get everything put away before Dan got home so I wouldn’t have to explain to him what I’d purchased and where the money came from. When he’d ask me a week later if the shirt I was wearing was new, I’d mumble something and he’d wonder if I had some whole new secret wardrobe he’d paid for with our life savings without knowing it.

Now I come home from shopping and show him everything with excitement because I know that he knows that it’s all budgeted and accounted for.

We’re achieving goals. We’re learning to have positive feelings about money. We’re strengthening our relationship. We’re gaining self-control and security about our future.

You should too.

Seriously. Go check out the site. Read what they’re all about. I know I can’t be the only one who finds herself at war with money.

If you’d like to win a free copy of YNAB Pro, and I’d highly recommend ordering Pro, leave a comment on this post and I’ll draw a winner on Saturday night. We saved more than $50 the first week we used it by cutting unnecessary spending and noticing strange charges on various accounts we hadn’t been monitoring closely enough. So even if you don’t win, it’s worth the investment. Good luck!

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Show me How — Review and Giveaway

November 19, 2008 by Kathryn

***And the Winner chosen by random.org after removing any duplicate comments by the same person (Which I then added back in) is Heather Lafter. More great giveaways are coming this month. so keep trying!***

Have you ever wanted to know how to make your own chain-mail bikini, grow rock candy, properly open a pomegranate, carve a radish rose, tie a bowtie, remove various stains from clothing, peel and devein a shrimp, get your kid to eat vegetables, serve a banana as an octopus, or understand vitamins and their proper doses?.

Are you the coach of your kid’s soccer team but you don’t have a clue about the rules and techniques of the game?

Do you wonder how long various foods stay good in the refrigerator?

Do you want to try to heal yourself with home remedies or perform first aid?

Are you horrible at Dave Letterman’s “Know Your Cuts of Meat” game and want to brush up on which cut of meat comes from which part of any animal’s body?

Do you want to know how to pick the best airline seat, tie basic sailing knots, mount a camel, compose a memorable photo, pick a lock, or mold a false fingerprint?

Have I got a book for you. It was sent to me by Harper Collins and it’s called Show Me How — 500 Things You Should Know — Instructions for Life from the Everyday to the Exotic. The book covers fashion dos and don’ts, beauty how-tos, cooking, crafting, survival skills, romantic instruction and a ton more. From the incredibly useful to the hilarious, it’s fun just to “read” all the way through. But it doesn’t involve a lot of reading because it’s almost completely picture based. The illustrations are fun and although I plan to use it as a conversation-piece on an end-table in my living room, I’ll also likely refer to it for basic instructions on how to do just about everything.

Reading through, I kept thinking, “OH MAN! I wish I’d had this last month or last year when I needed to…” Because I didn’t have this book or apparently a brain or internet connection, I gave a perfectly fine cast-iron skillet away to Goodwill because it had become rusty. Never again thanks to the page on derusting a cast-iron pan.

With Thanksgiving on the way, I’m grateful for the straightforward instructions for weaving a lattice-top pie, roasting and carving a turkey and making perfect gravy from drippings.

Thanks to this book I now know that a Vesper is an actual alcoholic beverage, not invented by James Bond, and how to make it should I ever eschew my teetotaling ways.

This is one of the best coffee table books I’ve come across and it would make a great gift. Although if you win it, you’ll probably have a hard time giving it away so you’ll need to buy another.

To enter this giveaway, please leave a comment listing one thing you’ve always wanted to know how to do. I’ll draw a random winner Saturday at 10pm PST.

And I’ve got more great giveaways and gift guides coming up! Squeee!!! I’m so excited for Christmas.

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