Stuff & Things:  Roomba Review + Questions Answered

Stuff & Things: Roomba Review + Questions Answered

Several weeks ago, I caved and ordered a Roomba.  I have a cat who was falsely advertised as a short hair only to have him explode into a full blown fluff ball three months after bringing him home.  My husband’s allergies loved that little magic trick.

Keeping the apartment hair free was become a constant chore.  And then, in the middle of a several-weeks-long breakdown, I gave up all together.  Trust me, be glad I didn’t invite you over during that time.  Hair. Was. Everywhere.

At my breaking point, I interviewed housekeepers.  $65/week to clean my shoebox of an apartment seemed like a bit much.  And then the husband went and showed his hidden talent of scrubbing the shower (sorry hubs, it’s your job now), so it got me thinking…

Did I really need housekeepers?

No.  I needed someone, er, something to help me get the job done.  It’s no secret that I have very little free time. And after spending the entire week keeping someone else’s house neat and tidy, the last thing I want to do when I get home is touch a vacuum cleaner.
So anyway, after it arrived, I instantly started getting a million questions.  Do you like it?  Is it worth it?  How does it work?  What about stairs?  

But I’m just here to answer one question today.  If you have pets, or really enjoy a clean floor, yes the Roomba is worth it.  It was a hefty splurge.  I received a $100 Best Buy gift card after the whole mess they put me through back in January, but I still paid $270 out of pocket for it.  And I’d turn around and pay the full price tomorrow if something happened to my new little friend.

But a clean house matters me to.  My life just feels more in order when everything is in its place and my floors are clean.  It turns out that giving up on my house chores during that breakdown was the biggest mistake I could make because it only kept me spiraling further and further into the haze.
So I guess you could say the Roomba saved my life.
Yeah.  We’ll go with that. 

To answer the other questions:

What about stairs: well, I don’t have stairs so that’s a non-issue for me.  But it does come with a virtual wall that you can place strategically in any place that you want to keep the Roomba away from.
What about cords?  I ran it for the first time while I was home so I could assess any problem areas.  It got trapped in our wii sensor, so I had to move that.  I have to remember to put my computer cord on my desk when I leave.  It takes issue with small, thin wires.  It can handle itself pretty well with any standard width cord and will free itself with some work.
When and how often do you run it? Mine has the ability to keep a schedule.  I run it every. single. day.  Hell, he’s here. I might as well put him to work.  He runs daily at 1PM. 
How long does it take?  A while.  Longer than your standard vacuum session would take.  But hey, you don’t have to do it.  I also tend to have it run while I’m not home.
How often do you empty the bin?  I try to remember to do this daily.  Like I said, I have an exploding long haired cat.  It fills up daily over here.
What about your pets?  Bailey is afraid of all things, but she is slightly intrigued by it.  She’ll bark at it occasionally but otherwise just tries to stay out of its way.  Campbell, however, thinks it’s his new best friend and is convinced that it’s actually playing a game of chase with him.  
Does it dock itself automatically once it’s done?  Yes.  If it starts to run out of charge or finishes, it’ll return to its dock.  I’ve only found it trapped somewhere once, and that was during the whole wii wire debacle.  It’ll turn itself off automatically if there’s an issue (like it’s trapped in wires and can’t break free).

Have you read my book yet?  Download it here!  I’ll love you forever and ever and we can be besties for life!

Nail Care: My Secrets Revealed

Nail Care: My Secrets Revealed

Something I get asked about a lot are my fingernails.  When I was little and dreaming of all my success, I definitely didn’t picture my hands being any part of it.  Though the fact that I would spend countless hours crafting plans with my friends on how to obtain the perfect watermelon manicure should have told me something.

My mom must be so proud.
So today, I answer your questions.  The reality is, I don’t take great care of my nails anymore.  Something about working from home in a remote city afforded me all the time in the world to obsess over perfection.  Now, I work a day job, maintain a blog, am writing a fiction novel and am also writing an ebook while launching a new business.  Sweet Brown really did say it best.  Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Regardless of all of that, pretty fingernails and well manicured hands really do make me happy.  So I try my best to squeeze in time for them here and there.  So what do I do exactly?  Let’s get into it.

I keep my nails short.

I actually clip them, I don’t just file.  I’m on a computer most of the day–and when I’m not I can usually be found elbow deep in someone else’s dirty dishes.  Long nails and this life just don’t mesh.  I clip them straight across then go in with a nail file to soften the edges.  I like squoval, but I hate that word.

I don’t skip the cuticles.

I hate to break this to you, but this is the most important part of having a nice manicure.  I know, we all hate tackling them, but if you don’t–your manicure will look childish and sloppy.  I use the Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover gel.  I let it sit for about 3 minutes then push them back using a plastic orange stick (no, the color doesn’t have to be orange, it’s just called an orange stick).  Now here’s the part that takes some practice: I do clip my cuticles.  I use a cuticle clipper and work my way around the cuticle clipping about 12 times (small, quick clips).  Yes, this is gross.  Yes, you can clip your real skin which will make you bleed and it’ll sting.  This takes practice.  Just be patient with it.  You can actually see the dead skin if you’ve pushed the cuticle back.  Only clip that.

I always use a base coat.

There are a lot of polishes that claim to have a base coat built in.  Cool.  Use a base coat anyway.  I don’t trust nail polish not to stain or damage my nails.  I like Sally Hansen Hard As Nails, and I’ve been using it for years and years.

I don’t paint from my cuticles down.

This is probably the number one mistake most people make.  They think they should place the brush up by their cuticles and paint straight down.  That’s why your nails looks messy and sloppy and probably like a toddler did them.  Clean one side of the brush completely by dragging it across the lip of the bottle.  Clean the other side HALFWAY.  You’ll be left with a little bead of polish at the very base of the brush.  Place the bead in the CENTER of your nail and gently push it up toward your cuticle without touching your cuticle then drag down.  Use that first stroke as your guideline for your next two strokes.  That’s right, you should only be using about 3 strokes for your first coat.  Be sure you’re using the brush to it’s full capacity by pushing down slightly so the brush spreads.  This technique makes your manicure much more professional.

I always do two coats.

Yes, some polishes are opaque enough on your first coat, and everyone is desperate to save time here and there.  This is not the place to do that.  If you’re painting your nails, take the time to do it right or leave them bare.  Two coats will always look better than one.  

I dip a synthetic brush in pure acetone for clean up.

This won’t always be necessary the more you practice painting, but especially at first, you’ll hit cuticle or drag the polish too far down and paint your skin.  It happens.  It still happens to me.  Dip a synthetic brush (a cheap eyeliner brush from the drugstore works great) in pure acetone (you can also find this cheap at Sally’s Beauty Supply) and clean the edges.  Makes a world of difference.

I’d say use high quality nail polish–

–but that isn’t exactly necessary.  Some of my favorite polishes were $1.99.  I will say that Julep really does make a polish like none I’ve ever used before (and you all can trust that I’ve used a lot).  It’s long wearing, allows oxygen to continue to get to your nails, and actually repairs your damaged nails by conditioning them.  You can get your first box free using this code HERE.  

I use a high quality QUICK DRYING top coat.  Always.

Nothing ruins your manicure like having to pee immediately after painting your nails.  We’ve all been there.  I use Seche Vite (this link is the best deal you’ll ever find) and I’ll never use anything else.  It leaves a gel-like look to even the cheapest of nail polishes, and it dries all the layers in less than 5 minutes.  I’ve DONE DISHES 10 minutes after painting my nails.  I’ve also gone to bed immediately after painting my nails without waking up with those fun wrinkles in my polish. 
The most important factor of it all is just practice.  You do something enough and you’ll get better at it, facts are facts.  Tag me with your manicure pics on instagram at @joelizabeth!  I want to see them!!

*this post contains affiliate links

Have you read my book yet?  Download it here!  I’ll love you forever and ever and we can be besties for life!

Obsessing VS. Working

Obsessing VS. Working

There is so much truth in this that it actually hurts my insides.  It’s startling to me how differently I feel when I’m working with purposes vs. just obsessing over how much there is to do.

I pride myself on being a hard worker.  And that’s true, it’s in my nature.  But lately, I’ve gotten all clogged up.  I wrote in my journal recently.

I’m having a hard time knowing what to spend my time on.
This has been such a struggle lately.
I need clarity.
Systems.
Plans.

Sometimes I get into the mindset of if I’m not actively working on something that will make me money, it’s a waste of time.  Uh.  That’s ridiculous.  I know how I work.  And for me, if there isn’t a system in place, plans in action, it’s all a bunch of wasted time.
I’ve blogged about this several times recently.  I talked to you about how to combat the overwhelm.  I shared with you my secret weapon, describing how Wunderlist has saved my life.  But the truth is, I’m still a work in progress.  Everything I wrote in those posts is true, but they take practice.  It’s a choice to be prepared and to work purposely.
I’ll admit I’ve fallen into the category of wasting physical and mental energy simply obsessing about my goals.  I’ve admitted that I have a ton of projects going on right now.  And every single one of them is a choice.  And every single one of them bring me joy.  So why have I felt so depleted, stressed, and unhappy lately?
Because I haven’t actually been working on them
as much as I’ve been obsessing about them.
That’s not to say I haven’t been productive.  But my productivity has been stunted with all the messy head stuff.  Kristin said it best when she said that sometimes we, as bloggers, tend to overthink things.
Why do we do that?

So take the time.  Sit down.  Pull out your calendar and your list of goals.  Find a place for each one.  When everything has a place, things start to feel less messy in your head.  And you stop obsessing and actually start working.

Before you know it, you’re back to productivity with a work/life balance (whatever the hell that is).
The last few weeks, I’ve heard the phrase stop the glorification of busy.  I’ve been the definition of that lately.  The martyr sacrificing her life for the sake of the words.  stop it.

There is nothing attractive about that life at all.  And there’s nothing admirable about it either.  Here I am proclaiming my desire to motivate and encourage people, and I fell into the trap of doing it all wrong.
But the truth is, it’s a journey.  I’ve never done this before, so I’m bound to make a bunch of mistakes. And that’s okay.  But learn from mine, don’t waste your time obsessing.
You’ll end the day exhausted with little to show for it.
And you deserve more than that.

Have you read my book yet?  Download it here!  I’ll love you forever and ever and we can be besties for life!

Stuff & Things: Unplug Edition

Stuff & Things: Unplug Edition

When Kristin texted me earlier this week with this quote and said this made me think of you, it was a reality check.

Immediately, I made the decision that I would position myself to take the entire weekend off.  Unplug completely.  No work.  No obligatory communication.  A weekend of rest and relaxation only.

I sat down for about a half hour and plotted out all of the things that needed to be accomplished to make that happen.  I added them all into Wunderlist and gave them a Friday, March 11 deadline.  Done.

Unplugging used to give me major anxiety.  What if I miss an important text message.  What if something major happens and I miss it.  What if what if what if.  I think the kids these days call that FOMO.


I unplugged intentionally in Buies Creek often.  And after the very first time, I realized something.  Yes, the world keeps turning when you exist inside your bubble.  But instead of being inundated with ALL OF THE INFORMATION EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF YOUR LIFE,  you get to pick and choose what you care about when you’re catching up the next day.

Because guess what.  Everything is documented these days.  Life has a cliffs notes.  It’s called twitter.  And facebook.  And basically any other social media site.

And honestly guys?  Sometimes missing out isn’t so bad.  Sometimes missing out is exactly what you need.

So this weekend, I’ll be missing out.  But don’t worry, I’ll be back on Monday and all caught up thanks to the world of the internet.

::pulls plug::

This post is written in collaboration with Eventbrite to promote FOMO prevention.

Have you read my book yet?  Download it here!  I’ll love you forever and ever and we can be besties for life!




Recycle Your Blog Content For Free!

Recycle Your Blog Content For Free!

One mistake we bloggers make is that we put all this work into our posts, share them for exactly one day, and then we move on to the next.

When that revelation dawned on me, I went in search for a solution.  I have all these blog posts that are still relative content just sitting on my website without anyone working for them.  I found a program called Edgar where you can load all your archived content and it’ll share it for you.

Well, that’s all well and good except it’s $50 a month.  I like blogging.  But I also like keeping my money.  There are a lot of people out there who will tell you that you have to spend money to make money, and that might be true to some degree.  But don’t get lazy about it, y’all.  With just a little effort, you can create a system yourself that offers a solution to this very issue.

I spent an afternoon while binging Netflix putting this little baby together.

I browsed through my blog archives, selected any post that would still be relevant, and added it to the spreadsheet.

From there, I added the shortened link (from bitly.com), and wrote one tweet’s copy including the bitly link.

My plan is to make my way through the spreadsheet, scheduling each of these posts to be tweeted out on days that I don’t have new content on my blog (Mondays and Fridays).  When I cut my posting schedule back from 5 days a week to 3, I worried that my monthly views would take a hit.  This has helped keep my views growing.


I spend a little time at the beginning of the month scheduling the posts with buffer and keep track of the date they were last shared so I know when I’ve recycled through the entire list.  Each time I write a post that’s still relevant content, I add it to the spreadsheet and throw it into the mix!

I use the tweet copy to get me started.  I then use the bitly link that I provided for myself to create about 5 other tweets in buffer on the day it’s scheduled.  Buffer has suggested times based on the activity on your twitter for optimum views.  I simply write a tweet for each of those time slots.

It might be more time consuming than Edgar, but hey–I know each and every one of you have at least one afternoon a month when you’re laying on the couch watching episode after episode of a show.  Multitask and buy yourselves a pair of shoes instead!

I’ve been considering making this a template that would be my “opt-in” for subscribing to my newsletter (which isn’t exactly a thing yet, be patient).  Would you guys be interested in that?

**For the record, Edgar is an excellent resource if you have the money to spare.  I just feel like these days we bloggers are searching for everything and anything that makes all of this easier.  And Edgar is one of those things, but I think with a little effort, you can make it easier for yourself and save your dollars!

Have you read my book yet?  Download it here!  I’ll love you forever and ever and we can be besties for life!