I'll never forget when my husband and I moved into our first apartment together. It was exciting--but also terrifying. Combining our lives into one space brought with it a lot of important decisions and choices to make. As young twentysomethings, we struggled to figure out how to make the best choice. 

Certainly, there are all sorts of ways to go about picking the right place for you. Many people go purely for the aesthetic vibe of a location, but there are several other significant considerations to make when choosing the perfect rental.

Commute times for you and your roommate or partner are a really important consideration to think about. Certainly, the charm of that adorable apartment or the luxury features of that townhouse rental might beckon you in, but make sure you stop and consider this more practical consideration. How far is the rental from your work and anyone else you are sharing the rent with? And are you truly willing to drive that distance to live in the location?

It is easy to get wrapped up in the excitement or charm of a new place and forget this detail. However, a commute is something you won't be able to finagle down the road. Be certain you consider the drive time from your new place.

These are trying financial times for many, but even if you aren't experiencing financial hardship, you need to ascertain that you can afford the rental. Again, so many get wrapped up in the aesthetics of a place that they forget to consider their budget.

Before you start looking at rentals, figure out your budget. How much are you bringing in a month? What bills do you have other than rent? Sit down and do a hard look at the numbers. 

Once you have your budget figured out, you need to determine how much you can afford based on the location you are renting in. use a rent calculator like this one to help you assess what you can actually afford to pay in the area you are living in.

As a rule of thumb according to Zumper, you want to make sure your rent costs aren't more than 30% of your income.

Go into the rental process knowing your budget and what you can actually afford. This will prevent you from making a choice on impulse and suffering financially for months or years to come. 

Be sure to look beyond the cute window or kitchen island and consider the neighborhood where your prospective rental is. Are you a couple who likes to walk to local, small-town community events? You'll want to consider this when making your decision. Does the school district's quality matter to you because you have a child who is school age? Make sure you analyze the district's performance.

Another thing to consider is the crime rate in your prospective rental's area. I love using Neighborhood Scout to analyze crime data for a particular area when considering a move. It gives extremely specific data for specific areas of a community and allows you to assess where your rental is sitting.



Overall, choosing a rental property is a big decision. Be sure to discuss with your roommates or partner what goals you both have and what you are looking for. Being prepared before checking out properties will help you make the wisest decision for you.

How do you make sure you choose the right rental? Tell me below.

I first want to say this... I am NOT sponsored by Honest Paws at all. I am not writing this because I was paid to. I am writing this because for months, I searched the internet in desperate search of a product that would actually help my mastiff (who is practically my child) when his hips were failling.

If you own a mastiff or a large dog, you know that hip and joint issues are always a fear. From the time Henry, our American mastiff, was a puppy, we tried to do everything we could to protect his joints. Joint supplements, special therapeutic dog beds, etc. We tried to keep him from jumping wildly. But still, at the age of six, every mastiff owner's worst nightmare started happening: His hips started failing.

At six and a half, it got so bad that he could barely move. The dog who used to play and run around the house was immobile, spending his days on the floor. His hobbling made my heart break. The vet gave us some supplements and eventually shots to try. He was too worried to do surgery because of his age. The shots worked for a while. The supplements worked for a while.

And then they stopped.

I had heard about CBD oil over and over again, but I was too afraid to try it. I decided it would be my last resort. I'm a paranoid dog mama, so I was nervous about side effects. And I was also nervous if the price tag was worth it. After trying so many failed products, I felt like it was just another sad attempt to revive my best friend that wouldn't work.

Finally, though, things got so bad I gave it a try. My husband was skeptical...but two weeks after starting him on Honest Paws for Mobility...he was better. So. Much. Better.

I wish I had used it earlier.

Let me be clear: there isn't a miracle product that will restore Henry to puppy state. His hips are still not great. He still can't get in our car. He still has bad days where it's hard to get up. But, for the majority of his days, he is back to being his old self. Playing in the yard. Running in the house. Chasing balls and playing with toys and just being a dog.

We literally went from being afraid he would have to be put down soon because he was suffering to watching him play and be happy again. I wish I had started his regiment sooner.

I have Henry on two dropper fulls a day, which is still about half of what he should take with his weight. With the auto renew feature, I spend $144 a month because of his size. However, this is cheaper than what I spent on his shots and supplements by far....and to see his quality of life actually improve makes it worth it.

As always, be sure to check with your vet before starting a new regiment. But I'm telling you...if you are in my shoes and have a dog that breaks your hear with joint pain, struggling to get up, and struggling with mobility, please try it. You will be so glad you did. We are six months in, and it is still working effectively even on this lower dose he is on.

If you want to give it a try, you can use this link to get $20 toward your first purchase of $30 or more. I am not sponsored but will also get $20 to put towards Henry's CBD oil purchases.

If you have questions, feel free to reach out. I'd love to chat more with you about how this has helped my four-legged friend. If it works for him with his hips as bad as they are, I know it can help other dogs, too. Let's spread the word and help our fellow dog owners out there find some hope in a terrible situation.

Up until November, I was all for the Drunk Elephant line of skin care. These all natural, cruelty free products really did make my skin seem smoother, brighter, and better. 

But then in November, my husband lost his job and I could no longer afford the HEFTY price tag that came with Drunk Elephant products. I was devastated, certain my skin would fall prey to wrinkles and dullness. I tried to find other, cheaper alternatives, but I struggled to find anything that was cruelty free and seemed to work.

Enter The INKEY List products. These products are winners for so many reasons:

1. They are cruelty free, which is so important to me
2. They have  a wide line of products great for all skin types and concerns
3. They are so affordable!! Like, seriously!

I purchased my first threeproducts from Sephora but will definitely be buying more.Here are my recommendations so far:

For 14.99 you get a large amount of this moisturizer with peptides to help with fine lines and wrinkles. It is silky smooth and soaks in so you aren't greasy. I love this as a replacement for my more expensive moisturizers.

This was my first purchase from The INKEY and I'm in love. I was having issues with large pores. This scrub helps with pores and also is super cleansing without drying your skin out. You only need a tiny bit to do your whole face, too, so it has lasted a long time.

Eye cream and retinol products are sooo pricey. I've spent between $60 and $90 on these two products. So when I found this eye cream from Inkey, I was skeptical. However, after a month of use, I can say my eye wrinkles do seem less prominent and my eye area is definitely smoother. It truly works for the price. I'm obsessed!

I can honestly say I'll never go back to pricey skincare again. These products are AMAZING and such an affordable price. I love their mission to bring healthy, high quality skincare into the hands of all women. Definitely give these a try.

​Have you tried THE INKEY? tell me in the comments below

With COVID completely shifting our worlds, going to the nail salon might me impossible due to quarantines, health concerns, and even financial reasons. But for me, having my nails done is a confidence booster. Even if I'm just at home, cue nails make me feel so much better.

That's where imPRESS Manicures enter the scene. These at-home kits are extremely affordable. For less than $10, you can get two manicures out of one set.

I am obsessed with the colors and when I use these nail sets, I get so many compliments! Below from left to right are:

• Rebecca Minkoff in Sunset Beach ($8.99)
• Break the Ice ($7.99)
• Rebecca Minkoff in Gliteratti ($8.99)
• Tweetheart ($7.99)

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I love imPRESS manicures because I can apply a full manicure in about five minutes. Each pack comes with 30 different nails, a small file, an alcohol prep pad, and a cuticle tool. Here's what you do (and some tips I've learned along the way)

1. Take off all nail polish and swipe rubbing alcohol over nails. Push cuticles back.
2. Choose the ten nails that fit your nails. They have tiny numbers to make it easy to match up. I can usually get two manicures plus have some accents left over for another manicure out of one box (Isn't that crazy for the price?)
3. Peel off the backing of each nail. Press firmly on your nail. I hold and press for about ten seconds.
4. Done!
5. I always do my thumb nails last to make it easier to apply the others.
6. I trim my nails down because I like super short nails. To make sure they stay, I wait thirty minutes before trimming them with nail clippers
7. I also put clear nail polish underneath the tips because they have some adhesive that can get stuck on fuzzies and hair. The clear nail polish trick really helps.

When applied like this, these nails truly do last up to two weeks! I usually get about 9 great days out of them. I always get so many compliments, too.

I definitely recommend checking them out. I haven't tried the pedicures yet but they are next on my list.

​Have you tried imPRESS nails? Which designs are your favorite?

So first, you should know that I am a TERRIBLE cook. Like burns everything, can't follow a recipe, smoke-filled house kind of cook. 

I've tried many subscription food boxes because I wanted to get better at cooking and because I'm terrible at coming up with recipes for dinner. I've tried all of them out there, pretty much. And usually, I find that they're really expensive, I can't recreate the meals, or the meals are so odd, my family hates them.

I gave Every Plate a try after a friend suggested it. I've received one box so far and chose the following meals (Pictured above):

• Chicken Sausage Stuffed Peppers
• Shepard's Pie
• Ranch Chipotle Chicken with Garlic Bread and Green Beans

And after one week of trying the box, here are the pros and cons.

Pros to this box:

• The price: For three meals for two people, this box would be $39.99. This is way cheaper than other boxes I've tried.
• The recipes: The recipes are all sort of family favorites. You get a wide variety of choices per box, and there are many twists on traditional favorites that push your family out of the boring routine but not too far
• The ease of prep: I am a terrible cook, but I managed to recreate the meals pretty efficiently. The instructions are super detailed, which I appreciate. It pushed me outside of my cooking comfort zone with fresh herbs and ingredients I've never used, which was really fun.

Cons to this box:

• portions: My husband works a very physical job and is always super starving when he gets home. He thought the portion sizes were way too small for the box. In the future, I will probably bump us up to a four-person box so that he can have a bigger portion and I can have lunch the next day.

All in all, Every Plate has been my favorite food box I've received to date. I think it's definitely nice to mix up your dinner routine and to not have to think about finding recipes or making shopping lists. It was fun to try new recipes and to just know what was for dinner three nights this week.

If you want to give Every Plate a try, use this link and get $20 off your first box. 

They say romance dies with marriage. Nine years in, I can say this: romance does deaden, dull, diffuse as the years pass.

The roses he got you will be few and far between. Fancy dinners, sexy outfits, and exotic destination vacations will feel out of reach. Hot, steamy kissing sessions will take the backseat sometimes to work, exhaustion, stress, and taking the garbage out. The traditional romance from the movies will seem like a faraway star you can't quite grasp anymore.

But as the romance fades, other things take its place. Beautiful, soul fulfilling things.
The knowledge that he knows you, every part of you, and still chooses you every day. The awareness that you can be unfiltered, uncensored, and true in front of him....and he won't judge you for it. True friendship. True laughter. Easy nights on the sofa watching Netflix in sweatpants having the laugh of your life. The faith that he will go to war for you even when he doesn't know why you are battling an outside force....he takes your side unwaveringly. He is always there. Always.
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Inside jokes. Sweet kisses at midnight. Your favorite ice cream flavor on a Tuesday.
Romance will dull, but bigger things will grow. Give me the friendship, the trust, the support, and the laughter over roses, candles, and wine any day.
Because to me, these are the things that make marriage and love worth it all.
#marriedlife #romancegoals

We are living in scary times. The nation is in a health crisis but also a financial crisis. With so many of us losing jobs, having hours cut, or just facing financial uncertainty, a lot of us find ourselves in a major wake-up call moment in terms of our finances.

Even if you aren't facing financial hardship right now, the realization that things can change in an instant may have you considering your family's current financial position. But for so many of us used to sticking our heads in the sand when it comes to finances, where do you even begin when it comes to budgeting?

We all know that budgeting is essential to financial success. Like anything in life, you have to have a plan when it comes to what money is coming in, how you will use it, and what your long-term goals are. Budgeting can help you reach those goals and make sure that sale at your favorite store doesn't distract you from what's really important in the long-run.

I'm not a financial expert. I'm an average, middle class teacher who hates spreadsheets and enjoys sales. However, in light of the financial crisis, I've been paying more attention to our family's budget. Here are some tools and tips that have really helped me with my budgeting.

When you're in panic mode, it's hard to look at the long-term. You want to self soothe, which means treating yourself to quick purchases that make you feel better. But those small purchases add up.

Suze Orman is a financial expert who I really admire. Her advice has always been to have savings equal to 8 months of your current household expenses. This means that you should have enough money saved to float you through eight months of essential bills and living expenses. 

It might sound overwhelming, but Suze is big on emphasizing the peace of mind that comes with saving. If you keep this big goal in mind, it will be easier to stick to your budget for small expenses and say "no" to the items you don't really need.

In order for a budget to work, you need to actually have it written out in detail. You need to allocate every dollar of income to a category. But for many, this is overwhelming. So many of us hate the idea of spreadsheets and calculations. Plus, there's the confusion that surrounds a budget. How much should you really spend on each category?

I've recently come across an amazing tool that does all of the work for you. The personal budget planner at Pigly.com helps you allocate your monthly income to various categories. It allows you to adjust those categories according to your expenses, and even gives you a low and high end cost for each category. I love that it serves as a foundation to create an effective budget.

They also have other tools to help you decide if you can afford a car payment, how long credit card debts will take to pay off, and other useful financial tools that are free and easy to use.

Sticking to a budget doesn't mean you have to cancel all fun. There are ways to find cheap and inexpensive things to do with your family. Search coupon sites online for deals and sales on your favorite items. One of my favorite sites to find deals is the Krazy Coupon Lady. You can find entertainment, dining, and even household item deals and coupons that will save you money and help you achieve your budget.

In order for budgeting to work, you need to make sure your entire household is on board with your budget and financial goals. Have weekly finance meetings with your family to assess what is working, what isn't, and how you are doing at achieving your goals. You need to make sure that you are staying on track as a family.

My husband lost his job in the fall, and we have found that having weekly discussions about our finances and our goals has really helped us improve our finances and our relationship. There is less tension about our goals, our money, and our spending. We have learned to work as a team and move toward the common future we both want, which has been a really wonderful thing.


The financial crisis won't last forever, but if you follow these tips, you'll leave 2020 feeling better about your financial direction, your finances, and your control of your money.

Clutter in living spaces is usually the ideal hide-out for rats since these areas are very rarely disturbed and therefore provide mice with just what they need for shelter. The most clutter is generally found in attics, basements, and garages. It is no wonder most rodent infestations in homes happen within these same areas. 

Decluttering and properly organizing your living space is one way to dissuade mice and other small animals from finding shelter in your home, since they find open spaces and clutter-free areas less attractive. 

Lack of organization at homes may be a result of a general organizational problem, and clutter in living spaces can be easily compared to clutter in other areas of our lives which inevitably creates problems. 

Keeping rodents out shouldn’t be the only motivation for decluttering your home, cleaning up and organizing your living space is a healthy thing to do and it improves lives in more ways than one. 

Here are a few tips for decluttering and organizing your living space.

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The traditional way of tidying up a home is usually by moving from room to room and trying as much as you can to put things in order. This has now started to change. A simpler way to tidy up your home and keep your belongings organized is by categorizing everything and fully tackling one category before moving to the next. 

Organizing by categories and not rooms is a method featured and popularized by the Japanese organizing consultant, Marie Kondo, and it has proven to be a very powerful method of organizing and keeping things in order. According to Kondo, start with organizing all your clothes, then move to your shoes, then books, photographs and so on. 

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The KonMari method also teaches that every piece of item you have should be given a special spot in your house. This is a major step towards keeping things organized and in order both at home and at work. 

It may seem like a tiresome and boring idea but it works beautifully, plus it’s not nearly as difficult as it may sound. If you value and respect your belongings, then this shouldn’t be a difficult task at all. Find a special place in your home for every item, so when it’s not in use you can find it there. 

If you appropriately do this, you’ll be amazed at how tidy and neat your living space will be and you’ll never have to worry about misplacement, items lying around, and untidy clutter.

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Removing clutter and organizing your living space is one thing, another is fixing holes that let rats and other small animal pests into your home. 

Organization alone will not keep rodents out of your home, you have to go a step further to make sure there are no entry points and holes to let them in. If you already have a rodent infestation problem, then chances are these tiny creatures already have holes littered in almost every part of your home. 

Now, you have to carefully find every one of these holes and properly repair and seal them off. Treat every tiny hole as a potential rodent entry point, you may not know this but rats, mice, and most rodents are capable of squeezing through holes as tiny as 2 cm or less. 

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Rats are always looking to hide somewhere cozy, warm, and with very little disturbance, which is precisely what clutter in homes offer. 

Pest-proofing your home by doing structural repairs is the most effective way to keep rodents out of your living space and the ideal way to do this is by inviting rodent control specialists for a thorough inspection. 

After the inspection, these experts will draw out a plan for fixing the problem. 

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It wasn’t always easy to love you.

When you first came home (against my wishes), you were a floppy mess of puppy breath, clumsiness, and poor manners. You jumped and chewed. You ruined my favorite shoes. You had accidents and popped a Coke can with your teeth, spraying sticky soda on the ceiling.

It wasn’t always easy to love you.
When I was trying to do work and you chewed on my pant leg, or when you peed on my lap in my favorite sweats. When it took hours and hours and hours to teach you how to listen, how to come, how to behave.

It wasn’t always easy to love you.

But through it all, you settled into my heart, and we settled into a routine of summers on the deck and ice cream and running through the sprinkler. Of nights on the couch cuddled up with Netflix, of too many cupcakes, of car rides, of walks through the neighbourhood. Of Pumpkinfest in our local town, of visiting family, of just being together.

It was easy to love you with those soulful brown eyes and that playful spirit.

Now, you’re getting more gray by the hour. Your hips don’t work like they used to, and age is creeping up on our time together.

It isn’t always easy to love you again.

When you get me up several times a night because you just can’t hold it anymore, and you still have more accidents than ever. When your bones don’t work like they should and you struggle to get up, to walk up stairs, to do basic things.

It isn’t always easy to love you.

When I look at you now and I see the playful spirit but an aging body that won’t let you have the fun you want. When I watch you struggle to stand, to walk, it isn’t easy. When I still sense your loving spirit but we can’t have the adventures we used to. When all days, now, our time is pretty much limited to the couch with Netflix.

It isn’t always easy to love you.

When I know that sooner rather than later, you’re going to shred my heart to pieces and gut me when you take your final breath. When I know we’re closer to goodbye than to hello now. When I know that eventually, I’m going to have to face this world without you.

It isn’t easy to love you.

But love you, I do.

Because through the puppy days and the angry days and the chewing days and the older days—through everything in between, you have shown me how to love not just you, but life itself. You’ve shown me what unconditional friendship and love looks like. You’ve changed me, helped me to grow into who I am. You’ve been beside me on my ugly days, on my tough days, on days with messy tears.

It isn’t easy to love anyone or anything in this world because we always know it’s temporary. But love you I have. Love you I do. Love you I will, even when you aren’t here.
To the love we have for our dogs….the love that isn’t always easy, but is always there.
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Lindsay Detwiler