My Most Essential Blogging Tool

There are many things I cannot do without when it comes to blogging. The internet, a writerly brain, social media, a quiet room, a desk to bang my head on. 

You know, the important things.

The number one thing that I absolutely NEED is my daily planner! I would be 100000% lost without it! Since I am a freelancer, I have jobs coming in from all over the place with sporadic deadlines, certain guidelines I have to follow, and things I absolutely cannot forget to include. Without my planner, I would fail and fail hardcore.

My current planner is so perfect for the way I organize my work. First of all, it's not one of those planners that has the dates already written in. You can fill in the dates yourself. Along with the large area on the pages to write down what you have for that day, it has sections for notes, priorities, daily, weekly, and monthly reviews. It also comes with bookmark ribbons and a pocket in the back to hold the stickers that come with it or loose papers/notes/whatever. It is super convenient!

If you're a blogger and want to get organized, I highly recommend this planner! 

                                                                         affiliate link

What is your most essential blogging tool? Let me know in the comments below!

Nationwide Debt Reduction Services Has A Surprising Offer

Raise your hand if you're in debt.

Right. That's what I thought.

I, of course, am in the same boat. This is what happens when you send your daughter to Japan. When you own a car. When you breathe.

As I mentioned before, one of my goals in the near future is to buy a plot of land and either build a house (because, you know, I'm handy like that), or just buy a house. So, what's the first thing you must do in order to acquire a mortgage? Lower your debt and clean up your credit.

As you can probably guess, I have been searching for debt reduction services. Luckily, I don't have too much debt, but I have enough that it bothers me and I want it GONE.

I found some interesting information. For example, I was extremely confused about debt to income ratio but the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explained it quite succinctly:

"To calculate your debt-to-income ratio, you add up all your monthly debt payments and divide them by your gross monthly income. Your gross monthly income is generally the amount of money you have earned before your taxes and other deductions are taken out.  For example, if you pay $1500 a month for your mortgage and another $100 a month for an auto loan and $400 a month for the rest of your debts, your monthly debt payments are $2000. ($1500 + $100 + $400 = $2,000.) If your gross monthly income is $6000, then your debt-to-income ratio is 33 percent. ($2000 is 33% of $6000.)"

Awesome. I get it. Now, more (not) great news via Debt.com:

"Americans now have record-high credit card and student loan debt. Auto loan debt also broke some records last year.
According to the latest 2018 data from the Federal Reserve:

Americans hold over $1 trillion in credit card debt ($1,023,000,000,000)
Nonrevolving debt (loans) total over $2.8 trillion ($2,842,400,000,000)
According to a Y charts investment company:

To kick off 2018, the total outstanding auto loan debt totals $1.22 trillion ($1,221,000,000,000)"

After I went outside and screamed into the wind, I came back in and continued my search. I came across National Debt Reduction Services and instantly breathed a sigh of relief. There is a plethora of information and resources AND they don't even charge you for their help until your debt is settled.

As I was perusing the website, I came across a great surprise! They are offering a $1,000 scholarship to any high school senior that has been accepted to any university or any college student not in their final year! To enter you just have to write a 500 word essay and fill out this Nationwide Debt Reduction Services entry form!

Debt is on the rise, but I am determined to stomp it out on my end. How about you? 

An Icy Future

As I have mentioned before, I'm pretty goal driven this year.

2018 is the year of SERIOUS BUSINESS.

I have been starting to amass the things I am going to need for these future goals and plans so I was super excited to try out this New Air Clear Ice 40 Portable Ice Maker!

It is seriously awesome!

Why would I need a separate ice maker, a portable one at that? One word. 
Camping!

RVing (is that a word? Well, it is now because I say so), specifically. This thing is going to come in handy, absolutely.

It took no time at all to set it up and get it going. The instructions are easy and you literally just fill it, let it go, and in thirty minutes...

It's really simple and you guys know how much I like simple. 

Once the ice is made, it sits in the reservoir and if not used it recycles back into the ice maker to make more ice. I've been running it all week to test it out and have had zero problems with it. 

I can not WAIT to get on the road with this thing! I will never ever have to worry about buying ice again! It's incredibly well made and not even close to as heavy as I thought. New Air Appliances has other great products as well and right now if you use my code STEBBINS, you will receive 20% off! https://bit.ly/2Fb8tsJ  Yay! 

Customer Onboarding And User Adoption Strategies For Your Business

Business strategies fascinate me. I could sit and read about how to run a successful business all day. I don't think I would ever have a business besides freelance writing/blogging, but a lot of these tips I read about are actually quite useful for my blogging "small business." 

For example, a lot of helpful blogging tools come as a free trial and after a set amount of days, weeks, or months, it expires and you begin your paid subscription. I am always thankful for the free trials and freemium products and usually keep my subscription to the most useful ones. I have even thought about offering my own tools or e-courses to help other bloggers and/or writers, along with my own freemium product or free trial.  Then, of course, I wondered how many people would actually stick with it once their trial was up.

Confidence level = 0

                                                  photo via

So, I decided to research and came upon User IQ and found a lot of great information! After searching and searching it was definitely refreshing to find a website that had all of the information I needed in one place!

According to this article on user adoption, I should utilize a WOW! moment:

"Once you know who your best customers are, you can start to identify the WOW! moments that got them there. Invented by David Skok, a WOW moment refers to the moment where your user suddenly sees the benefit they get from using your product and says to themselves WOW! Even better, a WOW! moment might result in a conversion activity for you, like trial to paid or an upgrade from one version to the next."

I had never even thought about that! As a matter of fact, there are so many really helpful things about customer onboarding there that I found myself reading long into the night. I learned about good user adoption and engagement, how to improve time-to-value, and how user adoption and customer onboarding are the most important for growth. 

I don't want to tell you everything about UserIQ, you should definitely visit their website and check them out. They have a plethora of strategies and information and they even have an User Adoption Toolkit that you can try for free!

These are great tips for the way business is conducted these days. I found it to be incredibly helpful, even for my business of blogging and freelance writing. I am much more confident in offering an ecourse and/or software as a service (SaaS), definitely. Now, imagine what this knowledge could do for you!

You Should Become A Blogger

A decade ago, people probably saw blogging as a fad, or, at best, a useless hobby, but it’s now 2018, and blogging has not only become one of the most popular forms of writing in the world, but it’s also a lucrative business. There are so many things that you can do with your time, but few of them have the potential to change your life quite like blogging does. If you’re considering starting your own blog, but aren’t really sure why you should, then here are six reasons for you to think about. 

To Promote Yourself

We live in a time completely dominated by technology, and as such, technology is often needed when you want to promote yourself or a product or service that you sell. Blogging is a perfect way to sell something, as it allows you to advertise and promote without being pushy and obviously looking like you’re trying to make a sale. 

To Change The World

If there is one thing that I’m certain of, it’s that the world needs bloggers. Most blogs are written to provide advice and give opinions on certain things, and although you won’t be able to help everyone, your blog is going to be able to help someone, and it could help them in a huge way. The comments section also provides a forum for readers to talk and help one another. 

To Have Fun

Most bloggers write about something that they enjoy or know a lot about, and as such, blogging can be really fun. If you’re a fan of a particular TV series or love music and have Begin Your Drumming bookmarked on your phone, tell people about it. If you’re passionate about what you’re writing about, it will shine through in your posts, and people will enjoy reading them much more. 

To Improve Yourself

Blogging doesn’t just make a difference to other people, it can make a difference with you too, and it does so in a variety of ways. As fun as blogging is, it requires a lot of commitment, discipline, and a healthy lifestyle to be successful. You will also improve your writing and will learn a lot about specific topics the more you write about them in your posts. 

To Meet New People

The more your blog grows, the more comments, follows, shares, and emails you will receive, and the easier it will be to meet and develop relationships with like-minded people. You will also make connections with other bloggers and will be able to help each other and share ideas, which will further help to improve your writing and blogging. 

To Make Money

It takes a lot of work to turn blogging from a hobby into a successful business, but it can be done with hard work and dedication. Of course, you don’t need to be making money to love blogging, but it is incredibly rewarding to earn money  doing something that you genuinely enjoy and are passionate about. 

If you’re considering starting a blog, stop considering and get online. I promise you won’t regret it. 

Back And Forth And Around Again

Around this time last year, I was in the process of moving. And so it goes, I'm getting ready to move again.

City life is not for me.

We have been looking all over in quiet little towns to find our perfect place. Where I'm from and where I am right now, the noise never stops. I thoroughly enjoy our trips to the mountains because it's so very peaceful...

Yes, yes I am a little cliche...you know, a writer and shady forest hideaway...

Anyway, I think we have found our perfect little place, but I don't want to say it's ours for sure yet because I did that last year and we ended up in our current terrible apartment.

I lovingly refer to it as "The Box In Rat City."

It was hard for us to decide what we were going to do after my husband retired from the Navy. We want to convert a bus into a camper, we want to travel all around, we want to find land, we want to buy a house...

We ended up in the city where my daughter is attending college. It's her first year so we wanted to make sure she was all set. I thought it was going to be weird for her at first, but it worked out. Her best friend from back home got accepted and they are going to room together next year. So, now...

I will officially be an empty nester. All of my butterflies have grown up and flown away. 

My point is, it's gonna be weird.

Therefore, I am going to need to be busy.

All of the time.

No time to miss my sweet babies, busy busy busy.

I have been thinking about those goals a lot more seriously lately. 

I think my husband and I are finally in fairly stable financial shape. Well, better than we have ever been in our lives.

So, maybe we will convert a skoolie, maybe we'll get an RV instead (I've found some nice new campers for sale in PA). Maybe we'll buy a house on a giant piece of land or maybe we'll find something better. I have definitely been spending A LOT of time on living room design websites, that's for sure!

Who knows? It could all change by next week.

What kind of goals or plans do you have? Have they changed as life changed? 

You Should Call Your Mother

Hey, kids.

Mother's day is coming and since that is the best holiday ever in my mom opinion, I'm already thinking about gifts.

I got this amazing Mom ring from ThinkEngraved.com and I thought it would be a great gift for Mother's Day. My mother is so hard to shop for. I'm always ok with a gift card or cash as a gift.

My mom likes thoughtful gifts.

So, this seems perfect for her. Mine is engraved with my children's names and their birthstones. They have all kinds of other jewelry, and they will engrave anything you'd like.

I really hope my mom likes the gift I got for her as well. Finally, I can win most thoughtful gift. 

Maybe. 

There's some new items and all kinds of sales going on. Shopping for Mother's Day, DONE.

You're welcome!

Now, go call your mother.

This post contains affiliate links.

A Surprise In The Beauty Supply Aisle

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are mine.

There are so many gorgeous hairstyles out there! I am constantly looking for new products to use in my hair and new hairstyles to show off. Like this crochet hair! I love this style!

As I've gotten older, I've noticed that my hair has begun to change. The texture is thicker, it's a little dryer. And just as I have with other parts of my beauty regimen, I am constantly looking for new hair products to try and share with everyone. 

It's the least I could do for you guys.

I decided to look at wigs today after coming across the above style. You wouldn't have to worry about damage from dying or any other harsh chemical processes.  It would be easy to switch hairstyles on a whim with wigs. I spent a lot of time browsing the Black Hairspray Beauty Supply website.

They have gorgeous wigs and all kinds of beauty supplies! I knew I was going to get in trouble. I can not be let loose in any beauty supply around here but let me sit on my couch and browse all of the beauty supply stuff?

Yes, please.

I picked out some hair masks and filled my cart up with way too many other things.

Which I am definitely going to need because, I caved.

I dyed my hair again. 

Good haircare can feel so luxurious. What part of your beauty regimen feels luxurious to you?

Turning Your Passion For Music Into Money

Image source

If you have a passion for music, whether you love listening to it or making it, then chances are you

would love to spend your days living and breathing music, music and more music. Well... do I have

good news for you - there are numerous ways that you can make good money from your love of

music. Here are just some of them:

Sound Engineering

Training as a sound engineer is a solid move if you want to be absorbed in music during your

every waking hour. As a sound engineer, if you are lucky, you will get to work with lots of interesting

and eclectic musicians. If you’re really good at what you do, you might even get to work with some of

the biggest bands on the planet, either in the studio or behind the scenes at live performances, It’s a

very technical job, but it’s one where you can earn a good living, and you will be exposed

to music in all its forms all of the time.

DJing

If you love listening to music and you think you have pretty good taste, then get yourself some

equipment from dj.guide, build up your record collection and start learning some basic DJing

techniques. Start small by offering to do a set in small local venues or by playing at your friend’s

wedding and before long you’ll be able to get paid doing what you love on a regular basis...well

you will if you are truly dedicated, and you never give up anyway.

Talent Scouting

Talent scouts are the people who get out there and listen to lots of live music in a bid to find the

next big thing. So, if you love live music and your passion is finding great new music, this could be

the job for you. Obviously, you’ll need to have a very good ear, and you’ll need to be willing to spend

lots of time in music venues and clubs all over the place - that’s pretty much heaven to a true music

lover- but if you have those skills, pursuing this avenue could be the best career move you ever make.

Journalist

Image source

The internet hasn’t killed music journalism, despite what many people think - it’s just moved it online.

So, if you love music and you have the ability to write about it in a way that is accurate, informative and

engaging, why not start your own music review blog? If it garners attention, you could end up writing

for a big website or magazine like Pitchfork.com, and it could become a lucrative and exciting career

for you. Imagine the people you could meet!

Promoter

An easier way to get into the music industry is by turning your love for music into marketing power.

If you’re passionate about music and you have a knack for infecting others with that passion, working

with musicians and venues to build a buzz and sell tickets will not only be a fulfilling occupation, but it

could get you up close and personal with some of your favorite artists - it will certainly gain you free

entry into a whole lot of shows. Start locally and branch out from there.

Making money from music isn’t always easy, but as you can see, it is very possible.

Fun In The Fog At Grassy Creek Cabooses

For Valentine's day, my husband surprised me with a trip to Grassy Creek Cabooses in Fancy Gap, Virginia. 

It was so nice to get away. 

The Blue Ridge Mountains have always been my favorite place to visit. I hope to one day live there. In the interim, I try to visit as much I can. 

We checked into our caboose and got settled. It was so neat to see how the cabooses were renovated. They were so comfortable and QUIET. Plus, a hot tub.

A glorious, glorious hot tub.

We had arrived a little late in the day, so we decided to get some much needed rest that night. Luckily, we planned in advance and brought some groceries with us, although I was wishing for snack delivery at that point! We woke up early the next morning ready to explore. 

The weather had other plans.

We got in the car and started our trip down the mountain. We missed a turn and the GPS rerouted us to the curviest road I have ever seen. It was terrifying. 

For those of you who have never had the good fortune to drive on The Blue Ridge Parkway, in some parts there are no guardrails or anything right next to giant drops and cliffs. The fog did not help the situation at all.

After we whiteknuckled down the mountain, we found the lovely Aunt Bea's Barbecue restaurant. I didn't think I would be able to eat anything with my stomach still doing a gymnastic routine, but as soon as we walked in and I smelled all of the deliciousness, I couldn't wait to devour the entire place. I had a huge plate of barbecue with two heaping helpings of collard greens. Yum!

We drove back up the mountain the right way this time and took a walk around the grounds to see all of the other cabooses and the larger cabin.

By then, the fog had lifted and we were able to sit on the deck and enjoy the gorgeous view. We were able to reconnect as a couple, something we often forget to do with our busy lives of work, kids, and life in general. We talked about our future plans and goals. We talked about so many things. Most of all, we remembered what it was like to just be us.

I was a little sad to leave.

We came home refreshed and rejuvenated and maybe a little pruny from the hot tub. I felt more in tune and in touch with our relationship and positive about our future. We also decided that we really needed to get away, just the two of us, more often.

If you find yourself in the Blue Ridge Mountains and need a place to stay, I highly recommend Grassy Creek Cabooses. The owner is so nice and happy to talk about this wonderful project of his.

Just check the weather first and don't miss any turns.

Do you know any awesome places to visit in the Blue Ridge Mountains? I would love to hear about your adventures as well!

Singlecare Prescription Savings Plan

For the first time in my married life, I have had to deal with health insurance.

If you don't already know, my husband just retired from the Navy last year. For over twenty years, we used Tricare and didn't really worry about copays and prescriptions, etc. as Tricare covered everything. 

Everything changed, however, when he retired. We actually have to pay for our health insurance every year now. It's not an exorbitant amount and we have Tricare still, but copays for visits and prescriptions and everything in between is definitely a thing now. I'm learning.

BUT, please don't get me started on veterans' benefits or our healthcare system, we'll be here all day and that's not what I came here to talk about! What I did come here to talk about is Singlecare. 

It's a great prescription cost slasher program. There is a medication that I take that is not completely covered by Tricare and so I always have to pay a huge copay for it. 

However, I came across this program and I really like the benefits that they have to offer which are:

• Up to 80%* off your prescriptions
• 55% savings on dental visits
• Access to 200,000 providers nationwide
• Price estimation tools
• A free account with no membership fees

*Prescription savings vary by prescription and by pharmacy, and may reach up to 80% off cash price.

Tricare has been swapping back and forth between CVS to Walgreens for a few years now. I'm not quite sure why, although I have my suspicions. Because of that, it can be frustrating to pay one price at one pharmacy and then have to turn around and pay a different price, sometimes a higher price, at another. With Singlecare, I can search my surrounding area to find the best price at participating pharmacies! This has especially come in handy since moving into a (huge) city!

I have a serious phobia of the dentist. But, as scared of dentists as I am, I am even more afraid of the dentist's bill. Our dental insurance, even with Tricare, has never been the best. I have always had to supplement it with something else and since learning about Singlecare, I have decided to use their free service to knock those bills right down, phobia or not. 

For a free membership, it certainly has a lot of benefits I didn't expect. I really like the price estimation tool and video visits features. They are definitely the most useful.

I am going to save so much money.

Right now, they have a HUGE discount on Myrbetriq! Check it out and let me know what you think!

Slink

Slink
Into my room
On whispers

Slink
Underneath
Where I
Always
Wait for you

Slink
Into my thoughts
The darkness
Fading the more
You stay

Slink
Away if you must
Go
Leave the whispers
Of you
On the floor.

In The Silent House...

It has been interesting to watch my children grow up with technology. Things that they often took for granted (YOU LITERALLY HAVE A LIBRARY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS. GOOGLE IT), I would have LOVED to have growing up.

I'm that middle generation. X, if you please.

The first half of my life there was no internet and computer technology was in its infancy. 

At the beginning of my twenties, the dot com BOOMED. Businesses popped up and burst over night. My old Kaypro 4 couldn't handle it. Commodore 64, Tandy, Windows95 came and that was it. The internet was a success.

It was amazing.

I recently was asked to test a silent keyboard that reminded me so much of those early days. 

                                             Available here

It could seriously be one of my first keyboards! 

So retro.

Anyway, I tested it out and ended up liking it a lot. They keys are extremely silent (no more tippy taps all over the keys from you, KAREN) so it's great for the office. It works just like a modern keyboard, with an old school look and feel. 

It's not a bad price, either. Pick it up on Amazon for a little nostalgia.

VICE NEWS: A WORLD IN DISARRAY

I was stumbling through YouTube yesterday and came across this documentary on Vice News. It was incredibly interesting and I just had to share it. It covers, essentially, what got us to where we are today. It focuses on Syria, Ukraine, China, and North Korea. I learned a lot.
It's a 2 hour documentary, so grab a snack and settle in. I would love to know your thoughts in the comments, positive or negative, so please post them below!

Eco Friendly Toothbrushes Do Exist

I am a child of the 70s. I am aware that ages me, since when have I cared about my age? My mother was a teenager in the 60s. As you can imagine, I have been aware of eco friendly products from pretty much the beginning of my life. 

My parents used cloth diapers. We used cloth towels/rags instead of paper towels and napkins. We had recycling bins before they were mandatory. As more and more eco friendly products became available, the more choices we had to buy and buy we did! As I grew older, I tried to implement these things into my everyday life.

My current pet peeve is plastic. I have been trying for years to reduce our plastic use in our household. Why?

                                                  photo via

Pretty gross, huh? That's the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and it's basically plastics and microplastics that are just swirling around in a trash vortex in the Pacific Ocean. According to Columbia University, it takes about twenty years for plastics to decompose. That's already half of my life! It really motivated me to try my best to eradicate plastics as much as possible.

I came across news of the soon to be launched MyEcoKiss.com in my wanderings and I am so very excited! Finally, I can stop side-eyeing my toothbrush.

Me = 1
Plastics = 0

MyEcoKiss works in tandem with B1G1.com to not only bring you biodegradable bamboo handle toothbrushes, every time a purchase is made fresh water is provided to those in need. As you can imagine, I was over the moon! I'm pretty sure it's not usual for someone to get excited over toothbrushes, but I'm out for the fast death of plastics and this is one of the few things I can do to hasten that. 

I ordered the regular bristles, but they do come with charcoal bristles. I wasn't sure how a bamboo toothbrush was going to feel, but I was pleasantly surprised that it really wasn't that different from a regular toothbrush. I was expecting a "woody" type of taste but I didn't get that at all. I really like the handle much better than plastic ones. Four come in a package and at $10.97 it's not any different in price than buying four plastic toothbrushes.

Luckily for you, it will be even cheaper! Since I was so excited about my purchase (die, plastics, die!), I was given the opportunity to offer all of my readers a discount! All you have to do is enter the code EcoSteph12 during checkout for 12% off!

It is a little thing, but little things can often make a huge impact. 

I'm coming for you, plastics.

                                                                              photo via

Do you have any tips on how to reduce, reuse, and recycle? I would love to hear them!