Bucket List Journey

March 12, 2013

How to get free stuff

I’ve received a decent amount of free stuff on the internet since the burgeoning of social media. It’s actually quite surprising. Some of it was through contests, others of it was from being a huge nerd. This morning, I woke up to find an email in my Inbox from Lift (remember when I posted about that app?) asking me for my address because they wanted to send me free stuff to thank me for the nice post I wrote. That is a very smart thing to do on their behalf because now I’m writing a second post talking about how great they are. This made me reflect on how much free stuff I have received and how it usually ends up happening. Here’s how:

Use social media.

Tweet, Facebook, blog about products you love. Be honest and be generous. If you love something, talk about it. Why not? We all know no one trusts marketing, unless it’s by real people we trust, so why not help the brands we trust by gushing about them in a place where more people can hear about it (and so can the brands).

Let them know.

Tag them in your post so they know you love their product so much you’re giving it to your sibling/spouse/friend.

Don’t be greedy.

Every time I’ve received freebies it was totally off my radar. I have never intended to get free things (unless it was in relation to a poor customer service issue) I have just really loved the product so I’ve talked about it. I used to go to this coffee shop by Guy-Concordia metro called Café Myriade all the time because I worked near Concordia. I really loved them and the owner Anthony started to know me by my tweets. I would tweet about how I was bringing in my dad to try his first latte, how i was bringing any friends who came to town there, etc. I even thought about stopping there on my wedding day. It became common for Anthony to give me a free drink when he was working the cash. Those free drinks didn’t discourage me from tweeting in the least, I sent more people there because I liked the business more! Or, I talk a lot about a certain handmade journal company I like a lot, and I get a free journal for all the publicity. I never tried to get these things. I just loved them so I talk about them.

Customer service cases are different.

In those cases, we have every right to be compensated for poor service and social media leverage can get you the recognition you deserve. If you were treated poorly, tweet about it and tag their company twitter. But, don’t get in such a huff that you lie and blow the situation out of proportion. Be honest about the fact that they replied to you to try to mediate the situation (because they probably will) and give them the credit they deserve if they fix it. If they don’t, well, that’s another story. I’ve had some good and bad experiences with Rogers on twitter. Some great experiences with WestJet and Air Canada on twitter. In this day in age, using social media leverage is very wise when dealing with things like airlines and other brands. They’re often quick to compensate for fear of bad publicity. That’s where you can benefit.

March 7, 2013April 3, 2013

Easter DIY

So like I said the other day, I got a little inspired and ended Easter-ifying a Christmas printable I found on Pinterest and have been using to decorate for christmas for the last two years. I will be clear: I did not make the original. All glory and thanks goes to eighteen25. What I did was change the colours and make one have a chevron print. That’s it. No special thanks to me at all.

It was pretty surprising how quickly that Christmas stuff came down when I was motivated to put something better up. These are much better for spring than the dark colours of those Christmas ones.

easter banner — Click the image to get to the actual file

For instructions on how to make the banner, I’m going to direct you over to the eighteen25 blog, since they deserve the props. Here they are.

I also made a Easter-related Bible verse that you can print out and frame if that’s your thing. Yes, I used more than 2 fonts. Deal with it!

resurrection — Click the image to get to the actual file

You can see the bottom line is cut off, but I edited the image so that shouldn’t be a problem for you if you choose to use it.

Do you usually decorate based on the holiday? Or the season? Do you even decorate your place? Leave your comment here.

March 5, 2013

If this, then that

This morning I woke up and it felt like spring in my heart. Even though it’s been cloudy and slushy for weeks, I can tell that something is thawing my heart. I am glad! I checked “craft” off my list today on Lift. Inspired by a commenter who pointed out that maybe I actually just plain like my christmas decorations, I took the printable that I had made my Christmas bunting from and made an easter version. I’ll post pictures and links to the printable once it’s done.

What I really wanted to talk about today was this glorious website I’ve been using for quite awhile. Have you ever been frustrated that the internet doesn’t do what you want it to do? “I wish I could click this button and then this article shows up in my Evernote” or “I wish that I could have an automated process to do X.” Well, folks, that’s what If This Then That does. As I’ve fiddled with it, I’ve made certain processes completely effortless because, well, they require no effort. Here are a few of my ‘recipes’ that I have on IFTTT:

each wordpress post automatically gets put into my Buffer list to be distributed on twitter at set times each day
every day at 9PM a new Daily Portfolio note is automatically created in my Evernote
(one I don’t use anymore) any time I posted a recipe on my old blog with the tag “curry” it would tweet the link to my friend Christina who likes curry!
if I star an item in Google Reader, it saves it to Pocket for me to read later (I had forgotten about this one!)
If I tag something with “buffer” in Google Reader, it will add it to Buffer to tweet and share
Every time I post a picture to Instagram, it adds it to a folder in Dropbox.
Every time I post a picture to Instagram, it adds it to my pictures in Flickr, which is attached to my AppleTV and those pictures are used as my AppleTV screen saver.

Amazing, right? And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. You can do basically anything with texting, tweeting, Facebook, Google Reader, Buffer, Gmail, Blogger, WordPress, Youtube and tons of other websites. I highly recommend this website to help you streamline certain aspects of your online life and to — like their tagline says — make the internet work for you! Here are some more examples from other people who are using IFTTT.

I have to say, there are 3 that I just love. The one that adds my wordpress to buffer, the one that backs-up my Instagram on Dropbox and the one that puts my Instagram to Flickr for my screensaver. Just love.

Do you use IFTTT? What’s your favourite recipe? Is there one that has made your life a lot simpler? If you’re new to IFTTT, what will the first recipe you make be? Leave your comment here.

February 27, 2013

Journaling challenge

Last fall I did a bunch of posts on journaling and gave a way a great hand bound journal. I just stumbled upon a challenge that I thought I’d share with you because it’s a great idea. Over at Cloud Productivity, they’re throwing out a challenge starting March 1 (that’s this Friday) to start journaling. It gives you some time to decide whether you want to write or type, to pick up a fresh journal or buy an app or just open a new window in Word.

“Can journalling can make you more productive?” was my most popular post on journaling, which you might find motivating to start.

Have you recently started journaling? Have you tried before and quit? What did/didn’t you like about it? Do you think you’ll give it a shot this time? Comment here with your thoughts.

February 26, 2013

That familiar cycle

We’re back to that place I’m sure you recognize so well: Jess admits she still doesn’t have this all figured out and has to reboot her life a bit in order to get it all back in order. Some things are going well: I’m still reading regularly, and that’s developed into a lovely habit I’m enjoying. I really appreciate the freedom I have in the 1 book every 2 weeks system. I can easily complete a book in that time, but it gives me room for evenings off etc. Ok so really one thing is going well.

xmas

The fact that my Christmas decorations are still up is probably a sign that things are a little out of control. I’ve been thinking about the balance between doing what I want to do and reaching my goals and how I have the tendency to let other more important things be moved aside by my goals. Important daily life things like grocery shopping, laundry, and all the other things that are not exactly fun.

I just recently read The Organized Heart by Staci Eastin. I felt like I was reading a book I could have written it was so similar to where I’m at:

“So the real question is why don’t I organize my days to do what I believe is important and what I do, in fact, have the skills and training to do. The answer is that I have a motivation problem. I do what I do not want to do–and I do not what I want to do” (Chapter 1).

For me, it’s more like I’m doing what I really want to do that is important to me personally, but not what I have agreed with my husband that needs to get done and in the long-term and from day-to-day is actually more important. Groceries need to get done. Clothes need to be cleaned. The house needs to be cleaned/tidied or else we’ll both go nuts. But those things don’t feel immediately rewarding.

Maybe that’s it: I need to devise a system where doing the basics is rewarding me by moving onto the other things I want to accomplish like my reading, my running etc.

(I’m just being an external processor right now.)

So yes, my Christmas decorations are still up and I kind of don’t care! I have laundry still sitting in the dryer and it’s been there for 2 days! These last two weeks have not been the highlight of accomplishment for my year. But I vow to have those decorations down by May… I should be able to manage that, right?

Are you in the same place or are you doing better than I am at keeping up with New Years Resolutions and Regular Life? Are you managing your real priorities well? Share here in the comments.

February 19, 2013

I still love lamp!

A few weeks ago a friend asked me how things were going with my lamp since I blogged about it. Well, let me tell you: I’m a fool. I started feeling bad as early as the first week of October this year which is earlier than usual. So I started using it regularly in November. That went well. And then December came.

I stopped wanting to. My motivation went through the floor. Every morning I thought to myself, “I don’t really want to…” Then I didn’t. POOR CHOICES.

Here’s the thing: there are one of two mistakes we make when we’re feeling the winter blues (or for any other mental health related things).

I’m feeling good so I don’t need it. Wrong. We’re feeling good because the treatment is working. That doesn’t mean STOP, it means CONTINUE.
I don’t feel like it/I don’t want to. It means the treatment isn’t yet working because motivation is low. At least that’s how it is for my personal experience.

Learn to trust the data

I need to learn to trust data in front of me rather than my feelings. The data of the last few years says: you’re not yourself at Christmas and your family thinks you’re this bump on a log who doesn’t like being with people and doing basically anything but eat and play Dutch Blitz. That’s not who I am normally (though, let’s be serious, I’ll eat and play Dutch Blitz any time). This experience this past winter tells me I need to ask my husband to help me not listen to my feelings or my own head because it isn’t trustworthy.

This past year I tried to do better than the previous year. I did! Sort of!

So here’s to learning about how to function optimally, healthily and to asking for help in doing that.

Do you have a hard time reading or accepting the data that you see about your health? How can you fix that? If you’d like to share, leave a comment or leave some feedback here in the comments.