Whats in my Bag!

I love watching these videos on YouTube and reading blog posts about them. I don't know what it is about it, probably because I am nosy and like to know what other people carry with them. 

The reason for this post is because I am switching up my bags right now. I do this about every two months, I just get sick of using a particular bag after a while and I want to change it out. Up until this point I was using the above bag all the time. I love this bag! Its awesome. Its by Mark New York and I got it at Ross for about $45.00, which was a steal because I know this bag usually is about $200.00. Yay for a good find at Ross. I used this bag for about 3 months so it was worth my money. I figure if I spent $1.00 a day using the bag and I used it for 3 months, that means I surpassed my goal of using it at least 45 times to get my money worth. Anyway lets check it out. 

This is the inside of the above bag, everything fit nicely with extra room left over. 

The first thing in there is obviously my planner: 

It's an Erin Condren Life Planner which I have talked about here on my blog a bunch of times. If you are interested in purchasing one click this link HERE and sign up, once you do you receive a $10.00 off code to your email so that you can get your first order a little cheaper. 

The next thing is this pencil case from Staples. 

I got this last year and it holds my feminine products, you know for that time when Aunt Flow comes to visit. 

Next is this glasses case from Target:

This holds my glasses. I recently had to get some for driving at night and watching movies later during the day. I noticed my eyes were getting worse and worse over time and I am so glad I went into the doctor, these help me see great at night. During the day I don't have to wear them which is good. 

Next up is my wallet:

Its a Kate Spade Wellesley wallet, and I love it. It serves as a finance tracker as well/has extra note pages in the rings so that I can jot down notes without having to pull out my planner. 

Here are all the card slots that it comes with, I just love using it for a wallet. 

Next I have some lip products and a library card and a random Harry Potter charm from Etsy that was on my planner. 

This lip gloss is NYX butter gloss in Tiramisu. It's basically a MLBB (My lips but better) shade and it's perfect for days I forget to put lip products on. And the egg shaped thing is an EOS lip balm in sweet mint, my favorite. In fact I'm going to pause for a minute and put some on. It feels so good on my lips and its important to keep them moisturized during these dry months. 

My library card, also did you know that most libraries offer an online system so you can check out books and read them on your iPad/Kindle etc. Make sure and check out your local library so you can take advantage of that awesome feature. 

Everything that is in my bag on a daily basis:

My new bag. This is from www.markkit.com and it's from Belinda Selene's collection. She is a YouTuber and I love her videos and I love this bag, it was totally worth it. 

Here is the inside, and everything fit nicely, I was actually surprised. I was worried that the glasses case wouldn't fit but it does and it doesn't make it look bulky from the side. In the front pocket I have my phone in there. 

INSIDE VIEW:

SIDE VIEW: 

FRONT VIEW:

There you have it. Hope you liked this post and let me know what you carry in your bag. 

XO 

Caitlin

Multi-Level Marketing Companies: What they are and why I avoid them

A few months ago I was mentioning to a friend that I strongly dislike (hate is such a strong word) MLM companies. She asked what is that? I went on to describe it and later she said "Oh I'm involved with several of those companies." I didn't really know what to say after that since I was so adamant with my opinion on them. Later I was talking to a different friend who was trying to sell me membership into her program, I told her I don't join MLM's and she also asked "what is that?" After I described it to her she said "Oh well you can still make money if you join", I just smiled and said no thanks and ended the conversation.
After considerable thought about these two scenarios I decided I should write a blog post on exactly what Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) companies are. If you are involved in one that's great! Especially if it works for you, please leave me a comment below about that. I know they wouldn't work for me, I'm a terrible sales person.

First lets define what exactly makes an MLM an MLM.
Wikipedia defines MLMs as: a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they generate, but also for sales of the other salespeople they recruit.
Dictionary.com defines MLMs as: a marketing strategy in which sales representatives of a company recruit other salespeople and earn commissions on their own sales and on the sales made by their team: Use your personal relationships to be successful in network marketing.

Basically it's network marketing. You sign up and get other people to buy your product. If they continue to be interested and want to sign up they sign up under you. Now any sales they make to family or friends will benefit you (the original seller) and you both get commissions off those sales. Some people refer to this as "growing my team". If you look at the image above its clear that one person at the top, now has 9 people under him, making his commissions high if each of those recruits continue to sell the product they are offering. Please note if you draw a solid line from the bottom all the way around the image you will eventually get a triangle, or a pyramid.

Now pyramid schemes in the US are illegal. Because MLM companies have a product they sale, that alone makes the company legal, even if the main income from the company comes from the overall pyramid of recruiting salespeople. It may be legal but it is still touch and go. The FTC (federal trade commission) monitors MLM companies very closely to make sure they are in compliance with business laws.

MLMs are legal and different then pyramid schemes for the following reasons:
1) you can make income still with out singing up new members. Say you are that bottom person in the image above, and you decide not to recruit any more members can you still make money? Absolutely. That is one of the things that can make an MLM appealing, you can buy into the business and get the product at the distributor price without having to have people join you. You can still make an income based off of your sales alone, it may not get you far but you can do it.

2) Members of any level can earn money, they also have the ability to earn more than the people who signed them up. In the image below you have three levels, the top (single guy), middle (three guys) and bottom (six guys). The guys in the bottom level do have the ability to make as much as the single guy, if they are successful and take a bottle of Felix Felicis to help them with sales.

3) As already mentioned MLMs are marketing a product which makes them legal compared to pyramid schemes. (source for the above referenced points can be found HERE)

A major PRO for MLMs is that the cost of advertising is significantly reduced for a business because the primary way of letting people learn about your product is through word of mouth and networking. (A.K.A. Facebook) This allows the business to be spread quickly and have a trusted face for the product, I am much more likely to purchase something from a friend or family member then I am for a sales guy who knocks on my door. In face I don't even answer the door when I see them on my porch.

So here's why I avoid MLM's and why I wont be joining yours anytime soon.
1) Difficult to purchase
I know this seems odd, but I like to buy things online. Amazon Prime is my best friend. I love being able to have the convenience of buying something without getting pressured into something else buy a sales man. Buying online with MLM's is available. However, its a little difficult to purchase something without having to sign up under a consultant, distributor, sales person (all the same thing). For example, say I want a SCENTSY candle. I go to scentsy.com find a warmer I completely fall in love with and add it to my cart. I go click check out but wait its saying I have to enter my zip code to find a consultant near me. I enter the zip code and several names pop up, no one I know and I am forced to choose one in order to buy my warmer. Next thing I know they are sending me an email asking if I would like to come to a party near buy to look at more items in person. This creates an awkward situation as I come up with excuses on why I can't do it and I was just interested in that ONE product. Why did buying one product turn into a sales pitch? Because that is what happens with MLMs all the time.

2) Pressure to hold parties
As mentioned before if I buy something its a key into the world of persistent sales people. The terrible part about it is that all of these sales people are dear friends who I care about. They call me all the time, only to see if I will buy more products, or invite me to events, or give me a free nail set to be a model. It all starts there but ends up going into wanting me to sign up, etc. Here's the thing I am an Introvert. And I am an extreme Introvert at that, so for me to host a party well that ain't gonna happen.

3) Exploitation of relationships just to get you to purchase something
I have a few friends involved in MLMs who I feel ONLY contact me to SELL me their product. That makes me feel terrible about myself. I mean really you can't call just because you want to catch up? You can't Facebook chat just because you wanted to really know how I was doing? You just want my money do you? Well great that makes me feel awesome :)

Now if you are involved in an MLM that is awesome!!! Especially if it works for you. If it does and you have a neat experience to share please comment, I am truly writing this so everyone knows what an MLM is and why I wont join yours, even if you keep asking me a million times. I still love you even if you try to sell me something.

Popular MLM's:

NuSkin
DoTerra
Young Living Essential Oils
Stampin Up
It Works
Mary Kay
Jamberry
Younique
Paparazzi
Park Lane
Scentsy
Avon
USANA health
The Pampered Chef
Tupperware Brands
Thirty-One Gifts
Stella & Dot
Lia Sophia

Hope you found this information helpful!
XO
Caitlin

Home Management Binder!

Happy Wednesday Everyone! As promised I am here to deliver my Monday, Wednesday, Friday posts. I have been working on a lot of blog stuff today and almost forgot to post. That would have been embarrassing. But I am here with a home management binder walk through. This is what I use to keep our house organized, it includes our budget, media inventory, cleaning schedule etc. Its a great tool to have and I can't wait to get to filling out the pages.  Lets Dive In!!!

The system I am using for the binder is the ARC system by Staples. I got the clear organizer for this project and I love it because I could choose or design my own over. 

As you see above the cover is clear and its pretty sturdy. I also invested in the Arc punch because it allows me to really use this system to its fullest. I can tear out the pages as I go, fill them out, then put them back in. I also add our bank statements from the previous month for budgeting purposes. Its like a filo fax, only 8 x 11 size and much more accessible for me.

This is my cover page, I got it from the etsy shop iheartorganizing. These printables are by Jen and she has great home binder printables as well as planners you can print off at home. Go check it out.

So behind the cover page, which I put in a sheet protector that I just used my arc punch to punch, I have this pocket folder. These are from staples here in packs of two, and are really handy to store my pay stubs for the year, receipts, pens, etc. They come pre-punched as well.

Behind the pocket folder I have a zipped folder, this holds stamps, stickers, anything like that sort of thing that I want to keep safe. I also got them pre-punched at staples here. They also come in packs of two. 

The next page is this special dates calendar, Jen has one in her shop that was mentioned above that I have in another calendar but this one I got from another etsy shop. They all serve the same purpose so it doesn't really matter which one you have. I just liked these colors. Zack wrote in our birthdays already, it was kind of cute, that was the first thing he did with the notebook when I showed it to him.

Next is the most used section! The budget. I printed off these pages for the rest of 2014, I put this binder together in August so I had 5 months in here. Page 1 has categories for rent, utilities, savings, income, food, clothing. Page two has these categories you see above, and page three has columns for Personal items, medications, free budget, eye glasses, cosmetics, toiletries, printer ink/paper etc. The vertical columns are for budget, actual, difference and comments. I love this system. I am just someone who writes things down and this really works for me, as I mentioned before I print off our bank statements from the previous months, highlight items in the certain columns and use that to put in our actual column. It really helps me to see where my money is going. Last month I was shocked to find out I spent around $500.00 on items that are completely unnecessary, this month I have a plan to really save that money and get back on track. These printables help me with that.

I made these myself but I know Jen has a very similar layout in her Etsy shop. If you would like mine specifically I can make those available as well. Let me know in the comments.

Page 3 of the budget worksheets.

Now behind those budget sheets I have the password tracker, there are a lot of websites that I go to and this helps me keep track of all the passwords. I pay the majority of my bills online so this is handy to keep in the budget section.

The next section is the media inventory section. I use this to keep track of our DVD's (I'm a movie collector), books, video games, etc. Anything media related goes here, we have a lot of STUFF :)

Behind the full inventory list is a checkout system. That way I can keep track if I let my family borrow books or movies for different things and I can bug them if I don't get it back.

The next tab houses this cleaning checklist. I like that I can write what needs to be done in these time frames, then I refer to it to make sure that the cleaning has been accomplished in our house. Even though we live in an apartment right now its still important to clean it.

 The next section houses this important info printable. Again from Jen's shop, all of the above mentioned printables can be found there as well. This one has information for doctors numbers, banking information, etc. Its handy to have it all written down for future use.

The next section is this gift giving plan, and then a party planning printable. I don't host many parties but I do like to use this guide to plan out gifts, especially during this time of year.

The next tab is cooking information, its a master list of our favorite recipes and another list for recipes to try. I was keeping this information in the back of my planner but it grew to be a really long list so it was better used here. The nice thing about these printables is that I can print them out as I need them, right now I have three in there, in the future I can get more and add it in as I go.

Last section is for the Master To DO lists. I always have a running to do list of things I basically need to do everyday, this helps me so I don't have to write those out every single day.  Instead I can get this laminated and use a white board marker.

Oops I forgot one section is for car maintennce. I use this tracker to help be on top of when our cars get updates and when its time to change something in the future. I printed two off one for my car and one for Zack's

And the end, I have more of those zip pockes and a folder pocket in the back and some pages for blog organization.

I love this system. It really helps to keep me organized. I use it everyday and I would be lost without it. Thanks so much for reading and let me know in the comments if you have any questions or want to see more details of something.
XO
Caitlin

July Favorites

I know this post is so late as its already the end of August but I am loving all of these products and I just had to talk about them. My August favorites are coming as well. Makeup has become a really fun new hobby for me, especially because my skin type is pretty unique in the makeup world (extremely oily, uneven bumps, scars, and a mix between ivory and fair skin tone) I have been really enjoying finding foundation that works best for me and is budget friendly. For more on that check out this post HERE. I am going to start looking at high end foundations but I don't have all the money in the world on makeup so that will have to come later. 

Anyway lets start with the makeup brushes. First a total surprise for me was how much a difference using brushes makes when applying makeup. Before (in my teenage years) I used my fingers/hands and for oily skin touching your face that much just makes the skin even more oily. Brushes totally changed my life, including the amount of breakouts I was experiencing as a result of using my hands. 

E.L.F. has some great brushes, I have almost all of their studio line brushes and they are my favorite. Out of that line the face complexion brush is my absolute favorite one:

Its so big and I use it everyday to set my foundation with the L'Oreal true match powder, my makeup does last all day but I use a little helpful tool for that (mentioned later on in this post). 

Another brush I love is the tapered blush brush (it might just be called the blush brush, not sure)

This brush comes to a pointed top and fits great underneath my eye to set my concealer. Its a great brush for that purpose as well as applying blush (of course). I highly recommend this one as well. 

The other brush I wanted to mention is the Sonia Kashuk number 109 blending brush:

This brush you guys! It changed the way I apply eye shadow. This blends out the colors perfectly and I have received so many compliments on my makeup since I have started using it. 

Alright lets talk about this beauty next:

The Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer. I love it. I use it everyday, for all my makeup looks. Its the perfect primer, not too oily, doesn't crease, and helps the shadow really stand out on my lid. It also lasts all day.

I noticed I pictured a mascara in my original photo and I talked about this product last month for my June favorites. Its a good mascara though. 

This product has really helped with the overall appearance of my makeup:

This is the Urban Decay de-slick makeup setting spray. Its supposed to be oil controlling so that it doesn't show up throughout your makeup wear. It works. I was skeptical at first but it really does help control oil and it helps make the entire look appear refreshed longer. 

Now onto my favorite part. Eyeshadows:

 First is the E.L.F. Prism eye shadow palette in smokey.

These are actually really bright, and metallic pigmentation. I wasn't expecting that as most of the E.L.F. eye shadows I have tried weren't very good. I actually like this one for deepening up an eye look and making it more vibrant. 

Next is my favorite Naked makeup palette. The Urban Decay Naked 3:

I love the rose gold look of this palette. I especially like it because I have pink undertones in my skin so it works really well with my complexion, it brings out my brown eyes in such a way that I could never go wrong when using this palette. I highly recommend that you get one of the Naked palettes. I have all three and they are all great. 

My favorite eye shadows of all time:

Makeup Geek eye shadows! They are amazing. So worth the money and they are (in my opinion) better than MAC eye shadows. I actually just got two more colors so now my palette is full and I love it. This is a Z palette I bought on Amazon which is magnetic and the pans don't fall out. Its really compact and I could easily travel with this for a quick weekend getaway and have the ability to create versatile looks. 

I highly recommend you check out makeup geek and their products, they are great. 

Well there you have it. 

XO

Caitlin

What are some of your favorites? I would love to hear about them!