New year, new goals! As is customary for this time of year, we sat down and discussed what we hope to accomplish in 2018. I don't really like the term resolutions, but GOALS? I can dig some goals. We had every intention of sitting down on New Year's Eve with glasses of wine and recording this. However, life happened and we ordered pizza, watched the Psych movie via the USA app on XBox and were asleep by 12:30am. We know how to party, ya'll. I then proceeded to cough my way through the night, waking up with an aching chest and fully prepared to go to the Kroger Little Clinic (it's a walk-in option that I prefer for ease of access). With it being a holiday, they were closed. So instead, I sipped some tea. Then some broth. Then downed an energy drink, trying to get any semblance of life into my body. As I was about to take a nap, Will came downstairs from cutting his hair and made me a cup of coffee and convinced me that we needed to get this video filmed! He was right. So here it is. We are ready for you, 2018!
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How many of you have children in your life who spend time on devices and you're just not quite sure of the best way to monitor their internet usage? This was beginning to be an issue that plagued me and I just could not for the life of me find an app that I was happy with that gave me the flexibility of blocking certain apps or setting time limits. After a while I actually gave up and just hoped for the best and did the iPad monitoring manually.
That's where KidsLox comes in. They reached out to me and asked if I would be willing to do a review of their product in lieu of a free Premium membership for myself as well as THREE one-year premium memberships ($39.99 retail value each) to be given out to 3 lucky viewers/readers/subscribers. Of course I was quick to jump on this because what did I have to lose?!
The app was really easy to install on mine and my husband's phones (to have the parental controls) and also on each of the kids' iPads. You can name each device so it's easy to monitor and then you just do all security and monitoring from your phone, which is guarded by a 4-digit PIN!
We were able to set up a weekly schedule of when the iPads go into what is referred to as "Lockdown" mode (all apps and games become inaccessible at 7:30p on school nights and turn back on the following morning). This happens automatically without me having to do anything after the initial setup of that particular schedule. You can set up multiple schedules for whatever needs you see fit!
I also like that you can set up daily limits for each device. So on school days, if you only want them to have 1 hour of screen time, you can easily monitor that. It gives you SO much flexibility on schedules and daily limits, and they are personalized to each device (aka, each child in my case), which makes it nice. I don't currently have daily limits set, but it's something that could be easily and quickly implemented.
I think one of the best features is that I can easily, from my phone...at ANY time...put either of the monitored devices into Lock down Mode with the touch of a few buttons. So, say I ask Jackson to please do his chores and he's in the middle of a really intense game of Minecraft (whatever that means to a kid who loves Minecraft). He tells me to hold on. He procrastinates. I ask again. He still doesn't get off the iPad.
Simple fix. I open the KidsLox app, go to his device and hit "lock down"...just like that, it shuts off all the apps that I've told it to in the settings and he's kicked out of his game. Frustrating for him but satisfying for me. Mama has power at her fingertips! Now that I've done that a few times, all I need to do is mention the word "lock down" and he does as he's asked, which is the way it should be. (He's 6...he's still learning haha!) You can also set restrictions to things like the App Store, Safari browser, Netflix, YouTube and FaceTime. It's amazing. It's everything I've been wanting in an internet security app for our devices. Because we are a tech family and I want my children to be able to learn and explore technology. That's the way we roll, folks. But I wanna roll safely, ya know?
Contest runs until 01/15/18 at 11:59:59pm. Three (3) winners will be drawn on 01/16/18 and will be contacted via the email address and name provided. To claim your prize, you will need to download the KidsLox app, create an account with the email you provided and I will verify with KidsLox to activate your ONE YEAR FREE PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram or Facebook.
Youtube Terms of Service: http://goo.gl/NRe1DE Youtube Community Guidelines: http://goo.gl/XP1PSE This post contains affiliate links. Simple Wife Simple Life may receive a small commission for purchases made through these links. Thanks for your support! I thought I was done shopping for the rest of 2017, but when we got back from Michigan yesterday, I realized we would need some fresh items and milk and whatnot. We do have things on hand for dinners, which is great, but I whipped up a shopping list, grabbed Alice and we headed out to Aldi and Walmart (the latter because I wanted to peruse their holiday clearance...shhhh!) Check out the entire grocery haul below! We got the majority of our groceries from Aldi, along with two super cute wooden toy carry along sets for a few of my nieces and nephews birthdays coming up this spring (yes, I shop ahead this early). After Aldi, we hit up Walmart to grab a few Ibotta deals and scour the Christmas clearance. I thought the dinosaur/star wrapping paper would be great for boy birthdays and then the other Christmas paper just drew me in with the color palette. Now, when it comes to Ibotta...I consider myself a fan. I've earned well over $1000 in rebates in the year or so that I've consistently used it. You can see on today's order, I earned $9.25 from my fruit snacks and cereal, both items that will get eaten pretty easily in our household. In fact, I did a video on how I saved 63% off retail by using Ibotta rebates!
If you've not used the app before, I recommend checking it out at the very least. You can earn a $10 bonus once you redeem your first rebate (and I will earn $5) when you use my referral link when downloading the app to your mobile device: https://ibotta.com/r/pwvcqw This post contains affiliate links. Simple Wife Simple Life may receive a small commission for purchases made through these links. Thanks for your support! Smile Brilliant reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in doing a review for their teeth whitening system in lieu of a review on my channel. At first, I declined. I (thought) I had zero interest in a product such as this. However, when they reached out to me a second time a few months later, I thought, "Why not?" As a coffee drinker, I do have some discoloration and being in front of the camera as much as I am for my videos and vlogs, I figured now was as good of a time as any to give it a try. So I agreed and waited for my package to arrive in the mail! You can watch my video for the full review, but I was really impressed. There wasn't a huge drastic difference, and I talk about how, due to being in the hospital in the midst of my whitening process, I didn't get as many treatments in in the recommended time period. I plan to continue the whitening and feel confident there will be more change as I do! I love that it doesn't interrupt my day to day routine. I got into the habit of putting the trays in as I was getting into the shower. From there, I would continue my "get ready" routine and then run errands, clean the house, go pick the kids up from school...whatever needed to be done. They recommend to whiten for a minimum of 45 minutes and no longer than 3 hours, so it worked perfectly for that time period of my day! Smile Brilliant Giveaway DetailsSmile Brilliant has been nice enough to offer one full whitening set to a lucky viewer, so make sure to watch and comment and then enter the giveaway. If you'd like to shop (or don't win the giveaway), there is a $20 off tray set code: simplewifesimplelife2
ONE viewer will win a $139 credit. Giveaway ends January 5th, 2018. MUST enter through the link to be considered. Giveaway open to USA, UK, Canada, and Australia residents. This post contains affiliate links. Simple Wife Simple Life may receive a small commission for purchases made through these links. Thanks for your support! The family and I are heading up to Michigan and preparing some treats to take with us for our family Christmas party! I wanted to take some of the stress off of my mom, so "signed up" for Christmas Crack, Andes Mint Ritz crackers and then two boxed treats (brownies & cookies). I'm not a baker, so I didn't want to overwhelm myself and chose, instead, to go with simple recipes. I've seen Christmas Crack popping up all over Facebook and Pinterest and decided it was time to try it! It does not disappoint, let me tell you. Definitely addicting and so glad I have friends and family to share it with otherwise we could have some major snacking issues up in here. Make sure to check out the recipe below after watching how I fit all this baking and treat making into my busy day of school drop offs, class parties, running errands, packing for our family of 4 and keeping my sanity. Christmas CrackIngredients:
Directions: Pre-heat oven to 325°F. Line a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with aluminum foil. Spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray and then line the pan with crackers. Combine butter and sugar in a medium sized pot over low medium-low heat. Stir until the butter is melted, then bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Stir constantly to prevent from scalding! Watch for the brown sugar mixture to change to a darker caramel color and then remove pan from heat and pour evenly over crackers. Spread mixture with a knife or spatula. Place pan in the oven and bake for 7-9 minutes. The mixture will spread evenly over the crackers as it bakes. Remove pan from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top of the crackers evenly and allow to sit/melt for 5 or so minutes. Spread melted chocolate with a spoon or spatula then place in the fridge or freezer for 15 minutes. Once chocolate has hardened, remove the foil and break the treat into pieces, storing in an air tight container. Try to not eat it all in one sitting! ;) |