I Wish I'd Thought of That!!!

I like to consider myself a moderately intelligent individual... don't we all?

But every now and then I come across some pretty clever and innovative stuff that I wish I had thought of myself.

Now, everyone has something they are good at, right? Some people are great athletes, great cooks, great gardeners, and so on, but none of those things really apply to me. I wish they did, but they don't.

The one thing I happen to be is resourceful. Now, being resourceful sounds pretty mediocre, doesn't it?  But when you need to find something, whether it be information, a discount, or a rare and unusual item, I'm your man. 

At the risk of revealing the source of my own super power, I must admit that I am frequently approached by friends wanting to know how or where I found my latest idea or treasure.

So, I've combed through my arsenal of super sources and have decided to share a handful of the websites that I simply couldn't live without. Please keep in mind that I stand nothing to gain by sharing these sources; however, I do wish I'd found them a lot sooner!

Some sites do offer incentives for referring friends; however, this isn't my intention here so I won't be providing my personal link to these sites. (You, however, can earn credit by sharing some of them with friends and when they make a purchase, you can earn as much as $15)  Also, all of the sites I am sharing are free to use and view.

The first source I wish I'd heard of a long time ago is at www.zafu.com.  Zafu is an amazing website that has designed a formula to help you find the best jeans to fit your unique size and shape. It will ask you a battery of questions about your measurements, preferences, and your frequent issues with jeans such as gapping at the waistline, etc.

Once you complete the profile, it will provide you with a very extensive list of jeans that are designed to accommodate you specifically. Your personal list will suggest the sizes to look for in each brand and you'll see a span of brands ranging from inexpensive to super posh designer styles.  Check it out and have fun.

The next site I'll share is probably the one I visit the most and it's my favorite source for kid clothes and miscellaneous goodies. It's found at www.zulily.com and each day they feature a different selection of merchandise for kids and families.

The way it works is that merchants extend a specific group of items at deep discounts and you visit each merchant's 'boutique' to see what the day's offerings are. I've picked up Crocs for $10, fancy little girl outfits for $12 to $25 and tons of unique accessories at awesome prices.

The awesome thing about this site is that regardless of how many different stores you shop from within the Zulily site, they combine shipping for your whole order and you only pay once. Definitely worth a visit.

If you like Zulily, but want to shop for grown-up stuff like clothing, skincare, makeup, housewares, etc., two great sites with the same structure are www.ruelala.com and www.hautelook.com. They are free to join and fun to browse…again, very deep discounts are available. 

Another great place to visit is www.Goldstar.com. Goldstar sells discount tickets to events, concerts, live theater, museums, amusement parks, etc.  I’ll never buy another ticket without first checking to see if it’s on Goldstar. We recently traveled to Las Vegas and checked out the local Goldstar offerings and scored tickets to Blue Man Group for half price.  Fabulous.

Though it’s widely advertised, I still have friends who haven’t jumped on the Groupon train yet. If you haven’t, you simply must.

This innovative company works with local merchants to offer mind-blowing deals on everything from salon and spa services, to smog checks and just about everything in between.

Some of the deals seem too good to be true, but I’ve bought more than a dozen and every single one has been awesome.  Again, you can view deals geographically, so check it out when you’re on the road.

You might also want to peek at www.scoutmob.com or www.livingsocial.com, which are similar and offer different deals.

If you’re a movie-going family with children, you’ve likely discovered that the ratings system doesn’t really help out much when choosing appropriate films to see with your kids. www.kids-in-mind is a website and app that provides detailed reviews featuring the explanation of what might be of concern to you.

I try to remember to check this one out before we see anything, although I recently neglected to consult kids-in-mind before letting my 5-year-old view a "family film" and now she’s worried she’s going to get her arm bit off by a shark. The site is definitely worth a look.

The last few sites are just really cool, and you should consider them when looking for an unusual gift.

Photomosaics are those wonderful composite pictures made up of lots of other tiny photos. I recently had one made for my parents on their anniversary. It was their wedding photo made up of a mosaic of images of their children and grandchildren.  Affordable and easy, and you simply upload photos from your computer. Check it out at www.designamosaic.com.

A website called www.voicequilt.com allows you to set up a toll free number for family and friends to call and record a special message. Once you have collected the messages, this company will load them into beautiful boxes, picture frames or other nifty gift items so the messages can be played on demand. Imagine having such a treasure from your wedding day, family reunion, graduation or birthday. 

My husband had the misfortune of being out of town on business when our youngest child first began to crawl. Thanks to the video capability of my phone, I was able to catch the first real distance crawl down our hallway. I uploaded a video to a company called PicFlips that used my little video to turn the baby’s first crawl into a tiny flipbook.

Flipbooks are those cute little books where you quickly flip the pages and it creates an illusion of motion. Visit www.iloveflipbooks.com and you can make your own flipbooks of special moments. 

So there they are.  My little collection of fabulous tools that simply make life better!  I hope you find them as valuable and enjoyable as I have, and if you have any little secrets of your own you’d be willing to share, I’d sure love to hear them!

Oh, and let me know how these pan out for you. I’d love to hear about that, too.  Now I certainly have many more up my sleeve, but I can’t give up the whole shebang, right?  So until next time, happy surfing!