Confidently Katie

How Podcasts Changed My Life

I discovered podcasts, I kid you not, about a month ago.  I knew they existed, but I just didn’t understand why people listened to them.  I pictured all podcasts being like NPR (which is fine, but I just figured it was all so serious).  I didn’t even know where to find them!

If you’re like me and you’re thinking “what’s the deal with podcasts…?”  Keep reading.  This one’s for you.

Let’s start with where to find them:

I found my first podcast on Spotify (aka the best $15 I spend every month).  I was getting ready to do some cleaning and realized there was a podcast option on there and I decided to give it a click. In case you’re unaware, this is how you find your podcasts on Spotify 

If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can also access them by going into one of those built in apps called “Podcasts”  and you can access podcasts for free. I literally didn’t even know they were free!

You can also find podcasts on some of your favorite websites if they happen to have a podcast.

When I discovered podcasts, I did what any millennial does:  I asked my Facebook friends for suggestions.  They all gave me tons of great ones to listen to.  I listened to at least one or two episodes of everyone’s suggestions.  Some I liked a lot more than others and I totally binged on those…

I’m sure you’re thinking, “okay, Katie, that’s cool, but like…how did that discovery change your life?”  To show you how, I’m going to share some of my favorite podcasts and how they have had a positive impact on my life.

++ 99% Invisible

This was my first podcast.  If you haven’t listened, I highly recommend you go download an episode now.  Listening to Roman Mars speak is one of my favorite parts of each week. But how did 99PI change my life?  It’s all about the thought that goes into the things we never think about.  It really makes me appreciate the little things.  It brings up forgotten parts of our society and the small things that make up all the bigs things in our life.  When I look around I see the things that are 99% invisible and I like that.

++ Stuff Mom Never Told You 

If you’re a woman and you haven’t listened to this podcast, stop what you’re doing and go listen.  I have never considered myself a feminist, but Emilie and Bridget make me really think about why we need feminism.  They help me to recognize some of the completely absurd things that occur around me.  Because of this podcast, I pay attention to the world trying to disadvantage me because I’m a woman and I don’t let it happen to me. It’s not all about feminism, but it’s definitely all about being aware of who we are in today’s society.

++The Influencer Podcast

If you’re a blogger, a brand, or just a person who wants to be better at interacting with people in the online world, you need to listen to this podcast.  Julie Solomon has changed me!  They way I think about influencing others is forever altered because of what she and some of the guests on her show have shared. She is truly what inspired me to get back into blogging and share my heart.  She preaches authenticity and that is definitely what I’m going for.

So if you haven’t ventured into the world of podcasts, I recommend that you give it a shot.  You might just change your life.

I Tried Fabletics and This is What Happened

A few months ago, I started getting serious about my work out routine.  Being in the military it’s my job to be in shape, but my postpartum body has been struggling with it.   Believe it or not, a huge part of my struggle was that I didn’t have a lot of  work out clothes that fit me well enough to work out in.  Enter Fabletics.

I had seen the ads over and over and I decided that I wanted to give it a shot. If you’re considering giving Fabletics a shot, check out this post…

What is Fabletics?

Fabletics is an online athletic wear shop.  Or so it seems.  It’s actually an athletic wear subscription site although it really doesn’t look like it on the surface.  In fact, I didn’t even know it was until well after I made my first purchase. When you’re creating your VIP account, there are no disclaimers that pop up that tell you that your card will be charged monthly and you have to physically click on “how it works” for this to be explained.  Even then, the explanation is more than half way down the page.

The VIP membership charges your card $50 every month unless you cancel it.  Before I wrote this post, I checked my bank account, and I’ll be damned, I was charged that $50 for an outfit. I didn’t even know.  I attribute this to a few things:

  1. I made my purchase on my phone.  There were no pop ups that explained this and when I was putting in my card information, it appeared to be for only that purchase.
  2. I didn’t receive any outfits, so even when I had figured out that it was a subscription site I figured that because I hadn’t gotten any outfits, it must not have subscribed me.  I did it right.

Wrong.

You have to go on the site and opt out by the 5th of the month if you want to “skip” that month and not be charged. And canceling cannot be done on the site. You have to make a phone call or start a live chat (I tried the live chat option and the people didn’t respond fast enough and I had to leave). Never the less, I made the purchase and tried the products.

 

The Buying Experience

It was pretty easy to choose the outfits that I wanted.  It was the same as any e-commerce site.  You select what you want and add it to your cart.  Once I got to check out though, I had to try 5 or 6 times to actually make the purchase.  The point of sale system wasn’t working right and I had to start over 3 times.  I almost canceled my transaction I was so frustrated. Eventually though, I was able to check out and my outfits were on their way.

Shipping and packaging

My outfits came in inexpensive clear packaging and it took the full 10 business days to receive them.  At one point I got an email that said it would take a little longer to get my outfits.  Then I actually forgot that I had ordered them until they came.  This isn’t a huge complaint though.  I’m not the type to pay extra for faster shipping so waiting a while comes with the territory.

The Fit

I set up my profile as a M size 8 which is what consistent with most of my currently clothes which some exceptions.  I read a few articles about the fit of Fabletics and most things said that they were true to size, so I went with this.

My gray pants fit perfectly, but the bra was a little bit awkward.  The elastic on the bottom is very wide and the fit was a little bit different than I was used to, but after I wore it for a while it grew on me.

The flower outfit fit pretty well and was very comfortable. I think I ordered the right size for this.  It seems that different outfits may be from different manufacturers, so the fit may not always be quite perfect, however that’s true with most online retailers.

I think the most important thing to mention about the fit though is that I felt so confident in these.  I’m not super thin and I often feel self conscious when I’m showing off more than I’m used to, but I didn’t feel that way in these.  I actual went outside to take photos in them because I felt quite good about myself.

The Quality

In general I’d say the quality is an 8 out of 10.

I have only worn the flower shorts twice and they look like they’re pulling a little at the seam in the crotch, and it’s wearing a hole. However this could very well be because of the size.  Maybe I need a slightly larger bottom for these.

I’d say the quality was pretty okay for what I ordered.

The Price Tag

The total cost ended up being $57.67 after tax and shipping.  I think it was fairly reasonable for two outfits at fairly good quality.  I can justify paying nearly $60 for it. I’ll more than likely end up making at least 1 more purchase.  I have a credit for another outfit because I didn’t know it was a subscription…

Overall Impression

Pros: Pricing was fair and I did like the products I purchased.  They are definitely stylish and with the athletic wear trends of week.  I’d say the biggest pro is that I felt great in both of these outfits.  They put me a little bit outside of my comfort zone and it really seemed to work out well for me.  I should also note that I did work out in them and they performed well there too.

Cons: The site isn’t clear about what you’re signing up for.  I intended to only make one purchase and ended paying another $50 by accident. I just ordered another outfit to take advantage of my accidental subscribing…

Overall, I won’t keep the subscription, because I don’t need $50 worth of work out clothes every month, but I might pop in from time to time and buy some very stylish work out gear.

New Blog Who Dis?

I’ve been one of those inconsistent hobby blogger for years.  I started my first blog at 18 and never found my groove.   I’ve always struggled to find my niche and I couldn’t ever really figure out why.

Well I now I know.  Because I was trying WAY too hard to write content that everyone and their dog could relate to instead of writing content that I could relate to.  And seems how it’s my blog, I should probably be able to relate to the content I write, huh?

And so was born Confidently Katie.  Here you can expect to see a pretty wide variety of things, but I think you could generally fit most things into these categories:

Health and wellness posts about my fitness journey

Parenting (and how I rarely have any idea what I’m doing)

Professional success and happiness

Saving money, paying of a mountain of debt, & how it’s changing my life

And how I’ve fought against all odds and chosen happiness for myself, my daughter, and my relationship.  I hope you’ll take a second to Follow my blog with Bloglovin, subscribe to my monthly newsletter, and join me on social media.

Wedding Planning: Building Your Budget

Even before I got engaged, I, like many other women, was planning my hypothetical wedding. I would pin beautiful, dreamy photos all over my Pinterest boards and dream of my amazing and extravagant wedding.  I’m still doing it, but now I’m thinking much more realistically.  I’m focused.  I’m only pinning things that I think have real potential for my wedding day. 

As I started to get more serious with my Pins, I figured it would probably be a good idea to get a little more serious with the big details that really matter when you plan a wedding:  Budget.

Some people can pretty easily determine their budget.  They’ll do what all the blogs and wedding pros tell them to do:  Take the average cost of a wedding in your area, split it up into the expected percentages and plan to spend about that much.  Period.

While that might be nice I know that the average cost of a wedding in Utah is WAY more than I plan to spend on our wedding.  Then I went to work looking for other ways to design a budget.  I thought about giving myself a set limit of what I thought I could afford and running with that, but I didn’t even really know what that was going to be.  So I started searching high and low for other great tools to help me set my budget.

When I realized they don’t exist, I decided to make my own.  I designed this process and spreadsheet after endless research and a lot of listening to wedding pro podcasts.

1//  Sit down and discuss what is most important to you and your Fiance

This is the most important step to determining your budget.  This will help give you an idea where you’d like to spend a little more money, and where you’d be okay with trimming the fat.  Check out my post about each wedding element and how they contribute to the big day.

2// Write your guest list

All the pros will tell you, guest list determines your budget. 3 big factors rely on guest list:  Venue, catering, and stationary & postage.  

I started with writing our “A-List”.  The A-List consists of all of the people who absolutely must be invited to our wedding.  It has the bridal party and their significant others, the bride and groom’s immediate family, closest friends, and others who we feel are “essential” guests at our wedding.  We also have a “B-list” for “No” RSVPS, and if we have some wiggle room in our budget once everything is all priced out.

3// Find your top 4 or 5 favorite Venues and get an average cost

Personally, I reviewed their pricing before I added them to my list.  If I felt like any part of their prices was outrageous, they didn’t make the list.  I also tried to pay attention to the fact that some of the vendors are full service and have a lot more included for the price.  This means a few of the more expensive venues made the list if they offered linens, set-up & tear-down, coordinators etc. Remember, you will need to make sure all of your venue options can hold the number of invitees!

4//  Find your top 4 or 5 favorite caterers and get an average cost

In doing my research I have found that not all catering services are created equal. Some provide full service, others drop of trays with little to no set up or clean up.  This made the pricing vary quite a bit.  Remember to use that guest list number here when making your estimates and getting quotes.

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