App Review: Acorns

Way back in the day you may remember this blog having articles with the theme "Thrifty Girl". I loved those. Sales and saving money are one of my favorite things to do, sometimes to a fault... Anyone remember that J. Crew blow out a few weeks back? Well, my wallet sure does and our closets are still trying to deal with the influx of pretty, soft things.

Of course, saving money and investing money go hand-in-hand in the bigger picture. We save to have a nest egg to fall back on, get that thing we have been really wanting (hello house, car, vacation), or, just for safe keeping. Investing is really the same, we invest to increase our assets, get to that retirement, bigger house, college fund, or anything else just a bit faster. But, let's face it, the average family just starting out or single guy/gal rarely has the kind of money needed to start setting aside.... Or so you think. Welcome Acorns.

Acorns is a nifty little app that is great for those already investing or just starting out in the investment game. Simply put, Acorns rounds your purchases up to the even dollar and invests that small amount. Unlike many things out there, the app makes investments easy to understand and lowers that limitation wall most newbie investors are afraid of crossing. The hubs recently found this app, and although we already invest, we decided that doing a little more wouldn't hurt. The good thing is that the app has taught us both a bit more about investments and it has helped us find what kind of investors we are.

When you start up Acorns you will tie the app with a few different bank accounts of your choosing. I know that some of you have freaked out at this idea, but let me say, it is as safe as Mint which is pretty darn safe. Next, you decide what kind of investments you want: Safe and untouched for the next ten year, moderate and available in 3-5, or those dangerous penny stocks that will take or multiply your change. We chose the moderate and connected it with the debit account that I use most often.

Although it is the second most common card we have (the first being a credit card we pay off every month), I only use it enough to average about $10 of investments per month. Of course, you can always add money to Acorns. In fact, you start off by adding anywhere from $5 up.

And, that's it. Next time you purchase things, you will also be purchasing stock for your future. Well done, you can now, actually, celebrate that sale in more than one way! But, be sure you are ready for those deductions, it will round up your expenditures and thus round down your available moneys.

For those who want to be able to keep track of what is happening, the app does it too. You can see your stock portfolio, each stock's past month, and your projected income for the next 20-years. Best of all, the information is actually easy to understand. I know, the whole not needing an MBA to understand your stock portfolio is a new idea to many, but it is a real one.

Whether you are wanting to save a bit and investing is new, or you are the Kevin Rose of young investors, this app is a big recommendation from me. Saving money and investing a bit is just plain smart. This app makes it both simple and easy and I have yet to see a downside in using it :) Oh, and did I mention it is free?!! It's free.

App Review: Daily Green Smoothie Challenge

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Sometimes, life is just easier when we can revert to our childhood days and have someone decide what we should eat for us. That is where dieticians, nutritionists, meal plans, and handy-dandy apps can come in quite useful- especially if you do not have the extra dough laying around to hire a private chef.

I have been using a few smoothie and juicing apps to get on a healthier habit pattern. One of these is the Daily Green Smoothie Challenge. This smoothie app has plenty of great smoothie recipes along with all the nutritional information your heart could desire. Another great perk is that you can easily add all ingredients to a shopping list that will place all items on a categorized list according to where they are in the grocery store.

The smoothie recipes for this challenge are meant for mornings and are filled with fruits, honey, flax seeds, yogurt, and a few other knick knacks from here and there. I opted to add fresh baby spinach or baby kale to most of my smoothies to increase the vitamins, minerals, and proteins. It did not make them taste worse and the only one that tasted bad at all was the first Orange Creamsicle Smoothie. Be weary though, not all smoothies are created equal. Some are ridiculously low in calories and sugar while others are (what seems) like the equivalent of a Chipotle burrito.

Now to the app... Once you get into it, the app is quite clean and easy to navigate. There is plenty of information available about each smoothie and plenty of smoothies to choose from. It's also free, which is pretty great too. Unfortunately, like my Dad has always told me, "nothing is ever free, not even the prize in the Cracker Jack box." What this app lacks in price, it makes up for in advertisements. Any time you open the app or your phone goes to sleep, a new advertisement pops up and must be exited out of then a pop up will appear confirming you want to exit out. NOT FUN.

Other than the ridiculous free-not-free side of this app, it is pretty good. If you are looking for a price happy way to reboot your diet, I would suggest trying this one out. The app is free and there are no ridiculous ingredients that cost more than the mixer you are putting them in. A pretty good thing the way I see it :)

App Review: Running for Weightloss

Sometimes, having something tell us what to do is easier than figuring it out for ourselves. That is my opinion when it comes to intervals. Those with great organizational and time skills may revel in watching the clock so they know exactly when to go to the next interval on the treadmill- not me. If the timing us up to me to watch, the workout tends to look on track for the first 5-minutes, but quickly derails with me jogging, walking, or sprinting for far too long- usually sprinting or jogging for too long and walking too short.

This, my friends, is what brought me to look for a good (and cheap) interval app that would give me updates while my music was playing and log my time. What I found was a weight loss bundle in the iOS app store including Fitness for Weight Loss and Running for Weight Loss pack for $3.99. Not cheap, but I though, "meh, why not?"

The workouts are about 40+ minutes each with a 5-minute warm up and cool down. There are three interval workouts per week. The intervals change on a weekly basis so you are slowly increasing your abilities. For this one, I opted for the intermediate level since running is not my strong suit. I am currently [still] on the first week since I only run intervals once to twice a week.

Up to now the intervals have been 4-minutes jogging, 15-seconds sprinting, and 1-minute walking over and over with one run being 3.5-minutes instead. It has been great and I work up quite the sweat doing it! I have also noticed that my running times have gotten a bit better with each interval workout. Score!

Some other pros of this app include a very easy interface, audible notifications of when to walk, run, and sprint, a multiple day and multiple week schedule, and the ability to go back or skip an interval or entire workout. That last feature is pretty great when I completely forget to listen to the audible cues. It happens.

Some quick, and only, cons are the point system. Everything has points and whenever I open the app, I am bombarded with ads asking me to redeem my points for shopping. If you like points for shopping, welcome to your mecca. If not, get ready to push the little "x'' button in the upper right about a billion times. As much as I love everything else about this app, I would almost stop using it because of this feature. This is especially bothersome considering the amount we pay for the app. To me, these little point reminders are the same as ads- something I do not expect when buying an app.

As for the other app in this bundle; I have not used it yet but it looks super neat. Like all others, you choose the workout level you are, then it gives you different workouts to do each day. The workouts are easily understood with an overview showing the time it will take, number of workouts, and reps. Both these workouts have a weekly plan but I am not sure if I would use the weekly plan for either- or if many would for that matter.

Most of us already have a weekly plan and would be using these as a supplement in that. This is how I have been using the Running app, and I have been seriously enjoying it. For this reason, I cannot say if the workouts have helped me lose weight, but can say that these are the kinds of cardio workouts most people look for when they want to drop a few LB's.

If you do use this as a complete workout calendar, please let me know how it goes!

Blog Updates, Travels, Good Reads, and Juice Cleanses

Goodness, I am in a bit of shock at how fast this year has gone by. Can you believe we are in October already?! It is crazy. Last month was also a bit crazy and a few blog posts slipped by- mostly those on Sunday. I know, it is awful. To make up for it, I plan on starting Sunday posts back up as of this week. This picture is also a bit of an apology for the lack of Sunday posts... It is one of my favorites and was taken right around this time four-years ago. The umbrella was random and quite needed since our photo shoot got rained out. Ended up being pretty great anyway!

Another P+K bonus is that we will be doing a few giveaways this month as well in honor of P+K's bday! Yep, P+K is turning two this month and to celebrate, I will be in Greece!! Yayyy! So excited about our trip to Greece in a few short weeks. Ahhhh, still have no idea what to pack though... All in time I guess...

If anyone has any must-see or must-eat at places, please let me know. Also, if you have any yoga studios you love, that will be great to know as well. We will be there for about a week towards the end of October and I have heard that the weather has been and will be fantastic!

This trip has been a goal of mine for about ever and I am seriously excited to finally be going!!! Another big goal this year has just started as of September. We are going for a big business goal that will take an entire year to accomplish. The funny thing is, this was not on the hubs or my goal plans for this year. We kind of just decided it in May and have been building the framework for it ever since. It is a bit crazy how all this happened, but pretty awesome at the same time.

Honestly, I am just so excited about everything we have going on. To add to it, P+K will be having a few guest bloggers and two new weekly article topics. The first being health and fitness app reviews. The second is a challenge post each week. If you missed the 100 burpee challenge, check it out! The challenge posts will be similar to that, but not always that insane. By the way, did you do the 100 burpee challenge? My 100 were completed in 14:30. I was shaking afterwards.

Anyway, I am not quite sure how these articles will all work into the weekly mix. There may need to be some days with multiple topics (a weekly round-up with challenge?), or a few days with more than one article per day. However it works, we will figure it out as needed! And, since this has been quite the long article about a whole lot and very little, here is something funny AND informative. I laughed out loud when I read this article and used it to learn a bit more about juice cleanses.

Juice cleanses have become such a hit that is just seems silly to not try out a few of these juice companies and let you know which are great and which to avoid. If you have any juicing companies you want me to check out, let me know through e-mail or in the comments below.

Question: Have you ever done a juice cleanse? If so, did you like it? What about Greece? Let me know what I should see please oh please!