 Well good morning and welcome to the last day of bloom. I just woke up not too long ago. I've started my laundry. It is rainy and storming outside so I figured I would just do the laundry day Q&A. So let's start with the Facebook questions first because I actually have my laptop right here and then I'll get to the Instagram questions in just a moment. So let's see what y'all have questions about. I haven't even... I don't think I've even looked at these yet. April says, do you have plans for any other home improvements in the near future like painting cabinets, kitchens, and bathrooms? Yes I do. I really want to get my kitchen cabinets painted sometime this summer slash early fall. I just haven't found time to do that just yet, but yes that is my next project now that my lighting is completely updated besides my bathrooms. I'm actually going to um now that you ask about bathrooms I am going to be waiting to paint and do anything in the bathrooms until I figure out what I want to do. I want to replace the flooring upstairs because that didn't get replaced when the whole downstairs got replaced before I moved in and it's just like like a laminate sheet is what it is. So I want to change that and I have enough floor... I believe I have enough flooring from the main level to accommodate that and then the vanities are going to stay there and I want to get new countertops like I want to like basically remodel the whole darn thing. That's going to be a while though because that's going to be like money money money so no. That's it for the projects at the moment. Brianne asks, have you found that owning your own home costs more than renting? Do you feel like you are reaching your financial goals faster by being a homeowner? I feel like with the mortgage that I have sorry I gotta clear my throat here. I'll put up in a card here my mortgage details. With the mortgage payment that I pay I feel like owning for me is cheaper but I also put 50 percent down on my home so I guess it just depends. I have done home improvements which have some have been very very inexpensive and some have been very expensive. I had to replace my furnace this year which was like three thousand something dollars you know and when I bought this home all of the appliances were original to the home and the home was built in 2002 but occupied in 2003 so all of the appliances at some point are gonna probably start going and that's probably gonna start happening in the next five years or you know now to like five six years something like that so I'm fully expecting me to have to replace all of the appliances within that time frame so sometimes it's more expensive and sometimes less expensive just kind of depends on the month and what's going on and then do I feel like I'm reaching my financial goals faster by being a homeowner? Yes and no like net worth wise yes because I'm paying into a property that is you know going to appreciate in value which is great but then I have a lot of home projects that I want to get done too so I'm kind of squirreling away money for that as well so yes and no I guess it just depends and Linda asks something very similar what's your next home project going to be painting the cabinets that's what it's going to be. Melody asked why did you close your Etsy shop? I've had a lot of questions about this and it has nothing to do with not being passionate about washi like I love me some washi but to be honest I was not making time for the shop and it just seemed like I wasn't promoting it and I wasn't doing anything with it and it was just it was just time for me to say goodbye um I don't know I just feel like if like my heart wasn't in it anymore like kind of like YouTube like if my heart wasn't in it anymore and I didn't want to upload like I just wouldn't you know but with the Etsy shop I just felt bad that I couldn't get back to customers right away I couldn't increase my turnaround times like you know I have a full time job that's quite stressful sometimes and um I don't know I just I just thought that you know it was time to say goodbye because I wasn't making time for it anymore and I just really unfortunately wasn't passionate about it anymore so that's why I closed it. Alright so Brenda asks what has been the mistake slash lesson that you have learned being on YouTube or any social media platform I mean there's a few so I would say with YouTube is it's okay like not to feed into the comment section there are gonna be people out there that will like watch your video like hate watch your videos um I know it's more of a prevalent thing on like bigger YouTubers channels and stuff like that but um to me I mean I find it sad but I also end up finding it funny that someone would actually waste their time and watch like a 20 or 30 minute video and reference something in a minute like 23 or something like that and say like unconstructive criticism I'm all about criticism like you know if it's constructive like please let me know I'll be like hey that angle was really bad or um you know can you fix your lighting or whatever like I totally am down with that jam but when people just say things that are not constructive it's just kind of like really you took the time to watch the whole video and then you commented on it that you know for me I always think about it's as more about them than it does about me you know I move on with my life I don't take any of that seriously I just know um and then about social media in general probably that it's okay to say no to things I used to say yes to a lot and in the last year I have either just deleted the emails that I get not from like you guys but from like brands or sponsorships or something like that and um I just say no I only want to show you guys and I only want to share with you guys something that I would buy with my own money and um you know I do a lot of stuff with Aaron Condren they do send me a lot of product I'm very transparent about that when they do send me product but to be honest it's probably something that I would have bought with my you know own money or sometimes I have credits and stuff which um there's a link below it's like a ten dollar off code if you've never signed up you get ten dollars off and then I get ten dollars off when your item ships so I use my credits a lot as well if I wouldn't buy it if I wouldn't have purchased it with my own credits for a video or my own money for a video I say no um and then I also realize who my audience is so like I did a video not that long ago for the kids planner I'll link it up if you're interested or there I don't know where it goes um so clearly I don't have a child I don't have one you guys know this um but I thought it would be a great thing to share with you guys because I know a lot of you are moms or dads or have children or have nieces and nephews or our teachers or whatever so those types of things I like to bring to you guys if I'm offered that from Erin Condren um at some point I probably would have ordered it anyways just to share a video so I kind of that's like my I don't know that's like kind of my guideline um for me but those are the things I've kind of learned about the internet yay all right let's keep going Maria asks what's on your bucket list any special places you'd like to go hmm I mean yes but I don't have any plans right now um I do actually have a plan to go traveling with my mom this summer and I think we're gonna be going in August which will be very exciting and um we're gonna go to Niagara Falls and I will um I'm gonna vlog the trip so I'll put up like one video or whatever when it's done um but my mom's never been and that's on her bucket list so we're gonna road trip and we're gonna go there it's gonna be awesome so um yeah I don't know I would love to go to a lot of places I'd love to go to like Australia I think would be awesome to go to also Europe would be amazing I don't know I mean I'm I'm open to anything you guys so um I just really don't like roughen it so I'm I'm indoorsy so yeah I don't know I'm open to suggestions um Shelley asks have you ever thought about doing a weekly vlog compilation rather than your daily vlog when you do a monthly vlogging series curious if that would be easier with your busy lifestyle it's the same um I have to go through the same amount of footage regardless so I kind of like to do the individual days because I understand that not everyone can watch like a 30 or 40 minute video but most people have time to watch like a 5 to 10 minute video you know and then you can kind of pick and choose which ones you want to watch or you can just come back to it so I kind of look at it as like if I were the viewer what would I want and um I don't know it wouldn't it wouldn't be easier it would be exactly the same that's it so um yeah I don't know I just like to do the the daily ones uh let's see Sarah asks do you ever get lonely being single you know I was asked this yesterday by my friend Jamie that came over you guys have seen that already even though I have not posted it yet but you will see that um kind yes and no like like yes and the fact that like my life is like very mundane but like I really like my life like I really enjoy being by myself um even when I'm in a relationship I really like being alone you know I like my space I just really like my independence and not to say that you're dependent if you're in a relationship but um I don't know that's just like how I feel so um yeah so yes-ish and no-ish I don't know I mean it would be kind of cool to have somebody to like go grab dinner with or make dinner for or something like that but you know it doesn't matter but I also don't want to like waste my time I don't want to waste their time you know I'm very like conscious of that and you know all right and the last question on Facebook is from Zulima I hope that's how you say it I'm sorry if I butchered your name what do you tell yourself when you are about to make a purchase or want to make a purchase on something that you want but not necessarily need ooh that's a good question um I would say it depends on what it is so let's talk about like planner supplies let's talk about that because you guys probably like planner supplies just like I do I don't necessarily give myself any more like I used to be super super strict um when I first started budgeting and doing all that stuff on you know how much I would spend like per month uh or per week or you know however I was breaking it down at the time now I'm not so strict so um you know I just did a big sticker haul again I'll link it and I shared like washi and stickers and all that stuff but I have not bought planner stickers or anything like that in such a long time that I kind of went a little hog wild but I love all the stuff I purchased and I'm gonna use everything too so I would say if it's functional in your life and you really like it um you know that's I would just I would just get it I don't know that's probably bad financial advice I'm sorry also if you are on a really strict budget what you can do is um write it down that's something that I did back when I lived in Fargo I would keep a running list on my fridge of things I wanted to buy when I had the money or things I was thinking about buying that were maybe over you know $50 a hundred dollars like whatever your cap is and I would come back to that list a couple weeks or maybe a couple months later and a lot of times I kind of forget about the things and don't necessarily see the value in them anymore so maybe give yourself a break like write it down and then come back to it at a later date and then see if you still want it and that might be a good um baseline for you I don't know something like that okay now let's go to the Instagram questions those ones are always interesting because you never know who's gonna be posting on there now we're at the Instagram questions and let's see Mo from Count Air Blessings hi Mo you're watching what is your favorite food slash treat from the steak on the Minnesota steak fair um cheese on the stick for sure cheese on the stick it's so good and also so bad for you at the same time but I don't care cheese on the stick is my favorite thing um okay so then next we have Kelsey and she says what's your favorite season in Minnesota so definitely fall fall is my favorite it's beautiful here with all the trees and the leaves and all of that it's gorgeous um and then also the weather is like so nice it's like very crispy feeling and I would much rather be cool than warm I mean not cold like winter no winter soaks but um the fall is like it's like crispy weather it's really nice all right and then the next question I'm pretty new to your channel so maybe I get to know you oh well I can do like a little synopsis for you hi I'm Emily I live in Minnesota I'm 38 years old I'm single never married I have a little dog named Doyle and um I work that's the dog um I work a full-time job uh and I commute about an hour each way my parents are currently in Minnesota they have a residence in Florida which is their permanent residence but they do come here for the summer because Florida winters are pretty pretty yeah gnarly and then um I do have a brother and he is currently overseas with the military and he'll be coming back sometime this summer so I'm excited to see him again and once he comes back uh he will be moving back to Iowa um because he has a job there um he also has a son so I have a nephew named Jackson and um yeah that's that's kind of it I don't know that's me hope you enjoyed the synopsis if you have questions post them below next was are you enjoying your job yes I enjoy my job and it says has it helped you build your emergency fund back up from when you were employed um I actually didn't touch my emergency fund when I was unemployed I was very very budget conscious while I was unemployed um I did a lot of other things as well um to create an income so I didn't actually touch my emergency fund the whole time I was unemployed so that's kind of exciting next question have you and your brother always been close um like when we were kids we kind of like fought each other a lot um but mostly it was like me fighting him um like he's still like he's like some big like army sergeant guy I mean I don't know what his like rank is or whatever so sorry Phil if you're watching but um like he's still afraid of me which like kind of gives me a little bit of joy in my heart so anyways but as we've been adults we've been um pretty close um sometimes it's just like a lot harder because he doesn't live in the same state as me so um you know when we get together it's pretty fun and you know all that good stuff so yeah I guess I mean our adult lives things have changed which is good um let's see here next question is from purple Suzanne and it says what is the most fun that you've done with life's organized chaos which is Jody and then also a man with the plans which is Ryan together and one-on-one time um I would say the most fun that we've had so far has been go wild it was so awesome so much fun um and then like one-on-one I mean I guess just hanging out and chatting and getting to know each other and stuff I feel like as adults it's a lot more difficult to make like adult friends I'm just so glad that these two have came into my life and I hope they feel the same way about me but um sorry my nose like a really itches but yeah they're awesome people I will link their channels down below if you guys want to check them out because you should if you like my content you're gonna like their content I promise so um yeah they also do YouTube so we talk about YouTube but to be honest um you know we talk more about life and stuff all the good stuff so and they're both in Minnesota which makes it a little bit easier to get together uh someone asked another question about closing my washi shop um and then also kitchen cabinets so I already answered those so we'll move along um someone asked are you dating no and do you have any traveling plans in the near future yes to Niagara Falls uh someone asked what's my favorite restaurant unfortunately my favorite restaurant closed what last year the year before something like that um it's called the dragon house it was in um Columbia Heights Minnesota and I loved it um I don't really have a favorite restaurant right now but yeah and I don't know I mean I like all different kinds of food for the most part oh Amy Ray hi Amy Ray um she says do you like to read what's your favorite genre of books to read um to be honest I don't really read a lot but I do use audible I've had a few actually comments saying to do a review on audible here's my review I like it so um the genre of books I've been like listening to lately are I don't know I like I like a little bit of everything I listened to recently um Becoming by Michelle Obama I listened to uh Pete Buttigieg his book I listened to this book called um how not to give a fuck that was a good book it wasn't very long but it was a good book um let's see here what else have I listened to see I listened to a busy Phillips's book I don't know I don't have a genre that I listen to at all but I'm I like uh listening to either like like self-help self-improvement oh I listened to boundaries I highly recommend that to anybody that's like a Dave Ramsey recommendation book of how to establish boundaries like within your family or your friends or your co-workers or like life whatever um so I like that book a lot that was awesome um I don't have a genre but I like to listen to either people reading their own books from their own life perspective so like non-fiction um and then also I really like you know like self-improvement books which I find interesting all right oh Amy has another question if you could pick your favorite foods for your meals for one day what would they be a breakfast lunch dinner snack oh that is such a difficult thing okay breakfast in my perfect world um my breakfast would be toast with peanut butter and flax seeds if you guys have been on my instagram for any amount of time you have probably seen that that's always delicious um a cup of hot tea and that would be my breakfast and then for lunch I would have like a delicious cob salad with no avocado because I don't like that um and then for dinner I would probably have oh I would probably have that bacon pasta yum stuff it's uh pasta carbonara um I did a video with Ryan from man with the plans if I can I'll link it up above for you guys and then snacks I don't know I like I like crunchy and salty things I don't know I really like pickles um and chips and things like that or like like cheese and crackers or something like that so that would probably be my go-to so kimberley plans asks tips for remembering to bring your reusable bags into the store and then use them the other day I left the store with two plastic bags and they reusable ones still in my pocket yes I have a tip for you so what I do is I'm actually um using right now the erin kondren planner tote that just came out the canvas gray as my like regular bag so I always have like two to three of those nylon reusable bags from erin kondren in that bag so I just have them with me however if you have a smaller bag what I do is actually loop a bag over my passenger seat and I have like reusable bags in that bag if that makes sense so I try to remember to grab a couple of those if I'm doing like a bigger shopping trip at like oldie or like my local grocery store or target or whatever so that's what I do and that's what works for me um but yeah that's that's what I do and then uh looks like the last question is I'm admiring your financial journey well thank you and the way that you were able to buy a house such a large tail and payment when do you think you will have your mortgage or you paid off your mortgage and what's the next big savings goal after that since I'm assuming you will skip baby step five yes I will skip baby step five which is um saving for kids college like Doyle's not going to college so I think I'm gonna be all right so currently I'm putting 15 percent um of my income into retirement and I am able to do that all with a Roth which is awesome I'm doing it all through work um I was able to pick pick I was able to pick my funds um so they're all in like the mutual funds that Dave Ramsey recommends and so my contribution of 15 percent is all Roth and then I do receive a small match and then that's all non-Roth but that's fine so anyways it just makes it easier what I was planning on doing at first was actually just doing the minimum I could at work to get the match and then like have a you know write a check or send money somewhere else but I felt like the it was too difficult for me like mentally which is crazy um like that friction it was so like one more step I couldn't I couldn't like mentally get there and I know some of you know what I'm talking about so if it was just taken out of my check and I didn't see the money it was money I didn't play with so I've been doing that for um quite a while since before the beginning of the new year so um I think is it November or December that I did the 15 I don't know it was one of those times so anyway um yeah and then I am not sure what I'm going to have my house paid off but I did take out a 30-year mortgage which you guys have seen in the video that I linked earlier which is all my mortgage details so I'm not sure um I haven't started paying like big chunks on it or anything like that because there's other things I want to do inside the home um but yeah I don't know we'll see so anyway that is going to be it for the laundry day Q&A um my laundry is almost ready to go into the dryer so that's pretty good timing here um I hope you guys enjoyed the vloon series and I hope you guys enjoyed the Q&A if you have any other additional questions make sure to post them down below feel free to thumbs up subscribe do all those things those youtubers tell you to do and I'm gonna see you guys in the next video bye guys well folks it's time to kick it old school