10 Best Investments of 2016

Last week, during the last game of the World Series, I paced rapidly through the house, racing against the midnight hour to get my 10,000 steps in. As I did so, I said to Ryan, "I have to say, this Fitbit is one of the best investments I made this year."

And boom. A blog post was born in my head.

Friend Wayne, if you are reading right now, please accept my apology for all the things your wife might be about to buy because I'm about to say they were good investments. :)

This blog was never meant to be a review blog, and at the core, it still isn't. But I think when you find a good thing, you should tell other people about it, so Ryan and I put our heads together and came up with our best investments of the last year. Our thoughts...coming your way! {In no particular order, by the way.}

1. Garage Makeover. This one has several sub-points, but it's best summarized as the great garage makeover of 2016. It took us a whole month to clean out the garage {aka empty it} and clean the garage {aka scrub every inch of it multiple times}...and then add the insulation, the drywall, the ceiling, the paint job, and the Rustoleum floor treatment. There were several times in that month that I thought I might lose my mind. There were probably an equal number of times when Ryan was convinced I actually had lost my mind. It was not a fun month. It was not a low-stress month. But having a finished garage that functions as both a garage AND a spare room that we can use for entertaining, parties, projects and more is SO WORTH ALL THE HASSLE. {If you missed the recap of what all we did, you can catch it here.}

2. The Fitbit. Ahhhhh the investment that sparked this entire post. About a month before my birthday, my sisters came up with the idea to get Fitbits as an accountability tool. Never one to be left out of a party, I asked Ryan if we could get one for my birthday gift. So he did all the research {he is the BEST researcher, if you ever need one!!!} and we settled on the Fitbit Charge. I have worn it faithfully since receiving it, and it has definitely taught me a lot about how much I DON'T move!! {The life of a writer, right?} Because I have it, I am really dedicated about getting to my full 10,000 steps each day, and I do get up and purposefully move around more than I ever did before. {Mine does not calculate heart rate...and I didn't want that tracked, so it was by design that we chose this one. They do make ones that do track your heart rate, however. The only problem I've had with mine is that in six months, the band wiggled loose and I now have it held together by tape. Classy. But the device itself marches on!}

3. Rosie. You remember my post about Rosie, right? She's Ryan's early Christmas present to himself...an iLife vaccum that runs around and sweeps our whole house without any intervention from us. She's not loud...she does my work for me...and Ryan gets the well-swept house he likes to live in. Win, win, win! Call us lazy if you like, but this has been a huge benefit for us!

4. Riding lawn mower. When we moved to this house, we brought our trusty push mower with us. Both Ryan and I had push mowers when we got married, and it's all either of us had ever used to mow our grown-up house lawns. We fully intended to carry that on at our new house, because the yard is not THAT big. Ummmmmmmmmmmmm until we mowed it the first time. And that is when Ryan began to look for a riding mower. It's not that the yard is bigger than it looks. It's that the hill on one side is WAY STEEPER than it looks - especially when you're hauling a non-self-propelled push mower in 100 degree heat/humidity. Ryan's boss was getting rid of his mower and sold it to Ryan for a super reasonable price, and Ryan said that was one of THE best purchases of the year. It has saved him a lot of hassle. And I love that for him!

5. Battery powered leaf blower. When we got married, Ryan owned a gas powered blower, and I owned an electric blower. His was heavy to haul around and mine was always tethered to a wall. Annoying and annoying. Ryan saved up and bought a battery powered blower, and it was his first submission to this best-investment list. It's not heavy, it's not restricting, and it gets the leaves and grass clippings away from the lawn. He gives it all the thumbs up.

6. Lemongrass Spa everything. I was speaking at a retreat this year and one of the ladies in attendance asked if I'd ever heard of Lemongrass Spa. I had not, and took her catalog when she offered it to me. It sat on my desk for several days, and then I took a look. Lemongrass Spa makes skin care products and makeup that are over 95% natural, and they're also gluten free. {I'm not in need of gluten free, but it's a nice offering for those who are!} I ordered the basic skin care set, because I had come to realize the need to watch what I was putting on my skin, and immediately, I was hooked. I signed up with the company on the double, and I am not telling you about this for any sort of personal gain, but because I haven't found one thing yet that I don't like. And I feel good about everything I'm using, because I know it doesn't have all the creepy scary stuff in it! One of my favorite investments of the year. {And if you do have questions - let me know!}

7. Set of weights. We technically made this purchase in 2015, but it was still within the last 365 days, so I'm counting it! Last year, this was our Christmas gift to each other: a set of hand weights to keep in our home, so we could do our workouts to get healthier. We use those weights almost every day, and the physical changes we have both made in the last year are proof enough to me that this was a great and worthy investment. We don't have to worry about a gym being open when we want to work out or the weight we need being in use elsewhere. So glad we did this!

8. Our stone wall. Much like the garage makeover, the stone wall makeover was a time and labor intensive project, but Ryan declared it worthy of the list. And he is the one who did all the work, so he should know! When we moved into this house, we took down half a wall between the kitchen and living room, and Ryan installed this AirStone feature that looks stunning. It took him many, many, many long hours, more than a few frustrations, and many boxes of stone, but the end result is one of the most-complimented parts of our house. It really is an upgrade, and I'm so glad we did it. {And I'm so glad it's done!!}

9. New blinds. When we moved into the house, most of the blinds on the windows were custom shades that pull down {NOT the rolling kind} and then push up to the tippy top of the window. It's great because they don't have cords and rods and they don't block any view during the day. But the sliding door had an old fashioned vertical blind. I know some people really like vertical blinds, and that is completely fine, but I am not a fan. I was willing to live with it, but Ryan treated me to a new set of blinds that match all the rest. They slide up and down, they help with temperature control, and we love them. Definitely a treat, but one we're glad we sprung for.

10. And finally...the IKEA bed. We have a guest room now!!! A first for us! And while the room is devoted to being a guest room, it's not a room we use every day and I'm so glad we chose to get the bed we did. It came from IKEA and sits in the room as a twin bed. It takes up very little room, it doesn't have bulky head or foot boards, and sleeps comfortably, we're told. But it also has a trundle that slides out, so it can easily sleep two people if we have two guests. PLUS, it has large drawer storage, which is really helpful. I'm glad we don't have a huge bed swallowing the room. I'm glad we have space for more than one person. This bed was totally worth it.

So there you go! Our list of top ten investments from the last year!