College Essentials Haul

AHHHHHHH!!!!!! I am so excited to have started online college at SNHU! It has been a hot minute since I have gone to college or to school for that matter. I thought that I would share with you my essentials for going back to college, specifically for online college. It really applies to any sort of school or if you are just looking for fun paper supplies. This is personal to me, so it may not suit you. These are the things that I know that I need to start the semester out right. I am interested to see how many of these things I don’t actually used. I think that I will use everything though. You never know. Sometimes, I just buy things because I think I will use them, but then never actually touch them. Until years later and I’m like Why do I have that?

These are my paper supplies. I have my favorite kind of pens: gel. Also, my favorite brand: PaperMate Ink Joy. I have never tried these pens, but my two favorite things? I think this might be my new favorite pens! I love to color code my notes, so I love having a rainbow supply. I have seen packs of just blue and black, so if I need a refill on the basics, I can get them. Note cards are a must for me. I need them to memorize formulas and key terms. Washi tape for when I have books, so I don’t mark up the pages. Not sure I will use them this semester, but you never know. Flags and sticky notes are basic necessities to page mark notes and quickly jot down information. I don’t have any physical books this semester, which limits my flag usage. I bought these two planner kits at Walmart and they are so cute! The flags, I know I will use and I hope that I find use for the other little stickies as well. My planner and notebooks will be so cute! Speaking of which…

These are my two Kate Spade (May she rest in peace) notebooks for my two official classes: Perspectives in History and Applied Social Science. These are super cute to tote around. Notice a theme here with all of the cute? The rose gold notebook goes with my office theme (Rose Gold) and my baby blue books goes with my room theme (Tiffany Blue and Silver). I am loving this style of notebook and that it is hard cover to survive in my bag. I feel so cool taking these out at work. They are my aesthetic through and through. I need to be on the lookout for an office meeting themed one. Kate Spade is my spirit animal and always will be.

A planner is a must for managing my busy life. I need to juggle my work from home days, college work, and home life in one planner. I considered getting one to separate school, but what would be the point? I need to balance out my whole life and see it in all together in order to manage it best. A phone to keep in touch. My Kindle Fire to do my work on when I am at work. I know I could use the computer, but some text books can only be downloaded to one device. I would chose my Kindle, so I can have it with me on the go to do my college work. I need to invest in a case for it though. I am pretty sure that this Kindle will be dying soon. My extended warranty is expiring in August and they usually don’t last much longer after that. I would get it in the same 7inch screen size. I really like it. Maybe with more room though. 8GB isn’t a ton.

Last but not least, because it is expensive. You need a good laptop. I have a HP here in Rose Gold that I paid $500 dollars on Amazon for and it is worth $1500. I love the rose design on the keyboard and yes, this was a limited edition. It seems to be selling for $700 now for the refurbished model, which is the one that I bought. I take care of my electronics, so I know that this will last me years like my 8 year old Dell. I love the backlit keyboard and the touchscreen screen. It has all the bells and whistles at a third of the price. I would keep an eye out on Amazon, because the prices are always influx. This is a beautiful laptop and worth every penny. They keyboard is a full size standard. I have a lot of comfortable wrist space and the 17 inch screen is perfection.

These are what I believe are online colleges essentials for me. I am looking forward to learning in all of my classes and chatting with my classmates. Not sure that I will do a whole lot of connecting on our school’s community (it’s like a private Facebook platform but not Facebook). I have a life and real friends to keep up with. Great if you are going to online school instead of traditional college and want to connect with other students. I’m just more of an in-person person instead of a virtual person.

With Love,

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EC Planner Spread #3

Heya Aspiring Gurus!

I have another spread for you this week and I’ll do my best to let you in on how I planned out my spread. I just love planning in my Erin Condren planner. I love the way the boxes are organized and that I have enough room for all on my stuff. I even have to add decoration during the week boxes, because I work most of the day and don’t have anything to plan during then. I could see really getting more stuff planned/done during my maternity leave and vacations.

I start by cutting out the stickers that I made that I want to use in my spread like the blogging stickers and the icon stickers. I then plan my week going from Monday through Sunday. I stick my stickers and write what I need as I go along. I used the side bar this time for my cleaning schedule, which I really liked. I then add the decorative washi on the top at the end. Planning for me is very simple. I just know what I want to do as I go along and I figure out the rest as I go.

With Love,

Guilty Confession & Contest!

Heya Aspiring Gurus!

As the title of this post suggests, I have a confession to make. I, Selena Hannah, have just purchased the new 18 month Erin Condren Ready-to-Ship Life Planner for 55 USD, which included 10 USD shipping (3 to 5 days). I really want it quick, so I chose a more expensive option. I bought it within the first 15 minutes of it launching and it will be shipped out to me on the 11th, which is the earliest date. Who else stalked the website to be one of the firsts? I used a 10 USD off referral link to pay for the shipping. I didn’t add anything extra to my order, because it made the shipping lag by TWO WEEKS! TWO WEEKS?! Yeah, that’s what I thought. Since I will be receiving a free coupon for a personalized cover, I thought that I would wait to buy the dashboard, personalized stickers, do it all dots, and the sticker book. I also heard that you receive another 10 USD off coupon with your first order, so I probably will split the orders into two, if that saves me any money. As long as it doesn’t cost me extra, I will do it, because the more orders you make, the more Erin Condren will send you coupons. I know that your 5th order will give you 25 USD off.

Anyways, I am SUPER excited about my new planner and I will do an unboxing as soon as I get my hands on it. I will be doing a planner series on my blog, where I will show you my weekly spreads, stickers, and more. I am also having a monthly planner decorating contest, if there is enough on an interest in it. Each month will have one week were you guys, my viewers get to choose a theme for the stickers and spread for that chosen week.

So, this contest will run until Jun 23rd. You can enter by posting a comment choosing a theme. The prize for this contest is a post swap, where I will host you on my blog and you will host me on yours (if you have one). You have until May 30th to leave a comment on the post where I announce the winner (or contact me via email) and if you fail to do so within the time frame, I will assume that you will forfeit the prize of the exchanged blog posts. The prize will become null and void.

If you any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me and Good Luck!

With Love,

Amazon Haul

Heya Aspiring Gurus!

I am sorry for skipping my July Favorites, but I didn’t really love anything that month and I was going to upload it. It became too late to do one, so I sincerely apologize to anyone that was looking forward to it. I decided to buy a planner to keep my hectic life organized, but I did not want to break the bank while doing so. Amazon is a great alternative from buying from the actual site. Their return policy is so much better ad they are faster for processing orders. Amazon gave me the shipping estimate as September 1 through the 19th, but after my order was process, they gave me the shipping estimate of August 11th to the 15th. I got the planner on August 13th by FedEx. They also offer free shipping, which you all know that shipping costs are my kryptonite. Am I spelling that right? Anyways, here is everything that I bought for a grand total of 52.19 USD.

Filofax 2015 A5 Organizer, Saffiano Raspberry, 39.94 USD

 

I absolutely love my Filofax! I know it is too early to rave about it, but I really love the look of it and the way the layout is. The leather is so plush like a little pillow. I love that it has pockets to slip little post-its in it or mini note pads and it even has a side pocket to slip a skinny notebook or larger items. The little pockets are supposed to be for credit cards, but I wouldn’t keep my cards with my Filofax. I like my wallet for that, plus it seems weird to keep them in there. I like that it came with a few surprises that wasn’t supposed to be in there like a 2014 spread, including 2015, and a 100 page notebook pad. I won’t go into detail online, but if you’re my friend, odds are that I will be showing you it.

Sharpie Pen Fine Point Pen, 4 Colored Pens, 4 USD

These were a really great buy at 1 USD a pen. The pack also came with a bonus neon orange Sharpie, which is always nice to get stuff for free. I bought these pens, because they do not bleed or smudge. It will be perfect for color coding my planner, these pens that is. The Sharpie would probably bleed through the pages. I always really loved these pens in high school and I am just now coming back to it. It was definitely an oldie but a goodie. I don’t ever really see these in stores anymore.

AllyDrew Colorful Lines Japanese Washi Masking Tape, set of 3, 5.50 USD

 

I bought the tape to decorate my planner and to symbolize certain events like vacation, holidays, and date nights. Plus, they are super cute and see through, so you can write over the tape or underneath in it. I like the versatility of using the tape.

So, that is everything that I bought! Have you hauled anything lately?

With Love,

Selena Hannah xoxoxo

Why I Chose Filofax Instead Of Erin Condren

Heya Aspiring Gurus!

I have a bit of a rant for you. WARNING: This post could get ugly. After watching countless Youtube videos, I really had my heart set on a customized Erin Condren planner. I saw that if you signed up, you got a 10 USD off of your order. NOWHERE did it say that you would get the coupon via email. Even then, I did not receive this email until HOURS after I signed up. I thought this matter could be easily resolved with adding something extra to my order that would equal 10 USD.

I just got the code in my inbox! Is there anyway to apply it now? Or would I have to cancel my order and reorder it? I am willing to cancel my order to get the $10off coupon. I really wanted to use it and it is upsetting that it didn’t apply and didn’t come into my email until after I ordered it.

Hello Hannah,
I am truly sorry for the late response as we have been swamped with emails!
Unfortunately, the only way for us to redeem your code is to cancel your order as we cannot manually apply codes to an order that has been submitted. I am truly sorry for the inconvenience. Please let us know if we are to continue or cancel your order. Thanks!

Julian

Cancelling my order was a major inconvenience, but I was still willing to make it work.

I will be cancelling my order and will reorder with my coupon once all of the funds have been transferred to my account. Is there a fee for cancelling before I do so?

Hi Hannah,
Your order has been successfully cancelled and there’s no fee for the cancellation as we have yet to design your items. For the refund, we issue within 24 hours of when the refund request is approved. However, we have found that it takes 7-10 business days for a refund to reflect in your bank account, depending on your banking institution.

Julian

At ten business days, I email them to ask what day was my funds refunded, because I thought that it was taking too long.

On what day was the refund approved? Its already been 10 business days for my bank since I last received an email. So I was wondering when the refund was issued so I could talk to my bank about it
Thanks.

Thanks for getting back to us. I will get an update with our billing team regarding the status of your refund and you will hear from us in a timely manner.

Julian

This is the receipt that I received:

US $73.20

MasterCard

Date/Time: 31-Jul-2014 16:31:36 MDT

This was  dated the day AFTER I inquired about when my refund will be issued! I am very angry and upset that they just refunded my order. I would have to wait another seven to ten days. So, I wrote this back:

This was supposed to be refunded on July 14th. I was told that my order was cancelled. Why is this just getting refunded now? I will not buy from this company ever again and will not be reordering it now. I will be sure to inform others about my  negative experience with this company on my blog. I am completely dissatisfied and will not be coming back. I understand that its the company and not the associate assisting me. Would you forward this email to  Erin Condren? I really want the person in charge to know how her policy has turned off a potential customer.
Thank you.

Once I sent this email back, the NEXT DAY the funds were in my account. This experience totally turned me off from the company completely. I would not recommend ordering from this company directly or its products. I turned to learning about Filofax and researching the company and its products. I ultimately decided that I would buy it from a trusted source: Amazon. I have no regrets with my Filofax and I love it! The Erin Condren life planner would have been so great to own, but the company made it impossible for me to order from them. You would think that a company would want people to buy their products, instead of making it harder for people to order from them. If this was the company I worked for, they would have worked out an agreement with the customer to get the customer to be a repeat offender.

With Love,

Selena Hannah xoxoxo