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Featured Posts Uncategorized

You Need a Budget (YNAB) vs EveryDollar

In the budgeting world, you won’t go far without hearing about Dave Ramsey’s EveryDollar. Being a long-time You Need a Budget (YNAB) user, I was curious to see how EveryDollar stacked up. Especially since EveryDollar has a free option.

Would EveryDollar be good enough to switch away from YNAB? Or at least worth recommending to friends who don’t want to pay for YNAB?

I used YNAB and EveryDollar side-by-side for an entire month and focused on three areas I believe are important for any app wanting to help people get their money under control.

How easy is it to:

  1. Create your first month’s budget?
  2. Add transactions from your smartphone?
  3. Balance your budget at the end of the month?

This post shares what I learned and crowns a winner!

Note: Because YNAB is a subscription service, I’ll be comparing YNAB to EveryDollar’s subscription service (called Ramsey+) with a separate section for the free version.

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Categories
Running Headphones

Jabra Elite Active 75t Review: The Real Deal For Running

Over the years, I’ve used various wired, wireless, and true wireless headphones for running. It’s safe to say the Jabra Elite Active 75t are, by far, the best running headphones I’ve owned.

A handful of things really stand out about them:

  • The secure and comfortable fit. This is probably the thing that surprised me the most. I didn’t think these headphones would fit as well as they do.
  • They’re fantastic all-around headphones. They seamlessly transition from running and other physical activities to daily at home/office use really well (for phone calls or listening to music at work).
  • The sound quality is terrific for running headphones. Especially after adjusting the EQ in the Jabra Sound+ iPhone/Android app.
  • A well-designed smartphone app. It lets you customize a lot of useful things (EQ, headphone settings/buttons, etc.).

Now let’s dive into specific areas, including things I don’t like about them, who they’re not for, and a budget-friendlier alternative.

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Categories
Meal Delivery

Factor vs Freshly (The Crown Goes To …)

Having been a regular customer of meal delivery services since 2016, I’m always on the look out for new players—mainly for added variety. It’s nice being able to rotate between a few different food delivery services each month so I’m not getting tired of the same meals every week.

So when I started seeing ads for Factor, I was curious how they’d stack up against my current favorite, Freshly.

(True story … Freshly was the very first company I ever bought anything from because of an Instagram ad.)

Since I was in the market for a new meal delivery service in my regular rotation, I thought it’d be fun to see how Factor would stack up against Freshly, and if it would be good enough to order from regularly.

To decide, I ordered six meals from Freshly one week and then six meals from Factor the next. I did this for a month which means I tried twelve meals from each company.

Based on my experience with those meals, I compared them in these six categories:

  • Taste: Do they taste better than the microwaved meals I grew up eating as a kid?
  • Cost/Value: For what you pay and get, is it worth it?
  • Variety: How many different meals can I choose from?
  • Nutrition: Do the meals meet specific dietary or nutritional requirements?
  • Website/App: How user friendly are they?
  • Customer Service: If I have I have issues or questions, will I get prompt and helpful answers?
  • Worth Mentioning: Things I ran into along the way.
  • Overall Winner: Is there a clear winner?

Let’s take a look at who wins each round and ultimately takes the overall crown.

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Featured Posts

The Best Pen for Writing Notes and Underlining in Your Bible

pigma-micron

What is the best type of pen to use in a Bible?

I wish I would’ve asked that question earlier.

After trying highlighters, dry highlighters, pencils and pens (ball point, gelly, rollerball, etc.) without being satisfied with any for underlining and taking notes, I went on a quest to find the best pen.

The short answer: pigment ink (i.e. archive quality) pens.

Here are some of the key benefits:

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Guides

Race Planning Using the SuperPower Calculator

It all comes down to this: race day.

Everything you’ve done in training was to prepare you physically and mentally to show up on race day and perform your best. With the hard part complete, there’s one more thing you can do to boost your odds of executing well on race day.

I consider this the fun part: Create a solid race plan.

If there’s anywhere running with power outclasses pace-based running, it’s on race day. With some metrics only power-based running provides, you can craft a race strategy that:

  • Is perfectly tailored to your current fitness and unique running traits.
  • Provides a target range to work within the race.
  • Can accurately estimate finish time (even factoring in a course’s elevation profile).

Gone are the days of going out too fast only to crash and burn before the finish line, asking yourself, “Am I running too hard up this hill?”, or feeling like you had more in the tank at the end.

So, let’s start planning your race strategy!

Remember, if you fail to prepare you are preparing to fail.

H.K. Williams
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