eShakti

I’m many things but an online shopper is not one of them.  I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve ordered an article of clothing online.  Two times I can think of off the top of my head is the time I ordered two pairs of the same gap maternity jeans in two different sizes knowing one would probably fit and the other wouldn’t.  I didn’t have to pay shipping because the total cost was over a certain amount.  Second, Target used to carry what are my all-time favorite tees and now that they don’t, I’ve been known to order them off eBay (here!).  Is that crazy, especially since we live in a technology-saturated world and it would be so much easier than packing up three kids to get to a store?  Are you an online orderer?  Here’s the thing, I have a paranoia that whatever I’ve ordered and paid shipping costs for won’t fit so I’ll end up returning it, possibly paying more shipping and end up having paid shipping costs for something I didn’t keep.  It’s a real fear people.  So tangible clothing shopping it is for me.  Enter eShakti - the only online women's fashion apparel company offering sizes 0-36W & custom clothing.  When they contacted me a few weeks ago asking if I’d like to customize a dress to fit me, it was like they were in my head and knew exactly how to quell that fear.  I jumped at the opportunity, hoping for a good outcome and wasn’t disappointed.  I chose the Scallop Neck Faux-Wrap dress in prussian blue:
   

I threw on my leopard heels (Target, two years ago) and couldn’t decide on a necklace because I didn’t want to take the show away from the scallop neckline, which had me at hello.


And the pockets!  I love me a dress with pockets and appreciate them even more now that I have three chicklets who need stuff stowed every once in awhile so they had me at hey, how are ya?

The quality of the dress is outstanding!  Their prices aren’t too different from higher end clothing stores like J. Crew (unless you shop sales, in which case they’re a lot more affordable) but the fact that you’re getting a quality-made garment that’s specifically made for your body is genius and a great (dare I say better?) way to spend your money, in my opinion.  The customization process was very simple – measure all the places on your bod they ask you to measure, insert said measurements, and wala.  I also got to choose the dress length – above or below the knee or mid-calf - and the type of sleeves I wanted on it – none, short, cap, or elbow length.  I choose below the knee and loved the cap sleeves the dress had in the online image so I kept those.  I had the option of subtracting the pockets too but I’m not that crazy.  ;)  I felt so regal constructing this dress online.  It was like I had my own personal tailor for five minutes!  My only, very small, complaint is that the measurements in the drop-down boxes where you could choose your number were only whole inches; no half-inches.  There were a few times I came up with half-inch measurements, one being my waist size and, for fear that rounding down to the nearest inch would yield me no breathing room, I rounded up.  I wish, now that I have the dress, that I would have rounded down instead because the dress fits me in the waist for sure but it could stand to be a little more snug.  Lesson learned for next time.  And speaking of next time, I’m crushing on any and all of these (Christmas is coming y’all!):

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5

Just a budget-conscious girl’s tip:  For registering with eShakti, you get a free $25 credit towards your first purchase.  (Just be sure to register right before you buy because I think the credit expires not too long after you register!)  Also, there’s a $7.50 fee to customize a dress (which is nothing when you’re talking a dress that’s made for YOU) but your first customization is free, so take advantage of that!  AND, last but not least, eShakti generously is offering a 10% discount to all Bean In Love readers!  Just enter code ‘beaninloveblog’ at checkout!  (P.S.  The reader discount is only good until 12/04/2014, needs to be entered in the ‘promotional code’ box, can be used as many times as you want, and can be combined with other offers unless otherwise specified in other offer conditions, but can’t be used on clearance/sale, gift cards, or overstock categories.)

Have you ever purchased from eShakti?  If so, what was your experience like? 

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Find eShakti elsewhere on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest!

No Slip, No Slide

Let’s talk about new-parentisms.  You know the ones.  You have your first baby (or babies) and high-alert kicks in.  You use baby detergent and only baby detergent on anything baby touches/wears/smells/spits up on.  You check and recheck car seat installation and then you don’t even leave the house anyway because you never know what might happen if you do…bad things.  You don’t let anybody come within a five foot radius of the kid because germs are now your worst enemy.  A request to hold the kid?  Your worst death stare is doled out.  You cry along with baby when baby gets shots.  You get a security system on your house in your safe neighborhood or you up the ante on the one you already have.  Clothing baby with new clothes that haven’t yet hit the washer?  Ha!  Get real.  That’s right.  You know exactly what I’m talking about.  One of the weird isms we had to take care of before the twins were born was the comfort factor of our living room rug.  It was a low-pile rug which also translates to pretty hard and more for aesthetic purposes than cloud-like comfort for footsies.  Definitely not cushy enough to lay our soon-to-be bundles of joy on it.  So, the hunt for a rug pad was on.  It needed to be fairly cheap and add a little padding.  Cutting to the chase, we ended up finding a good enough one on super clearance at Kohl’s.  On clearance meaning we paid $30 for it.  [In case you needed a visual.]
It was one of those cut-to-size ones that I ended up having to trim a few inches off.  Under the rug it went and lay baby after baby we did.  End of story. 

But not really.  A few weeks ago, Rug Pad USA asked me if I’d want to try out one of their rug pads in return for writing a review on it.  Funny timing too because my mom was here the week before and was constantly telling me how I really should do something/get something to make our kitchen rug stay in place.  The girls are constantly beating it with their wheeled toys and other toddler paraphernalia and it usually just ends up all bunched up by the baby gate.  So, naturally, I asked Rug Pad USA if they’d send me one for that rug.  They happily took the measurements (because you can get whatever size you want!) and I had the pad under the rug in a week.
   

They sent me their Premium-Lock pad and it is awesome.  Seriously.  I didn’t even know rug pads like this existed!  Our other rug pad is screaming in jealousy and I’m screaming at our old rug pad for not telling me there were better to be had.
 

Not that I really minded the flat-woven texture and zero cush of the kitchen rug in the first place, but adding this rug pad made having a rug over tile so much more gratifying.  It’s so comfortable that I’m guilty of picking the rug up and moving it the few inches closer to the sink when I do dishes because it gives rest to the weary feet.  With that in mind, did you see Mandi’s (from Vintage Revivals) latest DIY, no sew floor cloth?  Freaking amazing!  It’d be a perfect idea to pair with a Rug Pad USA rug pad anywhere in your house, especially that pleasant sink area where dishes pile up.  Get rid of those ugly rubber floor mats and whip up your own rug comfortized (so not a word) with one of these rug pads!  You can have form and function and THAT is a beautiful thing!  :)
Coming full circle though, I didn’t even think about laying Sebastian down on our kitchen rug whilst I did my domestic duties, but with our new pad, now he’s down there at least once a day.
And the girls?  Well, they’re still movin’ but our rug ain’t movin’ with them anymore.


A few other things we love about this rug pad (and btw, Rug Pad USA didn’t ask me to say any of these):
-It has a rubber backing so if I ever decided to move our kitchen rug to a carpeted area, all we have to do is flip the pad over so that the rubber side is touching the bottom of the rug and bada-bing.  No bunching on carpet.
-It’s made from 100% recycled products.  We’re big fans of conservation and recycling/repurposing so the fact that Rug Pad USA is lessening the fill in our landfills is A-o-k with us!
-You can get whatever size rug pad you want!  Have an odd-sized rug like ours?  Our kitchen rug is 71 x 32 inches and Rug Pad USA cut the pad to fit perfectly.
-Going along with the previous point, you don’t have to worry about buying a rug pad and messing up trimming it to fit.  Give them your measurements then buy it, get it, lay it.  That’s it.
-They cut pads for any shape rug – round, rectangle, oval, runners, and square!  My dream rug for our living room usually is a round one in my head and there is no way I would attempt cutting a round rug pad for it myself.  Enter Rug Pads USA and I don’t have to.
-And random but, it doesn’t smell like chemicals.  I remember taking the rug pad we purchased at Kohl’s out of its package and how it had a strong, chemically smell to it.  I pulled this one out of it’s packaging and it smelled like oatmeal.  No joke.

All in all, I really love the rug pad.  I have nothing bad to say about it.  Head over to Rug Pad USA and check out the different kinds of pads they have.  There are pads for every budget and rug in any size and shape you want.  P.S.  Rug Pads USA is offering a 15% discount to all of our awesome readers whose rugs are in the market for a life partner.  Just use code pr15off at checkout!

When Rug Pad USA contacted me about the review, they said it best when they said “it’s not the most glamorous thing to write about” but let me tell you, my feet think otherwise…and our babies bottoms, backs, bellies, etc…
 

Have a great week!

A Bean Review: Number1Direct.com

We're big on reviews:  reading those of others to find out about certain products and, when we have time, writing our own to give our two cents and help other prospective buyers.  Reading reviews can help make or break a decision when it comes to buying almost anything.  Knowing the likes, dislikes, quality, and issues about a product by someone who's already used it or tested it (we love Consumer Reports) is a huge step we don't skip over when it comes to buying appliances and other 'big' things.  In this case, we're going to review a website that sells appliances and other such household items directly from the manufacturer...meaning, a lot cheaper than the big stores.  

If you read about our appliance woes a couple of months ago, you know we recently sought and found new appliances.  After looking for deals at Sears, Lowe's, and some other well-known appliance retailers, we found Goedekers.com.  Their prices were a chunk cheaper and they were running a stainless steel appliance deal with GE - get stainless for the same price as color.  So, after checking out lots of reviews on GE appliances (we decided to just replace everything - fridge, dishwasher, stove, and microwave), we decided to give Goedekers our business.  They had tons of different appliances to choose from, which is awesome but picking which models we wanted (and reviewing particular models) took us a little while.  At the time we order the appliances, they were also running a 'free shipping on orders over $999' deal, which I've noticed they run everyday even though it says it'll end 'tomorrow'.  They also told us at checkout that we'd most likely have our appliances within 7 to 14 days.  Well, two months later, ours came in.  I guess that's the thing with ordering direct, if Goedekers doesn't have the item in stock they'll have to order it in from the manufacturer which adds time to your receipt.  Fortunately for us, the only thing we really needed was an oven since ours didn't work but after saving $500, it was worth the wait.  So, if you're in a hurry to get your appliances, you might want to think about ordering them from this website.  We also ordered 4 appliances so only ordering one might be a completely different situation.  We also had to make a switcheroo on our order two weeks after it was placed and while we were waiting for our refrigerator to get to Goedekers from the manufacturer, which added to our wait time.  We ordered a gas stove and then found out our gas line was too small to run to a modern gas stove...something we should've checked before we ordered...oops.  Luckily, the customer service rep was great when I called her telling her about our mistake and changed our order right away without a problem.

As for shipping, we did read one person's review stating that the appliance he ordered arrived at his door banged up.  We were a little leery after reading that but crossed our fingers and hoped our would be okay.  We also read that you should make sure to check out your appliances BEFORE you sign for them to make sure they're okay to avoid any fees associated with shipping them back.  We took comfort in that and made sure to check ours when they came.  We did have an extra 6 day wait due to the fact that, somewhere along the line, our address was communicated incorrectly to the shipping company.  We're not sure if it was Goedekers's fault or ABF (the shipping company) but we're just glad they got here after being re-routed.  We're pretty sure that's a very uncommon problem though...or we hope.

Throughout the two month wait, we were a little antsy about our order since our credit card had been charged a few days after the order was placed so we made sure to call Goedekers every week to find out the status.  Their customer service was always great and answered every question we had.

So after all that mumbo-jumbo, here are our brand-spanking new appliances all set up, except the microwave which is gonna take a few power tools and some DIY carpentry...not to mention free time which has been scarce in this house lately.  :)

Our final two cents on Goedekers.com:  If you have a little time to wrestle with, it's totally worth the wait ordering direct.  It saved us $500 and our bank account is ever grateful!  We'll definitely use them again if we're ever on the hunt for appliances!

A money-saving/earning side note:  Instead of trashing our old, working appliances, we sold them on Craigslist giving us an extra $200 to put towards the cost of our new ones bringing our total saved to $700!  Now that's what we call a VERY good deal!