EVERYbody seems to have a Hydro Flask bottle.  Big ones, little ones, fat ones, skinny ones.  Aunty couldn’t understand what the hype was about and figured that it was just a fad.  Plus, they were rather pricey – $23 for the small ones and $30+ for the bigger ones!

Instead of a Hydro Flask, Aunty had a cute slim aluminum thermos looking bottle with a screw on lid and screw on cup.  This was taken to seminars and outings if water was needed and it served its purpose, though it would leak if it wasn’t upright (gross when it was in Aunty’s handbags) and ice water would cause it to sweat.

Truth to tell, Aunty thought the Hydro Flasks were not very stylish, and the colors were kinda ugly, BUT Aunty’s cool looking thermos was not doing its job and Aunty was getting tired of wet bag interiors.

So, like footwear, function and durability won out over looks, and Aunty bought a slim Hydro Flask that had a screw on cap with a hole for her finger to carry it around, in a zen green color.  It kept cold water cold, without leaking, at all!  Hmmm.  Aunty joined the Hydro Flask movement and the kids thought mom was cool.

After a few months, though, it seemed like the ice cold water would become warm before the day was up.  The youngest kid said to return it and get a new one.  Whaaatttt?  You sure?  Yep, for sure, and it was easy to do by registering and then letting them know wassup with the flask on their website.

Soon after, Aunty received an email from info@hydroflask.com.  This had instructions and a case number for the return.  Aunty carefully packed the zen green Hydro Flask in a box with paper padding after writing the case number on the bottle (with a Sharpie pen) and also requested any color if possible (zen green was not such a great color, in Aunty’s opinion).

Taking it to the post office for mailing, Dwayne (super nice counter clerk at the Kahala post office) weighed the box (over 13 ozs.) and suggested that I ship it without a box, making it much lighter and cheaper to mail.  Good idea, and rather surprising that this could be done!

A few days later, a box arrived for Aunty, with a spanking brand new Hydro Flask bottle, a new screw on cap, and in a nice bright kiwi green color!

Pretty neat, huh!  They have shown excellent customer service backing up an excellent product (kind of like the Apple Store).  Recently Aunty bought a short little silver looking Hydro Flask for cold water sips during the day.  It may not be stylish, but it IS cute!  Why Hydro Flask?  They made a believer and a loyal follower out of Aunty.

2 weeks ago, at Michael Mazzella‘s free Jam session on real estate flipping in Hawaii, Aunty saw Margaret, a fellow real estate investor friend.  We did a bit of girl talk chat after the session and Aunty mentioned Marie Kondo’s book, “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying” and how it was truly changing Aunty’s life.  (Post to come, one day soon.)

Well, Margaret went home, downloaded the book and took to it like a kid in a candy store.  She emailed her excitement about it, suggested that we do lunch, and we arranged the meet up.

We had a mid morning breakfast today and played catch up on people that we knew, classes that we had taken, and what we had been and were now currently doing in our lives.

Margaret is a fashionista.  I can just imagine how many closets of clothing, shoes, bags, and accessories she has – all in festive happy colors and textures.  She said that we were destined to meet at Michael’s session because of Marie Kondo’s book.  She wanted to share an app with Aunty – Stylebook by left brain/right brain LLC.  It is not a free app (Aunty’s favorite kind) but it is actually worth every penny and more of its $3.99 price tag.

Margaret showed me her wardrobe, categorized by types such as tops, bottoms, scarves, bags, shoes, etc.  Categories of categories can also be determined.  This will allow you to see your entire closet on your iPad or iPhone!  She would then “make” outfits by starting off with a focal point such as a crinkly blouse, then adding different elements such as a pair of striped leggings, see through long vest, boots, and a sassy scarf.  Each outfit can be named and saved, as well as be changed out with a touch and swipe of the finger and then saved as.

This is a great app for travel packing.  Aunty tends to pack heavy and doesn’t even use half of the clothing taken on trips.  With this app, each day’s outfit can be determined and pieces picked out from anywhere and anytime in advance. Day to day, from head to toe, then sorted into a list so it becomes an easy task to put only those items into the suitcase and feel confident that there is just the right amount of clothing for the trip.

The most time consuming part is taking photos (with the iPhone or iPad) of each piece of clothing.  Each item is laid out flat on a solid colored sheet or background, then edited with a few tools so only the item is displayed, like a cut out.  In fact, it reminds Aunty of paper dolls (remember those?) with each outfit cut out carefully and then attached to the doll’s silhouette.

This app will be even more fantastic AFTER doing the tidying exercises in Marie Kondo’s book.  Whittle down all the items in your closet and drawers to only what you want to keep, then take pictures of them.  Or, do your tidying choices DURING the photo taking for the app!  As you put together your outfits, it may become clearer as to what is missing, and that can lead to a justifiable trip to your favorite clothing store!  (You can also take photos of clothing items at stores and see how they will work out with your existing closet before committing to buying something that you may or may not need.)

The Stylebook website is very helpful, with photo tips, notes, sharing, even online shopping (that could be dangerous).

Aunty can tell – that this is the start of a beautiful concurrence of a tidying theory and an organizational practice.  Aunty can’t wait to play paper dolls again, with real clothes from her soon-to-be tidy closet!

Hide and Seek?

Aunty Mimi got a Roomba from Costco.  Pal Cookie also got a Roomba from Costco around Christmas time with a $50 off coupon special.

Big deal – how good can it be, right?

Well, according to them, it is wonderful.  Their floors are always clean.  The little feeler whisker spinners clean  around table legs and furniture.  It is cute and goes back to its “dock” when it needs to recharge.  It just keeps on working and it transitions over rugs, hard floors, and can sense and avoid stairway drops.  Blah blah blah blah, Aunty kept hearing it over and over in her head and then decided to get one from Costco.com ($359 + $17.32 tax + $17.52 shipping) because it was not available at the Hawaii Kai Costco last week.

Aunty was able to redeem several Costco cash cards while ordering online, so the final cost was quite low.

It arrived today via UPS, and Aunty read the easy startup instructions, plugged in the docking station and the Roomba beeped and rocked into its charging/resting place.  Instructions said to charge overnight but as soon as the battery light on the Roomba was green, Aunty pressed “CLEAN” and the Roomba took off.

It is almost like having your own R2D2 or that other robot in Star Wars, except that the Roomba is really short, works non-stop, and looks like a flat sided flying saucer.  It was fascinating to watch as it would gently bump into stuff (Aunty has a lot of stuff) and then try again from a different angle, then take off in a seemingly random pattern.  When it would get stuck, a woman’s voice would say, “error 5, clean side wheels” or something like that.

Turning it upside down like a big turtle exposed the dust bin, which got full quite quickly.  It took a while to figure out how to remove, open, and clear the bin, but after the 2nd time, Aunty was a pro.  Right side up and bin back in place, Roomba was ready to rock and roll again.

Aunty became it’s assistant, moving chairs, boxes, rubbish cans, bags, etc. out of its way so that it could go where no vacuum went before.  Because it was so short (about 4″) it could go under shelves, couches and beds, Oh My! and Aunty would follow it around on arms and knees to watch joyfully as it sucked up old dust and debris in hard to reach and see places.

Aunty’s bed became the depository that held a lot of the piles of stuff on the bedroom floor – making it a must-do-something crisis later this evening.  Not to worry, Aunty can handle or will just pile the stuff back on the floor  again before sleep time, the same for all the stuff that was piled on couches and chairs in the parlor.

Cleaning became like a tag team and even though it was a bit of a physical workout moving things around so that Roomba could pass and clean, it was fun and so worth doing.  As Roomba began to deplete battery power, “Dock” would flash.  Aunty gently carried it to the room where the docking station was plugged in (under the couch), did a final cleaning of the dust bin, filter, and brushes, and then pressed “Dock” as Roomba slowly sashayed and rocked into place for recharging, with a little tone beeping melody.

According to the manual, Roomba would have gone back to the charging station automatically when it needed to, but Aunty wanted to help it home.

Aunty is usually not demonstrative in showing affection, but after the initial cleaning session with Roomba, Aunty had to say, “I love you, Roomba!”  I really do.

Aunty first played Robert Kiyosaki’s CashFlow game at a 3 day Rich Dad Education seminar in Las Vegas.  Boy, was it fun!  All of Aunty’s competitive juices kicked in, and everyone couldn’t wait for their turn to toss the dice and impatiently waited while people did the changes on their Income Statements.

Bam!  Already, a lesson in accounting was built in, the kind of accounting that each of us really needs to do for our own circumstances.  These income statement worksheets are available in each game box or a more scrutinizing one can be accessed online at RichDad.com/resources page.  Career cards are shuffled and picked, each person having an occupation such as doctor, lawyer, teacher, truck driver, etc. with their own corresponding income and expenses.  The goal of the game is to acquire enough passive income (income that your investments kick off) to cover ALL your expenses, thus eliminating the need for a job.

The game is played by taking turns rolling the dice and either landing on Opportunity, Market, Pay Check, or Doodad spaces.  You then draw cards that correspond to those categories, and either buy, sell, trade, collect, or pay.  Income Statement adjustments are constantly being made, with the goal of the game being out of the rat race of working to collect a pay check and using that pay check to pay for your expenses.

This game is something like Monopoly – on steroids.  Usually it is limited to 90 minutes of play, otherwise people will want to keep playing and playing.

More lessons are learned when one loses than when one wins.  People’s personalities and tendencies become very evident.  That is perhaps the biggest lesson to be learned, your own tendencies, inhibitions, and faults.

Aunty HIGHLY recommends that everyone, no matter their age, to play the CashFlow game.  It will change players’ mindset from self limits to what is possible.

One of the most dramatic changes Aunty saw was with Uncle.  Uncle is like a rock.  Solid, stable, careful, hardworking.  When we purchased our Kaimuki house in 1985, it was to be our one and only personal abode.  We weren’t ever going to move.

However, after the 2nd time of playing, it was as if a lightning bolt zinged through Uncle’s mind.  ZAPPP!!!  “Hey,” he says to me, “maybe we should sell our house…”  WHAAAAT??  I was shocked.  Uncle had done a 180 degree turn, willing to use our main asset (our house) as a vehicle to get better results for our future well being.  THAT was progress, and all it took was a few rolls of the dice and some changes on a paper play sheet.

CashFlow games are played with friends, sometimes local organizations sponsor games (google search Cashflow game and your city), and now you can even play online.  Play to learn.  Learn in order to change.  Change in order to grow and improve.

We haven’t sold our house – yet.  However, we have used the maximum amount of equity that we had built up over the years in order to invest.  Was it scary?  You betcha, but it is turning out to be a great decision, building our passive income slowly and steadily until one day soon, Uncle can retire and get out of the rat race with enough perpetual passive income to support our lifestyle together.

Aunty has already used the CashFlow concept to purchase her latest (but not last) car.

Mahalo to Robert and Kim Kiyosaki for inventing this great way of teaching us in a really fun way.

Many subscription based businesses present in Power Point fashion and read from the text – VERY boring stuff, even if the copy and content are excellent.  Bug Free Mind has the best promo video* with state of the art elements that I have ever seen.   Having someone voice the point first, and then having the text follow is a very pleasant learning and enforcing experience, and it was also very effective, since Aunty signed up after an enjoyable 12+ minutes of presentation.  [*to view without entering any of your contact info, go to the sign up page, do not enter any info, and close the window, as if you were exiting the page.  A window will then appear, “Are you sure you want to leave the page?”  Click on “Stay on Page” and you will see the promo videos without signing up.  The 2nd 12 minute one is a killer video!]

1st free lesson

The first free exercise is called “No mind” – in a 4 minute video.  However, the exercise is not taught in this – according to the comments section, it will come in the 4th part.  ???  I am a bit confused, but will stick it out and wait for the unfolding.  Do not click on the “download” below the video because it doesn’t work – purposefully and unharmfully by the developers.

2nd free lesson

Soon after, another video was sent via email “Tap the Magical Power of your Subconscious on Demand”.  This was a 9 minute video about how our subconscious intuitive mind has slowly been discounted to the point of being unimportant.  This is due to society, our environment, training, life in general.  Thus, our thinking process tends to only listen to our mind, not our intuition.  Our minds speak to us with words, our intuition whispers to us with feelings.

The homework or exercise to allow our subconscious magical powers was to look at a problem or dilemma, and ask for a solution, decision, choice; then forget about it.   Our subconscious mind will be mulling this over, and the answer will come to us at some point in time.  The best time to ask our question is just before falling asleep.  Upon awakening the next morning, do not get up right away.  Instead, drift between being asleep and being awake.  Relax and allow your subconscious to speak to you in feelings.

Interesting – worth a try, don’t you think?

[note:  each video will have an aggresive call to action to order, sign up, etc.  Very compelling, but Aunty hasn’t signed up to join – yet.]

3rd free lesson

This one is entitled, “The ABC Guide to living a legendary life”, and is 12 minutes long.  The secret to this is 1) figure out what you want, and 2) just work on that project until you succeed.  It is important that you spend enough time designing what you want BEFORE you begin building it.  This is important – figuring out what you want first.  This rather long lesson ended with a sales pitch to reserve the books.