Personal Review of Ting Mobile Service

This post is a little out of the ordinary for my blog, but this has been a huge money saver for us and it's good to share the wealth! In an effort to save money, my husband explored new options for our mobile service. We have iPhones for him, me, my mother in law and my brother in law and the bill was getting to be a lot every month. He looked into different options and found out about Ting, which is a reseller for Sprint service. We already had Sprint, so the phones were compatible and nothing really changed. The service is the same but most importantly we have saved a lot of money every month. With Sprint we had unlimited data, and with Ting you pay monthly based on your usage. With four iPhones our bill has averaged about $60 a month, that's included data, calls, and text messaging.

One of the downsides if that you have to buy your own phone. Most cell phone companies either give discounted or free phones with new contracts, but with Ting you buy your own phone. What we have done is just buy iPhones on Amazon.com at a discounted price instead of buying brand new in the store. You do have to be careful that the MEID is compatible with Sprint and make sure the purchase is verified and you aren't buying anything fake. You can also go through Ting's website to buy phones, which may be easier for some because you don't have to mess with verifying the phone it's already guaranteed to work with the service which is great. 

Ting is known for their excellent customer service. We have called multiple times and our calls have pretty much always been answered right away instead of going to a queue and having to wait 10 minutes. When we bought our house we noticed that we basically had one service bar in most of the house. Phone calls would drop, we would get voicemails without a missed call, text messages would take a while to send, and during calls sometimes I could only understand half of what people were saying. We called Ting to problem solve and we tried a few steps in an attempt to boost the signal. After living here for a while the problem wasn't getting any better. So again my husband called and mentioned that we had tried all the problem solving steps and that it was a safety issue since we have a small child, we definitely need to be able to make phone calls. Instead of suggesting any problem solving steps Ting sent us an Air Rave, which is a signal booster. Once we turned it on we had five service bars and have had no problems with phone calls or messages not going through. And they sent that to us at no cost, which is really awesome considering our service is so affordable.

If you are interested in checking out Ting you can follow this link to learn more and save $25 off a device or $25 of service credit. This opinion is 100% my own and not sponsored by Ting. This has been something my husband has been suggesting I blog about for months, and I'm glad I finally have. I try to tell my friends and family about Ting whenever I get the chance because hearing how much some people pay is crazy to me! I can't imagine paying that much for cell service ever again. 

DIY Farmhouse Tabletop

I am so proud of how our new dining room table turned out. I love all things farmhouse decor, and I wanted a farmhouse table for our dining room. The downside was definitely the cost. Instead of buying a farmhouse table I thought why not build a top for an existing table that would make it look farmhouse inspired. I've seen it all over Pinterest so it was really easy to get inspiration. I do plan on sharing as many steps as I can to help you build your table top. A lot of what I saw weren't actually tutorials. Some blogs had a couple of progress pictures but most didn't specify the size or type of wood used, what screws they used, and how to assemble the table top. This project took a lot of time because we had to do most of it in stages, but it's completely worth the time. My husband and I really love our table and it's such a great focal point in our dining room.

Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs

This was so easy and delicious! You won't believe how good these are until you make them yourself. The ingredients are simple and cheap, but this is the kind of meal you'll want to go back for a second helping. Let's get right into it!

Kallax Door Hack

This is an extremely easy and affordable way to give your Expedit/Kallax more of a custom look. I realized while shopping at Ikea that one of the Kallax door inserts was the same price as buying one of their seagrass baskets. I thought instead of having four baskets that also having a couple of doors would look great. 

Painting a Bench with Chalk Style Paint

When my husband and I were building the table top for our dining room table, we knew we wanted a relaxed feel. I didn't want to buy six of the same chairs instead I wanted four chairs and a bench. Benches are great for children because they can be wiped down, and you can line up three kids!  It also helps save space since you can push the bench in when it isn't in use and get around the dining room easily. Everything I do has to be on a budget. Of course it would be so fun to go on over to Restoration Hardware or West Elm and pick out whatever bench I love, but realistically I just can't justify spending so much on furniture. I was looking at Ikea and realized all the benches were either too wide or too low. Next I checked out Target online and I found a great solid oak bench for under $70! The only downside was the finish. The legs were stained black, and the seat was stained an orange hue. I didn't love that look, but that's where homemade chalk-style paint comes in!

12 Frame Gallery Wall for $25

This is an easy way to style a wall if you're on a budget. My dining room really only has one wall that can make an impact. One wall is a big window with curtains, and the one across leads into the dining room and is very small. The wall behind the table is quite large and I knew I wanted a gallery wall. The only problem was even inexpensive frames from Ikea in the size I wanted are $12 each, and I wanted 12 frames so that's easily $144 just for frames alone. 

I found these Malma mirrors for $1.99 each at Ikea, and I saw on a couple of other blogs people printed pictures and used Mod Podge or other glues to adhere the pictures to the mirrors. I love the look of the chunky white frame and the small picture, plus I saved a lot of money because I printed six pictures on one piece of paper. You can use regular printer paper, but I have matte photo paper that is great for printing on. I chose 12 of my favorite pictures from tea parties that I've hosted, and I printed them in grayscale. I cut one picture until the size was perfect, then used that to trace and cut out the remaining 11 pictures. I didn't secure the pictures with anything because there is a gap between the frame and the mirror, so I sort of shoved the edges of the pictures in that gap and they stay put perfectly. As great as the idea is for this gallery wall, the way I hung the frames is really what is wonderful.