Jack of all trades

*this post is so disjointed because i wrote it over the course of multiple days... who has time to write a whole post in one sitting?  not me.*

i know this is old news for people.  people that have had an iphone for more than 2 months.  but it is wonderful and special news for me because i am still taking the time daily to bask in the amazingness of not still having one of the many crappy cell phones i've sported before.

i'm continually realizing just how much easier it is makes life to have so much condensed and simplified to one device.  and i know it's great that my phone also replaces a calculator, but most phones do.  and who carries a calculator with them anyways?  so what i'm loving is the lack of clutter in my purse when i go places and not having to carry four things around the house with me. here's my list of things that are now just backups...

my trusty camera is still much better for taking video but as far as spur of the moment pictures go, my phone is way easier because it's most likely already by my side and i can text/email/blog those pictures instantly.

i literally dusted off my book of mormon yesterday.  i'm still keeping it by my bedside, but truth is, when we're reading scriptures together at night, it's easier on the eyes, to use the scriptures on my phone.

which means my phone also replaces this little reading flashlight that i used to keep on top of my scriptures.  see the dust?!

my grocery list.  it's still in its place on top of the microwave, but when i run out of something, i enter it in my running list on my phone so i'm guaranteed to never find myself in the grocery store parking lot having forgotten my list at home.

my trusty itzbeen!  i use the free ibabylog app and it's great.  and it keeps record of everything and i can make notes on it and if i forget to press the button when i put brady down for nap and remember 30 minutes later, i can manually enter the correct time.  and now i don't have to carry my phone, camera, and itzbeen to every room of the house.  i only have so many hands and pockets.

that nifty little app also keeps track of medications.  so i should probably take these two papers off my fridge now...

the google maps app does this for me and i never have to worry that i won't have a gps with me when i need one.

okay, it doesn't completely replace my laptop, but i spend much less time on my computer these days because of my phone.  if i just need to see if someone has emailed me back, i can press a button on my phone (i made my settings so that i manually have to retrieve it... i don't like all those dings for every crappy email) instead of pulling out my computer, waiting for it to start up, and then most likely getting distracted on there with other things. also, i used to drag my laptop around the house when i wanted to listen to pandora or when i was cooking with an online recipe.  not anymore!  pandora and recipes can come with me anywhere! 

and because i hate spending money and paying the extra money each month for a data package was tough to swallow (i think my honey did everything with verizon, right down to activating my phone, before giving it to me, so that there was no way i could turn back) i'm loving that it's actually saving me money in other ways.  

1. my camera up there with the rubberband?  it's kind of a pain to deal with since the rubber band is necessary to keep the broken battery compartment closed but it makes getting to some of the buttons more difficult and it makes zooming in and out a huge, huge pain.  new camera would be over $100.  and if i was using this camera as much as i used to, a replacement would be necessary. since i don't use it as often anymore, this one is okay to stay!

2. my laptop battery has been near death for about ten months.  if i unplug it, it's good for maaaaybe 30 minutes and will shut off with no "your battery is running low, find a power source to plug in" notice.  which is painfully annoying when you're using it in the kitchen to cook something and have to run it back to your bedroom and wait ten minutes for it to restart and reopen everything to find your recipe again.  according to the customer service guy i talked to on the phone, a new battery is about $90... plus shipping.  which, is that really worth it for a three year old laptop?  probably not.  not needing to unplug my computer pretty much ever, the short battery life is pretty much a non issue.  as is the fact that my laptop cord died and i had to steal honey's.  which he doesn't ever use because his laptop is crap and he relies almost entirely on his work ipad... but that would be his blog post, not mine.  so let's throw in another $25 of savings for that cord.

3. for christmas a year ago, my parents gave me a gps.  i actually already had one that i got as a college graduation gift but sometimes honey would take it with him on business trips and then it wouldn't be in my car when i needed it.  it happened enough times that it was worth it to me to ask for a second gps for christmas so we had one in each of our cars.  well, the charger for the gps broke but since it was from costco, i just took it back for a full refund.  i was going to buy a replacement that day but the other gps options they had were $170 to $200 which is a bit much when it's your family's second gps and you really don't use it all that often.

my phone has also saved me money by being able to pull up internet coupons (like how hobby lobby has the show and save coupons online) and saved me time by being able to pull up an email on my phone instead of having to go home to check that information, and saved my butt when i've been in sticky situations (the one i'm thinking of was 100% not my fault) and i've been able to pull up information that's saved online.  

also, the "reminders" thing that it has, has made me much more productive.  always having that to do list available so that i don't forget something before i can write it down.  and that i can set times and locations that i can be reminded of certain things.

other honorable mentions go out to... 

the "clock" which is not only my alarm clock when i need one but it was also an awesome stopwatch when i was timing contractions.

the "weather" button, which i'm sure many people find convenient, is something that makes me giddy.  i'm someone that keeps the weather for my area on my toolbar so it's always only a click away.  now that i have it at my fingertips 24/7, i couldn't be happier.  

the lds tools app.  because i used to keep a copies of our updated relief society directory in my purses and all over the house.  heaven forbid should i need to stop by someone's house or give them a call and not have their address or phone number on hand.  now i always have it!

so when i write it all out... the iphone is still a chunk of money but it feels like pennies with how worth it it is.  how did i live without this thing?!  and what a shame that it took me five years to jump on this bandwagon.