Um, hi. I have some miscellany for you.
I'm feeling a lot better!
Thanks for all your kind words to me on Monday. I rested like a champ that day (I read 2.5 books!), and also took it pretty easy yesterday.
(Totally gave myself gold stars for that. Resting is not my forte.)
My kids were all really helpful and quiet, and Joshua brought me a mint chocolate Crunch bar, so that was pretty awesome.
I'm feeling a lot more like myself today, and while I'm still a little run down, I'm mostly on to the congested stage of the cold.
Which is way better than the achy, truck-ran-over-you stage.
The daylight LED bulbs at Costco are terrible.
I've been wanting to switch to LEDS so I bought a multi-pack of Costco's daylight bulbs and oh my soul, they are awful.
My kitchen felt like it was under a sterile spotlight and I couldn't bear to leave the bulbs in. I'm definitely taking them back to Costco (thank heavens for a great return policy there).
I'm gonna ask an electrician friend which brand he recommends (he installed some nice warm LED recessed bulbs in our office.) I think the problem could have been that the Costco bulbs are labeled as daylight, which is on the cooler range of things. I need something warmer!
(If you have a brand recommendation, let me know.)
I dig the Better Binders from Staples.
Back in 2012, I bought two Better Binders from Staples because at the time, they were guaranteed for life*. I gave one to Joshua, and he's been using it every year since.
I put the other one in my music bag, where I use it to file my church music every week. I started out with one Better Binder and one regular binder, and you can see the difference in how they've held up.
I have some Amazon credit from redeeming my TopCashBack rewards, so I think I'm going to buy another 1.5 inch Better Binder to replace my regular one.
And I think I'm going to buy one in this size to replace this binder as well.
(No one can accuse me of not trying to extend the life of my binders. The tape never holds forever, though!)
The ONLY downside to these binders is that the covers are sort of grippy, which means they don't slide down into a crowded bag super well. But given their superior performance, it's a flaw I'm willing to put up with.
(*These binders were initially guaranteed for life, but as of 2014, the warranty is only a year. However, given how strong mine are still going after 4 years, I think they're very worth the price. I'm not affiliated with Staples. Amazon links are affiliate links.)
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Ok! That's the end of today's miscellany. Don't forget to share LED recommendations for me!
My husband is an electrician and he really touts the LED lights as a big, long-term money saver. We're working on switching ours over little by little, as they are a bit of an investment up front, though the price is coming down. The first bulbs he bought he put in the kitchen, and like you, I HATED them. They were just too cool for that room. We put them in the entryway, which is more of a utility room. They are fine in that capacity.
The color is actually measured in kelvins. Here is a page that explains it well.
http://www.integral-led.com/education/warm-white-or-cool-white
The lights you purchased being "daylight", they are definitely toward the bluer, or cooler, side of the spectrum. We paid better attention to the number the next time we bought LED's, and were able to get some that look very nice in the kitchen. Hope this helps, and so glad you are on the mend!
I prefer warmer in most of the house but find cooler good for closets or when considering paint or fabric colors.
Sorry to hear that your LEDs didn't work out! We use that EXACT brand of Daylight bulbs from Costco. We prefer the more sterile (I like to think of it as "clean"!) light, but I know a lot of people prefer the warmer, more yellow tones.
If you exchange the Daylight ones for any other color, I think you'll be more satisfied. As far as quality, we've had these bad boys for a year and they just keep on ticking. We've noticed a little drop in our energy bill, too, so that's been nice!
Oh, that's so funny that you guys love the color. It just felt so warehouse/operating room-ish to me and Mr. FG!
Thrilled to hear Costco has these! I'll be looking for them. The last time I looked they didn't have a cooler bulb. We prefer the brighter lighting. Our house seems so dark. (And we live where we have plenty of sun, AZ). Thanks for sharing the info!
And I'm hoping to discover that they have a warmer bulb! Heh.
Do let us know which bulbs you like! I have been looking too but have been waiting to use up my current CFLs. Thanks for your awesome blog 🙂
Thanks for the warning about the Feit "daylight" bulbs. I, too, find that spectrum harsh.
As for tape on binders, I suggest trying a different tape for such an application. The packing tape you used is flexible, but only because it is thin, and it's not able to take repeated flexing. "Gaffer's" tape would be far superior in this application, although good quality gaffer's tape is significantly more expensive than packing tape. For those not familiar with it, gaffer's tape appears to be duct tape, but it is not: it tears cleanly, removes easily (with little or no goo remaining) from hard surfaces, and is fabric-strengthened and very flexible.
Yup, we have gaffer's tape at church for sound stuff; super great for not leaving residue!
I've never tried it on binders before, but it's so expensive to buy, I feel like it makes more sense to just buy a binder that won't need taping.
On the other hand, if you already had some around, then using for a repair would make a lot of sense.
I don't have experience with LED bulbs yet, but what you need to look at is the "color temperature" of the bulbs, measured in Kelvin (K). The higher the temperature, the cooler the lighting. If you still have the packaging of your non-LED bulbs, check that for a comparison.
I have found that Sylvania offers good LED lights. I go with soft white or lower Kelvin light bulbs (2700, but the lower the Kelvin, the warmer the light...4000 is cooler and bluer). Utilitech's are more affordable but reliability is spotty...some have died early but after any return policy time frames and the package does not contain any contact information.
Buy a gift card for Lowe's through TopCashBack and Raise (gift cards), then order through Lowe's also through TopCashBack for extending your savings. Elect store pickup for even more savings.
Thanks for the binder recommendation. My 14-year-old son does unspeakable things to binders. I had a stash of them I've found over the years at Goodwill and on deep discount, but he's literally torn through them all. He then empties them and puts them back on the study shelf as if anyone would want to - or even could! - use them again. No, sweetheart, even your frugal, conservation-minded, make-do mama has to draw the line somewhere. Mangled, non-closing d-rings and jagged plastic edges are it. 🙂
I would definitely give the Better Binders a try. They are pretty hard to ruin...I imagine that they'd even last through your teenager's abuse for a while!
We bought daylight bulbs for our house last time we bought bulbs before we moved. I loved them. I think we bought them in the winter, so the days were short and dark and it just made the house feel like - daylight! 😀 But it was really weird looking from outside when it was dark - like daylight was pouring out of our house! Haha. When we moved into our new house, my husband wanted to replace some of the bulbs that were higher wattage, and wanted to use daylight but I suggested we not use those, as it is a bit sterile feeling.
We use the "daylight" LED's with a high Kelvin number in our living room overhead fixture-- I forget just how high, but high -- because my husband starts seedlings in our living room (against my better judgment) each winter and it helps them, along with his seedling grow lights. So our living room is BRIGHT when they are all on. That said, we use the lower K bulbs for wall and table lamps, and that is all we normally have on. I have Sylvania regular light LED bulbs in my kitchen and it works fine for me.
Glad you feel better!
Oh yeah, I bet these are great for starting plants!
I use the daylight LED bulbs in my sewing/quilting studio and LOVE them!
Glad you're feeling better Kristen, your kids sound so awesome & thoughtful!
I am so glad that Grove now ships to Ak & Hawaii, I tried to order that offer from the other day & could not get the website to work, i hope the offer is still standing. The site just wouldn't load but I didn't pursue it cause I just assumed they wouldn't ship to Ak.
Wow, was at Costco just yesterday & was excited to see those very LED bulbs on sale, asked an employee about their location & she stated they had sold out. Kind of glad now. Thanks for sharing your experience with them, now I don't feel bad about missing out on that deal.
Thanks again for such an interesting blog!
I LOVE those binders from Staples. I have the smaller size which I use as a planner. It gets shoved in my purse daily and you would never know it by how well it's held up. I've probably had it at least 4 years, and there's so little wear and tear to report. To go with the binder I've purchased dividers, pockets, and a mini three hole punch that help me create a customizable day planner that doesn't have to be purchased at the beginning of every year.
Regarding the LEDs we recently found a huge amount at our local Dollar Tree, that are great! Warm color and work well!
Glad you're feeling better. I'm on week 3 of this cold and so ready to be done with it.
I got some CREE light bulbs at Homeless Despot which supposedly had a 10 year warranty. When one of the bulbs melted they told me I needed to have receipts, all the original packaging etc. For $5, I figured they could pound sand and I replaced it with a bulb I got from my electric company (I forget the maker.)
I'm always in favor of buying things for life. If you do need to patch a binder again, try duct tape. It will hold together better. 😛
I actually did use duct tape on the bigger binder, and that gave out too. Boo!
Receipt I could see, but original packing?!? That's just an obnoxious company trying to welch out of its promises.
Hope you feel better soon - that's an awfully long-lasting cold.
We've had many LED bulbs. A couple of thoughts.
- The Kelvins are critical. For us, 4000 K is too sterile; we like 2700 K or thereabouts. I've used a variety of brands so that's not so much the issue, though we currently have Duracell and have been happy with them.
- The second factor after Kelvin I find is the look of the base. Some of them, for cooling reasons, are very industrial looking and may not look right in certain applications.
- I'm also not sure they make sense economically for three way bulbs as 3-way LEDs are very expensive.
- Finally, check carefully that they are dim-able if that is a need. I had a specific problem with Edison bulbs.
I have 5 of the Better Binders that I use at my workplace on a daily basis and several more that are used occasionally. I've had them for years and they still look as good as new. And I will second the recommendation for Sylvania LED bulbs. We build a house last year and used these throughout and I've been happy with them.
I don't know if you have a IKEA near you, but we have had great luck with their bulbs.
Anyone here have experience with the LED bulbs flickering? We find that at least some flicker on occasion. It can be very annoying. Otherwise we like the warm light ones. We've found several different ones at Costco as well as Sams in the past few years. Some of the first ones we got we even returned to Costco as they died in less than a year. They work a lot better in the cold than cfl bulbs (outside lights and garage).
Thanks for the binder recommendation. The one I keep recipes in is dying.
Yes! Our LEDs bought to replace halogen in recessed and lighting flicker horribly. Plus the light even when dimmed is very stark and not at all diffused. These are 2700 kelvin warm light and dimmable bulbs. Anyone find good LED replacements for par 30 and 38 halogen bulbs?
Oh please do a review on the led bulbs! I am so fed up with trying to find the right bulb. They are all so expensive.
Once I find some I like, I'll definitely let you guys know!
I'm so glad you found the daylight bulb terrible too! We bought a single LED bulb, back when they were terribly expensive, to replace the bulb in our light/fan in the kitchen. The LED bulb is bigger, so we can't put the glass back on. My husband is going to make an extender but hasn't gotten to it yet. It is SO BRIGHT, and STARK. You can cut yourself on the edges of the shadows! We joke we've got the arctic sun captured in our kitchen! We're stuck with it for now. I hope with the glass over it it'll be better.