The Marble Jar Channel

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video I'll talk what I don't like about  Mint.com  -- my budgeting program of choice.  This is the last of a 3 part series on how I use Mint. In the last two videos, I did a quick tutorial on  Mint.com , which I use for budgeting and I talked about what I like about Mint.  In this video, I'll share what I wish it did better: Security  - I wish I didn't have to give my bank account login credentials to Mint.  That said, if I want the convenience of having all of my transactions in one place, this is the price I have to pay.  Thankfully, Mint isn't some 2 bit, fly by night operation.  They are owned by Intuit, who also owns TurboTax and Quicken.  They have some experience in keeping data safe.  Here's what Intuit says on their website about how they store this data: "Login user name and passwords are stored securely in a separate database usin...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video I'll talk what I like about  Mint.com  -- my budgeting program of choice.  This is Part 2 of a 3 part series on how I use Mint. The first video in this series gives an overview of how I use Mint.  In this video, I want to cover all of the things I like about Mint: Consolidation  - prior to using Mint, I had an elaborate process by which I would log into both my bank and my main credit card website and export transactions from each.  Then I would put them all into a spreadsheet.  This required me to be at my laptop and would take some doing.  Plus there were inevitably duplicate transactions.  It was, in short, a pain in the rear.  Mint makes this process SO MUCH EASIER.  Once you establish a connection inside Mint with your bank account and credit card accounts, it seamlessly pulls in all your transactions each time you visit the webpa...

Hi, everyone. This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today’s video, I’ll give you a quick tour of the program that I use for budgeting,  Mint.com .   This is the first of a 3 part series on how I use Mint. I’ve been compulsively keeping a budget since I was in college.  My parents made it a mission to spend as little money as possible when i was growing up, so I guess some of that rubbed off on me.   I'm also someone who loves systems, tracking things, and data -- so budgeting is a natural fit for me.   Obviously, the technology has improved a lot in 25 years. My favorite software used to be Microsoft Money, but they phased that out years ago, which is when I switched over to  Mint.com .  Mint has some real advantages and some annoying drawbacks, but having tried many of the alternatives, I’m convinced it’s the best thing out there at the moment for my needs.  I have two separate videos where I share my lik...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today’s video, I’ll take you on a quick tour of my favorite iOS PDF reader and manipulator, the GoodReader app. There are a billion apps out there that will allow you to view and edit PDFs.  I use Notability if I need to draw on PDFs, but if I want to interact with the text in a PDF, GoodReader is by far my favorite and has the most robust functionality that I have found.  It definitely trades simplicity for function, so although it does almost everything, it can feel complicated AND some functions are kind of buried, so it helps to have someone show you all the things it can do. So, this is my whirlwind tour.  Here we go!  First, let’s talk about Getting PDFs into GoodReader Goodreader offers lots of ways to get PDFs into the app. I almost always use iOS’s intra-app exchange system. Meaning that when I am in Safari and viewing a PDF, I simply hit the share button and choo...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today’s video, I’ll tell you about my favorite podcast app -- Stitcher, why I like it better than the others that I’ve tried, and I'll take you through all of the features that I love the best.  I have been on the hunt for the best podcast app for years now.  Stitcher is the 4th one I’ve tried and I like it the best by far.  In case you are interested, the others that I tested out were the indigenous Apple Podcast app, iCatcher, and Overcast.  Stitcher has a premium service, which involves content, but I just use the free app.   For whatever reason, I have found podcast apps to be unnecessarily confusing. Because I’m reasonably tech savvy, I generally chalk this up to design flaws (rather than user stupidity), but I was honestly starting to wonder in the case of podcast apps. Was there something inherently confusing about RSS feeds?  Once I found Stitcher, I realized t...

Hi, everyone. This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar Channel and in today’s video, I’ll show you how I use some of the new multitasking features in iOS 11.  I just downloaded iOS 11 and wasted a couple of hours one morning geeking out figuring out all of the new features. There are a bunch of new things, but in this video, I’ll talk about some of the ways that I use multitasking. App Switching I have been a huge fan of multitasking since it was first introduced.  By far the feature I use the most is app switching. Basically, this is the ability to switch between apps without going back to the home screen.  You used to do this by swiping up with four fingers to reveal the multitasking screen.  It didn’t work with three — you had to use four.  With iOS 11 there are now 2 ways to app switch without going back to the home screen. You can do a small swipe from the bottom, which reveals the Dock.  I find this to be a little harder to do when the keyb...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and today I'll discuss using Blue Apron as a Culinary school in a box for your kids.  I would like my kids to be competent cooks.  They are 13 and 15.  I'm not looking for next contestant on MasterChef Junior, but I want them to be able to find their way around a kitchen and make some reasonable meals. To this end, I have tried a bunch of systems with varying degrees of success starting when they were in early elementary school.  Let's see if I can remember some of the highlights: I joined a monthly mail away cooking club that sent these adorable cookbooks and little kid-sized kitchen implements, I created a summer cookbook for the kids to work through with easy recipes for lunch, I've signed them up for pricey classes at our local culinary school, I assigned them weekly nights to sous chef for me, and most recently, I implemented a Kids in the Kitchen Night once a month where they took ove...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and today we are going to go over how to use the parental restrictions that are built right into the iPhone and iPad.  Okay -- so today we are going to explore the parental controls that Apple has built into their iOS devices. They actually can be quite powerful. I know a family that essentially transformed an iPhone temporarily back into a dumb phone for their daughter just by using these controls.  More about that later on.  Okay -- go into Settings --> General --> Restrictions. By default, the Restrictions are all turned off. In order to make any changes in this area, you will need to create a passcode.  Choose to Enable Restrictions and select a 4-digit passcode.  This is something you will not be sharing with your kid, so make a note of it somewhere private.   Allow Apps: The first area allows you choose which native apps to allow on your kid's device. By native, I ...