Worth the Moolah: 2023 Edition

Worth the Moolah: 2023 Edition

Ahhhh that time of year, which really is a random time each year, that I decide to put out my very biased Worth the Moolah blog edition.  This is where you can fully judge me, and yes I’ve taken out not worth the money blog in hopes of not offending you fire pit owners!

So, without further ado, I present to you this year’s list of things I think are worth the money:

1. Pet Butler– I will come out of the gate hot here with a very unnecessary, but wonderful service we found called the pet butler.  Yes, we got 2 dogs over the past two years.  Yes, my wife is insane, and she knows they are “her” dogs.  That said with our electric fence and endless doggy poo poo, it has become quite the task to clean up on them regularly.  Add the 3 kids in the mix and our backyard was like a poo-filled war zone with landmines everywhere.  Now, thanks to our pet butler, once a week they come, and poo be gone!
2. High-Speed Charger- Ok, so I am an apple guy when it comes to our home devices.  Airpods, iPhones, iPads, etc.  I recently went all in ($60 worth) and got myself the mack daddy of apple chargers.  This bad boy charges things lighting quick, versus the standard junky chargers Apple defaults to.  I love it and would firmly say anything that saves me time, especially for minimum cost, is worth the moolah.
3. Disney Travel Agent– Really, I could say any travel agent, but I’ll make it a little more specific.  Going to Disney is a chore and a half.  That said the two times I’ve gone I’ve used one of these Disney-specific travel agents.  Let me tell you, it made the experience that much better.  They booked restaurants and rides, got us discounts, planned our itinerary, and got us upgrades.  The best part, it cost us nothing as they get paid by Disney directly.  Oh, and if interested we literally have one of our operations specialists at Diversified who does it on the side.
4. Theragun– I am in love with my Theragun, and just got the eye massager too, which is great.  Essentially, they are home massaging machines.  The Theragun can be found now on the bench of every professional sports team, and these old muscles of mine love a nice massaging.  Little pricier, but I’m obsessed with mine, to say the least!
5. Precheck or Global Relay– Selfishly, I shouldn’t even mention this one.  But I love you all way too much to hold it back.  If for some reason you travel at all and don’t have at very least a TSA precheck, then think again.  It costs approximately $99 for 5 years and has you cruise through the security line at all airports.  If you want the benefit internationally as well, splurge the extra $30 for Global Relay, although be aware will take you much longer to go through the verification process.  Remember when I said if it is a nominal cost and saves me time, I’m all in?  Well, this does exactly that. 
6. Doordash– Time to judge me again, but I love Doordash.  I also might be their number one customer.  The days of me calling up restaurants for takeout or delivery is basically over.  Instead, I go onto this glorious app and order basically anything.  From WAWA to fine dining, we are constantly benefiting from this time and efficiency saver.  Nothing like having anything I want at any time delivered to my doorstep.  Oh, and if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card you get free Dashpass!
7. Help when hosting– I love hosting holidays or events at my house, and the bigger the better.  This goes back to my formative grade school and high school years to be honest.  Something about hosting I’ve always enjoyed.  That said, there’s something about hosting I, and likely all of you reading this, hate.  The cleaning up, the prep, the serving, etc.  I was at a friend’s house who hired their housekeeper to help during one event.  Let’s simply say I haven’t been the same since.  Now when we host a big Thanksgiving, or whatever, they handle virtually everything while I get to actually enjoy the company I intended to spend time with.  Slam dunk, homerun worth the money.
8. Wearable Devices– I’m referring to Apple watches, Oura rings, Whoop bands, and the like.  My personal favorite is the Oura ring for my lifestyle.  That said these devices are becoming more and more sophisticated and valuable.  Instead of one trip to the doctor every so often, these things are constantly keeping your vital stats.  On top of that, they are constantly informing you of when you need to adjust your lifestyle like being more active or getting more sleep.  I find them fascinating and very much worth their cost.
9. Rainbow flip-flops & Vuori sweatpants– OK shameless plug for two of my favorite articles of clothing.  For starters, in the summer I do everything I can to live most of the time down the Jersey shore.  This means, very rarely do I want anything except flip-flops on, despite what my family and friends refer to as hobbit feet.  That said the Rainbow flipflop is the best flip out there by far.  Takes a week or two to break them in, so be patient, but once you do they’ll hug your feet for years (believe they come with a lifetime warranty as well).  As far as Vuori sweatpants, let’s just say I am well versed in my sweatpants, so much so my wife thinks she doesn’t know when she casually puts one out to pasture.  Heck until 7th grade it was all I wore until I started caring what the girls thought.  That said in all my years, all my travels, and all my sweatpants these are by far my favorite.
10. Premium Credit Card– This one might be controversial, but I’ll throw it out there anyway.  I’ll lead with my disclaimer that only use credit cards if you pay them off each month and are responsible with them.  Now, there are many different premium cards on the market that come with an annual fee.  Some can even range in the $500-$600 range.  However, if you do the math and research to determine what the additional benefit means for you as it pertains to awards, your spending, and your desired credit card benefits in most cases they are well worth their additional costs in return of benefits.  As mentioned above one of my favorites is the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.

The Great Debate

Well, there you have it folks, my annual worth the moolah blog.  I’m sure there will be much-heated debate over these topics, but I welcome them in good spirits.  Also, certainly happy to elaborate if anyone is curious about my experience with any of the above.  We work on word of mouth and try to do our best so others will share our services with people they think can benefit, thus if I see something or someone that really has a great product or service I’ll do anything I can to help spread the word.

As always stay wealthy, healthy, and happy.