What I'm Loving Lately: Tools That Make Going Out-of-Town Easier

David and I are in the midst of a whirlwind of trips.  Last month, we went to Colorado to visit family.  Currently, we are on a trip to Chicago/Indiana for David's graduation and to visit family.  A week and a half after we get home, we'll be off again to Arizona for my brother-in-law's wedding (and to visit family - notice a theme?).  I guess you could say we're getting all our travel in before David gets a job.  We certainly are enjoying ourselves, but it's difficult to be away from the comforts of home.  Thankfully, I recently found a few online tools that make it just a little bit easier to manage our household while we're away.

Living in an apartment, we have the convenience of having packages delivered to the apartment office if we aren't home to receive them.  However, the office only stores our packages for a few days before returning them, which means that when we go out of town we have to arrange to have someone pick up our packages for us.  I recently signed up for UPS My Choice and no longer have to worry about having packages arrive when I'm not home (at least not packages from UPS).  UPS My Choice is a free service from UPS.  After you sign up, you receive email notices each time a package is headed your way with an estimate of when it will arrive.  If you won't be at home when it is supposed to arrive, you can request it to be received at a different time, you can direct it to another location, or electronically authorize it for drop-off.  All these make receiving mail so convenient, but more than anything, I really love knowing that mail is coming.  Isn't receiving packages fun?

Thanks to Manilla, I don't have to worry about receiving and paying bills while I'm away.  With Manilla, I'm able to bring my financial information with me wherever I go and access it as soon as it's available.  Manilla is a free website that allows you to bring all your financial information into one place, including bills, bank accounts, and rewards programs.  According to Manilla, the average household has more that 20 different accounts - credit cards, travel and hotel rewards accounts, magazine subscriptions, utility bills, etc.  By storing all your information at Manilla, you only need one password to access all your financial information.  You can also receive reminders to pay upcoming bills by email or text.  I no longer have to worry about checking each individual site or remembering a variety of passwords.

example of all your accounts linked on Manilla

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Manilla.  This post includes sponsored content and affiliate links.  Opinions are 100% mine.