Welcome to the Logix SmartLab

How is it already mid-February? If you’re like me, you have barely recovered from the holidays. All the dining out, celebrations, and gift-giving were fun, but now you’re stuck sewing the hole that burned in your pocket. Then, just when you think you’ve finally caught up, sneaky February 14^th is upon you vying for your love and credit cards. Yes, Valentine’s Day can very much feel like a commercial holiday and yet, many of us want to celebrate it by showering our loved ones with costly gifts. If you are looking for that kind of gift guide, this isn’t it. As the title suggests, this Valentine’s Day Gift Guide is for those who want to show their Valentine some affection while still being budget-conscious. As a bonus, these gifts take little planning and can come together in less than a day.

If our calendar year could be compared to a basketball game, we're at about half time. For those of you who don't know anything about basketball, the game is broken into two halves with half time in the middle. During halftime both teams retreat to their locker rooms.

So, right now, we're in our half time. We're in the locker room taking a quick breather from running up and down the court like athletes trying to score as many points as we can. It's time to huddle up and make sure we are doing things right.

Planning a wedding is one of the most exciting and stressful experiences of your life! From cake flavors and color schemes to bridal party attire and deciding on flowers, it can be enough to seriously consider eloping. One of the most difficult pieces of the wedding puzzle is setting and sticking to a budget. It seems as though any service is doubled after the word wedding is said and trying to figure out how to cover the expenses can be a daunting task. Once you’ve said "yes" and the wedding planning begins, budget is usually the first conversation that is had between the couple and any other family members involved.  Look to these few tips to help relieve some of that budgeting pressure:

Smell that?  That’s the sweet, sweet smell of the open road.  Freedom from your everyday obligations, adult responsibilities, and diet rules.  Temporarily…let’s not get crazy, bills still need to be paid and that kale isn’t going to eat itself.  All that negativity aside, there’s a road trip adventure awaiting you!  North, south, east, or west – no road map is needed here.  Plus, you likely have GPS already, just in case ;).  When the open road is on your horizon, do visions of a shiny RV dance in your head?  Mine too.  Herding the fam into the RV is the prime travel cliché, but for some, the cost-benefits may be the reason behind it.  Driving motorhomes or hauling travel trailers offer not only the capacity to bring that “home essence” on vacation, but can also be a more affordable way of traveling, considering the average rate of hotel rooms for the family. 

 My favorite bicycle vendor refuses to offer a lifetime warranty on their products. Their argument is that they want to make something so good it doesn’t need a warranty. What the other manufacturers do is make something so cheaply that, with markup, they are expecting every item to be replaced by a warranty at least once and they still turn a profit. To do that, the manufacturing cost has to be incredibly low, which brings the quality down.