Ideas Worth Sharing: Tidying, Maps, and a Mighty Mug Review and Giveaway — IWS #3

by Janice Campbell · Published September 17, 2015 · Updated July 8, 2016

It has been awhile since the last Ideas Worth Sharing (IWS) gathering post. Here are a few things I’ve enjoyed over the past few weeks. But first, let me give you the link to the Mighty Mug giveaway — I’ve had a ridiculous amount of fun testing it, and the company was nice enough to offer a $30 gift card so one of you can win your very own tip-proof mug. Scroll down for my review and photos of where I tested it below. But first: tidying, musings on a Charlotte Mason education, a great book list, a Ted talk, and some very odd maps.

I rarely read books that make the best-seller list, but The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up kept cropping up in conversations, so I finally cracked and bought a copy. Marie Kondo’s method is definitely unusual and in some ways reflects her Japanese life and heritage, but the principles are easily translatable to other life situations. Since fall is the time when I usually have a bit of energy, it’s my primary tidying time, so I’m having fun applying a few of her techniques. If you struggle with too much stuff (such a first-world problem), I think you’ll find this useful.

Remember, a Charlotte Mason education is Not Just for the Children, but that’s something that’s easy to forget. Those of us who are graduated homeschool moms will especially appreciate Joy Shannon’s post at the Charlotte Mason Institute.

36 Books Every Young and Wildly Ambitious Young Man Should Read from The Art of Manliness: This blog is is a must-read for men, but I’ll confess that I like it too. There are quite a few books on this list that I’ve enjoyed, and a few new ones to check out.

And just for fun, here are 32 Maps that will Teach You New Things. It would be fun to go through this post, one map a day. Believe me, there is a lot to learn!

I enjoy listening to Ted talks while I’m walking on the treadmill, which, to be quite honest, means that I don’t get to watch many in a week. Or month, if we’re going to get down to brass tacks. I recently enjoyed The Nerd’s Guide to Learning Everything Online, in which author John Green talks about finding learning communities. It’s truly amazing what is available.

Mighty Mug Review

Yes, it stayed put, even on my drawing table.

When I got an email from Mighty Mug, I thought they were kidding about having a “mug that won’t fall over.” Because I work in a cat-friendly environment, I am always grabbing my glass or mug to keep it from drowning my keyboard, so I was intrigued. I visited the website and chose the mug that suited my eye. Most of the mugs were tall and slim — classic travel mug shaped. The one I tried is a more traditional mug shape. You can see it sitting nicely on my drawing table. It stuck well at this angle, which is perfect for what I do. It even stayed when I accidentally whacked it with the t-square.

What really interested me, though, was seeing if it could withstand curious cats. We share our home with four of them, and at various times during the day, each one visits my desk to make sure I’m on task. I was initially nervous about letting them walk over and rub against the Mighty Mug when it was full of coffee, but I soon discovered that it actually did not tip over.

What makes it virtually tip-proof is the rubber piece on the bottom of the mug. At first, I thought it might be a suction cup, and had visions of wrestling with the mug, trying to detach it from my desk, then having it suddenly release and shower the room with coffee. That’s not how it works at all. The mug lifts straight up without any difficulty, and certainly no danger of a shower. You can see videos of this at the Mighty Mug website.

Other than the cat testing (you can see a couple of the testers below), I tried it on a variety of surfaces. There were only two things that made it less clingy. One was setting it down on an uneven surface such as a countertop seam, and the other was setting it down on a surface that had salt sprinkled on it. I don’t normally have salt on my tabletops, but happened to have a bit, and it did prevent the rubber bottom from gripping as tightly as normal. On a clean, smooth surface I could not get it to tip.

The last thing I tried was seeing if it would work in my normal size car cup holder. It did (see below). I’ve always been a user of beautiful hand-thrown pottery, wood, or china mugs, but I think the Mighty Mug will be my go-to mug when I work at the drawing table or need a travel mug. It’s comfortable to use, and I like not having to worry about tipping.

Thanks, Mighty Mug people, for the opportunity to try it out, and for offering a free mug to one of my readers.

Enter the Mighty Mug drawing here!

The drawing is over, and a reader named Melissa is the winner of the $30 gift card. Thank you all for entering!

Olivia judged the Mighty Mug to be acceptable.

The Mighty Mug fit into the car cup holder just fine.

There actually is a black cat doing a bit of testing here.

Kato considers whether he might want a bit of coffee.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received the Mighty Mug free in return for my honest review. Also, as always, a link that leads to Amazon is most likely an affiliate link. You can read more about those below.