How I Use Instagram

Hey friends and happy Friday! I'm off and away early tomorrow morning for a quick weekend trip to my hometown in Southern California. I'm pretty pumped about getting some good Mexican food and soaking up the 80 degree weather! Oh and I'm excited to see my mom and dad too. ;) I'm actually heading there mainly to see my dad and help him out around the house for a couple of days. He just had a knee replacement, and living alone after that kind of surgery isn't exactly ideal. Anyhow.....feel free to follow along on Instagram......I'm sure I'll post at least one pic of what real tacos are supposed to look like. ;) Seriously, I feel bad for people that have never eaten really good Mexican food......and you can hate me for saying this, but if you haven't eaten Mexican food in Southern California you don't even know what good Mexican food is. Just sayin'. #hatersgonnahate

Speaking of Instagram, my favorite place to hang out other than the ol' blog, I thought I'd share a few of the ways I use this social media outlet in my daily life. I think it's one of the easiest and most interesting platforms to use......and it's even kind of replaced Pinterest for me. Say whaaaaaaat?

Instagram helps me get dressed every day which seems crazy, but it's true. I screenshot favorite outfits from the fashiongrammers as well as the clothing brands I love and follow. And using an app called Screenshotter I organize my screenshots into folders.

You don't have to use an app to do this, but I've just found that the Screenshotter app makes it so easy. In terms of what outfits I screenshot to save, I usually like to save those outfits where I have something similar looking in my closet, so that I can recreate that look without buying something new. Or maybe I'll save an outfit that pairs colors or patterns together that I really like and have never thought to put together. Occasionally I save photos of pieces that I'd like to add to my wardrobe at some point. I'm slightly obsessed with Draper James. I mean what's not to love about Reese Witherspoon?!

Having easy access to these photos on my phone makes outfit planning super easy.

I also screenshot and save inspiring design images. And what I love about a screenshot from Instagram is that I have the source info saved in the comment section, so if I want to go back later to look this image up on my computer I have all the info necessary to find what I'm hunting for.....unlike Pinterest where half the time a pin will send you on a wild goose chase. I've found that even when the big glossy magazines re-gram something they will usually give proper credit to the designer and photographer, so that when I screenshot the image I have all the correct information.

I also love Instagram because it's the one place where I find it easy to keep things organized. I'm really bad at updating the pages and project galleries on the ol' blog.......I'm trying to get better at that. But I find with Instagram it's really easy to organize the photos I share with hashtags.

I have a hashtag for recipes and meal ideas.....some of which I only share over there and never put them on the blog.

The hashtag #fifthhousetravels is one I've used for years.....so you can get caught up on the places we've visited, and we can easily create vacation photo books. The printicular app, which I've mentioned before, is still my favorite way to print Instagram photos.

Just about every new blog post gets grammed and shared using this #ofhblog hashtag, so if you're someone who checks in every now and again that hashtag is a great way to get caught up quickly.

I've been using the hashtag #designingnumber6 to share the design, decorating and behind the scenes decor related photos of the new house.

I even have a hashtag for outfit posts.......where you'll quickly see just how obsessed with leopard, plaid and the color red I actually am.

You can also take house tours using #ourfifthhouse or #oursixthhouse. I really do love Instagram and have found it to not only be a fun place to hang out with you all, but it's also a great resource for so many things..........looking for healthy meal ideas, new hairstyles, artists to follow........it's all there! Blogging will always be my first love......as I think I'm ultimately too wordy and crave something more than a sentence or two in a comment area......but Instagramming is definitely a close second for me. What about you all? Do you love Instagram as much as I do? What's your favorite form of social media?