rethinking my shopping addiction

With the new year just around the corner, I am doing a self evaluation of my coupon and stockpiling habits. My standard was to buy 4-6 papers. Always an even numbers in case of a buy one get one (BOGO) sale. I mainly focused on drug stores for the health and beauty aids. I would guess my current HBA supply will last me 2 years. At this point, I really could lay off on the CVS and Walgreens deals.

Since my yard sale didn't go as I'd hoped, I think my buy-extra-to-sell strategy is moot. I made approximately $100. It really should go towards the purchase of a chest freezer. That way, I can focus on food stock. I do worry about hurricanes and random power outages, though.

I'll try to get rid of the rest of my excess HBA at the spring yard sale. Until then, I'm going to limit my drug store shopping to money makers only. Frees will be fine if it's something I need.

Last thought on this, I may switch to only purchasing the coupons I need from clipping sites and HCW. There are so few coupons for foods that aren't crap, no point in having 90% of them go unused. Without the drug store coupons, the paper isn't worth the purchase price

fragrance review

That is a laughable title. Anyone who knows me well, knows I am not a fragrance and beauty aficionado. However, I recently made my annual cosmetic purchase from Sephora. I chose the little fragrance samples for my free gifts. Included was Kenzo Amour eau de parfum. I purposely didn't look up the expert desciption. I wanted to post my impression before verifying what the undertones and notes are supposed to be.

My description: A light vanilla scent followed by the pungent aroma of play-dough.

Now, I'm going to look up the real description.



Kenzo Amour

Kenzo introduces a soft, sensual, serene fragrance with a woody, musky scent. Olfactory evocations of travelling through Asia, with memories of India, Indonesia, Japan, Burma, and Thailand. Lovely places, filled with vibrant colors and aromas.

Notes:
Frangipani Blossoms from Bali or Borobudur, Cherry Blossoms from Japan, Tanakha Wood, Incense, Thai Rice Steam, Vanilla of La Réunion, White Tea from China.

Style:
Soft. Sensual. Feminine.

Hmmm, no mention of play-dough. Know what's funny? I really like it! The play-dough smell goes away once it's on my body.

slow today, better luck tomorrow

We made $65 today. I hope to make twice as much tomorrow, at the least. Here's my mascot, the creepy toy guy I found half buried, face first in the yard, when we moved in. He normally sits on the kitchen windowsill. He's enjoying the setting sun shining through shampoo and body wash bottles.



Things that sold:

kid themed band-aids
razors
olay body wash

Stuff nobody wanted:

Pert
Stayfree pads

toothpaste and razors and pert, oh my!

Tomorrow is the big yard sale around these parts. I have a lot of health and beauty stuff I'm putting out. I'll try to get a picture in the morning. I'm hoping to make enough to get new phones for Christmas. If not, I'll dump the money in Paypal to fund my coupon/insert habit.

I would love the chance to look around for kid's clothes, too. I've been to some local resale shops and Goodwill but they are relatively expensive. Especially the resale shop. I can buy stuff on sale combined with % off coupons NEW for less than they want for used.

I'm doing terrible with my kitchen challenge and nobody else has jumped in either. :(

truly a blah day

Don't know why, it just is. We went to a fundraiser dinner for the big kid's school last night. That was nice. We had conversation with other adults. Before dinner we drove a short way along the coast and stopped at a "closed beach" because I was itching to see the sunset. They've been so pretty lately. This is totally manipulated by increasing the contrast using the color curves in PSE6. I promise I did it only to make it look as it did in person. It's amazing how someplace that makes me so miserable can have such beauty.



I'm working on my recipes for the kitchen challenge. How about you?

challenge: love your kitchen gadget(s)

After some thought, I am going to pick only one item to pamper this week. We are having a garage sale this weekend and I need to resist the urge to toss a bunch of things in the pile. I've done it before. Then I ask the Baron where my M&M shaped cookie jar* went, forgetting we sacrificed it the year before.

I am going to make a point of using my mandolin. It was a much appreciated gift from a friend but I've found it cumbersome to clean. I'm a bit of a clutz, too, and washing it makes me nervous. I like having 10 fingers.

I am first going to read about my lovely Beriner mandolin. Then I'm going to hunt for recipes.

So, what are you going to dig out of your cupboards this week? Any plans for how you'll use it? Please post in your own blog and link back in the comments section. I hope we have a good turn out for this little challenge as I'd like to make it a regular thing.

*I do not, nor have I ever, owned an M&M shaped cookie jar.