Day 15: Clothes and Shoes Land in Donation Pile- 42 Items!

 

 

I had a two-hour block to myself this morning. It must have done me good because afterwards, I decided to attack the closet. Since we moved with no furniture in tow, the linen closet became a clothes closet. Most of the time it is in great shape, until the season changes and we have to have a mix of warm and cold weather clothes. Then the closet gets jammed with clothes. All I know is that it's clean and I can close the door and not look at it until I'm ready.

 

 

Today I was ready. Not only did I look through the children's clothes, but also a bag of new-to-me shirts for my son and I given by a dear friend, and also all our shoes, and our winter gear, among other things. I even found a lone shoe and lone shin guard. Not sure how that happened. Only 7 of the 42 items are trash. Everything else is neatly packed for the church yard sale next month.

 

 

 Here is the list of clutter corralled today:
11 shoes and sandals
13 pieces of clothing
4 winter gear
2 sandwich presses
1 knife
1 shoe plus 1 shin guard
1 life jacket
1 hula hoop
1 small pumpkin
1 chunky belt
1 broken sword
Also, not pictured: a squeegee, quilted bag, and homemade plastic poncho.


I was thought I would barely get 7 today. But, a couple of hours of cleaning up reminded me of lots of items I've meant to get rid of but kept forgetting. In the end I cleaned up the shoes in the coat closet, part of the children's closet as well as one shelf in the linen closet. Now the clothes on the shelf look a  lot better, until next season (I hope not!) or until we get new furniture.

Day 14: Threw Out 9 Items in 1 Minute

Think before you act. This works for most everything in life. Except sometimes when de-cluttering. Especially for people like me who struggle with overthinking tidiness and then keep ourselves from accomplishing anything. Sometimes you just have to put on the Nike shoes and do it. Next thing you know there's 9 things to throw away. Empty bottles, old hair stuff, another can of frosting, and eye drops that made it to the trash but not this picture.

How did your Clutter-Busting Day 14 Challenge today go?

Day 13: Swords Forfeited- Lil' Son Helps Declutter

I took this weekend off for the challenge, mostly because of Mother's Day, partly because I was getting a little intimidated. Starting new habits or just making changes in general is not easy for me. And I guess I started feeling like I might not make it 31 days doing this! Can someone relate?

I did manage to wrangle up a week's worth of newspapers late Friday. Love, love the Wall Street Journal. I feel smart after reading an article or two. But 6 papers a week can be too much clutter. I just remind myself it's also online.

So, refreshed from a nice and relaxing weekend, I'm ready to take on the challenge again. My son surprised me and got 9 items together to give away. He usually has a problem letting toys go. Of course I didn't help with convincing him to keep a couple of toys. I had to leave the room before doing any more damage.

What I really hope to get through is cleaning the fridge and freezer like I planned this weekend. How about you? Are you doing the Clutter-Busting Challenge?


My success stories in decluttering so far:
Day 11-12: Challenge break- no post
Day 10: Satisfaction Gusrantee on Cosmetics at CVS = Easy Returns!
Day 9: More Amazon Movies For Trade-In & Toiletries to Give Away
Day 8: Giving Away Tomato Plants
Day 7: Get Paid For Old DVDs with Amazon Trade-In
Day 6: Decluttering Crafts and Preschool Game- 15 items
Day 4 and Day 5 Decluttering: Box Tops, Boxes and Old Timer - 31 Items!
Day 3: Threw Out Old Meds and More Bottles- 30items
Day 2: Cans and Empty Bottles- 27 items
Day 1: Give Magazines Away for Mother's Day! 45 items  
 

No Doubling Coupons at Kroger, But Great Finds at Produce

I think that I will miss Kroger's double coupons as much as Publix's Tiramisu. It was great shopping sales, pretty good sales, then having coupons double on top of that. But, there will always be a better sale, somewhere, somehow... even if that means changing shopping habits a bit.

This week's deals dairy and produce are great: 
$1 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers
$0.99/lb lunchbox apples- gala, Fuji, red and golden delicious
$1.50 head of cauliflower
$1.77 18-ct eggs
$2.96 gallon whole milk
$1.50 8-oz shredded Kroger cheese
$5.97 3-lb roll of ground beef

I will probably shop again later in the week to stock-up on more produce and other deals I find on I Heart Kroger. She has the best deals!

CVS: Easy Beauty Returns, Part 2 and Deals and Shopping Trip

Last week, I shared with you the return policy of CVS's Beauty Club. I was able to return 4 nail polishes with no hassle. I got the same exact type but different colors. My cashier didn't ask for any receipts- although your mileage may vary. Have receipts handy anyway!


The Starbucks K-Cups are not BOGO, unfortunately, but Folgers instant coffee is, regular and decaf (but they are different prices). Plenty of cereals were also included in the $1.77 sale. And boy were my kids glad to have Fruity Pebbles for breakfast. For only $0.77, I can grant them that small joy.

I also found a Venus razor for $6.99 that produced $3 ECBs. Using a $3 manuf. q and 30% off made this FREE with a lil' overage.

I thought the travel size Crest would give $3 ECBs like they have before. But alas, no. So I had to return it. Because I used ECBs to make the purchase, they put the amount of the return back on a CVS card.   



Not bad for a little quick trip!
Here is the rundown of my trip:
2 Folgers, BOGO, $7.49 -2 $1.50 printable
1 Fruity Pebbles, $1.77 -$1 printable
1 Venus Razor, $7.99 -$3 from 5/12 PG
2 Crest travel size (had to return)
-$3 (from 30% off email coupon)
-$10 ECBs from previous transactions
= Paid $1.74, Got $3 ECBs, Got $4 on CVS card

Visit Money Saving Mom for more deals at CVS. I also used Hip2Save's coupon match-ups.

Menu Plan Monnday: May 13

Hope all you mothers had a great day yesterday! I got to do my favorite things like visit the park , eat a light lunch out in the backyard and got serenaded by my husband!

My other favorite dinner was roasted venison tenderloin. We were invited by friends out to the country for a bonfire cookout. The children loved roasting marshmallows for s'mores. We even saw a deer walking past the field of harvest-grade hay. What a wonderful experience!

I pretty much stuck to my menu last week, except for a couple things that got switched here and there. I'm so grateful! It's not easy for me to commit to a 7-day plan! I am linking with others for Menu Plan Monday. For this week's dinner menu, this is what I am hoping to make:

Monday: Fried Rice
Tuesday: Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole
Wednesday: Spinach Ham Quiche
Thursday: Hamburgers
Friday: Sausage and Peppers
Saturday: Fish Tacos
Sunday: Roast Chicken

The cheesy hasbrown potatoes was posted by Money Saving Mom and is the easiest thing ever! I have even made a version with sweet potatoes. It was kinda like a French toast casserole. (Photo source, from the same blog post.)

Satisfaction Guarantee on Cosmetics at CVS = Easy Returns!

 

For Day 10 of the Clutter-Busting Challenge, I got rid of 36 items, mostly cosmetics. I'm returning some to CVS, but most went into the trash.

 

Not only does CVS have a great Beauty Club Program, they also have 100% money-back returns policy on their cosmetics.

 

I found 8 items I recently purchased that I want to return. Since most of the time I rush in and out of CVS, it's hard to find something I really like. It would be great if I can get the same products but with different colors.

 

It's a relief to know I don't have to get stuck with the wrong color polish or lipstick!

 

(A couple of items aren't from CVS, they were just in the picture!) 

Straight from the website- CVS Return Policy on Cosmetics:

Q. I heard that you have a 100% money-back guarantee on beauty purchases. Is it true?

A. It is. Be 100% happy or receive 100% money back on any beauty products. If you're dissatisfied for any reason, you can return the beauty product (opened or unopened) along with your receipt or invoice to any CVS/pharmacy store. We'll refund the full purchase price — no questions asked!

 

 
Unlike the products for the CVS returns, these 26 items were trashed... had most them for a couple of years, mostly from my daughter's kid make-up that she only used a couple of times. The colors just disappeared into her natural tan. (I had to explain today that she doesn't need to get a tan this summer at the pool because she already is tan, lucky girl.)

Does your cosmetics bag need as much freshening up as mine? Share your clutter-busting moves at Money Saving Mom!

Building Fond(ue) Memories: Peek Into Our Week

 

Welcome Company Girls! My week has been pretty decent so far. I haven't had much time to read or sit outside. But the children and I have enjoyed fun times. We still had plenty of strawberries our neighbor gave us. They were starting to look sad. But instead of putting them in the freezer for smoothies, I dipped them in chocolate. So yummy!

 

 We still had plenty of melted chocolate left afterwards so I added a little milk, oil, and white chocolate chips to make fondue. We had Matzo crackers, apple and banana slices and marshmallows to dip in the chocolately goodness. It was so much fun to share this spontaneous moment with my kids. (Their first dip into fondue!)

I've also been decluttering for ten days! I had a hard time letting go of crafty preschool things like Playdoh. But my ten year surprised me with her rendition of the Cupcake Wars in Playdoh.

How about you? What are your highlights this week?

Snoring? Get Help at Walgreens (Or At Least Try)

It's so hard to admit that I snore. Probably because it's much easier to point fingers at someone else and blame them for a hard night's sleep. Until you wake up from deep slumber thinking someone is at the door. But, it's only you.

 

Some suggest that a better diet, exercise, and sleeping early all contribute to less noise at night. Breathe Right also say they can help. Walgreens paid me $2 this week to take it home. So, I'll give that a try. Then I'll eat better, workout and stop watching The Voice at 11pm.

 

Even if you don't snore, you can help someone out for free this week at Walgreens. My Walgreens trip consisted of 3 transactions broken up like this:

#1 Transaction:

Breathe Right Extra 10 pk, $4

(used $2 Manuf Q from Cold and Flu Wags booklet)

Walgreens 8pk Tampon, $1.49

=Paid $3.49, Got $5.49 RR

 

#2 Transaction:

Calagel Spray, $5

Chicken of the Sea Tuna, $0.79

(Used in-ad coupon)

=Paid $0.39 (used $5.49 RR), got $5 RR

 

#3 Transaction:

Nice! Sugar, $2.29

(Used in-ad coupon)

Nice! Italian Shredded Cheese, $1.99

(marked down)

Keebler Sandies, $1.99

=Paid $1.26 (used $5RR)

 

Walgreens is always a hard place for me to shop with coupons. For example, the Breathe Right coupon was from a booklet that Walgreens published and it rang up "expired" on the register. The cashier couldn't believe me at first when I showed him the date was not expired. For the second transaction, he wouldn't let me use both RRs to pay. Each time, his boss came over and fixed the problem. I have been learning not to be a Freak-Out-Mom and still stand my ground. That is my caveat of the Walgreens couponing experience.

 

Also, more often than I care to admit, I forget about spending my RRs before they expire, leading to lost money. Nowadays, I try to spend it all in the same trip. They have plenty of groceries that are reasonably priced as you can see.

 

How about you? Do you care about Walgreens' deals? More deals are always posted at MSM and Wild For Wags!

 



Day 9: More Amazon Movies For Trade-In & Toiletries to Give Away

Day 9 of the Clutter-Busting Challenge! Only 12 more days to go before this becomes a habit. (I hope it sticks! I'm really bad about clutter.)

So I found more DVDs to submit to Amazon Trade-In:
Sean Connery 007 collection vol. 1= $5.75 (Hubs didn't care for it)
Dexter's Laboratory Season 1= $5
Up Blu-ray single disk= $2.75
Princess and the Frog Blu-ray single disk= $2.75
Total: $15.50 trade-in value

Since the Blu-ray Disney movies come with the DVD version also, we can keep those to watch and trade-in the other Blu-ray version. And the cartoon was an extra copy we had. So not bad! The Boston Legal Season 1 will go to the Church yard sale.

I also found a bag of toiletries I thought I already gave away. The deodorants are not the ones my husband uses but they were free with coupons. So I had planned to give those away. But of course it got stashed somewhere. I forgot about it. And here we are again getting rid of them.

All in all, the total was 26 items that will find another place to call home!


 

Giving Away Tomato Plants

Day 8 of the Clutter-Busting Challenge at Money Saving Mom. I had a late start this morning since I stayed up way too late watching The Voice online. So I scrambled to declutter.

A friend mentioned that she got tomato transplants from a festival last year. She couldn't go this year but we did. I had planned to give her the tomato transplants I picked up there but had trouble letting go. I kept thinking that maybe this spring we could plant some.

But I should know better. We don't have a place to put them outside that gets enough sun. So I'm saying bye to them today! Plus they look like they could be happier somewhere else. I better give them away before I kill them.

The same friend also volunteers at a Food Bank. She said that they sometimes hand out toiletries and OTC medicine, if they are available, and someone always picks them up. So I'm handing over some of my toothpaste stock. The candle will go to an AWANA teacher next week.

All in all I'm getting rid of 9 items today.  

Get Paid For Old DVDs with Amazon Trade-In

Day 7 of the Clutter-Busting Challenge- 4 DVDs, a Nintentdo DS game, and writing supplies for a total of 15 items!

My Mom blessed her grandkids with a library cartoons, DS games and Xbox games over the past few years. She is awesome at finding online deals. But some of the cartoons the kids are not allowed to watch. Others were repeats of what she bought them like Pinky and the Brain. 

Since Amazon has a trade-in program for DVD's and games (and other media), we can get some Amazon cash for these items. Unopened DVDs fetch more money, but even those without a case can be traded-in. So, these unwanted DVDs and game will give me $41 in Amazon credit! Yay for Amazon!

Peek into my Clutter-Busting Progress so far:
Day 6: Decluttering Crafts and Preschool Game- 15 items
Day 4 and Day 5 Decluttering: Box Tops, Boxes and Old Timer - 31 Items!
Day 3: Threw Out Old Meds and More Bottles- 30items
Day 2: Cans and Empty Bottles- 27 items
Day 1: Give Magazines Away for Mother's Day! 45 items