CVS, fruit and a 2 year old turns 3 and gets a haircut

Hello

I made a second trip to CVS this past week  and again I'm very happy to buy so much for just about $3.00 cash 

3 bags of diapers

2 large sodas

2 Dawn dish soap

Easter egg full of tattoos for next year- 75% off

1 Biore

And 6 bottles of bleach (almost a year's supply) 

Reasons why I use Bleach.  - this article explains it  Living On A Dime

I scanned my CVS card and the red kiosk until it quit giving coupons- kept giving different coupons for 6 tries and then it stopped

I used newspaper coupons, CVS coupons and ExtraCareBucks from previous purchases. 

Total dropped from $66.ish to $3.61. 

The receipt says it was a 95% savings. 

And I got more ExtraCareBucks for my next trip to CVS. 

We had a birthday party to go to tonight and we offered to bring fresh fruit.  My daughter was trying to not use silverware at this party so I thought to put the fruit on skewers.

We got the fruit on sale so this turned out to be a thrifty dish.

My husband helped me skewer the fruit.  It went fast and I was glad all our fruit was firm,  I think squishy fruit might fall off the sticks.  

The skewers were very popular at the party and they were so easy for people to just pick up 1 or 2, much quicker than serving multiple fruits on a tray.  

If you want to see fancy skewers, look on Pinterest. 

Ours were very simple, just grapes bought for 99 cents a pound, strawberries for 1.19 a pound and the pineapple was $1.49.  

A pack of 100 long skewers sells for $.99 at Walmart.  

I serve fresh fruit often and I'll definitely be doing fruit skewers again.  

JJ is our April birthday boy.  Yes,  he did get a major haircut, a miscommunication with the fill-in stylist. It was a bit of a shock but he is still very cute

And hair and little boys both grow very fast.  

To do list, etc;

Below is my to do list for this week and I also put a few projects to work on during April.

No grands here yesterday, and with my husband's help, we had a very productive Monday.  

This is the first harvest from husband's little garden- red and green leaf lettuce and a dab of spinach.  

Fresh eggs- my daughter bought them from a student at her school.  

Even if I had to wash them,  brown and blue eggs are just so much more cheerful than plain white ones.  

Saturday night, I got to thinking about Sunday lunch.  So I went in the kitchen and found the ingredients to make a bowl of tabouli salad.  

I also chopped up some potatoes, onions and carrots and found some beef broth and chopped, leftover roast beef and broth in the freezer.  

Sunday morning, it was very easy to start some vegetable beef soup cooking in the crockpot.  

It was so nice to come home from church and know lunch is ready.  

 We had a very relaxing Sunday afternoon after a busy week.  

Sharing this photo because I think they are just so cute and happy

Have a wonderful week everyone 

Today's CVS purchases and if you want to see my stockpile....here it is

I had my deals and coupons planned out ahead of time so we stopped at CVS on our way to church 

I prefer to go at this time because the weekly ad has just started and sale things are usually in stock.

Also my favorite CVS manager, Cole, is working then.  He is also a couponer and knows exactly how deals are supposed to work.  

The socks and chocolate were both on clearance 75% off and my husband needs socks so this was a good find. 

Everything else was on sale and bought with coupons.  

My receipt says I saved $100,06 which equals 100% and I spent no actual cash- just ExtraCareBucks from previous week's and coupons.  I got back $17 in ExtraCareBucks.  

I blog about my deals and some of you have commented asking where I keep it and what do I do with all of it.  

First, we live in a pretty normal Oklahoma home that has quite a bit of room.

Second, I do share these purchases with my family and with others in need.  

Our hall bathroom has a deep, floor to ceiling linen cabinet.  

On the top shelf is multi packs of toilet tissue.

On the 2 bottom shelves are about a dozen boxes of facial tissue, 15 bags of assorted diapers, 4 extra hand soaps and 5 twin packs of Pantene shampoo and conditioners. 

I didn't photograph the baby wipes, they are on the top shelf of the toy room closet.  

Laundry room 

On the top of the cabinets are 5 multipacks of paper towels.  

I can fit more up there and I think paper towels are a deal next week at CVS. 

Remember- I plan ahead by looking at the  future CVS sales at IHeartCVS.com

The lower cabinet is deep and holds about a dozen bottles of laundry detergent and a few bleach and fabric softener.  

The bottom shelf has a few bags of laundry pods and assorted laundry products.  

The rest of the CVS stockpile is in our big, walk-in master closet.

On one top shelf is more toilet tissue.  

The other items are in containers on this tall shelf in the master closet.

Shoe boxes of dental floss.....

Bar soap.....

Cosmetics.......

Deodorants........

A basket of women's razors and a basket of men's razors and cream 

Toothpastes and brushes 

The bottom shelf is dark so I put a lantern to help light it up for the photo.mm

On the left are shampoo and conditioners, 

In the middle are mouthwashes

On the right are liquid soaps and lotions.  

And I forgot to photograph the tray of face moisturizers and makeup wipes.  

My tips for stockpiles 

 I rarely spend much cash. 

 At CVS, I focus on sale products that give ExtraCareBucks and then use my ExtraCareBucks for future sales.

 I do almost all bargain shopping concentrating on just CVS.  I see great deals on line that people get at Walgreens, Dollar General, Publix, Target, KMart.   Pick one store available to you and focus on it.

 Buy stuff you will use.  

 Join a Facebook group that posts for the store you shop.  

 Be organized. 

And have fun!

 I like that couponing stretches our income but I also consider it a hobby and a game.  

Easter, CVS, some bulk cooking, etc!

Hello everyone - the end of March and beginning of Spring has been a busy time here.  I'm guessing your homes have been busy with similar things.  

First,  FedEx delivered this beautiful box of organic produce from GrubMarket.Com

I won it as a giveaway on Laura Lane's blog  http://harvestlanecottage.blogspot.com

Thank you to Grub Market and Laura

We celebrated Easter all day on Sunday.  

First we went to church and then we came home for a big family day.  

Here are some eggs we colored.  They are not real eggs but fake eggs I got at the Walmart Clearance last year for 19 cents a dozen.  

We used markers and stickers 

And my daughter tried the rice-food coloring- shake it all up method she had seen on Facebook.  Mixed reviews from us on that one.....

Our lunch menu included "doubled eggs" as 5 year old Elizabeth calls them.  

I cooked 2 dozen eggs.  I like to use a pastry blender to mash up the filling 

And a small scoop to fill the eggs back up.  

That very large dining table I found on a Facebook swap and shop list is so nice for big meals.  

We got a heavy rain on Easter morning and it left the backyard muddy so we had the egg hunt indoors.  

Lots of fun!  

My brother brought a huge fresh fruit tray from Sprouts and this fancy dozen donuts from Hurts 

https://www.facebook.com/Hurts-Donut-Norman-Oklahoma-689685841084686/

My daughter and me, after most of our Easter activities.  

Mid week, son Bobby came with daughters Andie and Charlie.  My parents came over to visit them too. 

That's 10 month old baby Jackson and 9 month old baby Charlie.  

The cousins always like to do crafts, even if it's just coloring.

They are all so happy to see each other.  It makes this grandma so happy to see them hug and spontaneously say "I love you Andie" or which ever cousin they are near.  :) 

Midweek, we made a quick trip to Tinker Air Force Base.  Plane-crazy Braeden was so happy to see airplanes up close.  We also shopped at the Exchange and stocked up on groceries at the commissary. 

CVS 

I had not been in about 2 weeks and I ended up with a pretty big haul.  It did not go quite as planned.  The deals on the CVS app don't show up in the store for me so I did call customer service.  

Anyway,  after coupons and ECBs and my gift cards from Swagbucks and MyPoints.com,  I think I spent $19 actual money and got back a pile of ECBs.  Customer Service also added some ECBs to my account so I have lots to shop with the rest of April.  

Whether the CVS deals go exactly as I think they should or not, I am still very happy shopping there and will continue 

My husband and I celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary and he gave me 3 dozen roses.  

They smelled so good and lasted about 10 days.  

Bulk Cooking 

I cooked a big batch of homemade chili and put most of it in the freezer for quick meals on future busy days.  

I also made a big batch of refried beans for th freezer, but didn't take a photo.

Not a great photo but my son asked me to bake cookies for 50 for a reception.  

I baked my favorite chocolate chip, oatmeal coconut and snickerdoodles.  

When he came to get the cookies,  he also made himself a salad to go and he looked over the garden

In our backyard

The garden is my husband's project.  It is doing great and I'll take better photos when the sun is not making shadows like in this one. 

One plan I have for April is it will be a low-spend extra thrifty month at the If You Do Stuff home, 

Our biggest bill of the year is due in June. So we are planning to save extra the next 2 months so when that property insurance leaves our savings account, it won't be as noticeable. 

More on that later............

Have a good first week in April everyone 

Glue on Nails -Pros, Cons, and Tips for Press On Nails

I've been using different brands of artificial nails that are glued on to my fingers since September 2015.  

I'm very happy with how they look, the low cost and the speed with how long it takes me do a full manicure.  I get lots of compliments on my cheap-o nails and several readers have asked for tips so I am happy to share.  

There are several brands of glue on nails. 

Dollar Tree has sets of 12 nails for $1.  The 12 nails are in 6 sizes.  This works great for me because the smallest 5 fit my fingers perfectly.  But everyone's hands are different and they aren't going to fit everyone the same.  

Dollar Tree nails are the lowest cost of any artificial nails that I know of.  Dollar Tree nail products are called Sassy Chic brand.  

At my Dollar Tree, these nails are popular and don't stay stocked very long so I always check for them and if I see some I like, I buy them right then.  

I try to buy 2 or more sets when I like the design so I have some spares for repairs too.  

Dollar Tree nails have to be attached with glue - my thought about glue will be below 

French Style nails with Dollar Tree nails.  

Impress nails are my other favorite.  They can be bought at Walmart, CVS, Amazon - they are a national brand and sell for $5.97-$8 a set.  

Impress have 24 to 30 nails in each set so it takes a little longer to select the right sizes for each finger.

The bigger sets allow some spares for repairs too.  

Impress nails have an adhesive attached to the back.  There is a sticker back so you just pull off the backing to reveal the adhesive and attach it to your nail.  

I have also tried Kiss brand nails and I mostly like them the same as Impress. 

I tried a brand that I don't remember which brand, that had a seperate double sided adhesive pad that went on the fingernail and then the nail was attached to that.  It may of worked great but it was too many steps for me so I just attached those nails with glue.  

Glues

there are several to choose from.  

Super Glue is the first adhesive I tried.  Super Glue does hold the nail on very securely.  To remove them was the hard part.  I had to soak my finger tips is Acetone nail polish remover until the artifical nail softened enough to scrape off. This took me at least 15 minutes of soaking.  I don't want to use so many chemicals so I don't do Super Glue and I don't recommend it (but other people do. )

Dollar Tree sells Sassy Chic nail glue, also $1.   It holds just fine but when the nail is removed, the glue turns to a thick goo on my nails that also requires Acetone soaking so I don't use it anymore either.  

Kiss, Nailene and 5 Second brands of glue are all brands I like and recommended.  They come in brush on and with a squeeze drop applicator.  Both are fine, I just prefer the brush on applicator.  

These brands are in the $5 a bottle range and can be purchased at drugstores, beauty stores, Amazon.  

Applying nails

The first few times I used glue on nails, it took at least 30 minutes because I wasn't sure how to match them, etc.  

Now, I can do a full manicure in less than 5.  In fact yesterday, I put on a new set in the car while my husband drove us to church. 

First, remove any polish on your nails and clip the nails short.  

Then file the ends.  Some nail users say to also lightly file your nail surface to rough them up a bit to give the glue something to hold on to.  My natural nails are so thin,  I don't dare file my surface.

Take care of your cuticles however you like. 

Then clean your nails with alcohol or remover or the moistened pad that comes with some nail sets.  

Natural nails need to clean and oil free for the adhesive to hold. 

Now, look at the nails you purchased and match up the artificial nail to each finger.  I lay them all out on the table top, in the order of my fingers.  

Then adhere them, either with the peel off back or with whatever glue you choose.

Once you put on a nail, hold it in place with your other hand with gentle firm pressure for at least 5 - 10 seconds.  Then move on to the next one.  I start with my pinkies and do both thumbs last.

A manicure usually lasts me 5-7 days.  Some bloggers say theirs last 2-3 weeks.

The biggest enemy of a glue on manicure are water and not letting the manicure set for at least an hour.  This is especially true for the nails like Impress with the adhesive sticker back.

When I do a manicure, I prefer to do it at the end of the day, AFTER  I'm through  cleaning and after a shower and hair washing.  Once the nails are on, I sit and do nothing to put any stress on the nails and I also give them all more squeezes and then I usually go to bed.  

I do take showers and wash my hair again but not right after putting on a fresh nail set.  

I still do a lot of housework but if I am doing something messy, I usually wear gloves.  

Repairs

Sometimes a nail pops off for no reason.  I usually know when it happens and I can just brush on some glue and reattach it.  It the nail is lost or damaged,  I just glue on a spare one from the same set.  

Sometimes a nail breaks.  If possible, I go ahead and remove the broken nail.  But sometimes, I just glue an identical nail right on top of it.  I did this last week when I ended up with a notch missing from one nail.  That repair lasted until I did a new manicure.

To make repairs convenient, I keep the spare nails from my current set and a bottle of brush on glue in a sandwich bag in my purse.  I also keep a spare bottle of nail glue in the kitchen.  

Removing nails

After about 5-7 days, the nail glue starts to dry or get brittle or something, anyway it just starts to turn loose.  When I can tell the nails are getting loose, I use the end of an orange stick to GENTLY go under an edge that is loose.  The artifical nail will usually pop off easily.  Don't force a removal,  I never have but I'm sure if it was forced, you could pull off your natural nail with the artificial nail.  

If they don't come off easily,  I soak my tips in remover.  It usually just takes a minute or two for the glue to loosen enough to release the nail.  

When all the artifical nails are removed,  occasionally  I need to use some polish remover to finish removing the glue but usually I can just lightly buff with a nail buffer to finish cleaning my nail.  

I had solar artifical nails put on at a salon for over a year. They were very strong and looked pretty but they were expensive,  $40-$50 every 2-3 weeks as I live in an expensive college town.  I was also concerned about the lamp used to set the polish.  Several times I had a mild sunburn after salon manicures.  

Time wise- it took at least an hour, maybe longer. 

And the worst was all the drama at the salon -

I am very happy with glue on artifical nails.  They are cute, easily fit in our budget, don't require a big time investment and use a minimal amount of chemicals.  

Glue on nails do require more tending to than salon nails but I'm OK with that.  

  

What my nails look like right now - Impress nails from CVS

I really enjoy having fun nails from time to time.  

If you are interested in press on nails, I hope I answered any questions.  

These are just my opinions and thoughts- I have not been paid or sponsored by any nail company.