How I Save Some Money on Groceries!

I’ve been wanting to write this post ever since my “new” discovery. (Which may not be new to some of you.) But I’m one of those people who like to make sure something is as good as it sounds before I tell people about it. Especially you, my peeps. I’ve got your back.

But today is the day I’m going to tell you about Vitacost. You may have seen it around but paid no mind to it like I did for months. But I finally decided to check it out and I’m sooo glad I did.

Let’s start out with a few reasons why I like ordering from them.

1. Free Shipping when you order over $25.00, which I have no problem doing because I’m usually buying things for the month.
2. GREAT packaging. They bubble wrap their canned goods and glass items. They also go as far as taping the lids shut to liquid items (dish soap, deodorant etc) and then put them in zip bags for added protection.
3. Although I’ve never had to return anything, they do have a 30 day unconditional money-back guarantee. Very good to know.
4. They have a Refer a Friend incentive. (NOT why I’m doing this but it can’t hurt. *wink*) If someone signs up under my special link then not only do I receive a one time $10.00 toward any order but YOU get $10.00 off your first order. Nice.
5. Delivered right to your door. This is my favorite part. I can sit in my pajamas, order me some groceries and other household items and then in a few days I get a knock at my door. No wasting gas and time.

So those are some of the main reasons I like shopping online at Vitacost. But as you explore the website you’ll find many more perks.

Now this may not be as great a deal to everyone. I know here in Florida groceries are expensive in our local supermarkets and I know all the prices of the items I buy and I’ve found that I save on average about $60.00 an order based on the items that I buy.

Here is a look at some of the things I bought in my very first order. I was giving it a test drive.

Here’s a picture of the receipt of my most recent order. It will give you an idea of the prices of things.

Here’s the way I see it. Even if you’re looking at this and thinking “Some of those things are only a few cents away from what I pay now.” You’re still saving time, money and gas. Yes, I still need to go to the grocery store for perishables and such but I don’t feel like I’m going as often. Or maybe I am, who knows?

You can check it out and decide for yourself if it’s right for you. I just know how pleased I am with them and wanted to make sure I passed the info onto my friends!

OXOX,

Kim

P.S. Vitacost has no idea who I am and did not pay me to write this post. These are my own thoughts and ideas. Like I said before I do get a referral bonus if you sign up but that’s it. Now go, shop. :-)

Molly’s Money Saving Digest!

You know when I like something I have to spread the word and Molly’s Digest is something I’ve been enjoying for a few years now. She recently took a few months break but is now back better than ever and is offering a great deal on their membership.

For just $3.95 a month you’ll get access to 3 years worth of back copies. And let me tell you these digests are great. Like you, I’m careful about what I spend our hard earned money on but these books are worth every penny, I think.

But don’t take my word for it, check it out for yourself. Just click on the picture above to go to the membership page to see just exactly what you’ll find between the covers.

Oh and don’t forget, it’s time to organize and de-clutter the kitchen this week for Project Simplify. I know, I couldn’t wait either! *said with the greatest of sarcasm*  But seriously, this area does seem to get unorganized the quickest because we are in there the most. So let’s give it a little attention this week, shall we? And by little I mean a lot. *sigh*

Have a BLESSED day my friends!

Handmade is Fun!

For our daughter’s birthday, we ended up making her most of her presents. It just kind of worked out that way.

Here’s what we made.

I made her this jewelry holder.

When she opened it up she asked if it was finished. I couldn’t blame her because it was just a picture frame with some lace stapled to it. Ha! Ha! But once she got her jewelry on it, it came to life! I found the frame at a thrift store for $2.00 and lightly spray painted it white and I already had the lace. Now I want one!

The second thing I made was something that pretty much sums up how my daughter feels about the color pink.

 

My husband out did himself with this tea cup holder. Initially he was making it for me but our daughter wanted one so I told him he could give the first one to her since he wouldn’t have time to make another before her birthday. Didn’t he do a fantastic job? I can’t wait for mine. He’s making me two because I have an over abundance of tea cups. I’m so excited!

Our sons were not to be outdone. Little Man made her this.

Isn’t it just the most precious thing?

And Middle Man made her this.

He completely followed her color scheme. So cute!

We are a definitely a family that  likes to work with our hands and be creative. It’s such a nice outlet for all of us.

Well I just thought you’d like to see these.

Have you got a hidden talent? What do you like to create?

Have a FABULOUS day my sweet friends.

Why I Love Going to Garage Sales!

Garage sales are hit or miss. But one of the perks of living in Florida is that people garage sale all year long.

Sometimes we go out and all we see is junk but there are other times that we go out and totally score! Last weekend was such an occasion.

We only went to 3 or 4 garage sales but they were doosies, doosy’s, doosi’s? They were really good!

Here’s some of the stuff that we bought.

1. 2 fire extinguishers

2. a whole big bag full of assorted ribbon.

3. a pink heart bank for my daughter

4. a hoe

5. garden edging

6. brand new school supplies

7. 4 small picture frames

8. a bag full of thread

9. about a gazillion magnets (going to use for crafting)

10. a roll of fabric

11. 2 shirts for my daughter

12. chicken wire

GRAND TOTAL? $16.50. Yup. You heard me. $16.50. But wait, there’s more!

My hubby scored a load full of lumber for only $20.00.

So although you never know what you’re going to come across, I believe they are worth the time and effort for those days when you come across some really great deals. We save a lot of money going to garage sales.

Do you go to garage sales? What are some of your best deals?

Have a FABULOUS day my friends.

Oh by the way my daughter is having an awesome giveaway on her blog to celebrate her upcoming 18th birthday. Go check it out here! 

The Only Way I Can Be Fashionable!

I was able to do a little thrifting yesterday with my BFF Kathy and fellow blogger Nan. Let’s just say that there were LOTS of laughs and one of us even undressed in the middle of the store. Oh you need to hear more about that?  You see this particular thrift store had just opened and hadn’t put in a dressing room yet, so the lady locked the front door while one of us undressed behind a rack of clothing. (Can you guess who?) Then we proceeded to try things on over our clothes, model high heel shoes while cat walking across the floor etc. etc. etc.

I did manage to find some really cute things. I told my hubby that the only way I can afford to look cute is if I find it at a thrift store. LOL!

Here’s a little bit of what I found yesterday.

The two skirts on the left I found yesterday. I found the skirt on the right a month or so ago at a different thrift store. I thought they were cute.

This top is soooo me.

And this one is not me but I’m trying to branch out in the girlie department a bit. I’m such a tank top and shorts type of gal.  I tried this on with my jeans and it’s very cute.

 

Saturday morning my hubby and I were able to sneak away and actually go to a few garage sales. We hadn’t gone to any since we moved over here and I was amping to go.

Here some of the finds from that day.

You see the two broach like things underneath the snowmen? I’m going to turn those into magnets to put on my fridge. They just looked so vintagey. I’ll show you when I do it.

All in all I might have spent about $25.00 for everything pictured here today. The bad thing is that it ruins me for retail shopping. I just can’t seem to pay full price for anything any more. LOL!

If you need me I’ll be price bargaining with the Wal-Mart manager. Ha! Ha!

HAVE A FABULOUS DAY MY FRIENDS!

The Coffee Table Before and After!

Most of you know by now how much I like Craigslist. I posted about some of the things we’ve purchased off of there, here, if you want to take a gander. Gandering is fun, I highly recommend it.

Anyway, if you’ve been to our home within the past 9 years you might have noticed that we haven’t had a coffee table. The main reason was because of our kids. We didn’t want knocked heads or teeth when they were young so we just did without. Since our kids are a bit older and not prone to falling over unexpectedly, I decided to start searching on Craigslist for a “new” used one.

One thing I knew is that I didn’t want to spend a lot of money. Duh! Who does right? Needless to say some people were pretty proud of their junk. Asking crazy prices for a basic coffee table. Long story short, after searching a few months I stumbled across one that I liked and he was only asking $25.00. When we went to pick it up he kept apologizing for all the pen and crayon markings from his kids and all the dings and things that were on it.

The whole time I’m standing there thinking, (Dude, I’m going to sand it and paint it! .) LOL!

So without further ado. The before and after.

After..

I’m slowly bringing our living room to what I’ve got pictured in my mind. It’s not their yet but this is a start. Of course you can see it’s painted white and I did distressed it a little.

Here’s what I’ve got on it right now. Since I haven’t had a coffee table in awhile I’m not sure what to do with it. LOL! What do you have on yours? We can’t put anything to high on there or it’ll block the TV.

I had some baskets that fit underneath to store their Wii games.

You wouldn’t think that it would take getting used to but it is. It’s a bigger coffee table then we’ve had in the past, but I really like it. I think big coffee tables are in right now, aren’t they? Just tell me they are and make me happy. LOL!

So what do you think? You likey?

I'm linking up to:

 31 Days of Painting

For the Love of Used Furniture

As I was working on yet another painting project, my hubby and I were talking about how much used furniture we’ve gotten off of Craigslist. I don’t know what we did before Craigslist came into our lives. LOL! I think we went to a whole lot more garage sales. But what a time saver it is to be able to just look online, in your area, for what you need.

I was actually going to show you everything that we’ve purchased off of Craigslist but I would have been uploading pictures all night. Plus if you’ve been to my blog enough you’ve probably already seen them. But here’s a run down.

5 Hutches (Yes, five! What?)

Matching couch, chair and ottoman

Dining room table and 4 chairs

2 office desks

Beautiful wooden rocking chair

Bookshelf

TV stand

2 Cabinets for laundry room

Bakers rack

and the latest addition, 2 bedside tables.

I would estimate that we paid around $1300.00 for all the above furniture over the past few years of accumulating it. You can barely buy a brand new dining set for that these days. So I’d say we did pretty good. It’s totally worth the wait and shopping around. Most of the time the furniture needs a little love but we aren’t afraid to do that so you can get a great deal in those instances. We’ve also sold a lot of things on Craigslist so in the end it kind of evens out.

Then there is the furniture that was given to us free of charge. You gotta love that.

When we first got married, my parents gave us their old living room furniture and dining room table. It was a great start for us because we didn’t have a lot of money. We no longer have those now though.

Boys bedroom furniture (from friends, still have)

Daughter’s black dresser (from a friend, still have)

Little telephone stand (from a friend, still have)

Leather sofa (from friends, still have)

I’m pretty sure that the only thing we ever bought brand new was our bedroom furniture (after many years of using my childhood furniture) and the recliner my hubby bought me when I was pregnant with our 3rd.

And don’t get me started on thrift stores! We’d be here all day. But I’m pretty good about showing you my little treasures as I get them.

So my point is, shop around, take your time and you’ll save a lot of money when you need to buy furniture.

Have a THRIFTY day my friends!

 

A Couple of Fun Finds!

My BFF Kathy and I went to a couple of thrift stores and Old Time Pottery the other day and as we were walking around Old Time Pottery she spotted this and she was like “You’re so going to want this when you see it!” And when I saw it I was like, “Well, Duh! It basically has my name written all over it!” See I really really like the color combo of red and white. So much so that my craft room revolves around it. Not to mention I also love polks dots in those very same colors. So when this was sitting there all by itself, looking kinda lonely, I knew I had to make it mine.

Now I would have gotten this because I liked it just the way it is but when I looked inside I realized just how ME it really was.

Isn’t that great? By the way, I win  A LOT! Hee! Hee!

We also perused some thrift stores and that’s where I found this antique lamp that is just PERFECT for my bedroom makeover. And I didn’t think $8.00 was to much for such a unique lamp. I’m going to be getting a new lamp shade as I’m pretty sure this one is not original to the lamp and it really doesn’t look that great with it. BUT it will do for now.

I love the detail on the base.

 

I’m all about buying second hand or repurposing what you’ve got. I move things around my home from one room to the other or sand and paint something that already exist in the house to go with what I’m trying to accomplish. It’s all about saving the bucks!

What second hand stuff have you found? or What have you repurposed lately in your home? I’d love to know!

Have a FABULOUS day my sweet friends.

Same Lamp, Two Different Looks!

I bought two of these lamp bases on clearance at Wal-Mart about a month ago.  They were cute but didn’t go with my decor.




I had bought 3 of these small lamp shades at a garage sale for about 5 cents a piece about 6 months ago.

Needless to say, they didn’t match each other very well.



First I had to find out where they were going to go. Once I figure that out, all it took was a little paint and some trim to change them up a little.

The first lamp sits on my kitchen counter. I painted it chocolate brown to go with my coffee/chocolate kitchen theme and then I added some really pretty trim to the bottom of the shade and painted the gold trip up top, brown, until I get some brown ribbon or something else.

  
I think it came out cute. BUT..the second one is my FAVORITE.

Same lamp and shade but this time this lamp was going in my craft room and even though you haven’t seen my whole craft room, yet. I’ll tell you that my love of red and white is dominant. Thus, the reason this lamp is the color it is.

I took my 5 cent lamp shade, added some cute red pom pom trim to the bottom and some red rick rack to the top.  I painted the base red and added some white rick rack to the bottom.

Voila’!

Cute right?

Guess what?

Tomorrow is finally my 800th post and you know what that means right?

It’s giveaway time!! Be sure to come back tomorrow to see what I’ve got going on!

HUGS!

I’m linking up with

Are You Getting Your Free Coffee?

I did not know this until my Starbucks Gold Member friend Lisa informed me about it.

Did you know that if you buy Starbucks ground coffee you can take the empty bag back to Starbucks and get a free tall coffee? 

Seriously look!

This is on the side of the bag.

SUH-WEET!

And don't let anyone tell you that's it's weird for you to have a ziploc bag full of empty Starbucks bags sitting in your glove compartment. It's okay! Your okay! I'm okay! We're all OKAY!

I don't usually buy already ground coffee but I do like to keep it on hand in case of emergencies so I figure why not get me a free coffee in the process! Oh yeah!

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

If you have a Starbucks gift card you can register it online and earn rewards and get more free bonuses!

Just keep reusing that one card and rack up the Starbucks points!

If you must indulge in a Starbucks Coffee from time to time then why not earn some freebies! 

That's all I'm sayin'!

HUGS!

It's Tea Time! My newest addition!

It's tea time gals. So grab your tea and sit a spell.

I've got my latest tea cup to share with you.

I got this tea cup a few weeks ago. All I can tell you about it is that it comes from a wonderful southern lady that I just know had to have had many a friends over for tea. She had very good taste in tea cups as you can see with this one that I received.

I love the beautiful gold on the delicate light pink. The handle is just so dainty and elegant.

I know you avid tea cup collectors like to see the bottom of the cup so here you go. I'm not very tea cup savvy, I just know what I like.









Have you ever wanted to throw a tea party but were a little intimidated by the in's and out's of everything?
Well worry no longer. I'm going to introduce to you, one of my favorite tea books.

The Twelve Teas of Friendship

I love everything about this book. The recipes, the information, the BEAUTIFUL pictures. It's one that you'll simply want to curl up with your own cup of tea and read from cover to cover.

Want to see for yourself? Take a look inside!
If you've never purchased a tea book before I highly recommend this one.

I'm actually thinking about having a tea this fall and have been looking through it for recipes and ideas.

I have other tea books that I'll introduce you to another time.

Tell me, if you drink tea, what's your favorite?

BLESSINGS!




I'm linking up with:
Tea Cup Tuesdays @ Artful Affirmations
Tea Cup Tuesdays @ Martha's Favorites

It's Rednesday! Free is Good! Free is REAL good!

It's so nice to find someone else with the passion for the color red. This week I have some "Estate Sale" finds that ended up being free! (No I didn't steal them! LOL)

Let's just say that it was a total blessing to me!

First is this gorgeous oil lamp.

And to top it off it has red scented oil to go in it! NICE!

The second red item I received is this beautiful pair of red gloves.

And they fit me like a glove too. I'll definitely be prepared for the cold this winter! 

Oh, I love this next thing! They have become my official Christmas PJ's. 

They are perfect! I can't wait to wear them.

Don't they look comfy?

And last but not least, I am never one to pass up a good red shirt. And believe it or not, I don't have a lot of red shirts for winter so this was perfect.

Red makes me happy and I'm pretty sure it makes the world go round!

If you love red and want to link up some of your old or some of your new red things, head on over to It's a Very Cherry World and link up!

SUPER DUPER HUGS TO YOU ALL!

Random question: If you bring a Peanut Butter Pie to the gym and eat it AFTER a Step Class, do the calories still count? I'm just wondering!