July Empties

 

Today we are talking about July empties! Sorry for the lack of posts lately- it's been crazy around here. We are in week 36 of pregnancy and I am still working full time (currently in person) so I have been using my limited time to get ready for Ellie's arrival. Rory also got spayed last Thursday so we currently have a cone-head wandering around our house that we need to keep an eye on constantly. Basically life has been crazy as we look forward to our little girls arrival. I'm guessing things will be slow here on the blog for a bit but I am working on putting together posts about preparing for baby so hopefully those will be sprinkled over the next couple of months for you guys!

Anyways, let's get into the empties!

Downy Unstoppables Fresh Scent- This isn't the first time I've shared these with you guys. They make your laundry smell amazing! I want to try out some of the other scents offered but these are so good I just keep on repurchasing them. 

Lysol Wipes- A staple in our house. I mostly use these in the bathroom because I prefer to make sure everything is super sanitized. Ibotta has had some amazing deals on these lately so I keep stocking up every time I go to the store.

Tide Pods- This huge container of Tide Pods was picked up on a BJs trip and while I don't like purchasing detergent at such a high price point I really loved how big the container was and how long it took me to get through the whole thing. I will be stocking up with couponing deals going forward though because these are just too pricey for me!

Bath and Body Works Malibu Heat Shower Gel- I really liked this shower gel and would definitely repurchase it in the future. I love these mini shower gels because I get to try different scents and don't get stuck using one scent for too long. It helps me not get bored! I would get this again and would even purchase it in a larger size.

Bath and Body Works Watermelon Lemonade Candle- This candle smells so good! I love the watermelon lemonade scent, it's so sweet and this candle had great throw. I would definitely repurchase.

Sensodyne Gum Repair Toothpaste- My gums have been a mess during this pregnancy and this toothpaste really did seem to help. I can only use sensodyne toothpastes since I get bad canker sores with other brands and was so glad to see they had this gum repair version. I will definitely repurchase this in the future to strengthen my gums back after pregnancy.

Dreft Laundry Detergent Sample- So you would think I used this sample on baby clothes...but no. I used this on a load that smelt like dog poop, after we had an issue where Rory got sick and pooped all over her dog bed. After washing the dog bed, everything smelled fine...until I put the next load in and everything came out smelling like dog poop. After using vinegar, deep cleaning the washer and the dryer and using draft detergent, we finally have everything back to normal! 

Bath and Body Works Cactus Blossom Hand Soap- I really liked this hand soap. I've mentioned before that I'm a big fan of the BBW foaming hand soaps and I picked up quite a few summer scents this year. I've been working my way through them pretty quickly and this is definitely one I would repurchase in the future. 

Bounce Dryer Sheets-  These are definitely my dryer sheet of choice and I repurchase them quite often. I like the scent of them and they work great!

Philosophy Snow Angel Scrub- I've had this body scrub for a few years and finally finished it. I did like it, but I don't know that I would repurchase it in the future. I have been trying out a bunch of different scrubs and this one wasn't as abrasive as some of the others.

2 Cake Batter Chapsticks- I still have a huge stock of these and am obsessed with them. Always a repurchase for me!

What products have you used up lately? I feel like I didn't have a ton of empties this month but I always want to share what I've finished so you guys can hear my thoughts on everything. I also think it's a good view of what free samples I have bean able to snag and what products are available through couponing. I hope you enjoy empties posts as much as I like writing them!

Have a great day everyone!

Two Small Ikea Organization Projects

Good morning!

Today I'm sharing two small projects that were done this weekend to help organize our home. On Saturday my mom offered to puppysit Sophie so Tim and I could take the hour and a half drive up to Ikea to get some shopping done!

We had a ton of items on our list (and have another order arriving next Sunday too!) but we managed to work our way through the store and found a solution for quite a few projects that we have planned.

Today I'm sharing two that I implemented pretty quickly and had done on Saturday night and Sunday.  They were small projects but I think will make a big impact in our house organization.

This first problem was our front closet. Tim saw this shoe rack and thought it would really help our front closet because our shoes were totally out of control. In our apartment we used a plastic shoe tray to contain all our shoes which worked fine but now that they are all inside the closet it was looking out of control.

See what I mean? I also needed to take all our sandals and put them away in our own closets since we won't be using them until next summer. One I had our shoes organized I put the shoe rack in and started putting the shoes away and setting everything up.

So much better right?! Small change but a big impact!

The next project took place in our basement laundry area.

I knew I wanted a rolling cart for between my washer and dryer and I had the perfect one picked out at Ikea. 

Once Tim put the cart together I brought it down the basement and got it set up in my laundry area.

I love that it gives me space to store my laundry supplies without taking up the top of the dryer!

Super simple and easy but makes a huge difference! In the future we are interested in getting a new washer and dryer and moving the laundry room into an addition upstairs but for now this works just fine!

Those are two projects I did this weekend to organize my house, what projects did you do this weekend?

March Empties

March is one of those months that always drags for me- but this year it flew by! I feel like I blinked and the month ended- and now I'm here with all my empties to share with you :)

It was a pretty good month for empties however they were mostly household items. I backed off a lot of makeup wearing this month since I'm desperately trying to get my skin under control. My skin has been super dry and red and I really don't want to anger it anymore then I already have.

Only three chapsticks were finished up this month! That might be a new record low for me because I absolutely love this Cake Batter flavor. I felt it was time to end my use three of my eye products since I know the three months recommended for use has definitely gone by. Benefit Rollerlash Mascara is amazing! I will definitely continue to purchase this even though it's more expensive then drugstore mascara. I really liked the L'Oreal Telescopic Liquid Eyeliner but I will be trying some other liquid liners. Lastly in this category I haven of my favorite products of all time: Diorshow Maximizer Mascara Primer! This product makes my lashes SO long and SO full it's amazing! I can use it under any mascara and it's incredible. I hate when I don't have it!

I finished up a body spray from Bath and Body Works in Oahu Coconut Sunset which I thought was nice. I definitely wouldn't repurchase it in the future just because I have many other scents I do prefer over this one. I decided to toss these Pacifica Deodorant Wipes since I've had them forever and never use them. I originally bought them for Disney World but only used one or two. They work okay but not for a long period of time- so don't expect to use them in place of deodorant! Next up is Bath and Body Works Tiki Mango Mai Tai shower gel which even Tim was using because it smelled so amazing! I will definitely repurchase this in the future!

We finished two hand soaps this month. The first is from Bath and Body Works in Frosted Cranberry. This was a good scent but not one I feel the need to repurchase in the future. The second is Softsoap Orchid Petals and Mint Water. I didn't love this scent either and wouldn't repurchase it.

The one candle I finished up was from a Fundraiser for a girl who passed away suddenly in my community. Not a candle to repurchase regularly but I'm glad that I purchased it to help fund scholarships in her memory.

I have been LOVING Mrs. Meyers for my household products lately. I order all of mine through Grove Collaborative and their service is superb. Getting my shipment once a month means I don't have to run out and pick up any cleaning products at the store because I'm running low- I'm always stocked up! Use this link and get $10 off your first order!!

My favorite scent that I've tried so far has got to be Basil! I thought it was a weird scent based on the name but the smell is incredible- I highly recommend it and will definitely purchase this multi surface spray again in the future.  I also finished two dish soaps from Mrs. Meyers- one in the limited edition Mint scent and one in Honeysuckle. I would repurchase both in the future but I didn't love either of them as much as I love the basil!

My last category for this month is laundry products. The laundry around here is never-ending! There are only two of us but some weeks I am in shock that we've gone through as many clothes as we have. I finished the last of my Purex Crystals. I love this product and I always think that my laundry smells SO MUCH BETTER when I use it! I haven't repurchased this yet just because I like to wait for a good deal/coupon but will definitely buy it again in the future!  I finished two Tide laundry soaps which I love. Tide is one of my favorite laundry products and it works great on getting out stains. The last laundry product is Xtra which was a coupon purchase from CVS. This laundry soap works just fine but I definitely wouldn't pay for it!

Those are all my empties for the month of March, what did you finish up this past month? What products are you loving/hating right now? Share in the comments!

January Empties

I can't believe we're already one full month into the year!  January was a fun one with lots of time with friends, tons of lounging around the apartment to avoid the cold and I seemed to have used up quite a few products as well.

Check out my empties bin- getting pretty close to overflowing! I'm not sure if it was because I was focusing on finishing things up before opening something new or if I just got lucky with a lot of things being close to done. I finished up a ton of products this month either way and I'm here to share my thoughts with you!

First category up is laundry, not super exciting but I have found some products that I absolutely love. Tide Pods are one of my ultimate favorites even though lately they've been get a bad rep. People, don't be stupid and eat Tide Pods- they are too expensive to eat and you will die. They do, however, clean your clothes realllllly well! I also like that I can cart them up and down the stairs easily at my apartment. The Total Home Laundry Detergent was a freebie awhile back and it worked just fine. It's not something I would repurchase unless it's free again just because I have other products I like better. One of my favorite products of all time is Purex Crystals which make laundry smell amazing! I will keep repurchasing these on sale and loving them in the future.

I absolutely love candles! If I'm home I'm without a doubt burning a candle. I finished up quite a few candles this month. Leaves by BBW is my absolute favorite candle if you couldn't tell. I used up two full size candles and one mini. BBW Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin is one I finished this month and I liked it but won't be repurchasing it in the future. I finished a mini Yankee Candle Winter Garden which was a nice scent but not my favorite. Mini candles are not my favorite because they don't give off scent very well. I also finished an unscented beach glass candle which was pretty boring but I no longer wanted it in my collection so I knew I had to use it up.

Next up: hair products! Tresemme Heat Protectant was pretty good. It certainly did the job and the smell was nice but I have other products I want to try next so I will not be repurchasing. I liked the Garnier Fructis Moisture Lock but it wasn't my favorite conditioner. I always use up conditioner before shampoo! The purple shampoo from Beauty Protector was nice and I would really like to incorporate a purple shampoo into my haircare routine but I have another I would like to try next. Dove 2 in 1 Shampoo and Conditioner wasn't my favorite but I'm not a huge fan of 2 in 1 products. I will definitely not be purchasing a full size of this. The Disney Conditioner is a leftover from our trip to Disney. For a hotel product it works really well and I love the scent. With all the dry air my hair has been holding onto extra static so I was loving this Nexxus Hairspray while it lasted. The smell is amazing and I think it works great.

Five Chapsticks were used up. I've used Cake Batter, Sugar Cookie, and Candy Cane.  I am a huge fan of the cake batter as you may know but the others are great too!

Two face products in this category and a shampoo that I missed during the haircare photo. I mainly bought the Neutrogena Moisturizer due to the packaging. I know, I know that's terrible but look how gorgeous the blue is! I did like this moisturizer but I'm still looking for my holy grail product...any suggestions? I finished the last of my Pathology Mask which was alright. I am not a huge fan of sheet masks but this one was very moisturizing. I hated the Cowash Shampoo sample it did nothing for my hair so I certainly won't purchase it in the future.

For home products I finished a Dawn Caribbean Breeze Dish Soap which I loved the scent of. It smelled amazing and worked great. I wish I was done washing dishes by hand but hopefully that day will come soon! Method Shower Spray is one of my staples. I spray down my shower after every use which helps keep it from getting full of soap scum and whatever else can build up over time. BBW Merry Cookie Hand Soap was a super nice scent and although there are many other scents I would like to try out in the future before repurchasing this one.

I am on a mission to use up all my BBW Vanilla Bean Noel  products so you will see a shower gel and body cream in this months empties. I find this scent to be a little fake and I tend to receive it as a gift. I have some more lotions in this scent but soon it will be used up! I am SO proud that I finished up a Victoria's Secret Body Splash in Pretty In Pink which was not my favorite scent so I was determined to remove it from my collection. Gold Bond is a popular lotion brand but I think it feels like glue on my hands which isn't exactly what i wanted my hands to feel like when applying it. I won't be purchasing it in the future. BBW Pure Paradise Mini Lotion was one of my favorites and I received so many compliments on it. I used it at work regularly and will purchase this again in the future. BBW Fall Aspen Day Antibac was an okay product, I kept this in my purse for a long time and would repurchase antibacs but probably in different scents in the future.

So that's it for my empties! What products have you used up lately?

June Empties and Declutter

I am still on a mission to use up items that I have and declutter anything I know I won't use! I am not on a "no buy" because then I would just be tempted to buy stuff. I am allowed to buy things but my goal is to use what I have before buying new things. 

So here is what I used up this month!

For laundry items I finished up..

Purex Crystals in a full size and a sample which I absolutely love. I can't see paying money for this since they aren't something I really need but I love how amazing they make my clothes smell. If I find a deal on them I will definitely purchase more!

Bounce Dryer Sheets are my absolute favorite dryer sheets because they smell amazing. I have already repurchased these and will continue to.

Downy Crystals which are similar to the Purex but I didn't like them as much. The scent was not as nice and I definitely wouldn't purchase it full size but I did use up these three sample packs.

I recently switched to daily contact lenses from monthly ones and love them. I tried MyDay and Clariti and both were awesome. I picked whatever was the cheapest out of the two because they were both so amazing that I didn't see a difference. (Did you catch that pun?!)

The Macadamia Deep Repair Masque is one of my favorite products ever and I think it's in almost all my empties posts. I use this at least two times a week if not more and it's amazing. It keeps my hair super soft and keeps it from getting tangled.

Lavanila Healthy Deodorant in Pure Vanilla  is a great deodorant and I constantly reorder it from Sephora. I find this is the best natural deodorant on the market (at least for me) and keeps me smelling fresh all day.

Skintimate Strawberry Tangerine Twist is just okay. I'm not picky about shave gel and will just get Skintimate if I can get a deal on it. This scent was kinda nice too, not my favorite but still nice.

I finished up two mini lotions.

The Nivea hand cream was nice and very thick but it was a super small container so it was used up very quickly.

The Victoria's Secret Coconut Passion was an okay lotion but I find all lotions from that brand to be a little greasy. I used this at work though and definitely got my use out of it.

I wasn't able to finish the Seche Vite top coat before it got all goopy so unfortunately I have to toss it. I will definitely be buying a new one though!

I finished three amazing Cake Batter Chapsticks, although that doesn't seem like as many as I normally go through.....maybe I'm getting better at using less?!

The Loreal Infallible Eyeliner in carbon black is a great eyeliner but unfortunately mine broke apart at the end. It is definitely one I will repurchase often though because it's cheap and works great.

Herbal Essence Hello Hydration Shampoo is one of my favorites. it works great and really hydrates my hair.

I liked the Pantene 3 Minute Miracle but not as much as my Macadamia Deep Repair Mask. I thought it was a really thin formula and kind of runny. I would use it again but definitely not purchase it!

The Dove Intense Repair Shampoo and Conditioner samples were nice. They made my hair feel smooth and not tangled which is what I generally look for in these products. I wouldn't necessarily pick them over other options though.

Both of these soaps were just okay.

The Method Cucumber scent was fine. The scent was nothing really special but I do really like Method products and the hand soap is no exception.

Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar was not my favorite scent and I definitely like other Bath and Body Works soaps over this one. I would rather purchase different scents from them in the future but I do love their foaming hand soaps.

Another "meh" product is Bath and Body Works Aruba Oceanside candle. This is a few years old so I'm not sure they even make it anymore but I found the scent to be overwhelming and not great. I like subtle beach scents but this was just too intense for me. 

My favorite dish soap currently is this Dawn New Zealand Springs scent which is teal and smells amazing. Since it's my favorite color and I enjoy the smell it makes doing dishes slightly more bearable.

I only use Sensodyne toothpaste and have for years because it prevents canker sores for me. I recommend it to anyone who has mouth issues!

Finally my decluttering items. All five of these are from hotels and I think they are all pretty expired at this point. No need to use them and take a chance on my hair! Time for these to get tossed! (The ones on the right are from when I went to France, which may have been 4 or 5 years ago......)

So that's what I used up and I'm tossing, what products have you used up lately?!

A Couple of Weekends...

How can it possibly be Sunday night again? My weekends have been absolutely flying by and it's been hard to believe that I have to head back to work every Monday morning.

Now that the laundry is done, the bedroom and bathroom are clean, and Tim is completely enthralled with his video game I figured I'd sit down and update you on the last two weekends.

Last Sunday was our one year anniversary! May 1st is the day we had our first date at the a local restaurant the Mews Tavern and I can't believe it's already been a year. Tim played golf early in the morning and came home with these beautiful flowers for me. So sweet :)

Later in the afternoon we went to meet Tim's sisters new puppy! We were so excited to meet Addie her new bernese mountain dog. She a sweet little puppy and it was so nice to spend some time playing outside with her.

Then we met up with the rest of Tim's family for dinner. Our anniversary is shared with his brothers birthday so we went to dinner at Kon.

All last week was pretty depressing here in Rhode Island. The sky was cloudy and it rained pretty much the entire week. Not a great thing to see out your office window!

Last week we did view some places to live and put an application in. Hopefully we will hear soon and I will let you know of moving plans! I started packing up things we don't necessarily need to have in our room right now. We are getting ready to move out and it's so exciting!

On Friday night this weekend I had after work drinks and appetizers with a few girls I used to work with. We had a blast catching up and it was so nice to see them. Unfortunately I didn't snap any pictures at all on Friday. After we enjoyed our time at Dan's place, I met up with Tim and our friends Fred and Marissa to see the brand new Captain America movie. It was an amazing movie and I really enjoyed it!

On Saturday I did remember to take pictures when we headed off to Foxwoods with Tim's parents for the Kentucky Derby!

We drank a few mint juleps and enjoyed the derby hype before heading to David Burke Prime Steakhouse for a delicious dinner! I cannot rave enough about the food there. The french onion soup was incredible, the steak delicious and the macaroni and cheese is mouthwatering! If you've never been, you need to head over immediately.

We hung out for awhile longer, spent some time hanging out at the bar and then stopped in Cake.

I could get in some serious trouble in Cake. They have so many sweets! I chose a chocolate bar and it was great but there were so many different things to chose from it was a little overwhelming.

Today was mother's day and we spent the day with my mom! We always visit the cemetery where my grandma is buried and put some roses on her headstone. Then have lunch at the Pizza Place in downtown Westerly. The Pizza Place is not my favorite restaurant at all, the food is nothing special but it's never crowded and it's nice to sit and catch up with my family.

After lunch Tim and I took a hike with my mom down in Charlestown. It was so nice to see the sun finally shining after looking out clouds for so long.

We will definitely be enjoying more hikes and exercising in the coming weeks. We have been talking about making sure that we exercise and enjoy our time outside now that it's light out when we get out of work at night.

I did put together a new exciting thing today as well!

A laundry sorter! I can't be the only person who gets excited over things like this!

I've already started sorting our laundry! :)

Have a great night!