How I Store My Couponing Stockpile

Today I wanted to share with you guys how I store some of my stockpile from couponing. I mostly focus on household items like laundry detergent, toilet paper, and beauty products. Those have the longest shelf life and I don't feel rushed to use things up immediately. 

So let me show you around a couple of areas in my apartment where my stockpile lives. 

Our hall closet houses the majority of my stockpile. In this closet I have my paper products; including my toilet paper, paper towels and tissues. I have reams of printer paper I picked up from Staples awhile back down on the bottom. In the bins I keep full sized shower gels, full sized lotions, extra items for Tim (any guy items) and laundry items I am currently using. Behind them I have extra cleaning products and extra laundry detergent.

I also keep quite a few items in my Alex 9 Drawer Unit.

This drawer is filled with mini-shower gels (including the one I picked up on Sunday) and toothbrushes. As you can see I have enough toothbrushes to last a long time so I will probably only purchase them if I can get them free or less then a dollar in the coming months,

This drawer holds my lip products mostly (my chapsticks are hidden in the blue box) but in the back I keep all my mini lotions. As you can see I have a ton shoved in there and keep bringing in more!

This drawer is pretty much a disaster but holds shampoo, conditioner and all the other hair products. I love when we get cheap shampoo and conditioner because neither of us are super picky about what we use in our hair so we both will try pretty much anything!

Those are just a few places I store my couponing stockpile. Someday I hope to have a stockpile room or some sort of shelving that I can hold all of my items on. For now however there is no room for that in our apartment so I will keep shoving my stockpile into every nook and cranny!

At some point I'll share my entire stockpile but for now I hope you enjoy this sneak peek!

Couponing Week of 6/4 CVS, Target and Bath and Body Works

I decided this week to really get back into couponing! Our stash was running a little lower then I like it to be so I've decided to start back up again. I hate paying full price for household items so that is what I prefer to focus my couponing on. 

For this particular haul I went to CVS, Target and Bath and Body Works.

Here is everything I hauled today...

Since the majority of it is from CVS we will start off with that breakdown.

Garnier Fructis Shampoo and Conditioner $7
used two $2/1 coupons ( from coupons.com or newspaper)
Paid $3 and got $3 back in ECBs 
FREE!

Xtra Laundry Detergent $1.99
Paid $1.99 and got $1 back in ECBs
99 cents

Loreal Expert $8
used $1/1 coupon (from coupons.com, I would've used 2 but my printer screwed me over!)
Paid $7 and got back $4 in ECBs
$1.50 each 

Hershey King Size Bar $1.88
Pay $1.88 and got $1 ECB back
88 cents 

Dawn Dish Soap 99 cents
used 25 cent in app coupon
75 cents

 Colgate Max Toothpaste $2.99
used $1/1 coupon from Smart Source 6/4
Paid $1.99  and got $1 ECB back 
99 cents

2 Oral B Indicator Toothbrush 2 count $4.99
Paid $9.98 and got $6 ECB back 
$3.98 

Almay Lip Balm $6.79
Almay Mascara $9.49
Use buy one Almay product get an Almay eye product for free.
Paid $6.79 and got $5 ECB back
1.79 

2 Tide Pods $3.94 each
Used (2) $2/1 from coupons.com
Paid $1.94 each

2 Gold Emblem Abound Nut Bars 99 cents each
Used $2/2 CVS coupon 
FREE!

I also used a 20% off coupon, a $1 off $6 laundry care coupon, and $8 in ECBs.

I paid $25.21 and received $21 back in ECBs for next week!


Then I headed off to Target for a quick deal

Colgate toothbrush $1.97
used $1/1 coupon from SS 6/4
97 cents

You can never have too many toothbrushes right?! :)

While I was at Target I also picked up this pretty bag...

Only $26 which is great and I really wanted a neutral crossbody bag to carry this summer. It's easier to carry a crossbody bag when you are on the go all summer!

I also headed to Bath and Body Works because I had one day left on my free item coupon.

I've never tried the Pink Cashmere scent and each time I go to Bath and Body Works and get a free item I try to pick up a new shower gel. I don't need anymore lotion that's for sure but I can never pass up free Bath and Body Works products!

So that's what I picked up this week couponing! I am going to try to do this weekly so we can stay fully stocked on items.

On Wednesday I'll be back sharing with you how I store my stockpile in our apartment- so stay tuned :)

May Empties and Declutter

Another end of the month, another empties post! 

I finished a quite few things this month and pulled some things out of my drawers that I knew were expired and not okay to use any longer.

Dawn Dish Soap is what we've been using around here consistently because it always seems to have a coupon. I cannot wait until the day I no longer have to buy dish soap and can  just buy dishwasher tabs! Method All-Purpose Spray is a must-have in our apartment. The cucumber scent I have repurchased several times and really like it. There is a scent I'm enjoying more currently but I would definitely purchase this again in the future. Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner is not a super exciting product by any means but is certainly necessary. I always seem to come back to it  no matter what else i try.

BBW Pure White Cotton was a nice candle but not something I would need to repurchase in the future.  I did however love the Vanilla Bean Elixir Candle that I picked up in Home Goods last year. The vanilla smell was amazing and I would definitely repurchase this if I saw it again in the future.

Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Conditioner is one of my favorites. Anyone else always finish conditioner before shampoo? I have to change out my hair products regularly but I find this one to work really well. The Garnier Fructis Shampoo and Conditioner samples were just okay. I wouldn't purchase the full size but I'm always willing to give anything a chance. I found my hair to be awful dry after using these but I find that with any Garnier Fructis products.

Bioture Contact Solution is my favorite contact solution that I've tried. I have just been switched to daily contacts so I don't think I will be buying contact solution anymore but if I ever need it, this would be the one I'd buy. I always try to keep something scented in my car and these Car Vent Clips are the easiest way to do it. They keep the car smelling great and are in a nice out of the way location. The Himalayan Mask was interesting. I'm not a huge fan of these sheet masks because they just feel very slimy and I never find them to work super well.  

This might be the best thing I finished this month, Secret of the Islands Scrub is amazing. I've actually already repurchased it because I liked it so much. The Nivea Body Oil was super gross. I much prefer lotion to oil!

If you've been around for awhile you know I'm addicted to Cake Batter Chapstick and finish it up very quickly. I also finished up Nars Laguna awhile ago and decided to toss the rest of Nars Orgasm because it was getting all oxidized and gross.

I had hit pan anyways but this powder was definitely past its expiration!

Finally, here's what I decluttered...

I worked on my face masks and products. These were all past their expiration dates and the concealer had been around forever as well. I feel lighter every month when I toss expired products and use some things up. It's all helping with my less stuff=less stress life!

What have you used up or tossed recently?

Life Lately

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I thought today I would share some pictures of what's happening in my life lately!

A week ago we babysat little Emma!

We always have a blast watching her because she is so active and fun now! We got into a ton of activities such as pulling every book off her bookshelf and riding around the island on her hippo.

Also climbing on the coffee table. Such a troublemaker.

Last Sunday we went to the Roger Williams Zoo. We absolutely love visiting zoos, it's such a nice way to spend a few hours on the weekend.

The last time we visited this zoo was about two years ago when we first started dating so it was nice to go back and experience it again!

It was such a fun day and unexpected since we hadn't planned on going to the zoo initially. Aren't those always the best kind of days?!

Last week we had a nice dinner with Rachel, Ant and Tilly.  We met at The Boathouse in Mystic and enjoyed some yummy appetizers and baby snuggles.

It was so nice to catch up with Rachel and Ant since we don't get to see them all that often. Tilly is getting big so fast and is so much more aware and alert then she was before. It's so amazing how fast she's growing up!

This past Saturday we went to Megan and Josh's engagement party in Massachusetts,

The party was so nice out in their backyard. We were able to meet another couple who lives right nearby us and we have a ton in common with which was a great time.

I always forget how much I miss Megan until I see her! We spent so much time together in college it's always great to see her.

We saved a spot for Laura since we were both missing her during the party!

This weekend has also been filled with a couple of lazy mornings at home with homemade breakfast by Tim...well except the toast which was made by me. Yes, I have many talents!

Yesterday we spent most of the day at a BBQ outside which was nice. I ended up with quite a few mosquito bites but we had a good time.

Finally, I just wanted to share the polaroid pictures I took before we let this weekend. I have been playing around with my polaroid camera to try the different settings and love that it has a timer so we can take couple pictures together :)

So that's what I've been up to lately!

One Year Later

Can you believe we've been living in our apartment for an entire year?

Last year I shared Our Moving Story and then shared some pictures of our apartment in different posts. You can see all of the posts revolving around our apartment here where I've shared decorating and organization that we've done over the past year. However, today I thought I would share updated pictures of our apartment.

I spent a ton of time cleaning one day recently (cleaning routine post AND speed cleaning video are coming soon!) and decided to take pictures while everything was looking super sparkly.

I clean starting in the back of the apartment and work my way towards the front so the first room you get to view is our bedroom.

Our bedroom hasn't really changed in the last year. We still have the same comforter but did get some new softer sheets from Kohls which have been amazing. We are still loving our Ikea furniture which has held up very well.

I am still working on getting all our hangers switched over to huggable hangers, my side is almost complete and then I just have to get through Tims!

Not too many changes in here at all but we love our bedroom. It's peaceful, relaxing and I don't want to spend the night anywhere else!

Our second bedroom has a nice bed for when we have guests, but also holds our dirty laundry and quite a bit of storage. I didn't do much with the decor at all just hung up a few things and threw some random decor items on the nightstand. Also the paint on the dresser and nightstand are peeling but that's something we will just have to deal with until we move out since I don't want paint fumes inside our apartment!

I love the curtains in here even though Tim thinks they are boring. I prefer nice neutral items with random pops of color if I choose. No need for crazy color everywhere because that's not relaxing to me.

This room is definitely not as put together as I'd like. We have piles of paper goods stockpiled in here, a bin of paper memorabilia, tons of childhood trophies, a spare tv, and you don't even get to hear about what's in the closet!

I swear I don't like to hoard items and really only keep items that are important to us, but this room needs some serious work and decluttering in the next year.

I love Tim's Gronk picture and I'm so glad I've inherited it by moving in with him :)

Just some random decor on the nightstand...and onto the next room!

Our bathroom is super small and simple. It could definitely use some more organization because we've been just adding products to it throughout the past year.

Nothing really new in the bathroom! (It's not the most exciting room in any house I don't think)

We have our "middle room" which we use as an office and to store some kitchen supplies.

My desk area is really unorganized right now. I kind of unloaded everything into the desk when we moved in and honestly haven't touched most of it since. I really should I go through all my desk supplies and donate what I'm not using. There are probably a ton of things I could toss at this point as well.

On the right hand side of my desk is my Alex 9 Drawer Unit from Ikea where I keep all my makeup and most of my beauty products. There is still plenty of decluttering that could happen in there.

On the left hand side of my desk is my jewelry armoire which could also be decluttered quite a bit. I know I have plenty of things in there that I don't need or want anymore. My list of areas to declutter keeps getting longer and longer!

I have my Target cabinet filled with extra kitchen supplies we don't have room for in our kitchen as well as our recycling area.  We go to our local transfer center every Saturday to drop off our weekly recycling since our apartment only has a dumpster and no recycling program.

I love my Martha Stewart file organizer. I like having a TO DO section where I can put items that I need to take action on and a TO FILE section for papers that need to be filed into my file drawer.

The next room is our kitchen....

We have a small galley kitchen and often dream of having a bigger kitchen in the future. We still have all the same appliances as last year but have upgraded our rug to one from Kohls and picked up a new nicer trash can at Target.

It may not be the prettiest, biggest, or nicest kitchen but it works for now!

I think my favorite room and the one we certainly spend the most time in is our living room.

We have updated from a candy bowl on our table to a simple teal tray with a candle and a few decor items.

Our gallery wall has been added to since we first moved in and is my favorite project.

That's it! Our cute little apartment :)

We are loving it here but are also dreaming of owning our own home and have started looking at houses and property. We plan on hopefully purchasing so we can move out next May/June but we will see what happens!

Thanks for coming on the tour!