Shopping – Page 5 – Not Content to Crawl

The Most Relaxing Scent

Posted onJanuary 23, 2021

Several years ago when I was getting beauty boxes like Ipsy and Birchbox, I once got a hand lotion sample that smelled so wonderful I would constantly smell my hands after applying it. I wanted it to never run out, and contemplated buying a full size until I read reviews saying it didn’t smell like the sample. I eventually forgot about the scent, until yesterday.

For a little background, last month I bought some wallflowers from Bath & Body Works, including two in the vanilla bean noel scent. Unfortunately you can barely smell it once plugged in, so I decided to exchange the second one for another marshmallow fireside instead. Except our closest store didn’t MF, so I decided to check a different location near my ear specialist after my appointment this past Monday. They also didn’t have MF, so I browsed the other wallflowers looking for something I might like and came across one I never heard of before called white tea and sage. It seemed appealing from what I could tell in store, so I decided to give it a shot.

I ended up plugging it in yesterday and it reminds me exactly of that long forgotten hand lotion that I was obsessed with. Now I want a candle and soap and everything possible in this scent! It’s just so soothing to me. Almost like a fresh garden except not floral at all. Something you’d encounter at a spa probably.

B&BW owes me a gift card so maybe I will be getting more of this scent soon, assuming it doesn’t sell out before then. Apparently it isn’t easy to come by from what I’ve read.

Oh, and why do they owe me, you ask? Well, they never sent me a birthday reward so I contacted them and they sent me a $10 gift card instead. I used most of that card on Monday, but there was a $2.23 balance left. The cashier asked whether I’d like that in cash and I told her to leave it on the card. She agreed, and then when I checked the balance the other day it said zero! I checked my receipt and it indicated I took the balance in cash which I absolutely did not. I contacted B&BW and they are sending me a $5 gift card to make up for it. What the heck is going on with that company?!? Maybe I should stop giving them my business, but I love their soaps and wallflowers so much!

I’m all stocked up on hand soaps, in fact – 17 bottles – because the fall/winter scents were 75% off. I picked up a few at our local store and 8 more at the other one since they had an even better selection, including my favorite scent from last fall: marshmallow latte. I won’t need any holiday soaps for at least a few years now. I grabbed two summery scents to try as well since they too were only $1.88 each.

Here’s my two hauls from this month:

That candle holder was another reason I checked another store. I had a reward that was due to expire next month and my local store didn’t have any decent candle holders.

Bath & Body Works Shenanigans

Posted onJuly 16, 2020

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Bath & Body Works, as in I love some of their products, but I hate their prices and their practices leave something to be desired.

It’s gotten to the point where I am not interested in their lotions, body wash, or hand soaps, but I do still like the wallflowers and candles. I’m picky about scents, however. For the most part I like vanilla, marshmallow fireside, and a newer one my cousin turned me onto two years ago, heirloom apple. I was too sick last year to care about any of that stuff but now that I’m feeling better, and I’m down to my last wallflower, I went looking for heirloom apple only to be unable to find it. So I contacted B&BW via Facebook Messenger:

I took to the internet to find out whether anyone could point me toward a dupe scent, whether that be from Bath & Body Works or another company. In the meantime, I got this Yankee Candle macintosh votive at Meijer to try out.

It’s ok, but not what I was looking for.

Someone online told me to look for B&BW’s honeycrisp apple scent, but when I checked online it was only available in a one wick candle for $10. No thanks. I don’t mind the occasional candle but I prefer how a wallflower tends to fill the house with scent.

We went out yesterday and I decided to stop in a Bath & Body Works store. I asked about the heirloom apple, or any apple scents, and they only had one and it didn’t smell at all what I was looking for so I quickly left.

I just so happened to be on their website today when I searched for apple again and this time a honeycrisp apple wallflower showed up in the search results.

I looked at the fragrance description and then googled to find out how heirloom apple used to be described. They were identical. Hoorah!

But then it got weirder when I noticed a scent called farmstand apple.

That too has the same description. Interesting…

So basically they retired heirloom apple and replaced it with two different scents that are actually the same as heirloom apple but never bothered to tell any of their employees so they could help someone looking for heirloom apple. Got it.

They annoy the hell out of me as it is by making certain scents only available during particular times of the year. I know it’s a ploy to drive interest and get people in their doors more than once a year, but it’s seriously annoying.

Right now the two scents I want (marshmallow fireside and honeycrisp apple) are only available online and I’m not buying $75+ of product or paying $6 in shipping. They will appear in stores at some point and then I will wait for another sale. Wallflowers are currently 5/$24 but it turns out they can get as low as $3 each so a better sale is due to come around soon.

Home Improvement Shopping Adventures

Posted onJuly 14, 2020

Saturday 06/27 we did a little shopping out in Geneva. Our first stop was At Home to look for patio furniture. We arrived as soon as they opened and while they didn’t have anything we liked, all was not lost – we found a shower curtain, rings, and placemats.

Unfortunately the white shower curtain makes the master bathroom tub look dirty (because it’s off-white), so we ended up getting a grey/cream striped shower curtain from Target instead, and moved the white one to the guest bathroom.

Tuesday 06/30 we made a quick run out to the Walmart in Elk Grove Village to buy this awesome patio rug that I saw online only to learn their website lies and there were none left in stock.

I could order it from Amazon if I was willing to pay $62, but I’m just not. I wish you could order it from Walmart to be shipped but it’s not an option. I keep looking elsewhere for rugs but am not having any luck. Maybe I’ll get lucky and it will drop in price on Amazon. Or we’ll find something even better. I feel like (most) things happen for a reason.

We did come across this adorable welcome mat while at Walmart.

I’ve been keeping my eye out for a hefty welcome mat for years and this one is not going to be blowing away, I will tell you that! Only $12.

Friday 07/03 we decided to visit IKEA. Since they didn’t open until 10 am, we stopped at Dollar Tree first. The one we visited (in Villa Park) is the biggest DT we’ve ever been to which make social distancing easy. They were listed as having an expanded craft section but it didn’t really feel that much larger than the DT’s near the house. I did appreciate the wider/shorter aisles to avoid other people, though.

IKEA ended up being a bust. There was a line around the corner from the entrance and they were just letting everyone in at once (unlike Trader Joe’s when we visited – they would stagger people entering the store). We left without even going inside. Our fault for not realizing that just like Joe, many people were off work for the 4th of July holiday. Couple that with their late opening (10 am) and it’s not too surprising how busy they were.

Thursday 07/09 we went to Goodwill to look for a mantel clock and a container to keep the dishwand in by the sink. Struck out on those things, but found this beautiful white vase for $3.

We also went to Dollar Tree and I got this woof sign that I used command picture-hanging strips to put above the wall decals that were already there.

We ended up going back yesterday (07/14) and it was much less crowded. Ironically enough, we didn’t get the main item we were there to get because it was out of stock (despite saying otherwise on the website). I did get this cute planter for my succulent, though, so all was not lost.

In addition, we got a new light for the dining room.

We have been wanting to replace our foyer light since we moved in (16 years ago) but have put it off because it requires obtaining scaffolding to reach the ridiculously high ceilings. We decided we’re going to do it very soon, however. The problem is we haven’t been able to find a light we liked. The other night it occurred to me that we could find an inexpensive light for the dining room and move the light that’s there now to the foyer.

Current dining room light (to be replaced by the IKEA light discussed above)

We just need to buy a longer chain. We rarely use the dining room light anyway because we dislike over-head lighting. Not only does making the switch make sense, it saved us money. We’re also planning on replacing the ceiling fan in the living room so we bought a new one from Lowes yesterday for $95 (they sent me a $5 off coupon).

I’ll include photos of the entire before and after once the work is complete.

Recent Purchases (aka TikTok Made Me Do It)

Posted onJune 15, 2020June 17, 2020

TikTok is a bad/good influence; I’m learning about all kinds of great products. I’m also spending money, so there’s that. I’ve justified it because I was too sick to do any gift buying/receiving for Christmas or my birthday, but at some point I’ll probably need to slow down. Until then, though, I’m going to post about the neat things I’ve been purchasing.

Car hooks are such a genius idea. I originally purchased this set:

While they fit both cars fine, I was a bit annoyed that the metal was already rusting. Plus, they just didn’t look all that nice. So I ordered these instead, and returned the other ones.

Only $6 for four, so we keep two in each car. We no longer have groceries rolling around the seats.

I love my Simple Modern water bottles. I’ve been using a 22 oz purple bottle since August 2017 and a 10 oz black one since March 2018 and haven’t felt the need to purchase any other bottles since. When I learned that you can buy a boot that fits both sizes perfectly, I was intrigued. It comes in all sorts of colors but I chose black so it would match both bottles I have, and even Joe’s blue one.

Since the bottles are metal, one risks scratching any surface you put them on, not to mention the noise they make when you set them down on a hard surface. The boot solves both those issues. It’s like having a drink coaster everywhere you go. I no longer have to worry about ruining my wood nightstand or have trouble locating the coaster in the dark when I get a drink of water in the middle of the night.

For years I’ve been using shelf liner to separate our pots and pans. It definitely helps keep the bottoms from scratching, but does nothing to protect the sides. This set of 9 protectors solved that issue.

I love them, and while they’re not cheaper than Dollar Tree, they’re made of a sturdier material and are more aesthetically pleasing.

Speaking of DT, here’s a recent haul from them at the end of May.

I also got this cute pinwheel, although it’s already tearing because, well, it was $1.

It was the first time we shopped at Dollar Tree in months. I really missed it, but unless you get there when it first opens, it’s just too anxiety-inducing with their narrow aisles, which is why we’ve yet to shop at Aldi.

It’s helpful having a shower head with an attached hose when trying to give the dog a bath, or just cleaning the tub and shower. Our current hose was a bit on the short side, however, so I ordered this one from Amazon and love it.

Not only is it longer which makes cleaning much easier, but the hose is very lightweight and doesn’t twist up like the old one. It also doesn’t build up with water and make freaky sounding noises. At $20 it’s a steal; we ordered a second one for the guest shower.

Noticed a chip in our heavy glass measuring cup recently, so we chucked it in the recycle bin and I ordered a set of three plastic measuring cups from Oxo. Only $17 at Amazon.

I love how you can see the measurements from above. I just need to break myself of the habit of using them to mix up sauces and marinades, because the plastic does scratch fairly easily, even when using the silicone whisk I recently got from Dollar Tree. I have plenty of other bowls so I need to stop being lazy so my measuring cups will look nice for a long time.

Edited 06/17 to add these items we recently got (not influenced by TikTok):

We’ve been letting Wookie upstairs lately, and she’s even been sleeping in our bed (thanks, people who feel the need to set off fireworks a month leading up to 4th of July), so I decided to get a small garbage can with a lid for the master bedroom. This plastic one was only $15 on Amazon and it’s quieter than the stainless steel one in our guest bathroom downstairs (it clangs and bothers my broken right ear).

Wookie never messes with garbage but you can’t be too cautious when it comes to a dog. I was putting the old one up on the counter just to be safe, so now I don’t need to do that. I really want to buy a larger version of this for the kitchen but they start at $50 so I need to think it over.

We just received and installed this awesome under the cabinet jar opener ($13 on Amazon).

No more struggling to open jars. Plus you can’t even see it’s there unless you know to look.

Adventures in Shopping

Posted onMay 19, 2020May 18, 2020

The other day I went to put on my sneakers and something was poking the back of my ankle. Apparently the plastic along the back of the inside of my shoe had broken. Joe used one of his tools to snap enough of the broken piece off so it wouldn’t poke my foot, but I decided it was time to replace the shoes. I just checked now, and it turns out the shoes were purchased in January of 2017 so they had a long life.

I like black sneakers since they tend to go with most of my outfits, so I went to Kohl’s website to look for new ones. They were having a nice sale on my favorite sweartshirts of all time – Tek Gear Fleece Crewneck, which I discovered at Savers a couple of years ago. Sadly Savers is still closed right now so I can’t get them for under $5 but they were only $8 at Kohl’s (normally $20) so I excitedly ordered quite a few. Once all was said and done, even with the sales and coupon codes I found online, my total was around $150. I ordered eight sweatshirts and two pairs of shoes. Two of the sweatshirts were only available via curbside pickup and the rest were slated to be shipped to the house.

Mere hours after placing my order I was notified that two of the sweatshirts were cancelled because they were out of stock. The next day two more were cancelled. One from the pickup portion of the order was ready so we went and got that, but I waited until the rest of my order was shipped to try anything on. Oh, and by the time they shipped some more were cancelled, so in the end I got two of the eight sweatshirts I ordered, and both pairs of shoes.

On top of that, even though the sweartshirt I picked up, and the one that was shipped to me, are the exact same style and size, one fits better than the other, so I have to return one. I ordered a pair of Filas again since they were under $30, and a pair of New Balance because they were cute even though they are nearly twice as much. Interestingly enough, the Filas are way more comfortable even if they aren’t as cute, so the New Balance pair will be returned. I did pretty good guessing the proper size at least! It seems I fit into anywhere from a 7 up to an 8 and a half depending on the brand (I ordered a size 8 in both).

So – ordered ten items, only received four, and am only keeping two. Not great odds. I have to say, the experience has soured me on ordering from Kohl’s again. Perhaps this is some weird one-off, but I fail to understand how Kohl’s inventory system works where they will allow me to order items that really aren’t in stock. Isn’t me placing the order in essence reserving the item? I guess not. Super annoying!

I’ve recently become addicted to the app Tik Tok. There are so many interesting people on there! They also inspire me to step up my organization game (even though I’ve gotten next level on it lately). I ended up ordering over $100 worth of items at The Container Store on Sunday, but the best part is I only spent $9 out of pocket thanks to the digital gift cards I used as part of Discover’s cashback rewards program. I used $90 worth of rewards to get $100 and we still have over $200 of rewards waiting to be used. Looking forward to getting my items and writing more about those in a future entry.