Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

How I Changed My Look Dramatically in 5 Minutes

· by · 1 Comment

Thanks to GlassesUSA.com for partnering with me for today’s post. As always, I share my honest opinions! 

Hello friends! It’s been a minute since we last hung out on the blog, hasn’t it? Things are trekking along over here with homeschooling, and the more we do it, the more I really love it. But it certainly comes at a price, and that price is time that I have to work on other interests, like the blog.

So I’m so glad to be able to steal away for a bit this morning to chat! And I’m excited to be sharing something with you that I hope will be really useful information. I recently did something that has given me a confidence boost, and quite frankly just helped me get out of a rut I’ve been in for quite some time.

I’ve been wearing glasses for 10 years, now. And the entire time that I’ve had glasses, I’ve stuck to smallish frames. When I got my first pair, that style was all the rage, and as I noticed folks starting to get larger and larger frames, I staunchly resisted. “Good for you,” I would say, “but no thanks for me!”

Finally, though, I started really paying attention to what I would call oversized frames and just how lovely they actually looked on folks. This observation coincided with my growing dislike for my own frames, largely because they kept sliding off my face and getting them corrected at the shop never stuck…they were back to sliding off of me within days, if not hours.

So I decided it was time to try something totally different, but when was I going to find the time to go pick out glasses? The mere thought of it was exhausting and kept me from ever actually going to take care of this need. And that’s where GlassesUSA.com came into play. You’ve likely heard of this online eyewear store, right? If not, let me introduce you!

GlassesUSA.com is focused on offering high-quality frames and lenses and a risk-free shopping experience for customers that is easy and economical. Basically, you take care of getting a prescription from an optometrist, and GlassesUSA.com will help you get the lenses you need and want for a price that won’t make you cry. And you get to pick them out from your home, using your computer, tablet or phone. Beautiful!

But what about the importance of trying on frames before you buy? It’s easy to upload a photo on the site so that you can virtually try on as much as you’d like. I did this and it gave me peace of mind about the style I selected. And I will also say this: I picked out the general size I was looking for, and then searched for the most popular frames in that size. I looked at a few different options, and most importantly, read the reviews (many of which included pictures of the customers wearing their frames). That helped me so much, and I ultimately decided to just go with it and not stress out about the choice!

My frames arrived about a week after I ordered them. I immediately put them on and woah! I looked so different! I wore them around the house for a few hours, peeking in the mirror every once in a while to get used to them. And then I took to social media and I posted a very honest selfie. By that I mean that my hair was not fixed at all, my outfit wasn’t cute, and my face had not a single stitch of makeup on it. I did that because it’s the honest picture of what I will look like about 90% of the time in these glasses. If I’m contemplating a new look, this is the way I want to see something….in it’s truest state! 🙂

GlassesUSA.com glasses

It honestly took me about 5 minutes to pick out these glasses. I’m sure if I’d labored over the decision for several hours I could have picked out a pair that looked even better, but I’m absolutely thrilled with what a big change I was able to make, and how hassle-free it was to make it. The great reviews from other customers and the Virtual Mirror on the website made it easy for me to make a choice. I also didn’t sweat it because GlassesUSA.com offers a 100% money back guarantee ( full refund within 14 days of purchase, no questions asked) as well as a 1 year product warranty.

I had a great experience with GlassesUSA.com and based on it, would definitely recommend it to others. What a great way to get out of a style rut! Have you been sporting the same style of glasses for a decade, like me? Hop over over to GlassesUSA.com and see if you can find something new. I bet you can! They always have a great offer for your first pair at sign up!

 

The Newlywed Spontaneous Getaway: My Plan B One-Step Story

· by · Leave a Comment

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LetsTalkPlanB #CollectiveBias #ad

Do you have a memory of your favorite annual exam with your gynecologist? For most women, the answer to that question would be a long stare back at me, followed by, “Umm…..no.” But I actually do have a favorite visit, because I saw a doctor that day who helped me be better prepared for the unexpected as a newlywed.

I was just 21 years old and had been married for about a month. At the conclusion of my appointment, I remember that she offered me a package of Plan B emergency contraception to keep in my medicine cabinet. When I asked her why she thought I should take it home with me she said, “Sometimes husbands do romantic things like surprise us with an overnight away, but they forget to pack the birth control pills in the overnight bag! It’s always a good idea to have a backup plan in place.”

My husband and I were mere weeks out of college and were working minimum wage jobs for the summer in California before we headed to the East Coast for me to begin graduate school. We hadn’t even been able to afford a honeymoon, so the idea of a surprise vacation was hilarious to me.

plan b for spontaneous romantic getaways

And then it happened. Hotels on the Las Vegas strip were advertising crazy cheap prices to lure in summer visitors and my husband decided to take us on a surprise drive from southern California for a fun and romantic overnight experience in Sin City.

Any guesses about what didn’t come with us?

plan b as a backup for preferred method of birth control

I was so thankful that I didn’t have to scramble to make an appointment with a doctor (at the time, Plan B  was only available through a prescription). I also had been educated about how the product actually worked, so I didn’t feel uneasy about it and this was something I personally felt comfortable taking. The pill has sometimes been referred to by others as an “abortion pill”, and it is important to know that this is not at all how this product works. The active ingredient is levonorgestrel, which is the same ingredient in many common birth control pills, but it is administered in a higher, single dose. It primarily works by delaying ovulation, helping to prevent a pregnancy before it begins. If you are already pregnant when taking the pill, it will not affect that pregnancy. This product is strictly for prevention. Furthermore, it’s important to note that it also has absolutely no impact on a woman’s future fertility.

Plan B One-Step at Walgreens

Since the sooner a woman takes Plan B One-Step after an unplanned encounter or birth control failure the better (must be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex or birth control slipup, and be sure to use as directed).  It’s so great that it is now available over the counter without age restriction and without a prescription and no need for an ID. I found the product in the family planning aisle of my nearest Walgreens. I also took advantage of the $10 off coupon that is currently available. If you are unable to locate the product in your store, just check with the pharmacist, and they can help you find it – no questions asked.

  Plan B One-Step available over the counter

It’s wonderful to feel in control of my body, my health, and my family planning. I’m grateful I was able to do that before we were ready to begin our family, and I’m grateful to be able to do it on this end, now that we feel our family is complete. You never really know what surprises might be waiting for you around the corner, so I recommend having Plan B in your medicine cabinet at the ready. With the coupon offer, it’s a great time to get your plan in place!

plan b one step available otc

 

5 Things I Learned in My First Month Selling on Poshmark

· by · Leave a Comment

For the past month, my daughters and I have been running a little business on the site Poshmark (an app and site where you can sell gently used or even NWT clothing items) as part of our homeschooling curriculum. It’s a great platform for teaching kids some basic business skills, but that’s a topic for a different post. Today I’d like to share the top 5 things we have learned during our first month selling on Poshmark so that what we learned can help others who are new to the app or who would like to be more consistent with making sales.

Before we dig in, if you aren’t already signed up for Poshmark (totally free to join, and you can join if you want to sell or even if you’d just like to shop!) we’d love for you to use @squeakersisters as your referral at sign up. You’ll get $5 added to your account for your first purchase (that $5 shows up when you are getting ready to check out for the first time) and we’ll get the same bonus when you make a purchase. Win/win! And be sure to follow us if you are already joined so we can follow you back.

Ok, on to the lessons learned!

selling tips on Poshmark

  1. Activity on the App is Rewarded

Poshmark is a social app, and not just an online shopping mall. It does require consistent time and effort, and Poshmark wants their users to be active. The more you share your own closet, AND the more you share items in other people’s closets, the more your own items are going to rise to the top of the pile and be seen more. If you’d like to make regular sales, be prepared to at least try to spend a little bit of time on the app every single day. That means listing a few items, sharing other people’s stuff, and sharing your own. At a minimum, expect to spend about half an hour a day. The good news is that you can fit a lot of this into little nooks and crannies of your day, here and there.

2. Know How Much Money You Want to Make

If you are reselling as a way to make some extra income, it’s really important to set a goal for how much profit you’d like to make, on average, for each item you list. Keep in mind that Poshmark takes a painful 20% of the sale price for themselves, and you’ll also have to pay yourself back for the cost of the item if you sourced it at a thrift or consignment store. My girls have a target of at least $10 profit per item. This helps us determine what is and is not worth purchasing in the first place, and it helps us when determining our starting listing price for an item. If you don’t know how much money you need to make, you will purchase too many items that have a low resale value, and find yourself spending an awful lot of time sourcing, photographing, sharing and taking trips to the post office for $3-$6 in profit per item. Yes, that’s still a profit, but look at all the work you had to do to make it! Yikes.

3. Purchase Wisely

When you first start sourcing, you may be thrilled to find armfuls of Banana Republic, Ann Taylor and Gap tops for $5 each. And you may load up on them, bring them home, and then realize that you’ll be doing good to earn $3 profit on them (I speak from experience on this!). What happened? These tops are cute and the brands are great! But, unfortunately, you overpaid! Yes, at $5, you overpaid! Unless the item is super new (was in the store within the last year) or is still trendy and is new with tags (NWT), these brands have such good sales in their own stores, and are so over saturated at thrift stores and even on Poshmark that the resale value is just low. That doesn’t mean you should never get them. But you need to be paying more like $1 or $1.50 for the items. The way to do that is to find out when your local thrift stores have sales. Many thrift stores always have one color tag on sale. Two of my favorite shops in town have one day of the month when EVERYTHING is 50% off. I do the vast majority of my shopping on those sale days. Yes, some items (such as Anthropologie brands) probably are worth the regular prices, but since we homeschool, we can’t scour the thrift stores multiple times a week to try to find those hidden gems. Instead, we wait for the big sale days. One of my biggest lessons is not to be fooled into thinking that the regular prices at thrift stores are cheap enough if you want to make at least $10 profit on each item. You need to be able to source them for very little in order to help you reach that goal. You will make some mistakes along the way, and when you realize it, let go of the guilt and just work hard to get your items out the door, even if you only make a few dollars, or worse, jut break even (if it makes you feel any better, we sold something last week that left us with $0.06 in profit. It gave us a good laugh and we learned a lesson in the process!).

4. Be Prepared to Make a Deal

If you want to sell an item for $15, don’t list it on Poshmark for $15. List it for at least $20. Why? The overall shopping culture in this app is one of negotiating. Buyers want to feel like they got a great deal, so it’s not uncommon for them to make you an offer. It’s also a great idea to make offers to anyone who has liked your item (see tip #5 below). It’s fairly rare for someone to simply buy the item at your asking price. And when folks send you an offer, we have learned that they rarely want to go back and forth with you, so take their offer seriously and only send them a counter-offer if you are truly uncomfortable selling the item for the price they offered. After losing 4 sales due to making counter offers, we now take an offer from a shopper quite seriously and if we can make our desired profit margin, we take their offer (unless it’s a very special item that our research shows we should make quite a bit more on…then we hold out!).

5. Offers to Likers Works!!!!

This is a fairly new addition to the app and we absolutely love it. Shoppers can “like” an item in your closet by giving it a heart. Occasionally, they might make an offer, but most of the time, nothing else happens. But you can then send a private offer to anyone who has liked your item without having to publicly discount the price of the item. In our first month, we made 17 sales. Two of those were full price buys, two were offers that came from the buyers. And all the rest (13) were a result of us sending out offers to likers. For offers to likers, you have to discount the price by at least 10% AND offer a shipping discount (you can either offer a $1.50 discount or offer free shipping….you, the seller, pay for these discounts, by the way). Don’t hesitate to use this feature, as we have found that it tremendously adds to the number of sales we are making. And if you are like us, and not wanting to be in the clothing storage business, this is a great way to move your stuff out of your house more quickly.

I hope these tips help you out! Please do let me know if you have any questions or if you’d like me to create any additional content about Poshmark. I’m curious to see if any of my readers are also using this app, and how it’s working out for you, either as a shopper or as a seller!

Chattanooga Find: Italian Fare for Low Carb and Gluten Free Needs (and Everyone Else, Too!)

· by · 1 Comment

Thanks to Broad Street Grille for hosting my family for a meal. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

For all of my local readers (as well as readers who have Chattanooga on their travel bucket list), there’s a restaurant downtown that I regularly recommend to folks who are looking for truly delicious food: Broad Street Grille. It’s located inside The Chattanoogan hotel, which is a beautiful place to stay, by the way). This restaurant is known for hiring outstanding chefs who are creative and enjoy using fresh and local ingredients as much as possible. Without fail, everything I have ever tried at this restaurant has been excellent.

And now they have a special Saturday night menu: an Italian buffet! For my family, an Italian buffet is like a culinary dream come true.

Or at least it used to be…

For health reasons, I now try to eat a lower carb diet (because I’m completely addicted to carbs and have no sense for moderation) and my husband tries to avoid gluten for his own health reasons. Sounds like an Italian buffet is now not such a great idea, right?

broad street grille italian buffet menu

But Broad Street Grille’s offerings are extremely impressive and left us both with many, MANY options to enjoy. I personally enjoyed the Seafood Puttanesca. It was loaded with delicious proteins in a sauce that was to die for, AND it was full of yummy seafood which I so rarely get to enjoy because I’m the only one in my family who likes it. Basically, I could have just taken this whole thing back to my table and been happy, but I had many other things I could enjoy, too.

As for Tim, he said the beef braciole was the best take on this dish he has had in his entire life. He was also absolutely tickled to discover that gluten free pasta was available. He was able to enjoy the pasta bar without worry that his joints would feel inflamed later in response. Of course, there were semolina pasta options aplenty for the folks out there who are not sensitive to gluten.

The kids also had their fill of great pasta options, and what kid doesn’t love that? But their favorite part was the spread of desserts. Cannolis, cream puffs and tiramisu were all available for the taking.

We also rounded things out with a little indulgence: one cocktail each. It was just too hard to resist when the drink menu read as follows:

And the drinks tasted absolutely superb. What a delightful spread Broad Street Grille has available each and every Saturday night. My family wouldn’t hesitate to come back and I would strongly suggest that you give it a try, yourself. You will leave full and happy, guaranteed!

Healthy Snacks: Prepare Ahead to Ensure Your Kids Reach for the Good Stuff!

· by · 2 Comments

Thanks to Gary Poppins for partnering with me to bring you today’s content. Bon Appetit!

Are your kids like mine and asking for snacks starting about 20 minutes after each and every meal ends? Sometimes the fault lies with the kids for not eating enough of their meals, and they have to go back and get more of what we just finished eating.

But there are other times when I can just tell that they are going through growth spurts and are just HUNGRY! That’s when it’s time for me to prepare the fridge and the pantry with a wide selection of healthy options so that they always have something to reach for that will taste great and be a good choice, as well. Preparation really is the key factor to ensure that your kids don’t resort to junk food, and that you don’t resort to buying it when shopping.

gary poppins popcorn review

One place I’d recommend doing some shopping this summer is the  Gary Poppins website. This is the home of a fantastic company that makes delicious, gourmet popcorn. I loved reading about how the employees of Gary Poppins have a true passion for great flavors and flavor combinations. They put all of their creative talents into finding the most perfect popcorn blends. According to their website, “Our primary interest is making your popcorn experience better than you ever thought it could be.”

And my friends, this really is a key component of putting together effortless and healthy snacks for growing kids: if it doesn’t taste good, it won’t be eaten So get the right products on hand so that every bite will be absolutely delicious (this also ensures that they will be perfectly happy to keep eating the healthy snacks you bought for days on end, or until they run out!).

popcorn bar as a no cook lunch idea

What I really love about Gary Poppins products is how fresh everything tastes. When you place an online order, it gets packed for you fresh from the popper to help ensure that what you get tastes just perfect. I love that! I recommend trying out The Best of Gary Poppins Collection if you aren’t sure where to start. This variety pack comes with 6 of the most popular flavors (1 each of Creamery Butter, White Cheddar Jalapeno, and Kettle Corn; 2 each of Classic Caramel and Classic Cheddar, and 3 Caramel Cheddar Kettle for 10 bags, total). We have tried them all, and each and every one is delicious, but the Caramel Cheddar Kettle will BLOW YOUR MIND. Love that the collection comes with 3 bags!

Two Special Offers

Right now you can save 10% off your order by using promo code WELCOME10 at checkout. The popcorn comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee, so you’ve got nothing to lose to give it a try! And while you are waiting for your order, go ahead and enter the giveaway! Now through August 31st you can win The Best of Gary Poppins Collection by entering here. Somebody’s going to win, and it might be you (but only if you take a second and go enter!

gary poppins review

Pet Care at Home: A Responsibility Lesson for Kids

· by · 4 Comments

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Food Lion. All opinions are 100% mine.

We have 3 wonderful cats in our home, and our daughters delight in getting to play with them. Our oldest daughter, in particular, seems completely smitten with cats and has been asking for even more pets for the past year.

My allergies will tell you that we already have one cat too many in the house (yes, I’m allergic to cats and yet I own 3!). But what I have suggested to Darah is that she start to take on more responsibility for the cats we have now, and that will give me peace of mind that down the road, once one of our senior cats passes away, she will be ready to not only play with a new cat, but also to take proper care of it. Here are some of the key things I’m trying to teach my daughter now about pet care.

Knowing How to Shop for Supplies

It’s important for kids to truly understand the commitment of adding a pet to your family, including recurring expenses. Darah has gone shopping with me to our local Food Lion to check out prices for items we have to buy regularly: wet and dry cat food and cat litter. It’s always important to shop for quality when it comes to these purchases, but it’s also important to get a great value. This is why I love shopping for Companion products, which is the in-house brand for cat, dog and bird supplies at Food Lion. This brand used to be called Home 360, and has simply undergone a name change. I am able to buy quality without paying extra for a national brand name. Shopping smart like this makes it easier to afford the overall costs of keeping 3 cats at home. It’s important that my daughter understand what to look for in our pet care products, and also how to shop with the best interest of our pets AND our wallets in mind!

companion products for cats exclusively at food lion

Memorizing and Performing Daily Pet Care Chores

Darah is learning that cats need the following from their humans every single day: fresh food, fresh water, clean litter boxes, brushing and play time. Already she has taken on the responsibility of feeding, providing water, and playing with the kitties.

teaching kids responsibility for pet care

I’m in the process of teaching her how to brush the cats (2 out of 3 kitties here have long hair, and in the summer, even the short-haired cat is shedding a lot). We are also working on the hardest chore: scooping the litter. There’s nothing glamorous about this job, and with 3 cats and 3 litter boxes to contend with, it requires daily attention. But it’s a very important aspect of cat care and Darah knows that if she isn’t willing to scoop litter, then she’s not ready to take on the responsibility of another cat down the road. I’ll call this bit a work in progress!

Monitoring Supplies

Darah is also in charge of keeping an eye on our supplies of wet and dry food, as well as litter. It is now her job to let us know when we need to head back over to Food Lion to purchase more. This requires thinking ahead of schedule, as you don’t want to find yourself completely out of food or litter. Being aware of when more products need to be bought is one more way to show responsibility and care for others.

importance of daily play time for cats

We are working hard on helping Darah become a responsible pet owner, including teaching her how to save time and money by stocking up on many of our pet care needs at Food Lion by purchasing the Companion brand. If you haven’t yet tried Companion at Food Lion and want to learn more, definitely give it a shot, because all private brand items at Food Lion have a double your money back guarantee! For More Information about Food Lion’s Private Brand labels click here

Visit Sponsors Site

Gold Pass at Dollywood: How Much Money Do People Save?

· by · Leave a Comment

This post originally appeared on the Dollywood Insiders page, as I’m a proud Dollywood Insider! 

 

Have you ever thought about “going for the gold” at Dollywood? The Gold Season Pass offers quite a few additional benefits, but it does cost $50 more than a regular Season Pass. Today, I want to showcase how much money my family saves by having just one Gold Pass in our family (one is all you need if you typically all go to the park together!).

Parking

Parking is free with a Gold Pass and that equals a $15 savings every single time you come to Dollywood. Three days of parking alone will almost pay for your upgrade, friends.

Still need more convincing? No problem!

Food

You will save 20% on your food purchases in the parks (including sit down restaurants!). My family ate at Front Porch Cafe (Insider tip: the servings are not only delicious, but also generous, so consider splitting your meals for additional savings). Our bill shrank from $30 to $24 all thanks to showing my server my Gold Pass!

Shopping

We all know that the shops inside both the theme park and water park have some truly irresistible merchandise. Your Gold Season Pass gets you 20% off those purchases, as well! On our most recent visit, we picked up a sparkly mermaid pillow, a Christmas ornament for my sister, a mega bath bomb for the girls and some locally made shaving soap for my husband. Thanks to the Gold Pass, we saved a total of $9 on our purchases throughout the park.

So for my family, a typical day at Dollywood as a Gold Season Passholder provided us with $30 in savings. We will most likely visit the parks five more times before the end of the year, and we’ll be parking and eating each time we visit, and I usually can’t leave the park without an extra purchase or two. Over the course of the season, a Gold Season Pass will not only make up for its cost, but it will also save you in the long run! Therefore, it’s quite a bargain, don’t you think?

Pardon the Mess! Under Construction!

· by · Leave a Comment

Hello lovely readers! Just wanted to alert all of you (and especially those of you who subscribe) that we are undergoing a few changes on the back end of the blog, and it is causing some content to have to be re-uploaded, which may result in an unusually lengthy email update from the site. I apologize for this and hope to have the site back to normal by Sunday. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Is Your Medicine Cabinet Fully Stocked? My Story of Not Being Prepared and How I’ve Fixed It

· by · Leave a Comment

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Food Lion. All opinions are 100% mine.

Last week I had one of those parenting moments that most of us have to go through at one time or another: my kid fell while playing and got one heck of a gash above her eyebrow. Head wounds, as it turns out, bleed something fierce, so that they look much scarier than they might actually be. But it’s hard to make that determination as you see your kid with blood all over her face.

You guys, I’d like to tell you that my “calm, cool and collected” version of myself took over at this point, but no. My “completely freak out” version of self stepped forward. Fortunately, my husband had only left for work moments before and I was able to call him to get him to turn around and come back. I applied pressure and cried and as soon as he got home, I headed to our medicine cabinet to get bandages so that we could get her cut covered up while we waited to see her pediatrician for stitches (oh yes, she needed stitches…7 of them!).

And it was as I was rummaging through our medicine cabinet that I realized that it was long overdue for some restocking. We only had tiny bandages that wouldn’t be helpful for this particular wound. Furthermore, I had no pain relief to offer Layah (we evidently ran out during cold/flu season!) and I didn’t even have antacids for my quickly developing heartburn in the midst of all this stress.

Great. I started to beat myself up, mentally, for this total parenting fail, but then I set it aside and vowed to take a trip to Food Lion ASAP to stock up on everything. 

That very afternoon, I loaded up the kids and went to Food Lion, as I had recently heard about their private label of over-the-counter healthcare and personal care products. It’s called CareOne and it’s a conversion from the original Healthy Accents private label that you may already know. For More Information about Food Lion’s Private Brand labels click here. I was excited to peruse the options because I knew I’d be buying several items, so cost savings would be much appreciated!

We quickly found some tie-dye bandages that Layah loved, as well as an assortment of other bandaging needs (I really appreciated that the packages showed me the order of use for the items so I could be sure I was buying everything needed for wound care). I also scooped up my antacids and some pain relief for Layah, who had been such a trooper at the doctor’s office, but was now starting to feel the effects of her fall. food lion care one products stock up

I loaded up my cart and headed to checkout, and was honestly delighted with the total: $18, including tax, for a pretty hefty medicine cabinet restock! We’ve already used several of the products and have found them to work just the same as the national brands we’ve purchased in the past. I love knowing that I can just head over to Food Lion to get whatever we need for our our healthcare and personal care needs, and find something that works great for less.

In addition to being affordable, CareOne products are also endorsed by pharmacists. Furthermore, Food Lion is so confident that they are offering quality products in the CareOne line that the products with a double your money back guarantee, as well. If that’s not a good reason to go give this line a try, I don’t know what is, friends!



In light of the great experience I’ve had with CareOne products so far, I’m doing a complete inventory of my medicine cabinet later today to see what else might be missing. I’ll take my list of needed products straight over to Food Lion and will shop the CareOne brand for replacements. If you haven’t restocked your healthcare and personal care products in a while and want to learn more, now’s a great time to do it, and Food Lion’s a great place to shop!

Visit Sponsors Site