Stuff Parents Need - Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Surprise, Surprise! I Actually Liked the “Skincare” Beauty Box 5!

May 15, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

Complimentary box provided for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I only promote what I love!

Friends, if you haven’t seen my previous Beauty Box 5 reviews, you may want to take a moment to check them out. I always give you brutal honest truth about what I think about the offerings in this highly affordable beauty subscription box. Sometimes I’m super impressed, and sometimes I’m totally underwhelmed. But I still think this box, which is just $8.75/box when you go for the annual subscription, is well worth the risk you take by sometimes getting a dud or a sample in your box that you didn’t really want.

Here’s what I’ve reviewed so far (lots of video unboxings, so be sure to check them out if that’s your thing!).

Curious to learn more? Check out my other Beauty Box 5 reviews below.

July’s Beauty Box 5

November’s Beauty Box 5

December’s Beauty Box 5

January’s Beauty Box 5

February’s Beauty Box 5

March’s Beauty Box 5

April’s Beauty Box 5

Based on my previous reviews and my particular likes and dislikes, when I heard that the May box was all about skin care I was pretty much certain that I was going to hate it. But the joke’s on me, friends, because this actually turned out to be one of my favorites! Check out my video below and let me know which item on your list would be your favorite (also? Someone please clue me in on how to actually take care of your cuticles. I’m totally lost!).

Tub Toy Upgrade: A Fun Find for Multiple Ages!

May 14, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Complimentary product provided for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

My girls are 2 years and 9 months apart (currently ages 3 and getting close to 6!). More often than not, they still take baths together, but they definitely have different interests in which toys they like to play with at bath time.

I’ve been on the lookout for something that could appeal to them both so that our small bathroom doesn’t become overrun with two different sets of tub toys. I really like what we found from the brand Yookidoo, which you can find at Toys R Us.

This is the Stack n Spray Tub Fountain, and with the help of a few batteries (not included, FYI) your kids will enjoy the fun little fountain the arises from this toy.

The toy comes with several accessory pieces, all designed to go on top of the fountain and even on top of one another. The kids really seem to enjoy seeing the water come out in fun different ways based on the top they select. My girls have been playing with this for a few weeks now, and they are not at all bored with it, which I think is a very good sign.

Based on my observations, I think this is a toy that will be a good match for siblings who take baths together. It’s also got a lot of potential to be a bath toy that sticks around for a while. You might consider buying it for your toddler, for example, and letting them play with it for a few months, then putting it away for a few months if they start to lose interest. They will only need a break from it before being very excited to see it again!

I’m also happy, so far, with the condition of the toys after being played with nightly for a few weeks. So far, no molding issues! 🙂

The Yookidoo Stack n Spray Tub Fountain is currently available at Toys R Us for $29.99.

Do your kids have a favorite tub toy? I’d love to hear about it!

To Tuck Away for August: Fun New Read for the First Day of School

May 14, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Complimentary book provided for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always. Affiliate links may be included.

Tomorrow is the very last day of school for my kids. Eeek! We’ll be talking a great deal about my feelings on this matter over the coming weeks, I am sure. But for now, I wanted to share a fun new book we have been enjoying, and one that I think would make a great gift for a little one about to start kindergarten or first grade in the fall.

Check out Ally-Saurus and the First Day of School, by Richard Torrey. It’s all about a little dinosaur-in-training named Ally who brings her world of make believe right into the classroom. She quickly discovers that she’s different from the other kids, but she also discovers a whole classroom full of other fun “apprentices” such as an astronaut and a dragon.

I love the message in this book: it’s good to be yourself. And it’s good to celebrate what makes everyone special and different! It’s even good to try out something new (spoiler alert: Ally decides to start the second day of school out as a rabbit!).

It’s very cute and is really just perfect for easing those first day of school jitters!

A Few of My Favorite Things from #TMSelects

May 9, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 4 Comments

Gift selections provided by The Motherhood. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

Earlier this week I received a very fun gift in the mail from my friends at The Motherhood. These are women I work with on a regular basis, but I’ve never actually met in real life. I actually have a surprisingly large number of people I work with as a blogger who I converse with via email all the time, but I’ve never shaken their hands. Isn’t the world live in strange? 🙂

This fabulous group of ladies decided to share some of their own favorite things (Oprah-style!) with some of the bloggers they connect with. I loved this concept, because this was not driven out of any sort of campaign. It was simply women sharing with other women products that they adore. I felt like I got to know these ladies better by trying out these products for myself, and in the process I started to fall in love with the products, too!

Here are the top picks from The Motherhood crew.

1. Wild Explorers slippers

Aren’t these just so gorgeous? I am totally jealous of my little Layah, who is the proud new owner of these super soft, hand-made leather slippers. These will be perfect for her at school, where she has to wear slippers every day. Each pair is handmade with love by Hannah Allen, who is the mom of a sweet little boy. Yay for mompreneurs!

2. Larabar

These are popular with a lot of people, and I’ve tried the wildly popular lemon Larabar before, but The Motherhood since a wide variety of options, and my crew has been digging them. They are truly the perfect food item to stick in your purse or your backback. We’ve been munching on them while going for family walks and even while traveling across the country this week. My kids seem to prefer the blends with fruity flavors (like blueberry muffin) and I’m particularly fond of any of the bars with a nutty flavor.

3. S’well Water Bottle

This water bottle also went traveling with me this week, as I headed out to the dry heat of Phoenix. Staying hydrated is absolutely critical, so I knew we’d need to keep a filled water bottle around for all of us.

The thing that has really impressed me about the S’well bottle is how long the water I put in it stays honest-to-goodness COLD. Hours and hours, people! The design of the bottle is such that it will actually keep your cold drinks cold for 24 hours, and your hot drinks hot for 12 hours. I haven’t attempted a hot beverage yet, because as you know I’m all about cold stuff, but so far I’m super duper impressed. This is anything but a typical water bottle. The different colors and patterns available for the bottle are also pretty awesome. Take a look around and see which one is your favorite!

Do you have any favorite things that you think everyone should own? I’d love to hear about it!

The Perfect Coffee for a World Traveler

May 8, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Thanks to Starbucks for sending along some rare-origin blends. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

My father-in-law is very much on my mind this week, as the family has gathered together in Phoenix now for his memorial service. Last night we watched an amazing video that was filled with photos and videos all about Dad. And as I looked at photo after photo of him, one thing became very clear: this man LOVED a good adventure. His curiosity and love of new things and places took him all over the world. He was easily one of the most well-traveled individuals I’ve ever known.

My father-in-law also developed an enjoyment of coffee late in his life (which I think is unusual…most folks fall in love much earlier in life if they are going to fall in love with coffee at all!). So when I opened a recent package from Starbucks and discovered a collection of rare single origin blends from all over the world, I immediately thought of Dad. These bags of coffee, in and of themselves, are fun little adventures. They are different from the norm. They are cultivated with great care and love. They have a unique flavor profile you simply cannot replicate.

They are, without a doubt, the kind of coffee my father-in-law would have loved.

These are such special bags of coffee, that I decided to pack one in my suitcase so that I could enjoy it on my trip. I’ve been experimenting with drinking it hot, or cold, or black or drowning in creamer. That’s how Dad would do it: by experimenting again and again until he found the most awesome way to make the coffee.

Starting with great coffee beans makes the process of experimenting easier (as every way I’ve tasted this blend so far has been yummy). But I have enjoyed the exercise of trying something different, and breaking away from my standard issue beans and my standard issue prep method.

I know almost all of you who read this blog have never met my father-in-law. But if I could make just one request of you: will you make one choice today that is the “adventurous” choice? Take a different route home from work. Pick up a fabulous bag of coffee and then make it a different way. Or go all out and book that trip you’ve been contemplating for far too long. That spirit of adventure is my father-in-law’s legacy, and I’d be so thrilled to know that he had an impact on your life as well by getting you to take a fun chance on something new today.

Expecting? Win Your Entire Registry Thanks to Fisher-Price and Babies “R” Us!

May 5, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Fisher-Price. All opinions are 100% mine.

Today is my little sister’s due date with her first child. It is such an exciting milestone that she has reached (though as I recall, it doesn’t exactly “feel” awesome to be 40 weeks pregnant). We are all on pins and needles waiting for little Taralynn to make her debut.

And my sister, Laura, is perhaps the most eager of them all, since Taralynn’s arrival will mean that she isn’t pregnant anymore! Yay!!!! 🙂

But while she waits for the baby to be ready, she can entertain herself by entering to win the awesome registry giveaway sponsored by Babies “R” Us and Fisher-Price®. From now until May 12th, anyone with a registry at Babies “R” Us (or anyone who makes a registry during that time) can be entered to win simply by adding at least $200 of awesome Fisher-Price® items to the registry. If you haven’t yet set up a registry, they are a breeze to do online or in the store. Need a few suggestions for what to add to your list? No problem!

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Our oldest slept MUCH better with some white noise playing in her nursery, so that’s a must in my book.

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And our youngest cooed and giggled constantly in her bouncer. It was highly entertaining to her! I’m loving this version, the Fisher-Price® Rose Chandelier Deluxe Bouncer.

And for our youngest, we simply would not have made it without the swing. For a while there, that’s the ONLY place she would take a nap. I would have given up my car before giving up that swing!

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The Fisher-Price™ April Registry Sweepstakes is still taking entrants, so be sure to get those “must-have” items added to your list. And be sure your list has everything else you can think of, too, because the winner will get EVERYTHING (up to $3,500 in merchandise!). Woah!

I’m crossing my fingers for you, little sister! But for everyone out there reading this, Fisher-Price is most definitely going to be choosing a winner; why shouldn’t it be you? If you aren’t expecting and know someone who is, do them a favor and tell them about this sweepstakes opportunity!

6 Vacuums Later, We’ve Found a Winner (Giveaway!!!)

May 4, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 29 Comments

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

So I’m just 5 days shy of my 13th wedding anniversary, friends. THIRTEEN YEARS!!! My marriage is officially a teenager, so I guess that means that hormone-induced fits of rage are just right around the corner for us! 😉

Just kidding. We act like total “old marrieds” now. And in our bakers dozen years of marriage, we have learned quite a few things about what works for our home and what doesn’t. Today I want to share with you what I’ve learned about what I need in a vacuum. I have been through 5 different types of vacuums over past 13 years (canister, upright, bagged, bag-less, robot, fancy brand, etc.).

This weekend we welcomed vacuum number 6. And this is the vacuum, I think, that actually “gets” us. It’s the Eureka Brushroll Clean™ with SuctionSeal® and so far, it seems to have answers to all of the problems we have encountered with our previous vacuums.

#1: Dealing with Hair

You guys, I shed like a cat. And speaking of cats, we have 2 of them (one is long-haired and one is medium haired…both shed like…well…you know…). We also have two little girls with full heads of hair (one who wishes to rock the Rapunzel look) and my husband is a lucky man, because he, too, has a head full of hair! So…yeah, we’re a hairy house. Tufts of hair float around here like it’s the Wild West and they are the tumbleweeds.

Sure, previous vacuums have sucked up the hair. Well, sort of. What actually happens is that the hair gets stuck in the roller brushes, and then we have to remember to clean them out because otherwise it impacts how well the vacuum works, overall. So every month or so, we have to give our vacuums a hair cut. Gross.

This is our old vacuum only a few weeks after it’s latest “haircut.”

Check out what the Eureka Brushroll Clean™ with SuctionSeal® is rockin’. It has a self-cleaning brushroll. With the push of a button, your brushroll can de-shed itself and you can go on about your cleaning business, all without having to take that extra time to clean your device that is supposed to be doing all the cleaning. Well played, Eureka.

#2 Scattering Small Debris

Ok, so I think this was the most shocking thing about our “fancy pants” vacuum: if it encountered very lightweight debris (teeny scraps of paper, for example) it scattered almost as much of the stuff on the floor as it picked up. So it took twice as long to vacuum those areas, and in the end, it was still only half as good as it should have been. Often times we just left the vacuum alone and reached for the broom.

This vacuum, however, has a suction seal. When the vacuum is running, this yellow part you see below is right up against the floor, creating a barrier so that little flying particles can’t escape the wrath of the vacuum. That. Is. Awesome.

#3: Hardwood AND Carpet? Not Happening

One of our vacuums in the past was AMAZING on carpet, but TERRIBLE on hardwood. And we’ve had a vacuum with the opposite strengths. There was a several year-long stretch in my marriage where we had to use two separate vacuums to get our floors cleaned every time we vacuumed. That mess stopped dead in its tracks once we had our first child and the space in our home had a new premium thanks to all that baby gear. Our time became worth more, too. So we ditched one of the vacuums and just had floors that didn’t look as clean. It was kind of rough, friends.

See that button above? All you have to do is give it a push while you are vacuuming and the brushroll will turn off, or turn on. This makes it effortless to transition from carpet to hardwood. Our entire downstairs is hardwood with large rugs on top, so this feature is pretty much the best thing ever. With our old vacuum, we’d have to stop vacuuming and make adjustments to the settings of the vacuum. And let’s be honest…I rarely took the time to do that, which of course meant that my floors didn’t look as good as they could have. Now I just have this awesome button to get the job done, and I don’t even have to pause my work.

#4 Frequency of Vacuum TLC

One of our vacuums had a debris storage compartment that was so small that we had to stop and empty it out in the middle of one single vacuuming session. This is both a testament to the amount of hair that we really do have at home, as well as to the ridiculous design concept of that particular model. I believe the engineers of that one just honestly forgot that their awesome robot was supposed to clean something.

I immediately noticed the size of the canister that holds all the debris in this vacuum and I was impressed. We can get through 2 full sessions of vacuuming before we need to dump it, and since it is bag-less, disposing of all that debris takes mere seconds, which I love! And as we mentioned earlier, the amount of time we have to spend cutting hair out of the brush roll is nonexistent, which rocks!

Where to Find This Fabulous Vacuum

The Eureka Brushroll Clean™ with SuctionSeal® is, in my opinion, very fairly priced at $199 (I don’t want to talk about how much the fancy pants vacuum cost…), and you can find it at your nearest Walmart location or at Walmart.com. We are very pleased so far with this vacuum because it seems to have anticipated our concerns and addressed them all. What problems do you think this vacuum might solve for your family?

Win It!

Buying a vacuum that solves the problems other vacuums can’t is awesome. But what’s even more awesome is WINNING the vacuum that solves all these problems! Somebody is going to win the Eureka Brushroll Clean™ with SuctionSeal® and that somebody could be you! Might I also mention that someone is going to win a HOME MAKEOVER??? You can only win if you enter! Hop to it, friends!
Eureka #CleaningUntangled Sweeps!

Supermarket Healthy: A Worthy Option for the Cook with a Bit of Time

May 3, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

I received a complimentary copy of Supermarket Healthy from Blogging for Books. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always. Affiliate links may be included.

I’ve been thumbing through Melissa D’Ariabian’s newest cookbook, Supermarket Healthy, for the past few weeks, and I’ve made 5 of her dishes. One was a bust, but the other 4 were all quite good (and in some cases very surprisingly good!).

Occasionally I do see ingredients listed that I think I would have trouble locating in my grocery store, but for the most part, Melissa uses stuff I can easily get (and often things I already have on hand) and puts them together in fresh new ways that I wouldn’t have thought of on my own.

I would say that this is NOT a book for the beginner cook. I don’t think you need to be Julia Child, but her techniques do go beyond the basics. As someone who has been cooking for almost 13 years, but who favors simplicity over fuss in the kitchen, I have definitely tried some new techniques thanks to this cookbook, but I have felt comfortable giving them a try. If I was a cooking newbie, I would be a bit overwhelmed, personally.

If your kitchen is already overflowing with cookbooks that you never read, I can’t say that this will be one that will escape that same fate, especially since many of the recipes do require a bit of your time, and therefore aren’t ideal for anyone who either works outside of the home or who just doesn’t like meal prep to take a while.

But if you work from home, like I do, and if you are comfortable in the kitchen and could use some new ideas, Supermarket Healthy does offer quite a nice variety of dishes you probably haven’t already tried.

Finding a Fresh New Scent in the Laundry Room: Best of the Best

May 1, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

I’ve told you before about perfumes being one of the great loves of my life, yes? I actually had amassed a rather fierce collection of fragrances by my late ’20s, with the total number of bottles coming in just shy of 60.

Which I can see now is a bit much. But I was so intoxicated by those fumes, people! I couldn’t be sensible under the spell of those scents.

My collection has been carefully edited now, down to a respectable dozen. And I no longer rely on perfumes to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to producing a really nice, lasting scent. I actually like to let my laundry detergent play a supporting role, if not take the lead.

Finding the Best Laundry Detergent Scents

This can be tricky territory for an eco-friendly gal like myself. Laundry detergents can be super harsh on the environment, so you have to pay attention to what you are buying. This is one of several reasons why I enjoy using method. They have just released a line of laundry detergents that are made from naturally derived ingredients and are biodegradable and hypollergenic.

But they did NOT leave out the amazing scents! I love some of the unique blends they have created with this line, breaking away from some of the smells you have come to expect from laundry detergent.

My favorite is this one!

A “beachy” scent is definitely not unheard of with detergents, but method includes sage in this particular blend to give it a much more natural vibe, which I LOVE!

Here’s another great example of taking an expected scent in a new direction. There are lots of “fresh outdoors” scents in the laundry aisle, but how about the scent of clover? That’s a perfect choice for something fresh and clean, and yet, it’s different!

Double Duty

Another thing I like about method laundry detergent is that it can easily do double duty for you as not only your laundry detergent, but also as your stain treatment. The 4x concentrated design means that you can use a dab of the detergent directly on those stubborn stains and let it soak in for a little while before laundering as usual. I have a small laundry room, so it is important that every product in there be as useful as possible. When I can feel confident that the detergent can also treat stains, that’s a big win in my book. I also appreciate concentrated formulas because they use less packaging and they take up less space in my home.

But who am I kidding? In this case that space-saving feature just means that I’m going to buy all 4 scents. I mean…Ginger Mango?! Can you blame a girl?

Giving Laundry the “Cold” Shoulder

Have you switched over to washing your clothes on cold, yet? It’s a switch that definitely requires that you have a quality detergent, but with the right choice you can say goodbye to having to use all that extra energy to get your clothes washed. A cold wash works just find with method. You’ll save money on your energy bill if you make the switch, so give it a try! If you are nervous about trying it out, just be sure to use the detergent to pre-treat any stains. Then inspect your clothes before putting them in the dryer to see if the stains are gone. I think you’ll be happy with what you find!

Wear, Tweak, Repeat

ASOS and method have just launched a partnership to help inspire those of us out there who prefer a wardrobe that is highly flexible and very washable (Dry cleaners? PASS!). Definitely check out some of their spring 2015 wardrobe piece recommendations. I loved watching the quick video that have that showed each piece being styled in different ways!

Time to Save

So this new line sounds pretty awesome, right? Let’s make it even more awesome by cutting $3 off the price! Woo hoo! Use the code THREEFORME at checkout to save online now!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.