I refused my first plastic bag!

The kids and I are seriously hamburger-deprived at this stage. We haven’t eaten out in a whole week. So first stop – Carl’s Jr. Since we can’t afford even the cheapest Vegas vacations, we might as well stuff ourselves silly with hamburgers, right?

I had a shopping list to fulfill after lunch. So we stopped by GNC for our vitamin supply. VIP card members get 20-25% off certain items. I’m not a card member but my credit card entitles me to a 20% discount.

The girl was about to drop my vitamins into a plastic bag when I told her, stop, I brought my own eco-tote bag. For the record, that’s my first refusal of a plastic bag! Yes, I’m helping to save the environment and my grandchildren will be so proud of me. Yay!!

do you keep a stash of food and essentials?

I’ve been grocery shopping like crazy the past couple of weekends since the fuel price increase. Actually it doesn’t have much to do with the price increase. I’m just a chronic bulk shopper, that’s all.

I like the comfort of knowing I have stock on hand instead of having to rush out like a desperado to buy something just before the last drop or after we totally run out. I always have half of a dozen of everything stocked up in my kitchen and utility cupboard.

When something is on sale, I don’t just buy one, I buy maybe 4 or 6 at once. I have two fridges so there’s plenty of room for storage. When the 2kg Milo was on sale, I bought 6 bags of it. That’s enough to start a small coffee shop. Same with coffee and Jacob’s crackers (got 3 tins of those sitting around).

A quick peek in my toiletries store. I have at least 120 rolls of toilet paper, 20 boxes of Kleenex, 6 tubes of toothpaste, dozens of toothbrushes. Call me nuts but that’s me.

I really take advantage of sales and promos to save money. Well, it’s not only money, it’s also peace of mind .

liking those eco-friendly tote bags

You know those free eco-friendly tote bags that many malls are allowing you to redeem for a certain amount purchased?

Well, I’ve got quite a collection now from different places. Initially I thought they were the ugliest things ever, especially with their names or brands printed on.

I still don’t like to be caught doing free advertising for the businesses that give out these free bags. But I’m learning to ignore the printed names and just saying ‘if the bag works, who cares what it says?’.

I’ve started finding them pretty useful for packing school lunches for my kids. They’re definitely better than paper bags which tend to tear if wet. But these tote bags are pretty tough and can be slung over the shoulder which makes it less clumsy for kids.

breaking cosmetic cases

My Elianto eyeshadow cover broke on me yesterday and fell off, just like that. Previously it was the loose powder box that started falling to pieces.

I like browsing their products because the girls don’t bug me much. I hate the counters/shops where the promoter follows me around and keeps trying to explain things to me and asking me what I’m looking for.

The Elianto girls just stand there quietly and let me do my browsing. So that’s why I like going there with my girls. And of course, I’m often convinced to buy something (gotta love their nail polish) because everything’s kinda cute and come in small sizes that we can finish quite quickly.

But I wish they’d make better quality containers though. Having the thing fall to pieces or left without its cover is very irritating.

what to do if you bought the wrong shade of loose powder?

I’ve just realized what a mistake I made with buying my loose powder. I’ve always bought powder that’s one shade lighter than my skin tone, as all the magazines suggest.

Recently I decided that I’d gotten a bit more tanned than I used to be. I don’t know what gave me that idea. But it made me buy a box of loose powder that’s a shade darker than what I thought was my skin tone at the time.

What’s happened is that I’ve gotten back to my original skin tone, within days too, I might add. I don’t tan easily. I may appear slightly darker for a few days and then I’m back to my original paleness .

And so now I’m stuck with a new, barely touched, box of powder that’s making me look like a toasted banana :oops:

But seriously all is not lost.

If you’ve made this same mistake and ended up with something darker than what’s right for you, just go back out and buy another box of the lighter shade and mix them up half and half. You’ll end up with a really nice in-between shade.

potpourri and dried flowers

My entire room smells so good right now. All because I dug up a whole boxful of potpourri that I bought on my last trip to Australia. I’m planning to give some bags of it to a friend. I don’t know why I bought so many. Must be my hoarding instinct .

When I go to Australia, I just go frantic over their dried flowers. I can’t stop buying them. I even brought back the long-stemmed ones once.

Luckily I was traveling on business class so it wasn’t a problem hand-carrying it. The minute I stepped on board, the steward relieved me of it and placed it in a safe place. Such is the life !