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Sunday, May 30, 2010

Updated Totals

Just updated my totals for May. I only spent $150.65 on groceries in May, which I'm quite proud of. I'm still on track for making my $2500 budget for 2010!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

VOTE for your FAVE Picture!

Okay, I've narrowed down the choices for pictures. Please vote from these top 4!

1.


2.


3.


4.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

CoverGirl Blast- Not a hit with me

I posted a couple days ago on Facebook that I received my free sample of CoverGirl Blast from Bzz Agent (a site where you volunteer to participate in campaigns to try new products). I wore it all day yesterday and applied it again today and I have to say I wouldn't buy this product.

The Good: I loved the colors. I got the Purple Plume eyeshadow and the Ignite lip gloss, both of which were bright without being over-the-top. I also liked how the eyeshadow was set up like a lipstick that you just roll on as opposed to traditional eye shadow powders where you have to use the little applicator that I am always dropping and end up losing.

The Not-So-Good: The application method for the eyeshadow, while good, worried me because it felt pretty hard on my eyeball and somewhat uncomfortable. Also, the lip gloss stick was difficult to get in and out of the gloss.

The Bad: The minute I tried to applied the second shade on my eye, the eye shadow stick BROKE off! I wasn't pressing hard, I didn't turn the stick so the shadow was all the way out, but for some reason it smeared unevenly on my eye and when I looked at it, it had broken off and was laying on the side of the tube. It's still usable if you are careful, but who even wants to deal with something that breaks so easily?

Also, the eye shadow clumps in the creases of my eye very quickly. And by very quickly, I mean I applied this morning at 7:30am and by 8:30 when I checked in the rest room, there was pretty visible clumpage in my eye crease.

Lastly, the lip gloss seriously dried out my lips, not to mention it didn't smell very good to me. It's not any different from most other lip gloss. I think I'll stick to Nivea, which is my preferred brand for lip care.

Overall: I'm on the fence about it. It wasn't completely horrible, but I definitely will NOT use the CoverGirl coupons they sent on the Blast line.

Monday, May 10, 2010

CVS- They owed me!

Went to CVS today on my lunch break (as usual) and here is the breakdown:

$1.00- 1 Carefree liners
$4.98- 2 Right Guard deodorants
$4.99- 1 Kotex U pads
$7.38- 2 Stayfree pads
$8.99- 1 Schick Hydro razor

-$13.50 in ECB I had
-$1 for Carefree (making it free)
-(2)$2 for Stayfree (it was a money-maker after coupon and ECB!)
-$1 for Kotex (it was a money-maker after coupon and ECB!)
-$3 for Right Guard (it was a money-maker after coupon and ECB!)
-$5 for Schick (free after coupon and ECB!)

My total came to -$1.79. CVS does not give cash back, so the cashier voided one of my ECBs and I put $1.21 on a gift card.

From this transaction I received $17 ECB!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

I need YOUR help!

My favorite radio station is doing a Battle of the Babies contest. The grand prize is $1,000! I have two weeks to submit the cutest possible picture of Caroline I can, and then people vote for the cutest baby. I have decided that my plan of attack will be in three phases:

Phase 1) Take cute pictures of Caroline and/or gather all pics of Caroline that anyone else may have taken with their phones, cameras, etc.

Phase 2) Have my readers and friends VOTE for the best picture to submit to the contest.

Phase 3) Ask my readers and friends to go to the website daily and vote for Caroline!

Now for a bit of incentive for you guys, even though I KNOW you all would help me from the kindness of your hearts, right??

Anyone who votes during Phase 2 for the picture I should submit, gets entered into a random drawing to win a FREE NIVEA LIP CARE.



I will choose a random winners and I WILL MAIL the brand new lip care right to your house, so I'm not limited to people who live in the DC/MD/VA area! The voting will be right here on my blog, and I will post the pictures I'm considering on Monday, May 10th.

Anyone who votes during Phase 3 on the station website (that I will post), also will get entered into ANOTHER FREE NIVEA LIP CARE drawing, and I will choose ANOTHER 3 WINNERS (you may win twice!)

Now, for the REALLY good part. I'm going to give away prizes based on how far Caroline gets in the competition. One random winner will be drawn for each of the prizes:

If Caroline makes:

The Top 50- A set of two Glade fragrance collection candles!



The Top 20- $5 gift card (to a store of the winner's choosing)



The Top 10- $10 gift card (to a store of the winner's choosing)



The Top 2- A Gift Bag (or box mailed to your house) filled with the winner's choice of household items that I frequently stockpile- body wash, lotion, soap, shampoo, conditioner, razors, shave gel, scented candles, etc. Those are just examples! Basically a FREE box of NICE stuff to pamper yourself or someone in your life! (Est. retail value of $30 or more!)

And, if Caroline is the winner (and thus wins the $1,000 prize) I will draw ONE random winner (from everyone who helped during this process) who will win a $50 gift card of their choosing!!



This could be Target, Walmart, CVS, a restaurant gift card, A Visa gift card, etc. Those are just examples.

How you enter: I'll be posting here on my blog for each phase, so you have to make sure you post in the comments section HERE that you voted. I will keep track of all the names, and since you can vote on the station website once per DAY, you can enter to win my prizes once per day as well! I will keep track of all the entries, announce cut-off dates for voting in the various rounds, etc. So be sure to check here for updates and to VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!

*All prizes are given at my own expense and all prizes will be given for the various rounds of the contest REGARDLESS if we will the top prize or not!*

So, who's down to help us win?

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

I got my groceries free at Giant today!

I went to Giant on my lunch break. I wanted to use my $1 Giant doublers (available exclusively in the mailed Giant ads from last week) that my friend Ayrielle sent me. With the Giant doublers, you have to have a minimum (before coupon) total of $15.

2 cans of Enfamil Ready to Feed formula
8 jars of Kraft BBQ sauce (on sale 10 for $10)

Total before sales: $22.90
Total before coupons: $14.32

I used 4 $1/2 KRaft bbq sauce coupons, 4 $1 Giant doublers, and two $4 formula checks.

I was SUPPOSED to walk out only paying $0.89, but a manager error (they entered my formula checks as the total amount instead of the amount the formula checks were marked for) left me walking away without paying a single penny!!