New Thing: Walmart Grocery Pickup

As a working mom, one of my most difficult tasks is feeding my family. There is so much to think about - WHEN we are going to eat with our busy schedules and when am I going to prepare it, WHAT we are going to eat, HOW is it going to get thawed/chopped/marinated/pre-cooked/whatever, WHO is going to prepare it (me 9 times of ten because I'm off work sooner), etc, etc. And throw in trying to eat healthy? HA!

Years ago Jo Marie introduced me to Aldi. And it was like the clouds parted and God said, "You can afford to feed your family on your meager monthly budget if you shop smart and here." And it was wonderful. And I love Aldi, truly. But this week, the clouds parted again, this time, with Walmart Grocery Pickup.

I am not a fan of Walmart because I hate going there. I love their prices, but I just hate going there, parking, walking all over the huge store to find anything, and the fact that it's always so busy. This solved that problem because I sat at my computer, took my grocery list, and searched and clicked. It took me 7 minutes. SEVEN MINUTES TO GET EVERYTHING IN MY CART. Then I entered my credit card info and selected a pickup time.

It was that simple. Truly.

My pickup time was 9-10 AM and at 8:50 I received a call that my groceries were ready for pickup any time in the next hour. I left the house, pulled up at 9:02, called the number, and two minutes later:

The lady was super nice and cheerful and had me sign on a little iPhone looking device and then helped me load the groceries in the car. It was AMAZING. AND, they gave me a gift bag for being a first-time customer:

How nice!

One of the things I'm trying to do this summer is come up with ways to make my working life at home smoother and more efficient without sacrificing time with my family. This is one of the things I'm most excited about, because now, I can meal plan and grocery shop in one step! It's more expensive than Aldi - probably $10 or so on this grocery trip - but I saved so much time and energy, which matters so much during the school year!

A few notes if you are looking to try this out (which I HIGHLY recommend!):

• Use this link or the app "Walmart Grocery Pickup" (different from the regular Walmart app)
• Not all Walmarts do this, be sure to check ahead of time at the link above
• You must have a $30 minimum
• Read carefully - I accidentally bought two 18 ct eggs instead of two 12 ct eggs. Good thing we like eggs.
• Buying produce without looking at it can be a little questionable, but all my produce (which was probably 50% of what I bought) looked great - especially the avocados, which I never know how to pick anyway.
• If you decide to try this out, let me know and I can send you a coupon code for $10 your first order! :)

If you have a HyVee in your area, you may check it out, too. I've been told they do the same thing, but that their interface is more difficult to navigate and their minimum purchase is higher. I never shop at HyVee because it's so much more expensive, but if you are a HyVee fan, it may be worth some checking.

Happy shopping :)

Product Review: Grove Collaborative

How I Heard:
I saw on Facebook from one of my many money-saving pages that Grove Collaborative (a company I'd never heard of) was selling Meyer's products for cheap. Well, I have loved Meyer's stuff ever since I scored free candles and laundry detergent on Cyber Monday a few years ago. It's all environmentally conscious and organic and all that stuff too, which is a bonus. I use and love Norwex, but I've got to say, I can't completely give up using chemicals. I have tried really hard, but it's just not in me yet. Target has started selling their stuff in stores, but it's just so expensive. The deal was to pay $20 and receive nearly $80 of product. The catch was that you were in a subscribe-and-save-type relationship with Grove Collaborative. But it said plain as day on the website that you could cancel at any time. Sooooooooo....I bought.

What I Got:
Meyer's Laundry Detergent - Lemon Verbena scent, 64 loads
Meyer's Dish Detergent - Honeysuckle scent, 16 oz
Meyer's Hand Soap - Honeysuckle scent, 12.5 oz
2 13.5 oz Candles - Basil scent, 35 hours
Cellulose sponge cloths - 3 count

Application:
Meyer's Laundry Detergent -
I LOVED this when I used it before, but I discovered I am not a fan of the Lemon Verbena scent. So I emailed Grove's customer service just to see if I could exchange, and an hour later I had an email that said they had credited a new bottle in the scent of my choice to my account! Whooohoooo!

Meyer's Dish Detergent -
This is my new favorite stuff. No offense to Dawn, whom I have known and loved for years, but this stuff works every bit as well, is better and safer for the environment, and makes my kitchen smell like flowers. I love it.

Meyer's Hand Soap -
Same with the soap. I actually put it in the pantry when I first got it, intending to use up all the soap in the bathroom before using this, but after using the dish soap, I just couldn't wait to bust this out. It's the best and the kids love it too.

2 13.5 oz Candles - Basil scent, 35 hours
I love this scent. It's the kind of candle that smells up the whole floor (which are my favorite kind). I even took one upstairs to keep on my nightstand.

 

Cellulose sponge cloths - 3 count
These were not quite as exciting. It says on the package to use them in place of paper towels. I liked that they could be washed in the dishwasher (GREAT idea!), but they need to be either a little bigger or a little smaller. I suppose I can cut them down...maybe I'll try that.

Results:
With the exception of the cloths, I love all of this stuff. I am keeping my membership at least through the next month. I have ordered the laundry detergent in the scent I know I love. I've also ordered the every-day cleaner, so I'm excited to try that next month!

Product Review: Norwex Hair Turban

How I Heard:
When I had my Norwex Party, I ended up with lots of free stuff. Like, lots. Like, this much:

Most of what I got was the "hostess package," but then I also got credits with which to buy whatever I wanted. I was sensible for the most part and bought things I knew I would be using to clean my house. But I had heard TeRee talk about the hair turban and was curious. So I text her and said, "I'm considering the hair turban but feel like it's a little impractical..." She immediately text back and said she uses it daily, her hair is 70% dry by the time she takes it down (a feat...she has THICK hair), and she could not recommend it more strongly. So...I put it on my free list.

What I Used:
I used the Norwex hair turban. Normally, I either wrap my hair in a towel and struggle to keep it on my head while I go about getting ready, or I take it down early and have to worry about wet hair dribbles or spots. So I was super excited to try it out.

Application:
But when it came time to wear it, I wasn't sure how to do it, exactly. Between my husband and me, we thought this was probably the most likely method:

But it felt very loose. So I text TeRee who said the button goes in the back. I couldn't figure that out either so she sent me this link. That made WAY MORE SENSE.

Results:
As you can see, it is snug around my head (but not so tight it would cause headaches, like I find hats do) and I can easily go about my business. I can go upstairs, get dressed, brush my teeth, get the kids up, get them dressed and breakfasted, and then hit the hair dryer for 2 minutes or so. It's become a part of my daily routine, so much so that I took it on an overnight trip with me because I could not bear the thought of having to battle with a towel. I LOVE this thing. It might be my favorite Norwex purchase (and THAT is saying something!)

Other Norwex Products I Love:
Bathroom Scrub Mitt & Ergonomic Toilet Brush
Norwex Kitchen Cloth & Cleaning Paste

Product Review: Norwex Bathroom Scrub Mitt + Ergonomic Toilet Brush

How I Heard:

Norwex is pretty much my new favorite thing. Click here for details :)

What I Used: 

I used the Bathroom Scrub Mitt. It has microfiber on one side:

And little scrubby things on the other side:

I also used the Ergonomic Toilet Brush for the toilet bowl:

 

Application:
I used the mitt to clean my bathroom sink which was, well, disgusting.

See?

I ran the mitt under water, squeezed it out really good, and then went to work. There was some serious toothpaste stuck to the basin so I did need to use the scrubber side. I used the soft part to go back over everything one more time. It looked GREAT and only took a few minutes.

Results:

I also used it on my toilet, but I didn't take pictures. You're welcome. When I was done, I simply rinsed it out and hung it up to dry for next time.

Okay, before I go on, I need to confess something: I like to clean bathrooms. I truly do. If there is ever a corporate cleaning situation, I always volunteer to do the bathrooms and people always think of me as this super-selfless person who is taking one for the team by doing the dirty job that no one wants. But the truth is that I'd rather clean the toilet than dust, sweep, or clean the sink. I used to do it at the golf course I worked at, and let me tell you - once you've cleaned a public toilet - or worse, a URINAL - nothing can gross you out. And since I am not easily grossed out by germs or dirt or hair, the bathroom and I have a good thing going. Okay - confession over.

The toilet brush is GENIUS. I don't know why someone hasn't thought of this before now. The toilet bowl might be my favorite part of cleaning the bathroom. Spraying the toilet bowl is always the first thing I do and then scrubbing it down is always the last thing I do so that when I go to scrub, the chemicals have already been working on the germs for a good chunk of time. Now this is the part I really like: I know how nasty that toilet bowl is and I know I'm scrubbing and flushing the nasty, pee-y, poopy germs away. This time, it was better because I knew I was able to reach even more of the nasty stuff!

My Take:
I am a fan of both of these items - the toilet brush in particular. It made the already kind of fun process of cleaning the bathroom even MORE so.

Click to read my review of the kitchen cloth and cleaning paste.

Product Review: Norwex Kitchen Cloth + Cleaning Paste

How I Heard:
As part of my Norwex Party, I received a ton of free products. Want to see a picture?

I posted this picture in the previous post, but I'm just so excited about it! My favorite time to clean is Saturday mornings. I usually wake before six and it's the perfect time to get things done before anyone else is up. I was extra excited this Saturday because a) I had a new audiobook to start and b) I had all this great Norwex stuff to start putting to use!

What I Used:
I started in the kitchen and decided to tackle the sink with the kitchen cloth and the cleaning paste.

I took a picture of the kitchen before I started but then decided you didn't need to see my counter tops or my sink. Suffice it to say we were gone quite a bit this week and things were piling up! Once I finished rinsing dishes and got everything out of my sink, this is what it looked like:

Application:
Normally, I would wet the surfaces, sprinkle Comet, and let it sit for a few. This time I got my kitchen cloth and my cleaning paste and went to work!

My sink was DISGUSTING. Ordinarily, I'd have to get the scrubber out and scrub, scrub, scrub. And don't get me wrong - it took a little scrubbing. We had eaten syrup at one point and...well, yuck.

Results:
After, perhaps, five minutes, it looked like this:

SPARKLING!

My Take:
I LOVE this thing. I proceeded to use the kitchen cloth to clean my counter tops, stove top, and dining room table. It's like the envirocloth, but the weave is different. It's a bit thinner and much easier to use in the kitchen. I LOVE it. I also loved the cleaning paste. I can't wait until my stove top gets dirtied up so I can use it there, too!

UPDATE:

Right after I posted this, Lucy decided to draw all over the trim with crayon.

Instead of panicking, I grabbed my Norwex kitchen cloth and scrubbed it down. Gone within minutes!

Product Review: Jamberry

 

How I Heard:
A friend of mine recently started selling Jamberry. If you are unfamiliar with Jamberry, it's an adhesive wrap for your fingernails that is non-toxic and supposed to maintain its integrity regardless of how rough you are on your nails. I chatted a bit with this friend several weeks ago and the product sounded interesting, but when my sister-in-law started selling it, I thought it was time to try it out.

What I Ordered:
I ordered the following designs:

And when you order 3, you get a 4th sheet free, so I went out on a limb and selected this one:

Not really me, but I liked it. I thought maybe I could use this as an accent nail and polish the others. I don't know...I just really liked it! I ordered online and received it about a week later.

They come in sheets like this:

This is enough for two manicures and two pedicures. The manicures are supposed to last two weeks and the pedicures are supposed to last four.

Application:
 I selected the black chevron and headed to my sister-in-law's house so she could help me apply. I didn't take pictures of it, but the application process is really very simple: you clean your nails, push back your cuticles, cut the sticker down the middle, heat the back side (they have special heaters you can buy or you can use a hair dryer), and apply it right on to your nails. It was really a very simple process.

Results:
Here's the finished product:

And here it is again after almost two weeks:

 My Take:
I really, really like this product. And I think it's important to note: I am NOT a girly girl. Clothes, make-up, shoes, shopping - those are just things that take up my time. I have found I am a little more excited about them now that I've gone from a size 14 to a size 8 , but these sorts of things are a waste in my mind. So for me to say that I really like this product is pretty high praise!

We have family pictures this weekend, so I decided to trade the rest of my black chevron pack with a friend who ordered the French tip set. Here's what my second "jamicure" looks like:

Right after application

About four days after application

Overall, I am a fan! If you are interested, click here to find out more!