Good Morning!
For every year of my adult life my dad and grandparents have sent me money for Christmas. Some people might think that it seems impersonal and odd but I love it. My husband and I have a tradition of going shopping the day after Christmas to use some of our money and to score the best deals! We did go this year, but that is not what this particular post is about.
I bought several things from Shutterfly (another post, another day) and that left me with about $120 to spend. I wanted to make the most of it, but also treat myself to things that were wants versus needs.
I have a make-up buying problem. I have one of the largest collections of cosmetics I’ve seen, it doesn’t make me proud and I am truly cutting back on buying Make-up. One of my favorite things to buy and use, are make-up brushes. I have spent enough money on them that it really pushes me to take very good care of them.
My first purchase was this brush cleaning tool, The Brush board, from The Brush Bar. I also have their namesake Brush Bar to dry my brushes after washing them and love it! It was the quality of that product that made me confident in this purchase.
The Brush Board retails on www.getbrushbar.com for $25. I purchased mine through IPSY (again, another day haha) for $12 with free shipping. I haven’t used it yet but I am looking forward to using it on my next brush cleaning day.
Black Friday my husband and I looked at curling irons at Ulta. I had been looking into getting one for several months because I don’t have one, or should I say I didn’t have one. I was debating between a curling wand and a curling iron but decided that I would feel safer with at least a partial clip than no clip. I found several I liked, but even at Black Friday prices couldn’t justify spending money from our regular budget on one.
I was looking online at some of Ulta’s Christmas deals and saw that not only was one of the irons I looked at on sale; they were also pairing it with a FREE straightener! I’ve been using the same Conair straightener for probably 8 years and while it doesn’t need replaced, it is always nice to have options. Plus my Conair is a 2 inch straightener, and this one is 1 inch.
Both of these items are going to make great additions to my hair tool arsenal.
I love all things peppermint! I received one of Ulta’s 3 in 1 peppermint scented smoothies a couple of years ago as a gift and just finished using it up! It was a much bigger bottle than these are, but I feel like these are a much more convenient size for my shower. They are a 3 in 1 product, meaning that you can use them as a shampoo, body wash, or bubble bath; but i just use them as a body wash. The versatility of these also means that they are a great product to pop in the shower of a guest bathroom, which is where one bottle will go in our house.
They normally retail for $6 each, but I found them on a sale that allowed me to buy two and get two free! So all four were just $12!
I am all for “FREE” but I always try to work out the math on it first. Buy one get one free is really just 50% off. Buy two get one free is 33% off, and so on. It works the other way too, if you have body wash on your shopping list and have already allotted the full price and then see it for 50% off, grab two and tuck the “free” one away to help save later.
I purchased these online in the same transaction that I purchased the hair tools, so I qualified for free shipping! I am also a rewards member through Ulta and had some points saved up, so I was actually able to get all four smoothies for free!
These last two aren’t anything special. I had my eye on these mini Nalgene bottle for lunches for several weeks, but couldn’t bring myself to pay $10 for it when the full-sized versions are only $11. When I saw that Nalgene was 20% off on Cartwheel (Target app. Don’t worry, a Target haul blog is coming!) I went back to look and they had a ton on clearance. Even though I only had the 20% off on my coupon, I was able to combine it with a clearance one and it ended up being a flat $5!
I also have a problem with buying office supplies, so I try to only get new stuff if it’s a “splurge” or a need. I really have to watch myself because I will toss wants into the cart from time to time, and then have to go and put them back. Awkward, right? I was in that section getting my husband some sticky labels for work and saw this pack of mini legal pads, and decided to splurge on them. I have been using far too many of my lined post-its for blog outlines, and they are much too expensive to continue purchasing if I am just going to waste them. As luck would have it they were 10% off on Cartwheel so I saved $0.20 on them!
- The Brush Board/retail $25/paid $12
- Hot Tools hair tools/retail $114/paid $53.59
- Ulta 3 in 1 Smoothie/retail $24/paid $0
- Nalgene water bottle/retail $10/paid $5
- Junior Legal Pads/retail $2/paid $1.77
I had a blast shopping for good deals, and am excited to have some new goodies! The money I had left over went to our new car battery (go back and read Money Monday on January 2 if you missed that adventure).
If you have a trick for saving money when it comes to splurging, leave a comment below. Have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you tomorrow when we stack my results from this week against my previous numbers in Summary Sunday.
Financially Frustrated 