I got 3 brand new girls' bathing suits at Old Navy for a total of $10.22. That's $3.41 cents per suit.
Was this just another one of those Jedi mind tricks? Nope.
I caught the Old Navy Groupon for a $20 gift card for $10. It was only good in store, but that's fine with me because I get much better deals in store, so I very rarely shop Old Navy online. I had a $5 credit at Groupon, so it only cost me $5 for the $20 gift card.
My daughters tried on a number of suits and we went with three that fit & they liked. They were all on sale, so my total came to $25.22. After my Groupon, the bill was $5.22. That's on top of the $5 I paid in the first place. So three cute suits for a whopping total of $10.22.
I like Old Navy's bathing suits. In our experience (which includes day camp and many hours spent in the pool) they hold up well and don't fade (I was royally pissed when a suit I splurged on for the girls faded within the first week of camp). I wasn't pleased with the fit of the two pieces this year (My daughters wear the tankini type suits and those were much more revealing this year than last. The bottoms were also MUCH bigger than usual, so the girls didn't have the option of going up a size for more coverage), but the one pieces are great and very cute. They fit great--very true to size.
The only down-side we encountered was that many of the suits were already out of stock at the store. Still, we were able to get cute suits and a great price.
Showing posts with label bargain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bargain. Show all posts
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Why my shower looks like a murder scene and why I'm not happy (even if I do have cute hair).
I was awake at ungdly hours fortunate enough to get my hands on one of Clairol's coupons for a free trial of their new Nice 'n Easy Color Blend Foam. The coupon came in the mail last week, so I headed to the store to pick it up. It was tricky to find, but I eventually found it on the end cap, near the dyes, but not with them. I opted for a darker brown with red highlights (I'm usually a lighter red).
A few days ago, I tried it out and was not at all pleased. I can't find any real benefit to this concept. It smelled and was difficult to use.
The mixture smelled far worse than any of the major brands I've used. It was horrible and made my eyes tear.
The top appeared to be a pump top and it took me a few moments to realize it wasn't at all. You put the top on and then you need to squeeze the bottle to get the foam. Personally, I prefer a standard applicator bottle where I could put the color directly on my hair when necessary. When I tried to do that with the foam bottle, it was very difficult to direct the foam in the correct place and it made a mess. Plus the bottle is a bit cumbersome to hold that way and squeeze.
This was by far messier than any of the other standard boxed hair dyes I've used. The foam had a bit of a mind of its own and splattered quite a bit. My bathroom looked like a crime scene with all the red splatter.
Maybe it was just because I've never used foam hair dye before, but I found it far more difficult than the standard thick liquid mix. I found it difficult to tell when the hair was saturated. The foam isn't very thick, so I redid the same spots quite a bit because I just couldn't tell if they had enough product.
On the plus side: I love the color. It's even and is true to the box. My hair isn't dry or brittle at all. The included conditioner works well and, unlike other brands, Clairol's foam includes two packets of conditioner with the instructions to use one a week after dying. I like that a lot. The package also came with gloves that were more form-fitting and comfortable than those that you have to peel off the instructions which are pretty standard in most boxed dyes.
That being said, I just don't think it's worth it. The retail price is a bit higher than some dyes and considerably higher than others. I think some of the kinks could be worked out with repeated use, but I don't think I could stand the smell and the cost to the point where I could try it again.
I love the color, but was very annoyed with the process.
A few days ago, I tried it out and was not at all pleased. I can't find any real benefit to this concept. It smelled and was difficult to use.
The mixture smelled far worse than any of the major brands I've used. It was horrible and made my eyes tear.
The top appeared to be a pump top and it took me a few moments to realize it wasn't at all. You put the top on and then you need to squeeze the bottle to get the foam. Personally, I prefer a standard applicator bottle where I could put the color directly on my hair when necessary. When I tried to do that with the foam bottle, it was very difficult to direct the foam in the correct place and it made a mess. Plus the bottle is a bit cumbersome to hold that way and squeeze.
This was by far messier than any of the other standard boxed hair dyes I've used. The foam had a bit of a mind of its own and splattered quite a bit. My bathroom looked like a crime scene with all the red splatter.
Maybe it was just because I've never used foam hair dye before, but I found it far more difficult than the standard thick liquid mix. I found it difficult to tell when the hair was saturated. The foam isn't very thick, so I redid the same spots quite a bit because I just couldn't tell if they had enough product.
On the plus side: I love the color. It's even and is true to the box. My hair isn't dry or brittle at all. The included conditioner works well and, unlike other brands, Clairol's foam includes two packets of conditioner with the instructions to use one a week after dying. I like that a lot. The package also came with gloves that were more form-fitting and comfortable than those that you have to peel off the instructions which are pretty standard in most boxed dyes.
That being said, I just don't think it's worth it. The retail price is a bit higher than some dyes and considerably higher than others. I think some of the kinks could be worked out with repeated use, but I don't think I could stand the smell and the cost to the point where I could try it again.
I love the color, but was very annoyed with the process.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
They're As Different As Night And Day
I'm continuing in my collection of clever, yet cheap (frugal if you're feeling more refined) costumes.
For Day, we went with lots of bright colors--think sunshine and rainbows. She wore a dress I made her the year before. It had lots of grass and flowers (and fairies) on it. We pinned a blue cloud baby blanket around her shoulders like a cape. It was pinned on with a butterfly pin that once belonged to her great great aunt. She wore lots of flowers in her hair and all the flowered jewelry she could find--including my favorite set of my own jewelery (which made her feel oh so special). She wore rainbow knee socks (which I scored for pennies on after x-mas clearance) and her brightest shoes (croc knock-offs which were $1 on clearance).
As I've mentioned, I love coordinating costumes. One year, for Purim, my daughters dressed as Night and Day (actually, they did that for 2 years and I recycled it and improved it the following year when I was hugely pregnant and didn't feel like creating something too time or work intensive. When I say, "Hugely pregnant," I'm not exaggerating. See? That picture was taken at the Purim party. My daughter was born a few hours later. I kid you not!
So I hope you can understand why I went with a costume that was completely free and could be thrown together that day.
Night was super simple. She wore her favorite black dress (which I got for $3.24 on clearance at Target the year before) and black tights that we had on hand. I just rolled scotch tape and taped on yellow paper stars which she cut from construction paper. She wore a star necklace she had. I had a star of David plastic ornament in with my crafting supplies, so she grabbed that, put pink tissue paper in it and tied it to her wrist. I had yellow star-shaped ribbon which I cut and added to her shoes and tied around her wrist as a bracelet. I had hair gems I bought ages ago, but never used. They're basically just gems with the firm end of velcro on the back, so that it stuck to her hair. She also wore a headband with stars on it (which she just grabbed from her closet). She made her own mask from a paper plate and we glued a stick to it.
I went into labor at the party and we actually wrote down the times of my contractions on the back of that mask. And yes, I still have it. :-)
 |
| close-up of the bling |
For Day, we went with lots of bright colors--think sunshine and rainbows. She wore a dress I made her the year before. It had lots of grass and flowers (and fairies) on it. We pinned a blue cloud baby blanket around her shoulders like a cape. It was pinned on with a butterfly pin that once belonged to her great great aunt. She wore lots of flowers in her hair and all the flowered jewelry she could find--including my favorite set of my own jewelery (which made her feel oh so special). She wore rainbow knee socks (which I scored for pennies on after x-mas clearance) and her brightest shoes (croc knock-offs which were $1 on clearance).
The costumes were a huge hit. They won the costume contest that night and they had a blast.
 |
| Day and Night in a race at the Purim carnival |
Those remain, to this day, probably my favorite costumes we've ever done. You wanna win a costume contest? Go with these.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Dressing the Goat Rodeo for Halloween
I am the queen of bargain Halloween costumes. I love making unique costumes and being crafty, but hate spending money. If we're sharing our collection of crowns, I should also point out that I'm the queen of procrastination. So I don't usually have months to work on these costumes. In many cases, I had to throw them together at the last minute (ask me about how Jack Skellington became a munchin just hours before trick-or-treating).
I was inspired by Dollar Store Craft's to feature some of our cheap costumes. I'm going to do a series of posts on the topic. This is my first. It didn't cost us a cent.
Costume: Flying Monkey
Items:
1 brown hooded sweatshirt or sweater
1 empty ribbon spool
1 red t-shirt
1 pair of brown pants
2 sheets of black craft foam or 1 sheet of cardboard and black paint
1 sheet of brown felt
1 sheet of beige felt
a few safety pins.
hot glue
If you have the shirt and pants, the rest of the items can be found at the dollar store. You could also use a brown sweatshirt and a brown hat and those can both be found at the dollar store.
My son had brown pants and we borrowed his sisters' brown hooded sweater.
I cut out circles for the ears and put the smaller one inside the larger. I bunched them a little bit and pinned them from the inside. I cut strips for a tail. I covered a piece of wire with felt and glued it with hot glue, but I found the wire was unnecessary. You can just cut out the curly shape and pin that on the shirt or pants. I found pinning it to the shirt worked better because it didn't pull his pants down.
I used a red t-shirt for the vest. I cut the sleeves off, cut the bottom to make it shorter and cut it down the center. The discarded portions of the t-shirt were used to make the hat. I covered a ribbon spool (the cardboard circle that ribbon comes on) with the leftover fabric and hot glued it on. I then pinned it to the hood on an angle. That hat was the most difficult thing for me to figure out. I was so thrilled when it was done.
For wings, I searched for pictures of bat wings and then just quickly drew that on black foam. I cut those out and pinned them to the vest.
I purposely pinned on everything to the pants and top so that they could be reused again. We got tons of compliments when he went trick-or-treating. It was hysterical to follow from behind and see those wings bounce and the tail swing.
As an added bonus, I'll throw in my ridiculously simple wicked witch of the west costume too. Since my son was a flying monkey and I do so love coordinating costumes, his baby sister went as the wicked witch.
I used the big girls' black dance skirt as a shawl over her shoulders. I dyed a dress black, but it was really a waste of time. You couldn't see it at all. She wore knock-off baby legs which we had on hand and she wore the rocking Jack and Lily skull shoes we had on hand (I won them from a blog contest). She actually wore those same shoes last year for Purim when she was a baby pirate.
Then I found a problem--the hat. I couldn't find any witch hats in baby sizes and my attempts at making one failed miserably. This year, you can find some toddler-sized ones in the Target dollar aisle. Last year, though, no luck.
So I hacked into a decoration from the Dollar Tree. You know those corny plastic depictions of a witch that you can make appear has smacked into your car, your door, your wall, your tree, or your mother-in-law? Well, we had one that we bought about 10 years ago. I cut the hat off that. It was small enough to work.
It didn't cost us anything at all. Black baby clothing is very difficult to come by, so if you want to create a witch, try raiding your closet or even your older children's. Our older daughters had tons of black skirts from which to choose.
Both of their costumes were a big hit and didn't cost us anything. We were able to raid the closets and the craft bins. If you do need to buy the materials, it still shouldn't cost you much at all.
.
I was inspired by Dollar Store Craft's to feature some of our cheap costumes. I'm going to do a series of posts on the topic. This is my first. It didn't cost us a cent.
Items:
1 brown hooded sweatshirt or sweater
1 empty ribbon spool
1 red t-shirt
1 pair of brown pants
2 sheets of black craft foam or 1 sheet of cardboard and black paint
1 sheet of brown felt
1 sheet of beige felt
a few safety pins.
hot glue
If you have the shirt and pants, the rest of the items can be found at the dollar store. You could also use a brown sweatshirt and a brown hat and those can both be found at the dollar store.
My son had brown pants and we borrowed his sisters' brown hooded sweater.
I cut out circles for the ears and put the smaller one inside the larger. I bunched them a little bit and pinned them from the inside. I cut strips for a tail. I covered a piece of wire with felt and glued it with hot glue, but I found the wire was unnecessary. You can just cut out the curly shape and pin that on the shirt or pants. I found pinning it to the shirt worked better because it didn't pull his pants down.
I used a red t-shirt for the vest. I cut the sleeves off, cut the bottom to make it shorter and cut it down the center. The discarded portions of the t-shirt were used to make the hat. I covered a ribbon spool (the cardboard circle that ribbon comes on) with the leftover fabric and hot glued it on. I then pinned it to the hood on an angle. That hat was the most difficult thing for me to figure out. I was so thrilled when it was done.
For wings, I searched for pictures of bat wings and then just quickly drew that on black foam. I cut those out and pinned them to the vest.
I purposely pinned on everything to the pants and top so that they could be reused again. We got tons of compliments when he went trick-or-treating. It was hysterical to follow from behind and see those wings bounce and the tail swing.
As an added bonus, I'll throw in my ridiculously simple wicked witch of the west costume too. Since my son was a flying monkey and I do so love coordinating costumes, his baby sister went as the wicked witch.
 |
| I'll get you, my pretty. |
Then I found a problem--the hat. I couldn't find any witch hats in baby sizes and my attempts at making one failed miserably. This year, you can find some toddler-sized ones in the Target dollar aisle. Last year, though, no luck.
So I hacked into a decoration from the Dollar Tree. You know those corny plastic depictions of a witch that you can make appear has smacked into your car, your door, your wall, your tree, or your mother-in-law? Well, we had one that we bought about 10 years ago. I cut the hat off that. It was small enough to work.
It didn't cost us anything at all. Black baby clothing is very difficult to come by, so if you want to create a witch, try raiding your closet or even your older children's. Our older daughters had tons of black skirts from which to choose.
Both of their costumes were a big hit and didn't cost us anything. We were able to raid the closets and the craft bins. If you do need to buy the materials, it still shouldn't cost you much at all.
 |
| Not a great picture, but this is SO my son. It's also very flying monkeyish, don't you think? |
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