Product Review - Venus Embrace
Author: Cheryl
•11:19 PM

The last razor review I did was for the Bic Soleil disposables. Believe it or not I finally used the last one in that 5 pack yesterday. And if you read that review you would know that I did not like them. But I don't believe in wasting, so I pressed on and used each one of them.

I was so happy to see them go. And very excited to try a new one. I decided to stop just going for the disposables and try one of the ones with changeable blades.

I picked the Gillette Venus Embrace. It looks good. Mine came with a cool shower pod to hold the razor and an extra cartridge that is held in the pod. Good start so far. This razor has 5 blades and a huge conditioning strip all around it. Still sounds good.

Then I used it. It was not as bad as the Soleil in that it didn't cause one nick, and it didn't make my skin irritated or made it burn. And it went up and down my leg smooth and soft. But when I ran my hand on my leg it felt like it there was still hair there. So I did it again, and one more time. They are now half decent smooth. But I have used other Schick disposables that got all the hair off the first time.

I will give it few more days to redeem itself and if not then I am stuck using another very so so razor until it is time for me to get another new one out.
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Good Things
Author: Cheryl
•11:12 AM

I filled up my tank in my car this morning for $17.60. Yes, filled the whole tank. $1.49 here at the Wawa in SJ. I have reduced my bi-weekly gas allowance from $60.00 to $40.00.

My husband promised me if he saw gas under $1.50 that he would do the Irish jig naked in the street. I will let you know what time he will be performing :)

I also got a wonderful comment from one of my readers that really put into perspective why it is a good thing that it takes a while to pay off debt. I think this is so true and I will remember this when I get impatient.


One thing is that if we suffer the "pain" of debt we will be less likely to jump back into it.
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A Quick CVS Deal
Author: Cheryl
•10:11 PM

After those tremendous deals at CVS on Black Friday, CVS seems to be in vacation mode and didn't have too many deals when the weekend's ad hit. I did get four of the Febreeze Air Effects above, because I had good coupons for those. I would have preferred the actual Fabric Refresher, but my coupons stunk for those. I got 3 of the apple scents, as I absolutely love food scents, but got one different one just to try it.

I paid .26 oop after q's and ECB's and got $5.00 in ECBs back. And my house smells good.

I have decided to post more about my grocery shopping excursions each weekend. I love to read about what others bought at the grocery store and how they did their deals. So I am going to make my trips on the weekend a weekly feature here.

Also a question for you all. I love to review products, but I felt a little conflicted about reviewing food products, as I feel that taste is really subjective. But then I guess reviews of any kind are subjective, aren't they? How do you feel about food and drink reviews or just stick to non edible products?
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ShopRite Deals
Author: Cheryl
•10:10 PM

I usually only go to ShopRite on Sundays and get any necessities and a few deals. I realized mid-week that we blew through our supply of eggs and I needed one stinkin' egg to make meatballs. So I decided to go on Wednesday, since SR's price break deals are Wednesday, Thursdays and Fridays. They are special deals for those days only that I usually miss cause I'm in work and don't like to go out shopping at lunch.

I stopped at the ShopRite near my work at lunch to get the eggs and came across these finds above. The TreeRipe OJ was on sale for $1.49. I got two of these on Sunday so I grabbed two more on this trip. The marinara sauce was .88 each, so I got four.

About 3 weeks ago in my SR I found bananas on clearance since they were a little bruised and brown. But the bananas felt solid and I saw nothing else wrong with them. I bought two big packs for $1.19 each and cut them up and froze them. So keep your eye out for a damaged or bruised fruit section.

So when I went to the SR near work I was very excited to find a whole rolling rack of bruised produce. I grabbed four packs of their bananas for .60 each. Froze 3 of those packs and made muffins out of the last pack. Every morning I have a smoothie made from OJ and bananas. So this was a great stock up trip on my breakfasts for weeks. And the muffins will be good for my husband for breakfast and snacks. My total for these items was around $8.90.

Oh yeah, I did get eggs, but they aren't in the picture and weren't on any special sale. I may have to start hitting the price breaks on my lunch.
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A Guilty Pleasure And Motivation!
Author: Cheryl
•2:26 PM

Tonight is an annual holiday TV viewing ritual for me. And it takes alot of guts for me to admit it here. Its the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. I don't know why I should be embarrassed about it. I am a girl, I like fashion shows and I am a huge fan of The Girls Next Door. Guess its my fascination to watch real life Barbie Dolls in action, and I have always been a fan of their clothes.

It is also a great motivation factor to get my butt on that elliptical machine at 4:30am every morning. Yesterday I slept in a little late so I didn't work out in the morning, but I promised myself that I would work out at night and I did. Then I got up at 4:30am this morning and did my normal exercise routine again. I couldn't live with myself not working out and then watching that show tonight. Plus the clothes (or what they wear of them) are fantastic.

So I will do the wash first, make some meatballs to freeze, and then stay up late to watch the VS show and then keep it on my TIVO for months to keep my motivation going.

The Victoria's Secret Fashion show is on at 10pm tonight on CVS. Check your local listings.
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Financial Reflections
Author: Cheryl
•11:40 AM

Wow, that is a heavy title. Just couldn't think of anything else to call this.

I am making up a financial notebook to keep everything in it that I need to get our finances in order. I printed out my spreadsheet of my remaining credit card debt.

And then I got a little depressed. I know we have paid two cards off so far and a 1/2 of another one, but when I saw the remaining balance, it completely bummed me out. We have so far to go still. But I must keep reminding myself that this is not a race. Its probably just my impatient streak coming out.

In the next few weeks we will have a decrease in income too by about $300 a check, and so all of these money saving techniques will really come into play. I felt like before, we did these money saving things to pay off our debt and build up a savings account quickly. But the decrease will make it harder to pay more to the credit card, but I am determined not to give up on this goal. Tough decisions will need to be made. But every little bit we can send to these places helps.

I read many a blog where I see people reach their debt free goals and I am so unbelievably happy for them. I know one day that will be us and I will have the most soundest sleep of my life that night.
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Financial Update: December
Author: Cheryl
•2:35 PM

Last month of the year, and that means the last of my updates on my 2008 short term financial goals. I am looking forward to making new ones for 2009.

1.) Credit Cards The first two have been gone for a little while now. The third one was a little bigger and I paid half of it off already. Just sent another payment on Friday.

2.) To not use any more credit cards. They are all still cut up and still haven't touched once since then.

3.) Christmas kept under control. I finished up all my shopping on Friday (online of course). I spent less on my husband and all my friends and family together this year, than I spent on just my husband last year. Very in budget and the earliest I have ever gotten it done and all cash.

4.) Drastically cut eating out. Still doing well with this. We go on our Starbucks date every two weeks. We did have one night of takeout during our vacation but it was under $20 and it was only once. For the rest of the 10 days we were on vacation we made every breakfast, lunch and dinner at home. And we have 2 $25.00 GC's to restaurants we can use for free meals too.

Other changes I have made and updates on those:

1.) Grocery budget - Still sticking to the $50 a week budget. Some weeks I am $5.00 over. This week I was $10.00 under. I am getting real good at what to buy and what I need to stock up on and slow down on.

2.) Recipes using what we have on stock. Still doing this every night. Tonight is quesadillas. I am also making meatballs from scratch this week and freezing them for future meals. I've gotten into making both sweet and savory breakfast casseroles too. Still would do even better with a stand a lone freezer. But don't want to spend the money yet on that.

3.) Coffee Since I was on vacation for 10 days I just made myself a cup at home. Today, my first day back at work and I got my thermos with my home brewed coffee with me. Although I should be drinking more water.

4.) Pet food - Still buying the food in bigger bulk, and looking for good deals to stock up on the canned food.

Some of these goals I think I have down pretty well. So I am looking forward to next month and making new ones. In the next month and a half we are going to have a shift in my husband's income where we will probably lose around $300 a check. So I will have to keep my budget tight and work real hard to come up with those extra credit card payments. But Christmas shopping is all done, so that will help.
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