Tabby's Favorite Treat

I don't do an abundance of pet-related posting here on this blog. If you know me, though, you know my pup is my LIFE. I absolutely adore this sassy little "chug," and consider her my child. Sad? Perhaps, but I don't care. Aaron and I don't have "hoomin" children, as of yet, and this dog has filled the void in our hearts and home by being our baby for the past 3 years.

However, today I AM bringing you a pet related post. So let me get right into it....

Tabby Girl, my sweet baby, this adorable little Chihuahua/Pug mix to the left,  is picky. She is such a diva. She has her potty treats, which are the Beggin Strip Minis. And because we are trying to really encourage good habits with her No. 2-ing, we like to give her a special treat after she "goes" outside.

I've tried everything. But she is sooo finicky. She has turned up her nose at so many different treats. And so finally I got to where I was giving her a small spoon full of Peanut Butter after she went poopy outside. And that's ridiculous.  So I wanted to find something that was made with Peanut Butter, and that was good for her, and that she actually liked. I didn't want to get something over-processed, or made with things that in the long run would upset her little tummy.  Plus I needed to find something that was readily available. I live at LEAST 20 miles from the nearest pet store, so I needed to find something at the Dollar Store or the grocery store. It took months, but I finally found what I needed!!

These fabulous treats are called "Jazzy's Natural Delights. They come in Peanut Butter flavor and Cheese flavor. They come baked in the shape of a heart! <3

My little'un absolutely loves the Peanut Butter flavor, I know, right?, and doesn't really care for the cheese, which kind of surprised me, since she has more than once stolen my cheesy goodness food out of my hand.....stinker.

I keep these in a cute canister labeled "Dog Goodies" that sits on the window sill above the sink. Tabby knows when I say "wanna cookie??" and runs to the kitchen. She's adorable.

The very best part about these all natural cookies for my Little Miss is the price. I haven't seen them anywhere over $7. I think they are $5 at my Dollar General. You can also order them online from www.kookiesonline.com for $6.60.

Tabby really loves these cookies and will beg for them if I don't give them to her right away when I offer them. Sometimes I'll pretend to be stealing it from her after I give it to her, and she will fight me for it.

So if you area looking for a good healthy peanut butter or cheese treat for your dog, these are terrific!


Happy Pet Spoiling!
Missy

HOW TO: Refill a Bath & Body Works Wallflower Bulb

NOTE FROM MISSY:

Hello new readers! This is my most popular and most visited post to date! Thank you for coming to read it, no matter how you got here! You can PIN this post by clicking on the "P" logo at the bottom of the post if you like. While you're here, please look around, and if you like what you see, go ahead and subscribe to our email list and share the link to The Simple Life on Facebook! I have plans to try this technique with other type of wall plug ins, but I've got to stock up on my essential oils first! So be sure you check back with us often, cause you never know what's gonna happen on The Simple Life!  Thanks so much for coming to visit with me today!

TheSimpleLife ©

Today I'm coming atcha with this quick easy peasy tutorial on how to refill your Bath & Body Works Wallflower bulbs. 

If you are like me, you are TOTALLY in love with all things Wallflower from Bath & Body Works. No joke I could spend an entire commission from a wedding shoot on wallflowers and their accessories.And that's saying something. 

Lately, business has been slow, we spend a boat load -- see what I did there -- of cash on the cruise and a IDK if I mentioned this or not, but my husband had a serious accident and dislocated his elbow just over a month ago, so we've got the medical bills pouring in. So we are trying to really watch our nickels and dimes, more than usual. Just as fall weather started to kick in around our little rhelm here in south central Kentucky, I went ahead and purchased refills for my 4 wallflowers (Living Room, Kitchen,  Hallway, Bathroom) in the scent "LEAVES." It's my all time favorite fall fragrence from B&BW. I was so sad when we got back from vacation and saw that all of that pretty brown liquid had been used up. So I decided to wait a few weeks before buying actual LEAVES refills (gotta have them for Thanksgiving when we host some of my family!) and refill them myself. It is so super stinking easy. Let me share with you how to do it.

Ok, here's whatcha need:

Your Bulb

A Pair of pliers (I use needlenose)

A flat head screwdriver

Essential Oil (whatever scent you like best, I'm using lavendar)

Water

Patience

I don't include detailed step by step photos because it was more work taking the pictures than it is to just explain it. So here we go.....

HOW TO:

1. Unplug your wallflower from the wall and unscrew your bulb.
2.  Take your flat head screw driver and pry open the white plastic stopper. This could take some time, especially if it's never been "un-stopped" before. 
3. Use your pliers if you need to an help the stopper and the stem come out of the glass bulb.
4.  Rinse out your stem using warm water. For Heaven's sakes watch out for the little nail at the top,                   that sucker is sharp. Be sure to rinse it out THOROUGHLY otherwise your scents will mingle. Not always a good thing.
5. Squeeze out all of the water in the stem.
6. Rinse out your glass bulb with warm water.
7. Using your favorite scent of Essential Oil (I've been using lavendar) fill the bulb about 1/4th of the way up. Don't over use your Essential Oil, it's very strong.
8. Fill the rest of the bulb up with water. Stop at the widest point of the bulb. You have to leave room for the stem and the stopper.
9. Slide the stem back into the bulb and use your pliers to help slide the stopper back into place.
10. Wipe everything down, screw the bulb back into the plug and plug it all back into the outlet. 

I got all 4 plugs refilled in less than 5 minutes! 

A  normal wallflower bulb refill costs $6.50. Or you can get a 2 pack for $12.50. The essential oil I use is by Eden's Garden (you can also get a 6 pack of different scents for like $19.99, all at Amazon.com) and costs $6.25 for the bottle. It is a 10 ml bottle. I've already refilled all 4 of my bulbs twice using the Essential Oil and haven't even used a 3rd of the bottle yet. It's a terrific way to save some $$ and keep your house smelling yummy all at the same time. I still buy the refills from B&BW, especially if they are having a $3.00 sale (can't pass that up), but I mostly just buy them for the special occasions. If we are having a group of people come over, holidays, etc. For every day useage I'm perfectly content using the DIY method and refilling my bulbs. 

Hope you all enjoyed this little tutorial and use it sometime soon. I'm already enjoying the cozy scent of Lavendar and I just refilled them 10 minutes ago! Let me know what scents you come up with! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy DIYing!!

Missy

*** I'm not being perked by Bath & Body Works, Eden's Garden or Amazon.com to praise their products, I JUST LOVE THEM! 

Where In the World Have I Been?!

I bet you're thinking I've run off an abandoned you. Aren't you? Never fear. I'm here, alive. Promise.

I've been gallivanting around the Atlantic Ocean. Literally.

Yes. Aaron and I were fortunate enough to be able to go onour first vacation since we got married last week. Yeah, we've been married for 4 years and this was the very first vacation we've taken. Aaron has worked very very hard this past year in order to be able to make this vacation a special one.

We took a cruise to the Bahamas. Some people thinking a cruise is a blah vacation, and some people think it's the bees knees. This was our first experience. It was a great one.

We were lucky enough that this was a family vacation. Aaron's older sisters and their family's went with us and several of Aaron's cousins made the trek as well. We left from Jacksonville, FL on 10/5 and cruised to Nassau and Half Moon Cay. We ended up going with Carnival Cruise Line, simply because that's the line everyone else had already booked with by the time we decided to go for it.

We were slightly concerned - and when I say "slightly" I mean, we lost sleep - over the fact that there was a hurricane brewing in the Gulf and that the weather reports were saying weather in Nassau was going to be nasty, right around the time we were going to be docking for the day. So all the wives were calling back and forth trying to create Plan B's. However, the weather turned out to be BEAUTIFUL! It rained one night during dinner and then on our way home on the last day.....and that was the saddest day ever. 1) we were sailing home. 2) it ruined any chance of further burning my pasty white skin while I snoozed by the pool. 3) the bad weather caused the water to be ever-so-choppy and therefore caused lil ol' me to be ever-so-sea sick.

But never the less, that is where I have been. Planning like a mad woman and packing and travelling etc etc.

So...whats in store for this week on "The Simple Life?" Well, I'm going to let everyone in on the planning methods I used to pack and plan for the trip, not to forget how much money we saved and how we did it. I was busy all day today trying to film a video for the Simple Life Youtube Channel about how I created a pantry in my kitchen for $50. However, it's kind of hard to explain to everyone the sheer awesomeness of my little DIY Pantry when there is NO FOOD in it. I cleaned us out before the trip so nothing would spoil. So we are running on empty around here. So....that will have to wait until the next Save A Lot trip. I'm considering tackling my nasty/gross/disgusting/unorganized (yes, there is such in this OCD home) hall closet tonight, maybe tomorrow, and you could possibly be invited to join me on that little trip. But then again, maybe not.....our hall closet is a disaster. It's the whole "out of sight, out of mind," thing.

Yeah, I'm rambling......

Thanks so much for hanging in there with me!


Glad to be back on dry land....I'm still swaying. :(

Missy

A New Truck and $$ Saving Tips for Buying a Vehicle!

A new vehicle is always a huge deal. Emotionally, Financially, it's a huge deal. I drive a '07 Pontiac Torrent SUV. I love it. My hubby-pooh has been driving an '00 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport Edition for the last year. Recently he decided he wanted a newer model truck that was a little larger so that once (nature decides to stop kicking us in the behind and) we have a baby we can fit a car seat in the truck. Once he said he wanted to be able to put a car seat in his truck, I was totally ok with buying a new one. I melted.

So thanks to the help of a family member, who works at a bank, and a very good family friend, who is a Car Dealer, we set out on our search. Aaron decided he wanted a Ford F-150 Lariat Edition. Our dealer friend took him to the auto auction last Friday morning and Aaron found the one he wanted. I sat a home a nervous wreck waiting on news from the auction. He texted me these photos, which I now share with you! We were fortunate enough to be able to bring it home that night!

It has a couple of minor dents and dings, nothing a plunger and some humidity won't fix. We got an outstanding deal on it. 

MONEY SAVING TIPS ON VEHICLE PURCHASING: 

1. buy at least a year old vehicle. There are miles already put on the vehicle to "test" the engine. If something major is wrong, it will have already presented itself. Plus, and you all already know this, vehicles lose value the older they get. A car that costs $21,000 this year will cost about $17,000 or $18,000 next year. A NEW vehicle, in my experience, is a pain.
2. really think out what is important to you in a vehicle. Car? SUV? Truck? MiniVan? Cross Over? Do you want 4 wheel drive? A sunroof? CD changer? iPod port? Is color important? Leather or Cloth? Do you want 4 door or 2 door? You can even make a list to take to a dealer. 
3.  use a dealer. Looking for "For Sale By Owner" vehicles is a good way to get ripped off. I'm sorry. I've had good experiences purchasing from owners, but not everyone has. Find a nice little Used Car Lot that is local (SUPPORT LOCAL SMALL BUSINESS) and take your list of wants to them. Chances are they will find you want you are wanting. 
4. don't stretch yourself thin. Set a budget. If Aaron didn't know we could afford to do this, we wouldn't have. Our payments on the loan per month are extremely manageable, as the loan itself was pretty minimal. When you are taking a loan out to buy, be sure it is manageable. If your monthly payment is $800 and you make $850 a month, yes, your check will cover the payment, but it leaves you with just $50 to live on. You and your new car are going to be together a lot of the time, you may end up living in it since you can no longer afford your rent. 
5. really go over your wanted vehicle with a fine toothed comb to be sure there is nothing wrong with it. Anything that isn't cosmetic will end up costing you thousands of dollars over time. Cosmetic things are usually the cheapest to fix, in some cases it's DIY.
6. don't settle. Just because it's a new vehicle doesn't mean its the right one for you. Cars are like clothes. If they don't fit you, it just doesn't work. So what if you have on Guess Jeans. If they're a size 10 and you are a size 16, it just isn't right. You may drive a Cadillac, but if you are constantly looking for a place to sit your purse, or always readjusting the radio settings, or forgetting where the "open trunk" button is, chances are you and your Caddy are not compatible. You may be a Honda Accord person.... Sit in the car. Test drive it. Find a place for your purse. Fiddle with the radio. Chances are you are going to be driving this vehicle for a long time. Be sure this is absolutely the one you want. 

Now, these tips, to me, are pretty obvious. When Aaron and I decided we wanted to upgrade we took each of these things into consideration and in the end we came out VICTORIOUS!!

So I hope you got some good ideas from this post. It's my goal to bring you things that help you in your every day life. So whether you are needing help keeping on budget for groceries, or you just don't know where to start when you are looking to buy a new car, The Simple Life wants to be there to help you!

Good Luck Car Shopping!

Missy

How To: Overfill your Grocery Cart on a TIGHT Budget!

Yesterday I posted this photo of my grocery list and my trusty calculator on Instagram. (Be sure to follow me @missyrenfro1!!)

(Calculator - Dollar General - Note Paper, Michael's)

After a couple of comments asking me how my method worked, I decided I'd sit down and share my tips and tricks on how to overfill your grocery cart on a super tight budget.

FULL CART!

Aaron and I do EVERYTHING on a tight budget. We are a "one income household," most of the time, since my photography work is still patchy, and so we don't buy toilet paper unless it fits into the budget. So when it comes to groceries we allow ourselves $130-$140 a month for groceries. A MONTH. This does not include cleaning supplies or health and beauty items. Strictly groceries. Nor does this include the "pick up a few things" runs to the store we do whenever we run out of something. We've paid as much as $200 a month for groceries before, but found that when we did, we were stretched thin in other areas. Our total of $130-$140 comes from 3 1/2 years of learning what works and what doesn't for us. So what works for us, may not work for you.

Sorry if this is a bit long. I'm trying to be thorough! Hope this helps you out!! ;) Also, I am not being sponsored or perked by Save-A-Lot for my comments. I just plain love them! <3

This $146.38 (including tax) overfilled my cart to the point where I was pushing the cart 

and carrying things in my arms up to the checkout.!

• HAVE A BUDGET!! I know you hear this over and over again, but if you don't have a MONTHLY household budget, your honestly peeing up a rope. Sorry if that's a bit crude, but it's the truth.  You need to keep a tight check on how much comes in and how much goes out. Aaron handles all the finances for us. Some women cringe when they hear me say that, but Aaron has the head for figures and I just don't. I do my best not to buy even a stick of gum unless I run it by him. He handles the money, I don't, plain and simple. He gets paid twice a month with the 2nd of the payments being the larger. Usually the day he gets that 2nd check is the day we go shopping. Our budget is set and does not fluctuate per month. 

• IT'S ALL ABOUT WHERE YOU SHOP!!! Kroger? WalMart? Aldi? IGA? Houchens? Food Lion? Let's face it, everywhere you turn there are grocery stores. Some advertise the best prices around. Some suck you in with promises of LOW LOW prices, and then jack the price up 10% at checkout. If you are a coupon queen, you will clip coupons for hours and hours, then drive 45 minutes to the nearest store that accepts your coupons. Did you really save money? Gas for your car is expensive. If you saved $50 on your groceries then turned right around and spent that on gas to fill up your SUV or Mini Van, you're not saving money, in my opinion. I don't look at saving money in one area, I look at saving money as a whole. We live in a small KY town that has 2 local grocery stores. 1 has all the name brand items you could want. We attempted shopping there a few times in the early goings of our current budget. We hardly had anything when we left. By the end of the weekend all the groceries we'd bought were gone. So now, we shop at our local Save-A-Lot. If you are from the south your will recognize that name. Save-A-Lot has gotten a bad rap by some people. They say the food is all expired, it's not good, it all tastes funny. Ok, let me clear this up right now. 1)The food is NOT expired. Period. I've never purchased a stale or rotten item there, and I've been shopping there for YEARS. 2) It's GREAT food. If it's not good when you cook it, maybe it's the cooks fault and not the food itself. Sorry, I calls it like I sees it. 3) Save-A-Lot is a DISCOUNT grocery store. They have LOW prices everyday! They don't carry name brand items (mostly) and that's why they keep their prices so low. It's like going to TJ Maxx. You would go there to buy a Michael Kors purse wouldn't you? What if I told you that Michael Kors purse was a fake and it was bad and ugly? It's a legitimate MK purse, right? It's a 2nd, an overstock, a leftover. Same thing with Save-A-Lot. Everything there is made on the same factory lines as what you buy at Kroger. It's no different than going to Kroger and buying Kroger brand or WalMart and buying Great Value Brand. So wipe your fears away about Save-A-Lot. My advice here, people, is find a grocery store that has SUPER low prices, and don't waste your time clipping coupons unless you are into bulk shopping. My hats off to you if you are an extreme couponer. SHOP LOCALLY,  IF YOU CAN and save that extra $$.

• TAKE A CALCULATOR AND LOG EVERY ITEM AS YOU GO!! So, I just told you I shop at Save-A-Lot. Sometimes it feels weird, honestly, pulling up in my new SUV with my Vera Bradley purse and my iPhone, and parking next to a car that's front door is held on with Duct Tape. Not to brag about anything I have, I'm just saying you get a wide variety of people at that type of store. What is even weirder is when I pull a $0.99 calculator out of my Vera Bradley purse and start to shop. I got that Vera Bradley and that iPhone by strict budgeting and saving. EVERY LITTLE BIT COUNTS. I don't care if it's a $0.49 can of green beans or a $13 roll of hamburger meat, I log it in. This is time consuming, but it keeps me from having a panic attack at the register! They will often times have "save more" sales. 2 for $5.00 and so on. Take advantage of it. I buy at least 2 of everything. And those 2 for $5 sales are WONDERFUL! I got 4 frozen pizzas for $10.00 yesterday!

• TAKE YOUR TIME!! It isn't a foot race.Grocery shopping is time consuming, especially when your price logging. Don't "run in" to the store. Whether your shopping alone or with your husband. We did a last minute "run in" a few months ago and didn't take the calculator. We basically grabbed everything in sight because they were literally shutting the lights off behind us. Thank God for small towns, they waited for us to finish, helped us to the car, and then locked the door behind us. When we got to Checkout our bill was $279.00, twice our normal budget. Aaron was furious and I was just plain old sick. Talk about tightening our belts that month! So always go to the store when you have plenty of time. I know it isn't the most fun thing to do on your day off, but that is an ideal time to go. Mosey up and down the isles. Really decide on what you want. You'll be so happy you did in the end.

• PLAN AHEAD!! Most of us know at least a day in advance before we need to go to the grocery store. Get up early the day of. Clean out your fridge. I always clean out any forgotten leftovers, or things of that sort, and then wipe my fridge down with an antibacterial cleaner. Clorox wipes are great for this too! Then I clean out my snack cabinet and throw away anything that needs to go. And then I go inventory in my pantry. More on my "pantry" later. I make a list of things that I need to restock in each location, whether it's cans of green beans, boxes of cereal, popcorn or milk. I tend to make my list according to the isles in the store. I have a photographic memory and I literally walk the store in my head when I'm making my list. It's a little scary. ;) Then I get myself ready and off I go. Don't stress yourself out. It's food. Not brain surgery.

• BUY OFF BRANDS AND STORE BRANDS!! Save-A-Lot, and places like it, offer a good variety of  foods. Just because a bottle of Ranch Dressing is $1.89 doesn't mean it's the best deal on Ranch Dressing that they have. Save-A-Lot also has their own brand, the "TODAY" brand. Like the above mentioned Michael Kors purse from TJ Maxx, the $1.89 ranch is the overstock for a larger brand name. The TODAY brand is the overstock from the off brand. Same exact product, just the little extra left over. Am I making sense? So instead of buying the $1.89 Ranch, I get the TODAY brand ranch that is $0.99. Same amount of product, same ranch dressing we all know and love. $0.99. 'Nuff said. Honestly, you may find that you like the off brand better than the store brand, that's fine, be sure it is allowed in your budget. There is a $0.09 difference between the two, and while that may not sound like a huge deal, when you are budgeting as tightly as we are, $0.09 might as well be $9.00! S-A-L has a "Velveeta" off brand called "MARVELLA." It's the exact same product for way less. $2.49 for a pack of single slices, when the Velveeta brand is twice that much. They also offer the big blocks of "Velveeta/Marvella" for making nachos etc for a steeply discounted price. I'm a Cheerio's girl...ok. No other brand will do. I don't do off brand Cheerios. I gladly pay $3.99 for a box of true blue Cheerios. Sometimes there is just no substitute.

• MEAT SALES!! The GREAT thing about Save-A-Lot is there PICK 5 MEAT program. You can choose between 5 for $19.99 (red sticker) or 5 for $24.99 (yellow sticker). It's like their meat is on sale ALL THE TIME. I've been getting my meats there for years and haven't come across a bad selection. They have it all. Roast, ribs, chicken, pork chops, boneless pork chops, chuck, steak...it's a very well stocked section. BUT not all their meat is in the PICK 5 category. You have to be sure you look as to whether they have the red or yellow sticker on to be sure. Sometimes I'll splurge and buy the $13.00 hamburger roll. It's a 5 pound roll of hamburger. When I bring it home I slice it into 5 equal pieces, which equal up to a pound each, wrap them in glad wrap and a zip-lock baggie and off to the freezer they go! It's a great way to save $$! Hamburger meat for every occasion!

• BUY A 12 PACK INSTEAD OF A 24 PACK! Some people are very picky about their "cokes." You've heard the joke that in the South a "coke," is any dark soda. Coke a Cola, Pepsi, RC, Dr. Pepper, it is all considered a "coke" below the Mason-Dixon Line. In our house, we drink RC and RC Products....mostly because they're cheap, and very Southern ;) I try to keep a close watch on how often Aaron and I drink a "coke." If I buy him a 24 pack of RC he will drink them all in a week. Can't have that happen. So I buy the 12 pack and whether he realizes it or not, he makes a greater effort to watch how many "cokes" he drinks. Plus, there is nearly a Dollar and a Half difference in a 12 and a 24 pack.

I hope you got some tips out of this. Like I said in the beginning, it may not work for you. But it works for US. The point here is MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU! Find a system that works for you and stick with it. I've learned that "flying by the seat of your pants" when trying to run a household just.doesn't.work. You have to put a little thought, effort, and planning into nearly everything to make it work.



Happy Shopping! Have a great day!
Missy

"Simple Life" Makeover!

Hello Simple Lifers! Are you out there? Good, now, can I have your attention for JUST ONE SECOND? Thanks.

The Simple Life Blog is getting a makeover. After going through all my old posts and deleting more than half, I've decided to completely revamp The Simple Life.

So what that means for you is MORE product reviews! MORE bargain tips! MORE recipes! MORE FUN STUFF IN GENERAL! I'm also super excited to announce that I'll be starting a Simple Life YouTube Channel as well! Once it is all set up and finalized and I have a video to show you I will post a link to the Channel. I figured some reviews are better visually explained than typed in the long run.

I'll be keeping you up to speed with my life and how things are going, without getting TOO PERSONAL, which, if you read my blogs before, you know tends to be a problem for me.

Coming up pretty soon is a review for a product that EVERYONE wants to know if it really works. So stayed tuned for that! Also I'll probably be adding makeup related reviews and my tips and tricks from time to time. I'm a girl after all, and that's what we girls do.

I'm still attempting to build my photography studio, and while it is going slower than I'd like, I do have to admit that I'm getting several phone calls a week in regards to the business! So keep your fingers crossed that I will gain a few more clients, and spread the word about me to your friends!

So, for now, I shall leave you while I attempt to get everything sorted and straightened out. Stay tuned for the channel link coming soon.


Follow me on Instagram at MissyRenfro1

My photography's webpage is www.mbr-photography.com


THANKS!!
SEE YOU SOON!

<3 Missy