Storing & Organizing NYX Eyeshadow Pigments

One of my favorite affordable brands of makeup that I enjoy using is NYX. I purchase my NYX products at Ulta, but you can also find them online. I have always been a huge fan of eyeshadow pigments, for their versatility and vibrancy (despite how messy they can be). After purchasing MAC pigments for a while I decided to give the NYX ones a try and it turns out they're just as great as the MAC ones, and over $20 cheaper!! The only problem I have with the NYX pigments is they have a very small bottle design that doesn't let you access the make-up easily. As you can see from some photos below, you can't even put a small eyeshadow brush in these containers. So, with this issue, I came up with a super easy way to store and organize my different shadows and here it is:

STORING AND ORGANIZING NYX EYESHADOW PIGMENTS

All I do is transfer the pigments into a 7-day pill organizer that I purchased at the container store for $1.

Here is a picture of a few of my pigments transferred into the pill container:

Simply tap the bottom of the bottle and the pigments will fall out easily. (WARNING: You WILL make a mess!)

This is a comparison of trying to get pigments out of the original packaging vs. using the pill organizer: 

TADA!
 

A perfect way to conveniently store your pigments without making a huge mess! Hope you enjoyed this tip and I'll see you again soon!

xoxoBrittany

Baking Bread-sticks (Just like Olive Garden!)

Today I want to share with you all a recipe that I tried recently to accompany some chicken alfredo I made the other day- homemade bread-sticks! These things are delicious! To find this recipe I simply searched "Olive Garden bread-sticks" because, you have to admit, they have pretty damn good ones! This is the following recipe that I went with and it turned out great! It tweaked it a little bit. Here it is:

Bread-sticks (Just like Olive Garden!)

Ingredients:

Bread
1 1/2 c. warm water
1 pkg. active dry yeast
4 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt

Topping
1 stick of butter (melted)
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Dissolve sugar and yeast in the warm water to temp the yeast. Cover it for 10 minutes. When it's ready it will be frothy
2. Add the flour and salt to the yeast mixture a little bit at a time. Add the melted butter half way through to help with combining. 
3. On a floured surface, knead the dough until it is smooth.
4. Cut the dough into pieces and shape them into bread-sticks. (This recipe makes about a dozen.)
5. Place them on a greased cookie sheet and cover them with a towel. Sit them in a warm place for 45-60 minutes.
6. Bake them for 6 or 7 minutes at 400 degrees.
7. Take them out and brush them with the melted butter topping.
8. Bake them for another 6-8 minutes or until they're starting to brown. (See picture)

Enjoy!!

I hope you all give this recipe a try, it really is super simple! Please comment below with your feedback. See you soon!

xoxoBrittany

DIY Body Scrub

One of my favorite things to do at home in my spare time (other than organizing) is to make DIY beauty products! Lotions, scrubs, lip balms, etc. Today I want to show you a very quick and easy way to make a DIY body scrub! At the store these things can cost you $10 or more, but with simple ingredients you already have at home, you can save tons of $$!!

DIY BODY SCRUB

Ingredients:

• Sugar or salt
• Use sugar in the raw or sea salt for a coarse scrub
• Use regular white sugar or salt for an average scrub
• Use brown sugar or kosher salt for a gentler scrub
• Oil
• Olive oil
• Vegetable oil
• Coconut oil
• Baby oil
• Whatever kind you have at home!
• Vanilla Extract or Essential Oil (for fragrance)

What to do:

1.  Measure sugar or salt into a bowl. (2 parts sugar/salt to 1 part oil) I used 2 cups.

2. Add the oil. I used 1 cup of body scrub oil that I purchased online.

 3. Mix the ingredients together.

 4. Add a few drops of essential oils or a teaspoon of vanilla extract for fragrance. This step is optional. Now is also when you would add food coloring if you wanted it to be colored. Mix again.

 5. Put the contents into a seal-able container. I used a mason jar for canning.

 6. And there you have it! Homemade sugar scrub! This is so simple and easy and it will last you a long time!

Making homemade scrubs can be tons of fun! You can change them up and mix them around to better suit your needs and taste. Add honey, lemon juice, coffee grinds, etc. etc. to create totally different experiences! I hope you enjoyed this DIY and I will be back with more soon!!

xoxoBrittany

Clean Your Coffee Maker

Now I don't know about all of you, but in my household, the one kitchen item that gets good use (i.e. at least once a day) is the coffee maker! After dozens and dozens of brews, coffee makers start to build up hard water deposits and coffee oils become rancid. Because of this, the best solution is to not only clean your coffee pot every so often, but to clean the inside of your coffee maker as well! The cleaning is actually very easy and can be done with a simple ingredient that most of us already have in our homes.

Cleaning Your Coffee Maker

What You'll Need:

• White vinegar
• Water

And that's it!

What to do:

1. In your coffee pot, mix 1 part vinegar and 2 parts cool water. (If you haven't cleaned your coffee maker in oh, let's say a year since you bought the thing- you can use half and half.)
2. Pour the mixture into the reservoir
3. Put the pot in it's place and start the machine as usual
4. When it's done "brewing" turn off the machine and let the water cool, then dump it.
5. Lastly, do one last "brew" but this time of simply just water to rinse the machine.

TADA! And there you have it! A clean coffee maker! 

Other things to remember:

• Do not use soap in your coffee pot- it can stick to the coffee oils and make your morning cup 'o Joe taste like soap for days. 
• Instead, rinse with hot water and wipe clean. You can also use vinegar to clean the pot (just like you would a fish tank, right!?)

Do what the restaurants do: 

• After the pot cools off, place lemon wedges (or limes) in your coffee pot and fill it with cold water. This will help prevent coffee build up. Sparkling water works great for this, too. In the morning, simply dump it out and rinse. Brew coffee as usual :)
• Forgot to turn the pot off and now there's burnt coffee on the bottom of your pot? No problem!! Use kosher or rock salt (a few tablespoons) and crushed ice. Swirl it around and the burnt coffee with magically start lifting off the bottom. You may need to repeat this process a few times. Just make sure you wait until the pot is cool to do this or you could crack the pot. Some say to use lemon wedges during this process as well but I don't find it necessary. This can also be used to simply clean coffee build up.

 
Well that's it for today's lesson on cleaning coffee pots haha. Hope this was helpful and I hope to see you back again soon!
 
xoxoBrittany 

Organize Your Life: Monthly Calendar

So there's you, there's your partner, your kids, your dog, your cat, etc. etc. The list goes on. How ever do you keep track of everything going on without forgetting!?! Well in my house, we use a dry-erase calendar board. This calendar helps me post up my work schedule, days that I volunteer, due dates, deadlines for school assignments, etc. Whenever my boyfriend wants to know what I'm doing that day or when my next day off is, he simply checks the board. Great idea, right? You can even use a different color for each person in your family!

Monthly Calendar

I chose the idea of a dry-erase calendar because there are several styles avaiable at Target, Walmart, Office Depot, etc. already. There's no need to make anything, simply fill in the dates and add your schedule. I also picked the dry-erase over a chalk board because there's no messy chalk dust to cover my house.

My calendar is placed on the wall in front of my backdoor so it's the first thing I see before I leave and the first thing I see when I walk in the back door. Everything is color-coded, my work schedule in blue, appointments in green, holidays/birthdays/etc. in red... However I want to categorize it that month. 

If you're interested in buying the BoardDudes Magnetic Dry Erase Calendar that I have above, you can find it at your local Target in the office supplies section. I got it for under $15. It came with 2 magnets and a black marker. I also picked up a pack of 4 dry-erase markers for color-coding. Expo even has packages of 10 or so colors for some serious creativity! To see the board online, click here.

Well I hope you all enjoyed this post- I'm always interested to see how other people organize their calendars, so feel free to comment/post pictures below! Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you soon!

xoxoBrittany

DIY Tub/Shower Cleaner

So lately on Pinterest there have been some serious trends about DIY cleaning supplies. Knowing how much money you can save on making many of these items at home, I decided I would give a few of them a try. The first one I checked out (because it was definitely the most needed in my home) was the DIY tub & shower cleaner. There are several different versions I've seen, some with few ingredients, some with many, a few where you have to heat it and some where you simply mix and go- Well I don't know about you guys but if I'm going to be making this stuff for the long haul, I want it to be quick and easy! So I tried out this simple recipe:

DIY Tub & Shower Cleaner

What you need:

• White vinegar (Cooking or cleaning)
• Blue Dawn dish soap (Any will do, but apparently this works the best!)
• Spray bottle
• Sponge/Rag/Towel/Scrubber (Whatever you want to use to wipe with)

What to do:

1. Mix 1 part vinegar with 1 part dawn dish soap in a spray bottle and shake gently.
2. Spray your tub and shower with the mix and let it sit for at least a half hour
3. Using your desired tool, wipe your tub down. You shouldn't have to do much scrubbing at all!
4. Rinse your shower. 

And that's it! Simple as that!

When I did it, I sprayed down my shower and let it sit for about 45 minutes. Then, I put the leftover mixture into a handled dish-washing scrubber (as pictured above) and used that to scrub down my tub. It's not the best cleaner that I've ever used and I did have to do some scrubbing, but my tub has always been difficult to clean because it doesn't drain very well. (I should probably get that checked out...) However I definitely recommend giving this a try for yourself. It really does work, it can save you money and let's be honest- most of us probably already have the ingredients at home to make it! Let me know your results if you try it out. :)

Before and after:

 

Thanks for reading! See you soon!

xoxoBrittany

Easy Focaccia Bread

One of my favorite things to eat in the whole entire world is- BREAD! And today I want to share with you one of my most used bread recipes that I make at home. It's super simple and easy to make and it makes your kitchen smell heavenly! Let's get started!

Focaccia Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 c. Warm Water (To temp yeast)
• 1-1/4 tsp. dry yeast (I use dry active)
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 2-1/2 to 3 c. flour

Directions:

1. Put the warm water and yeast in your mixer bowl. Cover with a towel for 5 minutes. Mix, recover and let it sit for another 2 minutes.
2. Add salt, olive oil and slowly add your flour while you mix with a dough hook. Mix until it's smooth as you continue to add the flour. The dough will be slightly sticky and come together in a ball. You may need to knead it a few minutes by hand if you don't have the greatest mixer like me :/
3. Place the ball of dough in a greased bowl. Cover and let it rise in a dry, warm place for an hour. (I put mine in the oven, turned off.)
4. Punch the dough down and divide it into 2 or 3 balls, depending on how many loaves you want. I usually make 2, but today I made 3 small ones.
5. Shape the balls into flat, rounded or oval shaped loaves. Place them on a greased cookie sheet and cover with your towel again. Let rise for another 20 minutes.
6. Using your finger, poke holes into the dough about an inch apart. Cover with your toppings. (Topping ideas below)
7. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the toppings are golden brown.

For the toppings, mix and match your own favorites together. Here is a picture of my bread, right before I put it into the oven:

1) Sliced roma tomatoes, Feta cheese, rosemary and sea salt.
2) Caramelized onion, chopped garlic, rosemary and parmesan cheese
3) Chopped garlic, black pepper and shredded asiago, romano and parmesan cheeses

Topping ideas:

• Caramelized onion
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Basil
• Thyme
• Chopped Garlic
• Mozzarella cheese
• Parmesean cheese
• Feta cheese
• Roma Tomatoes
• Spinach
• Calamata olives
• Salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• Red pepper flakes

 
Well I hope you all enjoy this recipe! Thank you so much for reading and I'll be back soon :) Please leave comments or questions below, I'd love to hear how it goes when you give this a try!

xoxoBrittany

Save $ on TV & Movies

Alright everyone, so today I want to talk about something very important to me and my boyfriend- and that's TV and Movies. To us, there is nothing better than cuddling on the couch with an ice cold beer, eating pizza and watching a good 'ol scary movie. So how do we pay for all of these movies and TV shows we're watching? Let's discuss...

No Need To Bundle

A lot of people agree that bundling your services (TV, internet, phone) will save you tons of money and let's be honest, it does. But when you're a young couple with cell phones permanently attached to your hands, what's the point of landlines? For us, bundling just isn't the best option. After tons of research, I was also able to shop around and find extremely decently priced wireless internet through my city. So, with a good internet price and no need for a home phone, all that's left is TV...

The White Lie

From here, I chose the cheapest TV provider I could find with good reviews AND told a little white lie... I simply said that I was interested in their services because I had heard great things, but *other company* was charging X amount less for their new customer rate. Well darn it if they didn't give me a better deal! AND THEY DID! I was able to get my plan from $59.99 a month down to $39.99, all because I told them the other company was offering this. They want your business! Have it your way. So now, when you look at your $180 cable, internet and phone bill, ask yourself- is it really worth it? Do research and find out if you're really saving the money to bundle or if that's just a hoax. For some people it will be great savings, for others, not so much.

Overpriced Movie Channels!

One of the greatest things I ever had with my satellite TV package were the movie channels like HBO, Cinemax, Stars, etc... that was- until the introductory rate fell off and I had to start paying full price for them. $40 a month for movie channels that I hardly ever watch!? Oh my! I just couldn't do it!

One of the best ways to save money on your movie channels is to CANCEL them. Wait, what? Yep! That's right, cancel them. Now from there, you usually have 2 options. 1) No more movie channels, but you have another $40+ in your pocket every month for other things or 2) 'Wait a minute... You're cancelling?' Well they don't want you to do that. 'Why? It's too expensive you say? We can fix that!' Calling your cable or satellite provider and telling them you're canceling movie channels because you can't afford them anymore will more than likely get them to offer you another fantastic rate on movie channels. If they don't do it right away, they will probably give you a call several days later offering you a new package. Just remember, when you start a new package, your subscription starts over.

Now for me, I decided I didn't need to continue with movie channels because we just weren't watching them enough. Why? Well, I work a lot and movies that I am interested in just aren't on when I can watch them. Sure I could DVR them, but the options are still slim. So what did we decide to do?... Netflix!

NETFLIX:

Okay so if you honestly don't know what Netflix is, it was once a DVD rental service where you ordered DVDs online and they mailed them right to your house for a small fee. NOW, Netflix has switched to primarily streaming videos. You can watch online, on your tablet or smartphone, your PS3, Tivo, Blueray player and much more! For only $7.99 a month my boyfriend and I watch countless movies and TV shows from dozens of different genres. At this point, the 8 bucks a month is really worth it for us. If we weren't watching it so much, I would probably unsubscribe, but for now it's awesome! The great thing about Netflix is that you can suspend your subscription or put it on hold until you can afford to pay for it again. They are constantly offering free trials for a month or more, so I recommend giving it a try if you're interested. If you're not happy with it before the trial is over, you can unsubscribe and go on about your life. :)

Well, I hope these quick tips help you to save tons of money on your movie and TV watching experiences- They sure have worked for us! Leave comments and questions below and I'll see you again soon!

xoxoBrittany


 

Storage Tips for an Organized KITCHEN

So, today I want to give you all a few tips and tricks that I use in my kitchen to make more storage and keep things looking clean and organized. Let's begin!!

Canned Goods on an Expandable shelf:

This shelf was found at target in the kitchen storage section. It cannot be purchased online but you can look at it here. This shelving system helps so I can see all of the cans I have in my cupboards so I don't keep buying things I already have and I don't have to dig around looking for an item.

Double Storage w/ Wire Racks:

These wire racks were also found at Target in the same kitchen storage section. They are stack able, but I can fit one-tall comfortably in my cupboards. These racks help use up all of the wasted space that's usually found on top of items in cupboards, between the shelves. I use these to stack dessert plates over dinner plates as well. :) This item was also found at Target, not sold online, but can be seen here.

Hidden Garbage Can:

This one is so simple! No more smelly kitchens! All you do is put shelf brackets onto the face of your cabinet, attached to the base. This goes onto a glider, which is attached to the inside of the cabinet. Tada!! A hidden garbage can that pulls out.

Lazy Susan for Oils & Vinegars:

This small Lazy Susan is placed right inside my cabinet, used to hold oils and vinegars. When you need one, simply give it a spin! Saves you the hassle of digging to the back of your cupboards for items you use more often. You can put anything on these guys and make your storage much more convenient!

  
Swivel Store for Spices:

I know you've all seen this cute little invention on TV and I'm here to tell you that it really works! It works great! The Swivel Store is a narrow plastic shelf that is just wide enough to fit a spice bottle. All you do it place it in your cupboard, pull out one of the sides and turn it to access your spices. Buy it at Walgreens, Bed Bath and Beyond or several places online from $14.99+ 

And lastly, I have one more for you-

Food Storage in a Garbage Can: 

For the longest time I was trying to find out the perfect place to store food for my dog. Yes, you read that right, my dog. Until finally I decided to put it in A GARBAGE CAN! It works amazing! It keeps his food sealed and fresh, without having to worry about him getting into it. I bought a garbage can with the step opener, so all I do is use my foot to open it and my hands are free to hold the food dish and scoop at the same time. Definitely worth a try for anyone with pets!

Well thank you all so much for reading and I hope I gave you a few tips you can use in your own kitchen. I will have more kitchen organization tips in the future, but that's it for now! See you soon!

xoxoBrittany

**I was not endorsed by any companies to speak of their products, all opinions are my own.**

Monthly Bill Chart

Today I want to share with you all how I organize paying bills each month. My system is very simple and it can personalized to each household. 

To begin, I created a Word document I've titled my 'Monthly Bill Chart' It looks like this:

How to Make Your Own:
To make this simple chart, all you need is Microsoft Word. From the menu bar, go to 'Insert' --> 'Table' and create a table that is 5 columns by x rows (However many bills you have). From here you can click on 'design' and change it from a standard table to something more fancy. You can change the table color, font color and font. Be creative! To the top row, I name to columns 'What', 'How Much', 'Due', 'Paid' and I leave one blank. You can name these however you'd like.

To Use:
Each month I fill out the name of the month and the year. The chart is organized into 5 columns and however many rows are needed to include all of your bills for that month. I usually leave several blank rows to write in unexpected and unplanned bills. Here is how each column is used:

• What:  I enter the name of the bill or company I am paying (i.e. Rent, Car Payment, Verizon Wireless, DirecTV, etc.)
• How Much: I enter the outstanding balance or my minimum payment (i.e. $1,354 on credit card OR $25 for minimum payment due.)
• Due: Here I enter the due date so I can prioritize and never forget an upcoming bill! It also helps to put them in order by due date from earliest to latest.
• Paid: Here I write down how much I actually paid (i.e. bill is $247.45 but I paid $300 so I write $300.)
• __: This small box is what I check off when the payment has gone through and the money is removed from my checking account. Or I check it right away if the payment was in cash.

Near the end of a month, I try to fill out as much of the chart on Word as I can for the NEXT month after I receive any bill statements in the mail or online. Once I have as much filled in as possible, I print it out. From here, I simply write in any blanks that I've missed, enter how much I paid and begin checking them off (as they're paid.) A few months I have done this entirely on Word and did not print it out, which works just as well, especially to save paper. I however am one of those people that likes tangiable lists, so I like to print mine off.   

Here is an example of my bill chart from October:

Well, there ya go! This is my quick and easy way to organize monthly bills so you never miss another again. This is a great way to keep all of your finances in order and it helps to share with your partner just what's going on with your money. You can make these charts as simple or as complex as you'd like. You can add a section to specify how you paid for it (ie. which bank account, cash, credit, etc.) There are so many ways to make this work for your family! As long as you stick to it, I promise it will make your life easier.

Thanks for checking this out and I'll be back soon with another post!

xoxoBrittany

Welcome to my blog!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog!

I'm Brittany and I am a student, waitress, girl friend and busy bee! One thing most people know about me is that I am very organized! I love make lists, label things, categorize and sort. I wanted to write this blog to share some of my favorite tips, tricks and opinions about everyday things.

Some of the topics I would like to discuss on here are budgeting, household chores, storage and organization of places and rooms throughout our homes. I will also include fun extras like recipes and DIYs as well. Stay tuned for much to come!!

Please feel free to leave any comments, suggestions or questions you have. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I hope you return soon!

xoxoBrittany