Amazon in January/February

IXL 3rd Grade math workbook I'm a broken record at this point, but I love these workbooks. Cannot say enough good about them. If you are one who likes to pick up workbooks for your child, homeschooled or not, this is the one you want. They have them for every grade level. 

Redmond Sea Salt This is the only salt we buy. If you go down the rabbit hole on salt, you might get lost, but this what I use for cooking, seasoning, bread making, and baking sweet treats. You can use it with everything. 

Dough scrapers After 2 years of making sourdough, I finally splurged on $5 worth of dough scrapers. 

My First School Book  Handwriting Without Tears is the gold standard for teaching writing and letter formation. I got this one for Sutton now that we've made it through the alphabet with these printouts from Teachers Pay Teachers. My goal this year was just to introduce number and letter writing to her as a 3 year old. This book is perfect if you have a preschooler. 

Amazon Essentials Underwear The best underwear I've found in the last 10 years has been from Amazon. I used to like Gap but they changed their designs. I've also ordered a lot from Amazon that I *haven't* liked too. I've found it has to be microfiber and it has to be the actual Amazon Essentials brand, not some off-brand lookalike. 

Vanicream I bought this giant container of lotion and it's great for my legs and arms but I actually prefer Eucerin for my hands. 

Dryel kit Scott needed to dry-clean his dress uniform. Actually, he was told to dry-clean his uniform for a random assignment he was given at the last minute, and it was to be dry-cleaned over a weekend where the entire world shut down because of snow and cold a few weeks ago and he was like WTH am I supposed to do? He also had to buy an iron (ours is packed away). They say millennials killed the top sheet and the iron but I think everyone still at least needs to have an iron around. 

Vanicream Vitamin C Serum I am a fan of the drugstore skincare these days and I grabbed this when I ran out of my other serum. A dermatologist I follow on Instagram recommended it. No complaints so far! I'm convinced the only way to start the day is with a vitamin C serum after you wash your face and before you moisturize. Remember when I tried a super expensive vitamin C serum from Arbonne, maybe a year ago, and it made me break out? Lesson learned. As long as it's not Cover Girl, I can use pretty much anything from the drugstore. 

Soccer cleats Wells is going to play soccer this spring so I grabbed these when the price alert told me they were $22. They're normally $30 and that isn't bad for cleats and they're really nice. I remember paying $47 for baseball cleats a few years ago (for a 5 year old) in a physical shoe store. As usual, Amazon wins. 

Amazon in December/January (so far)

(Apparently I buy everything in packs of two)

Hair repair treatment. This is worth the money. I tried a few different products because my hair was very dry from, weirdly, just highlighting it two or three times a year. Bleach is bleach is bleach, I guess. I love this stuff. You can buy little single use packs at Walmart to just try it out. I can get 2-3 uses from a little pouch of it, but I have been using it a few times a week. 

LG Universal Remotes. Maverick ate the remote awhile back and eventually it stopped working so this is a two-pack, overnight delivery for free because of Prime <3. 

Beeswax candles. I gifted some for Christmas and also bought myself a couple. I am all-in on these and I recommend everyone give them a try. Here's the benefits to burning beeswax. 

Sourdough Starter Warmer. I gifted this for Christmas and I need one for myself but I'm really just worn out from attempting sourdough. I need to pull my starter out of the fridge. It just seems like one more thing that I don't feel like doing. 

Nuk Orthodontic Pacifiers. Still fighting the battle of the pacifier over here. Taking them away before we left home for 2-3 weeks was not in the cards so I'll work on it this winter. (I honestly just need Scott to leave for a few days.)

Pill organizer. Scout the Dog takes medicine twice a day and, while I understand what and when since I'm in charge of it, I find that Scott gets mixed up when they're hunting. And, since we were leaving the dogs with my parents for a few days, I needed a system for his medicine. This was only $5 and honestly has made life a lot easier because I just reload it once a week. The only thing I don't like is that I have to have a better handle on the refill schedule because I'm not opening the bottles twice a day to notice how much is left. 

Galaxy projector. We had a galaxy projector last year and it broke/stopped working after a few months. VERY annoying. The kids had loved it though so Scott went out and got them a new one for Christmas. This one is different, better quality, and I like it a lot so far. I think it's worth a try if you're in the market for one! They use it as a nightlight (Sutton has a different one and Wells has been using this.)

Not a great pic, but it's very realistic and kind of rotates around the room:

Chiefs onesie. I have a new nephew arriving this year and his dad (my brother) is a Chiefs fan. 

(If you are new here, we live in the KC area and are not Chiefs fans. My brother lives nowhere near KC and is a Chiefs fan.)

Infant headbands. A Christmas buy for our baby niece. You can never have too many of these with a baby girl and the more colors the better. 

Land's End Snowboots. I got these snowboots for our trip east. They are great and I recommend them because they're waterproof and I spent a lot of time in puddles in Buffalo. They run a little big. I've only had two pairs of actual snowboots in my adult life: a $35 pair in Alaska and now these. I expect them to last at least 15 years, doing that math. I bought from Amazon, specifically, for the ease of returns if they didn't fit. 

Maybelline 4-in-1 Instant Perfector. This is my second tube. It's what I use as concealer and instead of actual foundation. I blend it in with a brush and do some light powder over top.  I thought I was ordering one (my original came from Walmart but they don't have it in-store anymore) and they sent me a two-pack for $9. Quite the value!

Some books for Christmas:

The Wild Robot for Wells

The mouse and strawberry book for Sutton. I remember reading this to a kindergarten class two decades ago lol. 

I know a lot of people like to cut back in January on purchases and especially purchases on Amazon. I generally don't buy things unless I need them or require them for something. And if Amazon keeps me out of a store where I'll buy even more or saves me an entire day of driving around town, so be it. 

Amazon in October

...coming in a little late here to show what I grabbed from Amazon in October. 

Some strategies I use when it comes to sites like Amazon that offer 1-click ordering:

1. I use it for what I need that I cannot get here at the regular grocery store (eh, Walmart).

2. If it's something I want, I put it on a wishlist and usually put a price alert on it via Chrome so I'll see when it drops. 

3. I always check the address for where it's going. Seems silly but we have 15 addresses in our account and I cannot say for sure how many times an item's gone to the wrong place. But the answer is more than once. 

LG Universal Remote for SmartTV. We bought a new tv in June. Maverick chewed up the remote about 3 days after we got it. It still worked so I procrastinated this and last week he got it again and then it didn't work. I overnighted this for an extra $3. There are rules about keeping things out of a 1 year old dog's reach but 7 year olds and 3 year olds don't follow rules. 

This $4 math workbook is worth it if you want to encourage review and extra practice. We started it this week. 

Scott puts these bells on the dogs' collars when they hunt in high grass so he can hear them. We've had them before but have misplaced them over the years. 

Another hunting purchase: Scott used a GPS collar on Scout last year because he's deaf and Mav got a GPS collar this year for his first real hunting season. 

I told myself I was going to start taking inositol again. They didn't have it at Walmart the one time I checked. It has so many benefits. I used to take it twice a day, years ago. 

Handwriting Without Tears is my favorite writing series for kids. After we finished our first handwriting practice book from The Good and The Beautiful, I had this ready to go. For 2nd grade, they make a print book and a cursive one. This one reviews print first and then moves into cursive. Highly recommend this writing curriculum. I used it in the classroom too. 

We used to have two orthopedic dog beds. Both were destroyed slowly over the last 4 years, so I finally bought a new one and I accidentally bought the jumbo size. So now it lives in the basement. It's holding up so far. 

These boot/slipper combo shoes are fantastic. I would put a price alert on them because I got them during Prime Days for $35. Black Friday deals start next week so if you, too, refuse to pay $124 for Ugg slippers/boots, this is a great compromise. 

Affordable phone case. I've been doing well with not buying phone cases in 2025! I bought a Casely with a gift card from my birthday back in January and then I tried a new Loopy over the summer, hated it, and sold it on Poshmark since it was still so new. Better to get something from it than nothing (I don't think all Loopy cases are created equal). But my Casely was starting to get beat up so I got this and it's pretty much exactly what I wanted. I got it during Prime Days for $8, so if you're like me and don't prefer those silicone cases that attract fuzz, fur, hair, and dirt, this is for you. 

I have some lists in Amazon for Christmas but I haven't been in the spirit this year yet so I'm not ready to start buying/thinking about gifts. How about you? 

Amazon in September.

I've been intentionally trying to cut back on the Amazon purchases but driving to multiple stores to not find what I'm looking for is always going to lose out to the Amazon app. 

Protein powder

We've tried a lot of proteins over the years. This one is the best for the flavor, price/value, and blend-ability. It's not chalky, tastes amazing, and dissolves so easily. Highly, highly recommend. We've bought this one before. 

Pumpkin cookie cutter set

Want to hear something insane? You cannot find a pumpkin cookie cutter in stores. I have looked in 3 different stores and all it does is give me an option to order for delivery. I seem to remember, in years past, that there were cookie cutters in every Halloween/fall displays. The best deal was on Amazon, so here we are. I am going to do sugar cookies in a few weeks and then Sutton will probably also use these for playdoh right now too. 

Under-eye patches

This was the best deal when I re-ordered these last month. I really like them and they help wake me up in the morning, especially during these awful fall allergies I've been experiencing, because I keep them in the fridge. 

Princess accessories

I ordered this set for Sutton's Halloween costume. She wanted to be a princess and chose a yellow Belle dress so we got yellow accessories. (I am SO proud of myself for taking her to a secondhand boutique and getting a Disney-brand Belle dress that's like-new instead of spending $30 on Amazon.)

Megababe deodorant

I love this stuff. I need to stop using Dove even thought it's been my go-to for years. I do believe they make an aluminum-free version now, but this deodorant works so well. I highly recommend if you're looking to be a little crunchier. 

La Roche-Posay Cleansing Oil

I ordered this when I ran out of cleansing oil. This is a great deal! I like it a lot. It's not drying at all and I highly recommend if you want to try a cleansing oil without spending a lot of money. 

Floating bookshelves

I got these for Sutton's room because I wanted to make sure she had books on display. Sutton is an out-of-sight-out-of-mind type of kid. She likes to throw things in boxes and forget about them. Books go into the great unknown if I try to set them out in her room. I think putting them on the wall has helped tremendously when it comes to her wanting to read, because she has never been interested in books as much as Wells was as a toddler. 

(This is some decor I bought for back-to-school in August and I used them on the shelving.)

Amazon lately

We've bought a lot of random things off of Amazon as we're still trying to settle into a new house and prep our old one for renting out. However, these are the items that really stood out to me: 

A restock of my favorite handsoap. It is what it is: I'm a person who only orders soap online now. I mentioned their body wash as well. I have super sensitive skin so I buy the kid's soap and then I use it too as a body wash. 

We bought these doggie stairs back in June. Our bed is high. The floor here is hardwood. Scout, at age 12, can't grip to jump up on the slippery floor. Bought these steps. He has never once used them until...6 weeks into them taking up space, I slept in and he thought he was going to miss his walk. I watched him whimper at the side of the bed, climb up the steps, and then he started to paw-punch me. 

Scott splurged on these walkie-talkies. Basically if Wells is going outside by himself, he has to take one. He can go up and down the street, to the neighbors, etc. But I was really tired of always looking out the window and wondering where he was at any given second. He has the freedom to roam the yard and cul-de-sac as long as he has this with him. Plus, I can just *tell* him to come home instead of going out out to look for him. They would also be fantastic for hunting, hiking, camping, anything really. They work nationwide. I often take one on dog-walks because it's easier to communicate on than trying to pull out a phone. There are NO fees and it's more reliable than a cell network, which is more than I can say for all those fancy watches kids have. 

I decided to start using my diffuser again here since I love the scent of citrus. I'd had these essential oils in my "save for later" for yearssss. Someone had recommended them to me awhile back. I finally bought them and I do love them and highly recommend. 

 Ninja Creami. 

Scott bought this, along with a bunch of high-protein ice cream mixes, and then left for the weekend and told me to figure it out. I am generally terrible at figuring things out but I made an exception for an ice cream maker. 

This is so fun to use. It's really hard to explain all the bells and whistles but we've honestly used it no less than 20 times in the last 3 weeks. We had friends over for dinner and did ice cream sundaes. I mix up batches of "healthy" ice cream for the kids and high-protein mixes for Scott. I've tried sorbets..all it takes is frozen fruit and I like to add some coconut milk. It comes with a recipe book but you can honestly make just about anything frozen or slightly slushy with it. There are recipes all over the internet --I had no idea this thing even existed! It's just important to actually follow the recipes because it's more like science with amounts of solid to liquid and freeze times. 

It basically sounds like an airplane taking off for 2-4 minutes of mix time, but look at what you can create: 

If you like frozen treats and don't mind giving up some counter space, it's worth it. I've stopped buying all the dessert-like treats because they all just want protein ice cream now for dessert. This is where he got the mixes. If you're so inclined, they definitely taste like real ice cream!

Cheaper, useful Prime Day "deals"

It's always hard to tell what's a deal and what's not.

Here's what I have gotten lately and loved and if you can find them on Amazon, go for it. Nothing expensive and all are useful with a capital U. And nothing "fun". Amazon isn't about "fun" for me; it's about useful. 

I got one of these silicone sponge holders a few weeks ago. It is the SIMPLEST kitchen hack/tool that has been missing from my life for a decade. If you use a sponge and don't have a system for it, do yourself a favor.

I ordered this clear stadium bag two weeks ago. It's such a niche purpose that you don't want to spend double-digits on it. You can't beat less than $7. I think I paid $9?

These retractable markers are so much better than regular. Still washable. Caps won't get lost or get in the way. I really dislike any pen with a cap, I've found. These are great for kids and they're perfect for planners because they do not bleed through if you have good quality paper. 

I ordered one muddy mat two weeks ago and will probably get another because, you know...dogs.

The quality of these dog bowls for the price is INSANE. I can't believe it was only $14 for the 2-pack. Our previous bowls that were very expensive and lasted almost 8 years, flew out of the back of Scott's truck around Christmastime while traveling. Then, I made a quick replacement purchase at the PX 6 months ago and Scott ran those over with the UTV last week and shards of plastic shot all over the garage. These seem like they could withstand that kind of trauma a little bit better.