Plastic Jungle

Have you ever received a gift card to somewhere you really don't want or need one to? 

Ever wished you could swap it out for a place that you DO love or need some extra money to? 

Now there is an awesome solution! 

It's called Plastic Jungle

You can sell your unwanted giftcards and receive 92% of what it is worth and then trade it or buy a gift card at a discounted price to the store of your choosing! 

They currently have over 400+ stores that you can trade your gift card in for and 50+ stores that you can do a direct payout for! 

You don't even have to do a trade out if you don't want to.. you can simply buy discounted giftcards from the site. 

Happy Shopping! 

Pit of a purse!

I love to change up what purses I wear but I do find it is super time consuming and annoying to have to change out all my "contents" especially when I am in a hurry! 

To my great delight while reading Little Miss Momma { A FAVE of Simple Life} 

I saw she was featuring products from Purse Bling

I had been dying for something as adorable and as practical as this for a while now... I shopped around and decided on the Purse To Go Pocket Plus in a Jumbo in the style of Magnolia. 

*note this is not magnolia but Gold Chrysanthemums

Little Miss Momma was also offering a 10% coupon when you entered the code MISS into the check out..  

SCORE. 

So for $21.95 ( It's ALWAYS free shipping... another score) I am now the proud owner of a 

purse organizer! 

I am excited to try it out and I am even more excited to order one of these when the 

little one arrives... maybe sooner! 

OOH, or even one of these beauties

Oh gosh, and even this... A diaper clutch, come on! How awesome am I? 

Don't you love a great deal?

For me, part of staying organized is keeping on top of my spending habits.

I don't feel like I have ever been out of control with my spending, in fact, I am pretty conservative.

{Unless I am at target, trader joes, Anthropologie.. ok I'm not perfect...}

BUT.. there are some amazing websites out there right now that scour the web for awesome deals!

Here are some of my favorites, just click on the link to be invited to the site!

The Foundary

Zulily

Rue LaLa

Some amazing blogs that keep you in the loop of sales and other promotions are:

Target Addict

Uber Chic for Cheap

Baby Cheapskate

A Pretty Penny

Stuff Under Twenty

Just be sure and remember, these sites are sometimes super tempting because the deals are so great, but it's not a great deal if you don't need it!

Happy Shopping!

Moving!

The Simple Life has moved from Minneapolis to Orange County!

Along the way I figured out some tips to help make moving a little less stressful and a lot more smooth:

1. Pack by room and get even more specific than that. Pack all of your clothes with your clothes, shoes with shoes and try not to mix and match unless they go near each other in the closet.

2. Give your stuff away! When you are packing, try and keep your new home in mind. Where will this fit? How long has it been since I used it? Could someone use it more than me? I found ( after two trips to goodwill) that it would have been a lot easier to do this prior to packing all the stuff up.

3. Unpack your kitchen first, it makes everything else seem easy!

4. If you are moving into a second or third story where you will have to carry your boxes up the stairs, make sure you get some friends or neighbors to help! It will cut down on the time and make it seem a whole lot less overwhelming. A box of pizza is always good payment!

Do you have any great moving tips?

Christmas Takeaway

Happy New Year everyone!

If there was one thing I took away from Christmas this year it was how much you should treasure your friends and family.

Being near to them just makes my heart smile.

But the other thing I took away, Christmas trees are messy. Our tiny little tree started falling apart weeks before Christmas and I was constantly sweeping up after it.

I have been lusting after this idea for years and think I just may do it next year.

It is an easy easy way to display your tree, make it look 10x prettier and also to water it.

{image via www.desiretoinspire.net}

In expensive places to get fun vases are ikea, home depot, menards, and shockingly anthropologie carries some smaller ones for apartment dwellers like myself!

Q & A time!

I am reaching out to you guys!

What questions do you have about simplifying your lives?

What products would you like reviewed?

Are there any services or online resources you love or would love to read more about?

Tell me!

image via weheartit.com

It's getting cold!

Do you know about Alice?

No not this, Alice...

This Alice!

Www.alice.com Is a wonderful resource for anyone looking for a little help in their shopping!

With the weather turning colder here, there are many days where I just don't want to leave my warm cozy house but I know I desperately need toilet paper or laundry soap etc..

With alice.com you can bookmark all of your favorite products and get the best prices on them, add them to your cart and have them shipped to your home with FREE SHIPPING, that's right...

FREE.

You can even tag your products and have them automatically sent to you on a specific date, weekly, monthly or whenever you need a re-order!

It's a great resource for simplifying your life, check it out today!