lovely jubbly london

Fashion Friday: GP Approved

Remember when I posted about my new American Eagle straight leg jeans? Well, it seems I am not the only one who has discovered the power of AE Jeans.

Behold:

 

Yes, Vogue and GP approve.
 

special delivery

When a box arrives from the US weighing more than a small child it can only mean good things!

A few cookbooks and current issues of my favourite magazines!

Isn't my mom the best?!?

a little slice of americana

We made the trek to Costco yesterday and I was a happy bunny! I have been begging to go to Costco for over a year now. I kid you not. 

Take a look at these pictures and you'll see why I was so happy! Yes, I looked like a big dork running around going OMG! and taking pictures with my phone, but I just didn't care. This is only a small selection of the goodies:

butter popcorn!

If you don't live in the UK, you wouldn't understand how exciting this is, but here we normally only get an option of salt or sweet.

ziploc baggies

wishbone salad dressing

skippy peanut butter

hershey's chocolate syrup

pace salsa

ghiradelli chocolate chip cookie mix

red vines licorice

american magazines- 20% off!

 

So I'm going to be completely honest because some people wonder if it's really worth it. ABSOLUTELY! I understand most people in the UK live in small housing, trust me I know. I'm quite lucky to live in a house with decent storage now, but I have lived in some very tiny flats. I think if you have a friend you can split things with it would work wonderfully. Also, I went thinking everything was going to be in huge packages. Not so. The liquid detergent for instance was sold in packs of two normal sized bottles, as was lotions and several cleaners. The fabric softener was sold in a big 5L bottle, but if you have a bottle of fabric softener anyway, it really doesn't take up that much more room. The bakery was also amazing- I was drooling over the cakes. They had the biggest apple pie I had ever seen! American-style birthday cakes cost £11 for a big cake! Cereal was sold in packs of 2 or 3 boxes. Most items were single size, just really big! If you are craving some American items you will be happy. Who cares if I bought almost 2 kilos of salsa? It was just over £3 so it wasn't crazy expensive. It's by Pace and hopefully a thousand times better the salsa I buy here- I did save £6.45 when comparing it gram by gram. Of course, a grocery store here would never dream of selling a jar that big, but oh how I love me some guacamole and salsa! (If you're wondering they also sell American guac and it comes it a box with 4 packets inside. It is refrigerated so only lasts a few months, but it is perfect size for a UK fridge.) They also have an amazing return policy. If you aren't satisfied with something you can return it at any time. It doesn't matter how long you have had it. They even refund the price of membership! 

I'll break down some prices for you:

Dettol was sold in a pack of 3 for just over £3 vs £2 per bottle at the grocery store. 

Vanilla was amazingly cheap. I worked it out at home, priced it out by ml and compared it to the normal price by I pay. I honestly saved £17. Yes, you read that right £17! One 473ml bottle at Costco was £3.99 and I normally pay £4.25 for a 118ml bottle. Vanilla alone was worth the price of the membership to me! 

Toilet roll. I tend to buy the one with the toddler who runs the company- I'm sure you all know who I'm talking about! I buy the quilted and pay almost £5 for 9 rolls. Compare that to the 40 rolls I got for £9 and you have a savings of £13. It was on sale, but at their non-sale price I still would have saved £8. Of course, if you have a small flat this is one item you would need to break up and share. 

Tea. I ended up choosing Twinings Everyday and it was exactly half the price of anywhere else. They came packaged in 4 boxes, but the normal size Twinings box, so nothing too big. The husband bought Tetley for his work and saved over £9!

Detergent. We bought Persil Small & Mighty and saved around £3. 

Scouring pads were another big savings item. I always buy the Scotch-Brite brand that is non-scratch. I saved £8. I did have to buy a pack of 12, but they don't take up much space and are nicely under the sink.

I know some things don't seem like that big of savings, but when you add it all up it really is amazing. Comparing the items that I could buy elsewhere- so same brand v same brand and we saved over £90! Granted, we're set for toothpaste (50p a tube!), toilet roll, kitchen towel, washing detergent and fabric softener for a while, but that is a HUGE savings! We probably saved even more. Some items I don't know how to compare like lemon cake, rotisserie chicken, etc so I didn't include those. 

And for full disclosure- we don't have own a car yet. We paid for a minicab home so if we subtract £20 for that, we still saved over £70. Well worth it in my book!

Oh and any denim lovers- they had 7FAM jeans for under £50! The same jeans at the department stores are at least £150. 

another one bites the dust

This time last year we bid farewell to Blueprint, a Martha Stewart magazine and now it's been announced this is the last issue  of Cottage Living as well.

I loved this magazine. It was one of the great home magazines that had real homes, not boring McMansions. They also had some great recipes and featured smaller companies instead of the big name brands- they called it the cottage industry.

Also, I just found out Erika at Urban Grace Interiors was to have her work on the cover of the next issue as well as a full spread inside. What a shame indeed!