GlitterMommy

Smart Grocery Shopping Tips – to help you stay on budget & eat healthy

on by in Deals ⋅ 60 Comments

Hi my GlitterFriends, today I want to share my best grocery shopping tips with y’all! In the past 7 years being a mom, especially after having my twins, my sense for budgeting heightened tremendously since I had to buy 2 of everything. And the cost of grocery can add up quickly if you are not careful. These are the try and true tips that I apply every time I grocery shop and I will continue to add onto the post as I go. These tips helped me cut at least HALF of my grocery budget (I used to spend $1,500-$2,000 a month on grocery and now I spend about $600 a month) which is very substantial.

So here we go…….

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My BEST Money Savings Apps for Canadians!

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Hi guys, welcome back to my money saving series and today I want to share the best apps I use to maximize my savings. These are my top 7 apps I use currently but as you all know apps come and go so I will be updating the post periodically to keep you guys up to date.

Please let me know in the comments which app you want to know more about, then I will elaborate on it next week.

These are my top 7 apps I use to get the best savings:Ebates (Apple & Android)

 

 

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Where to find coupons in Canada? April 2018

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Hi guys, I know many of you smart shoppers follow me on my GlitterMommy​ Facebook page (but if you haven’t done so already, you should too 😁) to get the latest grocery deals of the week and some of you want to know where I got all my coupons. So today I will share with you all the best places I go to get my coupons, and I think some of them might surprise you. Seriously everyone should use coupons, you are literally printing money. I have saved hundreds of dollars and counting and I only really serious about doing it for about 3 years ago.

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Nickelodeon Resort Punta Cana: What is it all about? Tips & Tricks and more……

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Hello my awesome GlitterFriends, if you follow me on my social media, you know we just came back from a 7 day Punta Cana trip for our family of 6. It was so fun that my husband and I are planning to go on an all-inclusive vacation every year. The reason why we picked Nickelodeon resort is because I know my kids are going to have a blast seeing their favourite characters (my twins love ninja turtles but my daughter is just happy to see any characters).

In this blog post, I am going to share with you every step of our journey from packing, going to the airport to coming home so you can see all the nitty gritty details of them all. Don’t worry, I won’t be giving you a 10 page essay to read (seriously who has time for it). I will break them down in categories and either in small paragraphs or in point form so it’s easy to read and you can pick and choose what you need to know.

Packing for the trip

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Grocery Highlights Jan 25-31, 2018

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Hi my GlitterFriends, yesterday on my Facebook Live I introduced my budgeting series, I talked about why we started to budget, how much is our grocery budget for the month, what apps and coupons I use to maximize the budget and I shared with you the good deals that are happening in my area. If you missed it, you can rewatch it here.

As I have mentioned in the video, I will only be going to 2 grocery stores each week once a week and my favourite stores are Walmart (price match), Fortinos (Love the fresh produce) and Costco (some good deals). In the highlights I will tell you where I am price matching from so you can do the same too! I hope you guys will find it helpful. I certainly enjoy doing it myself and I hope you enjoy reading/finding the good deals too!

Grocery Highlights in the week of Jan 25 to Jan 31, 2018

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Budgeting – Our Journey of Smart Savings

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Hi my GlitterFriends…….it’s been a looooooooooooong time, I have miss you guys so much! I really want to start off 2018 with a bang (or shall I say bling) and talk about budgeting. I know it isn’t the sexist or funniest topic to talk about but seriously everyone I mean EVERYONE should budget. If you are wondering, we are NOT in a financial crisis, my husband’s work is doing very well (Thank the Lord for providing). But you know what, it is so much easier and better to do budgeting when you don’t have any bad debts (such as credit cards, cash advance or car loans to some extent) because you aren’t consistently stressing about it.

 

Why and What are we Budgeting for?

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Come Taste with Me – Cascata Bistro in Carlisle

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Welcome to my very first Come Taste with Me series. Every Friday, my husband and I (including the baby (7 months old) but he wouldn’t be able to taste anything anytime soon unfortunately 🙁 ) will venture out to try different restaurants. Before having kids, we love to try out different restaurants every now and then and now 3 of our kids are in school, we are very excited to be able to get back to our old ways. In addition to this blog series, it definitely gives us even more motivation to do so.

Let’s our journey begin!!!! If you are more of a visual person, I actually do first impression facebook live on the restaurant, if you want to re-watch the footage, check out my facebook page here. 

We are going to start our adventure off in our own backyard.  We decided to drive to Carlisle which is only 8-10 minutes from our house to try a quaint little restaurant called Cascata Bistro.

We actually have no idea what to expect because I did’t even go online to check them out or read any reviews (I know we are very brave but I really don’t want to be biased). We didn’t even make a reservation (I know, ballsy of us :P). Luckily we went there just after 2pm so the lunch crowd just died down so we literally can pick whereever we want to sit with the baby.

The inside of the restaurant is definitely not what I would expect in a good way. The outside of the restaurant looks like an old fashion home (100+ years old) but the inside is so bright and artsy, every room has its own vibe and character. I love how the two mixes together so seamlessly.  I actually didn’t go into the bathroom during my visit (duh newbie food blogger 101), but after some digging around on the internet, apparently the owner’s bike was hang on the wall in a very artistic manner and it has a story behind it too. (oh well, live and learn)

 

 

 

 

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Steam Pork Side Ribs with Preserved Black Beans and Garlic

on by in Food ⋅ 3 Comments

Steam Pork Side Ribs with Garlic and Preserved black beans

 

Today I would like to share one of my family favourite recipes with you all. This dish totally brings me back to my childhood because when I was young, we eat it at least once a week. It is a very easy, tasty and fast dish to put on the dinner table.  If you are interested in how to make this traditional Chinese dish, please keep reading…………………….

 

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Doughnut Nail Art Pictorial! (November 5, 2015)

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Hello my GlitterFriends!!! It’s been a loooooooong time since I have done a nail art pictorial for you guys (you know how it is, real life takes over). Anyway, today November 5 is National Doughnut Day so I would like to share this fun and easy doughnut nail art with you all to try. As usual it is super easy so let’s take out all your fun colour polishes and get started!!

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Fitness Friday – Week 6 to 8 Progress Update and Why haven’t I been posting?

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Profile Pics Week 5 to Week 8 FB

Hi my lovely buttercups, welcome back to my Fitness Friday progress update. I apologize for not been updating you guys on my progress the last couple of weeks. Honestly, I think I got a little insecure about my progress these past few weeks, I feel like I don’t have much to show you guys. I am kind of disappointed in myself and getting discouraged. From some of the progress pictures, I feel like I look bigger than the week before. I lost that immediately gratification of the first few weeks and I don’t know what to do to get out of that rut emotionally.  Then this week I started to ask myself what is the end goal of this fitness challenge? And I think this helps me get back on track mentally.

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Manicure Monday – Ice-cream with Chocolate Dripping Nail Art

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Hi my chocolate puddings! Welcome to Manicure Monday (or Wednesday), today I would like to share with you a yummy nail art, ice-cream with chocolate dripping nail art. With my current fitness routine and diet, having ice-cream with chocolate dripping is quite a luxury but doing it on my nails does not add calories to my body (LOL). I honestly can’t wait until summer time so I can take all my kids to buy some ice-cream cones and enjoy them under the sun. So here’s the tutorial:

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Toddler Friendly Quinoa Recipe

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Quinoa cover pic

Hello my fabulous friends, today I am going to share with you one of my most requested recipes, Toddler Friendly Quinoa Recipe. As parents, we always try to change up recipes so our babies aren’t bored with the food we put on the table yet they have to be nutritious and yummy. One of the “superfood” that everyone (yes, everyone) should try is Quinoa! Even though quinoa has an unique taste, my twin boys really enjoy it and they have to have it almost everyday. They have been eating quinoa since 7 months old so it tastes perfectly normal to them. For more health benefits information, you can click here.

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Manicure Monday – Easter Inspired Bunny and Chick Nail Art

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Hello my fluffy bunnies, welcome to Manicure Monday! Easter is around the corner and I would like to share this Easter theme nail art to get you in the spirit. I tried to put all the design into this one tutorial so you can see more options. You are welcome to pick one design to do as an accent but they go cohesively together too. All you need for this design are dotting tools and some toothpicks. Let’s get started:

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Fitness Friday – End of Week 5 Progress Update & Sharing my Challenges and New Goals!!!

on by in Fitness ⋅ 4 Comments

Week 4 to Week 5 progress pic FB

Hello my Sparkles!!! Welcome to Fitness Friday end of Week 5 progress update! How is everybody doing this week? Have you been following your workout routine? Have you been eating well and fuel your body with nutritious food? These are the questions that I ask myself almost everyday. I am starting to have a deeper understanding of this 12 week challenge. It is no longer about having that 6-pack for the summer even though it could be the positive spillover of it but this journey is all about creating that healthy habit and discipline through exercising and eating right for life.

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My Top 6 Must Have DrugStore Beauty Products Under $8

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Top 6 Drugstore Products under $8

Hello my lovely friends, today I will share with you my top 6 must have drugstore beauty products. These are definitely my try and true products that I include in my current everyday routine and some are my holy grail products that I wouldn’t trade for any higher end products. I tried all of these products for a period of time (some shorter than others) so I can give you my most honest and candid opinion. In addition, this list has products from face to lips so if you are on a budget, you can still look great. So let’s get started:

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Manicure Monday – Spring Garden Nail Art

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Hi my beautiful starlights!!

 

Today, I am going to show you my take of a Spring Garden on nails. I always envision a spring garden is filled with beautiful green grass, flowers, ladybugs and birds and this is exactly what I recreated on my nails. It is super simple like the other tutorials, and all you need is dotting tools and some toothpicks and you are ready to go. Now let’s get started:

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Fitness Friday – End of Week 4 Progress Update and Sharing my Secrets to my Current Progress

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Week 3 & 4 front and side Blog Cover Pic

Hi my fabulous friends!! Welcome to Fitness Friday and the first day of Spring. It is just so fantastic knowing Spring is finally here. I can’t wait to take the kids outside and breathe some warm fresh air. On a side note, my twins have never been to a playground (they were in the stroller last year because they can’t walk) but this year they will be out and about trying everything. I can’t wait to see how they interact with other kids and Princess A.

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Family Wednesday – Our Bronte Creek Maple Syrup Festival Experience 2015

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Blog Post Cover Pic 2

Happy March Break Everyone!!! I am sure a lot of parents out there are looking for something fun for your kids to do this week. Even though my kids are not school age yet, we still try to go to some sort of event or activity every week especially as the weather gets warmer. To be honest, we are very luck in Burlington because there are a lot to offer. One of the activities that we go every year is the Bronte Creek Maple Syrup Festival. I love going to the Maple Syrup Festival because it reminds me so much of my elementary school time. My husband and I are so glad we can take our kids to do the same activity that we grew up with.

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Manicure Monday – Polka Dot Series: Spring Argyle Design

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Hi my awesome readers, today I share with you a simple polka dot pattern that looks complicated but in reality it’s really easy. This design is perfect for beginners, it only requires dotting tools or back of a bobby pin. This design is very versatile because you can do it all year round. All you need to do is to change up the colours. Today, I chose magenta for the base because this colour reminds me of spring. So let’s get started:

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Fitness Friday – End of Week 3 Progress Update

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GlitterMommy Week 3 Cover Pic

Hi my beautiful sunshine! Welcome to week 3 of Fitness Friday. Are you guys as excited as I am? The weather is finally getting warmer, I can’t wait to do some outdoor exercises. Honestly Canadian weather is way too long. Tell me what your favourite outdoor activities are in the comment down below or on my GlitterMommy Facebook Page. This spring/summer let’s inspire each other to be active.

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All About That Base – Makeup Edition

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All About that Base - Cover pic

 

Have you ever wondered why your face makeup can’t last all day long? Why your foundation doesn’t look natural? Or why your eyeshadow isn’t as vibrant as it should? Look no further, I believe I have the solution for you. Because I used to be the girl who had her makeup melted off half way through my work day (thanks to my oily combo skin) then I decided to pack on more powder to control the shine (Big Big Big mistake) so at the end of the day I kind of look like a hot mess (aka cake face).

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Fitness Friday – End of Week 6 Update

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Hello my beautiful moonlight, welcome to Fitness Friday and my end of week 6 progress update. I can’t believe I am half way there! These 6 weeks have flown by so fast and many things have changed in these past 6 weeks both physically and mentally.

I am not going to lie, during some of my earlier days, I really wanted to quit but because I committed to you guys and myself to do it, I pull through. Also, during this process, I found out how important it is to have a workout buddy or a workout group. I know it sounds cliche to surround yourself with like minded people when you are working out. But it is so critical to have a group of people that absolutely