The Sensible Mom

Food, DIY, Chicago Mom Blogger

First Aldi Grocery Haul Plus What I Think of Aldi

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Today, I’m sharing my first ever ALDI grocery haul! I spent right around $36 at ALDI and I think I brought home a lot of groceries for a little bit of money. Watch this video to find out what I think of ALDI compared to what I used to think of it. I hope you enjoy this video, and thanks for watching! 🙂

P.S. You can find more grocery hauls here.

Also, please feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel as I publish videos there before they make it on the blog. Oh, and I share a lot about food, family, and more in my Instagram Stories, so you may want to follow me there as well.

Do you shop at Aldi? What are your favorite products?


Grocery and Beauty Haul: Trader Joe’s, Jewel-Osco, Lotion, Enzymes and More!

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Thanks to the folks that work with The Kami Pad, Oz Naturals, and Pure Synergy for the products
they sent and are featured in this video.

Today, I’m sharing a grocery and beauty haul! In this video, I share a Trader Joe’s haul and a Jewel-Osco haul. Then I share several health and beauty products from The Kami Pad, OZ Naturals, and Pure Synergy Enzymes! I hope you enjoy the video and thanks for watching! 🙂

You can find the carnitas and green salsa recipes referenced in the video here. The delicious banana bread recipe is here.

Also, please feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel as I publish videos there before they make it on the blog. Oh, and I share a lot about food, family, and more in my Instagram Stories, so you may want to follow me there as well.

What are some of your favorite places to shop?


10 Goals for the Week

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10 Goals to Tackle This Week

Well, it took me longer than a week, but I was able to cross all of my goals off my list. I got many of them done the first week, but, for some reason, I’m struggling with my goal to walk on the treadmill regularly.

I don’t know exactly why I’m having a hard time with it. It could be because I got out of the habit, and it’s hard to start again. Or maybe it’s because my laptop broke and I can’t work on it while I walk. Or maybe it’s because I spend so much time on my feet already (in the kitchen), I can’t help but rationalize sitting down and not walking on the treadmill when I have a break.

I think it’s all of the above and then some. I just need to focus and make exercise on the treadmill a priority. It used to come easy for me, but I’m going to have to work at it to make it a strong habit again. 🙂

Anyway, here’s what I accomplished:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Visit the library

2. Read the Bible with the kids at least 4x

Personal Goals:

3. Email a friend

4. Walk a total of 100 minutes on the treadmill

5. Finish reading the book of Matthew in the New Testament and read Psalms 76 to 86 in the Old Testament

6. Journal 2x

Home Management Goals:

7. Go through Elisabeth’s toys and remove toys she no longer plays with or wants in her collection

8. Fill a bag with items to donate

Business Goals:

9. Work on and publish a sponsored blog post

10. Shoot, edit, & upload at least one new video to my YouTube channel

Here are my goals for this week:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Start fresh reading lessons with Elisabeth

2. Read the Bible with the kids at least 4x

Personal Goals:

3. Email a friend

4. Walk a total of 110 minutes on the treadmill

5. Finish reading the book of Mark in the New Testament and read Psalms 87 to 100 in the Old Testament

6. Journal 2x

Home Management Goals:

7. Go through and wash my purse

8. Use the steamer to deep clean the bathroom

Business Goals:

9. Edit & upload at least one new video to our family YouTube channel

10. Shoot, edit, & upload at least one new video to my YouTube channel

What are your goals for this week?


Fun with Zuru Smashers Series 2 Gross Toys (Plus Unboxing Video!)

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Thanks to Zuru for sponsoring this blog post.

Zuru Smashers Toy Characters! Visit this blog post to see a fun video smashing open Zuru Smashers toys! They also make great gift ideas for kids!

Gross toys are incredibly popular these days.

It’s hard to understand why kids are so drawn to them, but they are. And they love them and want to collect them. Our favorite gross yet slightly adorable and highly collectible toys are Zuru Smashers.

Zuru Smashers Toy Characters

Specifically, we like the Series 2 Gross Smashers that consist of a Smashball Eyeball that hides a putrid little character inside.

Below are two of the characters that Elisabeth, my 7-year-old daughter, got in a pack of Smashers. Please meet Smelly Shoe and Not Nice Cream. I can’t help but laugh at their names. 😀

Zuru Smashers Toy Characters! Visit this blog post to see a fun video smashing open Zuru Smashers toys! They also make great gift ideas for kids!

We recently opened two 8-packs of Smashers, and we were pleasantly surprised to find out that the 8-packs include glow-in-the-dark Smashers!

Elisabeth’s favorite Smasher ended up being the glow-in-the-dark Smasher named Horrid Hand. 😮

This Smasher definitely lives up to its name. Can you see him there in her hand? He’s the one shaped as a bony green hand with big red eyeballs.

We also had the chance of finding Slime Surprises hiding in some of the Smashball Eyeballs! That was exciting!

Elisabeth ended up finding TWO Slime Surprises (one had Horrid Hand) as she smashed open each ball. By the way, smashing open the eyeballs is so much fun for kids! And once they’re all done and have smashed open all the eyeballs, they can rebuild and re-smash the eyeballs!

Elisabeth ended up needing help from her big sister to rebuild the eyeballs, so if you have younger kids, they may need your help or help from older siblings in putting the Smashballs back together.

We filmed a super fun unboxing video of our Series 2 Gross Smashers that you can see on our YouTube channel or below.

We had lots of fun creating this video and, in it, you can see the different Smashers Elisabeth received, the glow-in-the-dark Smasher, and the Slime Surprises, too!

Overall, I think gross toys are here to stay, and Zuru Series 2 Gross Smashers would be a fun option or gift idea for the kids in your life! Have fun! 😀

Have you heard of Zuru Smashers? Would the kids in your life enjoy these toys?