Stocking Up with Everyday Essentials

This is a sponsored post with Acorn Influence and Sam’s Club.  I only partner with brands that are a true fit for our family. Thank you for reading.

Last year, Jon and I went from a family of 4, to a family of 5 with my mom joining our home.  And this year, we go to a family of 6.  While there wasn’t a huge adjustment period to intertwining the lives of our families, what WAS a huge adjustment was the food shopping and stock-piling of items for everyone.  When you live in separate households, you get accustomed to certain brands and meal choices.  You have your own routine of how to shop, when to shop, and what to shop for.  Lucky for us, one of our most frequent stores to shop at was done by each home – Sam’s Club.

When Jon and I were just a family of 2, our trips were monthly for the staples – toilet paper, paper towels, and pantry items.  When we had Aubrey, it became more frequent as diapers were added to the list (And, toys!) When Luke was born, our trips turned into bi-weekly events because you can literally shop for anything there.

Our trips now have become weekly as we buy most of our grocery items there too.  We still shop for the bulk items of paper towels (The Bounty Select-A-Size our my favorite and we had to convert my mom to them!), diapers, and detergents (Gain is my mom’s go-to.  She’s converted us on that one!).  My mom does most of the shopping now.  But when I go? Extra fun things end up in my cart. And since I’m running errands in between nursing sessions for Ryan, I have to share a fun trick with a lot of products you can find on their website.  If you visit SamsClub.com and login, you can purchase and have the items shipped to you OR you can do In Club pick-up.

What other fun stuff do we grab from Sam’s Club? I have my eye on a new camera from there and we also bought our Christmas Tree on Black Friday online!

We had it shipped because I couldn’t fathom venturing to Sam’s with the kids and my mom to get the tree on the roof of my SUV and home.  So went the easy route.  I set the pre-lit tree up while they were in bed, and the next morning Luke told me there was a BIIIIIIIIIG TREEEEE and it was SCAAAAAAARRRYYYY.  I told him it was just a Christmas Tree and we’d decorate it later on.

So that we did.  I took out all our ornaments and the kids ran back and forth putting the colored balls on the bottom third of the tree.

I was in charge of placing the memorable ornaments up at the top third of the tree.  We have some from the year we were married, bought our first condo, had our first and second children.  Does anyone else reminisce about when you purchased or were gifted an ornament?  Just me? Ok 🙂

That’s Happy – Our Elf.

When the tree was done, I asked the kids to stand in front of it to send a photo to Daddy.  They turned into goofballs and it didn’t quite work out as I planned.  This is our first year having an artificial tree, but it was nice to receive it and know we can set it up as early as we want each year until we go back to real ones.  AND! I saw when I was heading out with my items from Sam’s Club that they even sold really  great looking trees for a fraction of the price from tree lots!

So whether you’re a family of 2, 5, or 10, Sam’s Club fits your needs.  And, it also helps keep your family budget in line! And to help with your budget – Enter for a chance to win one of five Sam’s Club gift cards! #fullhomehappyhome
$100 Sam’s Club Gift Card Giveaway for Everyday Essentials

Vendor calculation based on proprietary methodology comparing average non-promoted retail price per unit from a combination of leading U.S. retail outlets vs. average retail price per unit at Sam’s Club® for 2 months ending September 26, 2015. Pricing and item availability may vary in Alaska, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Wisconsin, and on SamsClub.com.