I'm back!

It's been almost five years but I'm back. I still live on St. Croix. The baby I had is no longer a baby. She's seven. My husband and I are still happy here and we can't imagine living anywhere else.

Other things have changed though. I am now a partner at my law firm. I work a lot more and I spend a lot less time on the beach (the beach bum days are officially over). And my new island goal is to shop local. 

Ever since my daughter was born, we have been ordering a lot online, especially on Amazon. It's not as easy as in the states and we get nothing shipped same or next-day but it does work to a certain extent. However, I think I'm ordering a lot more than I need and I'm creating a huge carbon footprint by placing separate orders for each little thing. So here is my attempt to substitute all of my online purchases by only shopping at the stores we have on island.

So the first item we needed was a new Ring camera. The old one was okay but it wouldn't hold a charge anymore and taking it off and charging it every couple of days was no longer a fun activity. This one was pretty easy because we do have a Home Depot (even though our Kmart just closed... yes, you read that right, we still had a Kmart but it literally just closed less than a week ago). Home Depot was selling a doorbell Ring camera along with an indoor Ring camera for $99 which is actually less than what you would spend for a new one of these online. Also, if you want to review the video that your Ring camera captures (not mandatory for using this camera), once you have at least two devices, you can pay $99.99/year and you can install unlimited devices. The indoor camera is perfect for watching your dog when you go on vacation as well!

The next items on my list were paper towels. I had to do higher math for this one. I usually get Bounty 6=15 rolls (select-a-size always but I still will tear off at least two pieces so not helpful at all... but my husband will ask for three once in a while and then it's all worth it). I like this size because the rolls are thicker and I have to change them less often.  I go to Home Depot and they usually have these but sometimes they throw in a 12=24 and my husband buys them and then I don't have enough energy to return them so we just deal with it. But this time I went two weeks ago and they had 12=30 and they were only $10 more than the 6=15 which were about $21. Again, I had to really figure this one out because it's not obvious and they just do the paper towel people just do this to screw with you. But 6=15 is the same as 12=30 and while two 6=15s should cost $42, the 12=30 was only $31 so it definitely made sense to buy the 12=30. 

Liquid hand soap was next and Home Depot had Mrs. Meyer’s which is one of my favorites. They didn't have basil which is my favorite Mrs. Meyer’s scent but they did have lavendar (not a favorite but my husband loves it) and they also had lemon verbena scent which I can live with. They had a size that was double the size of the ones I usually buy online but cost exactly double what I pay online so it was pretty much the same price per ounce. I usually use mason jars with pumps for my soap dispensers and ever since my attempt to make liquid soap failed, we still use liquid soap that comes from plastic containers. This scenario doesn't help anything at all but at least we're not ordering the soap online anymore.

Next I went to Plaza Extra East because I needed to find detergent pods to substitute for the sensitive Dropps pods that I get online. I didn't think I'd find it but I found Seventh Generation Sensitive Skin pods. I had almost purchased these online years ago. The cost wasn't that much different from what I pay online now so it's all working out.

The last thing I needed was dog food that had no blueberries, corn or peas in it. It sounds easy but it's extremely difficult. My dog has developed allergies to the strangest things and apparently all dog food has one of these three ingredients in it. I picked up and turned over every single bag of dog food at Plaza. I found one and only one that didn't have any of these ingredients. It is Taste of the Wild Raw. It has very few ingredients and even though it only comes in an 8 lb bag, it's really our only option right now. 

While I was at Plaza, I also realized they have a whole Mrs. Meyer’s section at the end of the aisle in cleaning products and it's pretty reasonably priced. Something I will need in the future but didn't get yet was contact lens solution. I don't use it but I think my husband drinks it. I found a comparable one to the one he uses at the pharmacy at Plaza. It's a bit more expensive than online but I think if it prevents me from ordering things I don't need, I'll spend less overall and that makes it worth it. 

I can't make any promises and it may very well be five more years before I make another post but hopefully not! See you soon.