How A Skunk, Mud, and Grease Changed My Shopping Habit

My husband often calls me “last Minute Lucy”. Lucy, because I totally have Lucy moments (I Love Lucy- if you don’t know her, you live under a rock) and Last Minute because, well, it speaks for itself. I love to throw together parties and picnics. It could be Thursday and I start calling everyone to come over Saturday for a picnic. I also like to prepare most of the food for our parties so it means lots of cooking the night before. A simple party may consist of hamburgers and hot dogs but we still need to have potato salad, macaroni salas, pasta salad, BBQ chicken or pork, and of course desserts! A normal party consists of macaroni and meatballs, sausage & peppers, chicken & potatoes, plus all the side salads and dessert! 

I Hate Grease

I can easily go through a roll of paper towels when cooking and cleaning. I literally have one on the counter (as we all do) but I also have spares everywhere. 

True Story My Oops Moment: I’m having a major party, about 100 people are coming. My daughters, my mom, and a couple friends are helping me prepare the massive amounts of food. Sausage and peppers in one pan, meatballs in another, as people are sitting at the table slicing up more peppers and rolling more meatballs. Sauce simmering, pasta boiling and on the other counter salads are being made. Total chaos but we have it under control. Friends from Florida come by with their three kids. More chaos added but we’re so happy to see them…. we got this! I already washed the floors and cleaned the house so I’ll just need to clean up from cooking and give everything a go-over. I send the dog out back to go potty. This is a normal thing, right? While the dog is doing her business the cats come in and want to eat, so I feed the cats. I let the dog in and I didn’t realize it was muddy. Yep you guessed it, mud everywhere! Wait! STOP! Then I smell it!!! OH, Dear God Please don’t let that be skunk! I yell to the dog and scare the cats so they run, the dog runs after the cats and me, the kids, and everyone else run after the dog! As we’re trying to get her back outside, my house now stinks of skunk, I have no idea where the cats are and we’re slipping on the muddy wet floor. With everything going on, we weren’t paying attention to the stove and grease went everywhere from the sausage and peppers, the sauce was splattering all over, and the pasta was boiling over. Finally get the dog out the door, take the pans off the stove, and go to grab my roll of paper towels. Make that 2 PIECES of paper towels. I go under the sink to get more…….nothing, I run in the bathroom…..nothing, other bathroom….nothing, downstairs…..nothing! I WAS OUT! This can’t be happening! Napkins or tissues were not going to put a dent in the greasy, skunky, muddy mess! I had to use my actual towels to clean everything up so you could imagine how many towels I went through!!! My husband was put on bath duty for the dog and I sent my mom to the store to buy paper towels so I could clean for real! I now have a thing about stocking up on Bounty paper towels because I will never run out again! 

I Don’t Go Shopping

Since then, I started shopping at Walmart.com for all my “avoid the oops” P&G essentials. You don’t realize how you take these everyday products for granted and Walmart.com makes it easy for me to stay stocked up. I also believe my time is worth something so having it delivered to my door is my cup of tea. Who doesn’t love delivery service! I would rather be outside enjoying the sun. I actually can shop while sitting outside and get the same great prices as if I went to the store! 

 

We’ve all had Oops moments. They’re never funny while they’re happening but we can laugh now, and of course learn to stay stocked up.  

Here are a few other items I always keep on hand for my parties/picnics:

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser– These are an absolute to clean your outside furniture. It keeps it looking like new but the magic erasers make cleaning so easy! Here’s a Tip: The magic erasers are also great to use on kids out door toys and pools! 

Bounty Napkins– I started buying Bounty and I stick with them. How do I know this? I once bought something else and noticed I would need 3 or more napkins for each grand kid for one meal. The Bounty napkins really do keep you covered for an entire meal. They’re also great for my guests at our picnics.

Mr. Clean Multi-Surface Cleaner– My go to cleaner! It not only cleans but it’s imbued with Febreze leaving everything clean and smelling wonderful! I love it for my floor but use it throughout my home. It eliminates odors and dirt on linoleum, as well as tile floors, toilets and bathtubs. Oh and you can use this on your siding, outside doors and more. 

Bounty Paper Towels– You already know how I have a mega stock of these but I use them for everything. Here’s a few Tips:

• Instead of a hand towel in the bathroom, keep a roll of Bounty for guests to use for drying hands. It’s much more sanitary.
• If your microwave cover is dirty, use a paper towel.
• If you run out of coffee filters, a Bounty will do the trick
• Bacon- I’m pretty sure everyone does this but if not, cook your bacon on Bounty in the microwave (2 on bottom/1 on top), it makes clean up easy and absorbs all the grease
• Fried Foods- When you take any fried foods out of the pan, place on Bounty and it will absorb all the excess grease from the food
• Skimming- When making soup or certain sauces, I lay the Bounty on top of the pan and it grabs the grease so i don’t need to skim it with a spoon. This is a huge time saver 

Ok I gave you my Oops moments and my tips. Now it’s my turn to laugh and learn. Tell me your Oops or tip!

Check out more on Walmart.com for all your needs!

• Twitter: @Walmart
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• Website: www.AvoidTheOops.com

 

*This post has been brought to you by SheSpeaks but all opinions are my own