Thrifty Wife Happy Life

Transitional Fall Outfit

September 8, 2017 by Katie Haller

I’m so excited for fall. I know that I talk about it a lot, but fall is my favorite season for fashion. I just love all the neutral colors and layering pieces. It’s hard to really embrace the fall fashion when it’s still 100 degrees outside. The weather plays a big part in what you wear. That’s why this fall, I really want to focus on sharing a lot of transitional fall looks. I mean, in Las Vegas, we transition into fall until it’s Christmas time. Then once it’s winter, we finally get to wear all our fall clothes comfortably.

For today’s transitional fall look, I pulled this tan lightweight sweater from my closet and paired it with my favorite pair of shorts from this summer. I love the color of this sweater and it’s the perfect kind of sweater to wear when it’s still warm outside. I love how it looks with this salmon-colored statement necklace. I wore this combo a lot when I first moved to Las Vegas over 2 years ago (older post here) and I’m hoping to bring it back this fall.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means by clicking on and/or making a purchase through a link, I will receive a small commission with no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life || Transitional fall look

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life || Transitional fall look with neutral colors and a salmon statement necklace

Shop my closet

Top- Kohl’s (similar) || Shorts- Abercrombie, thrifted from Savers (similar) || Shoes- Roxy, DSW (similar) || Necklace- Charming Charlie (similar, similar) || Purse- Coach Outlet (similar) || Belt- Old Navy (similar) || Sunglasses- Glassesshop.com (exact)

Smile Brilliant- Affordable Teeth Whitening

September 5, 2017 by Katie Haller

*This post is sponsored by Smile Brilliant. All opinions are 100% my own.

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- Professional teeth whitening at home

My smile has always been very important to me. There is nothing like a healthy smile to give you the confidence that you need. I always feel like your smile is your best accessory.

My smile hasn’t always been so great. I wore braces for 6 years of my life. From 4th grade to 10th grade I had those ugly little metal things hiding my smile. When I finally got my braces off and saw my new smile, I promised myself that I would always take good care of my teeth. For 16 years I wore my retainer to bed almost every night. I brush my teeth often, floss and I keep up on those teeth cleanings every six months. I’m proud to say that I’ve only had one cavity my whole life. But even with my good dental care, my teeth are still not as white as I’d like them to be. I drink coffee daily and I enjoy wine, beer, and the occasional pop. I use whitening toothpaste and mouthwash, but I still wish I could have whiter teeth. I’ve looked into getting my teeth whiten at the dentist, but insurance doesn’t cover it and it can get pretty pricy. That’s why I was so excited when Smile Brilliant contacted me to see if I wanted to collaborate with them and try out their teeth whitening system.

Smile Brilliant is a professional at-home teeth whitening system that simply removes the stains from your teeth and brings out the natural color. At first, I was a little intimidated by the system, because it all seemed very involved and I didn’t want to mess anything up. After doing a little research, I quickly realized that it wasn’t so hard.

Smile Brilliant sent the kit to my house with everything I needed. The teeth whitening kit came with the whitening gel applicators, desensitizing gel applicators, impression trays, catalyst paste and base paste to make the impressions. It also came with an envelope with shipping to send the impressions back to the lab.

The first thing I did was make my impressions. I can remember having to make impressions so many times when I was at the orthodontist as a kid, so I felt like this processes was pretty easy for me. I followed the directions that came with the kit very closely so I didn’t mess anything up. When I was done, I filled out the card that came with the kit. I placed the impressions and the card in the envelope and dropped it in the mail box. I was surprised how quickly they were able to send back my custom-fitted trays to me.

Once I received my custom-fitted trays, I was ready to go. The instructions are very easy to follow, you just need to set aside time to do the treatments. I found it easy to do my whitening in the evening, which is what is recommended. I wore the whitening trays for an hour or so before bed, while I cleaned up around the house and got some blogging done. After you are done with the teeth whitening gel, you brush your teeth, wash and dry the trays, then you use the desensitizing gel for 20 minutes. Some people experience some gum irritation or teeth sensitivity, but I didn’t have many problems with that. I think that the desensitizing gel really helped any of the teeth sensitivity that I may have experienced.

Everyone’s results are different. For me, my teeth have a natural white color to them, so the whitening helped with removing the stains from around my gums and on my side teeth.

I’m really glad that I had the chance to brighten up my smile. Now here’s the fun part! Smile Brilliant is going to give one of my readers their own whitening kit so that you too can try out their teeth whitening system for yourself. To enter the GIVEAWAY all you have to do is CLICK HERE and leave your name and email address. Winner will be notified by email 2 weeks from today. The lucky winner will walk away with a $139 credit! That’s not all! If you don’t win you can still order your own teeth whitening kit and use the coupon code thriftywifehappylife to receive 10% off your order.

Home Teeth Whitening

My Fall 2017 Wish List

September 1, 2017 by Katie Haller

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- Fall 2017 Wish List. Affordable fall essentials

It’s that time of the year again. The days are starting to get shorter and the weather is starting to get cooler. Season changes make me want to do some shopping. Before I go shopping, I always like to put together a list of items that I really would like to buy. It always helps me stay on budget and stay away from impulse buys. Every time I make myself a list like this and post it, I normally do a good job sticking to it.

Fall fashion is my favorite! Fall in Las Vegas starts much later than other’s, but once it cools down, the weather stays like fall weather all winter long, so my fall wardrobe is also my winter wardrobe. This year I’m all about neutrals and layering. The clothes I have my eye out for are very simple, but very versatile and easy to wear. I always love a touch of leopard print in the fall and winter, so I have my eye on a couple leopard print accessories. I’m also loving gold jewelry lately. I’ve always worn silver, but I have my eye on some pretty gold and rose gold jewelry pieces. As always, I can never have enough purses and shoes, so those are definitely on my list as well.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means by clicking on and/or making a purchase through a link, I will receive a small commission with no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- Neutral fall clothes

One || Two || Three || Four

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- Must have shoes for fall

One || Two || Three

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- Fall jewelry essentials

One || Two || Three

Now that I have my list together, the next step is the fun part… shopping for them! Look for my outfit posts to see what I end up buying and the great deals I find this fall!

Red Striped Dress

August 28, 2017 by Katie Haller

Hey everyone! Happy Monday! I’m going to start off my week with an outfit post. I think that by now most kids have started back to school and if they haven’t then they will be starting next week. That means teachers are back to work. Now I’m a teacher, but I do work summers because our program is year-round. It has its pros and cons, but now that the new school year is back in session, I’m trying to put together some new fun teacher looks to wear in the classroom. I teach PreK, so I usually have to modify my looks so that I can wear them around my little ones, but for my other fellow teachers who can get away with wearing a little cuter outfits, these looks are for you.

For today’s look, I’m sharing this red and white striped dress that I bought at Walmart for under $8 while buying school supplies for my classroom. I think it’s a perfect dress for a teacher. It has a high neckline and it falls at a perfect spot on your knee, plus with that price tag, it’s okay if you get a little dirty. I’ve been wearing this dress to work with my tan slip-on Roxy shoes (similar) to make it a little more casual for my classroom.

*This posts contains affiliate links, which means by clicking on and/or making a purchasing through a link I will receive a small commission with no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- Red stripe dress with denim jacket

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- teacher outfit

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- congac tote for fall

Shop my closet

Dress- Walmart (similar, similar, similar) || Denim Jacket- Meijer (similar) || Shoes- Kohl’s (similar) || Purse- Neiman Marcus Last Call (similar) || Sunglasses- GlassesShop (exact) || Necklace- Kohl’s (similar, similar)

Casual Sporty Look

August 25, 2017 by Katie Haller

Hey everyone! Today, my family and I are headed to a baseball game. Each year, my husband’s company gives their employees free tickets to a Las Vegas 51’s game, and since it’s one of the few events that are family-friendly, we always look forward to it.

Now I’m no expert on sports, but I am married to a huge sports fan, so many of our outings together in our marriage and dating years have revolved around sports. I always say that I like the social part of sporting events. I like hanging out with friends, drinking beer and eating food. I also like to put together cute sporty outfits. Whether it’s tailgating or a baseball game, I always like to dress down, but also look cute.

For today’s outfit post, I decided I’d share the outfit that I put together for the game tonight. I’m wearing my thrifted Abercrombie shorts with my thrifted Gap navy stripe t-shirt. Since not many people are from Las Vegas, everyone seems to sport their hometown team at the 51’s game, that’s why I’m wearing my Tigers hat. For my shoes, I went with my Convers, because I think that they complete the sporty look perfectly.

*This post contains affiliate links. By clicking and/or making a purchase through a link, I will make a small commission with no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- Casual sporty look

Shop my closet

Top- Gap (similar, similar) || Shorts- Abercrombie (similar) || Shoes- Convers (exact) || Purse- Coach Outlet (similar, similar) || Hat- Lids (similar) || Necklace- Nordstrom Rack (similar) || Sunglasses- Smith’s (similar)

I hope you enjoyed the look!

The Perfect Mom One-Piece Bathing Suit

August 21, 2017 by Katie Haller

*This post contains affiliate links which means by clicking on and/or making a purchase through a link, I will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support.

I know that summer vacation is coming to an end for most people and fall fashion is on the brain, but here in Las Vegas we still have a few more months of summer weather left. That’s why I felt like now would be a good time to talk about bathing suits. Unlike most people who typically buy bathing suits early in the season, I like to wait until August to do my bathing suit shopping. You can usually find some really great prices on bathing suits in late summer.

This summer, I spent a lot of time looking for the right bathing suit, for the right price. I wanted to find something different this summer that was a little more conservative than my other suits. I only own 2 piece bikini’s, but now that I’m a mom, I wanted to find something that was a little more practical. I browsed all my favorite stores this summer, looking for a one-piece that I could easily wear while swimming with Jack, but also wouldn’t make me look like an old lady, but I could not find anything.

After no luck in the stores, I decided I had to look online. I don’t shop online very often, but sometimes it can be very convenient for a working mom. After searching for lots of online stores, I ended up going with Amazon. I always underestimate shopping on Amazon for clothes. We buy a lot of things from Amazon, but I always forget that you can buy almost anything there, including bathing suits. I found that Amazon had the best selection and the best prices.

I ended up buying2 bathing suits for under $30 for both. Today, I’m focusing on this black scalloped halter one-piece bathing suit. (I’ll save the other bathing suit for a later post.) This suit was everything I was looking for in a one-piece. It’s conservative, yet youthful. I love the scallop look and I went with black because it’s always a safe color choice. I like how this bathing suit has a high neckline because that was a problem I was running into with my other bathing suits. Jack was always pulling at my top.

So far I’m happy with my purchase. It had been so long since I last wore a one-piece, that I forgot how much I liked them. Now I feel like I’m all ready to enjoy the rest of our pool season!

If you’re looking for a new mom-friendly bathing suit, but you don’t want to spend a lot of money, I’ve rounded up 12 great bathing suits for you. All of them are under $30! I wish that I could buy them all!

One || Two || Three || Four
Five || Six || Seven || Eight
Nine || Ten || Eleven || Twelve

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