Succulent Revival

Remember when I bought these gorgeous succulents in hopes that I would be able to keep them alive since they are noted to be almost impossible to kill? 

Yeah. My thumb is not green, it's grey. Grey as in my succulents are practically dead. As in I kill everything my thumb touches. Even succulents.

I started noticing a few weeks ago that they started appearing translucent. And then when I touched the "petals" they would easily fall off and crumble. I found out after researching a bit that I have been over watering them. The only way to fix it is to deprive them of water and leave them alone in hopes that the ruined "petals" will fall off but the plant will revive itself and continue to grow new "petals". I also learned from several people that it is important to use cactus soil, which I did, but also to use pebbles at the bottom of the pot to effectively drain the water to make sure the plant does not "drown". 

Here's what I did in attempt to save my succulents:

1.// I got two bags of pebbles from Michael's for $1.25 each. I only ended up using most of one bag, but I'll keep the other bag for other plants. I took out fresh cactus soil. I got it from Lowe's in the gardening section. It's called Cactus and Citrus Soil. 2.// I used a gardening trough to gently empty the potted succulent (into a plastic bag to eliminate the mess). 3.// I gently scraped the pot as clean as I could. 4.// I added a layer of pebbles to the bottom of the pot. 5.// Then, I added the succulents back into the pot and surrounded it with fresh soil. 6.// I added pebbles to the top as well, both for drainage and for looks. I also thought the pebbles might help support some of my scrawny-looking succulents. 

Needless to say, I will definitely NOT be watering these for at least two weeks or so. I am hoping that refreshing the soil and adding the pebbles will help them to recover. The really scrawny ones look like they still have little buds where "petals" could grow, so we will see what happens with them. I hope my succulents can be revived!

Question for you: Do you have succulents? Do you have any tips on how to keep them alive? I'd love your advice!