Cheaper Skin Hydration treatment for dry winter skin....

I can tell winter is HERE…even if the temperatures don’t always reflect that at the moment.  The DRY winter air is back with a vengeance.  My skin has turned SUPER DRY.  My daily lotion “treatments” after a shower are not enough.

Over the years, I have tried a myriad of lotions…starting with the cheap ones (that don’t work), moving through some more pricey ones.  Ultimately, none of them have provided relief from the dry winter air.

Last year, I stumbled across a homemade body scrub.  This EASY body scrub provides the same results of Mary Kay’s “Satin Hands” products….yet for pennies on the dollar.  It exfoliates your skin and leaves it feeling smooth and hydrated.  Anytime my sad-winter-skin needs a hydration pick-me-up, I just add this body scrub to my shower routine!!

Sweet & Spicy Sugar Scrub (from www.ourbestbites.com)

This picture of the sugar scrub is from www.ourbestbites.com

¼ c. brown sugar

¼ c. white sugar

½ tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. ground ginger

½ tsp. ground cloves

Light olive oil

Directions:

·         Combine everything BUT the oil.

·         Add the oil slowly.  Stir until it is the consistency you want.

·         Store in a container with a lid.  (Keep in fridge while not in use.)

For Use:

1.       Wash body like usual—so you have clean skin when you use the body scrub.

2.       Stir the scrub and take out almost a quarter size amount.  Massage into skin using circular motions for several minutes.

a.       After rinsing, if your skin feels too oily, you can use a bit of soap to wash it off.  I personally leave it.  When I finish with my shower, it doesn’t feel oily anymore.

3.       The scrub will trap the moisture and make your skin so soft and smooth.  After you get out of the shower, slather on some lotion for the finishing touch.  No more dry itchy skin!!! J

Happy Stretching Pennies…

A Hotel feeling in your bathroom...for less!

For years I had purchased those cheap vinyl shower liners for the inside of my showers.  I really despise how they can start to get that "orange-ish" look they get on the bottom that SHOUTS "I need to be replaced!"

During the summer months, to stretch pennies,  I used to lay them on the grass, spray them off with the hose and scrub them with a little bit of Dawn dish soap.

Last year, when visiting my friend Becca, I learned a *new* trick.  We have traveled to stay with their family for a few days.  I noticed in her shower she had a CLOTH shower curtain....and it felt more like a hotel.  When I returned how, I decided when it was time to replace my vinyl shower liner I would do it with a cloth one.

It has now been an entire year since I've purchased a shower curtain. It still looks just like NEW!

Secrets to a beautiful CLOTH shower curtain that will last YEARS!

1. Buy a WHITE one
2. Wash it once a month...(I wash it at the beginning of each month.)
3. About every 3 months SOAK the bottom half in a Clorox/water mix for a couple of hours before washing it!

Happy Stretching Pennies.....

P.S.  If are not happy with your curtain's water resistance, try using some waterproof spray found in the camping section at Wal-mart or a specialty store.  It is ridiculously easy to use.  It is a spray can (use it the same way as spray paint) and your shower curtain can be waterproofed in minutes!

A new product in my bathroom....

I was in Sally’s Beauty supply store the other day, picking up an “apron” for cutting my boy’s hair. (We have always made them stand in the bathroom for easy clean up…and they have always HATED the little tiny hair pieces on them. The removable handheld shower head has always been a saving grace for them when the haircut is done. It has been more difficult as of late because my oldest wants it longer on the top. We decided it was time to have them sit on the chair with an apron. ) ANYWAY… I decided to browse to see what mass beauty supplies they have. They have always resembled a foreign language to me….PLUS, I am always looking to see what is on sale.

What a new idea!!! A NEW PRODUCT…

I found a GALLON of shampoo on sale for $3.49 (regularly priced at $9.99)!! But it got even better when I read the small print: “concentrate”.

In other words, I thought I could maybe dilute it OR just use a peas sized bit to wash my hair. That gallon of shampoo could stretch so far!! I bought 2 and decided to give it a shot.

I tried diluting it and putting it into an old soap dispenser bottle for convenience. Quite frankly, it didn’t work. It was too watery. The reused hand soap bottle was working great! So, I am using that pea sized bit of concentrate to wash my hair, which IS working. It is a far cry better from the Suave I had been using AND cheaper. (I know. I know. Suave isn’t good for your hair—but it was what we could afford.) And now I just found a cheaper and better for my hair way to wash it!

Now when my children use 4 times the needed amount to wash their hair I won’t start twitching about the hard earned money going down the drain!!

Making sure that lotion bottle is REALLY empty…

You know you are getting to the end of your lotion bottle when you have to squirt it several times just to get a sufficient amount of lotion! It continues to get worse and worse. You tilt it, shake it and bop it just to get enough to use.

When our lotion bottles get to this point, I make sure we SQUEEZE every drop out of it.
1. I cut it open with kitchen shears.

2. I use a rubber scraper to remove and the lotion

3. I transfer it into the next bottle to “top it off”.

This easily adds another 2 weeks (or more) of lotion. Thus, extending the bottle and stretching our pennies further. The best part is: when it’s time to “clean up” I give my hands a thorough moisturizing rub before stick the rubber scraper in the dishwasher!

Happy Stretching Pennies!

Saving Money in the bathroom WITHOUT depriving you of luxuries!!

Most people seem overwhelmed with WHERE to start in saving money. They don’t want to overhaul their life and make it feel like the dreaded word “DIET” (financially speaking!!) So I have decided to post about the small things I do to save money. They may be small…but they add up to something BIG!

My pet peeve is a dirty bathroom. I like my bathroom to be a calm and enjoyable place. I like enjoyable hand soaps for when I wash up as much as the rest of society, BUT don’t want to spend ton on them! I have 2 solutions that can work for anyone.

In MY bathroom, I enjoy the soaps from Bath and Body Works. HOWEVER…I have a little trick up my sleeve that makes it LESS, LESS, LESS expensive. First, I go shopping for those hand soaps in January when they are clearancing their Christmas soaps. I don’t think “Vanilla Pear” only has to be used in December!! Even if the bottle is the wrong “festivity” that can be easily remedied by switching bottles!

My BEST “recipe” is:
1. Empty ½ the bottle into another empty bottle
2. Fill the remaining space with water
3. Shake!

(This is a picture of 2 bottles with 1/2 water 1/2 soap)

Believe me there is still enough soap to wash your hand thoroughly! It will last double the time!

In my CHILDREN’S Bathroom (or the main one—as we only have 2), I have an even more money saving idea going on!! I still like the sweet smelling soaps, but have watched my children easily use more than 3 times what they need in one washing! That seriously bothers me. And so my solution. We have a foaming soap dispenser in this bathroom. Why? Because it fills their little hands and they don’t use 3 squirts per wash! Then when it is time to refill I use another sneaky way to save money. I use bubble bath! All soap is there to kill germs and it doesn’t have to have “anti bacterial” on it in order to get rid of dirt and germs. Soap is soap!! And guess what? Bubble bath is soap gelled!

Foaming Bath Soap “recipe”:
1. I fill the dispenser about ¼ of the way
2. Then add water to the rest

(This is a picture of what the bottle looks like BEFORE I shook it)
3. Shake!

(Pictures of is shaken and being used!)

There are still plenty of fun aroma’s to choose from at more than ½ the cost!!

Happy Penny Pinching without feeling the “depriving”!