So today's post isn't to really give you a pampering recipe, but basically to find out what sort of things YOU do to pamper yourself.
I know I LOVE to take a really long bubble bath, and just soak without anyone interupting me. Sometimes I enjoy just reading a book...ALONE, with kids that can be rare! What I want to know is what sorts of things you do to relax, so that I can find things that might interest you.
I enjoy researching ideas, and figuring out how much they cost individually, and finding out which is better for the cost. I know..I'm a bit of a geek...but I like that about me! :)
So tell me what you like in the comments below, and I will try my best for you to find a pamper recipe just for you! :)
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Links for March 2012 Article
For more information on the "no 'poo" method (I agree with my husband...they need a better name for it!), here are a few links to get you started! :)
http://www.naturemoms.com/no-shampoo-alternative.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Wash-Your-Hair-Without-Shampoo
http://www.collegefashion.net/beauty-and-hair/the-no-shampoo-method-hair-care-routine-for-curly-girls/
http://www.collegefashion.net/beauty-and-hair/the-no-shampoo-method-hair-care-routine-for-curly-girls/
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Go-No-Poo/
http://noshampoo.org/
http://no-poo.livejournal.com/
http://www.naturemoms.com/no-shampoo-alternative.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Wash-Your-Hair-Without-Shampoo
http://www.collegefashion.net/beauty-and-hair/the-no-shampoo-method-hair-care-routine-for-curly-girls/
http://www.collegefashion.net/beauty-and-hair/the-no-shampoo-method-hair-care-routine-for-curly-girls/
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Go-No-Poo/
http://noshampoo.org/
http://no-poo.livejournal.com/
March 2012 Article is here!
The “No Shampoo” Method
I happened to run into an article on a group of people who believe that shampoo is bad for your hair, and that going without is better, overall, for your hair. This group of people make up the “No ‘Poo Movement” and they say that all the chemicals that are in shampoo actually make your hair more oily, because they make your sebaceous glands produce more sebum oil. If we weren’t to use the shampoo, they say, the glands would stop overproducing, and our hair wouldn’t be greasy, and would be healthier overall.
Well, since I believe that the sudsing chemical in shampoo causes cancer, and that chemicals overall are not good for you if they are not naturally occurring, I decided to try this out. I started at the beginning of February, and have been doing it for just over three weeks as of the writing of this article.
I know, everyone is probably saying, “Ewwww, that’s gross!” but the way I have been doing it does require items to both clean and condition the hair. As a matter of act, these items are found in most homes already!
For the shampoo you’ll need two tablespoons of baking soda and two cups of water (comfortably warm). Put both into an old, clean shampoo bottle and shake. To use, dampen hair, and use the baking soda solution to wash your hair. Massaging the scalp is very important! It helps to clean the scalp and hair, as well as encouraging circulation and hair growth. Rinse out, massaging your scalp as you do so.
For the Conditioning rinse you’ll want two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and two cups of water. Put both into an old, clean conditioner bottle and shake. To use, after washing hair, use the vinegar solution on your hair, massaging it into your scalp as you did with the baking soda solution. Then rinse out, massaging the scalp as you do so.
You’re probably thinking that I must smell like vinegar or like something pickled, but I don’t! The water and scalp massage rinses it away! I do have to say that I altered the recipe for the conditioning rinse with a few drops of essential oil, because I’m a girl and I like to smell nice. While the vinegar rinses away, the fragrance of essential oils tend to stay, though just a little.
Now to the important part: How my hair reacted to the change.
I would wash my hair every second day, as I did when I used shampoo, but in the first week my hair felt oily by the second day. My glands needed time to get used to the change, and they eventually lessened the amount of oil they released. By the third week my hair was doing well.
However, in saying that, I have read a lot of articles covering the subject, and found that many people had to wait months for their hair to get used to the change. As well, some people recommend brushing your hair in the morning and evening to help distribute the beneficial oils throughout the length of your hair.
The goal of the “No ‘Poo Movement” is to eventually just use water to wash your hair. I myself have not gotten to that point, and I’m not sure if I ever will. I’ll just have to wait and see.
If you wish to read more about this subject, or other topics on frugal living, visit my blog at www.fine-frugality.blogspot.com.
angela@thestew.ca
I happened to run into an article on a group of people who believe that shampoo is bad for your hair, and that going without is better, overall, for your hair. This group of people make up the “No ‘Poo Movement” and they say that all the chemicals that are in shampoo actually make your hair more oily, because they make your sebaceous glands produce more sebum oil. If we weren’t to use the shampoo, they say, the glands would stop overproducing, and our hair wouldn’t be greasy, and would be healthier overall.
Well, since I believe that the sudsing chemical in shampoo causes cancer, and that chemicals overall are not good for you if they are not naturally occurring, I decided to try this out. I started at the beginning of February, and have been doing it for just over three weeks as of the writing of this article.
I know, everyone is probably saying, “Ewwww, that’s gross!” but the way I have been doing it does require items to both clean and condition the hair. As a matter of act, these items are found in most homes already!
For the shampoo you’ll need two tablespoons of baking soda and two cups of water (comfortably warm). Put both into an old, clean shampoo bottle and shake. To use, dampen hair, and use the baking soda solution to wash your hair. Massaging the scalp is very important! It helps to clean the scalp and hair, as well as encouraging circulation and hair growth. Rinse out, massaging your scalp as you do so.
For the Conditioning rinse you’ll want two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and two cups of water. Put both into an old, clean conditioner bottle and shake. To use, after washing hair, use the vinegar solution on your hair, massaging it into your scalp as you did with the baking soda solution. Then rinse out, massaging the scalp as you do so.
You’re probably thinking that I must smell like vinegar or like something pickled, but I don’t! The water and scalp massage rinses it away! I do have to say that I altered the recipe for the conditioning rinse with a few drops of essential oil, because I’m a girl and I like to smell nice. While the vinegar rinses away, the fragrance of essential oils tend to stay, though just a little.
Now to the important part: How my hair reacted to the change.
I would wash my hair every second day, as I did when I used shampoo, but in the first week my hair felt oily by the second day. My glands needed time to get used to the change, and they eventually lessened the amount of oil they released. By the third week my hair was doing well.
However, in saying that, I have read a lot of articles covering the subject, and found that many people had to wait months for their hair to get used to the change. As well, some people recommend brushing your hair in the morning and evening to help distribute the beneficial oils throughout the length of your hair.
The goal of the “No ‘Poo Movement” is to eventually just use water to wash your hair. I myself have not gotten to that point, and I’m not sure if I ever will. I’ll just have to wait and see.
If you wish to read more about this subject, or other topics on frugal living, visit my blog at www.fine-frugality.blogspot.com.
angela@thestew.ca
Saturday, March 10, 2012
DIY Tuesday...a little late.
Sorry, my dear readers, for the tartiness of this post. I should have done it all in advance, unfortunately I hurt my back unexpectedly, so I did not get to post it. From now on I intend to have it ready for you all sooner! My lesson has been learnt!
Since I did not get the chance to make my original plan for DIY, I am going to post one of my articles from "The Stew Magazine" from last april. Apparently alot of people enjoyed it, but I never actually put it up on the site. I did post more pictures to help people understand how it was built, so here it goes:
How To Make A Cat Tree
I know...most people do spring cleaning in spring, but we have an indoor cat that picked us just before Christmas from the SPCA, and she hasn’t had much to do. So we decided that a cat tree was just the thing she needed! We looked around at the ones in the stores, and although beautiful and well made, that they were out of our price range.
With a little ingenuity, after waiting for the right things to show up at the reuse shed, we gathered up the materials to make one fairly cheap. The main materials that are needed to make a cat tree are thick cardboard tubes that carpeting stores may have, carpeting or sisal rope, something that is reasonably thick and wide for a base (plywood is an excellent choice), and screws or industrial staples.
Our monstrosity of a home-made cat tree is six feet tall, has three tiers, and uses an old 80s style black-and-brass headboard as it’s base. The top tier is a thrashed drawer from an unusable desk (a little wood glue made it serviceable), the middle tier is an 18.9 liter water bottle (with the top cut off), and the low tier is a little white laminate wall cabinet (we screwed it shut).
With a huge stroke of luck, we managed upon two rolls of the same carpeting when visiting the reuse shed. United Carpet was kind enough to give me three six-foot lengths of thick six-inch diameter cardboard tubes, although I only used two of them. Lastly, we went to Speedpro Signs, who also gave us two thick four-inch diameter cardboard tubes.
We did have to buy some things for the constrution, such as the L brackets to secure the tubes to the base. We used three L brackets for the bottom, then three brackets for the top, for each tube. Using the brackets also required us to use nuts and bolts, along with washers, to secure them to the tubes and the base.
Now, just so you know, screws and bolts are not the same thing. Screws allow you to screw something into another thing, making it’s own hole. A bolt, however, requires that there be a hole already there. In other words, we had to use a drill to make the holes for the bolts. Also we were afraid to use screws because the sharp end could hurt our cat, with the exception being the brackets for the base, where it was more sensible.
They always say to measure twice and cut once. Unfortunately, we learned the hard way that with carpet, you need to add to the measurement if it is really a thick carpet with built in rubber underlay. Our first cuts were about two inches short, so take into account that your dimensions may be bigger than you measure due to the thickness of the carpet.
We also learned that cutting the boxes was affected, as our first attempt left the edges without carpeting. As well, cutting a slit to where the post (the tube) meets the box, and cutting a hole for the post, was by far a better approach than starting from inside the box. Doing it from the outside in will give it a much more finished look, because all you have to do to finish it after the edges are inside the box is cut a piece of carpet to fit the bottom.
To start building our cat tree we had to come up with a design for the materials that we had. I wanted the tree to be six feet tall, to give our cat a challenge, and to get her away from my kids. I also wanted it to have three tiers, so that as she got older, she had easier choices on how to get to the top. I wanted the largest box (the big drawer) to be on the top, so that she could hide from view if she wanted to. With those things in mind, my husband came up with the design of the taller tubes in back, with the smallest one in front. He also figured that with the height that I wanted, and being unsure about cardboard tubes over 4x4 post, that it might need extra stability, hence the smaller tube between two of the tubes.
Holes had to be drilled into the three tubes on each end, so that the L brackets could be attached to the base and the box piece (be it a drawer, water bottle, or the like). The important thing here is that on the inside of the tubes you use washers on the bolts so that the nut has more surface to hold onto (less wear). Once you have your tubes attached the way that you want, and the boxes attached, then you need to get to work on the carpet.
Remember our struggles with measuring carpet? It’s better to have extra than to have too little. You can always cut the excess off after, but too little leaves a gap. We have a household staple gun that we used, using ½ inch staples. I have to say that with the carpeting as thick as we had, I think we may need to rent an industrial one that can take longer staples. If your carpeting is less than ½ an inch thick, you’ll be good to go.
Our final product, as you can see, also includes some sisal rope. It is not required to make the cat tree, and we had to buy it (two rolls for $16 from Rona), but we thought that it would be better than trying to put carpet on the outside of the water bottle. The rope was glued on at quarter intervals using a hot glue gun. The rope was also glued on the ends to keep it from unravelling. We also used some leftover foam board from a previous project as a balcony for the water bottle, as the cat was having a hard time getting inside it.
The cat tree we made is an oddity, but our whole family put in two weekends to make it for our cat. I am sure that if you choose to make one, it will far surpass ours in looks, but our trial and errors will hopefully help you. I will be posting some web addresses for cat tree designs that are either free or inexpensive, along with many more pictures of the cat tree, on my blog at www.fine-frugality.blogspot.com.
angela@thestew.ca
I also have the link to see the photos of how my husband did it, with the materials I managed to acquire! http://www.fine-frugality.blogspot.com/2011/03/april-article-picture-additions.html Hope you all enjoy, and next week will be posted on time! :)
Since I did not get the chance to make my original plan for DIY, I am going to post one of my articles from "The Stew Magazine" from last april. Apparently alot of people enjoyed it, but I never actually put it up on the site. I did post more pictures to help people understand how it was built, so here it goes:
How To Make A Cat Tree
I know...most people do spring cleaning in spring, but we have an indoor cat that picked us just before Christmas from the SPCA, and she hasn’t had much to do. So we decided that a cat tree was just the thing she needed! We looked around at the ones in the stores, and although beautiful and well made, that they were out of our price range.
With a little ingenuity, after waiting for the right things to show up at the reuse shed, we gathered up the materials to make one fairly cheap. The main materials that are needed to make a cat tree are thick cardboard tubes that carpeting stores may have, carpeting or sisal rope, something that is reasonably thick and wide for a base (plywood is an excellent choice), and screws or industrial staples.
Our monstrosity of a home-made cat tree is six feet tall, has three tiers, and uses an old 80s style black-and-brass headboard as it’s base. The top tier is a thrashed drawer from an unusable desk (a little wood glue made it serviceable), the middle tier is an 18.9 liter water bottle (with the top cut off), and the low tier is a little white laminate wall cabinet (we screwed it shut).
With a huge stroke of luck, we managed upon two rolls of the same carpeting when visiting the reuse shed. United Carpet was kind enough to give me three six-foot lengths of thick six-inch diameter cardboard tubes, although I only used two of them. Lastly, we went to Speedpro Signs, who also gave us two thick four-inch diameter cardboard tubes.
We did have to buy some things for the constrution, such as the L brackets to secure the tubes to the base. We used three L brackets for the bottom, then three brackets for the top, for each tube. Using the brackets also required us to use nuts and bolts, along with washers, to secure them to the tubes and the base.
Now, just so you know, screws and bolts are not the same thing. Screws allow you to screw something into another thing, making it’s own hole. A bolt, however, requires that there be a hole already there. In other words, we had to use a drill to make the holes for the bolts. Also we were afraid to use screws because the sharp end could hurt our cat, with the exception being the brackets for the base, where it was more sensible.
They always say to measure twice and cut once. Unfortunately, we learned the hard way that with carpet, you need to add to the measurement if it is really a thick carpet with built in rubber underlay. Our first cuts were about two inches short, so take into account that your dimensions may be bigger than you measure due to the thickness of the carpet.
We also learned that cutting the boxes was affected, as our first attempt left the edges without carpeting. As well, cutting a slit to where the post (the tube) meets the box, and cutting a hole for the post, was by far a better approach than starting from inside the box. Doing it from the outside in will give it a much more finished look, because all you have to do to finish it after the edges are inside the box is cut a piece of carpet to fit the bottom.
To start building our cat tree we had to come up with a design for the materials that we had. I wanted the tree to be six feet tall, to give our cat a challenge, and to get her away from my kids. I also wanted it to have three tiers, so that as she got older, she had easier choices on how to get to the top. I wanted the largest box (the big drawer) to be on the top, so that she could hide from view if she wanted to. With those things in mind, my husband came up with the design of the taller tubes in back, with the smallest one in front. He also figured that with the height that I wanted, and being unsure about cardboard tubes over 4x4 post, that it might need extra stability, hence the smaller tube between two of the tubes.
Holes had to be drilled into the three tubes on each end, so that the L brackets could be attached to the base and the box piece (be it a drawer, water bottle, or the like). The important thing here is that on the inside of the tubes you use washers on the bolts so that the nut has more surface to hold onto (less wear). Once you have your tubes attached the way that you want, and the boxes attached, then you need to get to work on the carpet.
Remember our struggles with measuring carpet? It’s better to have extra than to have too little. You can always cut the excess off after, but too little leaves a gap. We have a household staple gun that we used, using ½ inch staples. I have to say that with the carpeting as thick as we had, I think we may need to rent an industrial one that can take longer staples. If your carpeting is less than ½ an inch thick, you’ll be good to go.
Our final product, as you can see, also includes some sisal rope. It is not required to make the cat tree, and we had to buy it (two rolls for $16 from Rona), but we thought that it would be better than trying to put carpet on the outside of the water bottle. The rope was glued on at quarter intervals using a hot glue gun. The rope was also glued on the ends to keep it from unravelling. We also used some leftover foam board from a previous project as a balcony for the water bottle, as the cat was having a hard time getting inside it.
The cat tree we made is an oddity, but our whole family put in two weekends to make it for our cat. I am sure that if you choose to make one, it will far surpass ours in looks, but our trial and errors will hopefully help you. I will be posting some web addresses for cat tree designs that are either free or inexpensive, along with many more pictures of the cat tree, on my blog at www.fine-frugality.blogspot.com.
angela@thestew.ca
I also have the link to see the photos of how my husband did it, with the materials I managed to acquire! http://www.fine-frugality.blogspot.com/2011/03/april-article-picture-additions.html Hope you all enjoy, and next week will be posted on time! :)
Friday, March 2, 2012
Friday's $10 Dinner For Four
Well, here it is my first "Friday's $10 Dinner for Four". Sometimes things don't go the way you planned, or maybe most times, but at least there are some cheap decent meals that can be made. So here we go! :)
Falafels
by:www.hillbillyhousewife.com
2 cans Chickpeas, drained (2/$4 on sale)
1/2 teaspoon Salt (already had on hand, but can buy a 1kg box for $1, approx. $0.002)
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (had on hand, but can buy a spice shaker of it for $1, approx. $0.01)
1 teaspoon Parsley (already had on hand, but can buy a spice shaker of it for $1, approx. $0.014)
1/2 teaspoon Garlic (cost me $0.33 onsale for an entire bulb of them, approx. $0.055)
2 Eggs ($2.99 for a dozen, approx. $0.50)
1/4 cup Flour (had on hand, but at most $0.07)
A baking sheet
Oil to coat baking sheet
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Take the drained chickpeas, mash them in a bowl, mix in the rest of the ingredients. Shape the mixture into small meatballs, and place them on the baking sheet, rolling them to coat them in the oil. Cook for about 20 minutes, until they are a nice golden brown.
I know that not everyone may have all these items at home, and that paying $10 for a bag of flour may be expensive at first. In saying that, my monetary breakdown of the meal is based on the cost for the amount used, not how much it costs to buy each item individually. So the Falafels come to a grand total of $4.65! It might be more if you don't have these things in your panrty already, but even then, it is still reasonably affordable.
Hope you enjoyed this, and I hope to add many more for you in the future! :)
Falafels
by:www.hillbillyhousewife.com
2 cans Chickpeas, drained (2/$4 on sale)
1/2 teaspoon Salt (already had on hand, but can buy a 1kg box for $1, approx. $0.002)
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (had on hand, but can buy a spice shaker of it for $1, approx. $0.01)
1 teaspoon Parsley (already had on hand, but can buy a spice shaker of it for $1, approx. $0.014)
1/2 teaspoon Garlic (cost me $0.33 onsale for an entire bulb of them, approx. $0.055)
2 Eggs ($2.99 for a dozen, approx. $0.50)
1/4 cup Flour (had on hand, but at most $0.07)
A baking sheet
Oil to coat baking sheet
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Take the drained chickpeas, mash them in a bowl, mix in the rest of the ingredients. Shape the mixture into small meatballs, and place them on the baking sheet, rolling them to coat them in the oil. Cook for about 20 minutes, until they are a nice golden brown.
I know that not everyone may have all these items at home, and that paying $10 for a bag of flour may be expensive at first. In saying that, my monetary breakdown of the meal is based on the cost for the amount used, not how much it costs to buy each item individually. So the Falafels come to a grand total of $4.65! It might be more if you don't have these things in your panrty already, but even then, it is still reasonably affordable.
Hope you enjoyed this, and I hope to add many more for you in the future! :)
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Pamper Yourself Wednesday!
Well, it’s my very first “Pamper Yourself Wednesday”! So I hope that this will be a good start for everyone. This may not be everyone’s “cup of tea” so to speak, but if you’re not interested, you can always check out my other posts for other things.
Now, to REALLY get started! I figured for the first one I’d go with some basics, so here goes:
Basic Body/Facial Scrub
2 parts either Sugar/ Salt
1 part Oil
From what I can tell, this is the average recipe in my research. You chose either the sugar (easier on the face, and delicate areas like the stomach), or salt (which gives a better grit for scrubbing, but you have to give a delicate touch for scrubbing the face and stomach). I figure it’s up to you which one you use. I personally tried the salt, since salt is cheaper to purchase. I went with ¼ cup oil, and ½ a cup of salt. I also put in 3 drops of ylang-ylang to make it smell nice, but it is not necessary.
This was a very invigorating rub for me, or maybe it was just the fact that it was my morning shower that (thanks to my kids) was getting quite cold when I was doing this. I did wind up making my stomach and sides a little red from rubbing it too hard, so now I know not to do that (I’ll probably forget tomorrow, *sigh*). It definitely exfoliates, which is the point of a body scrub, I think that when I run out of this batch, I’ll be trying the sugar instead.
Avocado Face Mask
This is basically taking 2 avocados, mashing them, and putting the mash on your face for about 15 minutes. It sounds horrible, but it’s really refreshing for your face. At least it was for me, after I stopped fidgeting and scratching at it, but I’m not big on facial masks (the things I do to thoroughly research things for others...and my curiosity, but that’s BESIDES the point...).
Oatmeal Bath
½ cup Oatmeal
clean non-matched sock (I swear the washer eats the other ones!)
A tub of water
music and candles (if you wish)
¼ cup of powdered milk (optional as well)
Fill the sock with the oatmeal, making sure to tie the end into a knot. Then place the sock in the tub, and start running the water. If you wish to add the milk powder, do it while the water is running. Usually at this time I grab my candles and set them up, and I try to remember the towel too (I’m occasionally successful at it too!). If you want music, please remember that this is a bathroom with water, so keep it as FAR from the water as possible (after all, if you’re reading my blog, I want you around to read them some more!) :)
The oatmeal is great for helping moisture the skin, and the milk is great for giving it softness. Oatmeal is also great for helping with getting the itch out if your skin is irritated from being dry. I know I made my kids have oatmeal and baking soda baths when they get sunburned, which is thankfully not often. I also use the sock filled with oatmeal as a scrubber, instead of getting a cloth. I don’t know for certain, but in my mind it adds that extra “oomph” to my skin. Remember to rinse off, or you might get itchy afterwards.
Well, I hope everyone enjoyed my first “Pamper Yourself Wednesday”, and hope to see you back here again. If you have any thoughts and/or concerns, feel free to leave a comment. I look forward to hearing from you! :)
Now, to REALLY get started! I figured for the first one I’d go with some basics, so here goes:
Basic Body/Facial Scrub
2 parts either Sugar/ Salt
1 part Oil
From what I can tell, this is the average recipe in my research. You chose either the sugar (easier on the face, and delicate areas like the stomach), or salt (which gives a better grit for scrubbing, but you have to give a delicate touch for scrubbing the face and stomach). I figure it’s up to you which one you use. I personally tried the salt, since salt is cheaper to purchase. I went with ¼ cup oil, and ½ a cup of salt. I also put in 3 drops of ylang-ylang to make it smell nice, but it is not necessary.
This was a very invigorating rub for me, or maybe it was just the fact that it was my morning shower that (thanks to my kids) was getting quite cold when I was doing this. I did wind up making my stomach and sides a little red from rubbing it too hard, so now I know not to do that (I’ll probably forget tomorrow, *sigh*). It definitely exfoliates, which is the point of a body scrub, I think that when I run out of this batch, I’ll be trying the sugar instead.
Avocado Face Mask
This is basically taking 2 avocados, mashing them, and putting the mash on your face for about 15 minutes. It sounds horrible, but it’s really refreshing for your face. At least it was for me, after I stopped fidgeting and scratching at it, but I’m not big on facial masks (the things I do to thoroughly research things for others...and my curiosity, but that’s BESIDES the point...).
Oatmeal Bath
½ cup Oatmeal
clean non-matched sock (I swear the washer eats the other ones!)
A tub of water
music and candles (if you wish)
¼ cup of powdered milk (optional as well)
Fill the sock with the oatmeal, making sure to tie the end into a knot. Then place the sock in the tub, and start running the water. If you wish to add the milk powder, do it while the water is running. Usually at this time I grab my candles and set them up, and I try to remember the towel too (I’m occasionally successful at it too!). If you want music, please remember that this is a bathroom with water, so keep it as FAR from the water as possible (after all, if you’re reading my blog, I want you around to read them some more!) :)
The oatmeal is great for helping moisture the skin, and the milk is great for giving it softness. Oatmeal is also great for helping with getting the itch out if your skin is irritated from being dry. I know I made my kids have oatmeal and baking soda baths when they get sunburned, which is thankfully not often. I also use the sock filled with oatmeal as a scrubber, instead of getting a cloth. I don’t know for certain, but in my mind it adds that extra “oomph” to my skin. Remember to rinse off, or you might get itchy afterwards.
Well, I hope everyone enjoyed my first “Pamper Yourself Wednesday”, and hope to see you back here again. If you have any thoughts and/or concerns, feel free to leave a comment. I look forward to hearing from you! :)
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
DIY Tuesday!
So I have decided to make a schedual for my blog, and decided from now on that on Tuesdays I will be blogging DIY posts. This will be the first one, and I hope it will be up to snuff! :)
Making a netbook case:
I know, a netbook is not exactly frugal, but it was a christmas present (a cool one at that). Unfortunately mine did not come with a cover or case, and the ones that were available were not what I wanted or needed. So I looked around on the web, and found an idea that was almost perfect for me! http://www.instructables.com/id/Laptop-sleeve-from-a-zippered-three-ring-binder/, he shows how to make a case for a laptop out of a binder. The absolute BEST thing about making something yourself is that you can make changes to suit you.
For me, I started with the basic items I would need to make it for myself: A zippered binder ($1 from the Salvation Army Thrift store), a rubber bath mat ($2 at the dollar store), and scissors(already on hand). Here are the pictures of them:
Making a netbook case:
I know, a netbook is not exactly frugal, but it was a christmas present (a cool one at that). Unfortunately mine did not come with a cover or case, and the ones that were available were not what I wanted or needed. So I looked around on the web, and found an idea that was almost perfect for me! http://www.instructables.com/id/Laptop-sleeve-from-a-zippered-three-ring-binder/, he shows how to make a case for a laptop out of a binder. The absolute BEST thing about making something yourself is that you can make changes to suit you.
For me, I started with the basic items I would need to make it for myself: A zippered binder ($1 from the Salvation Army Thrift store), a rubber bath mat ($2 at the dollar store), and scissors(already on hand). Here are the pictures of them:
This is of the closed zippered binder.
This is of the binder open.
This is of the bathmat that I chose.
First thing's first, I had to get the rings out of the binder. I was VERY lucky with the binder I bought, as the rings were not riveted to the "shell" of the binder. All I had to do was use my scissors and cut out the piece of cloth that held it in!
Snip, snip!
Datdahdahda!
Next I took the bathmat, and folded it in half, cut it to fit in the case, and rounded the corners to make it look nicer(I'm a girl, what did you expect?!)! :)
Cut to fit.
Rounded corners.
Here it is inside(I sewed the mat together with my sewing machine, but it is not a necessary step).
I use the bathmat to further protect my netbook from being smashed, but it has an added benifit!
It's a wrist mat, AND....
Gives my netbook extra air movement underneath it for better cooling! How's that for multi-tasking! :)
I know this may not be for everyone, but I really enjoy my new netbook case. If you like parts of it, and want to change things, or "tweak" it, I'd love to hear about it! I hope that people enjoy this post, and I hope to continue regularly with making Tuesdays my DIY post day!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Links For February's Article
Most of these links show the same, or similar recipes to the one that is in my Article for The Stew Magazine, although a few of them do have powder recipes for those who find that liquid is too messy, or dislike it. Have fun! :)
http://grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com/2008/10/homemade-laundry-soap-wfmw.html
http://duggarfamily.com/content/article/30455/Homemade%20Liquid%20Laundry%20Soap-%20Front%20or%20top%20load%20machine-%20best%20value
http://www.etsy.com/listing/25042203/pif-cloth-diaper-laundry-detergent
http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm
http://www.thefrugalshopper.com/articles/detergent.shtml
http://www.gingerhollow.com/herbal-recipes/homemade-laundry-soap-recipe
http://www.scribd.com/doc/10267990/Homemade-Laundry-Soap-Detergent-Recipes
http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Laundry-Detergent/
http://grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com/2008/10/homemade-laundry-soap-wfmw.html
http://duggarfamily.com/content/article/30455/Homemade%20Liquid%20Laundry%20Soap-%20Front%20or%20top%20load%20machine-%20best%20value
http://www.etsy.com/listing/25042203/pif-cloth-diaper-laundry-detergent
http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm
http://www.thefrugalshopper.com/articles/detergent.shtml
http://www.gingerhollow.com/herbal-recipes/homemade-laundry-soap-recipe
http://www.scribd.com/doc/10267990/Homemade-Laundry-Soap-Detergent-Recipes
http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Laundry-Detergent/
How to Educate Yourself on the Cheap
This is my magazine article for "The Stew" magazine, found at www.thestew.ca
Is there such a thing as a free education?
I’ve done some
digging on this very
subject and the answer
is surprising, and it
depends on exactly what
you want from your
education, whether you
are taking the course
to learn something just
for you, or if you want
the course to prove you
learned something.
If you want to learn
something just for your
own knowledge, then
the answer is most
definitely,
“Yes.” And there
are many places online
that you can go to learn
practically anything for
free. However, if you want
to take the course to
gain credits, degrees,
or certificates, then the
answer is, “No.” The
only way to actually
gain credits is to pay for
those courses, although
I did find out that there
is an online school
called ‘University of the
People’ that charges you
a $50 application fee and
only charges you $100
per exam.
There is a small problem
with this, however
— it is not an accredited
University in the State
of California, where it
is headquartered. In
other words, you can
do all the work with
this University and get
Associate (A.S.-B.A.)
and Bachelor (B.S.-B.A.)
degrees in Business
Administration and
Associate (A.S.-C.S.)
and Bachelor (B.S.-C.S.)
degrees in Computer
Science, but no other
school will allow you to
transfer any credits from
there. To top it off, here
in Canada you may have
trouble getting anyone
to acknowledge those
degrees.
If you want to keep
education costs down,
you can go to a college
or university to challenge
their courses, if
you feel comfortable in
your knowledge of the
material, but that again
will cost you money to
challenge each exam.
And depending on
which school you challenge
at, you may be
covering information
that is not applicable to
our province, let alone
Canada. And always
make sure you check the
laws and regulations in
your area that are applicable
to the material you
wish to challenge.
If you are interested
in a certain program at
college or university but
are unsure how well you
may do, then I highly
recommend finding a
free online school that
covers that interest. This
way you can discover if
you can do the courses
without spending any
money, plus there won’t
be a grade put on your
record if you don’t succeed.
I spend a great deal of
time reading books on a
variety of subjects, simply
because they interest
me. However, I have no
intention of going to
college or actually doing
these things for a living.
I am fairly sure that I’m
not a great acupuncturist,
masonist, house
builder, or gardener (I
have a black thumb), but
I still try to read or learn
about them anyways.
I highly recommend
learning new things.
Scientists say that it is
the best way to keep
your brain sharp, aside
from a healthy lifestyle.
With all the information
that you can find online,
in the library
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Make Your Own Laundry Soap!
Well, I have recently become aware of something that I thought was great! There are recipes online everywhere for laundry soap, and that is a huge financial cost, especially for families. So I searched around for a recipe that would make a large amount for the lowest cost, and found one at The Grocery Cart Challenge blog (http://grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com).
This was not the only site that had this recipe, and I do not know who originally made this recipe — if I did I would definitely make sure to give them recognition.
This blogger also does a grocery cart challenge, where she only spends $60 a week on groceries for a family of six. No I am not getting paid to advertise, I just want to make sure you check her out, her ideas are awesome!
Anyways, back to the laundry soap recipe. Here it is:
⅓ bar of Fels Naptha Soap (I used sunlight bars instead, at a cost of $1/bar)
½ cup of Borax (cost approximately $6 for a big box)
½ cup washing soda (cost approximately $6 for the box)
32 cups warm water (free from the tap)
5 gallon bucket (I used a REALLY big stock pot that I have had for years...so that was free)
Grate ⅓ bar of soap (try not to grate your knuckles or fingers, as I did), and put into a large pot. Add six cups of warm water and heat until the soap is completely melted (this took me about a half hour, but my soap was grated really fine). Add washing soda and Borax, stirring until dissolved. Pour four cups of hot tap water into the bucket. Add the soap mixture and stir together. Add another 22 cups of water and stir to combine. Let the soap cool and set for 12-24 hours. It will have the consistency of hand soap. You would use ½ cup for a top loading washer, and ¼ cup for a front loading washer.
Let’s see how this breaks down financially. All the materials that I paid for came to $13, but I still have enough left to make several more batches. The amount of laundry soap made by one batch of this recipe is just over 4.43 liters.
How well does it measure up to name brands? Well, I did a weird test to find out: I used a name brand laundry detergent with a colour safe bleach on a white cloth shower curtain (left unwashed for two months) and it took three washes for it to get completely white. The laundry soap I made took four washes, but that was without the colour safe bleach, Oxy, or vinegar. Had I used any of these, I am fairly confident that it would have taken one less load.
All in all, my laundry soap materials cost as much as one 4.43 litre bottle of name brand detergent, but it will make three times the amount of detergent. And if you spent one more dollar for another bar of sunlight, you could make six times the amount of detergent. And it took just a little over an hour (and few accidentally grated knuckles) to make!
I’m fairly certain that you could do it too, and probably without the band-aids!
angela@thestew.ca
This was not the only site that had this recipe, and I do not know who originally made this recipe — if I did I would definitely make sure to give them recognition.
This blogger also does a grocery cart challenge, where she only spends $60 a week on groceries for a family of six. No I am not getting paid to advertise, I just want to make sure you check her out, her ideas are awesome!
Anyways, back to the laundry soap recipe. Here it is:
⅓ bar of Fels Naptha Soap (I used sunlight bars instead, at a cost of $1/bar)
½ cup of Borax (cost approximately $6 for a big box)
½ cup washing soda (cost approximately $6 for the box)
32 cups warm water (free from the tap)
5 gallon bucket (I used a REALLY big stock pot that I have had for years...so that was free)
Grate ⅓ bar of soap (try not to grate your knuckles or fingers, as I did), and put into a large pot. Add six cups of warm water and heat until the soap is completely melted (this took me about a half hour, but my soap was grated really fine). Add washing soda and Borax, stirring until dissolved. Pour four cups of hot tap water into the bucket. Add the soap mixture and stir together. Add another 22 cups of water and stir to combine. Let the soap cool and set for 12-24 hours. It will have the consistency of hand soap. You would use ½ cup for a top loading washer, and ¼ cup for a front loading washer.
Let’s see how this breaks down financially. All the materials that I paid for came to $13, but I still have enough left to make several more batches. The amount of laundry soap made by one batch of this recipe is just over 4.43 liters.
How well does it measure up to name brands? Well, I did a weird test to find out: I used a name brand laundry detergent with a colour safe bleach on a white cloth shower curtain (left unwashed for two months) and it took three washes for it to get completely white. The laundry soap I made took four washes, but that was without the colour safe bleach, Oxy, or vinegar. Had I used any of these, I am fairly confident that it would have taken one less load.
All in all, my laundry soap materials cost as much as one 4.43 litre bottle of name brand detergent, but it will make three times the amount of detergent. And if you spent one more dollar for another bar of sunlight, you could make six times the amount of detergent. And it took just a little over an hour (and few accidentally grated knuckles) to make!
I’m fairly certain that you could do it too, and probably without the band-aids!
angela@thestew.ca
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