Money saving tips and tricks

[Holly0524]

I'm so going to do this one!

[Anna Michele]

Sugar Wax – An Ancient Arabic Beauty Secret

ngredients: Sugar, white or brown (1 cup)
Water (2 Tbsp)
Lemon juice (1.5 Tbsp)
Salt, optional (1 tsp)
Combine these above natural ingredients in a saucepan and simmer on low heat. Allow the mixture to thicken and turn golden-brown. (Just like freshly baked cookies you know it’s good when it’s golden-brown.)
Stir the mixture with a spoon, making sure the sugar crystals dissolve. Within roughly eight minutes, it will thicken considerably and take on a syrupy consistency. Be careful not to let it burn.
Watch as the mixture turns a darker brown, turn off the heat, and let the forming wax cool for a couple of minutes.
And voilà (as this is also called Parisian waxing), there you have your wax. Apply where desired and pull in the opposite direction of hair growth. The wax is totally reusable so stick the leftover portion in plastic and put it in the fridge. 10 seconds in the microwave will be enough when you want to use it later.

[Anna Michele]

http://www.glamgirl.co.in/2012/11/diy-eyecream-tutorial.html?m=1
You need:

1. Aloe vera gel,
2. Vitamin E capsules, and
3. Almond oil

Step 1: Aloe vera is used for almost all the skin problems like sunburn, tanning, uneven skin tone. Here I am using Fabindia aloe vera gel. Take full 2 tsp of aloevera gel in a jar.

Steo 2: Now squeeze 3 vitamin E capsules in it.

Step 3: Almond oil is also rich in nutrition for skin. Add 1 tsp of almond oil in it. If you feel its not greasy enough then you can increase or decrease the quantity according to your choice.

Step 4: Mix it with fork.

After mixing all the ingredients well you will see that the cream's color has changed, it's no more transparent. Now your eye cream is ready and your dark circles won't last long.

I have swatched the eye cream on my hand .

Usage:

Apply it every night before going to bed. It will sooth and give cooling effect to your eyes, after all days tiring work it will make you feel relaxed and last but not the least, reduce dark circles.

[Anna Michele]

DIY TEMPORARY TATTOOS

Use a gel pen in a dark color to draw the design. The free-flowing ink in gel pens will transfer readily from the paper to your skin once the design is in place. Simply draw your design on paper such as tracing paper or parchment paper using a pencil, then color in thoroughly using the gel pen. Use as much ink on one line as you can, but there is no need to make a river of ink!
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-Your-Own-Temporary-Tattoo

[torontogal12]

Have you done this yourself Anna? I either use the microwaveable version or get it done at a salon (which is $$). I think shared wax pots are disgusting and sugar is so much more hygienic

Sugar Wax – An Ancient Arabic Beauty Secret

ngredients: Sugar, white or brown (1 cup)
Water (2 Tbsp)
Lemon juice (1.5 Tbsp)
Salt, optional (1 tsp)
Combine these above natural ingredients in a saucepan and simmer on low heat. Allow the mixture to thicken and turn golden-brown. (Just like freshly baked cookies you know it’s good when it’s golden-brown.)
Stir the mixture with a spoon, making sure the sugar crystals dissolve. Within roughly eight minutes, it will thicken considerably and take on a syrupy consistency. Be careful not to let it burn.
Watch as the mixture turns a darker brown, turn off the heat, and let the forming wax cool for a couple of minutes.
And voilà (as this is also called Parisian waxing), there you have your wax. Apply where desired and pull in the opposite direction of hair growth. The wax is totally reusable so stick the leftover portion in plastic and put it in the fridge. 10 seconds in the microwave will be enough when you want to use it later.

[Anna Michele]

no but i'm gonna

[Anna Michele]

[Anna Michele]

http://www.domesticimperfection.com/...rs-a-tutorial/
You will need… (these are links)

• A roll of brown paper. I bought this “builders paper” from Home Depot (cause I didn’t plan ahead), but most people recommend this Kraft paper from Amazon
  
• A gallon of Elmers glue
  
• Oil based stain (I used one quart for a 10 X 12 room). I used this one by Minwax, in “provincial”
  
• Water based floor polyurethane, I used this one by Rust Oleum
  
• Something to apply the stain and polyurethane, I used a 9′ Shur-Line “deck pad” and “mopped” it on

If you are doing this on a wood floor then that is all you need, if you are doing this on concrete than you may also need…

• a small amount of concrete to patch holes from carpet tacks
  
• a pole sander and sandpaper

[Anna Michele]

REUSABLE PAPER TOWEL
Posted by: Kris

Supplies (for one towel):

Basic sewing supplies
Cotton print, 11.5 x 11.5
Terry cloth, 11.5 x 11.5
Plastic snaps and the assembly/installation tools update: I got my snaps here.
Coordinating thread

http://thatshortgirlsblog.blogspot.c...-tutorial.html

[Anna Michele]

This maybe my favorite little home-keeping pearl of wisdom ever. I love my swiffer. It's so easy to use and lightweight and it picks up every little bit of everything from every nook and cranny of my floors. With 2 cats running around here now, I can easily use it 4 or 5 times a day.

The only problem with that is that those little disposable cloths that you buy for it can really add up quickly. But not any more! Here's how I make my own cloths to reuse. They really work just as well!

All you need is some kind of basic fleece fabric. I just used an old scarf in happy colors that I thought would look cute on my swiffer, but if you went to the fabric store and picked up half a yard of whatever fleece, that would make you about a gazillion cloths.

Next the only real step to this "project" is to cut your pieces of fleece to the right size. You can use an actual swiffer cloth to measure or you can just kind of eyeball it by wrapping it around the swiffer. You can see I'm not a perfectionist about it at all.

The little grabby things on the swiffer are super forgiving. As long as your pieces are sorta kinda the right size, you're good!

So do they really work? That's the question.

Well, this is after about 30 seconds of trying out my new cloths.

http://www.creeklinehouse.com/2013/01/make-your-own-reusable-swiffer-cloths.html?_szp=400714

[Anna Michele]

Bottle cap candles - burn 1 to 1.5 hours, great for travel or to use when you're entertaining on the deck at night!

[Anna Michele]

DIY REUSABLE "DRYER SHEETS"

What you need:
Sponges
Seal-able container
Fabric softener
Water

http://themamasgirls.com/reusable-dr...-softener-diy/

[Sandysurvey]

You are all so clever.
Soap savings: I love Dr. Bronners peppermint soap as it has no additives and nasty junk in it. The bars are so pricy and the straight liquid is too strong. I have been putting it in a squeeze bottle diluted to 6x the amount of water. Perfect! The bottle ends up lasting about 3 months with daily showers and is only about $2.50/month.

[Insane]

DIY REUSABLE "DRYER SHEETS"

What you need:
Sponges
Seal-able container
Fabric softener
Water

http://themamasgirls.com/reusable-dr...-softener-diy/

We use dryer balls. No chemicals, and dries the clothes faster. We love them and cheaper than any other alternative.

[Anna Michele]

http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/...yer-balls.html

How to Make a Wool Dryer Ball:

Start with a skein of 100% WOOL yarn. (This cost me about $5 and I got four balls out of it.)

To start your ball, wrap the yarn around your fingers about 20 times and then slip it off and wrap the yarn around the middle of that circle you just made about 20 more times.

Now pinch the beginnings of your yarn ball together and keep wrapping! Make sure you wrap it nice and tight.

Pretty soon you will have something that looks like this. Tuck the end of the yarn under some of the other strands of yarn to secure.
Repeat above steps until you’ve made 4 or more balls.

Now you are ready to give them the “felting” treatment. You are going to need one leg of a pair of pantyhose or tights. Put the first ball into the toe of the pantyhose and secure it there with a piece of embroidery floss or acrylic yarn. Do NOT use wool yarn, you don’t want this to felt.
Toss the pantyhose “snake” into the washer (the hotter the water the better) and then into the dryer (again, the hotter the better. Speeds up the felting process.)

This is how they will look after the first felting. The fibers have fused and it’s much smoother and tighter.

At this point you can do another layer of yarn and “felt” again if you want a larger sized ball. I chose to leave mine as is. Keep in mind they will get slightly smaller over time as they continue to felt.

You just made your own wool dryer balls! Go ahead, give them a spin! If you want, you can even add a couple of drops of essential oil to the balls before you throw them in the dryer. I used 1 – 2 drops of lavender on each one and my clothes came out smelling sooooooo nice!!! I think the scent should last through several loads!