Due to the recession, we’re unsure how long we’re staying in our current home. We continue to make improvements to our home so it’s ready to be sold when the market starts looking up. While talking about this with my mom, she informed me of a way to cut years off of our mortgage. She’s currently taking advantage of this “deal”.
Instead of paying your mortgage once per month, pay 1/2 the amount every two weeks! Simple as that. This cuts your mortgage down because instead of making only 12 payments, you’re making 26 half-payments (52/payments every 2 weeks) equal to 13 full payments. So you end up making one extrafullpayment spread over the course of the year. This will not work if you make payments twice per month, which would be the same as 24 half-payments or 12 regular payments.
One trick to this is that you need to be aware of is that your bank will charge you a fee to set up automatically deducted bi-weekly payments. You can avoid this fee by dropping the payment off in the mail or at the bank.
Now I know this doesn’t sound like it will work. Another trick is that when you make those two extra half-payments, tell the bank to apply those amounts to the principal, not the interest. This will really take a chunk out of your mortgage!
It’s important to take good care of your skin because the skin helps your body keep infectious viruses and bacteria from entering your body. For centuries, people have used natural methods to clean their faces. Yes, cleaning your face can be done without a trip to the synthetic chemical-ridden beauty department.
Facial masks are an excellent way to clean your pores. When you slather on the mask (clay, gel, fruit), the material gets smooshed into your crevices and pores, attaching to the dirt particles. As the mask dries, it pulls away from the skin and pulls all of the bad particles (dirt and dead skin cells) with it. When you wash the mask off, you also wash away all those bad particles, leaving you with fresh and clean skin.
Masks usually have a high water content in them, so as they dry, your skin is hydrated. Now that your pores are clean and hydrated, they can close up, giving your skin a smoother appearance. With a warm mask, your blood vessels open up, allowing for better absorption of nutrients into your skin.
1 – Before masking your face, wash it and pat it dry.
2 – Put some of the mask into your hand. Apply it with soft circular motions to help it get smooshed into all crevices of the face. You want it to be thick enough that it gets into all the crevices and pores, but thin enough that it will dry and lift away the grime in your pores and on your skin. A good rule of thumb is that you want to put on just enough so that you can’t see the skin.
3 – Let the mask dry. Each mask is different and will take from 10 to 30 minutes to dry. When the mask is dry, use warm water and a washcloth to wash away the mask. This keeps the pores open so that any remaining mask material is cleaned out of them, and the washcloth helps to get the mask off your face.
4 – When you’re done, you can follow up with a rinse of cold water (or an ice cube). The cold water will close the pores back up again, helping them keep future grime from entering!
So what materials are good as masks?
Apples – For acne prone skin. Mix 1 grated apple with 5 tbsp warm honey.
Aspirin and Honey – Aspirin has astringent properties and is good for oily skin. It can do bad things if you use it too frequently, so please use it no more than 2 times per week. Mix a little water with aspirin tablets (not gel caps) until the tablets dissolve, then add in a little honey. Use like any other mask. This is a very cost effective mask – a bottle of 100 aspirin tabs at my local grocer is only 99 cents!
Avocado – For softer skin. It is very nourishing and works great on mature, wrinkled, and dry skin.
Bananas – Help slough off dead skin, energize the face, and is a good anti-wrinkle treatment. Can also be mixed with avocado, oatmeal, yogurt, honey, and/or vitamin E.
Clay with aloe – Clay is rich in minerals, deep cleans, and tightens pores. Aloe soothes your skin. A cheap and readily available way to get clay is by the chunky clay kitty litter. Don’t get the powdery stuff, the stuff with blue crystals, or scented. And please don’t put used kitty litter on your face! As always, Michelle does an excellent job of explaining this!
Cucumber – Revives skin. Can be mixed with yogurt. Also great sliced over the eyes – helps reduce bagginess and dark circles.
Eggs – Egg whites leave normal to oily skin feeling tight and refined. Mix egg whites with lemon juice to help get rid of blackheads. Egg yolks contain vitamin A and are great for dry skin. Egg yolks also help heal blemishes.
Honey and Almond – Moisturizes. Best for mature, sensitive, or dry skin. Honey has antibacterial properties. Mix 1tsp warm honey, 1tbsp ground almonds, and enough water to make a nice paste. Apply to face; in 10-15 minutes rinse off.
Milk – Moisturizes. Mix with other ingredients before using.
Papaya – Contains an enzyme, papain, which dissolves oil and dead skin cells.
Strawberries – The seeds exfoliate the skin and the fruit is an astringent. Mix with a little yogurt to sooth.
Tomato – For oily skin. Scoop/compost seeds, puree tomato meat with 1 tsp each lemon juice and oatmeal.
Yogurt – Cleanses and nourishes, has been used for centuries due to its healthy properties. Mix 1 tsp with juice from 1/4 orange for a refreshing mask. For a great all-purpose deep cleaning mask for all skin types, mix 1tbsp finely ground oatmeal, 1tsp warm honey, and 1tbsp yogurt together. Apply to face; in 10-15 minutes rinse off.
A couple notes:
Many fruits and vegetables can also be used effectively. Anything acidic (lemon, strawberries, grapefruit, etc.) will tend to whiten and refresh your skin, but you need to be careful if your skin is dry.
For OILY skin – bananas, strawberries, lemon, clay
For DRY skin – avocados, honey, olive oil
In general, don’t apply masks more often than about twice a week, and try to vary the ingredients.
Spring is HERE and with that, the inevitable spring cleaning. Before you throw everything away, remember this: each day Americans alone produce about 4.6 pounds of waste per day. While you may know what to do with certain items – items with the recyclable symbol can go to the recycle bin and spare items can go to Goodwill or Salvation Army.
Reduce
One important way to reduce is to stop drinking bottled water! Most bottled water containers end up in the landfill even though they can be recycled. They also take quite a few resources to create and research has shown that many companies falsely state their water is “pure” – meaning you can get comparable water from your kitchen sink. Invest in a BPA free water bottle or metal bottle and a water filter attachment for your sink. Many fridges now come with water filters already built in. This not only helps ease the environmental impact, but also the financial impact on you. For more ways to recycle based on the different rooms in your home, check out Reduce.Org.
Another big thing is to stop using plastic bags when you get groceries. You can purchase the cheap reusable bags or reuse the plastic bags you already have at home. You may also be able to find alternatives at Goodwill, Salvation Army, garage sales, or consignment shops. I’m more interested in this option – many of the cheap reusable bags are “Made in China” which kind of defeats the purpose. If you’re decent with a sewing machine, you can sew your own.
Reuse
I like to reuse stuff because I like to come up with new ways to use it. Towels you’re not using could be turned into a beach bag and clean jars (think peanut butter and jelly, pill canisters) can be made into small item storage. In fact, I reused my parents living room set – they didn’t have room for it and I had a new apartment, so I used them. The set they purchased to replace the previous is now ours too. Now that D and I have a house, one set is downstairs and one set is upstairs – it worked out great for everyone.
Gallon milk containers are reused during Christmas-time around here. A string of C9 bulbs are placed on the perimeter of the lawn and driveway. Holes are cut in the bottom of the containers and placed over the lights for a cool glowing effect similar to luminaries. This is a popular and cheap thing to do, especially if you drink a lot of milk!
My favorite is composting! There are a couple different ways to do this. Traditional compost can be created by throwing in leaves, grass clippings, fresh produce scraps, and napkins. The bin can be created easily by screwing together a few spare pallets or you can use a spare garbage can. Vermicompost is composting with worms. You can either buy a specialized worm bin or create your own from a common closet storage bin. The worm colony can eat up to two pounds of scraps (fresh produce, but no citrus, and paper) per day! Plus compost and worm “castings” (aka: poo) are fantastic for your yard and gardening needs.
Recycle
Ok, we all pretty much know about recycling, but what about big items? If you have mattresses or carpet in very good condition, you could donate to Habitat for Humanity. Other options would be to list the items on Freecycle or Craigslist.
If you have “technotrash” such as computer-related items, cell phones, rechargeable batteries, and printer cartridges, go to GreenDisk to find out where you can recycle them safely.
To get rid of hazardous waste or recycling, visit Earth 911 for the place nearest to you that can help out.
Resources (hm, a 4th “R”)
A couple of my favorite places to visit for RRR help are the MN Pollution Control Agency and IdealBite. IdealBite has an option to sign up for a daily tip – it’s a short and sweet email I enjoy every morning. Sam Champion’s Just One Thing on the Good Morning America website has many ideas for reducing, reusing, and recycling.
The last installment in the Homemade Laundry Supplies series will be covering powdered laundry detergent. Like liquid detergent, powdered detergent ingredients are pretty much the same across the board. If you don’t have the room for a big barrel of soap, I suggest the first or third recipe since they’re in a much smaller quantity.
Powdered Laundry Detergent #1
2 bars (aka: 2 cups) Fels Naptha Soap (finely grated – you could also try other bars of soap)
1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
Mix all ingredients well and store in a sealed container.
Use 2 tablespoons per full load.
Servings / Loads: 32 loads
Cost: $2.83
Dollars and $ense comparison ratio: This would be like a 96 load detergent costing $8.49.
Powdered Laundry Detergent #2
12 cups Borax
8 cups Baking Soda
8 cups Washing Soda
8 cups Bar soap (finely grated)
Mix all ingredients well and store in a sealed container.
Use 2 tablespoons per full load.
Servings / Loads: 288 loads
Cost: $19.02
Dollars and $ense comparison ratio: This would be like a 96 load detergent costing $6.34.
Powdered Laundry Detergent #3
1/4 cup liquid castile soap
1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup Baking Soda
1 cup Vinegar (white)
Mix all ingredients well in the order given and and mix after the addition of each ingredient. You will have a thick paste; keep stirring and it will turn into a powder.
Use 1/2 cup per full load.
Servings / loads: 6 loads
Cost: $1.73
Dollars and $ense comparison ratio: This would be like a 96 load detergent costing $27.68.
Dollars and $ense
Powdered Laundry Detergent #1 = 96 loads for $8.49
Powdered Laundry Detergent #2 = 96 loads for $6.34
Powdered Laundry Detergent #3 = 96 loads for $27.88
Cheer Powder = 80 loads for $16.18
Gain Powder = 80 loads for $12.29
Tide Powder = 80 loads for $14.35
The verdict: Homemade powdered detergents are much cheaper! The liquid castile soap and the amount used per load in Detergent #3 make it a much more expensive option. The benefit of the homemade detergents is that you know what’s in your detergent and you aren’t out there purchasing container after container of detergent that will probably end up in a landfill.
How many times have you gone to take off your caked on eye makeup only to realize that you used the last of it yesterday? Well fret no more… there’s a fantastic (and much cheaper) substitute!
It removes eye makeup
It conditions your hair
It moisturizes your delicate eyelids as well as tough skin
It’s all natural and available organically
You can eat it, too!
So where can you get this miracle remover? Look no further than your kitchen cupboards! Extra Virgin Olive Oil, also known as EVOO, is not just good for your body, it’s good for your eyelids too. Michelle, aka RiceBunny, shows us her experiment in real time on YouTube to show you that it totally works! No chemicals… yay!
Olive Oil has been used for thousands of years for many different reasons. Most famously, olive oil is used as an ingredient in gourmet foods due to its delicious taste and healthy nature. Olive oil is available in many grades, including the infamous EVOO, which is made from olives pressed only once. Before you go have so much fun today trying all these techniques out, remember…
Be careful around your eye area by using your ring finger
Do not put your mixes in the fridge or they will harden like butter
Use within a couple days after mixing so it doesn’t go rancid
When you do the bath treatments be careful! Both you and the tub will be very slippery!
There are also many other different ways to pamper yourself with olive oil:
Bath
Shave with olive oil – it’s a natural lubricant and allows for a close shave.
Scrub your body with an olive oil-salt or olive oil-sugar paste to make it soft and glowing. Essential oils can be added to this mix for an extra pampering treatment.
A variation on the above would be: Mix together 3 tablespoons EVOO, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, and 2 tablespoons honey or aloe. Leave on for 2 minutes and then rinse off. This treatment is good for acne and is gentle enough to be used on your body and face everyday. For more specific details, visit Michelle’s page.
Olive bath – add a few tablespoons to your bath water.
Hair
Control hair frizz by combing a small amount of olive oil through dry hair.
Use olive oil as a hair tonic. Comb a small amount through for the look of pomade without the build-up, or add a bit to wet hair for tousled look.
Massage a small amount of olive oil through hair and comb through. Leave on for 1-2 hours then wash hair as normal. This treatment gives your hair a healthful shine.
Extra Moisturization
Use a tiny amount of olive oil to moisturize your cuticles.
Manicure time! Soak your hands in an olive oil-water mix before manicuring.
Mmmmmoisturizer… mix a few drops of olive oil and a few drops of fresh lemon juice in the palm of your hand. This an be applied on damp skin or used as a hair conditioner!
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