Saving on Hair Products

In these times when everyone is really working to stretch their dollars, I wanted to give a very simple tip. This came from a hair stylist. Use a dime-sized amount of shampoo and conditioner, even for long hair. She said most people use way more than that, so they go through product rather quickly. Try to retrain your brain. Our muscle memory is deeply built in us. We are used to squeezing hard to get a larger amount of product. Write a reminder note if you have to, but I have found that being money conscious is a great motivator. By implementing this simple tip, you can easily get twice the amount of product.

Another tip: Add water to those products and they will stretch even farther.

Hair gels and sprays: I wear my hair very short. I like to spike it. However, I like to use the cheaper products because of my money-conscious mindset. The kickback is that when my hair grows longer, I need more of product on my hair, which causes excessive itching. Even though I used to like my hair a bit longer, that constant itching drives me nuts. Result: I choose to wear it shorter so I don’t need as much product on my hair. In those times when I am itching a lot, I have a roller ball of olive oil with added essential oils that are good for the itchy feeling. I simply roll it on my head, and I’m good to go. Essential oils good for itching: peppermint, lavender, and rosemary.

Now if I could only get my hubby to cut my hair instead of paying for a hair cut…..Still working on that one!

Another “Sprucing Up” Tip

For another quick spruce up, try cleaning the baseboards. Since I use orange oil on the furniture, I bought a $1 can of furniture polish at the Dollar Store for this job. (Back when they were still just a dollar store.) It is cheap, but it makes a huge difference in how the baseboards look. No one else may notice, but you sure will! And….you will enjoy how nice they look. It doesn’t take long either.

A change of scenery

After the Covid lockdowns, and being at home so much more, did you find yourself tired of looking at the same things all the time in your home? I found a quick and easy way to get out of the household doldrums. I grabbed the nic-nacs from nearly every room and put them on the kitchen counter. After cleaning them, I searched for new places for them. Moving them from their original “home” to a new spot in the house made everything seem newer and fresher!

A quick and easy “spruce up” for your home

I found a quick and easy way to spruce up my home without a lot of time or effort. Occasionally, I will clean the picture frames and nic-nacs that are hanging on my walls or sitting on end tables. It makes a huge difference, yet doesn’t take a lot of time or effort. Once I noticed the big difference it made, I started doing it more often. And I don’t do it because company is coming over. I simply do it for me, so that I can enjoy how much nicer things look. In a world of chaos, simple things like a cleaner, brighter home can do wonders for the soul.

Stretching the $ on every day things

I wanted to share a couple of easy ways to stretch your money on common, everyday things.

Since I make my own laundry soap, it doesn’t have much scent to it. I found a great deal on some Downy Unstoppables. The scent is very nice, but since we both can’t handle a lot of scent, we use about a 10th of what the instructions say to use per load. It still gives a nice scent to the laundry, without overpowering us, and we don’t break the bank. Depending on where you buy it, it can be very pricy.

My sis-in-law gave us a couple of bottles of Downy fabric softener. Again, the scent can be overpowering. I add about 1/4 of what it says to my washer, and I add water to the rest of the “holder” for fabric softener. It does a great job, and stretches those bottles a lot further.

You can add water to dish soap, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash to make them stretch. I like Bath & Body Works lotions, but they are also pricy. To make them stretch, but still enjoy the scent, I add shea lotion to B&B lotions.

If you like the foamy hand soaps, once it is empty, you can fill the empty bottle with some dish soap. I fill mine about 1/8 of the way, then slowly add water. Close, then shake well. You will be able to use the same bottle over and over before the pump wears out. If you want more scent, just add some essential oil to it.

Reframing Chores into Blessings

As the weekend approaches, I always make a to-do list to help me keep from getting distracted by worthless things. One thing that has been on my list the last 2 weekends is to do a freezer inventory. This isn’t a hard chore if one only has the fridge freezer to do. We have a deep freezer as well. It is quite a cumbersome task.

First, it is in our laundry room, which is quite crowded. Being that I am claustrophobic, it can sometimes cause me to start melting down when I feel too cramped. Add to that a bad back, and having to bed over for long stretches to reach everything in the very bottom of the deep freeze, and it can be quite painful.

Nevertheless, I forced myself to do it today. I grabbed my inventory list, a pen, and put gloves on my hands to protect them from all of the frozen food. I knew it would feel wonderful to cross that chore off my list. As I started pulling things out of the left side of that freezer, it felt like it was a bottomless pit. I kept finding more and more meat.

Thankfully, I had the wisdom not to whine about the task, nor to growl about having so much food. With the supply chain still at risk of completely breaking, and seeing the myriad of empty shelves in the grocery stores, I knew I need to have a grateful, thankful heart. Even though my back was really starting to hurt, I kept saying, “I feel so blessed, Lord!” It completely changed this cumbersome task into a wonderful blessing. And I even have time to do some more Bible study before I go to bed!

2022 Nesting Instinct

I jokingly made a comment today that the pandemic has caused a new type of nesting — where you do lots of cleaning once you realize you have been exposed to Covid. After all, once you’ve got Covid, cleaning will be the last thing on your mind.

There has been a Covid explosion in my city in recent days. A couple of coworkers are currently out with Covid. I work very near one of them, so I have been quarantining. Here’s some of what I have accomplished.

Cleaned my kitchen cabinets with a new cleaner I bought recently, did 2 loads of laundry, cleaned the bathroom, cleaned the baseboards under the kitchen cabinets, as well as those in the family room, dusted and vacuumed the family room, vacuumed the hall and bedroom, cleaned out 3 cabinets, one closet, seven drawers, did a 40 minute workout on the trampoline, did my Bible study since we didn’t have church due to so many quarantining, and listened to two different preachers on You Tube, as well as a prophecy update. And I have to admit — last night I made cherry cobbler because I wanted some comfort food while stuck at home.

Liven up that Meatloaf!

I grew up eating Mom’s meatloaf that was made with instant oats and ketchup, and very little flavoring. Once I got married, we rarely ate meatloaf. As the years went on, I began to be a bit creative with some of the meals I grew up eating. I revamped them and made them into scrumptious meals!

I livened up my meatloaf by using Ritz whole wheat crackers instead of instant oats. The flavor is wonderful! I started using Spike seasoning to add more flavoring, and I switched from using ketchup to an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce.

My meatloaf is fabulous! And I even look forward to having the leftovers for my lunches!

I used to find Spike at the grocery store, but for some reason, they don’t carry it now. However, I went to Ebay and found it for a reasonable price. I even bought some extra to give with Christmas gifts.

Do you need some peace?

If you are feeling stressed out, worried, frazzled, or scared, come on over and find a very easy way to achieve that sense of peace.

To Be Found In Peace

Help for Opening Bottles

Do you ever have trouble getting bottles to open? With carpal tunnel issues, along with arthritis, I sure have! I learned a quick and easy tip from my mother. Take a wet dishrag, and then twist the bottle. So simple, and it works!