Homemade Facial Products, Renovations & Birthdays,

Yesterday I had a great frugal day off! I was looking through my cards and noticed I had enough stamps for a free sushi lunch, so off I went! Then I discovered another card with enough stamps for a free coffee down the street from the sushi place...so off I went for that! Refills were only 60cents and the coffee is fair trade! I had brought my small ASUS EEE laptop with me and caught up on some emails since that cafe has free internet. I sat there for a few hours till our bank apt at 4pm.

Because of low interest rates right now, we consolidated a few things and ended up getting money to buy our wood stove insert for the fireplace and redo our kitchen! YAY! Wood Stove will save us TONS of money in oil costs and I have a friend who can get us free wood! Since my mom has always wanted to be an interior designer but claimed she was "too old" to go do it by the time we were out of the house, I am going to ask her to fly down and help me with the kitchen. I am a terrible decorator and not good with any home design projects. That always surprises people since I am very creative, just not good at the decorating stuff at all. My mom has a great eye and good ideas. My only concern is that money was never an issue for her when she designed her home, so as long as I stress to her that I don't want a $1000 granite sink I think we'll be ok. I remember her telling me that the custom blinds in her condo kitchen which cover a small window were about $700! She's BIG on quality stuff, though at the same time she understands that I am not made of money and I'm sure she'll find more frugal ideas for my kitchen :)

On another note, I made some home facial products that I am really liking. I made them for a friends birthday but had some leftover which I tested. These items make for a really great frugal "organic type gift for friends and family! Here are the recipes:

HONEY LAVENDER CLEANSER

2 tbsp clear honey

1 1/2 tsp Dr. Bronners Organic Fair Trade Lavender Castille Soap (you can use unscented)

1/4 cup vegetable glycerine

Combine eveything in a bowl and stir. Store in a dark bottle. Use about 1 tsp to cleanse face. Remember to wet your face/hands before applying cleanser. 

GREEN TEA TONER

3 bags green tea (steeped in 2/3 cup boiling water)

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

4 drops ylany ylang essential oil

4 drops lemon essential oil

Combine cooled tea, cider vinegar and essential oils and store in a dark bottle. Use after cleansing your face. Then apply face moisturizer.

It was my friend's birthday and we ended up going to Boston Pizza as they have cheap pasta specials on Tuesdays! The dinner alone was under $20 for both of us, so definitely a good deal for a night out! We went back to his place to have dessert (the chocolate cake with peanut butter icing I made) and some coffee. This saved on dinner costs and he much prefers a homemade cake over getting something at a restaurant anyway.

Planning to make some cocoa butter soap tonight if I feel up for it. Stay tuned!

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