At Home Pedicure

At Home Pedicure

One of my favorite things to do is get a pedicure. I love the warm weather and wear sandals all summer. I smile every time I look down and see my cute freshly painted toes! The average cost of a pedicure around here is $35. Now that I am trying to live a more frugal lifestyle I will not pay that for pretty painted toes. I have decided to do it myself!

The first thing you will need is bath salts, they are my favorite part of the pedicure because they exfoliate all of the dead skin on my feet. Here is the recipe I use, as you can see all of the items are in my pantry (yours too I am sure)



Homemade Pedicure Salts
1 Cup Sea Salt or Kosher Salt
1 Cup Cornmeal
1 Cup Olive Oil
1 Tsp. of Cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl until well mixed. Spoon a generous amount of the mixture on your feet or other areas that need to be exfoliated. Do not use on your face! Mixture can be stored in an air tight jar.

Now that you have your Pedicure Salts, here are the steps to a perfect pedicure

• Remove old nail polish from your toes


• Fill your bath tub with warm water, add 1 tablespoon sea salt mixture


• Soak your feet for 10-15 minutes


• Spoon several tablespoons of pedicure salts into your hands, gently rub on your feet. Remember in between your toes


• Rinse and dry your feet


• Trim your toe nails to their desired length


• Using your favorite moisturizer (I Aveeno or whatever is in my stockpile) rub your cuticles and gently massage your feet


• Using a cuticle stick, push back cuticles.


• Weave Paper Towel between your toes as a separator


• Paint on one coat of clear nail polish


• Paint on one coat of your desired color


• Paint on a coat of cleat top coat


• Allow plenty of time to dry

The Savings Experiment: Homemade Laundry Detergent

Homemade Laundry Soap

As I have stated many times before, I HATE paying full price for anything. Laundry Detergent is an item that I use a lot of and rarely find a sale/coupons that I can use to get it close to free. Unless you count my "Free Travel Size Tides." I read a GREAT post by Greta over at Friend Family Saving on making your own Laundry Detergent so I decided to give it a try!

Here is the Recipe:

1 bar lightly scented soap (Ivory, Fels Naptha, Zote & Pure&Natural are all commonly used)
1/2 cup washing soda (NOT baking soda)
1/2 cup borax




You have to grate the soap, it took me no time at all! You can also use a food processor which might help it to make it more fine. I don't have a food processor the grater method worked well!

Combine all ingredients and store in an air tight container!

All I did was put them in, snap the lid on and shook!

It was a GREAT workout for my arms and I was able to combine all of the quickly and easily.

Now you use one Tablespoon per load!

Cost Analysis:

Arm & Hammer Washing Soda: $2.99 ($.22 per batch)
20 Mule Team Natural Laundry Booster, Borax: $4.29 ($.23 per batch)
Ivory Bar Soap, Simply Ivory: $.50

Total Cost per 32 load Batch: $.95
Total Cost per 1TBSP load: $.03

Compare that to:
Tide 2x Concentrated, Original 64 loads $12.99 ($.20/load)

Be sure to check out Greta's AWESOME Blog

It had become a new favorite!

The Savings Experiment: Homemade Grout Cleaner

Homemade Grout Cleaner

I have something to admit-- My husband and I moved into our house about one year ago. I thought that the grout in our kitchen was gray... Little did I know it was just FILTHY! I spent about one week completely cleaning the entire kitchen, hallway and bathroom floor. I originally used Tilex and a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. It was SO expensive. I also was concerned about Tinkerbell who seems to lick the floor even when we try to train her not to. So I turned to the homemade method.

The Recipe:

1/2 Cup Vinegar
1 Cup Baking Soda

Mix it together to form a paste
Place the paste on the grout and wait about five minutes.

Use a stiff bristle brush. and scrub.

The Results

It cleans the grout perfectly! Although it takes a little elbow grease to get your floor to sparkle it worked very well and the best part is it is NON TOXIC.

The Cost Analysis

Vinegar 1 Gallon $3.49 $o.22 per cup

Baking Soda $1.49 $0.60 per cup

Tilex 32 oz $4.49 Walmart $1.12 per cup

The numbers speak for themselves!

It is also a much safer method for cleaning if you have children or pets at home.

The Savings Experiment: Homemade Baby Wipes

Alecia over at Savings and Stewardship Wrote the Latest "The Savings Experiment" Post!

Homemade Baby Wipes

I attempted the unthinkable - HOMEMADE Baby Wipes! Using just a few ingredients that you probably already have on hand, you can save a TON of money by replacing those pricey store-bought baby wipes with your own - in no time!



The Recipe


1/4 c. Baby Oil (or Olive Oil)
1/4 c. Baby Shampoo or Baby Wash
2 c. Distilled Water
1 Roll of Paper Towels
1 Empty Wipes Container (or air tight container)


Mix liquids together. Cut paper towel roll in half and remove cardboard center. (Optional - accordion fold so that each paper towel is in half or a third). Soak paper towels in liquid mixture and gently wring to remove excess liquid. Transfer soaked paper towels to an old wipes container or air tight container. Ready to use! (I found this recipe HERE)

Head on Over to See
The Results

The Savings Experiment: Homemade BBQ Sauce

Here is the latest post for The Savings Experiment.

Michelle over at Michelle Bank made her own BBQ sauce.

This is an awesome post, she includes a very delicious recipe with fantastic photos.

The Savings Experiment: Homemade Fabric Softener

Greta over at Friend, Family Savings just posted on how to use VINEGAR as an inexpensive fabric softener! I would have never thought to use vinegar for fabric. I can not believe how much money can be saved by making the switch!

Head over and check it out!

The Savings Experiment: Homemade Baby Powder

Alecia over at Savings & Stewardship just posted on how to make your own Baby Powder! I can't believe how simple it is! By switching to her method you can save $20 per year

The Savings Experiment

Michelle over at MichelleBank has written another wonderful installment in The Saving Experiment. Check out how she made homemade RANCH DRESSING!

The Savings Experiment

Have you enjoyed reading all of our Savings Experiment posts? Well I just love reading Jenna from Bucktown Bargins posts! Read how she made organtic apple sauce for her baby Molly.

The Savings Experiment: Homemade Window Cleaner

As you know I joined with some fellow bloggers to embark on a Savings Experiment! I started the month long experiment with a BANG!

My First Experiment

Each Saturday I wake up early and wash my windows. No, I am not a crazy neat freak... I do it because my darling Boston Terrier Tinkerbell spends her days sitting on the chair in the sun, licking my front window. Gross, I know but you can't teach a 2 year old Terrier new tricks. As you can guess I go through a lot of glass cleaner.

The Culprit

Tinkerbell

It's really gross, but I had to share how bad it was!

Window Cleaner

1 cup water

1 cup vinegar

1 plastic bottle (I saved an old window cleaner bottle)

It worked well, I did have to wash my very dirty window twice to get it clean. I used paper towels and there were no streaks. I washed all of my windows (15) and my front and back door. I also washed my bathroom mirror. I hardly made a dent in the bottle.

I bought two bottles of Vinegar using the $1/2 coupon

My total of of pocket was $2.00

Using the recipe above I will get 4 batches out of one bottle.

My Method : 25 cents a bottle

Windex: $3.95 a bottle

I would choose the Vinegar method hands down.

The best part about this solution is you can use it for many things around the house, not just windows. Vinegar cuts grease, dissolves hard water and soap scum. It will also kill mold and mildew.

The only con my husband and I can come up with is it does leave a very strong scent. I am sure that it will pass in an hour or so.

Jenna over at Bucktown Bargins has a great post up on Making Your Own Baby Food! Be sure to check it out!

The Savings Experiment

Very exciting things are happening at Stylish Saving! Haven't you always wanted to try out some of those crazy money saving methods your Grandmother/mother/ best friend mentioned? Well, 5 fellow frugal bloggers and myself have have decided to put some of our best money saving methods to the test!

We'll be do some serious comparisons to see if all of this talk is just hype or if it can turn into real cash staying in your pocket. We know that each of these should save money, in theory, but what we really want to find out is exactly HOW MUCH?!


So, for the month of May, stay tuned - we'll be posting all of these experiments on our various sites, guest posting the results of other's on our own sites, and filling you guys in on every gritty detail along the way! You'll be here to witness our triumphs, failures, and (of course) the SAVINGS!!


Here's a quick breakdown of just a few of the cool things we'll be testing:


* Homemade Organic Baby Food vs. Store Bought


* Substituting Vinegar for Fabric Softener


* Homemade Cleaning Products vs. Store Bought


* Cloth Diapers vs. Disposables


* "Rocks in the Toilet Tank" - huh?! You'll see!


A few of the other bloggers involved are:

*Alecia from Savings and Stewardship

* Greta from Friend Family Savings

* Jenna from Bucktown Bargains

* Micael from Saving Obsession

* Jessica from Jessica's Coupons

and Me (MaryCatherine) from Stylish Saving




So - STAY TUNED and TELL US YOUR PROJECTS!!