Category Archives: Money Saving

Environmental Saturday: Natural Disinfectant

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I have realized that I have a series of “life rules” that I strongly believe in and have already accomplished or am working on implementing into my everyday life. Most of them have to do with what I talk about here: health, wealth, and happiness.

Rule #2 (Rule #1 will be explained at a later date) – remove the toxins from your life. I mean this in an literal physical sense as well as an emotional, perceived sense. But today’s lets talk about how to literally start removing toxins from your life.

One incredibly easy and CHEAP way to do this is by clearing out your cleaning supplies. Get rid of the window cleaner, disinfectant, surface cleaner, etc…and replace it with vinegar and water!

 

This natural disinfectant of 1 part water, 1 part white vinegar functions now as my cleaner for every situation. The only thing it can’t do it the bathtub and toilet (I’m working on something for that). It makes house cleaning much faster and simpler but it’s also very cheap. I grabbed a spray bottle at the hardware store and vinegar at the market and, voile! I have enough cleaner to last me at least a year.

Disclaimer: it does smell a little odd but the smell fades almost immediately. If it really bothers you, stick some lemon/orange rinds in the bottle and placate the odor. Yay!

Ashley Life Update: Last night Mike and I had a “family dinner.” What started as a casual invite to a few people on Monday turned into a full on party of 17ish people. I cooked for everyone and we all hung out and ate and drank for several hours before heading out on the town. I let loose for a much needed night and I wake up feeling a little foggy but so happy. I feel like we’re finally starting to make friends!

Anyway, I hope you’re all having relaxing Saturdays. I’m off to a screening at the super market. Time to help more people get healthy!

Smile 🙂

 

Fabulous Friday: Bargain Beauty

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From time to time, I may have to post about some incredible deals I find for lady stuff. Today, I’ll be sharing some sweet knowledge nuggets with you fellow females.

Last month, for my birthday, I really wanted to treat myself to some pamper time. I get a monthly wax of my nether regions (SO much easier than shaving and much less red and bumpy) and thought maybe I could add in a facial or manicure or something equally awesome. I had not yet found a salon in Peoria so I started the search!

Where to look, where to look…I must have checked out 20 salons in a 10 mile radius and couldn’t find anything even close to affordable. Then I remembered how cheap massage schools are and decided to just get a massage, delay the search, and postpone my wax until next month (poor Mike).

As I drove to work, I mulled over my tense shoulders and the forest growing in that pretty triangle between my legs, and I spotted it! A beauty school! I got to work and immediately looked up their price menu. $12 for a wax and $20 for a body salt scrub (wth is that?).

I went in for my appointment later that week and had vague memories of my mom bringing me to these fun places when I was young (man, that woman is full of great ideas!) . The wax was painful as usual but the body salt scrub was incredible. I was in a giant, humongous shower and instead of faucets in the wall, there were 6 of them attached to a long arm that extended over the bed I was laying in. It looked like a scene from the Saw movies. I disrobed and laid down. They (2 people!) laid a “modesty towel” over my lady bits and proceeded to scrub me down with a glorious smelling salt scrub. They showered me down with the Arm O’ Faucets (oh my gosh) and then dried and mosturized my body. I died and went to heaven. It was so intensely relaxing.

 ^Yes, please tell me more about your wonderful body treatments.

Anyway, all that was MORE than worth the $32 and teacher poking her head in every once in a while to make sure everything was going ok. Treat yourself to something nice and don’t feel guilty about it. Just Google “beauty school”  in your home town.

**If you are one of my 55 wonderful followers, I received a very interesting comment on yesterday’s post and have since edited the content a bit. Please check it out quickly if you read yesterday. Thanks!

And have a WONDERFUL day! WOOOHOOOO, it’s Friday.

🙂

Produce: To Buy Organic or Not?

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I had a realization last night that I really want this blog to be about staying healthy with no time OR money. I think I’ve done pretty well with the no time but where’s the money guidance Ashley!? Where is it?

Organic produce: SUPER expensive but sometimes it’s really worth it. Here’s an easy to follow list of rules when buying produce. Or anything really.

Rule #1: If it’s available, buy LOCAL – this is because the closer you can get to where your food is produced, the more you can be comfortable that it’s not grown with any pesticides or other crappy chemicals. Also, the shorter the shipping distance, the more nutrients left when it hits your mouth. And you’re supporting your local economy! Here’s a guide to see if your community offers the best thing for local produce, farmer’s markets.

Rule #2: If it’s available, buy ORGANIC – again, chemicals (such as pesticides) are bad in food and very bad in your body. Get that stuff out of there! Also, non organic produce is often genetically modified and much lower in nutrients. [According to a study done by Stanford, link here, there are no more nutrients in organic food than conventionally grown. However, there is a strong but so far unstudied likelihood that the presence of pesticides affects your body so much that it is not able to absorb all the nutrients in the produce.]  If you’re gonna eat an apple, might as well get all the good you can out of it, right?

Rule #3: If organic is too expensive or there’s a limited selection, follow the list of the CLEAN FIFTEEN and DIRTY DOZEN. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) puts out this awesome list every year of the cleanest and dirtiest produce on the market that year. If it’s on the clean fifteen, it has very few pesticides and isn’t a huge harm to your body. If it’s on the dirty dozen, only buy it organic because conventional farmers basically bathe it in a chemical bath.

^This is a great pocket guide you can download from the website but you should definitely check it out in all it’s glory. Here’s the link. I am signed up for the newsletter (they don’t bombard your inbox like I do) and I got the app for my phone so I can have it whenever I’m at the market.

How is your market’s selection of organic produce? What has been your organic buying practice up to now?

Don’t forget to smile 🙂