-Toni

This Week: Ten Budget Beauty Products You Can Make At Home

The idea of making products I usually purchase at the store was a new one to me when I discovered the practice this Christmas. I took the Etsy challenge of only buying handmade/making all of my gifts and, I have to say, it yielded spectacular results. Everyone was quite impressed and happy with what they received.

When I saw the article above, it made me want to take things a step further and attempt to make the products it showcased. I haven’t gotten an opportunity to try them all, but I can attest that the hair clarifying treatment is wonderful!

What about you guys? Have you attempted to make any of these products? How did they turn out?

The cogs in my head began turning this morning after reading Frugal Dad’s musings on the subject. One of the differences he mentioned was that a fugal person will pay more for something of higher tangible quality. Last week, Lynnae at Being Frugal discussed that very topic. Sometimes it costs less to spend more.

As I’m preparing to move home to St. Augustine and begin my real, adult life, this is a topic that weighs on my mind, particularly when thinking of the purchase of furniture. I’m hoping to purchase a home later in the summer and I’ll be entering into the home with no furniture to my name. None!

What choice should I make?

Sure, a $50 desk made of particleboard might perform the same function as a $200 desk made of solid wood, but which will still be functional a year from now? Five years from now? Ten years from now?

Throughout my college life, I’ve been sustained with cheap, particleboard furniture from Wal-Mart and Target, but I’ve seen the wear and tear put on these pieces in just a couple years of use. It might hurt me now to spend more money for furniture made of better quality materials, but, if the pieces last longer, the higher cost is well worth it.

To me, this is the essential difference in frugal versus cheap. It is not a matter of dollars and cents, but rather dollars and sense. It is truly understanding the value of goods, not just their cost.

What do you think? Is more expensive furniture worth the cost? On which other goods does it pay to spend more?

I do my best to live naturally, especially as natural living and frugality often go hand-in-hand. As I’m preparing to graduate and strike out on my own, it’s important to me to try to utilize the natural living tips I’ve picked up over the past few years on blogs such as The Good Human and Being Frugal. The first of these concepts I’ve decided to explore is homemade cleaners.

The Background

David at The Good Human has an extensive series on natural cleaning and it’s a great read for those new to the idea. To jump straight into the solution, check out Lynnae’s homemade cleaning tips at Being Frugal.

The Main Ingredients

Vinegar

Vinegar is somewhat of a super-ingredient, and talk of its merits abound: it cures acne, makes hair shiny, lowers cholesterol, kills weeds, and more. What makes it effective as a cleaner? Due to its high level of acidity, it cuts through grime, grease and germs effectively.

Baking Soda

Technically named sodium bicarbonate, the chemically reactive and tangibly gritty nature of baking soda makes it a great cleaner. In addition to its use in baking, it’s also used in cosmetics, antacids, itch relievers, and more.

Borax

Borax, or sodium borate decahydrate, is equally as multipurpose as vinegar and baking soda, with uses from fungicides to slime. It cleans both by converting water molecules to hydrogen peroxide and by maintaining a stable pH and is more effective when used in hot water.

Now that you’ve been introduced to the background and the main ingredients, stay tuned for trials and comparisons. Let’s make nature work for us, instead of letting ourselves work against nature.

Back in 2004, we were forced to move out of our (furnished) apartment and into an (unfurnished) home in less than a week. Unfortunately, being broke college students, we didn’t have the funds to purchase fancy new furniture. Fortunately, this home was right down the street from a Salvation Army Store, and passing that store gave us an idea of how to create a new start.

Entering the store was like entering a warehouse of used furniture; the building used to be a grocery store, so there was space aplenty. At first, we mentally couldn’t get past the outdated fabrics and marred surfaces, but, once we looked deeper, we saw something more important: potential. And, honestly, something even more important: price.

We walked out of the Salvation Army Store that day with 2 full-size couches (one leather, one fabric) for $55.

Of course, the leather was in need of cleaning and the fabric was a horrid rainbow pattern, but after a day of slipcovering and leather cleaning, we had two attractive couches for less than $75.

$75, by the way, was the cost of the rug you see in the photo to the right.

So, when looking for furniture, don’t count out the Salvation Army. You might be able to find (or create) a diamond in the rough!

Paint is a quick and easy way to completely change the appearance of any room. Unfortunately, for many renters, this change seems out of reach. Upon moving, the lords of our temporary dwellings tell us to, “leave no trace.” Instead of being forced to paint, not once, but twice; once to shape the room and once to erase the color, many of us just leave the walls neutral.

No more, I say!

When we moved into our rental house over a year ago, it was typical student housing. As I had just begun a career and a master’s degree, I wanted something that felt more like home; a serene place for studying and relaxing. The stark beige walls, however, lent me no help. Until my roommate presented me with a brilliant idea: paint a strip!

This strip gave not only color and contrast to the room, but also a perfect place to display photos and artwork, making an otherwise drab room feel more like home. Furthermore, the change is much easier to erase than a wholly-painted room: just paint over the strip, and voila! All evidence of your existence in the room is erased.

Like this tip? Have you tried it out? Please send me photos!

The Solution?
Eliminate the need for a freestanding dresser by using a shelf-and-basket dresser to easily organize your clothing. This idea was born about five years ago when I decided to move by bed into my closet (a topic I’ll leave for another post). Since that space was no longer usable as clothing storage, I had to come up with another solution. I had already decided to install shelving to display photos and books and, after purchasing some simple weaved baskets to store knick-knacks, thought of utilizing these baskets as a clothing storage solution.

Let me be clear: this is definitely not for everyone! My wardrobe is such that almost everything I own is foldable and, for a woman, it’s not very expansive. In fact, it consists almost wholly of jeans, t-shirts, v-neck shirts of varying colors, and wrinkle-free black pants.

However, this solution is one I love and I implore you to give it a try.

What You’ll Need

• 12″ Shelving brackets (many styles available)
• 12″ Shelves (again, many styles available)
• Baskets (a mix of large and small looks best)

The 12″ specification is important because it will give you the most room to work with when choosing baskets. Any smaller measurement makes finding baskets to fit the space much more difficult (as well as trying to fit your clothing into the smaller space). I also recommend choosing baskets with lids to store your undergarments (or, alternately, store them on the top shelf), unless you’re bolder than I.

After installing the shelving (a matter of installing the brackets on wall studs and placing the shelves on top), finding the best organization for the clothing is the next step. The shelves I purchased were 6′ long and I found it was best to have no more than 3 large baskets per shelf. Any more and the shelf looked too cluttered with less room for displaying pictures and such, which help the unit blend into the room.

You’ll have to do some experimenting to find your ideal arrangement and organization scheme, but this is a quick, easy, and relatively inexpensive project that can add a touch of modernity to any room. My favorite part is the clean, uncluttered look. An added bonus is that it forces you to keep your clothes neat and tidily stored (unless you score baskets with lids).

Recommened Materials

• $9.99 : IKEA KOMPLEMENT Storage Boxes, Set of 6 (color: white or black)
• $9.99 : IKEA PILATORP Basket, Set of 4 (color: natural)
• $5.99 : IKEA BASTANT Basket, Small (color: natural, available online)
• $12.99 : IKEA BASTANT Basket with handles, Large (color: natural)
• $14.99 : Pottery Barn, Rustic Vine Utility Basket (color: natural, available online)

I had some trouble finding the type of shelving I used online, but I purchased it from Home Depot and they had a variety of sizes, colors, and coordinating brackets to choose from. For an even more natural look, you could always purchase a 1″x12″ piece of lumber and have it cut to your desired length. By staining, painting, or simple lacquering, you could achieve a custom look.

Like this tip? Did you try it out? Send me photos!

The following is the first in a series of introductory posts about the blog.

The idea of P&P is one I’ve been kicking around for awhile.

Every time I open a web browser, the first thing I check is Google Reader. I couldn’t help notice the variety of feeds I had on there…everything from Lifehacker to Slashdot to The Good Human to Being Frugal. I thought, “If I enjoy the topics of these feeds in combination, perhaps others will too.”

And, so, Pixels & Picas was born. The name may seem strange, but it comes from a long-standing association. I began my life as a graphic designer while working on my high school yearbook. One of our first lessons was to understand the different units of measurement: pixels for digital images, picas for print. My teacher told us to think of pixels as existing on the computer screen and to think of picas as existing in the real world. It may have been a device to help us remember the difference, but it’s something I’ve since carried with me.

What should you expect?

Starting out, I’m not quite sure. I hope to develop some sort of schedule, but as I’m both working full time and attending graduate school, it might be slow going for awhile. I hope to make up for the lack of quantity by making each post count.

Thanks for visiting and I hope the journey into the world of both pixels and picas is long and prosperous.