You can make your own baby wipes and save lots of money during your child's diaper wearing phase. All you need is a roll of good quality 2-ply paper towel and some simple ingredients from your kitchen. You can put everything into a wipes container - or, you can keep the solution in a bottle and use washcloths. These are great to keep in the car as well and can work to remove makeup at the end of the day too!  

Recipe:

2 TBSP Baby Shampoo
2 TBSP Olive Oil
2 Drops Tea Tree Oil (this adds anti-bacterial properties, if you don't have this you should 1 T of white vinegar instead)
2 Drop Orange Essential Oil (any oil scent that you like)
2 Cups Water

Method:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Cut roll of paper towel in half with clean edge Chef's knife. Pour ¼ of the liquid in the container bottom then put the cut side of the paper towel roll into the container. Pour the remaining solution over top of the paper towel roll. Let stand for ten minutes and then remove the cardboard centre from the roll of wipes. Pull wipes from the centre to start using.

Stop buying store-bought nose pore strips. You can make your own at home for a fraction of the cost...and they are way healthier too!  When done properly, homemade strips can remove a significant amount of gunk from the surface of your skin...without the ouch!  It's pretty cool.  I love how my face feels afterwards.

Here's what you need:

• Egg
  
• Mixing bowl
• Whisk
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Paper towel (cut to a strip that fits nicely across your nose)
  

Here's how:

• Separate an egg white into a mixing bowl
  
• Whisk well until nice and frothy
• Grind fresh black pepper into the egg white (at most 1 tsp)
• Whisk to incorporate
  

When you're ready, put a thin layer of egg white across your nose. Be sure to apply this layer everywhere you want the paper towel to stick. Place the paper towel strip across your nose.  Saturate the paper towel strip with more egg white mixture. Don't be shy! It's kind of like putting a mini-cast on your nose! I like to use my fingers to apply the egg white.  Go watch your favourite TV show for 30 minutes to an hour.

The protein and glucose of the egg white acts as a natural glue when it dries. It will tighten your skin (temporarily). The black pepper acts as an antioxidant and also stimulates blood flow. This will help bring gunk to the surface of your nose. Peel off your strip after it dries completely and reveal a fresh new nose! You can also use this method as a full-face mask using different sizes of paper towel strips on all areas of your face that you want to target.

I've read about people using craft glue and a gelatin/milk mixture to make pore strips. This egg white version seems the sanest (and cheapest!) to me.


Store-bought Pore Strips = $10
Frugalista Version = $1

This is a super activity for teens and a great introduction to the art of frugality! 

You'll need...

• Bottle of half-used nail polish (clear works well, or any other colour you're tired of)
  
• Eyeshadow (old colours you never wear)
• Sheet of paper
• Toothpick

Here's how...

Tear a letter-size sheet of paper in half. Fold it in half again, width-wise to create a light crease in the middle of the sheet. Use the toothpick to scrape eyeshadow out of the palette and onto small sheet near the crease. Use the tip of the toothpick to break apart the eyeshadow - you want it to be a nice, loose powder consistency. When ready, pick up the paper and shake your shadow into the crease area. Then use the toothpick to push the eyeshadow powder into your bottle of nailpolish. Shake and paint!

The great thing about this is you can change the colour of your nail polish at your whimsy!

Some of the best shades require a few different doses of colour shadow.  If your polish starts to thicken up, just add a touch of nail polish remover to the bottle and shake.  This should get it back to a thinner consistency.  

Store-bought nail polish = $3 to $12
Frugalista Version = $0