Au-natural and thrifty tips

This is an unusual post for me, It's mostly text for one, which will make many not bother reading but stick with this PWEEEEZ, I put my heart into it. I'm evolving into something more sophisticated and I am loving the change. I'm still cute, I'm still me only with a lady essence sprinkled on top, ha, whatever that means, I'm waffling.

The book I've just finished reading "The Thrift Book, live well and spend less" By India Knight has got me thinking! There are so many things you can do to live a more healthy, thrifty, fun ,green, awesome life! I recommend the book to all of you! Don't buy it though, be thrifty and rent it from the library, haha! Well, you can buy it if you want too!;D
I am financially challenged Right now and thus I rented said book from my local library, cost=free!!!

So what am I doing?
Not enough I feel but here is the skinny on where I am at.

Beauty-wise
I stopped dying my hair for a start, better for environment and better for my health, bladder cancer linked is to hair dyes, choc full of nasty chemicals, probs nasty testing to our furry friends=not cool and so 2009!!
A few months ago I dyed my hair my natural colour of dark golden blonde and that's me done. (well until I'm grey, maybe then I'll use a natural dye)
I'll naturally lighten in the summer with the sun anyway, maybe I'll try some lemon juice or chamomile but that's it.
If you want to carry on dying your hair, maybe you could go for a more natural hair dye like naturtint for one. Find more here; http://www.naturesdream.co.uk/naturtint/

Make up wise I'm turning to vegan mineral make up (watch out for cool new review of vegan make-up that I am doing soon)
Toiletry wise I use only my beloved weleda range. (cannot rave about this company enough, they deserve their own entry, one day soon)
The best face pack ingredients are probably in your cupboard right now! I use a pure honey mask, It is wonderful for dry skin, wonderful for zits too!

Oatmeal makes for a fab facial scrub.

Add some milk, oatmeal and some honey to a bath to really moisturise your skin.

My face wash, soon to be cold pressed olive oil as recommended in the thrift book, still cant get my head around the fact that that is better for my blackheads and spots but hey I will give it a go!
Body scrubs consists of sugar and olive oil, this is amazing for getting rid of dead skin and leaving your body silky as when the sugar is rinsed away the oil remains to soften your skin, bliss and dirt cheap! Avoid delicate face and neck.

In the home

House cleaners consist of vinegar and water for windows, damp cloth for cleaning and dusting the house daily, beeswax for wood, lemon and bicarbonate of soda for the kitchen and bathroom With tea tree oil for anti bacterial properties.
To scent the home, avoid nasty plug ins and sprays, instead go for soya wax tarts and incense, aromatherapy burners and the like.
I need to find a natural leather cleaner for my sofa and chaise longue, anyone know any?

I need a natural handwash recipe too, must look online for that today me thinks, when I find one I'll edit it here.

Washing clothes wise, I used to use soap nuts a few years ago but I didn't like them so much, they didn't make my clothes feel fresh and clean, even by adding an aromatherapy oil to the water, not my bag at all, so I think I'll have to try ecover washing powder and softener for now until I find something better.
Bleach alternatives are good, I've used oxygen bleach for years, great stuff.
I've read in the book all about soda crystals for cleaning, must try those.
Borax solution for wood floors is supposed to be great but haven't tried it.

Buying fun things.
Ok, now onto buying things more thoughtfully and thriftily.

In these times you can obviously really help people by buying from local stores as much as poss, you know, giving your money to "Mom and pop" rather than "the man", as much as you can but even "the man" employs plenty of people so let's not feel guilty about our high street purchases. Some clothing stores are pretty unethical in who they hire to create their cheap clothing though, maybe look into that.

I intend to shop more thoughtfully in this way in future shopping trips.

Try as much as possible to buy from indie designers/crafters etc, for all your gifts for friends and family and treats for yourself, it will help keep them (the designers) afloat in these lean times and you'll get something lovingly made, probably very original looking and a new talking piece in your home to rave about to your friends! Also your friends and family will have something special rather than a mass-produced piece of crapola that will either end up being re-gifted to some other poor sap or in the charity shop or gasp, worse, in the landfill!! Buy thoughtfully!

http://www.etsy.com/ and http://www.folksy.com/ are fab sites where sky is the limit on what you can find there and where everyone's budget is covered, NICE!

You don't always have to buy your friends something either, what you say??? No really, you don't, nowadays it is fine and dandy if (in your group of friends) you all have kids to just buy the kids the gifts, now for me personally I think that sucks because I LOVE prezzies! But I know of people that do this, and it works for them.

Also if you are all still gift givers to eachother but struggling money wise then maybe you could work out together some free gifts, like babysitting, cleaning, ironing, make over, manicures, pedicures, facial, gardening, you name it!


If you are a crafter and are lusting after other handmade delights, why not ask the creator of said delights if they are up for a trade? I ADORE trading my handmade goodies for other handmade goodies, heck, let's not leave it at handmade goodies, what else can you offer? can you illustrate? can you web design, offer your accounting skills in trade for handmade goodies also if you know your crafter in real life maybe you can offer to do their ironing, house chores, baby sitting etc. I just think we should all get creative if times are tough, I mean we still want to have new nice things, right? Also I think this brings us all closer and a sense of community which was drastically lost in the last 30 or more years.

Want a nice new outfit?? Go thrifting instead of blowing the money you haven't really got in the high street, you can usually find the latest looks/trends in the thrift stores or even classic designer gear in some of them at a fraction of the price you'd pay in the high street and you are being green and helping out a great cause too!

I have learned something about fashion the hard way, I would be constantly buying clothing and then go to wear something and have hardly anything that was "in" I was buying high fashion, and one minute it is in and one blink and it is out. I don't have the money to restock a full wardrobe every freaking season so from now I only buy a few high fashion fun pieces and the rest it is going to be ebay or thrifted designer classics or thrifted trend copies, that's it. It not only was hurting my wallet but it was so sad that I had loads of clothing just wasted in my wardrobe, that's not Green and it isn't thrifty, not one bit.

Learn from me, buy from ebay and thrift stores, vintage stores, if you buy new, maybe go for classic designs that won't be out of fashion after lunch!



Holidays are fun but can be stressful but now I have a new sense of excitement about them as I am going to try to do everything as thrifty as I can.

Valentine's day is coming up fast, so firsty for valentine's day why buy an expensive mass-produced card when you can print out a free printable card!

How about this cute site!

http://www.eloole.com/ielooleyou/

You could make your loved one some cookies or other crafty delights. a delish meal, if you re not crafty then offer other fun things, nudge nudge wink wink haha!

Entertainment and social life.

Instead of renting a dvd for yourself, grab a few friends over and have a movie night, they can all bring some food and drinks and your rent the dvd, that way you all got a fab cheap night together, the movie prices are for chumps! At the movies I never enjoy the atmosphere of the people smells and candy crunches, sweetie wrapper crackling and the obligatory "i think I'll chat through the whole movie", douche-bag.

I personally would LOVE this, all you need is a few friends to have a pamper party, give eachother facials and manicures, pedicures etc, fun when taken with alcohol!

Board game evenings with food and drinks, again everyone brings a dish or drinks or whatever.

Another fab tip that India gives in her book which I thought was awesome was to have clothes swaps with friends, you can do this online too but I thought why stop at clothing, you could all meet and take a big box of stuff you were bored of, like ornaments, cushions, jewellery, accessories, shoes, clothes, you name it! Make a night of it with drinks,snacks and chats.

If you are into it, you could all chip in to hire a medium to come over and tell everyone their future!

Get a great yoga dvd and have a yoga day/night once a week round the friend's house who has the most space, cheaper than a class and fun with friends.

Have a craft night, even if it is just you and one of your friends, or invite others that want to learn something that you know and teach them how, how rewarding would that be to pass on your skills??

Let your imagination run wild and think of all the cool things you can do with your mates in these lean times. Think about your environment, buy thoughtfully, care about what you put on and in that body of yours and what you put down that sink too. Above all, have fun with it!

Thank you so much for reading!!!