Coconut Oil

Years ago Dove stopped making my favorite moisturizer.  Nothing- within my price range- has come close to being as amazing.  I'm still sad over that. Anyway... I had some coconut oil for another experiment I was trying and thought why not see if it works. (it would be cheaper than the brand I'm using now)  Putting oil on my face was a little scary, and I only used a little bit.  It absorbed quickly and three days into the experiment their have been no adverse effects.  I did look it up and learned people do use it as a regular moisturizer and for about a million other things.

I found this list (and many others) of 101 uses for coconut oil:

http://wellnessmama.com/5734/101-uses-for-coconut-oil/

Although I don't think it makes a good lip balm by itself and I certainly have not, nor will I try all of the uses listed.  (I'm skeptical of any "Windex" claim.) As a moisturizer I think it works pretty well for the not too dry skin I have.

OKAY, UPDATE!!!!

I found after awhile I no longer liked using coconut oil as a face moisturizer. Too heavy.  Now I use 100% Extra Virgin Olive oil. I like it better.  I read this is a good oil for dry skin.  I have also read grape seed oil works wonders for those with oily skin.  We will see how long using this one last.

Easy Removal of Tinted Windows

We live in the middle of a dessert and almost all of the roads are dirt.  A 4-wheel vehicle is almost a necessity.  So we saved up our pennies (we believe in paying cash) and bought a big truck. Crazy!


Well, the windows were very tinted.

 Like no way they would ever pass safety in our state- 2% light tinted.

We had heard of the old, grueling, razor blade method of removal, but we that is messy and takes a long time.


So...

Easy Way to Remove Tint from Windows

Supplies

• Razor blade
• Steamer (or an iron with steam works too)

1. Roll down window slightly. Using the razor blade make a small cut in the tint.

2. From the top steam the tint.  As the glue melts, pull the tint away from the window.

3. If any glue is left, steam it and use the razor blade to scrape it away.

Tada! It took us about 20-30 mins a window.

Permanent Marker on Toddler's Face

My toddler got a hold of a permanent marker and applied her lovely new makeup product to her nose and cheek.   I did worry what her face would look like for church the next day.

Turns our permanent marker is not all that permanent.
Here's what we did:
A little baby lotion on a cotton ball and it rubbed right off (to an almost unnoticeable state anyway).  I am sure baby oil would work just as well.

Whew, glad that disaster was evaded. 

Snack Tray

I have a toddler who would live off of chocolate if I'd let her.  Decided to make a snack tray offering a variety of snacks she could eat.  Day two, so far it works. Haven't had her ask for chocolate once ...yet.

Took a large muffin tin and filled each section with a different  treat.

Moving

We just moved for the third time this year!  Thank you summer job and my husband's new career.  Good thing we saved our boxes.

I posted ways to keep moving cheaper. (Ex: boxes from grocery store)

Our last move was only 20 miles so we were able to borrow a trailer and friends' trucks to move stuff instead of renting a moving truck. That saved money.

Moving so often has also helped us dejunk. That saves space in the next home as well as time packing/unpacking and the stress of moving and finding a place for unwanted stuff.

Here is another post from a fellow blogger with other moving ideas.

10 Cheapskate Moving Tips and Tricks from The Craft Patch

I liked to add to their "Use old paper as packing material" that we use old plastic grocery sacks to pack our breakables in.

Moving?

How to Make Moving Cheaper

As every person who moves knows, you need boxes, sometimes a lot of boxes.  It's amazing how much junk one can accumulate!

Anyway, the other day I was at Lowes and noticed moving boxes for sell.  The small boxes were around $.75 a piece.  Two days later I went to the grocery store just after it opened for the day and noticed, as the employees busily restocked shelves, there were empty boxes on almost every aisle. "Can I have some of those?" I asked an employee in the produce section.  I left the store that day with more boxes than groceries.

• If you give your local grocery store advanced notice they sometimes will save boxes for you.
• My sister also tipped that schools can be a good place to ask if you have connections. As she said, "Lunch Ladies empty a lot of boxes." 

Life Hack-Peanut butter and Mason Jars

It was one of those mornings, the ones where you are half asleep at breakfast.
I placed a good spoonful of peanut butter on my pancake and went to replace the lid, only I put it on the peaches instead and thought nothing of it until I wanted some peaches.  Why, in my half asleep state, did placing the lid on a mason jar not phase me...because it fits!

I became excited and awake after that.  I thought of several things I could put in the jar that needed a lid, but not necessarily a tight seal. (Or a two piece lid)

Yay for life hacks!

Guess I should figure out how to flip the pic, just turn your head, it does about the same thing...

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Carving Pumpkins means seeds!  They normally are not my favorite, however I found a way to make them that passed the test of everyone in my family.

Yummy Pumpkins Seeds

Wash your seeds so there is no goop left on them.  Boil the seeds with salt for about ten minutes, drain.  Lay them out on a pan and sprinkle with season salt.

Bake at 325 degrees for about ten minutes.  They will be crunchy outside with a softer inside.  Sprinkle more salt on them if you'd like, and enjoy the whole seed, no need to shell.

Washing the Hair

Experimenting with different ways to wash my hair, was something I have done in the past.  See oatmeal shampoo.

It's not my favorite thing to do, but sometimes the opportunity presents itself:

So I ran out of my favorite conditioner earlier in the week and did not want to run to the store- I avoid that place.

Anyway, the other conditioner left my hair feeling gross, plus I realized there are probably a lot of hard water and soap build up on my hair.  Time to experiment!

I mixed baking soda with my shampoo until I had a paste. Washing your hair with this supposedly takes out the junk.  I then did a vinegar rinse.  About 1-2 Tbsps apple cider vinegar mixed in about a cup of warm water.  One site said not to wash this out, but I didn't want to leave it.  Even though people say it doesn't smell after it has dried.  Couldn't do it.

The results-

My hair soft, even without conditioner, but incredibly frizzy.  (Perhaps because I washed the vinegar out, perhaps because of weather.)

Conclusion-

Fun experiment, nice to get the junk out, now where's the conditioner bottle thank you.



No Shampoo-
There is all sorts of things floating around the internet about washing you hair without shampoo (baking soda and vinegar are big, so is just conditioner.)  I tried just conditioner for a while and, yes, it gets your hair clean, but I was using twice as much to do it.  Back to the old shampoo and conditioner routine.

Unless anyone has anything better?

Vinegar Wash

Baking Soda and Vinegar never cease to amaze me.  I love them!

You know those expensive fruit and vegetable washes you see in the store?  Don't buy them!

Mix 1 part vinegar with 2 part water and you have your own fruit and vegetable wash solution.  Spray on or soak your soft fruits in the vinegar solution.  Gets rid of bugs and unwanted junk on your produce.

I have also heard mix 1/2 and 1/2.  If you want a stronger solution go for it.



My mom, who did not spray her peach trees, did this vinegar soak and said the bug came squirming out as fast as they could, and she was able to wash them down the drain.  No bugs to worry about while cutting up your fruit.  I like that idea. (Even if you may have bug eaten parts to pick through still.)

Bug Bite Paste

For those itchy mosquitoes bites.

Mix a tsp of baking soda with a little bit of water (just a little) until it makes a paste.  Add more baking soda if needed.

Rub it on the bite and allow to dry.

Hand and Face Wipes

Hand and Face Wipes

Moisten strong paper towels with water.  Store in an air tight container.  Safe and gets the remains of lunch off a little one's face.

Oatmeal Facial

I have never had a facial, but I knew you could do them at home and wanted to try. I experimented with different facials and face scrubs.  For blackhead I bought a scrub and did not like it. I tried a baking soda mixture, but it stung; perhaps I rubbed to hard. I even tried the elementary trick of drying glue on your face.  Gross!  It smells and is ineffective.  It may even be bad for your skin, I know inhaling it is bad for you and it takes forever to dry.  Anyway, I tried a honey one.  I guess it was nice, but very, very messy.  And then there was the day I washed my hair...

I have also been looking into homemade or alternatives to shampoo and conditioner.  Oatmeal was one of them.  Some sites suggested putting baking soda in it. I love baking soda, but did not want it on my head. Instead I used finely ground oatmeal with a dab of honey.  The mixture was fairly runny.  As I poured it over my head I thought, "Did I really just pour breakfast on my hair?"  The results as I began working it through my hair were frightening.  Knowing unless some magic happened when my hair dried that I would never try this mixture again, I decided to go all out. Scrapping the last remains out of the bowl, I began to rub the oatmeal on my face and what I experienced was amazing!

It was soft, it didn't sting, I wasn't afraid of getting it in my eyes, and it made my skin feel great.  Unintentionally, I have discovered the best facial mixture.  My skin was less dry after my shower too, and the desperate need for moisturizer was gone, so perhaps it moisturized as well.

The Best Facial
Finely ground oatmeal and a dab of honey.  
Mix with warm water until desired consistency. 
Rub over moistened face.  
Wash off.  
Pat dry.



Let me know how it works for you.

Mouth Rinse

While talking with acquaintances from Japan, the topic of mouthwash came up.  (You'd be surprise at how many random topics can creep into a conversation.)

My friends thought mouthwash was a strange concept.  When another friend asked what they use, they simply replied, "Salt."

It made me think of all the money I spent on mouthwash and how a simple solution of salt could be doing perhaps better than many of the mouthwashes out there.


Salt Mouth Rinse
1/2- 1 tsp Salt
1 C water

Store in a bottle with lid for future use.

If you prefer mouthwash ACT fluoride is a good alcohol free choice.  Once again I'd buy the generic version.

Eye Make Up Remover

Olive oil on a cotton ball or moist cloth

Yup, and nourishing to hair and skin too.

Goodbye expensive cosmetics.

Ant Bait

With Spring here the ants I tried to deter from my home last year have returned with vengeance.

I tried vinegar,  peppermint oil, and cayenne pepper.  All of which had a temporary positive effect.  The ants disappeared only while the smell was there and returned once it was cleaned up.  I heard baking soda would keep them in one spot.  Not true.  I attempted to contain them in the bathroom; the ants crawled over it.

Baby powder seemed to work better for this.


I tried to get rid of them without killing them, and then resorted to soapy water for the one I could see,but when I found one on my baby's blanket the mama bear in me came out and I knew I needed to take more drastic measures.

I had heard baking soda mix equally with powdered sugar worked.  I had also heard 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon borax, and 1/2 cup water mixed into a sticky syrup worked well.  The scientist in me decided to experiment which one would work best.  My  two questions: which one attracted the ants first and which one killed them the best.

Here are my two dishes set just outside an ant hole- in a corner behind the toilet

Within five minutes an ant found the borax and sugar. (There are three-sorry the pictures are blurry)

Within an hour the ants were feasting.

Within a day all the ones at the borax were dead (oops made the mixture too strong) and the baking soda had been deserted.

Made up the borax syrup again, actually measuring ingredients this time.  The ants showed little interest.

My husband suggested I use peanut butter instead (protein and sugar, plus a strong smell).  I put a tablespoon borax with about 1/2 cup sugar and mixed well.  I placed the bait outside an ant hole in the bathroom. (Yes they dug tunnels right into the walls!)  Within seconds the ants had found it and within 5 minutes it looked like this.

And it got worse.

I did this at night because (1) ants are more active at night (2) people are less likely to be going to the bathroom (3) I didn't have to see the masses of ant that will congregate at a bait like this.  Think of it as an extinction burst.

By morning the peanut butter was almost gone but the ants were still out. I offered more food to my little pets and let them feast away.  I heard it can take 24-48 hours for the ants to die and up to a week or two for the whole colony to die.  It is suggested you leave out the bait until after the ants have left (just to catch stragglers I suppose)  Also, while the ants feast leave them undisturbed.  You want them to take the food, I mean poison, back to their queen without fear.

I will give an update in a couple of weeks whether this really works or if I have just cause the ants to get a winters worth of food storage in one night.


UPDATE: The ants had most of that gone by morning, so I gave them more.  It has been about 48 hours; I still have ants but a lot less.  We want that to be zero and will more to other methods by the end of the week.


UPDATE:  The ants in that corner are gone- took about three or four days.  Still have ants on the other wall.  Not sure if it's a different colony (It's a basement they are at least 4 feet under ground!)  These traps have not worked too well.  Store bought stuff is next.

UPDATE: Bought the store bought stuff and not one single ant found the traps.  Actually, very few ants even wander our walls at all anymore.  I guess the homemade stuff did work, if not just temporarily.  It took about 3 weeks...

And then we moved.