Mmmm, I love the taste of vinegar in the morning...! Apple cider vinegar - Fact or fiction?

Ok, so that's not true. But I have been absent for reasons linked to being EXHAUSTED... all the time... possibly a tiny teeny bit related to having a toddler running amock... is that how you spell it? Oh you know what I mean anyway... to put it simply, with Autumn arriving, it has just cemented my tiredness.

My low enthusiasm for much more than couch-potatoe-ing. And that's definitely not a word but more of a state of being past Toddler-O-Clock. One glass of red wine, dinner, some Greys Anatomy or Breaking Bad episode (one or half a one), and I am dead to the world. What weekend excitement eh.

So, this got me thinking about food, nutrition, exercise etc. Note I said thinking, not necessarily doing...
So as I love research, I researched some of it, to at least get me into the mood of 'getting to' the doing. Actually, all jokes aside, food isn't the issue, it's the thinking time involved! Between work, toddler, my business run from home, and house, and of course hubby, sometimes we just survive the day.

Is that enough?

So the point is, what can I do that's easy, quick, and will boost energy on those hardest days when the sofa is calling?

Drink yummy(ish) apple cider vinegar, that's what. Here are 15 reasons why you should. 

My main faves are:

1) easily regulate your PH balance (ie, that extra Costa coffee you had made your body more acidic, and you didn't know or care).

2) easily gets a selection of good stuff - b vitamins, potassium - which it turns out you need lots more than 1 banana a day to get the right amount (in a top 10 potassium foods list, banana comes 10th, I thought it was top 3 at least but no!!!) You need potassium every single day, because what you got, or had, gets used in a flash. So this vinegar gives you something towards that and other good stuff too. Banana vs Apple Cider Vinegar. - ok so the banana is bigger but will put more weight on if you tried to get all your potassium there...

3) Save a bunch of money cleaning the house, and even as a lovely hair rinse and other beauty uses. Like a (ok slightly smelly) facial tonic, great hair, added to sugar scrubs, cupful in the bath and more.

There is alot of fact vs. fiction out there, old wives tales, wishful thinking, and marketing hype. So what about facts - let's check out some:

Facts you didn't know?

• Use it as a natural 'personal lady wash' to balance things down there.
• Rinse with it as a mouthwash to naturally get rid of dental plaque. You may also get rid of romance though. And less enamel.
• You might lose weight - there's lots of talk out there that this works. Why? Because it helps you feel fuller for longer, and stabilises your blood levels, so less snack attacks hopefully!
• Give it to your pets - staves off allsorts and they won't notice it in the water supposedly. Less fleas = happy everyone. 
• Good for diabetics and lowering cholestorol - one of the key facts,
  See here for more facts.

Ok, as you expect, I have got some fab links for you to save you any work in looking into this stuff. 
But let me leave you with this:

• ONLY buy the apple cider vinegar - regular vinegar or regular cider vinegar won't do.
• Only buy it if it has the Mother in it. The Mutha baby. This means all the good stuff has not been processed out. The label should state this clearly. I personally buy Biona in the UK, but over in the USA the Braggs brand is popular.
• Drink it with honey and lots of water. Only other way is neat on salad. Do not take as a shot unless you want painful throat and no more tooth enamel. I love it with water and molasses - that way I get my potassium and my iron for the day in one drink.
• As with anything, do not overdo it! You still want some teeth, and stomach lining!

Combined with a healthy diet I'm sure it can't help to try, and at less than £3 for a big ol' bottle, I'm sure going to give it a go. I know it's not a miracle food but worth trying as an addition to my salads etc.Let me know how you get on!

My experience so far:

- I do feel more energetic - this could be down to anything, but seems to have helped somewhat.

- As a face tonic, this has smoothed my skin, so I have made a tonic with green tea and apple cider vinegar as per the link below, I'm sticking with that from now for sure, as a bottle of toner now costs me pennies.

Before I forget, a special thank you to Aurora from Freya's Rainbow for your link, much appreciated, and so nice to be in the ethical/green-minded community - thank you!

Youtube links:

Benefits of apple cider vinegar

Apple Cider Vinegar Toner (skip to around 1m 40 seconds to skip the intro)

Apple Cider Vinegar Facts

Braggs Video (ok so it's self marketing, but interesting to watch. I love that Paul Bragg was a Life Extension Specialist. What a job title!)

Have a great weekend all!

xxx

Dandelions Revenge... and eating healthier!

Hi everyone and I hope you are well!

My thoughts so far in May have been that usually, Summer costs us more than Winter. This mainly in terms of going out, holidays, foods etc. However, Winter also brings higher fuel bills, Christmas and all those new Winter clothes to keep us warm…

So now I find that food will be more expensive because I love salads and fresh fruit and veg in Summer, as our appetites are smaller.

Do you have any fresh Summer recipes that are not too expensive?

What I have started to do is buy dried aduki beans (one of the SuperFoods), soak overnight and batch cook them to freeze in normal ‘tin’ portions. I have made:

- Tuna, Spinach and Aduki salad with dressing
- Salmon, aduki beans with cucumber and some dressing
- Chick pea, aduki beans, feta cheese and tomato salad with dressing
- Healthier Lasagne with aduki beans and lentils in, together with thin sliced courgette/aubergine etc. This can be frozen in those aluminium tins you get at the £1 stores, and go from freezer straight to the oven

Those are just some ideas for aduki beans – very healthy and cheap too! I love them for lunches too. You can throw on some sunflower and pumpkin seeds to make it even healthier!

My next idea, which I will experiment with soon, is to eat some Dandelions… we have lots of weeds in the patio, and I have discovered not only are they edible, they’re good for you! I hope to take my revenge on those pesky things by eating them… only the newest leaves to start though, as the flavours are more delicate:

Dandelion Recipe


You can then even make infusions from the dandelion heads, thus using the whole flower for body and mind! I do hope this inspires you to think of Summer salads and eating for less…

Make it count - Earth Hour 2009 - Join in!

Hi everyone and a special welcome to any new followers. This here blog is intended for money-saver extraordinaires - the ones that want every nook and cranny explored!

This week my aim is a bit more general - WWF are again doing Earth Hour this year. It's a simple thing but could be so powerful across the globe. From New York, to London, Sydney and many more - everyone that can take part hopefully will. Many landmarks will turn off their lights too.

Basically, you would agree to simply not use any electricity for one hour on 28th March 2009 at 20:30 in the evening.

Please join up and register to comit do switching off for one hour:
http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/

We did it last year and we had lots of fun, just nice to enjoy the quiet really and go back to candles and feel peaceful.

I am also getting my employer to do it, as well as mentioning it to friends and family, plus anyone else who will listen such as you lovely folk and any MSER's that aren't aware...

Not only is it green it's moneysaving so I am hoping we will all do it on the 28th!

Beauty is... fridge deep!

This week has been all about beauty. I have over the last 6 months been questioning the ingredients in my current beauty products – my skin is both dry and sensitive (this is at it’s worst in Winter). Anyway, my current staples are Clarins moisturiser (given to me by a friend), Superdrug moisturiser Vitamin E (to test against Clarins) and a L’oreal Rose cleansing lotion.

I recently read up on the subject of the ingredients present in most commercial products and well, the lists are scary. Surely, given how quickly us women go through these products, we don’t mind if it has a shelf life of say 2 months, but only around 4 or 5 ingredients instead of 15? I know my ‘shopper’ self believes all the marketing hype, but my money-saving and live-greener self is starting to question things.

So, to this aim, I have made some of my own products this week after some Googling. This site gives some interesting recipes that inspired me to make a natural face cleanser:

http://www.organic-skin-care-directory.co.uk/organic-skin-care-recipes.html#anchor29480951

I adjusted it slightly and my ingredients for a cleanser were:

1 x Tablespoon Ground oatmeal (I used a pestle and mortar to get it very fine)
Drizzle Honey
1 x teaspoon Yoghurt
Drizzle of olive oil
Dash of milk

Mix all until you have a cleanser consistency to your liking, similar to what you might get in a store.
This lasts around 1 week, pop it in a sterilised lidded pot and should be kept in the fridge.

I estimate it costs around £0.20p, if that, to make. That’s around £0.80p per month for a nice natural cleanser, 5 ingredients worth, made in 5 minutes and you KNOW everything that went into – in fact, you know it can be eaten – I tried some to prove this!

Plus I can report it works amazingly well, my skin feels softer and I am definitely happier – my L’Oreal will be disposed of and recycled because I really don’t want to use more chemicals and prefer to spend £0.20 a week. So, £9.60 for a years worth of cleanser – that’s pretty amazing. I just need to make sure I make a new pot weekly.

My next experiment was Lip Gloss. That’s right – my last purchase was a Honey balm from REN which I seem to recall was around the £5 or £6 mark. Well, I was running short and almost bought another pot… Then I remembered I had bought some natural ingredient items off ebay last year in a moment of Shoppaholism. I had almond oil, jojoba oil, macademia oil and shea butter (unrefined). I found them all and made some of my own lip gloss – 2 pots worth and it worked amazingly well.

I now have 1 pot in my handbag and 1 pot on the bedside table – my hubby is also using it and loves that it’s natural. The recipe involves:

- Beeswax
- Shea Butter
- Jojoba Oil
- Essential oils
- Honey

I estimate these cost less than £0.50p per pot to make, compared to the £5 per pot – that’s something! I have as a result ‘Snowflaked’ £4.00 to my savings account, to cover the pot I *would* have purchased this week.

This site has some useful info:

http://www.naturallybalmy.co.uk/page_560513.html

and this one has some other recipes:
http://www.aromantic.co.uk/lip-balm.htm


Of course you need to get the basic ingredients from a good seller, I liked ebay for this overall. Once you have them, you can make so many items – whipped body butter, lip balm, cleansers, cold cream and so much more. You can add the oils to shampoo, shower gel, conditioner etc.



I have also made a cold cream (see pic) with only a few ingredients – this site has an example:

http://www.greenchronicle.com/health_beauty/cold_cream_cleanser_for_dry_skin.htm

This would have cost me around £3.00 to purchase, and only has a few ingredients instead of a long list of unpronounceables. I have made a pot and a half which I keep in the fridge, and massaged/cleansed my face with it last night, followed by a spritz of rose water onto a cotton pad and a final cleanse. In the mornings I am using the oatmeal/honey/yoghurt facewash which also helps to wake me up!

My home made whipped shea body butter worked out at around £1.90 for a whole tub:



This body butter contains many of the same ingredients and has simply been whipped with a blender, to add air and make it lighter.

All these are so quick to make, fun and natural plus I have noticed an immediate difference over the period of just 1 week.

I really don’t think you would regret making them, plus think of the a) money you will save, b) recycling you will avoid and c) happier skin!

Painless Savings in painful times

Ok, so we all know the credit crunch is here to stay, and now economists are saying that this isn’t even the worst of it and could even topple from being a ‘Recession’ to a ‘Depression’ (The old joke goes that Recession is when your neighbour loses their job, a Depression is when you lose yours). Obviously, it’s no joke, so we’ve all got to do more than *think* about tightening the belt – we’ve got to get a thinner and longerlasting belt too.

Most of us are doing this already, but I thought what else can we do? It already hurts so much to work all day, and not really splurge even though every day is a slog in the 9-5 grind, or a fulltime job at home caring for others.

My thoughts this year, over and above what we did last year:

- Hubby will continue to have his hair cut Chez Moi, rather than a hairdresser. Perhaps he’ll go to them twice a year rather than say 8 times. Saving? Around £50.

- Less meat. So far we’ve only cut what what we spend by getting deals etc. This year we will actively cut back on meat, especially red meat, and enjoy more locally sourced vegetables, including reduced prices ones if we shop at our local market or late in the day at the supermarket.

- Less clothes. OK, it hurts for a girl to say this, but really I should try to cut back. I can then save money and if I buy good quality items at second hand stores, I will also be more eco-friendly as well as helping a charity. Win/Win all round. I make exception for shoes which I cn

- More pension – I currently pay into a private pension but if I can I would like to upp this, because in the current market your pension payments are buying you more for less than they used to. This is called Pound Cost Averaging – drip in slowly and you will hopefully have a safer time in these storms.

- Less waste. Eat whatever we buy – nothing goes in the bin. We have bought more and more from the fruit and veg market over the last 12 months, which means we can buy just 4 tomatoes if that’s all we need, rather than a shrink wrapped pack of 8, of which 2 may end up in the bin. It’s also greener as involves less packaging.

- More discounts – There’s no harm in asking, and if asking saves an average of 10% of some purchases, we’ve gained 10% in our pockets.

- More Free clicking – I will click as many offers and free cash-earning clicks as I can in 2009, to hopefully beat last year’s extra earnings.

- More working for ourselves – We’re self employed as well as having full time jobs, so the more we can earn the more cash we can save, and in the current market cash is king.

- Less energy – Use less gas and electric where possible and switch every 6 months if this offers significant savings, or other bonuses such as Nectar points, cashback or vouchers.

These are my ideas so far – what do you have planned – what are you going to spend more on (to reap rewards in the long term) or spend less on (to save cash)?

Washing Up Recipe - £0.10p per litre

Hi all, as promised I am also now putting up the recipe for homemade washing up liquid - very eco friendly and cheap! I got it from our office cleaners, greenmop.co.uk who have just won a green award so I'm dead chuffed to take their recommendations on being a bit greener.

Washing Up Liquid Recipe:

3 x litres boiling water
6 x drops tea tree or lime or lavender essential oil (or just use lemon or lime juice!)
1 x heaped tablespoon soap flakes (DriPak make these)
1 x heaped tablespoon of soda crystals (DriPak again)
1 x tablespoon white vinegar


Mix together and place into containers with a funnel - again the 2 pint plastic milk bottles are good for this as they have handles, and you are re-using rather than recycling!
Add the drops of essential oils once the water has cooled down as otherwise the oils will evaporate with the heat of the boiling water.
Shake before use, add water as needed.

This is a guideline and you can adjust to suit your preferences. I find I can usually dilute with a little more water in the container near the sink too.

I worked this out at £0.10p per litre but costs may vary according to what you pay for the dry goods.

I also came across this interesting site for greener cleaning tips:
http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/2008/06/24/102178_recipes-for-homemade-cleansers.html

So £0.10p for 1 litre - compared to around £2.40 for 1 litre of fairy liquid, which is full of other chemicals. Saves £2.30 per time, perhaps say £2.00 a time if you allow for your 5 minutes work.

Homemade Laundry Liquid - around £0.10p a litre!

Thanks so much to Heidi for her homemade recipe - here it is for us all to try in 2009 and save a bunch of cash!

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY LIQUID


• 1 x bar of pure soap
• 1 x saucepan {an old one if you have it}
• 1 x cup soda crystals
• 1/2 cup borax
• 0.5 litre + 5 litres water
• 1 x large plastic clean bucket
• wooden or steel spoon

I use the American cup for measuring as I find it easier.

Method:
Grate soap with a cheese grater & place in the saucepan with the ½ litre of water. Heat this while stirring until soap dissolves. Take saucepan off the heat.

Fill bucket with the 5 litres of water. Add soda crystals & stir until dissolved.

Then add soap mixture from saucepan & stir until fully dissolved.

This will thicken as it cools - Adding some essential oil makes a nice scent.
Add more or less water depending on the consistency desired then transfer liquid into bottles using a funnel.

Use one cup per wash.

Note: this liquid does NOT make suds. It has no foaming agent that is usually added to commercial liquids. Despite this it’s an excellent “green” cleaner that contains no phosphates.

Takes about 30 mins to make 10 pints.

Cost approx £0.49 pence per batch.


Wow thanks Heidi! I will start saving suitable containers now. In fact I have a 'cubit' (5 litres wine) which is from France and empty from the Christmas season, that may well do the trick so I will 'recycle' it for this purpose...

I made some more washing up liquid this weekend (see right hand menu re 'Cleaning') - 3 litres and poured it into 3 empty 2 pint plastic milk bottles. Lovely scent in the kitchen as you 'cook' it and let it cool!

The Big Ideas for 2009

Many apologies for the delay folks - Happy 2009 and I hope you had a great Christmas and January isn't too painful - both weather-wise and financially!

I am pleased to say that from our moneysaving / voucher earning activities etc - we were able to only spend £50 on food at Christmas. The rest of actual Christmas food and alcohol was paid for from Cashback Clicking (see right hand menu), surveys etc.

We also emptied our coppers and changed them up in the machine at Sainsburys - this gave us £12.50 worth which was great.

Individually, we had saved silver coins in piggy banks, and on changing these up, we had around £40 each, which paid for our night out on New Years Eve which makes it even better!

I thought I would start a post for ideas for the year that we could all benefit from - creative ideas to get us spending less, using less and saving more.

For now here are my plans of attack for 2009:

- Stop buying paper towel for the kitchen - cut up cloths and rags into wipes and simply wash these regularly. This should save us around £6 per year.

- Stop watching TV for one night of the week - this will be hard to apply in Jan/Feb but I am sure I can do it. Could get reading / tasks / cleaning and time with hubby. This will save us electric and maybe increase our knowledge through reading. Plus it's quality time - maybe just the radio on and chilling out.

- Less plastic bags - Ensure I always have my tote shopping bag so we don't pick up too many plastic bags. We do this already but still, always room for improvement. Any plastic bags we do pick up get used for our bathroom bin.

- Reduce food waste - Over 2008 we were so much more aware of throwing out food that had gone off. Having a slow cooker has helped alot as you can throw anything in pretty much. Plus we always write a proper shopping list before even entering the supermarket. Having a weekly plan on a wipe board for meals has also helped. So now what we throw in the bin is almost always peelings etc rather than wasted food - which I had started to visualise as pound coins...

What are your ideas for this year?

Making Liquid Soap

I'm on a roll! Yes, a couple of nights ago I used a £0.20p bar of soap, to create 2.5 litres of handwash - and it worked!

- One grated bar of soap (I used Castille, from the £0.99 store - 5 bars for £0.99)
- 2.5 litres of boiling water (maybe more, add if needed)
- Aromatherapy oils
- Jojoba oil or olive oil (if desired)

Pour grated soap into water, melt. Check next day and if still not liquid enough, remelt and add more water if needed. I used a potato masher to mash the liquid get it quite smooth!

At the point when it's cooled down add jojoba (or oilive oil, which you may already have), as well as some drops of your favourite essential oil. Do not do this whilst still hot as the oils will evaporate.

I used lime which I love for a handwash smell. I have also purchased soearmint, grapefruit, tea tree, jasmin and honeysuckle oils on ebay for my future projects involving soap and washing up liquid etc.

Next use a funnel and pour into handwash pumps or squeezy bottles (if you intend to use more as a shower gel)...

Might be a little messy, but for the same of some time, you can make enough for yourself and friends and family too. I found a nice bottle in a charity shop for £0.99p which I will fill and then seal with a cork and nice ribbon and a tag. The handwash will have to be quite liquid for this to work. Alternatively you could buy or re-use a squeezy bottle and put a homemade plastic label on. Might be a nice gift for someone, and saves them £2-£3. Plus less plastic, and less chemicals too - everyone wins!



So for £0.99p you could make 12.5 litres of handwash - makes you realise how much money and plastic is wasted by buying storebought all the time!

I also use this as shower/body wash - you could add jojoba oil or olive oil for extra luxury moisturising qualities.

My next project will be to make some washing up liquid - anyone have any deas? Do drop in and comment x

Clean, Clear and Crystal!

Today I’d like to focus on saving money on household cleaning. We used to use liquid tabs in each wash, without even thinking about it – very expensive! I then started to read up on reverting back to washing powder after reading a few posts on MoneySavingExpert and thought I would give it a go. The reason I had stopped using washing powder was the fact it left white marks, and I guess, the marketing for cute liquitabs had worked on my feeble mind… so pretty, so easy, no mess!

Once we switched back, I thought our savings stopped there – but after more reading and research, it seems folks cut their washing powder in half and top it up with half of soda crystals. I knew nothing of this but started to buy the stuff too – and it’s saved us a fortune! We now add half a measure of washing powder and half of the SC, this works a treat. As we live in a hard water area, it also softens the water which is good for the washing machine too.

More info can be found on the DriPack site:
http://www.dri-pak.co.uk/soda-crystals-for-laundry.html




I buy mine from Tesco online for roughly £0.50p for one KG and it lasts a long time, although this will vary of course as to how many washes your household does per week.

An excerpt from the above DriPack site:

“Soda Crystals should be used in every wash. Simply add the required amount to the detergent drawer, along with your usual washing powder, or directly in to the drum. Soda Crystals soften the water, so that less of your detergent is needed to do the water softening. This not only saves you money on detergent, but it will also help remove stains from your clothes and fabrics.

But the benefits don't stop there. Soda Crystals will help prevent limescale and other build up in your machine and hoses. Using Soda Crystals instead of biological washing powders, also helps minimise the impact on the environment.“

You can use SC all around your household from the washing machine, to cooking (!) and preserving colouring in your veg! And all for £0.50p – who knew! So get out there and spend (under) £0.50p for your wallet and the environment too…