soapylovedeb/Flickr
I have an intense itch to make my own soap, partly because my past attempts to clean with vinegar and baking soda were so successful. If I can make my own cleaning products for less that work, why not?
My sister used to own a soap business so I know making bar soap is a huge ordeal that involved vats of olive oil and lye, a dangerous chemical.
But there is another option. Laundry detergent, which I am also low on. My friend Matt Jabs of FiveCentNickel made his own laundry detergent and reports “I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW INCREDIBLY FAST & EASY IT WAS.” (His caps, not mine.)
Matt’s recipe calls for 55 ounce box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, a 76 ounce box of 20 Mule Team Borax, and 10 pack of 4.5 ounce bars of Ivory Bar Soap (or another cheap bar soap.)
I plan to add a few drops of essential lavender oils to give my clothes a nice scent. I hope to pick up these ingredients later this week and will let you know how my first soap-making adventure goes!
Loading ...UPDATE: Reader Pauline recommends an alternative to Ivory:
The best soap to use is Fels Naphta, a bit more expensive but worth it. Where does Matt purchase the Washing Soda? Thanks
Rabbi Wendy has a great tip for home made cleaners.
The most amazing and effective book of recipes for household products is “Clean House, Clean Planet” by Karen Logan. It is still in print, with plenty of copies on Amazon. The recipe for spray cleaner on page 85 is the best spray cleaner I’ve ever used, hands down. Logan is so thorough in her explanations. She even sells bottles for the finished products. It’s a fun read, even if you don’t make any of the cleaning products. Check it out!
I went ahead and checked Amazon, which has Clean House, Clean Planet for $10.76 (orig. $15). I might buy it if my library does not have it.
SECOND UPDATE: Susan warns:
I made this detergent a few months ago, a word of caution, my dark purple towels faded a little using it. I now use it for whites and light colors but not black or really dark colors. Also the arm and hammer super washing soda is sold at Albertson’s. It is the only place around the valley I could find it.
You’ve heard of Groupon, right? It’s a group coupon site that offers city-specific discounts for restaurants, spas, and gyms. My friends at MainStreet.com recently wrote about a new Groupon rival, or imitator, depending on your perspective:
The success of their site has spawned a fair share of imitators and, as far as Groupon is concerned, blatant rip offs.
The most recent example of this is SocialBuy. Like Groupon, SocialBuy partners primarily with hospitality businesses to offer deals on a ticking clock and is founded on the notion of collective buying. This might not seem so egregious if the layout of the site itself did not also appear to be an exact replica of Groupon (judge for yourself.) When we brought this site to the attention of Groupon’s CEO and founder, Andrew Mason, he did not seem pleased.
“We have a patent on all of this so everything they are doing is illegal,” he said.
What’s the upside for you and me? Keep reading the story.
Here are the latest and greatest deals from my WalletPop blog.
Get 25 percent off at Borders with a coupon that ends today, Feb. 8, 2010.
Snag this Old Navy coupon code and get 20 percent off your purchase online, with some caveats, through Feb. 18, 2010.
I’m sitting pretty with this Michaels 40 percent off coupon, good through Feb. 20, 2010.
Buying luggage, travel accessories, or leather products? Check out this $20 off $100 coupon code for Luggage Pros.
Scoops of ice cream are just 99-cents at Baskin Robbins when you buy one scoop to start.
gypsy photography/Flickr
UPDATE: BargainBabeLA.com is up and running. I apologize for the downtime. Thanks for your pateience. ~Julia
This week’s $5 Amazon gift card goes to The Unethical Man for sharing three great deals. Each Thursday I chose one person who shared great deals on BargainBabeLA.com (useful and great money-savers are my favorites) to win the prize.
Educators can get into Universal Studios for free through March 31. Thanks for sharing this deal, The Unethical Man!
A new indoor play center in Woodland Hills called The Enchanted Castle has a discounted play rate only for BBLA readers.
Get into the LA Times Travel show for free with a coupon code here.
Pretty soon you’ll be able to get 100 free eBay listings, shared by The Unethical Man
There are two big consignment sales coming up in Santa Clarita. The first is March 5-7 for baby/toddler/kids gear/toys/clothes and the second is for women March 12-14. Mark your calenders!
Reader Marie shared three little-known secrets about saving at Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Munch on a free hamburger at Jonny Rockets through Feb. 14, 2010 when you buy an entree and a drink.
Looking to get organized? Get free tip sheets, ebooks, and podcasts to turn yourself into a neat freak, shared by RebeccaQuinn.
Prepare to get in line for a free grandslam breakfast at Denny’s on Feb 9, from 6 a.m to 2 p.m. Thanks for sharing, The Unethical Man!
Get a free ski lift ticket to Mammoth Mountains when you test drive a new Ford, shared by amygrahek.
EmergencyCafe.com
Months ago I decided to compile my own emergency supply medical kit because I thought it would be cheaper than buying a pre-made kit. Guess what? I still don’t have one. Now I wish I had just bought one because I’m still not prepared.
Emergencycafe.com is one place to buy an emergency kit. Owner Cari emailed me and offered a special 10 percent off discount just for BargainBabe.com readers that is good through March 31, 2010. Use code BB10. First aid kits start at $5 and a one-person emergency kits is $65. Cari also sells bigger kits for families and huge kits for the workplace. There’s also random stuff like a fire ladder, hand crank radio, and glow sticks.
Cari’s site has a checklist of what to put in your disaster kit and she shared 13 tips in case of an emergency.
1. Remain calm.
2. Have an emergency kit that includes food, water, first aid, search and rescue equipment, lighting, comfort and sanitation products to sustain each person for at least 3 days.
3. Keep all your important documents such as insurance (including medical, home and car), birth certificates, doctor’s name, medical records and passport in one place for easy access.
4. Keep cash on hand in small bills.
5. Make an evacuation plan with your family. Discuss it and practice it once every 6 months to a year.
6. Never hang anything over a baby’s crib.
7. Have an emergency kit in your car.
8. If you feel an earthquake starting and you are in your house, get over in the corner of the room away from windows, large mirrors and shelves.
9. The recommended amount of water you should keep on hand is one gallon, per person, per day.
10. It is important to know where your home’s shut off valves are for your gas and water. Know how to turn the gas and water off at your home. Keep a gas shut off tool next to your gas line.
11. Know the evacuation plan at your child’s school.
12. Teach children how and when to call 9-1-1, police or fire department and which radio station to tune to for emergency information.
13. To sterilize water, bring to a rapid boil for 5 – 10 minutes. Let cool.
You can buy some of these supplies at the 99 Cents Only Store, which featured flashlights, batteries, hand sanitizer, and rubbing alcohol in a recent ad.
Here are the latest and greatest coupons from my WalletPop blog.
Get a coupon for $5 of free make up samples from E.L.F.
Get a free lotion sample from Perricone MD, which claims to take years off, when you sign up for their newsletter.
If you have a Kindle, iPod, or iPhone, you can download a free ebook copy of “Talk of the Town” by Lisa Wingate.
Get 20 percent off Kate Spade’s purses, shoes, and accessories online now through Feb. 28, 2010.
Get 100 blooms for $20 (plus $10 delivery on Valentine’s Day) from ProFlowers with a coupon code here. Ends today, Feb. 5, 2010!
MyShoes.com
I get pitches to write about new websites allllll the time. The problem is most of them are just new versions of something that has already been done.
Not MyShoes.com. This site rocks and is a serious threat to my budget. Here’s why.
MyShoes.com lets you customize your search for shoes and pairs results with coupons from PromotionalCode.com. So you not only find shoes you like, but you get a good deal.
There are six ways to customize your shoe search, including by heel size, color, brand, style, features, and price range. I’m considering buying a new pair of black boots, seeing how my round-toe flat black boots are going out of style and my cowboy boots are great for certain occasions but not as versatile as I would like. I’m looking for a classic, pointy toe black leather knee or calf boot with a low heel.
MyShoe search results included a pair of rsvp boots with a wrinkled leg for $67, Aerosole synthetic leather boots for $70, an Anne Klein pair for $90, and a Vince Camuto boot with a chunky heel for $110. Great options among the 97 results!
There are drawbacks to the site, however. You can’t exclude certain features. For instance, when I searched for boots I got a lot of results for shorty boots, which I am not interested in. I hadn’t checked the shorty boot feature, but since they fall under boots they appeared in my results.
The site just launched in November, so there are a few kinks. If you sort the results or change how many results you see per page, for example, the site does not save these settings if you click on a particular boot then return to all the search results. That’s annoying.
The site compares shoe prices at Zappos, ShoeBuy.com, Pipperlime, Nordstrom’s, Macy’s, Heels.com but only lists the top few prices. I wish I could see all the results so I would know the range in prices the shoe is selling for. Other than that, I found MyShoes to be easy to use. Maybe a little too easy.
I’m not sure when Spa Week morphed into Spa Month, but it has. Spas across the country, from LA to NY, are offering steep discounts to get customers, especially new ones, in the door in February. Start looking for spa deals near you. Here are a few I found.
At Lauren’s Salon Spa in Los Angeles you can get one of the following treatments for $50: 60 Min De-Stressing European Facial, Waxing Package including Full Leg and Bikini Wax, Sassy Highlights for the Holidays, or Wash, Cut, Condition and Blow-Dry. That’s a great price for LA!
At Le Petite Rose in San Francisco you can get a 50 min relaxation massage for $55, normally $65, 60 min relaxation massage for $65, normally $75, or chocolate rose facial for $58, normally $68.
At Salon Roi in D.C. you can get a color or partial highlights with blow dry, or any 50 min facial or 50 min massage for $50, normally $90 – $163, or manicure and pedicure for $35, normally $58.
At the Skin Therapie Spa in Coral Gables, FL, you can get a Valentine’s spa package including a rose aromatherapy facial, full body swedish massage, and manicure and pedicure for $165.
At the Veria Wellness Center in Chicago chose from 10 classes including yoga, pilates, meditation, or mommy and me for $10, or get a 50 min signature facial or massage for $50 each.
You can find the deals I mentioned above and look for ones near you on this page.
Thanks, Tina!
KellySchott/Flickr
This latest story about saving comes from a loyal reader, my little sister!
So my phone crapped out on me today, and its no longer under warranty. I went to the AT&T store to see what I could do about getting a new one. They gave me three horrible options: pay $120 to get a new phone under my insurance or since I was eligible for an upgrade, or spend $199.99 for the phone I already had, or spend the same amount for the Blackberry Bold 9700.
I decided that it was just to much since I bought my Bold on sale for $99.99, and that I would take my chances and get a cheap to-go phone and wait to see if they had a sale.
I headed over to Walmart to grab a to-go phone to tide me over and I heard angels sing when I went to the counter and saw that they were selling the Blackberry Bold 9700 with an upgrade for $78.88.
I thought after seeing the AT&T prices I had hit the goldmine. I snatched the phone and proceeded to buy it. After the deed was done, I called my husband to brag about how much money I had saved. $122.00 isn’t anything to sneeze at, right?
Well he looked up the phone on Walmart.com and proceeded to tell me it was free with an upgrade (when you renew your 2-year contract) online!
Needless to say tomorrow I will be back at Walmart seeing if they will refund my money and if not I will just return it and buy it online.
The moral of the story? Check prices in stores, at rivals, and online before you buy.
Tips:
- If you find a deal online, stores will occasionally price-match their own online sites if you have a print out or can show them the price on your smart phone.
- If you want to negotiate, ask for the manger and go when the store is not busy so s/he has time to hear you out.
- Amazon.com has great prices for cell phones, but the deals almost always come with a 2-year contract.
Related:
Get out of your cell phone contract
Save money on your cell: family plans
Joe Nelson, the guy behind FlyerSide.com, took My Nitty Gritty Grocery List and ran with it. Thank goodness! I never had enough time to devote to comparing and updating my list of grocery prices. The idea behind FlyerSide and MNGGL is if you don’t know what a “good” price is for something, you’re more likely to over spend.
Joe launched his site after he and his fiance started comparing grocery prices and get the best deals. “The handwritten list soon became a spreadsheet, and the spreadsheet became a web page,” he emailed me. His friends egged him on and he now posts sales from around the country.
When you visit Flyerside, the first thing to do is enter your zip code. The site will show sale prices for individual items sold at stores near you. The more stars an item has, the better deal it is. Five stars means stock up, 2.5 stars means the price is average, and zero stars means buy later.
The site also tells you how many days are left in the sale, gives a description of the item, and shares its price. One less developed feature of the site is recipes for meals based on what’s on sale.
The goal of FlyerSide is to help you to decide what to buy and where to shop. It’s a handy tool – if sales and prices are posted for your neighborhood – that will save you from doing these comparisons on your own. And that means saving money.
Related:
Buying and trading grocery coupons
Adventures in extreme couponing
Shopping at Costco without paying for membership
Get discounted ski lift tickets at ski resorts across the country on Superbowl Sunday. If you don’t care much about the game, like me, this is worth looking into.
Here’s a Walgreens photo discount for 40 percent off through Feb. 6, 2010. Not bad!
Donate a gently used blanket and get a Sears coupon for 10-20 percent off!
A new month means online coupon sites are re-stocking their supplies.
Freebies!
Get free business cards, mugs, or address labels through Vista Print. You pay for shipping, however.
Snag a free sample of emergency food when you sign up for Prepare then Share’s e-newsletter.
Get a free Pampers Cruisers diapers when you sign up an e-newsletter from P&G, which makes Pampers products.
Denny’s is giving away free grandslam breakfasts (like they did last year) on Feb. 9 from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. If you watch the Superbowl, you’ll see their commercial announcing the giveaway.
Check out all the coupons and freebies on my WalletPop blog.
My frugal friends at Savings.com shared some fabulous coupons tailored for Valentine’s Day.
Get 20 percent off all orders at FTD. Expiration date unknown.
Exclusive! Get 20 percent off sitewide at SkinStore. Expires Feb. 14, 2010.
Exclusive! Get 15 percent off a purchase of $39.99 at ProFlowers. Expiration date unknown.
Get $15 off $100, $30 off $150, or $75 off $250 at Victoria’s Secret. Expires Feb. 16, 2010.
Exclusive! Get $10 Off $100 at Zales. Expires Feb. 14, 2010.
krossbow/Flickr
I’m not sure if getting six colds this flu season makes me more or less capable of writing this post. Yes, I get sick a lot, but that means I’m always testing home remedies to get better on the cheap. Either way, I know first hand that getting sick eats up valuable time off and costs a lot of money. Here are a few remedies to recover your health.
Note, I am not a medical professional and this is not intended as medical advice!
1. Avoid sick people. Seems simple but it is hard to pull off because sick people hide their illnesses like the plague.
2. Drink orange juice or take Vitamin C. I like the powder Emergen-C packets but they are expensive.
3. Get extra sleep. Even if it’s only 30 minutes, extra rest always helps.
4. Wash your hands. My doctor told me last month that it is the vigorous rubbing that washes off bad bacteria, not that I’m giving up water and soap just yet.
5. Drink tea. You can make pots of super cheap tea with fresh slices of ginger, lemon, and honey. Tasty!
6. Avoid extra sugar. Not sure how true this one is because organge juice has a lot of sugar in it, as does honey (obviously).
7. Gargle with salt water. Years ago my doctor told me to use hot water (though nothing close to what would burn your mouth) because the heat takes away tonsil soreness temporarily.
8. Rinse out your nasal passages with a Neti pot, which is becoming more popular thanks to Oprah. Running salt water through your nose to loosen mucus is not fun, but it’s better than getting a bacterial infection due to a clogged nose!
9. Make a heating pad for sore backs. Get a small towel very damp then microwave it for 30 seconds. It should be pipping hot. VERY carefully apply it to a sore or aching back, making sure that it does not burn the skin. Add more water and re-heat as needed.
What do you do to stay healthy? Do you make your own throat lozenges? Do you eat fresh garlic? Do you use a cloth hanky instead of disposable tissues? I’d really like to try your suggestions!
UPDATE: Readers shared a lot of great suggestions, some of which I’m pasting below.
Jenni Porter has an unusual suggestion:
When anyone in my house (four kids and 2 adults) has the sniffles, we swear by sticking cotton swabs in the hot/warm salt water and swabbing out the snot in our noses. Salt shrinks nasal passages and kills bacteria: excellent for snotty noses that might lead to something more sinister. NO ONE in our family has been on antibiotics since I started doing this last spring at the onset of the Swine flu.
Carol Lee said:
I’m not a medical professional either, but I highly recommend Echinacea w/Goldenseal capsules at the first sign of a sore throat or cold. Three times this flu season, I’ve felt as if a cold was coming on, so I popped just one of these capsules and Voila! no cold! It’s not recommended to take them continuously, just take one if you think you might be catching a cold. I hope it works for you as well as it has for me. The brand I take is NatureMade – 305 mg Active. PS I always wait for a BOGO sale to buy my supplements, especially since you don’t have to buy two of the same thing.
Marie has a simple technique for office workers:
In the office I started using a headset on my office phone. It has cut down on colds to only 1 a year ! People think nothing of picking up a handset to talk but I have never had anyone put on my headset to use my phone. Also wipe down my keyboard and desk area with disinfecting wipes during the day.
Living Doll knows of something better than the Neti pot:
Nice tips! I want to add that the Netipot is kind of old school. A better design is the Nasal Rinse : http://www.neilmed.com/usa/sinusrinse.php. A friend of mine recommended this to me as I occasionally getting pounding sinus headaches. This will give you relief within 1-2 uses and doesn’t require taking any medication (which I try to avoid). They are pretty cheap and you can easily clean it after using, tuck it away and re-use.
Okay folks, here’s the scoop. My photo shoot with Better Homes and Gardens yesterday was the real deal! I’ve been flooded with questions from readers and friends about the experience so I’ve compiled answers to the most frequently asked questions (and a few I made up).
Q: Were you actually in a magazine photo shoot?
A: Fo shiz. (See above.)
Q: Did you get to keep the clothes?
A: No, sadly. All the clothes, shoes, and accessories I wore were samples on loan from various clothes makers, which make advance copies of fashions then show them off to retailers, who submit orders. None of the stuff I wore is for sale right now, but when the magazine comes out in July the clothes will be in stores and the outfits will look fresh!
Q: What was the shoot like?
Insane. Surreal. Tons of fun. The whole thing was like something you’d see on TV. There was a hair stylist named Mitch that made my hair curly in a few snips. When he blew it out I was rockin’ the original Charlie’s Angels look! Anthea the makeup stylist shared her drugstore make up secrets while doing me up. The before and after pictures are remarkable!
After getting my hair and make up done, I was a dress up toy for a stylist named Jonny and his assistant (see me and Jonny at right). “Try this on,” he’d say. I put it on. “Oh no, that’s not right.” I take it off. “Try this on,” he’d say. I put it on. “That’s cute but not right.” I take it off. “Try this…”
When he was satisfied with the skirt or dress, we’d move onto tops, then jackets/sweaters, necklackes, bracelets, and shoes. You don’t know how many pairs of shoes I tried on!
Q: Tell me more about the shoes.
A: Well, okay. There were dozens of pairs all lined up. Mostly heels but some flats. Strappy, peep toe, classic pumps, espadrilles, platforms, you name it. I tried on a lot of pairs because they were so cute!
Q: Did they plan the outfits ahead of time?
A: No, but they borrowed dozens of dresses, skirts, tops, jackets, sweaters, and shorts from Talbots, Banana Republic, Ali Ro, Old Navy, Nautica, and others that fit the theme of the issue, which comes out in July. There was a lot of red, white, and blue, folks.
Q: Did all the clothes fit?
A: No! A lot of them were too small or too big.
Q: How do they make everything fit perfectly, then?
A: Pins! “Now you know why everything fits in a magazine,” the stylist, Jonny, said to me. “Because it’s all pinned.” (He’s fixing something on my top below.) Once clothes were pinned I couldn’t bend down so they put my shoes on for me. Bizarre.
Q: Did you get naked on set?
A: No, there was a make-shift changing area with fake walls and a few racks of clothes that I changed in. At first, Jonny and his assitant Becky left every time they asked me to put something on, but pretty soon I was stripping down to my undies and bra in front of them. I didn’t care, and there were so many outfits to try on!
Q: What happened after they dressed you?
A: The stylist and his assistant would lead me onto the set, where the main stylist for the magazine, a gorgeous woman named Amy, would give her approval (actually, once she sent us back for an outfit that was too immature). A photographer and his assistant would fiddle with the lights, the hair stylist would run on set to fluff my hair, and the make up stylist would freshen my lip gloss. Then the photographer would say, “We’re ready,” and start taking pictures of me.
Q: Did someone really come on set and fluff your hair?
A: Yes, about 72 times. Mitch always wanted to make my hair look better. You can tell we had a lot of fun, below.
Q: Was everyone a total fashion snob a la Devil Wears Prada?
A: No, everyone was super friendly and made me feel at home.
Q: What did your set look like?
A: A super cool version of my office with a sleek Mac laptop (I used a Dell), a clear chair (at home mine is on loan from the dining room table), and a fashion manequin (um, I suppose this correlates to my faded red courdorouy chair).
Q: Did they feed you?
A: Yes. The shoot was catered and the food was uber-healthy: yogurt, berries, and OJ when I arrived at 9:30. Lunch was spinach salad, asparagus soup, sauteed brocolli, veggie patties, and duck over beets and grains. I didn’t dare touch the flourless chocolate cake before squeezing into the clothes, but I did have ice cream to celebrate after dinner.
Q: When can we see the pictures?
A: Check out the July issue of Better Homes and Gardens!
Q: So you’re like, famous now?
A: No. I’m still my old self. And tomorrow I will go back to writing about saving money. I promise!
The grand prize winners from my week of reader giveaways to celebrate BargainBabe.com’s 1-year anniversary are in!
- Christine from Los Angeles won the 8GB iPod Nano in her color choice, courtesy of Savings.com, a great site for retail coupons.
- LaKeita from Powder Springs, GA from the $100 Sephora card, courtesy of Friendgiftr.com, which sells gift cards through Facebook that you can use at multiple retailers
- Angela from Long Beach from the $50 gift card to Goldstar.com, a great place to get discounted concert, theater, and event tickets
- Janice from Northridge won a Bargain Babe hot pink T-shirt
- Cynthia from Valencia won a BargainBabe.com notepad, calculator and mouse pad
- Doreen from San Fernando won a copy of “The best of cheapskate monthly” by Mary Hunt
- Susan from Encino, CA won a copy of “TheSmartestWay to Save” by Samuel Freshman and Heidi Clingen
If you won, expect your prize to arrive in the next two weeks. Thanks to everyone who participated by reading BargainBabe.com! We have giveaways of personal fiance books every Tuesday and have monthly prizes as well. Just make sure you are signed up for my daily or weekly email list.
