You’re Putting the Brown Sugar WHERE?!

No, naughty…hmm…well, close. In our ongoing adventure to save some money, this Saturday night and Sunday, we will continue to dig around our pantry for personal pampering.

You might want to pin your hair up. While we will make our skin glow and smell suspiciously like a cookie, you really don’t want this recipe in your hair. Messy!

So, since there is no sugar ration…yet,…I propose:

Brown Sugar Body Scrub

For 1 body:

1 & 1/2 firmly packed cups of brown sugar

1/2 cup oil (olive, corn, vegetable, etc)

few drops of vanilla extract – for the full cookie smell, of course

In a sit-next-to-the-tub, non breakable bowl, thoroughly mix the 3 ingredients into a paste.

Once your in the tub or shower, scoop the goop, as needed. Gently scrub, scrub,scrub. Avoid any rashes, broken skin or cuts. Also, it is a bit course for the face.

Ah, but the rest of your body…

Rinse and look at your skin glow! Oooo, your skin is so soft.

If you got a charge out of this, you might like: Recession Depression Cures or You Are Going To Do WHAT With That Egg?

Your Local Warehouse Book Sale-Heaven on Earth

Grand choruses of Handel’s Messiah sing in my head as I enter the warehouse book sale.

So it turns out that with a little search engine digging, you can find the distribution warehouses for various publishers. These warehouses are spread all over the country. Chances are there is at least one somewhere reasonably close to where you live.

Some are very organized. Others have huge, chaotic boxes filled with the full spectrum of topics.

Currently, my favorite is the Scholastic Warehouse Sale, ’cause I have a 6yr. trying develop his love for books. Last Xmas, Santa brought him a huge box filled with books. I suggested that Santa must have had a blast at the warehouse sale, too.

Once you get to your favorite publisher’s site, sign up for the sale and usually, there will be a printable coupon.

I know that Scholastic, for example, will actually allow you to sign up as a sale volunteer. Best part…you earn credits to spend at the sale. Four hours of volunteer work will trade for a nicely heavy box or two,filled with your choices of reading material, posters, weird little pencils, etc.

Also, the sale usually lasts an entire week, so everyone can find a time to go.

Wonderful!

Trimming the Fat-Part 3: Sorting It All Out

Deep breath. This is probably the easiest step, so don’t give up now.

If you missed them, click here for part 1 & part 2 of our Trimming the Fat adventure.

Okay, moving on…

Look at some of the different household budget templates and decide which looks best to you.

The first one I ever used is from Kiplinger Just plug in your category totals. Done. It’s that simple.

Here are some choices from Google.

You might want to try a free online money management site like Mint. Very cool! There are others, too. Check with your favorite search engine. Read some reviews and make your choice.
The online money management sites are super easy. Sign up. Enter your accounts. Let the computer do the work. Just don’t forget to track your cash spending.

My computer, my ancient browser or perhaps, my lousy dial up service prevent me from using Mint.com. Ah, so sad. I ended up using the Kiplinger Budget worksheet to guide my own spread sheet design.

Oh, I break it down way more than they do.

Plus, I have pie charts. Nothin’ says overspending like a big hunk of pie chart.