Frugal Nail Care Ideas

Is your nail care routine frugal and beautiful enough for you and your lifestyle? Luckily, nail care products are not too expensive, except for acrylic nails which fell out of my budget and lifestyle long ago. 

My current frugal nail care regimen consists of these 2 principles:

1. I don't polish my fingernails except for special occasions

2. I keep my toenails polished pretty much all the time

This regimen proves to be frugal and beautiful enough for me and my lifestyle.  While I really do love the look of nicely polished fingernails (especially since there are SO many scrumptious nail colors out there!) the hassle and time of keeping polished fingernails looking good just isn't worth it to me.  I hate how polished nails look when the color starts to wear off the tips, and I just don't have the time to be fixing it and waiting for it to dry on a daily basis.

I wash dishes (without a dishwasher - poor me!), scrub toilets, have a garden and plants, scrape chicken poo from nesting boxes, put oil in my car (I was doing this WEEKLY until we finally got the car fixed)...you get the picture.  My lifestyle is rough on my fingernails, so NO polish most of the time is the best frugal option for me.

However, toenails are different - for me, anyway.  I don't know if it is because they are further from my eyes, but I don't notice the polish on my toes starting to wear off on the edges nearly as much as I notice it on my hands.  It seems my toes can stay looking pretty good without constant polish maintenance.  So I happily keep only my toenails polished and am happy with how cute they make me feel.  Call me silly, but polished toenails just make me feel feminine and pretty.

If I had to have a nicer look for my hands than my ‘a la naturel’ look, MY choice would be to use a clear, sheer, very light color or French manicure look, and remove it only once a week.  In fact, I would even give my fingers a break over the weekend if possible.  And I say ‘light’ color because it would be less noticeable if it wears away or chips on the ends of my nail tips.

I heard recently that Dr. Oz (LOVE that guy!) considers nail polish remover to be very toxic (even non-acetone types) and he recommends using remover no more than once a week, AND to do it outside because of the fumes.  Apparently he recommends that you repair your chips all week so that you only have to use the remover once a week.

I used polish remover a few days in a row recently, due to taking off the polish that I put on my daughter’s toes and fingers for a wedding we went to recently.  And then I used some on myself the following day.  The skin on my fingers that were holding the remover soaked cotton pads were dried to a flaky crunchy yuckiness by the day following, and stayed that way for days and days.  Lotion did not help the damage to my skin very much at all.

So, I believe Dr. Oz.  I will try to keep from using the remover more than once a week.

I haven’t been in the polish wearing market for my hands in quite awhile, so I haven’t been keeping up with the top coats that are available now, and how well they work.  Perhaps there have been great improvements in past few years.  I mean, look what mascaras can do with our lashes now!  :D  So, I am going to experiment with a few frugal brands of top coats (especially the fast-drying ones), and report how they work out for me.

Frugal and Fast Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe

We all want beautifully clean laundry, don't we?  But have you noticed how expensive laundry detergent can be?  Sheesh!  Well, I have been using my own homemade laundry detergent for several months now, and my family has been quite happy with it.  And it is VERY cheap.

I had been wanting to make my own laundry detergent for some time, but I kept procrastinating.  There are many recipes out there, and I was rather put off by the ones that sounded very time consuming and complicated - like the liquid detergents that you have to cook.  Who wants to do all that?

Well, I got a homemade laundry recipe from my friend Sandie (who teaches online cooking classes for kids BTW - check out her website if that sounds interesting).  Anyway, her recipe sounded SO EASY to make, so I tried it.

The Ingredients:

1. Borax - I just pick up a box (4 lbs 12 oz) of 20 Mule Team Borax at Walmart for $3 (though not all Walmart locations carry it) or at Albertsons for closer to $5.

2. Washing Soda - The only company I know of at this moment that makes this is Arm & Hammer, and it is called Super Washing Soda.  (This is not the same as baking soda.) My local Albertsons grocery store used to carry it, but alas, they have discontinued it!  I picked up several of the last boxes (3 lb 7 oz) of it for $1.50 each, though the regular price was about $3.  UPDATE: I just found a local supplier!  Ace Hardware stores in my area carries this for $3.99 a 3 lb 7 oz box.  Yay!

3. Laundry Soap - The brand I am currently using is called Zote, and can be found at Walmart, as well as Save-a-Lot, and some other local markets in my area, generally for about $1.  It is manufactured in Mexico.  I have a Mexican market locally that carries Zote in several scents and formulations, which is kind of nice, though I've only tried the regular pink flavor so far.

I have also used Fels Naptha soap, but I really want to try it some more to test how effective it is because I keep reading how great it is.  However, I cannot find a local source for this brand. UPDATE!: I just found that my local Ace Hardware store carries Fels Naptha for $1.40 per bar.  This is just a tad cheaper than the current SALE price at the online store Soaps Gone Buy that was the only place I knew that carried this brand.  But now I have a local supplier!  Yay!  So if you have any Ace Hardware Stores in your area, give them a call!

Directions: 

1. Grate or shred the soap, using a cheese grater with small holes. I do this in a big bowl, as it can get messy.  My friend's recipe calls for 1/2 bar of soap per batch, but the smell of the Zote is so overpowering to me that I only use 1/3 of a bar.

2. Measure out 1 cup of the Super Washing Soda

3. Measure out 1 cup of the Borax

4. Mix all together in a frugally snazzy container.  See how my Skippy Peanut Butter jar looks so lovely as my re-purposed laundry detergent container?  (When I use the pink Zote soap, it reminds me of those Hostess coconut pie thingies...)

5. YOU ONLY NEED 2 TBSP PER LOAD!  (Sorry for yelling, but this is rather exciting, don't you think?)  I keep a scoop inside the container for convenience (1/8 cup scoop = 2 TBSP).  I will often use 2 scoops (4 TBSP) for my larger loads.  It will not be sudsy, like commercial brands.  But don't worry, your laundry is getting clean.

So - How Much Money am I Actually Spending?

I spent:
Borax - $3
Washing Soda - $4 (I spent $1.50, but I will use the price that Ace quoted me)
Soap - $1
TOTAL COST: $8

Yield of each item:
Borax - 4 lb 12 oz box = 10 cups/batches
Washing Soda - 3 lb 7 oz box = 7 cups/batches
Soap - since I use 1/3 each, = 3 batches

To determine the cost of one batch of detergent:
Borax - $3 divided by 10 = 30 cents
Washing Soda - $4 divided by 7 = 58 cents
Soap - $1 divided by 3 = 34 cents
TOTAL COST FOR ONE BATCH:  $1.22

I scooped through my one batch of detergent to see how many loads of laundry I could wash with it - this will vary from person to person depending on how 'heaping' you fill your 1/8 cup measuring spoon - but mine came out to:  approximately 22 medium size loads, or 11 large loads

So, that would cost me:

$1.22 for 22 medium loads or 11 large loads:
about 11 cents for each large size load,  
and about 6 cents for each medium size load!

Not bad, huh?  I am quite happy with the price, and also quite happy with the cleaning job it does on our laundry.

Some Tips and Observations:

~ If your grater makes rather large shreds of soap, you may find the powders and soap separating a bit.  Be sure to shake up your container or scoop up even amounts of both when putting the detergent into the laundry.

~ The inside of your washing machine may develop a ring of scum after washing with this detergent for a bit.  I do buy commercial detergent once in awhile, and washing one load with commercial detergent removes the scum for me.

~ I have heard that using homemade laundry detergent will eventually turn your whites a dingy color.  Apparently the remedy to this is to use a product called 'bluing'.  I have yet to buy and try bluing, but I do plan to.  However, in the meantime I plan to keep some commercial detergent on hand (bought on sale of course!) JUST for my whites.

~ I have not yet done a lot of experimenting to see how clean everything actually gets, especially stains from my very messy children.  So, I still use Shout (my favorite stain treatment) for stains I notice before laundering.

Until next time, stay beautiful and frugal, my frugalicious beauties!