Tightwad Tips for Cyber Tightwad
Friday, October 17, 2003
Frugality is not Deprivation
Since I do a lot of media interviews talking about frugality in general and frugal fun in particular, I get asked some off-the-wall questions. And one thing I've noticed: a number of reporters just don't "get it" that you can have a fabulous quality of life and it doesn't have to cost much.
They think frugality means sitting in a cold, dark house, cutting rubber bands in half to make more rubber bands and washing out filthy, greasy plastic bags.
I explain that while I see value in frugality, I'm much more interested in saving their listeners or readers $500 to $1000 on their next fabulous vacation than I am in saving them a tenth of a cent by doubling the size of their rubber band collection (hey--I seem to get all I need from buying broccoli anyway!)
What I say over and over again is that frugality is not deprivation. Not only don't I feel deprived, but my frugal lifestyle allows me to travel more, to see more live entertainment, to enjoy better quality food both in my own home and on the road, to enjoy the pleasures of elegant artwork and fine craft items; it's just that I've learned how to do all these things without spending much (or sometimes, any) money.
People who are frugal are often saving for some large goal: a house, a college education, a trip around the world. If they start resenting the savings, they'll stop saving. But if they learn not only to save for their goals, but to have a great deal of fun doing it, they're way ahead of the game.
And yes, the "pleasure of the hunt"--finding a real bargain--is part of the fun. But the other fun is the memories of the fabulous vacation, the exquisite sound of the concert where you got in free while others had to pay, the gourmet spread that cost you 1/5 of what the person at the next table paid (and was just as satisfying).
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Cater Your Own Party--For $1-$2 Per Person
From Frugal Fun Monthly Tips (Sign up below!)
By Shel Horowitz
Commercial catering is expensive. It would be unusual to get a meal for less than $10 per person, and not unheard of to pay $60. When I entertain, I cater it myself--cheaply and well. An example: the book release party for The Penny-Pinching Hedonist, held in a local library. I didn't know how many people to cook for, and no one ever goes away hungry from my events! So I made a ton of food: I fed 70 people at the party and had enough left over to have fed another 70. My family ate the leftovers for three weeks. Cost: about $100.
The secret is to think about foods that are filling, interesting, easy to prepare, and cheap. I also find that spicy foods often stretch farther. My menu included: a European-style pasta salad with vegetables, capers, a few sun-dried tomatoes, and just a little cheese; an Asian-style pasta salad with rice noodles, Japanese mushrooms, snow peas, ginger, and hot pepper; houmous made from scratch (starting by soaking dried chickpeas a few days ahead), cut up carrots and celery with several dips, bags of chips, soda and ice tea, and I forget what all else
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In-Home Gourmet Meals for Pennies
From Frugal Fun Monthly Tips (Sign up below!)
By Shel Horowitz
We've talked about great restaurant meals every now and then--and you can have a great meal at home, too--far more cheaply than even the cheapest restaurant, and often without very much labor.
Consider this fabulous dish I cooked for my family of 4 last week:
half a pound of Thai rice noodles (60 cents)
a handful of dried Shitakii mushrooms (~15 cents--I buy them for about $12 a pound from Asian grocery stores)
one pound of extra-firm tofu ($1.35)
a tablespoon of all-natural peanut butter (~20 cents)
a teaspoon of Thai curry paste (~10 cents)
juice from half a fresh lime (17 cents)
perhaps a cup of soymilk (~25 cents)
dash each of soy sauce and sesame oil (~10 cents combined)
Total cost of the ingredients was approximately $2.92, or 73 cents per person.
I soaked the dried mushrooms an hour ahead, boiled water and poured it over the noodles, cut the tofu in cubes, made a sauce from the peanut butter, curry paste, soymilk, lime juice, soy sauce, and oil, drained the noodles, and combined it all. With a raw vegetable salad, it was our entire dinner (ok, I confess: I left some unflavored tofu and noodles out for my 6 year old son, who had them straight with soy sauce).
Total labor time, other than pouring water over the mushrooms and walking away for a while, ten minutes. And everybody loved it! It was as good as many meals I've had in good Thai restaurants
Pastas, grains, tofu, dried beans, fresh vegetables in season, winter squash, potatoes... the choices for cheap, healthy and flavorful main ingredients is almost endless. Combine them with inexpensive flavor bases and small amounts of specialty ingredients, and you'll never get bored. I have dozens of great dishes I can make in half an hour or less!
Return to the Frugal Fun Tips Archives
Preview Shel Horowitz's Penny Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty with a Peasant's Pocketbook
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Turn Your Picnic into a Work of art!
You can go a lot farther than hamburgers, hot dogs, and potato salad in your picnics this summer. It's easy to make or buy inexpensive special meals, serve them elegantly, and make them memorable - even outdoors.
First of all, think about * how * you'll serve. It's really not a lot of extra effort to pack a bag with simple but attractive reusable plates (made of unbreakable plastic), a couple of small candlesticks with some nice tapers to go in them, perhaps a frosty cold bottle of something wonderful., with glasses to match - and, of course, a tablecloth.
Next, the menu: It's easy to take a few cents worth of something a bit out of the ordinary and use it to make a mundane dish into something exotic and wonderful. A few easy possibilities:
* Broil or grill a handful of gourmet mushrooms, some garlic, and a chunk of sweet red pepper. Cut it all into thin strips and serve over pasta.
* Mix up a sauce with peanut butter, soy sauce, Chinese sesame oil, and fresh ginger. Marinate fresh vegetables and some extra-firm tofu overnight. Serve in flour tortillas for Oriental fajitas, or in pita sandwiches accompanied by store-bought stuffed grape leaves for a Greek twist.
* Buy a perfectly ripe avocado. Spread it over a hearty rye bread and top with gouda or brie cheese.
* Bring a jar of curry paste along. Mix it into a rice pilaf, or spread it on cold-cut sandwiches instead of mustard.
Just a word of warning: when your friends and neighbors find out how good your picnics are, you may get awfully popular!
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Thursday, October 16, 2003
Make your own hand cream
1/4 cup distilled(bottled) water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon borax powder (20 muleteam)
3 Tablespoons beeswax, grated (packed)
1/2 Cup of any oil (olive works fine)
20 drops essential oil of choice, vanilla
first: heat water, extract and borax until borax is dissolved. This can be done on the stove or in the microwave.
Second: Melt oils and wax together in separate container. I suggest a small saucepan for this. Don't get it to hot. You can pull it off stove when it is almost melted and stir till it finishes melting.
Then mix the two containers together and whisk, whisk, whisk. Put into clean jar(s) or bottle(s) and enjoy.
This makes a lovely cream and is a good project for older children.
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Home made sport drink (Gatorade)
1 pkg any flavor UNSWEETENED Koolaid
8 tbsp sugar (or 10 packets of sweetener for sugar free drink)
3/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp salt substitute (that contains potassium chloride)
2 qts water
Sodium is 110 mg and potassium is 38 mg per 8 oz serving. Cost is about 30¢ per 2 qts - Compare to about $3 for 2 qts of Gatorade.
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Lavender Body Bars
1 ounce shea butter
1/2 ounce avocado oil
1/2 ounce jojoba oil
.07 ounce beeswax
10 drops lavender essential oil
# Clear enough space in your freezer to hold the mold you are using. Measure all ingredients except essential oil in the heat proof cup and a hot water bath to completely melt the beeswax into the oils.
# Remove the cup using a pot holder to prevent burning your hands. Stir the mixture with a pop sickle stick to make sure all of the wax is melted. The melted mixture will be very hot!
# Before adding the essential oil, allow the mixture to cool for about 5 minutes, and then add the essential oil. Stir to incorporate.
# Carefully pour the still hot mixture into small molds (I use 1/4 ounce heart shaped molds with roses in relief) and place immediately in the freezer to harden. After about 15 minutes, pop them out of the mold and wrap in wax paper or a small plastic baggie between uses. You can use one immediately by warming it between your palms to transfer the moisturizer to your palms, then apply to dry skin rubbing gently yet firmly. You can also cup the bar in your palm and apply directly to skin. The warmth from your body will slowly melt the bars to moisturize your skin. Yum!!
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Vinegar Kills Bacteria, Mold and Germs
Adapted from the "Care2 Ask Annie" newsletter.
Vinegar is a mainstay of the old folk recipes for cleaning, and with good reason. The vim of the vinegar is that it kills bacteria, mold, and germs.
Simple Solution:
Heinz company spokesperson Michael Mullen references numerous studies to show that a straight 5 percent solution of vinegar—such as you can buy in the supermarket—kills 99 percent of bacteria, 82 percent of mold, and 80 percent of germs (viruses). He noted that Heinz can't claim on their packaging that vinegar is a disinfectant since the company has not registered it as a pesticide with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). However, it seems to be common knowledge in the industry that vinegar is powerfully antibacterial. Even the CBS news show 48 Hours had a special last December with Heloise reporting on tests from The Good Housekeeping Institute that showed this.
Just like antibiotics, common disinfectants found in sponges and household sprays may contribute to drug resistant bacteria, according to researchers of drug resistance at Tufts New England Medical Center. Furthermore, research at the Government Accounting Office shows that many commercial disinfectants are ineffective to begin with, just like antibiotics.
Keep a clean spray bottle filled with straight 5 percent vinegar in your kitchen near your cutting board, and in your bathroom, and use them for cleaning. I often spray the vinegar on our cutting board before going to bed at night, and don't even rinse, but let it set overnight. The smell of vinegar dissipates within a few hours. Straight vinegar is also great for cleaning the toilet rim. Just spray it on and wipe off.
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Make Your Own Vanilla Extract
HomeMade Vanilla Extract tastes much better than store-bought, and it is very easy to make at home.
I have heard that the imitation vanilla that is sold in our supermarkets is nothing more than a by-product from petroleum companies. Instead of being disposed of, it is sold to the food industry for consumption. I do not know if this is true, but it just gives me one more reason to make my own.
Making real vanilla is fun and easy. The only ingredients needed are vanilla beans and alcohol. I have several recipes for making vanilla, and each one calls for a different type of alcohol, and varying amounts of vanilla bean.
For a strong extract, use a high proof of alcohol and scrape the seeds from the bean. For a weaker extract, use a lesser proof of alcohol and soak beans intact.
Here are a three different methods for making your extract:
1. Place one vanilla bean into a pint of vodka. Shake daily for two weeks.
*Strain if desired, and bottle for storage.
2. Scrape the seeds from three vanilla beans and place them into a bottle of dark rum. Place the pods in the rum as well. Let sit for three weeks, shaking occasionally.
*Strain if desired, and bottle for storage.
3. Place 1/2 cup vodka or white tequila into small saucepan, and heat until it smokes but isn't boiling. Break 2 vanilla beans into pieces and place into bottle or jar. Pour the alcohol into the bottle and cover tightly. Let sit for a week, shaking frequently.
*Strain if desired, and bottle for storage.
*Use a very fine strainer, coffee filter, or paper towel to strain.
HINT:To save money, you can grow your own vanilla orchids and collect the seed pods, or reuse the vanilla bean(s) for another batch of extract.
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Hauntingly Frugal Tips!
Deviled eyeballs - Add green olives with pimentos in the center to deviled eggs.
Radioactive Juice - Mix equal parts Mountain Dew and blue Kool-Aid.
Toxic Juice - Add some green food coloring to lemonade for a spooky color.
Bloody eyeballs - Boil cherry tomatoes for 30 seconds. Allow them to cool; then peel skin.
Fake blood- Mix 2/3 cup white corn syrup, 1 tsp. red food coloring, 2-3 drops blue food coloring to darken and 1 squirt dish soap.
Brains -scramble eggs with green, yellow and blue food coloring.
Witches Brew - add dry ice to punch - it adds lots of steam
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Peppermint Lip Balm
Keep those lips soft and kissable!
1 T Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline)
1 tsp Parafin
several drops Peppermint Extract
Melt Vanilla & Parafin. (I use a tart burner) Then add extract and pour into balm pot. You can use any type of extract. And also add a couple of drops red food coloring if you want color. But it will stain your fingers red. Experiment & enjoy!
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Make your own SLIME!
• Two mixing bowls
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Glue
• Borax
• Green food coloring
• Water
Step 1:
Mix together 3/4 cup warm water, 1 cup glue and several drops of green food coloring in the first bowl.
Step 2:
In the second bowl, mix together 4 teaspoons borax and 1 1/3 cups warm water.
Step 3:
Pour the contents of the first bowl into the second, but don't stir. Let it sit for 1 minute, then lift the now-congealed slime out of the bowl.
Step 4:
Divide slime so that each child has a piece to play with. The glue in slime can make it stick to certain fabrics. To minimize accidents, give each little monster a zip-top bag to store it in.
SAFETY NOTE: Since borax is toxic in large doses, be sure to keep the slime away from kids younger than age three
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~Minty fresh Mouthwash~
Here's something to do with the vodka left over from making your own vanilla extract!
2 T. Fresh Parsley
1/4 c. Fresh Spearmint
1 c. water
1 T. vodka
Combine in a blender until well crushed. Strain and bottle. Swish a tablespoon or two and spit out. Don't swallow.
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Make your own - doggy biscuits!
3/4 cup hot water
1/3 cup margarine
1/2 cup powdered milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
3 cups whole wheat flour
In large bowl pour hot water over the margarine. Stir in powdered milk, salt, and egg. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Knead for a few minutes to form stiff dough. Pat or roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into bone shapes. Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes. Cool. They will dry out quite hard. Makes about 1 1/4 pounds of biscuits. Costs around 30 cents per pound.
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Halloween Special:
Childrens' Party Ideas
Thousands of parents share your heartburn! My suggestion is to ditch the take-home bag of sugar and plastic, for the very reasons you point out. How about replacing them with "make and take" arts and crafts sorts of things that provide hands-on real life experiences, encourage imagination and creativity and good memories of good times? Research shows that children today have *hundreds* more hours of watching people do interesting things on TV than actually doing interesting things themselves. Use this fact to make *your* parties stand out.
A basic trade-off in life is time or money. Elect to spend time on your parties and let the kids help! Don't make everything ahead. Instead, have materials and space ready and let the kids decorate, make refreshments and something to take home and create their own party. Think about what they can do best, have the most fun with and learn the most from doing. Divide into teams for multitasking.
Some examples, tips and techniques:
-Bake and decorate sugar cookies using holiday cookie cutters. If it's a very small group, just have the dough mixed and in the fridge. Let the kids take turns rolling the dough out. They put the cookies in the oven and watch the timer. You take them out. If it's a larger or younger group, bake the cookies ahead, and have them ready for decorating. Using royal icing, confectioners sugar and water or even store bought vanilla frosting, if the budget allows. Add candies, pieces of dried fruit, chocolate chips, nuts, raisins, etc. for features and details. Make enough to eat for refreshments and still have enough for each child to take one or two home to show off.
-Make a craft appropriate to the children's ages and the season. I include some Halloween ideas in an accompanying article on the Dollar Stretcher site. Send these home, too.
-Plan an outdoor activity- in any weather short of a gale or blizzard! Parties go much better when the kids get out, especially if the party is after school. If possible, consider a trip to a pumpkin patch or apple orchard, go skating, borrow enough wagons to allow coasting down a (small!) hill, go for a short hike, collect fall leaves. Arrange them between two sheets of wax paper and iron the wax paper "sandwich" with a medium hot iron to seal the leaves in. Play some playground games. (Check your library and teachers for ideas and rules. Take advantage of what your community offers.
-make your own decorations- let the kids crepe paper the house, tie spider webs with bight colored yarn, trace or stamp designs on paper tablecloths using seasonal or appropriate cookie cutters. (Newsprint ends from your local newspaper is perfect.) Turn the spider web into a game by assigning each child a color to untangle and wind up into a ball for recycling. Webs can be made inside or out.
-Let the kids help make and serve refreshments. They can mix punch, fill cups with pretzels, decorate the cake, scoop ice cream, etc. They'll feel like a valuable member of the group, have a great time helping and you'll be amazed at their skills and ideas- if someone will just let them use them!
-See if you can add an old-timey activity like a hay ride, apple dunking or playing pin the stem, or nose on a pumpkin or Jack O'Lantern.
-Have guests come in costume. Encourage them to make their own and keep it a secret. It's *not* just frugal, it encourages creativity, helps develop an eye for possibilities and builds anticipation of the great unveiling. A recipe for face paint is in my accompanying article on the DS site.
You won't use every idea, but try to incorporate at least one opportunity for the kids to do it themselves and you'll be glad you did!
PUMPKINS/JACK O'LANTERNS
-Choose a pumpkin that's firm and heavy for its size. Look for a rich, orange color and an attached dry stem. Heftier pumpkins will have more meat, less waste and a sweeter flavor than pumpkins of the same size but less weight.
-Make criss -cross cuts in the lid of the pumpkin and rub in a generous amount of cinnamon and nutmeg. As the candle burns it smells great!
-Cut your Jack O'Lantern into sections and scrape away the first layer deep enough to remove all candle wax and smoke damage. Place the sections on a Pam-ed baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for about an hour and a half. Cool, scoop flesh out, leaving about 1/4" of flesh with the rind. Mash pulp in mixer or food processor. A 7 - 8 lb. pumpkin will yield about 4 cups of pulp similar to canned solid pack pumpkin (which is *not* the same as pumpkin pie mix.) Pumpkin is packed with fiber and antioxidants, so:
Add the pulp to plain mashed potatoes (1 cup pumpkin to 3 cups mashed potatoes.) Season as usual.
Add 1/4 cup to your oatmeal or other hot cereal.
Replace the milk in cornmeal muffins with mashed pumpkin.
Bake as usual.
Stir some into your vegetable soup pot. Makes a creamy bisque texture.
Add cinnamon and brown sugar to the pumpkin pulp and spread on biscuits, muffins or toast.
Check your favorite sites or cookbooks for pumpkin soup, muffin, bread and cookie recipes.
PUMPKIN SEEDS
You can buy them baked or raw in bulk from a health food type store, if your pumpkin doesn't yield enough to do all you want to do.
Roasted:
Generously Pam (I use butter flavored spray.) a cookie sheet and spread out your washed and dried pumpkin seeds. Pam the seeds themselves and bake at 300 degrees until they're browned and crisp; about 30 - 40 minutes. For lightly browned, less crispy seeds, bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Salt them after you take them from the oven.
Add spices as you see fit. 1 and 1/2 tsp. *each*, mixing as you choose: cumin, chili powder and or freshly ground black pepper.
Makes about 2 cups. Store in a covered jar.
Jewelry:
String washed and dried seeds together using a needle and thread to make bracelets, necklaces, etc. Leave natural color or dye the seeds with a small amount of alcohol and food coloring or powdered tempera. ***AN ADULT NEEDS TO DO THE DYING because of the use of alcohol. Recycled paper plates are perfect for this. Spread the seeds on newspaper or paper sacks to dry before stringing.
Mosaics:
Used dyed or natural seeds combined with other seeds (squash, melons, bird, fruit, etc.) to make designs or pictures. A perfect foundation, and frame, for the mosaics is a box lid or cardboard or Styrofoam tray. Draw design with a pencil. Spread white glue in one section at a time and press the seeds into the glue. Rice, unpopped corn, dried peas and beans can also be added for more variety.
Seed Race:
Each player gets 5 - 10 pumpkin seeds (depending on age of children) in a paper cup, a small dish and a straw. At the "go" signal, players try to pick up a seed and transfer it from the cup to the bowl by sucking on the straw. The winner is the first to successfully transfer all their seeds. Let the winner go first in the next game. ***MAKE SURE YOU USE WHOLE SEEDS, so there's no way they can be sucked up into the straw and choke a child.
Guessing Game:
Fill a jar with pumpkin seeds. Let everyone guess how many seeds there are, then dump them out and have everyone help count them to see whose guess is closest to the total.
POPCORN BALLS
1. Pop corn:
To make 6 medium sized balls you need one quart of popped corn (1/2 cup unpopped kernels) Keep the popcorn warm in oven.
2. Cook syrup:
Combine in saucepan:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/8 tsp. salt
1/3 tsp. vinegar
2and 1/2 T light corn syrup Bring ingredients to a boil while stirring with wooden spoon. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Uncover and cook, stirring slowly until syrup is thick. To test, drop a little cooked syrup into a small bowl of very cold water. When it forms a ball, it's ready. Watch syrup closely- it thickens quickly.
3. Make balls:
Remove syrup from heat. Pour slowly over warm popped corn, mixing with wooden spoon. (I spray my spoon with Pam so the mixture doesn't blob up on the spoon and clean-up is easy.) Let corn cool enough so you won't burn yourself. Then Pam or butter your hands and shape the corn into balls. You can make the balls into a pumpkins, snow people, animals, or whatever is appropriate for the occasion. You can add raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit pieces, etc. to the basic balls or:
4. Add faces
"Glue" on features using nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, candies, etc. Make "glue" by mixing powdered sugar with a small amount of water in a bowl.
FACE PAINT
2 T white shortening
5 T cornstarch
1 T white flour
3-4 drops of glycerin (see note below)
a few drops of food coloring
Use a rubber spatula to blend the first 3 ingredients on a plate to form a smooth paste. Add 3-4 drops of glycerin to make a creamy consistency. Divide mixture into batches to color as needed.
-For dark beards, moustaches, etc. add 2 and a « tsp. of coacoa to above mixture.
Heat is an enemy for this type of face paint as it will melt if child gets sweaty, but it *is* fast, easy and cheap. Remove with a little soap and water.
NOTE: Glycerin is available in pharmacy departments. It's in a small brown bottle, often located in the first aid section. It's quite inexpensive and can be used to make a very good homemade bubble solution.
***I checked with Poison Control about the " lickability " of the glycerin in this recipe and they say that though glycerin has a laxative effect in quantity, a few drops wouldn't hurt a child even if he/she ate the entire batch! It's smart, however, to avoid the area around eyes and mouth.
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Beauty On A Budget:
Saving Money On Make-up
One secret to saving money on make-up without going barefaced is to learn to be creative with it. You can get double-duty out of many products, and you can salvage many of those purchasing mistakes that have collected in that bottom drawer by learning to adjust products to your liking.
-If you already have mascara, you don't need to buy liquid eyeliner too. You can line your eyes using your mascara and a fine eyeliner brush. This works best with thin-formula mascaras. If you don't have a brush, recycle one from an old tube of eyeliner.
-Lipstick can double as cream blush. If you like to have at least several lipstick colors, you won't have to buy a blush to match each one, and you will always be color-coordinated
-You don't need to buy a special brush for your eyebrows or a product to hold them in place. Spray a bit of hairspray or use a dab of hairstyling gel on a recycled toothbrush.
-Mascara can also be used to color your eyebrows and keep them in place. Just wipe the wand off with a tissue first. You can also use eyeshadow and a brush to fill in your eyebrows or an eyeliner pencil can double for both eyes and brows.
-It is a money-waster to buy separate, special frosted products just for nighttime/special occasion use. Instead, you can get by with just one inexpensive light colored frosted eyeshadow and a highlighting powder, or use the light frosted half of one of those blush duos if you have one. Use this one frosted powder on your eyes as shadow or over a matte shadow to make it frosted, brush it over your blush, or pat a small amount with your fingertip over your lipstick on the center of your bottom lip. Cheapest and most sophisticated option: skip frosted make-up altogether and wear the same matte colors day and night.
-You don't need to buy a special eyeshadow primer. Your regular foundation or any liquid concealer will work great. If you have oily lids and your eyeshadow tends to crease, prime your eyelids instead with face powder, baby powder or a light colored eyeshadow.
-Consider buying an inexpensive brown blush instead of a brown eyeshadow. You get much more product for your money, and you may even be able to use it as blush too.
-Make your own inexpensive loose powder. In a plastic container with a screw -top lid, mash up the cheapest powder compact you can find (buy a color a little darker than your skin) and mix in approximately twice as much baby powder.
-Powder blush too dark? Mash it up in a plastic container, and mix in baby powder a little at a time until it is as light as you want it. You can turn it into a pretty, light wash of color, and the new mixture will last you a very long time.
-Powder blush too bright? Mash it up and mix in a little brown brush, matte brown eyeshadow, or matte powdered bronzer.
-Have a too-bright lipstick you'd like to salvage? Apply a medium-brown lipstick or lip liner pencil over it. If you don't already own a brown lipstick, I suggest you purchase one from Wet 'n' Wild (#549). It will set you back a whole dollar.
-Lipstick too dark? Apply a light beige or nude lipstick over it.
-Foundation too dark? Buy a cheap brand of ivory foundation (make sure it is the same type of formula) and mix in a little at a time until it matches your skin. Ideally, you should mix them in a separate bottle just a little bit at a time to minimize the risk of error.
-Is your oil-free foundation too drying for your skin in cool weather? Mix a quarter-size dollop of foundation in your palm with 1-3 drops of baby oil. Mix well with a finger and apply.
Of course, if you don't make a habit of purchasing the really low-cost drugstore brands you can defeat the money-saving power of these tips. Don't worry, a higher price tag rarely means better quality. When you get more advanced, you can also learn to custom-mix your own lipstick, blush and foundation shades from very inexpensive drugstore make-up so you are no longer tempted to splurge at the department store to get the exact shade you want.
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Tuesday, October 14, 2003
