Scrubbed, polished and ready to go....

Happy as a pig in mud :) Before...

Tonight with the BF at work I took inspiration once again from Froogs aka Frugal Queen and turned my bathroom into a DIY spa experience.

First of all I rummaged around in the dressing table unit (picked up from Freecycle last year) for a bottle of lavender oil I bought a few years ago. I splashed some onto a flannel, ran the shower so it was all steamy and covered the plug hole with the flannel so the oil would evaporate with the steam- turning my turning the humble shower cubicle into my very own sauna. 

And...after

Next I cleansed my face as normal with a Boots own cleanser, then followed up by smearing a layer of their cold cream onto my face, massaged for a few minutes then removed with a warm muslin cloth which came with a hot cloth cleanser I bought in the Boots Boxing day sale. I followed this with an exfoliating face scrub, before applying a Sanctury mud face mask, which was also part of the Sancutry set I bought after Christmas. 

Whilst this was drying I exfoliated using a body scrub which was a birthday present, then toweled my skin and applied some body mud which I was given six bottles of as part of a magazine give away about a month or so ago. 

Once the mud had started to set I jumped back into the shower and rinsed it all off. Once I was dry I applied lots of  facial moisturiser, Boots own part of  a 3-for-2 deal then slapped on the Soap and Glory  body lotion (Christmas presents for the last few years- I've built up quite a collection!). 

Once this was all done I turned my attention to my poor neglected feet. I think there isn't anything worse than seeing a woman wearing flip flops or sandals with awful cracked heals. So I attacked mine with a vengeance using the Ped Egg, which was a present a few years ago. Once my tootsies were free from the hard, dry skin I smothered them in an intensive foot cream which was part of The Sanctury bath set which was a birthday present, popping cotton socks on to seal in the moisture. 

Once my Clinique wide awake toner stuff runs out, which, although I love, I don't love enough to splash my cash on at the moment I'm going to have to downgrade to an old toner from Tesco that I bought over a year ago, resorting to an old green tea tea bag to give me 'firm' skin- supposedly!  

Here I am sans make up after my scrubbing and polishing session; not too bad though I wish my under eye bags/circles would go away (please excuse the vacant-eyed-stare!). Does anyone have any tips on getting rid of them? Is it really a case of eating more iron based foods, or do I have to rely on the magic touch of concealer forever? 

If you have any DIY beauty secrets please share.....go on I won't tell, my lips are sealed! ;-) 

Living on a financial edge

Inspired by this post by Frugal Queen http://frugalincornwall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/froogs-fearlessly-eats-it-all.html, who has become one of my favourite go to inspirational blogs over the last few months, I whipped up a rather unconventional culinary treat last night.

Out came the big box of fishcakes which were £2 for about 12 I think, I popped five into the oven so as to have some for my lunch at work (today). Realising I had no potato-type foods I scavenged in the back of the cupboard for half a packet of couscous I'd pegged down, and rummaged in the freezer for some peas. I was feeling quite hungry so also used up a naan bread that I had frozen before it had gone off. The combination was fairly strange to see and a few people commented on my random assemblement of food but it filled a hole (twice) for almost nothing. I kind of wish I had taken a photo- but I'm sure you can imagine it.

I cooked my dinner and placed the remaining food into a washed out plastic Tupperware container (recycled from a housemates recent take away) to take to work. I think one of the key aspects to saving as much as possible is being organised- from doing a weekly food shop for foods which will a- last the week and b- make enough filling, healthy meals, to making sure the washing is kept on top of so as not to buy any impulse clothing buys, to keeping a constant eye on bank accounts etc, and finally always looking for the best deals from car insurance to washing powder.

Just one week away from payday I feel quite like Astra from http://www.blogger.com/home who looks forward to her monthly bank statements as its the reward for a months worth of hard work saving. I feel the same and can't wait to have a new budget, plus to see my figures increasing on the spreadsheet knowing we are getting closer to our goal.

I have roughly £4 at the moment once all my bills etc are paid, and I'm off out for a few drinks tomorrow night. However, I figure the money I'll get from Saturday's bar shift should be enough to cover this cost. Otherwise I'm just ploughing on with the no-spend days.

And I've also updated the ticker so that the figures are all proper.

May's happy list

Here's May's happy list; this one took a little more thought than the one I posted in April. Here goes....

1. The smell of freshly baked bread wafting around the kitchen from the bread maker. I baked a loaf last night, snoozed on the sofa and walked into the yummy smell. I wanted to break a chunk off, but couldn't persuade it out of its tin :(

2. I've achieved another good month of saving, and our joint saver is inching towards the £500 mark thanks to the use of a basket in the supermarket.

3. BF is making progress in getting his promotion which will mean that a] we can borrow a decent amount of money and b] he can start helping me with the savings a bit more to scrape together a bigger deposit.

4. Getting organised; I blogged earlier in the month about creating a spreadsheet where I can see and track all finances at a glance. Our piles and draws of paperwork are now also neatly filed in labelled plastic wallets and all junk is in the bin.

5. Our re-arranged bedroom- I think I prefer it to the way it was.

6. Lighter mornings and evenings; last night I had to pick my bike up from the pub and enjoyed the sunny evening cycle which has become such a rarity thanks to the recent rain.

7. Spending time with family.

8. Pigging out! This weekend I enjoyed a couple of meals out, which is a rarity these days and I enjoyed every morsel :)

9. Microwave popcorn, sitting back, snuggling up and watching a good film while the rain patters on the window.

10. Meeting up with old work friends I haven't seen for a year and a half before one sadly returns to South Africa after a recent break up with her English boyfriend. We also have a friends birthday drinks this weekend, and a 21st house party the weekend after to look forward to.

Hmm... not as hard as I thought after all. It's definatley a good habit to get into! Thanks Astra.