April 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM (Almost Free, Homemade Hippie Beauty Products, Make It Yourself, Non Toxic, Simple, Under $1.00)
Tags: beauty, Coconut oil, DIY, easy, Essential oil, frugal, hair mask, hair oil, hair products, herbal medicine, hippie, homemade, homemade beauty products, hot oil treatment, Non Toxic, Simple
Many of my Homemade Hippie fans know that I am the ultimate cheap skate. I was standing in the grocery store aisle reading labels (yes I am a Label Nazi, and you should be too!) and after much searching, finally found a deep conditioning hair mask that didn’t list the first two ingredients as water and alcohol. It has such yummy ingredients as coconut oil, olive oil, keratin, aloe vera gel and carrot seed oil. I then turned the bottle over and saw the price tag. $12.59! This bottle claims to treat your hair 2 times and contained 2 ounces of hair oil. I don’t know about you, but smoothing my split ends isn’t worth $6.29 per shower. So of course I decided to make it myself.
First of all, to be very cheap you’re going to want to use what you have on hand. Just about any type of oil will nourish and moisturize your hair. If you want to be very specific:
OILS
- Avocado Oil- good for very dry or very frizzy hair
- Coconut Oil- Good for all hair types, and works well for dandruff
- Castor Oil- Good for those with oily hair or scalp
- Sesame Oil- Good for thinning hair
- Jojoba Oil- Good for oily hair or scalp, a very light oil and easy to wash out
- Neem Oil-Excellent for dandruff
- Argan, Almond, Apricot- Good for all hair, but expensive to be washing down your shower drain
Other Ingredients:
Essential Oils
Herbs
Aloe Vera Gel- Clarifies and strengthens
Eggs- A source of serious protein and keratin, things that hair is made of
With all of this in mind, make up your own personal oil blend. In a pinch grab whatever natural oils you have at home already and mix with a couple of raw eggs.
Homemade Hippie Hot Hair Oil
This was compiled with ingredients that I already had, and for my specific type of hair. I have red hair that is very fine and thin and does tend to dry out easily.
- 2 Tbsp Avocado Oil
- 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
- 2 Tbsp Aloe Vera Gel
- 2 raw eggs
- In a small double boiler or saucepan gently heat oils and aloe, stirring to mix and melt. Remove from heat and whip in the eggs with a fork.
- Wet your hair in the sink and apply warm oil to wet hair. (you can apply to dry hair if you like. I just feel like it absorbs better when my hair is wet)
- Run a bath towel or large kitchen towel under very hot tap water. Wring out towel and wrap it around your head.
- Sit around with your oily head and watch the Lifetime Movie Network or check out old Homemade Hippie Posts (below) and plan your next concoction.
- I don’t time this, but it’s best to leave the oil on your hair as long as you can. 30 minutes minimum.
- You can rewarm the towel under hot water if you wish.
- Wash your hair as you normally would. You will probably need to wash it twice to remove all of the oil.
MY COST:
2 TBSP Avocado Oil $1.33
2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil $0.81 cents
2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil $.047 cents
2 Eggs $0.00 The beauty of dating a chicken farmer If you aren’t so lucky, you can add approximately $0.25 to your total
For 1 hair treatment this cost me $2.61 and used 3 ounces of oil. That is $0.87 cents per ounce!
Calling all Cheap Skates
Related Posts:
Homemade Hippie Lip Balm
Homemade Hippie Hair Spray
Homemade Hippie Body Wash
Homemade Hippie Bug Spray
Homemade Hippie Tooth Paste
Homemade Hippie Orange Cleaner
Homemade Hippie Scouring Powder
Homemade Hippie Dishwashing Powder
Homemade Hippie Wrinkle Cream & Eye Cream
Homemade Hippie All Purpose Cleaning Spray
Homemade Hippie Windex for $0.12
Homemade Hippie Mouthwash
Homemade Hippie Face Wash
Homemade Hippie Simple Hand Lotion
A COMPLETE LIST OF HOMEMADE HIPPIE RECIPES
3 Comments
April 7, 2013 at 12:01 AM (Health, Herbal Medicine, Homemade Hippie Beauty Products, How To, Make It Yourself, Non Toxic, Under $1.00, Your Journey to Health)
Tags: alternative medicine, DIY, Essential oil, frugal, Health, herbal medicine, homemade, Magnesium, Non Toxic, restless leg syndrome, Simple
Many of you have inquired about Rob’s restless leg syndrome. For those of you who missed it, the original post is HERE and how to make the Magnesium Oil for cheap is HERE.
I am happy to report that my darling bed-mate is no longer turning the sheets into a tiny ball in the middle of the bed, kicking me in the knee caps, running up and down the stairs in the middle of the night, sitting up in bed and loudly sighing, constantly twitching or flipping around the bed like a fish. My legs are back to being the normal pasty white color, instead of various shades of black, blue and purple. We are both resting well and I am not lying in bed awake dreaming up ways to smother someone more than twice my weight with a pillow. In short, IT WORKED!
Rob has found over the months of trial and error that he does much better if he sprays with magnesium oil twice a day. In the morning before work, he sprays his legs and rubs it in until its dry, then gets dressed and goes about his day, leaving the magnesium oil on his skin. At night about 1/2 an hour before showering he sprays his legs, arms, and torso and rubs it in. He pays special attention and sprays an extra amount along his spine, as he feels that it absorbs better there. Zero scientific proof of that, but he ‘feels’ that it works better so that’s what he does 🙂 Sometimes you just have to listen to your body right? He lays around and lets it soak into his skin for at least 30 minutes, then gets into the shower and gets ready for bed.
I can attest that twice a day is much better than once. He is completely still at night! It’s amazing the difference between Crazy Twitchy Rob and Non-Heebie-Jeebie Rob. I don’t want to strangle the new guy. He’s so nice and peaceful to sleep with that I’ve decided he can stick around 🙂
This program has also turned out to be very affordable. You all haven’t forgotten that I’m a cheapskate have you? We are still using the original 2.2 lb bag of Magnesium Chloride Flakes that I purchased for $14.99. I am happy to report that I have since found an even cheaper source for you HERE at Iherb. This is 2.75 lbs of very pure Magnesium Chloride for only $13.85! IF YOU USE THE COUPON CODE HIF798 YOU WILL RECIEVE A $10 DISCOUNT. PLUS THEY OFFER FREE SHIPPING! YAY!
2 Comments
May 31, 2012 at 1:01 AM (Health, Herbal Medicine, Homemade Hippie Beauty Products, Make It Yourself, Non Toxic, Under $1.00)
Tags: alternative medicine, aromatherapy, beauty, bug spray, DIY, Essential oil, frugal, Frugal Recipes, Health, herbal medicine, Home, homemade, insect repellant, Non Toxic, Simple
In Michigan we are surrounded by water, which causes lots of humidity, which causes mosquitos the size of pterodactyls. For some reason mosquitos love me. Maybe because I am an extremely white, white girl and you can see every vein in my body, which to a mosquito must look like the best all you can eat lunch buffet in town. I also get welts the size of a quarter every time I get bit, so I spend most of the summer looking like a victim of scabies. They have hatched really early this year, because of the crazy warm weather, so it’s time to get out the arsenal and try to fend them off before they start carrying away small children.
The best natural bug repellant I’ve ever used is Bite Blocker by Homs LLC. I have tried several different kinds, but they all seem to wear off after a few minutes. Bite Blocker really works for hours, and doesn’t smell nasty at all. I decided to make my own version of Bite Blocker at home, because the ingredients list is pretty simple.
If you don’t want to make your own it can be purcased HERE. If you use the coupon code HIF798 you will receive a $10 discount and free shipping.
Homemade Hippie Buy Spray
1/4 cup olive oil (or any cheap liquid oil you have laying around)
2 Tbsp vegetable glycerin
1 Tbsp Citric Acid
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp homemade vanilla extract
6 drops Lavender essential oil
6 drops Tea Tree essential oil
6 drops Clove Bud essential oil
6 drops Peppermint essential oil
6 drops Rosemary essential oil
6 drops Eucalyptus essential oil
10 drops Geranium essential oil
Mix all ingredients and pour into a spray bottle. Shake before each use. Reapply after 2-3 hours. You can use any strong mixture of essential oils that you prefer, this is just what I had a lot of in the house. I would make sure to use the Geranium oil, because that is the main active ingredient in Bite Blocker. The others I’m sure you could play with and have good results. Let me know what you use!
I have used this a few times so far and it does work very well. Rob and I went to a terribly overgrown area to chop down some dead trees for fire wood. It was way back in the shade, and next to a small creek. Every step we took sent up swarms of mosquitos and I thought for sure we’d be covered in welts. I got one nasty bite on my ankle, through my sock and Rob got zero bites. Considering that we were outside for 2 1/2 hours hauling firewood and sweating profusely I think that is pretty darn good don’t you?
This also smells good, and isn’t offensive to Rob’s manly nostrils, as he doesn’t like to “smell like a flower”.
Related Posts:
Homemade Hippie Wrinkle Cream
Homemade Hippie Mouthwash
Homemade Hippie Face Wash
Homemade Hippie Hand Lotion
Homemade Hippie Lip Balm
Homemade Hippie Hair Spray
Homemade Hippie Body Wash
Homemade Hippie Tooth Paste
Homemade Hippie Body Lotion
A COMPLETE LIST OF HOMEMADE HIPPIE RECIPES
20 Comments
May 11, 2012 at 1:01 AM (Almost Free, Fast, Make It Yourself, Recipes, Simple, Under $1.00)
Tags: Bake, baking, bread, Cook, cooking, Crouton, DIY, easy, Easy Recipes, food, frugal, Frugal Recipes, housekeeping, kitchen, Nutrition, real food, recipe, Recipes, Salad, Simple, sourdough
Salad season is a lot of fun for me this year. I am having a blast coming up with all sorts of salad dressing and fun creations. But what is a salad without a crunchy, salty, buttery crouton? I had Rob time me, and these took exactly 3 minutes and 4 seconds to prepare, and 9 minutes to bake in the oven. Now, that’s what I call fast food! (and a great use for stale bread).
Homemade Garlic Butter Croutons
1 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Cloves garlic, crushed
salt and pepper
Dash of basil, thyme or parsley for color (totally optional)
4 slices bread, cubed
Preheat the oven to 425. Heat butter, olive oil and garlic in a skillet. Cube some stale bread (I used whole wheat sourdough, but whatever you have around will work) and throw it in the pan. Toss the bread around and stir to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread onto a cookie sheet and bake for 9-10 minutes. Let them cool completely and store in an airtight container. They will keep for 2-3 months.
3 Comments
May 6, 2012 at 1:01 AM (Homemade Condiments, Make It Yourself, Recipes, Simple, Under $1.00)
Tags: Cocktail sauce, cooking, DIY, Easy Recipes, Frugal Recipes, Health, Horseradish, Nutrition, real food, sea food, Simple
We do love our shrimp around here. We have actually just had shrimp with cocktail sauce and a few bits of crackers and cheese for dinner before. Delicious.
Cocktail Sauce
1 cup ketchup (i actually still buy this from the store, because we hardly ever use it)
1 Tbsp horseradish, pureed in the food processor
1 tsp chili powder
1 Tbsp lemon or lime juice
1 tsp homemade Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
Mix all ingredients and keep in an airtight jar in the fridge. Keeps for 2-3 weeks. This also freezes very well. Rob loves his really spicy, so I usually purée a whole piece of horseradish, so he can add more to his plate.
To Prepare Horseradish
Wash and peel the root with a veggie peeler
Cut into chunks
Place in food processor and add 1 Tbsp of water. Puree (protect your eyes!) and add 1 Tbsp white vinegar and a dash of salt. Add more water if you like it thinner. This will keep for 30 days in the refrigerator. It also freezes very well.
A word about shrimp. Well, a few words….
#1 Choice: Wild Caught off the coast of the Pacific Northwest or the Northeast coasts of the USA and Canada, using live traps (not trawlers). Our favorites are Bay Shrimp, Cocktail Shrimp, Northern Shrimp, Pink Shrimp and Rock Shrimp. They are slightly more expensive, but the taste is worth it! And you are supporting fisherman who believe in treating the animal, and the ocean with respect. Instead of big trawling boats, these people use old-fashioned live traps and no other fish are harmed or killed in the process. A few good sources are U.S Wellness Meats, Fishhawk Fisheries, Hallmark Fisheries and Pacific Seafood Group Inc.
#2 Choice: Wild Caught off the coast of the Pacific Northwest or Northeast, using trawling methods (very wasteful, all the other fish caught in the net are thrown out)
#3 Choice: Organically farmed in the USA (strict regulations and pretty close nutritionally)
#4 Choice: Wild Caught off the Gulf of Mexico. They say the shrimp are safe to eat after the oil spills, but I’m still not comfortable with it.
Avoid at all costs: Any seafood farmed in Asia or Latin America. They have no regulations and use very complex chemical cocktails, containing many pesticides and antibiotics. They are also doing much harm to the surrounding environment using devastating farming practices. Unfortunately 90% of shrimp sold in the USA comes from these sub-standard shrimp farms. Red Lobster endless shrimp days anyone?
Shrimp season is from April through October, so buy high-quality shrimp in bulk during that time to save money.
10 Comments
May 4, 2012 at 1:01 AM (Buying in Bulk, Homemade Hippie cleaning products, Make It Yourself, Non Toxic, Recipes, Simple, Under $1.00)
Tags: cleaning, DIY, Health, Home, homemade, homemade cleaning products, homemade scouring powder, housekeeping, Non Toxic, recycle, repurpose, reuse, Simple
I have been experimenting with making homemade cleaning and beauty products as I run out of them. So far I have made my own dishwasher detergent, window/glass cleaner, all purpose cleanser and disinfectant, lotion, wrinkle cream, hair spray, toothpaste, mouthwash, and lip balm and now it’s time to tackle scouring powder.
I happen to be in love with a handsome mechanic. He comes home with much grease and leaves the shower and sink with nice dark rings and smudges. I need a serious scouring powder to tackle this stuff 🙂 I have used this powder 3 times now, and I find that it works just as well as comet, and rinses off much better. I don’t feel like I’m wasting zillions of gallons of water trying to wash the comet residue down the drain….I have tried plain baking soda before, and a baking soda/vinegar mix and in my opinion this is much better.
Homemade Hippie Scouring Powder
1 cup Baking soda
1 cup Salt (I used kosher for extra grit)
1 cup Borax
Mix all ingredients in a container. I usually just refill the bottle/container of whatever I ran out of. Do you guys have a whole bunch of bottles and tubes that are full of homemade concoctions too? However, you can’t refill a comet container very easily, so I took a small coffee can (see saving those coffee cans isn’t weird! You really will find a use for them. You will!) and poked holes in the plastic lid. You can use a canning jar, or any old container you have been waiting to repurpose. Fill with powder, top with lid. Sprinkle and scrub to your hearts content.
I think next time I will dry some orange or lemon peels and make them into a powder. I think that would smell great and add some extra scrubbing power. Plus I have a juicer now, and I’m dying to come up with a use for all of these citrus peels. I already made orange oil, and I love it! I’ll post that recipe for you tomorrow.
COMPLETE LIST OF HOMEMADE HIPPIE RECIPES
15 Comments
May 3, 2012 at 1:01 AM (Homemade Condiments, Make It Yourself, Recipes, Under $1.00)
Tags: Cook, DIY, Easy Recipes, food, Frugal Recipes, Home, homemade, housekeeping, kitchen, real food, recipe, Simple, Worcestershire sauce
I held out on making this one for ages, because I thought that Lea & Perrins had some magic recipe that only they were allowed to use and I would be banished to culinary hell if I tried to steal it. Well, if this is hell sign me up, cuz this is delicious! 🙂 I have seen many complicated recipes online for worcestershire sauce, and I hate going out to buy a whole bunch of specialty ingredients just to make one recipe. I mean, what the heck is tamarind concentrate anyway? This is a cheaper, simpler version.
Homemade Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp Thai fish sauce
2 Tbsp raw honey
1 Tbsp molasses
1 lime, juiced
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp chili powder
Mix and store in an air tight container for 2-3 weeks in the fridge. This is an excellent seasoning to use in a marinade and goes well with any meat.
Related posts:
Homemade Fajita Seasoning
Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
Coffee Spice Rub
Homemade Baking Powder
Homemade Taco Seasoning
Homemade Italian Seasoning
Homemade Seasoning Salt
22 Comments
May 2, 2012 at 1:01 AM (Almost Free, Homemade Hippie Beauty Products, Make It Yourself, Non Toxic, Simple, Under $1.00)
Tags: beauty, beauty products, Castile soap, cheap, DIY, easy, frugal, Health, Home, homemade, homemade beauty products, Non Toxic, Recipes, save money, Shopping, Simple, Soap, under one dollar
I may have previously mentioned that Rob is a mechanic and one of his favorite activities it to stand in my shower and drip grease and grime and various oils all over the bathroom. In the course of this activity the man goes through a lot of soap. A LOT of soap! I was buying either Dove plain, unscented or Kirk’s Castile soap. Neither of which is cheap. I’m sure you know by now that I am a big, fat cheapskate right? So, this recipe was invented purely to save money, and is not some girly froo-froo bodywash. It does lather very well, and it does make 1 bar of soap last about as long as 4 bars of soap normally would….so I am now paying 1/4 what I was for soap. Mission accomplished!
Homemade Hippie Bodywash
1 bar of Kirks Castile Soap (I do not recommend any other soap, because I haven’t tried them)
1 quart (4 cups) of water
- Grate the soap. I personally fed the whole bar through the food processor, then put the food processor directly in the dishwasher. It came out sparkling clean 🙂
- Place water and soap in a sauce pan and heat until soap is thoroughly melted. I let it simmer for 2-3 minutes to make sure the soap was really mixed well.
- Refill an old pump style hand soap dispenser. This soap is very runny, and should be squeezed directly onto a sponge/loofa/bodywash thingy.
- Ok, thats it. You’re done. Go take a shower.
P.S This may seperate as it sits in the jar. Just shake it up before you refill your dispenser.
P.P.S My local dollar store actually sells Kirks Castile Soap in a 3-pack for $1. Every store I have ever seen it in sells the 3 pack for $2.99, so this is an excellent deal. Go check your dollar store! I bought $40 bucks worth last time. We won’t run out of soap for a very long time 🙂
Related Posts:
Homemade Hippie Wrinkle Cream
Homemade Hippie Mouthwash
Homemade Hippie Toothpaste
Homemade Hippie Hand Lotion
Homemade Hippie Body Lotion
Homemade Hippie Facewash
Homemade Hippie Hair Spray
Homemade Hippie Bug Spray
A COMPLETE LIST OF HOMEMADE HIPPIE RECIPES
21 Comments
April 30, 2012 at 1:12 AM (Almost Free, Baking, Fast, Health, How To, Make It Yourself, Real Food Snacks, Recipes, Simple, Under $1.00)
Tags: Bake, baking, bread, Cook, cooking, crackers, DIY, easy, Easy Recipes, food, GMO, housekeeping, kitchen, Phytic acid, real food, recipe, Recipes, soaking grains, Wheat Thins
I am still playing around with cracker recipes! I have never eaten so many crackers in my life. But we all know that I am an absolute cheese-oholic. And what better to place under my cheese, then a nice crispy cracker. Why bother making them yourself you ask? This is the ingredient list from a regular box of plain Wheat Thins:
- Enriched Whole Wheat Flour- enriched because they strip and extrude the grain at extremely high temperature and pressure, killing every vitamin and mineral naturally found in wheat. So synthetic vitamins are added back in to try and fool you. I personally doubt that we absorb much, if any, of these synthetic vitamins.
- Soybean Oil- from GMO soybeans. Don’t even get me started
- Cornstarch-from GMO corn
- Malt Syrup-sweetener made from GMO corn
- Sugar- made from GMO sugar beets
- BHT- added to the packaging to “preserve freshness” This is a fancy way of saying, “you are eating a rancid food and we added a deodorizer to the box so it doesn’t stink when you open it.
Sound appetizing? These crackers are really very easy to make. And the soaking step is ridiculously simple. I hate to shop, so for me this is actually a much easier option than going to a store and buying a box of premade crackers. Ha!
Homemade Wheat Thin Crackers (soaked)
1 1/4 cup organic wheat flour (freshly ground if you can)
1/4 cup water + 2Tbsp
4 Tbsp butter (unsalted)
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt (plus more for salting before baking)
- Combine flour, sugar, salt, and paprika.
- Cut in the butter. I used a food processor, but you don’t have to.
- Add water and stir to combine.
Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap and place in a very warm location. Mine took a nice long nap over night on top of the fridge. The ideal temperature would be between 110 and 130 degrees. Maybe the oven with the pilot light? And ideas? Between baking and letting it sit out for 8-24 hours you are breaking down a very large portion of the phytic acid and pre-digesting the gluten. I also like soaking because it breaks your recipes up into two seperate days, which to me feels like less work for some reason….If you don’t care about soaking, then carry on with the baking right now!
Flour your counter top and roll out the dough. You want the crackers to be very thin, so they will be crispy. Transfer the dough to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Score the crackers deeply with a sharp knife. I make mine exactly the size of my mouth 🙂 Sprinkle with a small amount of extra salt. I over did it the first time and they were too salty, so beware.
Bake in a 400 degree oven for 5-10 minutes. Check them after 5 and remove the crackers that are smaller or thinner and are browning too fast. You’ll know the ones….cool. break. eat.
For the sake of the experiment I actually “borrowed” some wheat thins from a co-worker and brang them home. I ate a real wheat thin and a homemade wheat thin and they tasted EXACTLY THE SAME. I made Rob test them both with his eyes closed and he couldn’t tell the difference. Success!
For the absolute best nutritional value, grind your flour fresh. I have not squeezed the grain mill into my budget yet, but I am almost there. I can’t wait!
P.S If you have a Kitchen Aid Mixer, you can buy a very inexpensive attachment for it that will grind fresh grain! I wish I had one…..but I am still using a good old fashioned wooden spoon 🙂
12 Comments
April 22, 2012 at 1:01 AM (Homemade Seasoning Mixes, Non Toxic, Recipes, Simple, Under $1.00)
Tags: Bake, baking, Cook, Easy Recipes, food, Frugal Recipes, kitchen, real food, recipe, Seasoned salt, Simple
When I’m in a hurry in the kitchen I like a fast all-purpose spice I can grab and sprinkle on a hunk of meat, and throw it in the oven. It took me a while to develop something that is truly all-purpose, but I think this is it! So far I have used it on chicken, fish, beef, bison, salad, hard-boiled eggs and pasta. I think that fits the bill of all-purpose don’t you?
All-Purpose Seasoned Salt
6 Tbsp Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp Marjoram
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
2 1/2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Mustard powder
1/2 tsp Onion powder
1/4 tsp Dill
1 tsp Celery salt
Mix all in a bowl and funnel into a shaker. I used this pretty ceramic shaker I found at a yard sale.
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