DIY Glass Cleaner

So, the last money saving thing is DIY glass cleaner. While you can buy cheap things at dollar tree, you still don't get the volume you do by making it at home. Sometimes that's a way to save money; rather than buying more of something for a dollar every time, spend a few more dollars and make a bunch of it. 

I emptied out the glass cleaner thing.

Rubbing Alcohol

Cornstarch

Water

Vinegar

Lemon Essential Oil 

1 Tablespoon of Cornstarch

This kind of is a gentle buffer on the glass surface. 

1 and 1/2 cups of water

1/2 cup of vinegar. 

1/4 cup rubbing alcohol

I added about three drops of essential oil in order to mask the smell. It helped some and left more of a lemon smell, but it's not necessary. 

It does separate some, so you'll need to shake it every time you use it. Also, as a note, it doesn't work as well with cloth. I don't know why, but when I tried wiping it with cloth it streaked. Paper towels worked best. 

This is how it worked.

Before 

After

It also worked really well on the bathroom fixtures. Gave them a nice shine. 

I like this one. I'll probably make more and continue to use it in the future. 

DIY All Purpose Cleaner and Carpet Cleaner

So, I'm making more cleaners. And I've used them somewhat. In the long run they would be cheaper than buying something pre-made. 

One of my favorite things about making things at home is that they're customizeable. That's a big thing for me. I like things just so a lot of the times. Anyway, I'll start on the all purpose cleaner. 

So, vinegar,  dish soap tea Tree oil I don't have any specific measurements for it either. 
It's mostly vinegar. 

Then you add some dish soap, roughly half a tablespoon.

And a few drops of tea tree oil for the antibacterial properties. Although, it's optional if you don't have it on hand. 

I would say it works pretty well. The only complaint I have is the strong vinegar smell, but that's about it. I used it in the bathroom, and to clean up dog messes on the floor. In my opinion you probably use just as much as normal cleaner. 

Ok, now for the carpet cleaner. 

I found recipes on Pinterest of different scents you can get. I have carpet in my bedroom, and since my dog refuses to be house broken--little hell hound, but I love her-- I wanted to use one for getting rid of pet odors. 

The premise is that you use 15 drops of essential oils per 1 cup of baking soda. 

I used an Parmesan cheese container because I didn't want to buy one. 

You need at least one cup of baking soda and essential oils. I have Purification and Thieves here for the pet odors. 

One cup of baking soda. 

10 drops of purification

5 drops thieves

It smells like Christmas to me. 

Mix, and let sit for 20 minutes

Sprinkle on the floor. 

Wait 20 minutes. 

Vacuum up. 

Done. 

DIY Laundry Soap

So, I've been seeing if DIY really does help you save money as far as a price comparison. So one of the things I wanted to make myself is laundry soap. So I did. 

You'll need to get a container. I mean it; don't do this with out one. 

You'll need: 

A Cheese Grater

Fels-Naptha Soap, which run $0.97 each and you'll need 3. 

Borax $4.00

Washing Soda $4.00

Baking Soda  $2.00

You'll want the large box, but I didn't get it. So I had two new ones and use a half of the other one. 

Grate the bars first. I just grated mine, but you can also put them in the food processor and blend it down more if you want. It doesn't take very long to do this actually. Originally when I started this plan, I thought I would need to put some essentail oils in there to give it some scent. Nope. These bars smell amazing. They perfume this whole thing nicely. 

Once you have that, you'll want to put in the powders.

So I wish I had a full shot of this. This is a huge punch bowl and even then I had to put it in another container. At this point, I mixed it together with my hands to get a fairly even distribution. 

I've washed a few loads with this. I did a load with what looked liked to be the equivalent of what I would normally use in liquid. I actually had to wash it twice because it was too much. I did another load later and used a little bit. That worked. It works just as well as normal liquid soap. 

You have to use less, and this recipe makes a lot. So that makes it pretty cost effective. 

If you compare spending 14 to 17 on things like Tide or Gain. Even if you get Costco brand, it's $11, but you get twice as much. 

I like this. I'll be making it again. 

Ipsy Glam Bag vs Beauty Box 5

Just because I'm saving money doesn't meant that I have to stop having incidentals like Ipsy. I look forward to getting my Ipsy bag in the mail every month. 
I thought, however, that it would be interesting to compare subscription services. So, for the next few months, I'm going to compare the Ipsy Bag with the Beauty Box 5. 
So the first difference between the two is that you customization the BB5,  and Ipsy you can. Since you can't tell them skin type, style preferences they have to send neutral things to you, which makes comparing these two services like comparing apples and oranges. 
BB5 costs $12 per month, or you can do how I did and pay $30 for a subscription. Ipsy is 10. Both have free shipping. You get a glam bag with ipsy which is actually practical and adorable. With the BB5, it's a box. 
We'll start with my Ipsy Bag.

I actually think this bag is really cute. And as always, I like most of the products in there. This bag was kind of eye intensive for me, so I'll review all the products in there. 

 

Here are the three eye products sampled on my face. 

Here's a swatch of the eye shadow and eye liner. 

J. Cat Blikie Shimmer Eye shadow in the color Tangerine Light. 

Retail price 4.99. 

It was my base crease, outer v, and base lid color. It's really pigmented, but I wasn't impressed with the color. Honestly, I don't wear much orange on my eyes, and I don't really understand how I was supposed to wear this.  

Next, Mr. Write (Now) eye liner in the color Jac B. Bronze by theBalm. 

Retail price $17.00. 

I will admit I was afraid to get this in the mail, but now I have it, I'm excited. It's a nice brown bronze and wears nicely on the face. It seemed to have pretty good staying power too, and I think it's pretty pigmented. 

Jelly Pong Pong Fairy Lashes Curl Mascara. 

Retail Price 21.00 directly from the website. 

I'm pretty sure this is a full sized product. I like the application. It doesn't clump or flake. 

Pur-lisse Blue Lotus 4 in 1. 

Retail Price $19.95 for travel size, which I think this is. 

I think I would have to use this regularly to give an accurate review, but I like it. It does take the puffiness out. 

Skyn Iceland Facial Cleansing Cloths

Retail Price 30 count is $15.00. This is a $10.00 count which would be $5.00. 

I like these pretty well. They're a little bit rough on the skin and very soapy, but it's not too bad. I don't have a sticky feeling afterward and they remove my makeup pretty quickly. I do have to do more than one swipe on the eye make up if I want it all off. 

BONUS PRODUCT

Glamglow super mud

Retail Price for travel size, which I think this one is too is $12.70 from amazon. 

One thing that's really cool about Ipsy is that you can build up points by reviewing and sharing things. And once you get so many points, you can cash them in and get a free product. 

I decided to get this glamglow mud because every one is raving about it. I really like it too. It's helped my skin get over it's little freak out because I was a bad human. 

That's the Ipsy Bag. 

Now for the Beauty Box 5

I didn't do as well as I should have taking this picture. But anyway, you get five products like the name suggest. One thing that's different is this sends you coupons, and it also sends you a little informational thing about how much everything costs retail and for full size products and then if you're getting a full size or not. 

Salon Grafics Freezing Hair Spray

Retail Price $3.29 for the travel size. 

This stuff holds. I used it the other day on a curl look, and my hair hold curl pretty well, but it will fall out as the day goes on. However, this stuff kept my hair looking curled days after the fact. I like it and I'll probably buy a full size once I'm done with this guy. 

Not your Mother's Plump for Joy Thickening Hair Lifter

Retail Price $8.00 for full size. 

I was actually not excited to see this guy. I don't have fine enough hair to want to buy it or even use it. But I suffered for the sake of the blog. I was pleasantly surprised. Even if you don't have fine hair, this is nice to just add a little volume to already fluffy hair. Just don't use the entire bottle in one fell swoop. And it smells amazing. I mostly want to use it because I like the smell. 

Novex Bamboo Sprout Deep Conditioning Treatment

Retail Price 14.99 for a full size. This is a travel size. 

 I'm not overly impressed with this one. It doesn't really do much for my hair. Or maybe I'm just irritated that the instructions aren't in English. Not a favorite. 

Bodipure Keratin Gloves 

Retail Price $5.00

I liked this. It was fun, but it was a one time only thing if you follow the instructions. My hands were super sticky after I was done, and they got covered in dog hairs. It did have a kind of floral scent to it, but it wasn't bad.  

Nails Inc London in Shade Grosvenor Crescent

Retail Price $9.99

This is a really pretty plum color and probably my favorite thing in the box.  I know it looks black on the picture, but that's just how dark it is. It has pretty good staying power for being nail polish. (Nail polish never stays on my fingers.) It's a little sheer so I had to do more than one coat, but it dries pretty quickly. 

Scratch Custom Accent Nail Wraps 

 Retail Price $6.00

This is a jamberry. I hate jamberry because Jamberry doesn't stay on my nail. This one did a little better than a jamberry. One thing I didn't really like was I only got four. Literally four. Each of those four really only worked for one finger. So I would have an accent nail on hand. I didn't like that concept. I would have rather gotten a set of one pattern, but this one came with four different patterns.

I had to go to the website for instruction on how to apply them, but that's not too big a deal. 

My only other complaint is that Beauty Box 5 didn't let me back into the website so I could look at things. I'll let you guys know what the resolution is on that though. 

So that is my Ipsy Bag vs Beauty Box 5. 

Ipsy wins this round. 

Come back next month to see who the winner is.