Abby Quillen

Freelance Content Marketing Writer and Editor

Household

7 Cheap Ways to Spend a Weekend Afternoon

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1. Visit a new neighborhood.

Get on a random bus and see where you end up. Or bike to a neighborhood you’ve always wanted to explore. Once you’re there, just wander around.

2. Grab your camera and go for a walk.

Decide beforehand what you want to snap photos of – flowers, tree branches against the sky, the color purple. You might be surprised at how differently you look at everything, even on a familiar walk.

3. Discover a new food.

Visit the produce section of your grocery store or your farmer’s market and find a fruit or vegetable you’ve never eaten. Then find a recipe for it. Last week, we tried yucca-root quesadillas. (They were good, but a little bland. Next time we’re going to spice them up a little more.)

4. People watch.

Go to a bustling part of town and just sit or wander around and enjoy the spectacle of your fellow townsfolk. My favorite people-watching spots: the college campus, the library, and just about any coffee shop.

5. Visit open houses.

Check the real estate listings in the newspaper and on Craigslist and visit some open houses. Pretend you’re picking out some new digs, or just find out how other folks live.

6. Find a free event.

Go to a lecture. Attend a book reading. Go on a group nature walk. Or take your kids to a story time or free play.

7. Watch a sporting event.

Go to a little league game or a high school sporting event. Bring a picnic. Root for a team. Cheer.

What’s your favorite cheap way to spend a weekend afternoon?

March Showers

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Remember how last month I was bragging about all of our nice weather and our early spring blossoms. Well, this week we’re getting torrents of rain to make up for it. Our backyard looks like a wading pool.

Honestly, I’m not complaining. I was feeling rather overwhelmed with garden and house projects, so the return of winter, with its slower pace and excuses to bake bread and curl up and read books is just what I needed. Of course, my son has other ideas about how we should spend these rainy days.

Here’s the story of our last few days, told in the color red…

And did I mention this? There’s been a whole lot of this going on:

This post is for Steady Mom’s Thirty Minute Blog Challenge.

Just One Small Change

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Photo Credit: Matthew Hull

When I was writing my New Year’s Resolutions series, I went on the lookout for simple and inexpensive ways we might live better in 2010. And it struck me how much we might be able to improve our lives by making just one small change.

For instance what if someone committed to a daily walk? That alone could bring better health, relaxation, improved sleep, connection with neighbors, and more quality time with family. And if the walk replaced a car trip, it could even save some money. Every small change I thought of had a similar snowball effect.

Recently I heard an interview with William Wittman, a life coach in Seattle. He talked about an easy daily exercise that he recommends to his clients and insists he’s seen it bring huge changes to people’s lives. He calls it “Owl Ears and Owl Eyes”. The idea is to go outside first thing in the morning, stand still, and look up, down, and side to side without moving your head while listening closely to the sounds around you, first the loud ones, then the quieter ones.

Wittman says that by connecting with nature like this first thing in the morning, we connect with what’s meaningful in the world. And by focusing on looking and listening, we can’t help but quiet our mental chatter and relax. He says he’s seen this one small change motivate people to get healthy, find fulfilling work, reach out to friends, and on and on.

I think Wittman might be on to something. Awhile ago my neighbor put down black plastic over the garden in his backyard, which attracted ducks – sometimes sixty of them at a time. And now each night the ducks circle over our neighborhood in groups of four or five, flying lower and lower until they’re just overhead. (I wrote about it before here; my neighbor has since built a pond for the ducks.)

I’ve been shocked at how much this random, natural (and free) event has improved my family’s quality of life. Most nights we go outside to watch the ducks, and we chat with our neighbors, connect with nature, and enjoy each other’s company. Just one small change really has added up to so much more.

(This post is for Steady Mom’s Thirty Minute Blog Challenge.)

What do you think? Has one small change ever made a big difference in your life?

Simplify Your Personal Care

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Do you have cleansers, creams, lotions, serums, sprays, perfumes, deodorants, and cosmetics packed in your bathroom drawers and cabinets? If so, you’re not alone. A 2004 Environmental Working Group (EWG) survey found that the average adult uses nine personal care products, containing 126 unique chemical ingredients, each day.

These products are expensive. More alarmingly, according to the EWG, many of them contain toxic substances like mercury, lead, pthalates, parabens, and petroleum byproducts.

But the best reason to ditch them? The vast majority are completely unnecessary.

That might sound crazy. Millions of advertising dollars are spent convincing us we need an arsenal of products to maintain proper hygiene and make us look younger and more attractive.

However, in the last five years, I’ve pared down and sought out pure, natural alternatives. And I’ve been shocked to discover that in almost every case, the simple non-toxic replacements work better. And trust me, you don’t have to be a chemist to make these.

Here are some easy substitutions to try if you’d like to simplify your personal care:

  • Instead of under-arm deodorant

Try brushing on:

1/2 cup baking soda mixed with 1/2 cup corn starch

Or for a product closer to what you buy in the store, mix the baking soda, corn starch mixture with coconut oil and a few drops of essential oil, and put it in a recycled deodorant dispenser. (Coconut oil melts at 76 degrees. So in the summer, you’ll want to keep it in the refrigerator.)

  • Instead of mouthwash

Try gargling with hydrogen peroxide. (Bonus: it whitens your teeth.)

Or a salt water solution.

Or a mint herbal infusion. (Steep 1 oz. dried herb in 4 cups boiling water. Refrigerate. Lasts several days.)

  • Instead of shampoo and conditioner

Try using baking soda and apple cider vinegar. This combination works much better than the most expensive natural shampoos and conditioners I used to buy. I wrote about it here.

  • Instead of dandruff shampoo

Try an infusion or decoction of aloe, burdock, cloves, lemongrass, nettle leaf and root, peppermint, rosemary, or willow.

(You can read more about natural herbal hair rinses in this Herb Companion article. It includes more herbs to try for dandruff, as well as herbs for dry scalp and oily scalp issues, and a how-to for making infusions, decoctions, and vinegar extracts.)

  • Instead of hair dye

Try henna.

Or to darken hair, try a sage infusion.

Or to lighten hair, try a chamomile or calendula infusion.

(You can read more about natural hair dyes in this Mother Earth News article.)

  • Instead of lotion

Try olive, almond, or coconut oil.

(Tip: It’s usually cheaper to buy oils in the food section of the grocery store than in the health and beauty section.)

  • Instead of facial moisturizer

Try jojoba oil.

Or aloe vera.

  • Instead of facial cleanser

Try castile soap.

Or a mixture of castor oil and jojoba or olive oil. You can find information about the oil cleansing method here.

Or Rosemary Gladstar’s “miracle grains”:

  • 1 Cup finely ground Oats
  • 2 Cups White Clay
  • 1/4 Cup finely ground Almonds
  • 1/8 Cup finely ground Lavender
  • 1/8 Cup finely ground Roses

I haven’t sworn off all store-bought personal care products. But when I buy them, I look for a short list of ingredients that I’m familiar with. For example, the Badger Nutmeg and Shea body moisturizer my friend gave me for my birthday contains Organic Shea butter, Beeswax, Castor oil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Nutmeg, Seabuckthorn berry, Rosehip, and Rosemary. Those are the kinds of ingredients I look for.

Do you have a favorite personal-care recipe? Have you discovered a simple, non-toxic alternative that works?