I was skeptical, I’ll admit it. I have been saving my coffee grounds for my garden but when I read that simple used coffee grounds make a great facial I kind of cringed.
Seriously?
But turns out, this is a thing. Simply mix two tablespoons of plain yogurt with two tablespoons used coffee grounds and gently spread on your face, using light, circular motions. It works, it really works and the cost?
Next to nothing.
One of the content creators that I follow was showing a layered approach to getting pots ready for summer planting. The layers are as follows:
- Bunch of sticks and leaves and pine needles if you have them
- Cardboard or brown shipping paper soaked in water to soften
- Scraps (produce bits, peels, skins, crushed eggshells, tea and coffee grounds)
- Finally, potting soil
Again skeptical. Still, it cost me nothing to try this out aside from the potting soil which I’d already purchased. I kept adding to a freezer bag of scraps until I had enough and assembled. First, I literally walked around my backyard and collected sticks. Free although I paused to thank the woodpeckers for helping me acquire the sticks. Then I pulled from my collection of cardboard boxes that I keep on hand. Easy and again, free. The scraps were free too, so assembly went very quickly.
I then planted some seeds for winter squash which I knew would take a whopping 100 days to mature but man, did those plants come up quick. I have been impressed. So far, so good.
I battle slugs with my summer garden and found a recipe that appealed because, again, I already had everything on hand. Not quite free because produce does cost but it is simple and cheap:
It’s War Bug Spray
Ingredients:
1 red onion roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
Method: Mix everything in a jar with about 3 cups of water. Let sit overnight. Strain (toss the used produce in with your scraps) and put the liquid in a spray bottle. Spray on the leaves directly. So far, no bugs, especially slugs which plague my tomato plants all summer long. So far, so good. And I had a spare spray bottle so that cost nothing as well.
I live minutes from the ocean which means an unlimited supply of sand. Sand, as it turns out, makes an amazing exfoliant. Yes, the other ingredients cost a few pennies but the recipe is still dirt (sand?) cheap.
Sandy Smooth Exfoliant
Ingredients:
3/4 cup sanitized sand (bake sand at 350-Fdeg for 45 minutes and sift out any rough bits)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil
Optional: 1 teaspoon flavored oil such as lemon, orange or lavender.
Method: Mix everything together to create a paste. Mix well into rough heels, elbows and the bottom of your feet.
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the house behind 