A LIFE ON A DIME’S FAVORITE FRUGAL & ECO-FRIENDLY FINDS

THE NEW BEGINNING THAT LED TO OUR FRUGAL & ECO-FRIENDLY EFFORTS

One of the goals I set when we moved into our new house in March of 2018 was to keep as non-toxic of a home as possible. I started small, switching to Thieves Household Cleaner and using a few therapeutic grade essential oils. But I didn’t stop there! I first thought it would be a fun idea for a post last summer, so this post was definitely a long time coming! Here are three of a Life on a Dime’s favorite frugal and eco-friendly finds to date.

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FAVORITE FRUGAL & ECO-FRIENDLY FINDS: THE ONE THING THAT CLEANS EVERYTHING

That pretty much sums up Thieves® Household Cleaner. It is a powerful plant-based cleaning concentrate that literally works for everything! There is a whole line of Thieves® products, but I have found that I get my money’s worth just purchasing the Household Cleaner and the oil itself. Using this one product I clean my kitchen, wash the dishes, do our laundry, clean the showers, and once I’m out of the Ecover, I will also use it to clean the toilets!

One to two capfuls diluted in a full-sized glass or stainless steel spray bottle is potent enough to get all the surfaces in my house clean! There are countless recipes to be found for just about every cleaning need. The best part? Even though I use it to do all those things, one bottle lasts me over six months! This makes it a very safe AND economical cleaning solution!

COLOR-SAFE SHAMPOO FREE OF SULFATES, PARABENS, DYES, ETC…

I must admit, I did love Young Living’s Copaiba Vanilla shampoo and conditioner. It worked really well for my color-treated hair… until it didn’t. The problem with essential oils and hair color is so many of them will damage or strip the color. The good news is I used the shampoo up and the conditioner that’s left can double as a body lotion! Copaiba is a very relaxing scent, so I think this will be my new bed-time moisturizer. I have heard that vegetable glycerin can be added to natural shampoos to help with this problem, but I have not tried it yet.

I know coloring my hair isn’t that eco-friendly; in fact, I debated just last month if I should cut it short and just stop dying it, but here I am an auburn again! I am seriously tempted to try Madison Reed color. Has anyone reading this tried it? I’d love to hear! But, I digress…

Then I was excited to try a shampoo bar. Just think – clean hair, less clutter in the shower, and only a paper wrapping to recycle?! It sounded wonderful. It said it was safe for color-treated hair so I gave it a try. There was just one problem; try as I might it never fully felt like it rinsed out and by the time I finished blow drying my hair I felt a sticky residue on my fingers! My hair also looked a bit greasy. Not good. Not good at all. But, since I am frugal and like to “use it up” I still used the bar til there wasn’t really anything but a paper-thin sliver left.

Enter my new frugal and eco-friendly favorite: Love Beauty & Planet Murumuru Butter & Rose Blooming Color Shampoo and Conditioner. I could type out the list of items it doesn’t have, but I’ll just show you the label.

If you’re still looking for a frugal and eco-friendly Valentine’s Day gift idea or just want to pamper yourself, check out this bath and body gift set or just buy her the whole collection!

And in case you’re wondering why I’m buying new products to try in February, one this is an allowed expenditure as I had almost used up the entire shampoo bar, but I also used a gift card from my taste-testing side hustle to pay for the conditioner! I didn’t feel like making a special trip to the store or online order just for the conditioner.

FAVORITE CLEANSING BASE

I love Castile soap! And when I say Castile soap, I mean Dr. Bronner’s Hemp Baby Unscented Pure Castile soap. It is easy on the skin. Add  Thieves® Household Cleaner and water to it to make a multi-purpose dish and hand soap in the kitchen. I add water and a few drops of whatever oil suits my fancy at the moment for non-toxic scented hand soap (use Thieves® oil for a non-toxic antibacterial hand soap).

I even make my own body wash using 85% Castile soap and about 15% pure almond oil. Since I wash my face with it, I usually add Bergamot and either StressAway or Lavender oil. It is a very versatile product that is also easy on the skin.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE FRUGAL & ECO-FRIENDLY FAVORITES FROM A LIFE ON A DIME

I am always on the lookout for options that are more frugal and sustainable, so this post may become a regularly quarterly thing. Do you have any favorite frugal & eco-friendly finds you’d like to share in the comments? Have any questions about the items I mentioned in this post? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time, No-Spend February continues so if you’re still hanging in there use the hashtag #NoSpendFebruary and I’ll follow and share updates in my tweets and stories!

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