Category Archives: Frugal beauty

My skin care regime? - frugal beauty

Frugal beauty

Hello Dear Reader,

Even though I try to be as thrifty as possible, I will not compromise on skin care. I’m a great proponent of taking care of ourselves. People often comment on my clear skin and I tell people I have always looked after it. I always exfoliate when I’m in the bath or shower and always use a body moisturiser. Currently, and because it’s on offer in our local Superdrug, I use Palmer’s Cocoa Butter. I wait for it to be on offer and usually buy it when it’s under £2.

I make my own small face clothes, they are half the size of a flannel and I cut up old towels and keep them ready to use. I use Superdrug’s Simply Pure calming cleanser to remove any make up.

I massage it well into my face and then use on of my homemade clothes to remove the cleanser. In the morning, whilst in the shower, I massage Superdrug’s hot cloth cleanser into my face and then wipe it off. It saves on cotton wool or cleansing pads. I rinse them out and use them twice before I put them into the wash. I have a small cotton bag with a draw string that I wash them in and peg them out with the rest of my laundry.

My go to moisturiser is Aldi’s Lacura Daily Face cream and it’s £1.49! I swear by it along with the Q10 anti-wrinkle day cream. I’ve tried others and none of them suit my skin like they do.


I’m amazed that people don’t pay more attention to their skin. Gnarly dry skin on feet, dry and un nourished skin to me just signifies some sort of poor health or poor attitude to health. I only use very cheap off the shelf products but believe we can take care of ourselves even on a tiny budget. I also think we don’t need to use loads of cotton pads when cleansing and we can make our own cleansing clothes which can definitely save us money and cut down on waste.

Over to you, what really cheap skin care product do you use and swear it does as good a job as something expensive?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Beauty on a budget.

Frugal beauty

Hello Dear Reader,

As promised, I going to share the beauty products that I use. I wear very little make up even though I wear make up every day. I like to look as if I’m not actually wearing any. I love the Body Shop’s BB cream, although there are many other cheaper versions. I go into the Body Shop, try their products and then buy them online to get which ever discount is available. There always seems to be at least 25% off if you buy online. I also enter the site via Quidco and get the 3% cashback on top. It might seem like a petty saving but all those small purchases add up and anything back is a bonus. Currently, you can get 40% discount from the Body Shop if you buy four items online.

My current mascara is Clinique waterproof. I have grown up children and if they ask me what I would like for Christmas, I usually ask for something specific such as a lipstick or mascara. I can make a lipstick last years, as I don’t use it every day. Usually, I just use Vaseline from the little green tin. My current lipstick is from M&S, although they’ve recently gone very ‘high end’ with their make up and is now expensive. Make up is expensive so I use it sparingly and make it last. I get through three mascaras a year and will often look for the most affordable ‘best’ one I can find.

I have been using Aldi’s Lacura Anti-wrinkle Day Cream at £1.99 a pot for the last ten years and I don’t intend to use anything else. It’s the one product I go back to every time.

I’m a great believer in hot cloth cleansers, but I don’t buy a special cleanser. We have a Superdrug store here in Liskeard and when I need any beauty products, I usually check what offers they have. Shampoo, which is horribly expensive is usually cheaper there. To cleanse my face, and to remove make up, I massage a generous amount of unscented cleanser all over my face and then use a hot damp face cloth to remove any make up or grime. I don’t use a toner, I just rinse my face with cold water.

When I cleanse and moisturise, I always use a facial product right down my neck and around the top of my chest. I’m trying to avoid wrinkles and skin damage there too.

I use an exfoliator in the shower every morning. Again, I use it on my neck and top of my chest. The St Ives scrub has been around for years. I sometimes try something different but come back to my usual favourite. It’s currently £1.98 in Superdrug and a tube usually lasts me a month.

I have no brand loyalty when it comes to shampoo. It’s terribly expensive and I’m always looking for a deal. I usually stand back and scan the entire section and find the ‘good one’ that’s on offer. My hair is coloured so I use a speciality shampoo to help keep the colour. Any of the regular brands will do but I won’t pay more than £2 a bottle and I eek out a bottle to get the last drop out of it.

I’m so cheap that I use the same product on my hands as I do my feet!! I use a nail brush and soap to scrub my feet and that helps keep them soft. I do the same with my nails and it keeps my cuticles in good order. My toe nails and finger nails are kept short and filed smooth. I’ve used Palmer’s Cocoa butter forever!! If I see it on offer for around £1, I will buy a couple as I know I will use them all year round.


I don’t wear perfume very often either, usually just at the weekend. I love Lidl’s ‘Glamour’. It’s won heaps of awards and is a shameless copy of Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle, although they’d never admit that!


I only ever wash myself with plain soap. I buy the unscented bars from Aldi. Their anti-perspirant is under £1 and their body lotion comes in a huge container and lasts me for months. Both have a very subtle fragrance which does not over power.


So here’s the ‘beauty’ regime in the Froogy day.

Morning - shower, hair, exfoliate and moisturise (from head to toe)
Make up - BB cream, blusher and mascara.
Evening - hot cloth cleanse and moisturise.

Sorry it’s nothing fancy. I make sure I take care of my health by not sunbathing, by using sunblock and staying covered, drinking plenty of fluids and eating a simple diet with plenty of vegetables.

I hope, dear reader, that I’ve answered your questions of how I maintain my appearance on a budget.

Over to you Dear Reader, what do you ‘come back to’ time and again? What will you compromise on or not? How do you find the best beauty bargains and prices?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Finding Good Value Clothing at affordable prices

Frugal beauty

Hello Dear Reader,

I am a long legged tall bird! Six Foot plus in heels! Finding clothes to fit is a nightmare! Dresses have waists too high because my body is longer than average. Trousers have waists too low because my body length is not standard. Jackets don’t fit as the arm holes are not deep enough for me. Consequently, I am a dreadful shopper. There is nothing like clothes shopping to make me feel like an ugly freak. If you work in a clothes shop then please be patient with me when I come. I am likely to try on everything in the shop and I might find just one thing that will fit me. Currently, tunic tops are fashionable and on me, they are just long enough.

I was asked to place an advert for Bonmarche on my blog and before I agreed, I went to visit their local store. Firstly, why haven’t I been in here before? Secondly, they make clothes that fit normal women, even the display mannequins are based on normal bodies. Although I didn’t buy anything, the thing that impressed me most was the empathetic attitude of the staff to my sizing dilemmas. Their clothing is budget and is priced well but like other budget stores, they had no tall clothing and their trousers all had 29″ inside legs and mine at are 33″.Their dresses were sized to 39.5″ from the nape to the seam and I need a dress of 50″ to be a modest mid calf. Their tunic tops were gorgeous and one is on the way to me in part payment for the infographic. I’m a ‘modest’ dresser and like clothes to completely cover, look appropriate and be well made and if I was six inches shorter then I could have happily bought anything in the store. I’ve got to mention their staff in the Cornwall St store in New George Street as they really couldn’t have done more for me.

You might be asking why a frugalista like myself buys new clothes and not just clothes from charity shops. I certainly do use charity shops but I’m faced with the same issue, not many women are 6′ in heels with legs like stilts. So, in the interest of good value and good research I will look for clothes anywhere and in all the budget stores as that’s my affordable price range.


Over to you Dear Reader, where do you find good value and good service at affordable prices. Who else uses budget stores for clothing? Who else has difficulties finding clothes to fit due to sizing issues? Who else is modest dresser and finds it difficult to look stylish with out dressing like your gran? Oh the dilemmas of clothing, please share and leave a comment.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs

Disclaimer - I am being sent ‘tops’ from the new lines from Bonmarche and I’m looking forward to them. I have been paid to place this advert but my opinions about the quality and service are genuinely my own.

Scrub up on a budget?

Frugal beauty

Hello Dear Reader,

I seem to get through make up, cleanser and toiletries at a rate of knots! In years gone by, I would head to Dingles/House of Fraser and stock up on Clinique, Lancome and Estee Lauder. I no longer have any idea what Lancome concealer or Estee Lauder foundation costs any as it is years since I’ve bought it. I am though still a great believer in a regular skin care routine.

I hunt out bargains as I use an exfoliator (St Ives) every other day to get rid of any dead skin cells. It’s often on offer somewhere and I’ve even found it in Poundland. It’s currently going cheap in Superdrug so I bought a couple to last me a month or so. I don’t find that cheaper always means poorer quality and it does what it needs to do. I use exfoliating gloves from Poundland or Savers and pop some shower gel on them and then exfoliate all over every day. I use an all over moisturiser, again from Aldi, which keeps my skin soft.



Every other day, I’ll use a deep cleansing and moisturising cleanser. I use a cold cream and massage it all over my face and then get into the shower. I use a hot wet flannel to get it off and it leaves my skin really smooth.


I use a really old fashioned facial toner…………….I splash cold water all over my face and pat it dry. Both of the cleansers I use are a couple of quid each. I used to use Clinique’s cleansers and facial products and don’t think my skin has suffered one bit since I stopped using them about three years ago.

I also wear make up every day. I use a concealer around my eyes and in the distant past used to use Lancome’s version of this but now buy all my make up in Aldi.


I have tried other cheaper make up such as Barry M and Mua from Superdrug and find that it doesn’t last as long and it doesn’t have the same quality. Make up is £2.39 for each product in Aldi, it’s made in Germany and in my opinion, even though it’s cheap, it’s the best make up I’ve ever bought. (I’ve also checked and all Aldi beauty products and toiletries are cruelty free as are Barry M and Mua)

Now before anyone asks, this isn’t a sponsored post it’s just a response to something that I read today about not using products that we’ve got laying around as they can harbour germs. Mine doesn’t hang around that long so there’s no fear of it giving me dermatitis.

As I gallop towards 50, I’m doing all I can to look after myself. I like to face the world each morning with my head held high and knowing I’m well groomed and no need know I’ve done so on a tight budget!




Over to you Dear Reader. Does anyone else use bargain basement beauty and find the results as good as anything you can spend a fortune on? Does anyone use supermarket own brand beauty products? Who, no matter how frugal you get, still stick to branded make up or toiletries? Who else has a daily skin care regime?

(One of my favourite Bloggers Shirley Goode, who writes a wonderful frugal food blog is 80 today! Pop over to her blog, have a good read and say hello.
http://shirleygoode.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/first-day-of-rest.html

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxx




Don’t blame it on the uteri!

Frugal beauty

Hello Dear Reader,

Today’s topic is menstruation, the cost and the planetary implications. If the words vagina, twat, fanny, tampon, sanitary towel, crimson wave, jam rag, Liverpool playing at home, we’ve got the painters and decorators in, on the blob, or on the rag offends you, then stop reading now!

I get comments that get me thinking. I had one yesterday that had me thinking that my uterus and yours and everyone else’s is far more to blame for every eco disaster than anything caused by the Bhopal disaster, BP oil spills or Chenobyl! I mean, how dare any of us wrap up a tampon in tissue and throw it in the bin, that will cause the world to end. Let’s be honest, I’ve tried a mooncup and spent the day feeling as if I had a plastic egg cup shoved up my chuff! I know I could cup up my husbands old shirts and stitch up fancy pads and velcro them to my knickers but the memory of santitary pads slung from hammocks and walking like John Wayne with a pillow stuck between my legs will haunt me forever.

I here by declare that I am a user of supermarket own brand tampons and think them to be very good value. I, and all the other women who have menstruated for forty years of our adult lives could be a whole lot more eco and even save money by suspending our fannies over a bucket for a week a month or just sit in a menstruation hut and bury our own secretions. However, we are not to blame for the world’s eco disasters which have been caused, in the main, by those who do not menstruate. (Trying not to be sexist but take a look at the boards of massive pharmaceutical, petroleum and heavy industrial companies and the percentage of women will be low) So, using that very weak argument, those of us who use tampons or sanitary pads are not to blame for the world’s catastrophes and those of you using mooncups or reusable products can carry on doing so knowing you are doing your bit. Those of us who don’t………………..keep calm and blob on!


Over to you. Where are the best value tampons, sanitary products or where can you get a two for one deals on mooncups? Anyone else use own brands and find them to be a good deal and nothing wrong with them? Does anyone stock pile when they are on offer?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs

Celebrating life’s little wins

Frugal beauty

Hello Dear Reader,

It’s the first of the month and we’ve sat, as we always do and have allocated money for each and every purpose and have left ourselves just £50 spare for the month. I bought clothes yesterday, from money I had saved from all of the £50 a month spare that we hadn’t spent as we hadn’t needed to. The last thing we had to buy and that was a few months ago were new shoes for Dearly Beloved and now I’ve saved up for and bought a coat that I’ve been wanting for months. I got it in the sales and secured a good discount and used a free postage voucher code as well. Now I put money aside every month, being able to buy a new coat, without credit and without going without somewhere else feel incredible. In fact, being able to buy a new coat makes me feel like a millionaire. I could have any coat I wanted!

I’m taking part in a challenge by Money Supermarket called ‘What’s in your pocket?‘ to spend £20 creatively or in fact, any way I want. I bought everything I needed after work yesterday and set about a few hours of indulgence this morning. Being sent £20 is like finding the money, I didn’t know I had, in the pocket of a coat that I hadn’t worn in a while. They sent me the money and I could have banked it, I could have saved it towards a mortgage payment, but unusually for me, I decided to spend it on on a spa day.


I purposefully decided to bring my tea and breakfast back to bed and I watched the news on TV, to all intents and purposes, I could have been in a hotel. I got up much later than usual and had a very leisurely start to the day. After a very long and steamy shower, let’s not forget, there are no shower timers in a spa, I set off for the selection of beauty treatments I had chosen and booked for that morning. I started with a deep cleansing facial and used the new face pack I had bought with the money,followed by a trip to the hair salon. I used the colouring, that I’d treated myself to with the money I had been given and sat in the steam room (bathroom) and read a magazine whilst the colour worked for the next fifteen minutes.

After the hair dresser had rinsed and conditioned my hair, I went off for a pedicure. I soaked my feet, using the shower gel that I also bought for the bubbles and then had my toes nails shaped, filed and moisturised. My spa treatment was finished off with some new make up, which I bought from Superdrug, along with the other goodies, all with the money I had been given.

The hair colour, make up, face pack and shower gel cost just a little under £10, but most busy working women will tell you that spending this kind of money on just indulging ourselves along with the time of a spa day, is not an ordinary occurrence. Normally, if we find a spare £20, we take it to the supermarket and fill up the freezer, or buy diesel for the car, or do something sensible with it. I can’t remember the last time I had a spa day and had my hair done. It really felt incredibly indulgent. But, it’s not finished there!


As I said to you, I was sent £20 and only spent ten of that, so guess what! I’ve put £10 to one side and I’m going to have another spa day on next month’s pay day too! You see, when you are used to less, you can treat yourself with the smallest experience, such as an ice cream or a coffee on a day out and it seems so much more to you. Living with less and doing with less is all about celebrating life’s little wins. If by any chance, you find you have a tiny bit of extra money, I can recommend that you spend some of it on your self!


I hope my hair colour, new make up and huge smile shows how much I enjoyed my spa day. If you’re interested, I took it easy until eleven o clock this morning, when I would usually have cooked and laundered for the week and cleaned the house from top to bottom. I’m looking forward to 2nd of March, when I’ll do all this again and thanks to Money supermarket for selecting me to be part of this challenge.

Now, over to you. Firstly, thanks to everyone who has nominated me for a blog award and if you haven’t and you would like to, please click the link top right and follow the instructions to nominate me in a few of the categories. Now, if you found £20 in your pocket, what would you do with it? Would you be sensible, or like me, would you treat yourself? Did I do the right thing? If I didn’t, then I hope you don’t mind.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xx

What do you spend at the hairdressers?

Frugal beauty
Yes - I look a twit and I do have hair dye on my face but I put my glasses back on, checked in the mirror and I washed it off!

Hello Dear Reader,

Not being an average woman, I’ve no idea what the average woman spends at the hair dressers. The last time I went to the hair dressers, a trim and semi-permanent colour cost £75. I never went back. I’m always on the hunt now for reasonable hair colourant as some are getting to costing almost £10, which is the total amount I allow allocate to spend on myself per month! I can spend money on sewing machines and second hand fabric to make presents and household items, but I see no need to waste money on my physical self.

So, I colour my own hair and I don’t have it cut more than once every two years.

The colour in the picture looks almost black whereas it’s a dark brown iced chocolate. Not telling the make as I don’t do adverts. I stock up when the shops are doing a two for one, or three for two and keep them and then colour my hair every month.


Now I’ve fought the good fight against the every shade of grey, I’ll see you tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Frugal Pedicure

Frugal beauty

Hello Dear Reader,


I’m not growing old gracefully, in fact, I’m fighting the ageing process. There is nothing more ageing than having aching tired feet. They work hard for us so we need to look after them. A local beauty salon has a ‘fixed price’ tariff notice, which I pass on my way to work. It said that standard pedicures were £16.50! Here’s my version of how to save a few quid. I shower and don’t bathe, so I don’t get to soak my toes. I set up a little spa in my bedroom with a bowl of warm soapy water; I use a swirl of shower gel. I then soak my feet for ten minutes.

Next, I use an exfoliating creme which I massage into my feet for three minutes on each foot. I was given some as a gift, but you can use a handful of soapy lather and a sprinkle of table salt and just work it round your feet. I then rinse and soak my feet again for another minute of so.

Then, I use a cuticle stick to run round the edges of my nails, I don’t push the cuticle back but just clean off my nails.

I make sure my nails are trimmed and filed. Can you believe they charge £16.50 for this! It took me no time at all.



I finished with moisturising my feet, I usually just use a body moisturiser, but again, I’ve been given some as a gift and my feet and toes have been well looked after. I may not spend hardly any money on myself, but I still make time to look after my well being. I do this once a week and there are people who have a pedicure or manicure that often! So, by doing this myself, I save £858 a year! Plus, I look after my feet so they can carry me around in comfort!


Spend days
1st July =£0
2nd July = big monthly shop £72 - Lidl
3rd July = £0


Until tomorrow,


Love Froogs

Frugal Spa Treatments

Frugal beauty

Hello Dear Reader,

 I would rather poke my own eyes out with a plastic spoon that set foot in a spa! However, age is catching up with me and now, I just try 1. Not to smell 2. To keep my backside and knockers from escaping 3. Not to look rough.

In the process of not looking rough I try to look after my skin. I once went to the Clinique counter in Dingles, had all the free advice, got the poor one foot thick make up wearing girl to tell me all the beauty secrets and try all sorts of lovely stuff on me, and then I left and went and bought something that did the job in Poundland and Boots. She basically told me to exfoliate, cleanse and use a good anti-wrinkle moisturiser with sun screen. I think she wanted a few hundred pounds and I got the lot for just over a fiver.


Here is my complete array of beauty products. That’s it. The lot! Hopefully, I don’t smell and I don’t look rough. The escaping wobbly bits are encased in sturdy undies and I make sure I exercise. I wash my hair in Value shampoo, I use Value hand wash as shower gel (or what ever hand wash I’ve got); the St. Ives scrub can be found in Poundland and Boots cold cream is £2.42 and I get through a couple of pots a year. I use a well rated moisturiser from Aldi (it’s won awards, if that counts for anything?) and I use which ever deodorant is on offer. I use a whitening toothpaste, again, I buy which ever is on off. I buy perfume for £3.99 for Lidl (well actually I stocked up when it was on offer for £1.99)
Froogs, scrubbing like a good’n!

Now, apologies for looking a total tw*t but I was running in and out of the bathroom telling Dearly Beloved to quickly grab my camera and take some photos of my beauty regime. I don’t wash my hair too often, or it gets really tangly so it’s a twice a week job. Today is one of those days. On the days that I wash my hair……….you can see I really give a hoot about all this beauty malarky. I deep cleanse. I use the scrub and then rinse with cold water until it is completely gone. I then massage in cold cream, keep massaging for about a minute and then remove it with a warm damp flannel.

Slap it on Froogs!

Normally, it’s just soap and water, a scrub round with an air dried flannel and a bit of moisturiser. This is just to prove that I do make the effort! Spa? That’s where tea bags come from when every where else is shut!

Here’s the end result, hopefully, I don’t look rough…………no? Job done!

Scrubbed and moisturised, no make up, nothing but the Froogs


Until later,

Love Froogs

Waxing, ripping and ding!

Frugal beauty, frugal food, quilting
What won’t I show you?!

Hello Dear Reader.


I’m as blind as a bat without my glasses so I can’t pluck my own eye brows any more. I used to get the local beauty salon to wax my upper lip and eye brows and it used to cost me £13 a month. I now buy a pack of Veet face wax strips and do it myself. I cut the wax strips to the shape I want and use a magnifying mirror. There’s no little fluffy bits left after waxing them. They cost £4.50 for 20 strips and I use two each time, I do this twice a month so the cost for me now is 90p per month!

Smooth brows, even if I do look a bit vacant and far away.


I also save money by not using my oven every day. I bought these plastic food covers from Ikea about six years ago. I keep plated ready meals covered with these in the fridge and re-heat the food the next day. Today, we had meat loaf, roast veggies and steamed veggies and gravy and that’s exactly what we had for supper last night too!


Yep…..needs cleaning!

Well, that was waxing and ding now onto the ripping. Here’s a handy how to dismantle a shirt tutorial. I love doing this, it gives me such pleasure to use all of the shirt. I don’t use the seam with the button holes, but cut that into strips to use as ‘ribbons’. You could tie up plants with it, or even use them as gift ribbon. I start by un-picking the collar.

Next, the sleeves come off and then I unpick the sleeves. There’s loads of fabric in that.

I save all the buttons, you wouldn’t think that I would waste them, would you?

Then I un-do the shoulders. I unpick a few stitches, then, with the fingers close to the stitching, I rip along the seams and pull the seams open.

Here, I’ve un-stitched the pocket and cut the button hole seam down into ribbons.

Finally, I iron it all and tie it neatly up into a fabric bundle until I need it. I’m going to need a lot of fabric for dad’s ‘Oceans away’ quilt.



This all might seem a bit extreme, but I will have enough fabric for a quilt in under £5, it can easily cost £50 to make a handmade quilt. My facial waxing costs £10.80 a year instead of £156 and not using my oven every day saves a lot of money too.


It’s still chilly here and I’m off to watch TV for a while in a room heated by pallets!!! You must all think I’m mad, but I can assure you, I wouldn’t have it any other way.


Until tomorrow,


Love Froogs xxx