That's all there is to it really. --And you probably already knew that. If you didn't, consider the following: unfortunately, printed periodicals are on the decline. Many local, and even some national papers are shrinking and condensing their layouts to save costs. -And when was the last time you remembered to check the listings in the local daily for things like garage sales, music equipment and appliances?
Are you having a garage sale? Make it your facebook status! Moving and selling your old bed frame and bookcases? Make it your facebook status! Opening an etsy or ebay store? MAKE IT YOUR FREAKIN FACEBOOK STATUS!
So, depending on the number of facebook friends you have, and the level of privacy (or lack there of) on your facebook profile, you may be able to reach close to, or more than the number of people you normally would have had you put up paid classified ads in the local papers and periodicals.
Is it effective free advertising? It all depends on the number of contacts you have established through your facebook profile and how many of them are able to view your status updates. If nothing else, you could always use it as an additional venue while using traditional methods to announce your yard sale extravaganza. I can't say I've established any mathematical equations for computing possible revenue, but I can say the odds are pretty good that if you're reading this blog post, you were linked through my facebook status.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Egg Yolk and Olive Oil: cheap and natural hair treatment, or sticky mess?
Enough websites and pseudo-scientific sounding articles tout the financial, health and ethical advantages of using "natural" cosmetics and beauty treatments that I was convinced to try one of these kitchen concoctions myself last month. One evening, being out of conditioner and just not bothered enough to drag myself out to the shops I turned to le internet for an alternative. –Searching “natural conditioner” ended up being not the best idea as it returned over 690,000 results. Then I vaguely remembered something about using eggs as a conditioning treatment as they contain some kind of special proteins that are good for your hair, and hey, they feed raw ones to dogs for a glossy coat right? Suddenly I had somewhat improved search parameters.
If you do a search for "egg yolk and olive oil hair conditioner" you get a slew of results such as the one found here at eHow.com. These were not the exact instructions I used, but it gives you a basic idea of the procedure and the ingredients. In the end I used an amalgamation of the first ten or so results I found. My method was as follows:
1) Crack an egg, and separate the yolk from the white. Discard white (or make a reduced fat omelet with it, whatever you gotta do man).
2) Scramble that yolk with a fork.
3)Measure out one tablespoon of olive oil. Pour olive oil into scrambled egg yolk, rescramble contents so that the oil and egg are combined. Here’s what mine looked like:
4) Now go wash your hair and take egg and oil mixture with you.
5) After shampooing and towel drying your hair, carefully pour egg and oil on the top of your head. (Don’t do what I did and spill half of it in the tub, then you have to start over) Do this slowly and carefully as the mixture is rather runny.
6) Spread mixture into hair. (I’d like to say combing the egg and oil through is the best method, but that’s not how it worked for me. I just worked it in to my hair, starting at the root and working down towards the ends as I pulled them up and piled them on the top of my head.)
7) Let the mixture sit on your hair for about twenty to thirty minutes.
8) Rinse hair thoroughly; finish rinse with a run of cold water to improve shine.
My results were better than I had anticipated, but I had anticipated a sticky mess that smelled like salad dressing. The shine factor of my hair was definitely improved, but I didn’t notice those follicles getting that much softer. While this endeavor went over better than I thought it would, I still encountered two problems. First, I failed to rinse all of the conditioner out of my hair. A little bit of the egg and oil remained in my hair overnight, and by the following morning that section of scalp was considerably greasier than the rest. Second, I completely forgot about the risk of salmonella associated with raw eggs, and the fact that rest of my household would kill me if they knew I’d gotten raw egg all over the bathtub and sink. I ended up having to scrub and disinfect the sink and tub before retiring.
The verdict: while I wouldn’t say egg yolks completely fail as a natural hair conditioner, I’d say using them in your hair care is more trouble than it’s worth.
If you do a search for "egg yolk and olive oil hair conditioner" you get a slew of results such as the one found here at eHow.com. These were not the exact instructions I used, but it gives you a basic idea of the procedure and the ingredients. In the end I used an amalgamation of the first ten or so results I found. My method was as follows:
1) Crack an egg, and separate the yolk from the white. Discard white (or make a reduced fat omelet with it, whatever you gotta do man).
2) Scramble that yolk with a fork.
3)Measure out one tablespoon of olive oil. Pour olive oil into scrambled egg yolk, rescramble contents so that the oil and egg are combined. Here’s what mine looked like:
4) Now go wash your hair and take egg and oil mixture with you.
5) After shampooing and towel drying your hair, carefully pour egg and oil on the top of your head. (Don’t do what I did and spill half of it in the tub, then you have to start over) Do this slowly and carefully as the mixture is rather runny.
6) Spread mixture into hair. (I’d like to say combing the egg and oil through is the best method, but that’s not how it worked for me. I just worked it in to my hair, starting at the root and working down towards the ends as I pulled them up and piled them on the top of my head.)
7) Let the mixture sit on your hair for about twenty to thirty minutes.
8) Rinse hair thoroughly; finish rinse with a run of cold water to improve shine.
My results were better than I had anticipated, but I had anticipated a sticky mess that smelled like salad dressing. The shine factor of my hair was definitely improved, but I didn’t notice those follicles getting that much softer. While this endeavor went over better than I thought it would, I still encountered two problems. First, I failed to rinse all of the conditioner out of my hair. A little bit of the egg and oil remained in my hair overnight, and by the following morning that section of scalp was considerably greasier than the rest. Second, I completely forgot about the risk of salmonella associated with raw eggs, and the fact that rest of my household would kill me if they knew I’d gotten raw egg all over the bathtub and sink. I ended up having to scrub and disinfect the sink and tub before retiring.
The verdict: while I wouldn’t say egg yolks completely fail as a natural hair conditioner, I’d say using them in your hair care is more trouble than it’s worth.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
The Goods
As promised, a pictorial presentation of my new (new to me anyway) clothes.
Silver halter dress from Express. I feel like all I need is some blue eyeshadow and feathered hair and I'm all set for the disco.
Pencil Skirt!
I thought this t-shirt was flippin' hilarious. Almost as hilarious as an "I shot J.R." t-shirt, which I DESPERATELY dream of finding at Goodwill .
A few people have told me that of all the things I acquired at the clothing swap, this was the ugliest. I love it though. It's so 60's! I can't wait to wear it with some white tights, boots and my hair flipped out in a Breck-wave!
Silver halter dress from Express. I feel like all I need is some blue eyeshadow and feathered hair and I'm all set for the disco.
Pencil Skirt!
I thought this t-shirt was flippin' hilarious. Almost as hilarious as an "I shot J.R." t-shirt, which I DESPERATELY dream of finding at Goodwill .
A few people have told me that of all the things I acquired at the clothing swap, this was the ugliest. I love it though. It's so 60's! I can't wait to wear it with some white tights, boots and my hair flipped out in a Breck-wave!
A Good Trade
For the uninitiated, a clothing swap is a social event that, if memory serves, has been touted by many of the lady mags in the past couple of years as THE way to get some free, new-to-you clothes while getting out of the house and seeing the gals (or guys, I reckon, ya’ll share clothes sometimes don’tcha?) at the same time.
It’s a fairly straight-forward operation. The host invites some of their friends over and has everyone bring their unwanted, wearable clothes. Everyone convenes in the living room, the den, the boudoir, what-have-you and the swapping of clothes commences!
There are a few different ways of doing this. One suggestion is each person takes a turn, holds up each item of clothing and says something about it. After each person has finished, everyone is free to go around and make an offer to trade an article of their clothing for an article they saw during the presentation period. I wouldn’t recommend this method if you have more than four total participants, as you could be there all week. Another way is for each participant to set up a little pile, or booth of their stock and go around, pointing to wares that strike their fancy. The original owner may choose to let the fancier have their way with their old blouse for nothing, or they may demand that the interested party make an offer for trade. If the approached party does not care for the offer they are free to decline and see what others may tender in exchange, or demand that the other party make another offer. Tea may or may-not be served.
It sounded simple enough, and while I wanted some new clothes, I was skeptical at first of the success of such a venture. I mean, how many of you have friends who are sartorially similar enough to share clothes? However, a couple Saturdays ago I ended up being quite pleased and a bit surprised by the afternoon’s conclusion.
After arrival, our gracious host Mara, first served a lovely tea, with sandwiches and salad.Then we all tripped up to her room for two hours of agreeable chatter and clothes changing and trading. There was no fighting over dresses or t-shirts, and compliments and encouragement flowed like coke at a disco! Everyone was pleasant, generous, and generally just pretty cool. Also, I just couldn’t believe that not only did I end up with some gorgeous little things dahling, but there were people thrilled to get my tired-ass old clothes in exchange. Who knew? Apparently the ladies at Cosmo.
TOMORROW: PICTURES OF THE SPOILS
It’s a fairly straight-forward operation. The host invites some of their friends over and has everyone bring their unwanted, wearable clothes. Everyone convenes in the living room, the den, the boudoir, what-have-you and the swapping of clothes commences!
There are a few different ways of doing this. One suggestion is each person takes a turn, holds up each item of clothing and says something about it. After each person has finished, everyone is free to go around and make an offer to trade an article of their clothing for an article they saw during the presentation period. I wouldn’t recommend this method if you have more than four total participants, as you could be there all week. Another way is for each participant to set up a little pile, or booth of their stock and go around, pointing to wares that strike their fancy. The original owner may choose to let the fancier have their way with their old blouse for nothing, or they may demand that the interested party make an offer for trade. If the approached party does not care for the offer they are free to decline and see what others may tender in exchange, or demand that the other party make another offer. Tea may or may-not be served.
It sounded simple enough, and while I wanted some new clothes, I was skeptical at first of the success of such a venture. I mean, how many of you have friends who are sartorially similar enough to share clothes? However, a couple Saturdays ago I ended up being quite pleased and a bit surprised by the afternoon’s conclusion.
After arrival, our gracious host Mara, first served a lovely tea, with sandwiches and salad.Then we all tripped up to her room for two hours of agreeable chatter and clothes changing and trading. There was no fighting over dresses or t-shirts, and compliments and encouragement flowed like coke at a disco! Everyone was pleasant, generous, and generally just pretty cool. Also, I just couldn’t believe that not only did I end up with some gorgeous little things dahling, but there were people thrilled to get my tired-ass old clothes in exchange. Who knew? Apparently the ladies at Cosmo.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Keeping it cheap, keeping it cheerful
Boy howdy now, this here recession sure is a bummer innit?
Maybe you've been laid off, maybe you just graduated and aren't able to find employment within your field of study, --or maybe you've been unable to find employment period. Perhaps you've still got your job and your life and things have just slowed down for you at the office. Maybe things are better for you, and maybe they're worse.
The point is, many of us these days have a bit less money, but I'm hoping that little to no money does not have to mean little to no fun. AMIRITTE? Hopefully I stick long enough with this blog for us to find out!
Cheap dates around Delaware, kitchen-made cosmetics, economical entertaining, and actual trials and reviews of the chirpy, "thrifty" advice found in this day's lady and home mags are all in store as this blog degenerates into something that probably resembles the Hipster Equivalent of Better Homes and Gardens.
NEXT TIME: THE SURPRISING SUCESS OF THE CLOTHING SWAP
Maybe you've been laid off, maybe you just graduated and aren't able to find employment within your field of study, --or maybe you've been unable to find employment period. Perhaps you've still got your job and your life and things have just slowed down for you at the office. Maybe things are better for you, and maybe they're worse.
The point is, many of us these days have a bit less money, but I'm hoping that little to no money does not have to mean little to no fun. AMIRITTE? Hopefully I stick long enough with this blog for us to find out!
Cheap dates around Delaware, kitchen-made cosmetics, economical entertaining, and actual trials and reviews of the chirpy, "thrifty" advice found in this day's lady and home mags are all in store as this blog degenerates into something that probably resembles the Hipster Equivalent of Better Homes and Gardens.
NEXT TIME: THE SURPRISING SUCESS OF THE CLOTHING SWAP
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