Rhiannon Ally: Now in today’s Your Money, if you’re trying to reduce your expenses and increase your savings, you can start by cutting back on your personal care spending habits. Clarky Davis A.K.A the Debt Diva shared with Audra some of her great tips for keeping your budget in check while still enjoying all of those beauty luxuries that we just can't live without.
Audra Lowe: Okay, so the multi-tasking must haves, what should we have stocked up on in our cabinets at home.
Clarky Davis: Well, there are a lot of great basic products that you always need to have in your cabinets. Number one, Vaseline. I love Vaseline and not just for lip balm. It has a lot of great things you can do with it like a skin exfoliator. Mix some Vaseline with brown sugar, a sea salt or a kosher salt and you got a great body exfoliator.
The other great thing that you can do is—you know, a lot of people like that sparkly glossy lip when they go out at night, is to put a little bit on your cheeks, mix it with a little sparkling on your lips so you can have that glowy dewy look.
Audra Lowe: Also, baking soda and baby wipes, you see, we should have a lot of those home.
Clarky Davis: Oh, baking soda is fantastic and it’s not just health in beauty. I mean you can use it obviously for just about anything. But you know, with baking soda, it makes a great face cleanser just mixing it with a little water. The other thing is bath soaps, especially if you’ve got a Weekend Warrior athlete and he needs a little bath cycle on the weekends, it’s great to help him relax and you know, it’s a great cleanser. Baby wipes are perfect for cleaning off your make-up, cleaning your brushes.
Audra Lowe: Yeah.
Clarky Davis: Actually getting spots out of your clothing.
Audra Lowe: You also have some great tips for helping us extend the shelf life of certain products like mascara and perfume too, right?
Clarky Davis: Yes. If you’re going to spend the money on products, don’t you want them to last?
Audra Lowe: Right.
Clarky Davis: And don’t you want to get the most for your money?
Audra Lowe: Yeah.
Clarky Davis: So obviously with your mascara, you don’t want to pump the applicator wand so you don’t dry out the mascara. Perfume and make-up, you should put it underneath in a cabinet and you want to keep it cool and out of light. A lot of times, heat affects the consistency of the make-up and the light too with perfume can—
Audra Lowe: Even with perfume?
Clarky Davis: It can alter the smell, yeah, so you really need to be mindful that you get the most out of the product that you have.
Audra Lowe: Right, and I like the fact that you said utilize the leftovers that you have. For example, you can exfoliate in hair nourishment, facial, everything that you have in your kitchen cabinets.
Clarky Davis: Yes, or in you refrigerator. How many times have you turned around and saw on your label honey, avocado—
Audra Lowe: Right.
Clarky Davis: You know, brown sugar, there are lots of great things that you can make your own products out of household goods so that you don’t waste them.
Audra Lowe: There are areas that we may not think that we can cut back on but we can as far as like your hair color, your nails and different products.
Clarky Davis: And what’s interesting as far as hair care, because we spend a lot of money on hair care. A lot of times, you can go back to your natural color if you’re wanting to cut back on your price. The other thing is having longer hair cost less because you’re not having to get it at short cut shaped up all the time.
Audra Lowe: Yeah.
Clarky Davis: And going a little bit brunette, going darker so you don’t have all those expensive highlights.
Audra Lowe: Before we go, you have a little mixology tip here as far as using different products like your lipstick for blush and so forth.
Clarky Davis: Yes. If you’re missing your lipstick, want to use a little blush on your lips, put a little Vaseline, you got instant lip gloss.
Audra Lowe: Right.
Clarky Davis: Same thing with your blush. If you’re out of blush, use a little bit of lipstick, dab it on your cheeks—
Audra Lowe: Two for one product.
Clarky Davis: Yes.
Audra Lowe: Thank you so much Clarky, good to see you again. Alright, and you guys could get other ways to save money, easy ways to save money on our very addicting and troublesome beauty spending habits by going to our website, BetterTV.com and just click on the link.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services