5 PRACTICAL SECRETS: NEARLY FREE + FABULOUS

Times are tough, and they're getting tougher! Fabulous women such as ourselves shouldn't have to fret about the amount of their next paycheck. Feeling beautiful doesn't have to translate into spending $175 on a haircut or an entirely new wardrobe. It can be just as simple as checking the contents of your medicine cabinet. 


I've included some of my favorite tips and tricks for every day beauty dilemmas to help keep your life stress free, and yeah - help out your wallet too. 

1. BAKING SODA: It has SO many uses, I swear. 

• Try it on blemishes! Add a little bit of water to a dab of baking soda and apply it to any red spots beginning to form, and viola! Promise. You've had friends tell you that tooth paste can dry up a pimple - and this is why! 

• I have finally gotten away from "normal" toothpaste and since switched to an all natural version. The upside is no yucky chemicals, the downside however is that my teeth weren't getting as white. My mother used to swear by this: Add a sprinkling of baking soda to your toothpaste and brush as normal, keep this up for a week and I promise you'll look like you just had them whitened at the Dentist.

2. GET YOUR HAIR DID:

• Do you feel as if you could have supported a third world country on the budget that you set aside for your hair? Assuming you answered yes, then this is for you. Many Beauty schools across the country offer discounted services if you are brave enough to allow a student to cut your hair. These girls have already gone through plenty of training, I promise - they may not be seasoned vets, but really, sometimes thats a good thing. Paul Mitchell for example, has schools pretty much everywhere and offer cheap haircuts ($16 in Nashville!)and a wide variety of color services for super cheap. On top of this awesomeness, some P.M schools offer facials, manicures and other goodies. FIND A SCHOOL NEAR YOU or check out PAUL MITCHELL NASHVILLE 

3. THE MANY USES OF SHOE GLUE:

• For about $4 you can glue together your life. I mean it. It happens to all of us; a purse strap breaks or your sole decides it no longer wants to be a part of your shoe. For those moments you should behold the glory that is SHOE GLUE. A friend of mine recently had a sole break free and bought a tube. After I saw how good it worked, I was sold. It also just so happened that my very favorite purse strap was quite literally hanging on by a thread. Shoe glue to the rescue! Now I no longer live in fear of my purse snapping. 

4. BORING CLOTHES!

• If your wardrobe is feeling like a warDRAB you can always shake things up without spending all your hard earned money. Cut off the sleeves, DIP DYE IT, SPRAY PAINT IT, stud it using the studs off an old belt from high school, (you can also find studded belts at goodwill which can be cheaper than ordering studs online!) or cut a slit up that favorite skirt of yours. BAM. 

5. CURE FOR THE DREADED GREEN FINGER:

•  Who has gotten a case of The Green Finger? You know what I'm talking about. If you've ever bought a ring from F21 I know you do. Buying cheap rings is fun, but if you practice unsafe ring wear, you'll end up with a case of The Green Finger. Avoid this by lining the inside of your rings with a few layers of clear nail polish.