Most stores now have a line of “natural” beauty products. Unfortunately, they often come with a big price tag attached too. Often times many of these products are not actually “natural” so it does pay to do your homework to ensure you are getting what you pay for.

Fortunately actually making beauty products yourself isn’t too difficult. So if you want beauty products that you know are natural and are also inexpensive, just make them yourself. Here a couple of quick and easy recipes you can make at yourself.

Face Mask
Eating good food helps give you the right nutrients you need to look good. You can get more of these vitamins and minerals by putting the good stuff right on the skin.

Combining a mashed carrot, mashed avocado, and a beaten egg with a half cup a few tablespoons of honey creates a great face mask that provides vitamins, and improves the tone and texture of your skin. Just stir well, apply, let sit for about 15 minutes, and then wash off with cool water.

After you’re washed and nourished your skin, you can use grated cucumber or diluted lemon juice as a toner to help tighten your skin and close up your pores to close your pores and keep your skin looking great.

Hair Conditioner
Many people pay a lot of money for a conditioner that actually makes your hair look and feel good. Here’s a great natural recipe to save you money and help your hair.

Just mix an egg yolk with a tablespoon of castor oil and apply to hair. Let sit for about ten minutes and rinse out. You can use this every so often as a conditioning treatment for healthy shiny hair. If you like being experimental, you can try mixing other kitchen items, herbs, and natural items with eggs for healthy, shiny hair.

Hand and Foot Cream
A quick face mask will help make you look great in not a lot of time, but hands and feet require extra care.

Use ½ cup of olive oil mixed with natural sea salt and massage into your hands and feet. Leave a few minutes to soak and then rinse off with warm water.

When it comes to natural beauty products, these recipes are just the start. You can find hundreds of different combinations in natural beauty books, magazines, and on the internet. Or you can go to your kitchen cabinet and make your own special creations.

Growing your own food can be rewarding in so many ways. Here are just a few:

Quality Family Time – Getting your entire household involved in a family garden is an awesome way to spend time together. In today’s fast paced world, family time seems to be a rarity, but if you start and care for your own garden, you’re spending time together and yes, it can be fun, even if you’re teen doesn’t think so at first. From tilling the garden, to planting and picking the fruits and vegetables you grow, gardening is also a great way to get some fresh air and much needed exercise together.

Learning Tool – Planting a garden is a great learning tool for young and old alike. Kids can learn responsibility, the life cycle of various plants, and more when they are put in charge of a certain task involving the garden. Yes, even weeding can be a learning experience.

Adults may learn things like which plants grow well in what types of soil and climates as well as how to preserve extras that can’t be eaten right away. Finding a use for all those fruits and veggies can be a learning experience as well as you search for a variety of ways to use them in recipes.

Appreciation – Working hard at growing and maintaining your own garden gives the caretaker an appreciation for their local farmers, ancestors and more. There is nothing quite like a hard day (or even just an hour or two) at work in the great outdoors to make you appreciate those who do it on a daily basis or who did it for survival in past generations.

Sense of Accomplishment – Watching your plants grow and nurturing them to maturity is a great way to instill a sense of accomplishment, especially in children. Do you have a family member who seems a bit down in the dumps or a teenager who feels they don’t belong? If so, starting a garden may just boost their spirits more than you thought possible. Give it a try.

Easier on the Family Budget – Growing your own food is also a great way to save money. In times when frugality is a necessity, you can easily save some cash by planting a garden, not only because you can produce a whole lot more of your favorite foods and herbs for less, but also because you don’t run the risk of spending money on foods that will expire before you get a chance to eat them. If you have more food than you can possibly eat from your garden, preserve it for later. Better yet, take some to your neighbors. They’ll thank you for it.

Take a few minutes to seriously consider helping the environment and your family, by starting your own garden this year. You don’t have to own a farm to do it either. A small area in the backyard to grow a few of your favorite foods is plenty. You can even grow them in a small window garden or pots on your porch or balcony. Give it a shot and see how it can help improve your life in numerous ways.

Don’t worry about stocking up on chemical cleaners to get the house ready for visitors. Use all natural agents instead, most of which are already around the house. We underestimate the power of the simple things. Natural chemicals and stain fighters may take a bit more elbow grease, but they do work. Here are a few ideas to use when deciding how you will clean your home this year.

• Try baking soda for instance. Baking soda can be used as an abrasive to clean the tub and shower. When combined with water, it begins to eat away at the dirt. Use a scrub brush to remove the softened dirt and wash it away.
• What about vinegar? Vinegar is an all-purpose cleaner that most people don’t think about using. Vinegar can be used to clean windows, mirrors, other glass surfaces and to unclog the drain.
• For windows, clean them with a bucket of hot water. This softens anything on the surface so the vinegar can do its work. Clean the window with some pure white vinegar. Afterwards, wipe dry with some newspaper.
• Vinegar in combination with baking soda will unclog the drain. The bubbling action removes hair and other scum from the drain. Pour the baking soda inside the drain using a funnel or other instrument. Slowly pour the vinegar down the drain.
• You will hear and smell as the two come in contact with each other. Wait about fifteen minutes and then flush with hot water. Repeat as often as needed to get rid of the clog.
• Lemon is a good bleach alternative. Rub half a lemon on discolored grout between ceramic tiles to return it to its natural color. It also works on shower tiles and shower doors. Lemon is added to most household cleaners so why not cut out the chemicals and use pure lemon? Natural cleaning brushes can be purchased to use in conjunction with natural cleaners.

Chemicals used to clean our homes can harm our health and many don’t even know it. The cleaning agents used to rub out soap scum and degrease grime on the stove also give off fumes that hamper our breathing and fill our home with unhealthy things. The chemical load will be greatly reduced and the air in your home will be cleaner by using these greener cleaning suggestions.

Speaking of cleaner air, give up those spray air fresheners in favor of beeswax candles. They provide a pleasant natural scent as they burn. Beeswax candles also trap odors in the air and neutralize them. Especially during the colder months, when the house is closed up, without ventilation, get back to basics with some natural cleaning alternatives that still do the job.

1. Use potpourri. It is everywhere and some people only bring it out during the holidays. The problem is, the scent will get used up and the potpourri will look nice but do nothing to help the air. You can replace it at this point or add to it and use some natural scents to freshen it. Dried herbs and spices can be of help. Use some fresh cinnamon or nutmeg to add a new smell to the potpourri. Using a few sprigs of fresh mint or sprinkling dried mint on the potpourri not only adds fragrance but mint is a natural ant repellent.

2. Essential oils can be used to scent the home. These natural oils are derived from plants and non-toxic. Combine it with at least four parts of water in a spray bottle to spritz potpourri, silk flowers, and other natural arrangements in our home like holly leaf garland and pinecones. Avoid furniture because the oil can leave a film. If you notice that happening, add more water to your spray bottle. Add a couple drops to a pot of simmering water on your stove.

3. Fruits make a great smelling wreath for the home. Cut an orange, apple, and lemon into thin circles. Allow the fruit to dry on a cookie sheet. Overlay the fruit to create a wreath design. It can be attached to a wooden framework or some wire. To preserve the fruit, cover with a bit of shellac or floor wax. They last for several weeks and can be hung on any door to freshen the room. Some people even use whole fruits and pierce the top to let the smell come through.

4. Beeswax candles are a natural air freshener. The candles give off a honey flavored scent that burns clean with no mess. Beeswax candles can be purchased in a variety of shapes and sizes. Avoid any color but the natural one if you want to remain eco friendly with the air freshener.

5. Combine several different scents to create a dried bowl arrangement. These arrangements can be put in wooden shallow bowls or clear glass bowls so they are visible to everyone. For decoration, use some natural wooden filler that are sold at most craft stores. Add in some fresh dried herbs like mint, rosemary, or thyme. For a more seasonal smell, try some cinnamon sticks, fresh nutmeg, and some ground clove. Sit some beeswax pillar candles flat in the bowl as the centerpiece.

Are you looking for ways to freshen the air in your house? Use the above ideas to get started. When all else fails, bake a pie.

1. Clean your microwave with vinegar. I’m not going to tell you how often to do this, just how I’ve done it in the past. Wipe all the crumbs out of your microwave first, then heat 3/4 cup white vinegar to boiing. Trun off microwave at that point, but keep door closed. Let vinegar stand for 3-5 minutes, then wipe clean. Repeat for stubborn stuck on spots.

2. Clean windows with vinegar and water for a streak-free shine. To be really frugal, I have heard you can then wipe this with newspaper, but I prefer papertowels. This same solution can be used to clean bathroom mirrors as well.

3. Spot clean your tile floors. Mix equal parts white vinegar and hot water in a spray bottle, then spray dried food, or other larger dirty spots on your tiles. Leave it set there for a couple minutes before you wipe it clean. This works as an excellent pre-treatment before mopping to take care of all the trouble spots ahead of time.

4. Remove hard water stains from the inside of vases, jars, glasses. Fill the container with a warm water and vinegar combination and let soak overnight. In the morning you may have to wipe it some, but then handwash it clean.

5. Clean and polish stainless steel or chrome fixtures using a cloth dampened with vinegar. I keep my spray bottle of vinegar and water close by to spry as needed, but I find if I stay on top of my cleaning a quick spray and wipe is all I need to get the bathroom and kitchen fixtures clean.

So, add a gallon of white vinegar to your shopping list, and invest in a good spray bottle. Then go to work on your household glass, mirrors, countertops, fixtures, tile floors and shower doors. Not only will you be saving time and money by using one product, but vinegar also eliminates the need for many chemical cleaners, thus it is good for our kids and the environment in general.