I am still on my mission to discover many different uses for the lemon balm plant that is growing like mad in my garden. Did you know that lemon balm is great for oily hair or scalp build up. It is incredibly simple to make a DIY hair rinse using lemon balm.
Why Lemon Balm?
As I mentioned, lemon balm is good for oily hair and scalp build up. Why? It is a mild astringent and is believed to balance out natural oils.
A lot of people who grow lemon balm prefer the taste before it flowers, so this is a great way to use up lemon balm after it flowers in another way to make the most out of your crop.
DIY Hair Rinse:
Put 3 large handfuls of lemon balm leaves into a jug or bowl and fill the jug with boiling water.
Allow to steep overnight.
Strain out the lemon balm leaves.
This also works with dried lemon balm, so be sure to harvest and dry your lemon balm before the end of the season to last you through the winter. You can also freeze lemon balm leaves for this purpose.
How to Use:
Wash your hair with your normal shampoo and conditioner, making sure you rinse thoroughly.
Pour the rinse over your hair. (I like to do this rinse by hanging my head over the bath as the rinse water is cold.) You can heat up the rinse if you prefer, but I leave it cool.
My son has moved out of his cot and into a bed, and we thought this a great time to update his room a little. He had a generic nursery theme with bunting and primary colours, and we wanted to bring his own tastes into the decor. And what does any 2 year old like? … Peppa Pig.
In this post, I want to share our tips and tricks for creating a themed bedroom on a budget. That can be easily changed as your child grows.
No themed bedding, curtains, or lampshades
We were shocked by the price of Peppa Pig themed bedding and curtains and the boy’s designs are even pricier. We opted against the themed bedding. In our case, any simple block colour went well with the theme. We just added some plush toys to carry the theme through to the bed.
His original curtains and light shade are green and match in with the theme perfectly, so we kept them until we find some black out curtains on sale.
Create your own framed prints
Rather than buy artwork/ posters, you can make your own by upcycling photo frames. You can Google images of your chosen theme and print them off to go in your frames. I suggest mixing up the images; small and large frames, and free standing and wall hanging frames.
Decorate furniture with prints
This ideas links into the above idea. We printed off some character prints to cut out and decorate my son’s wardrobe with. We didn’t want to damage the furniture with decals, so we literally just sticky tacked print outs to the doors. This non-permanent solution will be easy to change as he grows and his tastes change.
Use toys to accessorise
If your child has a favourite theme, I am sure they will have toys to match. This doesn’t just have to be popular characters, but a space theme or jungle theme etc. We placed my son’s Peppa Pig soft toys on his bed and on top of his dresser.
Use what you have
I have mentioned using the toys you have to accessories, and that also goes for books. Most children have books of their favourite themes and characters, so putting the books on display also adds to the decoration and theme.
Shop second hand
*please bear in mind the current lockdown and social distancing guidelines
Keep your eyes peeled on your local selling sites and Ebay for second hand items that could work in your room. We found my son’s stuffed toys via Facebook Marketplace and gave them to him as a Christmas present. He now loves them in his room.
Search the sales
We found a fantastic banner on Amazon that was on sale for just a few pounds. I’m pretty sure it is a party decoration, but it works fabulously in the room. As I have mentioned, we will also purchase black out curtains in the sales if we don’t find anything suitable second hand.
*Disclaimer: I am a member of the Amazon Associates program. This post contains affiliate links to products. At no extra cost to you, I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links
If you saw my post on thelemon balm and vinegar cleaner I made, you will be aware that the lemon balm plant I have in my garden has really taken off this year. I am on a mission to make the most of my garden, and lemon balm has many many uses. I have started making lemon balm tea as it is free (growing in my garden) and it is believed to have many medicinal benefits.
Possible Benefits of Lemon Balm Tea
Aiding digestive health
Thought to be a stress/ anxiety reliever
Can help treat nausea
Aiding Insomnia
How to Harvest Lemon Balm
When you want to harvest some lemon balm, take some pruning shears and cut above a pair of leaves. You can harvest up to two thirds of the plant, because leaving a third will keep the plant healthy and promote new growth. My lemon balm is so big, I’d never use that much. Oh, yes, that is another important point to remember… lemon balm likes to take over. You have to continually harvest it to keep it manageable or keep it in a pot.
Lemon Balm Tea Method
Firstly, make sure you thoroughly wash your lemon balm leaves. You don’t want to add creepy crawlies to your tea. I like to strip them from the stem, and then fill my sink with some cold water and add a splash of white vinegar to ensure a good cleaning.
Ideally, use a teapot to steep a handful of fresh lemon balm leaves. I do not have a teapot, so I used a jug. I left mine to steep in the water for 10 minutes.
This is how much lemon balm leaves I used to make about 3 cups of tea.
Strain out the lemon balm leaves as your pour your tea into a mug.
Leave to cool a little more so not to scald yourself or add some cold water.
I also wanted to try lemon balm ice tea. Just leave your tea to cool, add ice, and serve.
I am a keen, relatively newbie gardener, and the last few years we have started to grow vegetables and herbs. We have learnt many tips and tricks along the way, and I wanted to share some frugal and simple ones with you today:
Bottle of water to keep cats away: Lie clear bottles of water around your garden to deter cats from using it as a toilet. Many people swear this works, while others are sceptical. I was always told that the sunlight reflects off the water scaring the cats, and they also don’t like their own reflection. It’s worth a try if cats are using your flower beds as a litter tray.
Egg shell seedling protection: If you have seedlings that need a bit of protection from slugs and snails, crush up some egg shells and sprinkle them in a ring around your seedling to keep the pests at bay.
Plant seeds in toilet roll tubes: When your seeds germinate, you can transplant them straight into the ground as the toilet roll tubes are biodegradable.
Use grey water: Grey water is any water that has been used such as bath water and dish water. You can water your garden with this to save on the water bill. A bit of soap won’t hurt your plants, but bleach is a big no no.
Use milk bottles as watering cans: If you don’t have a watering can, or your children want to help you water, you can pierce some holes into the lid of an empty, plastic milk bottle. This makes a great, light weight watering can.
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I shall do a few of these frugal gardening hack posts in the coming weeks, but please feel free to share your tips and tricks in the comments below.
There’s nothing worse than looking for a simple, filling recipe to feed your family and all the recipes are complication and the ingredient lists long. I am here with a frugal family meal that is as easy to make as it is inexpensive: Tuna Fish Pie.
Ingredients:
6 medium potatoes
1 x can of tuna
1 oz Plain flour
1 oz butter
1 pint milk
300g of frozen mixed veg
Salt and pepper
Method:
Boil and mash your potatoes and set them aside.
Make a basic white sauce with the flour, butter, and milk. You can find my basic white sauce recipe here: Basic White Sauce Recipe
Once your white sauce is ready, flake in a tin of tuna, a pinch of salt and pepper, and about 2 handfuls of frozen vegetables that you have cooked in the microwave. This is your tuna fish pie filling.
Season to taste. I usually only add pepper as the tuna is salty enough.
Fill a casserole dish with your filling and top with the mash potatoes much like you would when making a Shepard’s pie.
You can top the mash with a little grated cheese if you like.
Place in a pre-heated oven at 200, and cook for about 20 minutes.
I make a lot of meals that require a basic white sauce, and I am always surprised how many people either don’t know how to make a white sauce, or think it is hard to do. It really is so simple. It tastes much better and works out cheaper than buying the ready made sauces.
My sauce is just the scaled back basic recipe without any fancy extras:
Ingredients
1 oz Plain flour
1 oz Butter
1 pint of milk
Method:
Melt your butter in a saucepan and remove from the heat.
Stir in the flour to make a paste.
Put it back on the heat and stir in the milk little by little until all the milk in incorporated, whisking continuously.
Allow the sauce to come to a boil. Be sure to continually whisk. You may feel like it is taking ages to thicken, but don’t stop. It will come together to form a nice sauce.
Turn the heat right down and allow it to simmer for a further 5 minutes. You only have to whisk occasionally when simmering.
Thinking ahead is a great, frugal concept for being wise with your money. When it comes to gifts, it can get expensive, so think ahead, plant some plants and flowers that are great to gift in various ways, and you have saved yourself a lot of money.
I prefer to gift living plants that can be kept in pots or planted into the garden, but I will include some other options within this post in regards to bouquets.
In truth, you can grow any plant from seeds and cuttings to gift, but I have a select few that I grow mainly for this reason as they are already a fixture in my garden or they grow/ root easily.
This plant is so easy to care for and sprouts babies like you would not believe. We started with 1 aloe vera plant gifted to me by my Mum, and we now have more than 10. I like to keep some to continue to get more baby plants, and I grow the baby plants up to a good size (they will also sprout new plants in the process), and gift them in a cute pot.
Herbs
If you grow herbs you can gift a wide variety of gifts such as oils and vinegarettes, but for this post, I am focussing on gifting herbs as a whole plant. My favourites to grow and gift are lemon balm and mint. My plants grow so quickly and take over so fast that they tend to root quickly if you dig up a bit to be repotted/ planted. There are so many uses for mint and lemon balm, hence why these make great gifts.
Sunflowers
Sunflowers are a fail safe option to grow and gift. Ideally, gift when they are still seedlings, so the recipient can grow them themselves and have the satisfaction. You can also retain the seeds from your sunflowers and make DIY sunflower growing gifts: include a small pot, a small bag of compost, a couple sunflower seeds, and a label. Kids will have loads of fun with these.
Spider Plants
Spider plants are hardy, so they are great for beginners to grow, and even better for your recipient to care for. They also go well with aloe vera and succulents, so you can combine the three to create a great gift/ terrarium.
Succulents
This is our next venture. I don’t know why we haven’t grown succulents sooner, as I have had many people tell me how much success they have had. Succulents are all the range in home design at the moment, and are very easy to maintain which make them great gifts.
Another alternative is to grow flowers to cut and gift as bouquets. I do have a lot of perennial shrubs that I can cut blooms from to create bouquets, but last year we actually grew wild flowers for this purpose. It was really handy to know that I could pop down the garden to shop for a bouquet whenever the need arose. Unfortunately, this year, we needed that space to extend our vegetable patch, but it is worth looking into if you gift bouquets regularly.
Whenever we need a sweet treat, I know I can find the ingredients for my simple jammy tarts in the cupboard. There is nothing fancy about these tarts, but they sure are scrummy. They ‘re incredibly easy for kids to make too.
Note: Ready rolled shortcrust pastry will work just as well, but I like to make pastry from scratch as it’s cheaper and easier than it seems.
Ingredients:
250g Plain four
115g Butter (slightly softened)
1/2 tsp salt
60ml water
Jam of your choice
Butter or oil for greasing
Method:
For the pastry, combine the butter, flour, and salt by rubbing the mix between your fingertips to get a breadcrumb texture. Mix in the water with a knife to make a dough. I finish off the dough in my hands a little. Form into a ball, wrap in cling film, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Once the dough has been refrigerated, set your oven to 200 and grease your tray.
Flour your surface and roll out your dough to about 1/2 cm. You don’t have to be precise. My daughter helped make the ones pictured, and they’re slightly thicker than I’d usually make. Just cook for a little longer if necessary.
Use a cutter slightly bigger than the holes in the tin. I use a coffee mug. Lightly press the circles into your tin holes. These are the bases for your tart.
As you can see in the photo above, any leftover dough can be used by kids to make their own shapes. My kids love this part. I bake them for less time as they’re much thinner, and the kids dip them in jam to eat.
Pop a teaspoon of jam in the centre of each of your tart bases.
Homeschooling is new to many of us. I personally found, as we went along, that there were a few bits I had to buy to aid the process. I have shared some of these on Instagram, so I wanted to share them here. As you know, I am not one for spending money without scouring for what I deem to be the best for cheapest.
*the following links are affiliate links to products I rate
Plastic Wallet Folders: My daughter has lots of handwritten work to do and we were drowning in papers. I ordered a pack of 5 wallets to help us stay organised. These are good quality and the poppers work well.
Letts Learning Workbooks: My daughter has had many Letts workbooks since starting school. She is currently in KS2 and loves these activities. You can get them for all ages!
Children’s Dictionary: I understand there is such a thing as Google, but the only laptop in the house is mine, and my daughter only uses it for her online maths work. She has many handwritten activities that require her to use a dictionary, and even an activity on how to use a dictionary correctly. We bought this one based of reviews and she really enjoys using it.
Note: We paid a little more for the hardback as we will pass it onto our son when he is of school age, but the paperback is cheaper and has just the same content. Also, our cover design is a little different to the one featured below, but this was the only link I could find.
Maths Kit: I never had the need to own a protractor in my adult life, so when my daughter was doing work on angles, we knew it was time to get a maths kit for her. This little kit is cheap and does the job.
The following is an optional idea for a homeschool activity. My children were given this bug hotel by my friend to document the creatures they see over a certain period of time. The one we was gifted is good quality and that is reflected in the price. I shall list it below, along with a cheaper option. Of course, you can make your own. I even have a tutorial here on Sensibly Frugal Living.
*Disclaimer: I am a member of the Amazon Associates program. This post contains affiliate links to products. At no extra cost to you, I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links
We’re still in a state of lockdown in the UK. Yes, some of the restrictions have been relaxed, but overall, we continue to spend a lot of time at home, and the kids still need entertaining. I posted my 9 year olds original Quarantine Bucket Listjust a week after lockdown was announced in the UK, so please check that out for even more ideas if you haven’t done so.
We have sat down and thought up some new ideas that she wants to complete:
Sensibly Frugal Living 