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How to Look Good Without Spending Money

Kalani — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:28:24 +0000

Looking good often involves buying a lot of personal products, keeping your wardrobe updated by buying new clothes on a regular basis, keeping up with the latest trends by getting subscriptions to fashion magazines, and taking semi-regular trips to a spa for a pedicure or to a hairstylist…. that is, if you believe the things we’re told by advertisers or purveyors of personal care products. Regardless of your personal style or budget, there are a lot of things we can do to look good that don’t cost any money whatsoever.
Practice Good Hygiene

This may seem obvious, but I cannot stress enough the importance of good hygiene in a stellar personal appearance. Why is it that so many people who spend little on their personal appearance often look like they haven’t brushed their hair or showered? I think it is because those are the ones that catch my eye; the people that take good care of themselves don’t stand out negatively as being cheap when it comes to personal appearance. As obvious as it may seem, here are a few tips on looking like you’ve spent money when you haven’t:

Keep your nails pretty. Manicures and pedicures are expensive, but a pair of nail clippers with a built-in file is cheap. In all probability, you already own several. Pick one that you like, give the rest away, and use it on a regular basis. Chances are, you will get compliments on your pretty nails even if you don’t spend any money on regular manicures. You don’t even have to buy polish– just keep your cuticles pushed back and your nails rounded or trimmed, depending on preference.
Shower regularly. The smell of a clean soap is more refreshing for everyday use than expensive perfumes. Cheap soap is fresh-smelling and expensive body washes are not needed. However, if you like floofy body washes, go right ahead. The point is to be clean.
Brush your hair. Do you ever notice how movie characters have pretty hair halfway through the movie, even though they’ve been running around like crazy for an hour? It’s because they have a hair stylist in the studio that runs in and brushes their hair between scenes. Keeping a hairbrush in your purse or at your desk costs nothing (you can bring your brush from home if you don’t want to bother with two) and just run it through your hair once or twice. I admit that I don’t actually do this, but my friends have told me that sometimes I look more “wilted” at the end of the day and I think my flat hair has something to do with it.

Practice good posture

It’s like the instant-supermodel technique– stand in front of the mirror and say “Before”, then slouch. Let your shoulders sag and your gut hang out. Then say “After”, and straighten your back, straighten your shoulders, and keep your chin up. You can get a friend and make a game out of it, maybe even taking digital pictures of the “Before” you and the “After” you. I guarantee you, it’s the cheapest instant makeover in the world.

Take Good Care of your Things

This includes ironing your clothes properly. Yet another one that I avoid (I buy knit sweater-shirts and no-iron tailored blouses for work to avoid this step) but it will make your clothes look new longer and more regularly than the alternative. Even getting anal about it and ironing your Tshirts (or at least folding themwhen they come out of the dryer) will make them look newer when you wear them on the weekends.

Accessorize

Wear Jewelry. Even cheap jewelry will help you look more “put-together” when you leave the house in the mornings. If you are a jewelry person, then arranging your current jewelry with different outfits could help you feel updated without spending more on additional items. If you are not a jewelry person, picking one or two pieces that go with all your clothes can add polish to your overall look. I have a few pieces of cheap jewelry that I am mostly too lazy to wear. Just adding that extra touch can update your look without spending any additional cash.
Understand What you Like and what Works for You. If you think you look best with your hair done a certain way, you can do it that way consistently without spending a lot of money on unique hair accessories that you rarely wear. If you know exactly what items of makeup work best for you, you don’t need to buy a lot to change up your look. The same is true for any accessories– find what works and what you enjoy.

Smile More

As cheesy as it sounds, smiles complete any outfit. Some people are natural smilers, others are not; if you aren’t, there’s no shame in practicing in front of a mirror. Everyone I knew in college theatre freely admitted to practicing raising either eyebrow in front of a mirror; this surprised me because I thought I was the only one who did such things. I wasn’t. Smile more often. If people are looking at your face, they aren’t paying attention to whether or not you are wearing this season’s shoes or last.

Don’t Put Yourself Down Again

This may seem obvious, but many of us complain about our looks, which calls attention to what we see as our shortcomings. If you spill on yourself, complaining about it just helps people to notice. If your pants are too short (a perennial problem for anyone who is tall) or your clothes are too tight (we all gain weight from time to time, or have clothes shrink in the wash), then telling people will only accentuate any problems that you feel exist. If you feel like someone else truly has a better fashion sense (or a bigger budget), then by all means, feel free to compliment them, but don’t add “Gee, I wish I could look that good.” Believe it, and you will.

Of course, there may still be little ways that you like to indulge yourself in your personal appearance– just don’t feel that you have to overextend yourself financially just to look good.

Image: Girl at the Mirror by Norman Rockwell

How to Share a Bathroom

Kalani — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:34:00 +0000

A major way to save money or to make money in a down economy is by renting out a room or sharing your space with roommates.

But when it gets right down to it, we just don’t want to.

Today’s lifestyles are not really in sync with living in close quarters. Sometimes it is not really about the extra bedroom (after all, there is a door on it) but about the unwillingness to share a communal space, such as a bathroom. Perhaps a person in that extra bedroom would have to share a bathroom with you. Perhaps you have an older home with several rentable bedrooms but not a lot of bathrooms. Perhaps you’d like to rent a room in someone else’s house, but are concerned about losing your personal bath space. Or maybe you have a large family and realize you could save a lot on rent if you chose a place with fewer bathrooms. At any rate, our reasons for not doing so are not so much financial as practical. But what is practical but an adjustment of expectations?

In college, I rented an apartment with three other girls. We insisted upon having at least two bathrooms. (Person/Bathroom ration: 2:1)But when I was a kid, I shared a bathroom with the rest of my family easily. (Person/Bathroom ration: 4:1) And as a college freshman, I put up with even more crowding. (Person/Bathroom ratio: 13:1)

What is your person/bathroom ratio? And is your fear of raising it preventing you from saving or earning a lot of money in rent?

Remember, when you spend money, it is mostly on intangibles. When you need your own bathroom, you are buying privacy, ownership, organization, hygiene, and peace of mind. The appliances are the same regardless of the number of people using them.

Here are a few tips for regaining these intangibles even if you are sharing a bathroom with more people than you’d like:

1. Separate tasks.

Any standard three-piece bath exists to serve two distinct functions: washing and waste removal. As these are rituals that we prefer to perform in private, a third function, that of providing privacy, might be added to the list.

However, the room is used for many other things, namely:

Changing
Preparation
Storage
Laundry
Self- Adoration
Science Experiments

Most of these functions can be relegated to another room. Removing unneccessary tasks from the bathroom frees up a lot of available bathing time.

2. Pack it Up: Use a Shower Caddy

One of the things that makes bathrooms seem exceptionally small (and crowded!) is the endless plethora of small bottles that overtakes every bathroom infested with females. There are two solutions to this problem. 1) Rid the bathroom of females (this is usually impractical and causes other problems) or 2) Rid the bathroom of plastic bottles. Suppose there are four females using one bathroom. If every girl were to have the full complement of products, there would be no room for more important items, such as bathers, bathmats, or bathroom appliances. You can keep your busy bathroom functional by encouraging bathers to consolidate their own supplies in a shower caddy, reminiscent of college days. This keeps all pertinent necessities convenient and allows everyone to be responsible for their own stuff; a must in a crowded household in any economy.

3. Hang it up: Use Towel Hooks

One of the drawbacks of shared bathrooms is that there are often not enough towel rods to go around. However, towels can also look nice on hooks, and you can hang several removable hooks on the back of the door or encourage each resident to hang their own towel in their room. A double-hook can hold both a towel and a wash cloth. Removing towels from the bathroom can hang up space, or you could all agree on certain towel ettiquette. (towel image courtesy of http://ckinteriors.blogspot.com/)

4. Wrap it up: Use Bathrobes

If you don’t like the idea of tromping from the bathroom to your room in a towel, wear a bathrobe, which offers more privacy.

5. Smell it up: Invest in a fan and some nice-smelling room spray

I’ve known people who are big fans of the lit match for counteracting the smell of methane in an oft-used bathroom. According to MythBusters, matches do actually counteract methane effectively, but unfortunately they have their own unpleasant smell. If lit matches aren’t your thing (or if you’d prefer that your children or roommates not get too near them), it would make everyone’s life easier if there is a discreet room spray available, as well as nice fan. Your bathroom may have a room fan installed already; if not, you can install one yourself. Otherwise, the room spray will have to suffice. The added benefit of a fan is that it can offer sound privacy as well, especially if your living quarters are espec

ially tight or if you and your roommates are particularly noisy on the commode.

6. Dress it up: Set up an in-room vanity area

You might currently use your bathroom space as a staging area for makeup, hair-drying, and other personal preparation. You can move these functions into your own room and gain privacy and time when you live in a busy house. If your bedroom can accommodate it, there are pretty vanities available to organize all your makeup and preparation needs, but a simple wall mirror, decent lighting, a shelf or caddy for accessories, and electricity for any hair dryers will do.

7. Clean it up: Organize what’s left

The remaining functions in the bathroom can be organized to make it easier for multiple users. Everyone can agree on a few simple rules, such as deciding whose job or turn it is to take out the bathroom trash, insistance that everyone clean their own hair out of the tub, and possibly arranging a cleaning schedule. Even small measures, such as wiping down the seat when finished, can really make the communal bathroom a more hygenic and relaxing room.

Are there more tips to share that haven’t been mentioned here? Stories about sharing with roommates? The comments section is open!