Shamphree - Thanks to How To Hair Girl

HEY! This blog has moved. Loads more Shamphree info at CAREFUL KIM.


My friend Jill and I are really cheap. Like, really, really cheap. I'm in the process of saving for my trip to South America and Jill did the same thing last year for her trip to the same place. We've both experienced intensive money saving and frugal living. Regardless of what you have planned, everyone can do with saving money and usually the key is trying something a little different! Also it helps if you shun convention and have no shame (which suits me fine).

Living on the cheap, budgeting and home made frugality are really popular right now. There's nothing as satisfying as a hobby that saves you money! We both get excited at the prospect of a previously unheard tip, a cheapo blog or a marathon of SuperScrimpers on TV. I wanted to document a few of things I employ to save money, things which seemed hard work before I'd tried them, but now I couldn't live without. I also wanted to keep track of some of things I've never tried, but wanted to.

So here's the first.... going Shamphree.

I haven't yet tried this, but I read about it from How To Hair Girl. She's a hairdresser who blogs tips and style advice. She's started shunning conventional shampoo and conditioner for something cheaper, more natural and kinder to the world. It's a concept that instantly grabbed my attention.... homemade, cheap, possibly gives you incredible hair. So today I'm off out to get my bits. Here are the things you'll need...

Baking Soda (or more commonly, Bicarbonate of Soda in the UK)

Apple Cider vinegar (available from health food shops), or else lemon juice or regular vinegar

Spray bottle (x 2)

Paddle Brush

Boar Bristle Brush

Essential Oils (so you don't smell like vinegar)

Funnel (for adding ingredients to your spray bottle)

Just click here for the full list and further links to Shamphree information from How To Hair Girl.

I have 2 weeks off from work as a long overdue holiday, so the perfect opportunity to try out some intriguing frugal trials. If I have a clogged up, bicarbonate of soda scalp for two days nobody will notice but my housemates and Oliver. Perfect.

I will endeavour to keep track of my progress, the ups and downs of my Shamphfree experience. If you're curious, try out this quick video showing the method involved from How To Hair Girl herself!

PS. I have taken all this information from How To Hair Girl, and her blog. I totally recommend her as the Queen of this stuff, there is so much information on her blog and I encourage you to visit HERE.

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Mum and Angie come to visit... part 2

These are a few more pictures from my Saturday afternoon wandering the Manchester city streets, Mother and Auntie in tow. Fascinator shopping got old, and I got carried away. There was a lot happening in the Northern Quarter it seemed... wedding parties, guitarists and trumpeters, good smells and busy streets.

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Mum and Angie come to visit... part 1

Last weekend (I'm really behind schedule) my Mum and her sister Angie came to visit in the middle of the Mancunian heatwave. They arrived late Friday and I managed to get the Saturday off work to spend a lovely 2 full days with them.

I always enjoy a day or a weekend tour of places in Manchester, my favourite places, for the benefit of visitors. This weekend was North Star Deli in Chorlton and a tram ride to town on a never ending search for a fascinator. My Mother tried on every hair decoration in the city and bought nothing. She better have something spectacular in her hair come Lee and Dani's wedding in August.

We ate at Simple, NQ for lunch and Bar San Juan on Beech Road, Chorlton for a tapas dinner. All the food was spectacular. 

Here are the highlights from Saturday morning....

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Pop!

This is moody, summery, riding your bike in the heat pop music, your very best sunglasses pop music, passenger seat in a car abroad pop music. Passenger seat because that's all I know. I'm sure it'd work if you were driving too.

The Neighbourhood - "Sweater Weather"

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Iced Coffee in this Manchester heat.

In addition to cold beer and home made cocktails, we've been guzzling iced coffee. Oliver has decided he's not crazy about this recipe, but I am. We used this one here, from the effortlessly creative A Beautiful Mess blog. We halved the recipe and it fills a litre glass bottle that we keep in the fridge. It's good with cream, because I'm always after an excuse to consume cream. It's good with or without sugar/syrup/condensed milk.

Forgive my shoddy pictures, nowhere near as glam as the Beautiful Mess girls.

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Curry in the park. Obviously.

The weather has been so beautiful recently. This isn't normal for England. It's rare and it's so wonderful. It makes everyday feel like an opportunity, which is something that passes me by when it rains. I want to wake up in the morning, I love not drawing my blinds because the sun bursts in everyday and I'm so glad for it.

Last Sunday I finished work at 7pm. I don't usually work a Sunday, I'm usually cooking or reading or napping. I cycled home and Oliver and I spent a little on a curry and took it to the park. We ate a tasty lamb karahi, saag paneer (spinach and cheese) and rice and naans and poppadoms. My favourite place in Chorlton is Asian Fusion. Their interior is a little old school so we decided Chorlton Park was a better setting. It was a peaceful evening, aside from the gangs of kids lining Barlow Moor Road, but we left that behind.

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Mojitos!

Sunshine and a day off calls for homemade cocktails. Thursday, I perfected these mojitos by myself and drank them at my doorstep. Then when Camille arrived, we made them in Chorlton park and got very sticky in the process. The original recipe is here, and here's what we did...

You need, per glass...

1 1/2 capfuls White Rum (I like CHEAP!)

1 tablespoon Granulated Sugar

6 Mint Leaves

Quarter of a Lime

150ml Water, still or sparkling

A few ice cubes.

Muddle the sugar, mint leaves and lime wedge in a sturdy glass or a mug. It's kind of easier to squeeze the lime juice in, mash up the juice, mint leaves and sugar with the end of a rolling pin and then add the remainder of the lime wedge back in afterwards. Add the rum; swill. In a fancy tall glass, or whatever is clean, put in your ice, add the rummy, lime, mint, sugar mash up and fill to taste with the water.

A mint leave to garnish is fancy, but probably a waste. Add more sugar/rum/water to taste.

Couple of notes: granulated sugar is best because it helps to release the minty flavour when you're muddling with the rolling pin, anything finer will dissolve too quickly. You can up end your fancy glass if you're feeling plush, dip the rim in lime juice or honey and then in sugar. Looks pretty, tastes good, makes up for the cheap rum.

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Camille came to stay, Part 2

Saturday, we had brunch with Katie and Jill at Tea Hive in Chorlton. A pricey ricotta, banana and chocolate toastie was on the specials menu. It was tasty, but I'm glad I split one. Then we headed to town to meet Alan and sat in Picadilly Gardens with the masses. We gorged on Rice and cheap China Town snacks.

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Camille came to stay, Part 1

Camille came to stay this weekend. We've known each other since school and I usually see her for 2 hours at a time when I come home to Corby, or for the odd hen party (which seem more commonplace these days, is that just me?). It was such a treat to see her for a whole weekend, have time off work and not just catch up, but do things we'll remember next time we meet. (Camille is not fond of having her picture taken, as you will see.)

It's also the start of the British summer. It should have started a while back but June was wind and rain. It's hot outside! The sun is out and I have to wear factor 50 everyday! I'm pale and ginger, so you wouldn't naturally associate my kind to this weather but it won't keep me inside. It feels so good to be in the sun for a whole week. It certainly feels like a holiday. I can wear shorts and tshirt cycling to work each day, that's a treat. 

We spent Friday evening at a pub in Withington, then making mojitos in Chorlton park. It was on the cheap... mint from my garden, the cheapest white rum going, 23p bags of tortillas... you know the kind.

The mojito recipe we used is here, and we were inventive with our tools whilst making them in the park!

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Glass Half Full

Planning a trip like ours is challenging. For the years I've spent loosely and grandly imagining it in my mind, I've had no budget, journey length or destination. Its always been everything, everywhere, for ages. You may question if that is planning at all.

My ideas about this trip of a lifetime were similar to my ideas about life, aged 14. I didn't know how or when it would happen, but I knew everything would come together magically. But, as you gut wrenchingly come to understand, life isn't like that. It seems my Dad does know what he's talking about after all.

Well, I've made several realisations.... I don't have all the money in the world to travel for as long as I want, to every corner of the globe. And, more importantly, I have to take somebody else's thoughts and feelings into consideration. This is a first.

After coming down to reality, planning has come on a treat. I'm already so impressed that we've gone from having a continent in mind, South America, to pinpointing countries, cities, destinations and things! We know the Brazilian coastline and the peaks of Bolivia better than the streets of Chorlton at this point.

We have a (loose) budget in mind, (rough) dates for each country and a plan to work for an extended period (kind of)!

I've been following the adventures of Tom and Sarah at Never Ending Voyage, a site Oliver stumbled upon whilst looking for budgeting tips. This couple met and lived in Manchester too, but they've decided to sell everything they own and leave to travel forever. They have the advantage of a house they rent out while away, and a web design business they can work at on the go. They saved money and set off, and they have an income whilst away. It's my absolute dream.

I know I don't have the same luxuries, so it's sometimes been a challenge to focus on the trip I am doing, instead of the places I'm not going to see. I'm guilty of being a bit glass half empty at times.

Perspective is one of the biggest lessons I've learned recently. It can make such a difference to your happiness. I'm learning to let go of what's not happening and allow myself to be smug and enjoy exactly what is happening.

I was such a painful show off as a child and teenager. I still am, at heart. But I've been caught out on so many occasions that I am now very aware of sharing news. I shy away from status updates. I prefer a face to face confessional. This blog is really my own constructed show off. So I'm happy to gush about this trip. I really am so excited.

I'm excited to be joyfully unemployed in the sunshine. I'm excited to eat and drink and sleep and walk in a new town every week. I'm excited to have no Sky TV, no house and no bills! These are the positives, these are the things I AM DOING. It's worth remembering I'll be too busy to consider the things I'm not doing.

I just really like this picture...

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