Money Stress

I'm stressed. Not only am I stressed, but I'm downright afraid. There. I admitted it. I've been unemployed since January and have been barely scraping by these past months, barely able to even get interviews, let alone even part-time employment.

I know I'm not alone.

And it's a horrible cycle, because you send out dozens of resumes every day, and if you're lucky, you might actually get a reply or two actually telling you "no thank you;" but mostly you'll just get ignored. And of course, this makes you feel even worse. And so it continues day-in, day-out, until you're near a full-blown anxiety attack.

And my blog is all about shopping. Thankfully, it doesn't actually require any money on my part. Plus, I obviously have the time. It's easy to multi-task; one window for job-search, another for typing up your blog.

I did not mean this entire post to be a downer, but I did need to vent that out somewhere.

In fact, I meant to write about a nice little suggestion for relaxation.

Last night, I had a wonderfully relaxing bath. Baths, I think, are highly over-looked by a large portion of the population as a way to relax. Yet, I am very aware that bath products can get very expensive! But they don't have to.

What made my bath so insanely luxurious last night was not some expensive bomb, soak or scrub. I made it in my kitchen out of what could be considered common pantry fare.

I used about 2 tsp kosher salt and 1.5 tsp table sugar for the grit.
I blended that with about a good tsp on honey and a tsp of oil.
We happened to have Walnut oil, so that's what I've used; but almost any oil will work, even olive oil or safflower oil are both fine for this.
Then you just stir it up and scrub it on while you soak in a nice hot tub of water.

If you really want to be extravagant, and I frequently want to be, put a few drops of an essential oil or perfume oil into the scrub to scent it. 2ml is more than enough fragrance to have you smelling lovely all day.

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Even as much as this post is about money woes, I will not break my streak of always picking an etsy seller to promote in my blog. We etsy sellers *need* the sales more than ever; and hey, who knows; I don't know you, the person reading this right now. You very well may be extremely rich, or at least monetarily comfortable.

So, I went and found someone who sells perfume oils, the kind like you could put in your own homemade bath scrub like I just wrote about above!

I will say, that my absolute favorite purveyor is NOT an etsyian, though they are family own/run and completely homemade. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab They're a bit of an addiction of mine; and I'm lucky that there's a large forum dedicated to reviews and even free swapping of 1ml sample bottles of their creations.

Because scent can be so very particular and personal, I do prefer companies that offer tiny testable amounts. That way you're not taking as big a risk on spending a lot of money for a big bottle of something that might not agree with your skin chemistry.

Parchment Perfumes starts off their blends in tiny 5/16th dram bottles, for $1.50 a piece; up to full drams for $3.50. The scents are literarily inspired, creative, and thrifty! Plus, in case the small amount worries you, these are perfume oils, not thinned out perfumes. A little will go a *very* long way!