Ever wander down the bath and beauty aisle of a grocery store and sigh because you know the things you’re putting in your basket are going to hurt your wallet when you get to the checkout? It’s likely that there is another solution for some of the things that you put in your basket, such as whether they’re things you really need, or luxury items that make you feel good.

Here are some easy substitutes that won’t cost you a fortune or take much of your time, and often they are much more natural than your pricey brand choices!

Eye Makeup Remover

Most specific eye make up removers will set you back $6-$10 or more for a little bottle, and they’ll often leave your eyes feeling a tad peculiar. So skip that all together and spend $2.99 on a bottle of baby shampoo. Wet a cotton ball, put a little shampoo on it, and rub it over your eyes – then rinse if you need to. Because of the no tears formula, you won’t have trouble with watery eyes, and your eyes will feel much cleaner!

Bath Salts

Bath salts can get very pricey. You can pay anywhere from $5 all the way up to $25 or more for a smallish tub of bath salts. Most of the time, when you check out the ingredients, you really aren’t paying for much more than packaging and fragrance. Epsom Salts will cost you about $1.49 for 1lb or more. You can open up the container and sprinkle over a couple of drops of essential oils if you would like a fragrance, or even a few drops of your favorite perfume. The Epsom Salts will help your muscle to relax and also help ease aches, strains and bruises.

Hot Oil Hair Treatment

If you have dry or damaged hair, you might be used to picking up some super pricey deep conditioning hair treatments. Instead of this, though, just get some light olive oil (not extra virgin, just regular). Take a cup of the olive oil, mix in two tablespoons or dried rosemary, and then let it sit in a cool dark place for two weeks. Then, you can warm a little up, comb it through your hair, let it sit, and then shampoo it out. This treatment costs pennies and works just as well as the super fancy stuff, while being wonderfully natural.

Body Scrub

Body Scrub is very simple to make if you understand the ingredients that you need to look for. The key to a good body scrub is to use a very light and nourishing oil as the base. Sweet Almond oil honestly works the best. Mix 1/8 cup Sweet Almond Oil with 1/2 cup of light brown sugar and 1/8 cup medium grain cornmeal. This will create a great exfoliating scrub that will also nourish your skin wonderfully.

Clothing Refresher

I personally don’t like how Febreze and other clothing and fabric refreshers smell. It might just be me, but I feel like I’m covering up odor instead of neutralizing it. There is, however, a really easy way of neutralizing odors. Mix 1 part vodka with 1 part water in a spray bottle, and spritz liberally on the item you wish to freshen. The vodka will eliminate the odor and dry clear with no residue or strange smell.

What other nifty tricks do you know of? What other items would you like to see recipes for so that you can replace the store bought with the frugal?