Recycling Unused Facial Creams

It is not uncommon for women to indulge beauty in regimens. By so doing, this entails buying beauty products and creams… sometimes, only to shelf them later.

I have creams at home that I can no longer use on my face or body due to certain reasons. Some caused me allergies; some were already expired because they were shelved for a long time; and some were imported freebies with foreign labels I couldn’t read and understand (What if I used a product on my face when it’s supposed to be a shampoo or a vaginal wash? Eeww!).

To ditch or not to ditch – this is my question. Of course I don’t want to clutter my cabinet with stuff that are no longer useful to me. But if you think of saving mother earth from the forever accumulating human garbage, you’d consider recycling.

So how do you recycle your unwanted beauty products? Simple. Use them on your FEET.

Sometimes, people tend to neglect washing their feet well when taking a bath or taking the shower because they are in a hurry. In the long run, having dirty and calloused feet would definitely call for pampering. This is something that you can now immediately address by simply applying your barely used creams on your feet before sleeping, and then covering it with socks.

I learned this tip from an old friend who loves to hoard lotions and beauty products. She keeps these in the fridge and totally forgets about them eventually. When she remembers to check her collection, she would see her branded stuff expired. Too upset to throw away her expensive creams to the bin, I’d see her applying the products on her feet instead. According to her, the foot t is the safest body part to apply expired facial creams on.

Do you also have expired or unused vanity products at home that are just accumulating dusts on your beauty table? Use them on your feet tonight.

Saving Money For The Kids

Joni, my good friend and wave mate in Citigroup, shared with me a valuable idea on how to save money for kids, which I now practice for my own children.

In one of our chit chats when we were still officemates in Makati, she shared with me that she keeps a savings account for her daughter. What is interesting in this particular account is that, what she deposits there is not her personal money but her daughter’s. At the time of our conversation nearly 10 years back, she said that her daughter’s savings was roughly at around Php20,000.00, which her unica hija received from christening and from Christmas presents year after year.

I was still childless at that time, but her idea lingered in my mind and has influenced me, now that I am a mother too. I thought, since I am not born rich, it would be nice to leave my children with some funds that rightfully belongs to them. All I need to do is to safe keep every single peso that they receive from other people.

It is part of our Filipino culture to give money to young children in different occasions. During christenings or dedications, godparents and guests offer “pakimkim” for the baby. During Christmas, godparents, relatives, or family friends may also give cash “aguinaldo” to children in lieu of toys. There are also certain old beliefs that if it is your first time to meet a child, giving cash present to the little one may bring good luck.

I first opened a kiddie savers account at the HCCSCO cooperative for my son Vladimir a few days after his christening. I also opened another one for my daughter Hillary when she was born. Soon, my youngest child Deirdre will also have her own.

I must admit that at times when I’m broke, I’m compelled to touch their accounts to make ends meet. So I list their supposed total amount of savings at the back portion of their passbooks, for me to not forget how much I owe them. Of course I am determined to replenish what I borrow from them because at this point, I can’t say yet that I have wealth to leave them with when I’m gone.

My kids’ savings accounts are my constant reminder and inspiration that I should not leave them empty handed. This is a must, for this is biblical.

My Modern Family

I first learned of the term “co-parent” when I was doing my qualitative research for my master’s class. It is a term associated to parents of a “broken family,” which euphemists have termed as a “modern family.”

I wouldn’t say that I didn’t see my situation coming. In fact, I have seen and felt a lot of signs that my relationship with my ex-partner is bound to end. I just chose to ignore those signs because I believed in my sole capacity to keep my family intact against all odds. I learned the hard way that I thought wrong.

My son lives with his dad, while my daughters are with me. Our only communication channel is the messenger chatbox that my son has created, which he renamed as “mom, dad, and lola button.” I have left the chatbox a few times before but my son would always add me there again. He pleaded that nobody should leave it. In as much as I wanted to cut all communications with the father of my children, I couldn’t.

I asked my priest-friend if there will ever be a way that I could stop communicating with my ex because I am no longer interested in doing anything with him. I think I’m good to go even if we have uneven share of responsibilities for our three children. My friend’s response was, "It is impossible because you two have kids."

“Uh, alright. I’m stuck.” This is what I thought then.

Acceptance. Time heals all wounds.

It’s been over two years now since I asked my ex-partner to leave our abode upon finding out that he was cheating on me. He never returned although our communication had been on and off. Now that a lot of things have already happened and interfered with our lives, we are now two different (hopefully improved) persons.

Enlightened by the drama series, “Ika-6 Na Utos,” starred by Sunshine Dizon and Gabby Concepcion, below sums up my view on our set-up:

To my dear kids, even if mom and dad can no longer be together because we chose to live apart, I would like to assure you that you are not without a family. The three of you have a biological mother, a biological father, and of course you have your siblings! Even if we don’t live under one roof anymore, we are a family and we will always be… Cheer up, mommy loves you all.

Devastated because your family got problems too? Worry not. Things will get better.

Real Talk: Beauty Is Power

I love what Christine Jacob said once in CNN’s “Real Talk.” She told her mommy-viewers, “You have to take care of yourself from Day One because no one’s going to do that for you.” Since hearing this, I have been retelling the same thing to mommies I know, who I notice are no longer paying attention on how they look.

More than the purpose of keeping your man smitten on you, the benefit of taking care of oneself is to have power from the inside. Moms are often too busy taking care of others’ needs that they neglect to take care of their own. One day they’d wake up, they would look closely at their reflection on the mirror and would ask themselves, where did their youth go? Well, it went to housekeeping and other modern day mommy duties.

When Nanay Mareng was still alive, she told me over one breakfast that even if ladies are already married, they should make an effort to keep themselves lovely. Perhaps she noticed that I have ceased being conscious about how I appear.  I didn’t contradict her remark although deep in my heart I wanted to ask, “Why do old women have to tolerate and even encourage a sexist culture?” Sadly, I also used to naively grip on the “you’ve got to love me for what I am” motto. Her ‘wisdom’ made sense after I faced some ‘inconvenient’ situations.

Looking back, after I gave birth to my son, my young family became my utmost priority. I stopped buying clothes, bags, and shoes for myself. I skipped facials and salon visits. Instead, I spent the little money I have to expose my son to various social interactions and experiences – play pens, Jollibee kiddie activities, trick or treat events, etc. I wanted him to be competitive. While me, I have neglected myself even if I have an image to “protect” being a former local beauty queen. My fashion sense became dull.

TODAY, my hair is dyed. I watch my diet. I now wear the clothes that I deem okay (for I no longer needed the approval of this fashion guru who ruined my sense of style). I know how to apply make-up. I exercise. I am loving myself more. And it feels good.

I DOLL UP NOT BECAUSE I wanted to seek attention from the opposite sex.

I consciously make an effort to look good and feel good because whenever I feel beautiful, I gain positive outlook in life and everything appears brighter to me. The positive energy from within me radiates and it simultaneously passes good vibes to the people I encounter. The happy experiences I earn, in effect, make me feel more empowered.

Trust me, beauty is power.

Mommies, do you pay yourself a “me-time?” If no, you better start now. This is a healthy and a practical advice. (Wink!)