If you're like me you own several belts that are too big and you just need one or two more belt holes to make all the difference. Maybe you bought the wrong size belt, or you lost a little weight, or it’s because different pairs of pants sit on your body at different places. I finally discovered that you can easily solve this problem yourself with a belt hole puncher. It's a super-simple to use tool that comes with a variety of prong sizes for punching holes. With it, you can add new holes to your belts in a snap and end up with a great fit. Definitely worth every penny! I wouldn’t recommend this for belts that are several sizes too big, because there will be too much length left over.

Here are some tips for using the belt puncher so punching those extra belt holes can be a breeze. Know that the hole puncher does not make clean holes as it doesn’t quite cut through. To solve that use it by holding the lower handle (the one with the striker plate) firmly on a flat surface. With the lower punch handle anchored on the table top, simply press only the upper handle to bring down the revolving punch head. This technique will help you punch holes with less effort! To prolong the sharpness of the punch edges, put a small piece of strong cloth (like denim) under the belt to be punched. This way you aren’t hitting the end of the punch on the back metal plate.

The drain in my bathroom sink seems to get clogged every year and every year I'd shell out money for a plumber to come snake it for $50. The root of the cause is partly the design of my waterfall faucet I installed and then the thick face masks I use and hair which I try really hard not to go into the drain.

Well for the first time my kitchen sink got clogged and when I called around for price quotes everyone started at $200 for the first hour...umm no. So I looked for a solution to do it myself. First I used a mini plumger and worked the sink to no avail. Then I unscrewed and cleaned the P trap underneath the sink, no change. Next I tried to snaked the line into the wall, but have to admit I'm no expert on this and thought I'd better leave this to the experts. I wanted to avoid chemical drain products because they do more harm than good by eroding the pipes so I didn't go for Drano. Instead, I bought Zep Drain Care which is a biodegradable enzyme based formula made up of bacterial strains that break down the minerals in your drain. After 3 days of treatment, my clog was gone!!! Now I make sure not put much food scraps/vegetable peels down the drain and used cooking oil gets poured straight into the trash. I'm no longer using my garbage disposal as much.

For my bathtub I use a drain catch to catch hair, bath salts which don't really dissolve and the occasional handmade soap I might use that become solid and clog. In fact just using that drain catch tells me which products to stop using as I have to replace the drain catch every year due to not being able to fully clean it. That cheap investment prevents me from having to call a plumber again to have it snaked.

Another tip I learned for monthly maintenance is to put a cup of vinegar down the drain and then after a half hour of sitting time without using the sink to then follow up with a cup of boiling water. I feel good using these products so that I'm not hurting the environment or my wallet.

While we're on the topic of green cleaning products, my favorite cleaning company Mrs Meyers just released some limited time spring scents in Lilac and Peony. They already sold out once so be sure you pick yours up soon as they smell heavenly!

I wanted to share a preview of some of the pics during my recent trip to New York! You can see the Freedom Tower in the background.
 

Last weekend my mother and I hopped on the Silver Line and headed out to Tysons Mall for a day filled with shopping. We stood in line for an hour at the NYX store where they were nice enough to serve us treats in line and gave us a goody bag. I talked about NYX a couple years ago on my blog, it’s an affordable makeup brand that doesn't test on animals. NYX is named after the Greek Goddess NYX, not to be confused with NYC. My local CVS has really expanded its selection of NYX products, but still I was super excited to visit NYX's first brick and mortar store in VA because every single product will be available in one place. My mother got a huge haul of products for under $100! She had a full makeover at the Beauty Bar where a member of the squad tested out new makeup looks on her. The store had rows of gorgeous lipsticks and lip glosses it was so hard to choose a color for myself! NYX is constantly trying out new formulas and shades to offer the best products to their customers as evident by the frequent emails I receive from them with new products.