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Do Your Pedicure with a Rock from the Garden
No longer will you need to spend money on pumice stones or callous graters. Do like I learned from a Quechua grandmother in Bolivia. When your callouses bother you, sit down on the ground next to a water source and rub your callouses with a rock. Almost any rock will do. But, wait! There's more! Save money on health care, too! You are protecting your health by not adding more pollution to the world, such as the exhaust of the delivery trucks that bring pedicure equipment to stores, no more plastic handles or packing that required destroying an ecosystem and possibly an indigenous culture to get the petroleum to make it, and less trash going into landfills. With a healthier planet, your health will improve, too. You save money at the check -out register by not buying pedicure implements in the first place, and you save money on health care in the long run. You can't beat a rock!
Resole your Shoes
Make your shoes last longer! Resole your shoes using old tires and Barge Cement (be sure to have lots of fresh-air ventilation so you aren't breathing the fumes. Working outside is best).
Go to a local auto repair garage where they sell tires and ask them to give you an old tire. They will probably gladly give it to you for free; otherwise, they would have to pay someone to dispose of it.
Take the tire home and, through trial and error, figure out how many uses you can get out of that tire. Here in the Andes families make their livings resoling shoes, making bungee cords (from inner tubes), making laundry basins, and even shoes themselves, all out of old tires that would have gone to a landfill. The first people to make these items didn't have anyone to show them how to do it. They just used their imagination and kept at it until they figured it out. You can, too!
Once you are confident resoling your own shoes, you can even offer this service to your friends and neighbors. So, you not only save money on footwear, but you can have a completely new income stream!
Go Barefoot
Save even more money on footwear. Go barefoot as much as possible. Walking barefoot on the earth, as you garden, activates the acupressure points in your feet – aiding in improved health. Here in the Andes, people have been going barefoot for thousands of years while working in their fields, and enjoy long, healthy lives. So, you not only save money on footwear, but on health care costs, too!
