Simple ideas trim costs

Buying the best brands? Not so frugal. Picking through your neighbor’s trash? Not so fabulous.

How can you save money without losing style?

Here are some ideas to live fabulously while still being frugal:

- Do your own toenails.

Use pale colors; a bright red coat might show if it’s out of the lines. And besides, sandal season is months away.

- It’s all in the packaging.

Refill fancy-brand soap dispensers with generic liquid soap. Or buy a heavy ceramic or sleek metal pump you can use again and again.

- Eco-shredding.

Use leavings from the paper shredder to pack fragile gifts.

- Embrace the weeds.

If you have a backyard, weeds and yard clippings can be used to brighten up the corners of the inside of your home. In fall and winter, seed pods and dead branches from shrubs can look artistic and elegant in an arrangement.

- Cloves over candles.

Instead of expensive candles, stick some cloves into an orange and simmer in water on your it to make it company-worthy.

- Practice efficient dishwashing.

Set big cooking bowls and pans in the sink. Wash your smaller dishes over them, carefully dumping sudsy water into the cooking pans.

- Don’t add — subtract!

To fix up a tired-looking room, don’t buy anything new. Instead, throw stuff away.

- Reinvent your herbs.

Trimmings from herbs that die down in the winter make nice-smelling sachets to tuck into your clothes or linen drawers. Use double-layered cheesecloth to make a bundle.

- Just add salt (or sugar).

A tip from Lily Morgan, founder of the skin-care product line Lily Organics: You can add sugar or salt to your face cleanser or soap, for a quick and effective way of removing dead cells. Make sure you add the exfoliating ingredient at the time of cleansing, not to the bottle or jar itself.