Don't throw those pineapple peels in the compost yet, use them for an at-home pedicure.

Long gone are the days when I go to a salon for a $45 monthly pedicure. Don't get me wrong, I love to get pedicures. I find them very relaxing, but at $45 a pop, I just can't justify the expense right now. With the temperature creeping upward, I have dusted off my flip-flops and taken off my socks...yikes...my feet are in need of some pampering. So I created a "citrus spa" last week in our sunroom and my 3 year old and I spent the afternoon pampering our piggies.

I gathered all of the supplies: foot bath, citrus foot soak, citrus foot moisturizer, nail polish and pineapple peels.

I found this tip to exfoliate feet in my Feb 1, 09 edition of Women's Day magazine. It sounded funny at first, but we eat a lot of pineapple so we always have pineapple peels that I usually just throw in our compost bin. Apparently the pineapple skins contain bromelain (a meat tenderizer), which naturally helps to exfoliate feet. We sat on the floor rubbing pineapple on our feet and then used the foot bath to soak and rinse off our feet. My husband bought the foot bath years ago to help his aching feet and it has been in a closet for years. I cleaned it up and filled it with warm water and I think that was my daughter's favorite part of the pedicure. I put a tiny bit of foot soap in the water and it bubbled up.

I'm not going to show you my toes, because I really want you to come back to my site, but take my word for it, they needed some attention. I think I will need a few more applications of the pineapple to really get rid of my dry cracked feet, but they did look a lot better after some pampering. I also saved myself $45 and spent a fun afternoon with my daughter.

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