Victoria37

To help make you more aware of how much water you use when you shower you can get this great gadget called a water pebble. You pop it in the shower and the first time you use it, it calculates how many litres of water you use and the average duration of your shower. Every time you use it afterwards it uses a traffic light system to let you know when you've used enough water. I never buy my own body scrubs either, I make them using a little sugar and some olive oil. Caster or granulated sugar both work well it just depends what texture you prefer. I normally mix about 25g of sugar with about 15ml of olive oil, give it a good stir and that's usually enough to do my whole body. The sugar really helps to buff your skin and the olive oil helps to moisturise it. If you want to make this in bulk it stores really well in jars, and you can use essential oils or dried lavender (just the petals not the stalk) to give it a nice scent. Food wise, when I buy meat e.g. chicken legs/thighs (cheaper than fillets and really tasty) I separate them and freeze them individually and write the use by date on the bag. That way nothing gets wasted. I also learned how to joint a chicken, often its much cheaper to buy the whole chicken and DIY and you get much better value for money. There are loads of online tutorials showing how to do this. Fruit that's a little ripe gets made into smoothies and if there's enough I'll freeze some in ice cube trays or lolly moulds for a sweet treat. And for any students who read the posts, rather than buying the whole textbook for your course (which you probably won't need to read) there are a couple of websites that let you just buy the chapters you need. You receive them in a PDF format so you don't need to lug a heavy textbook round to lectures and tutorials as it's all on your laptop. Clothes that are a bit past their best are easy to re-use, jeans make great denim skirts, shorts or even bags and if you have a favourite dress or skirt with a pretty pattern on but can't squeeze into it any more, you can always re-use the fabric to make shoe bags, linen bags, or handbag protector bags. A friend of mine has even started making a patchwork quits from scraps of old clothes. Hope people find these useful.

Sam

blackberry's often grow allover the place along with other fruits get out there and pick them they freeze well and can be used in tarts, and with cream for up to a year or just add sugar boil up and make some jam.

Sam

dont let the water in your bath out stright away let it cool in the bathroom that way your warming your house up for free.

Good Work

If you receive those pre-paid/addressed envelopes with paper credit card bills, catalogues, junk mail etc they can be easily reused and you'll never have to buy another envelope again! Just stick a blank white sticker or piece of paper over the address/window and 'stamp'. Hey presto you have a recycled envelope to use.

Jayne Peters

cold water run before hot becomes hot. Run into a jug and use for cleaning teeth filling the kettle etc; Put a bowl into the wash basin and use this to wash out of, and to collect water after hand washing, use this to flush the loo. Put Brillo pads into a plastic bag and place in the fridge .This stops it going rusty so therefore last a very long time. Always switch the cooker, microwave of at the mains whilst not in use as a lot of energy is used just to keep a clock going. Always save used envelopes for shopping lists notes to yourself etc: Put cooring foil under your ironing board cover, reflects heat back cuts ironing time. When planting tomato plants put banana skins in the compost they love the potassium .When you have finished painting and cleaned your brushes. Rub a cheap hair conditioner into the bristles. When you start painting again just rinse and you have lovely brushes as new.

Danel

If you use jars of curry sauce, they are usually quite thick so I generally mix 2 parts sauce with one part milk - gives a lovely creamy curry flavour and the sauce goes much further.

Jade

use egg box's to sow seeds in then when you plant them out the roots break through and the egg box rots down, saves time and money. I also get a few egg box trays from the local sandwich shop. If I need a night dress I buy XXL mens T-shirts that are on the reduced rail and if I want a vest I just cut the T-shirt down. I don't buy expensive exfoiliating face wash I use a shaving brush (like the one my Dad used to use, lol) and clean my face with that, it cleans all the pores out and removes the dead skin leaving it very smooth. I love this site, can't wait to try out some of the tips I've learned....I wont be buying cleaning products again.

Helen

Water saving: when you are waiting for the shower to reach the right temperature place a bucket under it - it will be full by the time the temp is right! You can use it for watering the plants etc.

Sandy

My bathroom shower caddy is made of chrome and is tarnishing I have tried various cleaners including Brasso metal polish and Silvo tarnish guard but cannot remove the tarnish. Any tips much appreciated please. Thanks.

 Reply post by Paul on Thursday 5 May 2011
Slice an orange and/or a lemon in warm water and use that with a cloth.

Kate

If you have any juice left over from tinned fruits, measure it add enough water to make up to a pint, put it into a pan and desolve a jelly tablet into it and you have areally tasty jelly. When making icelollys for the kids I use yoghurt pots with old teaspoons in for the sticks, they all go into the dishwasher after use and are ready for the next batch. When you are comming to he end of a chutney or pickle jar add the contents to a stew or casserole it adds richeness to the flavour.

Nicky

Cut up old cotton T-shirts and pants, get rid of the elastic and use for rags to polish shoes, leather sofas etc

 Reply post by jojo Monday 16 May 2011
also do the same with old towels and tea towels to make dish cloths.

Nicky

When my children were toddlers, I used my old T shirts to make nightshirts for them, just make a tiny hole in the neck and thread thin elastic through. Adults trousers worn at the knees can be made into trousers for young children, using 1 pattern which makes 3 different sizes and adding an elasticated waist. Cut corners off envelopes and slip over pages of books as bookmarks.

Bobo

No need to use any soap when you wash a car. Just hose on water and rub with a sponge. Never use washing up liquid - it gives a weird rainbow sheen to the windows.

Joy4me

When your clingfilm is nearingthe end, carefully cut through the roll, slightly more than half. Keep in the original box and use the smaller pieces to cover cups or small dishes and to wrap odd bits of food. I found I used these sizes more often than the large original width.

 Reply post by Becky Thursday 12 May 2011
Thanks Joy4me! A five star tip***** Just done this and it will be much easier than trying to cut down wide pieces to save waste.

JRS

I always shorten my 7 year old Grandson's long school trousers into shorts for the summer. Measure the length you want them to be, cut off the excess allowing for the hem. I then use hemming tape and iron under a damp cloth. Perfect and saves buying 5 pairs of summer school shorts.

 Reply post by Rache Monday 9 May 2011
I will definitely try this now my son is starting school. his trousers always look a bit on the short side by springtime, and he tends to go through the knees, so this will solve both those issues.

 Reply post by Dee Thursday 12 May 2011
I used to do that for my son. Any jeans or trousers that still fit him around the waist, but were too short in length (having already lengthened them as much as possible by adding biased binding) I would cut off and turn them into long shorts.

P-king

Instead of buying expensive deodorants, just brush your armpits with bicarbonate of soda. Dont rub it in though as it can irritate the skin a little. This is enough to prevent odour all day It doesnt prevent you sweating but there is absolutely no smell Miraculous!!

Ashurst

When you put your detergent into the washing machine container put a glug of vinegar in with it. It will soften hard water so more suds (less detergent needed!) and condition your clothes and will keep working parts of you machine free from limescale. I use cheapo malt vinegar and, no, it doesn't make your clothes smell!

Harry

Instead of paying £3-4 per month on Febreeze or other Fabric Fresheners I make my own! Using the old febreeze bottle or another spray bottle (cleaned out) I put 1 capful of fabric conditioner into the bottle and top up with water, voila fabric freshener for less than 50p!

Emma G

These are great tips. Any chance of putting them into some sort of categories/sections. Makes it easier to have a look. Especially - if you are only after certain sections ie, cooking, home cleaning, gardening, mending clothes, crafts, etc.