How do you do things?

I'm another one who has to rinse the suds off, but I try to do it by having a bowl of cool clean water sitting on the draining board, and dunk everything in that when it comes out of the suds. When it starts getting sudsy I just tip it out & refill it with cold water - doesn't matter what temperature the rinse water's at, my plates won't shrink! Mind you we also have a wall rack to drain things on, so don't need the drainer space to be clear.

Hi Tea and cake,

I am not the most os person in the world.. but I may be able to help with the washing up question. We don't have a dishwasher either.

I am assuming that some of the washing up you do in the morning is from the night before and some of the mess is welded to the plates/pans by then? I have found that leaving items in a sink full of water and a squirt of washing up liquid overnight means they need minimal washing up next morning. also I don't immediately fill the bowl I run a bit of water and then wash up the cutlery the as I rinse the suds off the bowl fills up a bit more, next I do small plates etc etc.

Also I found that I needed to adopt the process of constantly adding more washing up liquid when I used cheaper brands, mine lasted two or three weeks (only two of us though) but F*iry original lasts 7-8 weeks. For me the cheaper brands are a false economy.

Milk wise have you thought if swapping to long life for porridge? Aldi do a litre of skimmed for 49/50p and semi skimmed for 64p.

I am with you on the washing front although I will wash at 40 degrees as this is the lowest temperature that kills germs. Will not wash at 30 ...Thinking of it I haven't seen any adverts promoting the merits of washing at this temperature recently.

I find it much easier to use a bowl full of cold water to rinse - honestly it's quicker than turning the tap on for every dish (or, like my dad does, leave it running the whole time). I use Fairy liquid, and I find it really does work so much better than any cheaper liquid and one squirt washes most of the dishes, with just a little on the sponge for super-dirty dishes at the end.

I normally wash at 40 for whites, 30 for colours and 60 for towels and bedding. Going through lots of milk is fine as it's good for your family anyway, but do you have a big freezer you could store bargain milk in? Lidl does it for 49p/2l every so often and I always wish I could buy loads!

If you aren't happy with how much you're spending on maple syrup then try alternatives? a bit of sugar, golden syrup, jam, marmalade, nutella etc, are all good. I've never been able to justify the price of pure maple syrup (aka liquid gold), maybe use it just as a weekend treat?

I always start my porridge with just enough water to cover the oats, and add milk as I cook it slowly.

Investigate different flavours:stew fruit that will turn, use honey or syrup or jam.

My whites go in on a special AA 40 degree programme on my machine. I wash pretty much everything at 40, and use half the powder suggested.

Most of our lodgers use the 'squirt washing up liquid onto a sponge or straight onto the dirty item and keep running hot water whilst doing so' technique for washing up. It drives me crackers. I put a bowl in the sink to cut the amount of hot water used by half, and the current lodger carefully puts it to one side to use the running water technique! My MSE tip for this year has been to keep an empty washing up liquid bottle and dilute it at least 50:50. It still works just as well, whatever brand you use.

I've also noticed that the self-catering accommodation we let magically acquires a new roll of silver foil, a new roll of clingfilm and an almost new bottle of washing up liquid every week it's let, to the point where there are often four or five rolls of each, and three bottles of w/u liquid, which is when I clear a few out and take them home. Nobody ever takes them home with them, so I don't bother to buy any of them any more.

Anything that has oil or butter on it gets a thorough wipe with a paper towel before it gets washed up. There's very little point putting anything fatty straight into the water. All of it ends up in the drain, eventually blocking it anyway.

Clothes, towels and bedding get washed at 30 now, and use the 40 wash occasionally. Every once in a while I'll run the machine empty on the hottest wash possible with vinegar to clear the pipes etc out. I only ever run the WM when I can line dry pretty much everything.

Just how dirty do most modern families get?

And much as I love hideously expensive maple syrup, we use a tiny amount of muscavado sugar on porridge. It's much, much cheaper, lasts forever and tastes fabulous.