Great 'Make it last longer' Hunt

HannaB

In our household there is only myself and the OH. We find that we cannot get through food without it going stale/mouldy/bad. Here are some of the tricks I have picked up these past couple of years for the small households...

Bread - buy some fresh bread and freeze half a loaf. If you only use half a loaf in a week, you'll still have another half fresh. If the bread is on offer (i.e. 2 for a £1), even better!

Buy Tesco Pure Milk (i.e. Own brand Cravendale) - Okay, this milk does cost slightly more. We do our "main shop" at the weekend and we buy one 4pt "normal" milk and one 2l "pure" (o/b Cravendale) milk, so we still have some fresh milk for the tail end of the week. And it saves that walk to the shop on Thursday to buy the extra milk (plus the unnecessary wallet-emptying extra treats).

Buy frozen vegetables - i.e. potatoes, parships, etc, so they'll always be fresh when you cook them.

Poke all of your "used" face powder make-up so it crumbles and put into one container to create a loose powder, providing it's all the same colour (this one has got me through a few "wrong side of payday" moments).

I'll put some more on here when I think of them...

flyingirl

Following on from the nail varnish post, I should add that you can thin nail varnish out by adding a few drops of nail varnish remover then shaking well.

Following on from the ladders in tights post, you can use clear (i.e. not coloured) nail varnish to brush over small ladders in order to stop them spreading. It stretches out your tights for a further few wears. Of course, don't apply the varnish whilst you are wearing your tights/ stockings!

Virgo85

i.want.it.2 wrote: »

I used to use shaving foam-but switched to oil, quote]

On this note, hair conditioner works just as well as shaving foam; it very effectively softens the hairs which gives a closer shave and keeps your blades sharper for longer.
:beer:

kami2112

andrew-b wrote: »

A DIY one thats maybe more relevant to this part of the forums:

When cleaning brushes after using oil-based paints reuse white spirit. Pour some white spirit into an old jam jar. Clean your brushes out in it. Screw the lid onto the jam jar. After a day or two the white spirit will seperate out to the top leaving paint at the bottom. Carefully decant off the top clear layer into an old white spirit bottle (or another jam jar with lid) and it's ready to use to clean your brushes again.

I've been using the same small bottle of recycled white spirit for over a year so far and still two-thirds full.

Andy

How do you get the separated white spirit from one jam jar to another without the paint mixing back in?

stu369

culpepper wrote: »

Recharge the disposable batteries.
We got a charger from innovations years ago(about 7 years ago I think) that lets you charge ordinary batteries as well as rechargeables.Here is an article about a similar one made by someone else.
http://the-gadgeteer.com/review/battery_xtender_alkaline_battery_recharger
Some people say they worry that the batteries will explode but we have never had a problem at all. I buy the energiser batteries and when they are low but not empty,I charge them up again. They will recharge about 4 more times.
This has saved us loads over the years.
You do need the special recharger,you cant just use an ordinary one as the batteries would get too hot.
The charger was about £20 back then.

I use a normal batterey charger to recharge ordinary batteries. (it's not a high powered battery charger as it's 20 years old and takes 14-16 hours to charge batteries)

stu369

Gazgandalf wrote: »

"and never shave upwards. This is what causes 'razor' burn, spots and ingrowing hair. I have no idea why they show models doing this on TV Ad's..

I shave towards my chin.
(i.e. down on my face & up on my neck - that is the direction my hair grows)
Am I the only one?

cwp500

timnicebutdim wrote: »

:exclamati When using loo roll, help save the trees and use both sides. :eek:

Assuming this is not a joke and readers are not squeamish, tear off a continuous piece of 4 sheets, use then fold in two so clean sheets are exposed and then again fold and use. Not a joke, I have done this since skint student days, it really does save on loo paper and is quite hygenic.

cwp500

soap is great value. Sainsburys sell their very basic 4 bars f0r about 70p but you can pick up halfway decent stuff in pound shops, home bargains etc.

Everyone knows that keeping the last little stubs makes great handwash if you keep it in an empty handwash bottle with a little water. If you gently microwave the mixture in 5 second bursts, it will amalgamate more smoothly. Be careful it musnt get too hot, just give it a good stir between bursts and decant back into the handwash bottle.

A half bar of cheap soap when grated with a fine grater, such as a parmesan grater, makes excellent washing up liquid using the same technique; you can make it as runny or thick as you like.

cwp500

solomonp wrote: »

Want to get the most out of a nearly empty tube of toothpaste...or anything else for that matter? Lay the tube, with the top still on, on a hard worksurface. Hold a toothbrush by its head and press the handle hard down on the base of the tube, with the handle laying across the tube. Draw the handle up the tube without taking any downward force off. thus pressing every bit remaining in the tube to the nozzle end. If you do it right its as flat as a pancake.

if its one of the older (i.e. not plastic) tubes, roll it up from the base very tightly as well. This stops contents draining back to the bottom.

cwp500

hardpressed wrote: »

Try printing on 'draft', I find it quite acceptable, make the ink last much longer.

Good advice - for technophobes this one is really worth pursuing. Most printers have an "economy" setting.

If you are only checking type setting or formatting, try and use the screen to "greek" or block out the document dont always insist on having a print; "to see what it will look like".

If you are a persistent test printer- try to use both sides of a sheet of paper for your printing. most modern printers readily allow reprinting on the opposite side.