Do you have a secret trick?

London_1

I can remember my late Mum queueing up for a banana after WW2 and bringing it home with a big smile on her face I had never tasted one and she mashed it up and divided it between my two brothers and me on a slice of bread It was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted and I immediately fell in love with them. My Father took the skin and used it to polish our school shoes which were gleaming when he finished. Memories of the late 1940s stay with you forever Nothing ever went to waste in our house, The skin when finished with shoe cleaning went onto the compost heap at the bottom of the garden.Crushed up egg shells were put around plants to deter slugs from eating them. My late Mum used to make a sort of fertiliser with an old bucket half filled with water that she stuck nettles in to rot down.it must have been good for the soil but it smelt pretty awful at time ,  

JackieO xx

RobM99

A neighbour does similar - grows comfrey (I think) and leaves it in water to use as liquid fertiliser. Boom!

Pollie

Use banana skins to dust and polish houseplant leaves.

YoungBlueEyes

Using which side @Pollie? The inner slimey or the outer dry side? I'd guess inner but wouldn't that make the plant leaves sticky and gooey? 

kboss2010

Tired of fighting with duvets to get them into their covers?

Fed up of spending ages changing the bed?

Stop using duvets!

My “hack” for making my bed in 2 minutes involves the following:

- 1 fitted sheet
- 1 flat sheet or empty duvet cover (at least a size larger than the bed so it drapes nicely and doesn’t fall off at night! I buy super kingsize duvet covers/flat sheets for my double bed b/c my OH is a blanket stealer!)
- 1 waffle throw blanket (the waffle bit matters because it traps air just like a duvet)
- 4 pillowcases

The layers of the flat sheet/duvet cover and waffle throw will trap lots of warm air and keep you cosy at night. 

I wash everything from 1 set in 1 wash, dry it and then store it in one of the pillowcases for the set so I’m never hunting for bedding.

I have one on and one spare set for each bed and rotate them.

Waffle blankets are about £10-15 from places like Home Bargains, Wilco’s, B&M’s, Dunelm etc. and they’re really soft too!

Pollie

YoungBlueEyes said:

Using which side @Pollie? The inner slimey or the outer dry side? I'd guess inner but wouldn't that make the plant leaves sticky and gooey? 

The inside. Have never had a problem with using them but have never used exceptionally ripe ones.

comeandgo

-taff said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

That's worth knowing. I heard that it takes 2 years for a banana skin to decompose so if the chooks can be of assistance, all the better.

Um...Where did you hear that? As a fully paid up member of compost corner [no such thing, I made it up] I have to say that it takes days or a couple of weeks weeks depending on where you put it.

Sorry to re hash this but as I stay in a National park and one of the most common dropped piece of litter is banana skin, yes it does take two years to decompose. They take less time in a compost heap as taff stated but as dropped litter, a lot longer.

Brie

kboss2010 said:

My “hack” for making my bed in 2 minutes involves the following:

- 1 fitted sheet
- 1 flat sheet or empty duvet cover (at least a size larger than the bed so it drapes nicely and doesn’t fall off at night! I buy super kingsize duvet covers/flat sheets for my double bed b/c my OH is a blanket stealer!)
- 1 waffle throw blanket (the waffle bit matters because it traps air just like a duvet)
- 4 pillowcases

Plus one cat.
Plus one bee cushion.

(both of which are lovely!!)

kboss2010

@Brie Haha yes, the cat (Harry!) decided to jump into the photo as I was taking it but I felt it was a good indication of how cosy the waffle blankets are! 

Thank you, the bee cushion was from Markies a few years ago. I have another somewhere but I don’t know what my OH did with it (it was on his side of the bed & he HATES what he calls “unnecessary bed cushions” so he chucked it somewhere 😂)

Green_hopeful

Just been cleaning my paint brushes. I cut a fizzy drink bottle in half to use the bottom half to clean the brushes. The dimples in the bottom of the bottle seem to agitate the bristles and clean them much easier and you can rinse and recycle the bottle afterwards.