Posts tagged with "save money"

I don’t know about you, but where we are it started raining on April 6th 2012, the day the hosepipe ban was due to kick in, and it didn’t seem to stop until a couple of weeks ago! But it’s still important to conserve water, even though there seems to be plenty of it about at…read more

Yesterday I talked about ways to dispose of unwanted stuff in general and looked at a load of practical and creative things to do with unwanted clothes. Today I’m exploring kitchen and living room spring clean throw-outs and re-makes with my money-saving head on. If you have any cool ideas about cutting waste and generating…read more

Spring cleaning – Part 1 I thought I was the only person who felt an irresistible urge to spring clean at this time of year. Then I talked to my friend Claire at the weekend, who was knee deep in kipple, turfing out her cupboards in a nesting frenzy. So were Lavinia and Susanne.  Just…read more

We joke about being shopaholics but most of us just enjoy a good session. Why do real, seriously addicted shopaholics get hooked? The thrill of the chase? The filling of an emotional hole? Or simply the intense suffusion of pleasure that lovely things bring? Either way it’s nasty and leaves hardened addicts in a scary financial…read more

I loved Christmas as a child, suffered through it in my twenties and finally rebelled in my early thirties, deciding not to do it any more. I’m not religious. I don’t enjoy over-eating and dislike lounging around doing nothing. I resent being forced to be sociable when I’m not necessarily in the mood. I don’t…read more

Most of us enjoy a little extravagance of one sort or another, whether it’s something simple like posh soap and toiletries or seriously costly stuff like designer fashion or a smart car. You can go the whole hog and hurl yourself into a money saving lifestyle with complete abandon. But it might end up making…read more

My Great Aunt Sylvia, who died recently in her 90s, spent winters in her chilly North Yorkshire farm cottage making the most beautiful and intricate patchwork quilts with tiny octagons, hexagons and squares of old fabric. And her sister, my Granny Molly, made stunning rag rugs in rich jewel-like colours (pictured). Pick a serious craft…read more

A while back New Scientist magazine announced research that showed how fasting can be a route to a longer lifespan. Eating less is apparently very good for us. Now there’s another  piece of research showing that eating less may also extend your ‘health span’ – the amount of time you spend healthy, hearty and hale….read more