Isher 4th Birthday -Win Prizes - Just give us a tip

[JulieSherris]

............I have something like what you describe, Julie. I've also created a blank one with the formulas in and some examples. I was going to attach it, but it won't attach - I get the message "The extension xls is not allowed". If anyone wants the blank document PM me your email address and I'll try to send it to you. And if you get stuck with it, I'm happy to help.

This worked wonders for us when hubby was on monthly pay - although I actually cut up my debit card & he went along to the cashpoint each thursday to get my weekly cash - else I'd be a right little b*gger & overspend!

But yep, I have a blank template of our spreadsheet on excel if anyone wants a copy - just fill in your boxes, add your own, delete the ones you don't want - formulas are all there, just shout me if you want it.

Julie.

[rockchick]

Tip 1:
It's a small thing but one of the best things I've learnt to do this year is make chicken carcass stock. I say learn but there's really nothing to it, which is just the way I like it!

Chuck carcuss including any leftover skin into a pan, cover with water.
Throw in an onion, a small carrot a stick of celery or anything else you have with some peppercorns and a couple of bayleaves.
Cover and bring to the boil, then simmer for a couple of hours.
When its cool enough strain and pick any remaining meat off the bones, messy but its amazing how much you get.
It makes the best soups and risottos and is easy to freeze if you don't want to use straight away.

Tip 2:
When your boiler breaks down you realise you can survive without central heating and you use a lot less oil. When you get it back you really appreciate it, but you must be careful not to return to taking it for granted.

[mrsflibble]

tip 1. cut meat with scissors. if like me you hate washing up, are incredibly clumsy with sharp knives or you just intend to use your chopping board a lot during the process of cooking a meal, take your meat to be cubed or diced and hold it over the hot pan in which you intend to brown it and cut away.

tip 2. if you are like me and sew a lot, try to invest in a pair of surgical clamps. They have ridges at the grabby end, but are gentle enough for bits of human so they wont harm your delicate fabrics, they lock just past the hinge so they can hold things in place nicely and they're sooooo strong. they are great for holding awkward or thick lumps of fabric while you tack them, they work really well for turning tubes the right way out and they're fab for freaking out new friends who see them hung by your sewing machine and realise what they are. I got mine out of Russian Doll's un-used home birth kit when she had Zach

[Percy]

If your plot suffers from clubroot try this. Very simple, mix 3 parts compost with 1 part lime. Take out a about 6 inch square hole in you ground, fill up hole with a lime/water mix, not too strong, once drained fill up hole with compost/lime mix and plant into this. The theory is the roots get a good start before the club root can attack.

[Millymollymandy]

Please discuss the tips on the discussion thread. This is becoming hard work moving the posts around to the appropriate thread!

[MrsD'ville mkII]

If you want to ditch disposable household stuff for cloth but don't quite know how to go about it then 1) get a wee bit organised and 2) go one thing at a time.

We started using cloth nappies with home made fleece liners and got into a nightly washing routine. Then we ditched baby wipes and made our own from fleece. These went in the bucket with the nappies. Once muslins became less of a daily baby essential as DD grew, we cut them into hankie sizes as well as roughly 6" square sizes and had them in a basket in the kitchen to be used instead of kitchen roll or tissues. At this point we began a bucket system where we threw tea towels, muslins, rags and the cloth napkins that we moved onto once kitchen roll was banished. We still use the bucket though DD is long since out of nappies.

At some stage in all this I began using a Mooncup and now use cloth sanitary towels as well. The washing seems to do itself with a bit of planning. All I need to do now is persuade the family we can live without loo roll!

[Andy Hamilton]

This competition is now closed.