Super Scrimpers Top 10!

I have never been one for daytime television, mostly because all that is ever on is an antique auction show or a very similiar variation on that theme! Over the past week I have loved watching SuperScrimpers: Waste Not Want Not. At first I thought it was going to be a show about useless tips which you may not ever be able to put into action but I was highly mistaken. Below I have listed my 10 favourite tips from the show and their website, I am yet to try them all but I am working my way through the list!

1. Lime Ice Cubes
Instead of using just one slice of lime and then having to throw the rest away because it's become dried up, Cut the rest of the lime into cubes and freeze. Next time you'd like some lime in your drink, pop a frozen cube in and it not only adds flavour but acts as an ice cube too!

2. Left Over Wine
Similarly to the lime cubes, if you have any left over wine in the bottom of a bottle simply freeze in an ice cube tray and add them to your next meal or gravy. I would recommend adding it to a bolognese!

3. Left Over Milk
If you ever have any milk you are going to chuck out because it's out of date and off. Instead of pouring it down the drain, mix it with some water and use it to feed your plants.

4. Cheap Pot Scourers
All you need is the netted fruit bags which they package oranges and lemons in. Rather than throwing them away simply use them as a pot scourer.

5. Speedy Jacket Potato
After preheating your oven, simply put a metal skewer through the middle of the potato (lengthways), pop it in the oven and it will take half the time to cook!

6. Thick Lashes With Cheap Mascara
Firstly put a coat on of your mascara, then put some talcum powder on your hand and with your finger coat your lashes in the powder. Then put on a second layer of mascara and you will have instantly thicker lashes.

7. Descale The Shower Head
All you need to do is unscrew your shower head, let it soak in vinegar over night. In the morning rinse, re-attach and you have a lovely new shiny shower head.

8. Silver Cleaner
Rather than spending money on expensive silver cleaners and polishes, use a banana skin instead, it works just as well and is a much cheaper way to clean your silver.

9. Bird Scarer
Rather than throwing away the rubbish cd's or dvd's you get inside a paper, thread them onto some string and hang them in your garden. It's a cheap and easy way to hopefully ward off the birds from your garden.

10. Use Up The Space To Save Energy
Always make sure your freezer is full up, if it's not simply fill it with newspaper.
As well as your freezer, when using your oven to save energy always make sure the oven is full. Either batch cook meals in advance, freeze and then heat in the microwave, this will save you having to heat up the oven twice. Or if you don't want to batch cook, simply fill the empty space with roasting dishes/baking sheets/cake tins.

On sunday I am looking forward to watching the Jubilee special, SuperScrimpers Hot Summer Tips on Channel 4 at 8pm.

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Homemade Scented Bags

Today I have been looking up those little scented hanging bags/hearts which you can hang around the house or put into drawers or wardrobes to make them smell nice. I guessed they wouldn't be that cheap but was quite surprised to see some of them costing £10, and that was just for one! Most of them averaged around £7/8 each.

Wanting to save money as everyone does, I decided to make my own. Making them your self can save a lot of money, they'll only cost you a fraction of the price or if you have everything you need already lying around the house somewhere then it will cost you absolutely nothing!

All you need to make them is:
- Old material/bed sheet/flannel
- Fragrance oil
- An old pillow's stuffing.
- Sewing needle
- Sewing thread
- Scissors

To make my first one I used an old flannel, from just one flannel you could make about 3 regular ones or about 5/6 minature ones.

• Firstly I cut a third off of the flannel (or whatever size you'd like but doubled), this should be folded in half. (fold it so that the outside of the material is on the inside, this may not matter depending on what material you are using).
• Secondly you need to put your thread through your needle, remember to tie a not at the end of the thread.
• Now sew the 2 longest sides leaving a gap at the top.
• Once you have an empty pouch, get your pillow stuffing, sprinkle a few drops of your favourite fragrance oil, (I used lavender) then gently stuff it inside your pouch.
• To complete your scented bag, sew together the top of the pouch.
• You now have your completed scented bag, this can be put into drawers or cupboards to make them smell lovely. If you would like to make it a hanging bag, simply use some of the excess material, make a loop and sew it to the top of your bag.

For my first attempt I have just made a simple one using a plain white flannel with blue stitching but there are endless possibilites to what you could make, using coloured materials, stitching buttons on or shaping them as hearts would make very pretty and beautifully smelling hanging decorations for the home. All in all these are a fantastic bargain,cheap, easy and fun to make!
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Burn Baby Burn!

Good evening,
This is my first blog which is about something a bit different, lets just hope somebody out there finds it interesting! After being out in the garden for the last couple of days with this sunny weather I thought I'd let you know about a recent purchase my dad made but we've only just used.

 A couple of years ago we bought a Chimenea for the garden, It has lasted well (gone a little rusty) but we will still use it. This year however we wanted to buy a fire pit, which is more sociable and you are about to sit around it. So we bought La Hacienda Firepit from John Lewis for £149.

After using it for the first time last night, we were extremely pleased with the product, all sitting around it after the sun had gone down, it's a great centre piece and almost made you feel like you were in the forest sitting around a camp fire! It does kick up some big flames at times so make sure you're not sitting too close! After the flames had stopped and whilst the embers were still hot we actually cooked some crumpets on it, we put them onto the mesh, after a couple of minutes each side it was ready, they were rather yummy I must say!

As we had the chimenea before and it was higher of the ground, we didn't take the time to think of what it would do to the ground beneath it! The fire pit is so close to the ground that this morning as we moved it we saw that the grass had been completely burned, the patch of ground is ruined and we have already had to plant seeds to make the grass grow, let's just hope it doesn't take too long. Next time we use it we'll either need to raise it off the ground a bit or use it on the patio (Hoping that it doesn't burn that too).

Apart from that set back due to ourselves not thinking, it is a brilliant product and we are looking forward to using it with friends and family as the summer nights continue.

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Homemade Bath Bombs

Today I have been experimenting with making my own bath bombs, after finding recipes on the net I decided to gather the ingredients and try to make them myself.

The things you need to make the bath bombs are:
- 2 Parts Bicarbonate of soda
- 1 Part Cream of Tartar
- Fragrance oil of personal choice
- Witch hazel
- Food Colouring
- Moulds ( I used silicone cases which you buy for cupcakes)

First of all you need to blend the bicarbonate of soda and the cream of tartar together so they are completely blended together.

Then add a few drops of your favourite fragrance oil to the mix, blending in fully. I used lavender oil.

Then a couple of drops of the colouring, this will have a little reaction with the powder mixture, just be sure to blend it in until the powder is completely coloured. Do not add too much colouring as the colour will intensify when the witch hazel is added.

Next add the witch hazel, either through a spritz bottle or by just adding a small amount at a time and blending thoroughly. You want the mixture to be able to mould and hold it's shape but not be too wet. A bit like a sandcastle, you need enough witch hazel so that it doesn't fall down but not too much that it's soggy.

Once the mixture is ready, put it into your moulds for about 4-6 hours until it has fully set. You can then take it out of the mould.

For a first attempt I don't think it went too bad, but the proof was in the bathing. Once they were full set I decided to run myself a nice warm bath and test them. The outcome was good but I think I need to tweak with the measurements slightly to make them even better. Once they have infused with the water the smell of the fragrance which in my case was lavender was lovely. It's a nice and relaxing aroma to have whilst bathing.
I am definitely not calling myself a pro on these and they may not be perfect but I have definitely caught the bug for making them, I'm already excited about making more, testing out different shapes, colours, fragrances and maybe even with some dried flowers incorporated into the mix!

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Family Guy

This weekend on BBC Three they have been showing the best episodes of Family Guy whilst leading up to the new series which is starting tonight.

I'm a massive fan of the show, I don't know how they get away with some of the stuff they say but it makes me laugh so much. I don't think one episode has ever failed to make me laugh.

The episode that came in second place was the one called "I dream of Jesus" (Ep.2, Season 7) personally this for me shoud have been in first place. This is my favourite episode ever! It's the one that features the song "Surfin Bird" by the Trashmen.

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Scratch Card Crazy!

Hey!

So this afternoon I was just relaxing watching some television and suddenly had an extreme urge to have a little bet or do the lottery or something like that.

 I don't do the lottery on a regular basis just when I feel like it, and when I do I only do a lucky dip. I think that if you were to do the same numbers every time you have to make sure you do those numbers every week forever! Could you imagine if you forgot to put it on one week and your regular numbers came up, you would be distraught!

So today I decided to do some scratch cards, I brought 15 scratch cards for £15 hoping that my luck was in. Unfortunately it was only slightly in, I only won £11 over the whole 15 cards!! However I suppose it's better to have won something back than nothing at all!

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Sacred Heart Diet

Evening all,

I thought I'd tell you today about a diet I tried a couple of weeks ago.

It's called the 'Sacred Heart Diet'. It is supposedly a diet which was originally designed for heart patients who needed to lose weight quickly for surgery. How true that statement is i'm not too sure as there are a lot of different comments about this diet over the net. It has been named on some sites as a "Fad" diet which I suppose it is but nevertheless I thought I should try it for myself before I comment on it.

The diet is based around a "fat burning soup" in which the more of it you eat the more you can lose. It is stated that you could lose 10-17 pounds in just one week, however if you are inactive during this diet you will not lose as much.

Here is the diet plan for the seven days which should be followed strictly to achieve the best results.

Day 1 – Fruit Day

Eat only soup and fruit.
Any fruit except bananas.

(Cantaloupe and watermelon are lower in calories than most fruits.)

Day 2 – Vegetable Day

All vegetables. Eat as much as you like of fresh/raw/canned vegetables along with the soup. (Stay away from dry beans, peas and corn.)

At dinner time reward yourself with a jacket potato and butter.

Do NOT eat any fruit.

Day 3 – Fruit and Vegetable Day
Eat all of the soup, fruit and vegetables you want today. (Do not have a jacket potato today.)

If you haven’t cheated over the last 3 days you should have lost between 5-7 pounds.

            Day 4 – Bananas and Skimmed Milk Day

Eat at least 3 bananas and drink as much skimmed milk as you can today as well as the soup.

Day 5 – Beef and Tomatoes Day
You may have 10-20 ounces of beef today or chicken (without skin) if you prefer. Eat as many as 6 tomatoes.
Eat soup at least once today.

10oz = 283 Grams

20oz = 566 Grams

Day 6 – Beef and Vegetables Day

You can eat as much beef and vegetables as you like today. You may even have 2-3 steaks (grilled) with leafy vegetables if you like. No potatoes allowed.
Eat the soup at least once today.

Day 7 – Brown rice and Vegetables Day

Today you can eat Brown rice, vegetables and fruit juice.
Also eat as much of the soup as you can.

Here is the recipe for the soup which is to eaten everyday, the more you have of it the better.

 

·       3 x tomatoes

·       2 x Large cans of chopped tomatoes

·       1 – 2 x Large cans of Beef Consommé

·       2 Cups of water

·       1 x Tablespoon of Bouillon vegetable powder

·       2 x Chicken OXO cubes

·       1 x Beef OXO cube

·       1 bunch of spring onions

·       1 bunch of celery

·       2 x Cans of French beans

·       2 x Peppers

·       1 x Kilo of carrots

Add more water if you want it thinner.

If you lose more than 15 pounds in the week and wish to do the diet again, have two days break from the diet but still eating healthily and then start from day 1 again.

After being on this diet for several days if your bowel movements have changed then eat a cup of bran or fibre.

Alcohol, bread, soft drinks of any kind, oil and fried foods are not allowed on this diet.

The drinks you are allowed on this diet are:
Tea/Coffee (No sugar and skimmed milk)
Cranberry juice
Unsweetened fruit juice
Skimmed milk
Water

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On completion of the diet after a very long seven days I had lost 7.5 pounds, that's just over half a stone so I was very pleased with that. I didn't cheat on the diet but I didn't do any exercise at all over the week, so if I had done exercise of any kind I would have probably lost even more. But 7.5 pounds over a week is a lot of weight to lose.

The soup itself wasn't actually too bad! It has a sort of a beefy/tomatoey flavour to it which I really liked. The only problem was that after a couple of days of the same flavour soup it becomes very boring and much less appealing than it was on the first day.

All in all I probably would do it again some time but not straight away, I think it was a fantastic kick start to helping me start to lose weight (and boy do I need it!) For now I am just trying to eat healthier and do a little more exercise. Hopefully I will still manage to lose some weight even if it was at just at 1-2 pounds a week. If not I will have to make myself return to this diet to lose some more weight.

So if you are going to give this diet a go then I hope it has good results like it did for me, it's not a healthy diet to be on long term but for a kick start into losing weight I would definitely recommend it.

Good Luck!
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