Home, health, wealth and energy – follow our
smart ideas and make improvements and savings in the areas that matter most
1.
Keep track of your stuff
Never able to find things? The Homz Smart Storage
app is a free inventory program to help keep track of what you’ve put where.
2.
Freeze clean your tea lights
If your tea-light holders are covered in
melted wax, instead of chipping away at it, just put the holders in the freezer
for a few hours – the wax will shrink and pop right out.
3.
Pick up a portable plug
If you frequently need to pack a smartphone
charger, but fear the damage a plug can do to your bag or to the things inside
it, it might be worth investing in a Mu USB Smartphone adapter, which uses a
swivel mechanism to fold the pins away. Very compact, it folds to just 14mm –
70 per cent smaller than the traditional plug, and it’s compatible with all
USB-powered smartphones; $37.5, themu.co.uk.
4.
Ginger peeling
Next time you need to peel ginger, try
using a spoon. It removes the thick skin easily, even from the knotty bits. Use
with the concave side facing you and pull towards you.
Four uses for beautiful teacups
Teacups
If you’ve been left with mismatched or
one-off vintage teacups, don’t let them languish at the back of the cupboard –
get them out and use them as:
5.
Mini vases They look
lovely with sweet peas, wild flowers or lone roses.
6.
Pot pourri pots A
beautiful way to scent your bathroom or bedroom.
7.
Light holders The
perfect place to put tea lights and candles.
8.
Dessert dishes They
make ideal individual pots and refrigerated desserts, such as a decadent
chocolate mousse or lemon posset.
Four garden planning tips
Put
some pastel power into watering your garden
When she’s not cooking up a storm in the
kitchen, W&H’s food editor Jane Curran is a passionate (amateur) gardener.
Here are her tips for getting ahead in the garden.
9. Check your plants at this time of the
year, as many will have self-seeded. Check aquilegia, poppies, hellebores,
species geranium (Cranesbill) and euphorbia. Pot them up if you don’t need them
in the garden – handy for fundraisers and local charity sales.
10. Keep deadheading summer bedding plants
such as geraniums and petunias to ensure you prolong the flowering season. Also
deadhead those plants you don’t want to go to seed or save the seed heads in
sealed plastic boxes.
11. Pour yourself a drink put your feet up
and decide which spring-flowering bulbs you should order. This year, I’m planning
wild garlic, great for a shady spot and it’s delicious in salads and soups.
Peter Nyssen (petrenyssen.com) sells large quantities of all bulbs, including
wild garlic.
12. Just for the girls I fell in love with
these pastel watering cans from favorite garden shop, Burgon & Ball ($37.5,
burgonandball.com). High quality and a generous five-litre size to save time!
