Having a gas fire on low all the time is false economy, it is cheaper to have the central heating on low all day, you will use a lot less gas, and be warming all the house instead of just one room.
Baby oil is best for shining and cleaning stainless steel much cheaper than the stuff you buy for the job.
White vinegar for loads of jobs including descaling the kettle.
Tomato ketchup if your dog rolls in fox poo.
Half and half water down fabric conditioner. That makes a nice smelling hair conditioner too takes all the static out.
Coconut oil in solid form from boots £2.29 makes a lovely nourishing hair masque and hand cream, heal rub etc. A tub last ages !
Why not stop using fabric conditioner altogether? I stopped using it a year ago, and do not miss it at all. Nobody else has noticed (that’s husband and children). And the washing machine doesn’t get that gloopy black slime in the rubber door seal any more.
Because with the hard water here we would have cardboard clothes in no time, we have tried on and off over the eyars to stop using it and neither of us like sandpaper towels or stiff knickers and socks LOL
We have the same problem Julie - when I came back home after a holiday, my son’s girlfriend (at that time) had done all the washing but didn’t use softener. When I picked up a towel to take to the shower, I chuckled and said it would be like drying myself with a Weetabix - she didn’t find that funny at all 
Must say when we holidayed in yorkshire we didn’t need it, I think the water there is very soft compared with here :!:
Julie darlin’ - you shouldn’t use fabric conditioner on Egyptian cotton towels - the conditioner clogs the fibres and makes them hard and scratchy. Yes fabric conditioner on all other washing fine - just not your towels.
1/2 bucket hot water, 1/2 cup cheap vinegar I’ve actually used washing soda instead of baking about 1/4 cup, and 1 cap bleach. This also works on laminate floors cos I’ve been using it for last 5/6 yrs not harmed it at all. Put in empty spray bottle with a little extra bleach for all round paintwork, worktops, tiles.etc. I use washing soda for a host of things inc. dishwasher and white laundry it cost about 70p per pack, also drain cleaner.
Anyone with old proper wood furniture use solid polish sparingly and only apply every 6wks in between just dust. Never use polish in French Polished wood just damp sponge. Brasso will remove white heat marks off polished wood too.
Yeah like we have egyptian cotton LOL, no bog standard old towels and a couple of microfibre wraps for my hair.
it also coats them making them waterproof, sort of, M & S used to say on label no fabric conditioner.
Excellent Hazel - many thanks. Duly copied and pasted 
Julie darlin’ - I have two sets of Egyptian cotton towels - didn’t pay an arm and a leg for them - bought them off the shopping channel on television. They’re lovely and soft and fluffy BECAUSE I haven’t used conditioner in the wash when they’ve been placed in the washing machine.
Bet especially as they came from a shopping channel they are far more expensive than anything we would buy, we got a bargain from ebay 6 for £3, they are just as good today as 5 years ago when we bought them.
Got another set from a car boot sale, they have lasted even longer and were 10p each towel.
I always put about half a cap of softener in with my towels (then tumble dry them cos I like them fluffy) and they’ve always dried me off fine - I have been to people’s houses where too much softener has been used and, as has been said, they just don’t absorb the water; but mine do!
Ah! I had forgotten how hard water in the UK is, I thought there was something wrong with the soap at first because it wouldn’t lather. Makes the water taste funny too (fortunately not a problem for me I don’t drink plain water).
Isn’t hard water supposed to be better for you than soft where drinking it is concerned?
Tea doesn’t brew well and we get a scum on top, so no I think soft is nicer.
No Willow darlin’ - hard water is full of chalk - apart from ‘furring up’ kettles, it also furs up ones arteries too.
When you get your log burner , go out collecting wood from beaches and woodlands during the summer so they are dried by time you need them…
Go to skip renters and ask for them to give you all the wood they collect from the skips mine gives it to me for free but charges 20 pounds to deliver , it comes in all shapes and sizes and will have nails in it but its worth making the effort for free wood. plus your recycling and he dosnt have to pay to dump it so your helping him too. We have had whole gates and other usful things for the veg garden.
When cleaning the glass of the wood burner dont buy chemicals , dap a wet cloth into the nights before ash from the pan and rub the brown marks away with it… cleans like magic…
That certainly isn’t a fact about furring up the arteries! I have just been looking up the subject on Wikipedia and apparently as I thought hard water can be positively good for you. This is especially true in areas of the world where the minerals, which are contained in hard water, are lacking.