Chop Chop Chopping Board Rescue

Wooden chopping boards are considerably prettier than plastic ones, but can crack and become smelly over time. Follow my top three tips to chopping board rescue to prevent this from happening.

1. Water Tight: To prevent cracking caused by dry wood, avoid submerging your chopping board in water for a long period of time, including putting it in the dishwasher.
2. Treat It Right: Your board should also be oiled about once every six weeks. Use a butcher's block oil and some kitchen roll to buff your board, thus replenishing moisture. Alternatively, get thrifty and use vegetable oil. It'll achieve the same outcome, but for less money. Just be sure to wipe off any excess oil after a couple of hours.
3. Win The Scent Fight: Often wooden chopping boards can soak up unwanted food smells and flavours. A good way to avoid this is to have separate boards for meat and veg. If the problem persists, simply rub in a sprinkling of mustard powder using your finger tips and enjoy the more favourable fumes.

Merry Christmas

Just to wish all my Thrift-Queen readers a very Merry Christmas. Posts to look forward to over the next few days include 'My Thrifty New Year's Resolution' and 'What To Buy In The Sales'.

Mince Pie Madness

Thrift-Queen's Bargain Alert: Home Bargains are selling boxes of Mr Kipling's 6 Mince Pies for 25p! So you really can have your pie and eat it. Lots of it!

Have Yourself A Very Thrifty Christmas: Stockings

PANIC NOT! It's not too late for a few cheap stocking fillers to be purchased. I personally think no stocking is complete without a bag of chocolate coins and a satsuma. But for those of you who are looking for more adventurous, yet thrifty inspiration, there are some great websites who are still accepting guaranteed Christmas delivery.

 
Stocking-fillers.co.uk sell an amazing variety of cheap Christmas gifts and Christmas essentials. They have price brackets as low as £1 and under, perfect if you have kids, or even for the 'big kids' in your life! Their last order date is 4pm on Thursday 22nd December.

For those of you looking for more class, less tack, a couple of years ago, The Guardian compiled a list of the best Christmas gifts for less than £5. I would also recommend Find Me A Gift who have a very good 'Secret Santa' section. They also are accepting orders until 4pm on Thursday 22nd December.

Or why not get truely thrifty and make your own stockings? This step by step Guide is even suitable for sewing novices.

Winter Poundland Bargains

I happened to frequent Poundland this morning, looking for cheap chocolate and sweets, when I stumbled across two deals I just have to share with you.

Forget paying £10 upwards from your local sports shops, Poundland are selling sledges for £1. Also for £1 a pair (obviously) are their i-Touch Gloves. It would appear my mutters and moanings of having to take my gloves off to send a text/ surf the web via my touch screen phone have been heard and dealt with. A thrifty necessity this winter.

Pre Christmas Weekend Deals

With Christmas only a week away, we all need a bit of thrifty goodness in our lives, and thankfully there are some cracking (no pun intended) deals to be had. No need to break the bank, just read on for my weekend's favourite money saving potential Christmas gifts, as sourced from HUKD.

Stuck for a present idea for your bachelor brother of hard-to-buy-for husband? Head to Currys and pick up a Whoopie Pie Maker for a mere £7.99 reduced from £34.99. This 'idiot friendly' pie maker is perfect for pot pies, fruit pies, quiches and more. Simply combine ready made dough with fresh, frozen or canned ingredients, and cook. It's cheap and easy to use, an ideal gift.

Thrift-Queen Misprice Alert: News of another brilliant supermarket pricing mistake. Tesco's are selling Binatone B350 Sat Nav's for £6. They're usually priced at around £60 on Amazon, this is a misprice worth investing in. Some stores are also selling Logiteck Ultra Flat Keyboards for a bargain £1.25.

If you've managed to not spend all your money on Christmas gifts, why not make a thrifty investment in summer 2012 with this elegant Stone Falls Water Feature. It is currently being sold at B&Q for £20, reduced from £199.98. An absolute snip! Tight on space? They're also selling a smaller Bubbling Barrel Water Feature for £10, reduced from £99.98.

Know of any other amazingly thrifty deals? I'd love to hear about them. Just comment below, or on my Thrift-Queen Facebook Page.

Lemon Heaven

We all know lemons and pancakes go hand in hand, but since watching an episode of How Clean Is Your House recently, I was reminded of just how useful lemon's can be around the house. Lemons cost around 20p each so it makes perfect thrifting sense. They not only smell lovely and fresh, but are acidic and can provide some antibacterial and antiseptic properties for cleaning. Below are my five favourite Kim and Aggie lemony tips:

1. Limescale Removal: Lemons are the perfect ingredient when de-limescaling taps and kettles. Squeeze on a generous amount and leave on for about 10 minutes. Then wipe clean.
2. Bleaching: Stubborn stain? Lemon juice acts as a natural bleaching agent. Put lemon juice onto white linens and clothing and allow them to dry in the sun. Stains will be bleached away. For particularly stubborn stains dab lemon juice with salt onto the mark. Leave for a while, then rinse well and wash as normal
3. Polishing Windows: Make your own window cleaner. Fill a spray bottle with a litre of water, 2 cups of vinegar and 2 tbsp of lemon juice. Then shake and spray. 
4. Restore Wooden Floors: To make your floors really sparkle, use this purse friendly solution. Mix equal amounts of lemon juice and olive oil then rub the liquid in with a soft rag. Simple!
5. Microwave Cleaning: Put half a lemon in a bowl of cold water and cook in the microwave for five minutes. The fresh citrus smell gets rid of cooking odours and the condensation from the steam loosens dirt. Simply wipe clean with a damp cloth afterwards.

Asda Misprice

Thrift-Queen Misprice Alert: Asda 8m x 0.45m brown paper roll marked at £1.20, but scans at fabulously cheap 2p! Could make for some thrifty Christmas wrapping paper?

Have Yourself A Very Thrifty Christmas: Food

Saving money doesn't mean you have to become Scrooge, it is possible to serve fabulous food over the Christmas period without breaking the bank. Try following these few simple thrifty tips to save money at Christmas to help you on your way.

• Share The Load: If you have friends and family coming round for Christmas or Boxing day lunch, ask them to bring a dish with them. An extra trifle, piece of Stilton or bottle of wine will always come in handy over the Christmas period. Besides, people like to contribute.
• Make It Yourself: Don't be tempted to buy everything ready made, get creative on the run up to Christmas and make your own chutneys, cranberry sauce and stuffing and save yourself a fortune. Christmas desserts and cakes can also be baked by you. Not enough time? Delegate!
• Home Grown: If you've grown vegetables throughout the year, Christmas is an excellent time to serve them up. My parents always have masses of potatoes left from their haul earlier in the year to get roasting and mashing.

• Set a Budget: and stick to it.
• Write a Shopping List: Before you go shopping, write a list of everything you need for all of the festive period. No matter how appealing the fresh lobster looks, if it's not on the list, don't buy it.
• Use Your Leftovers: Get thrifty in the kitchen. A turkey (or any poultry) carcass left to boil in water, vegetables and herbs will make a wonderful stock which you can use as a base for turkey curry's and soups. Even leftover vegetables can be fried up for some bubble and squeak This Busy Cooks website is full of wonderful inexpensive ideas and recipes to serve up delicious meals, from leftovers, for friends and family.

Calling All Londoners - Free £5 IKEA Voucher

For those of you who live in and around London, and don't mind braving your local IKEA, I've stumbled across an excellent recession friendly deal. London based IKEA stores (Croydon, Lakeside, Tottenham and Wembley) are partaking in a thrifty voucher swap.

From now until December 18th 2011, you can take five second-hand books into your nearest IKEA, and receive a £5 IKEA voucher in return. One voucher per household, and the books will be donated to Save The Children charity shops.

Have Yourself a Very Thrifty Christmas: Cleaning

With Christmas fast approaching, it's a good time to get organised in the home before hordes of friends and relatives descend, keen to fill your home with festive cheer, gravy stains and a million tiny shreds of wrapping paper. Not exactly thrifty, but important none the less!

The 4Homes website has drawn up a comprehensive list full of pre Christmas mayhem-reducing advise. My favourite five are as follows:

1. Child proof your home by moving precious ornaments out of harm's way.
2. Prepare your guest room by tidying up any clutter that has accumulated over the past year. Leave out spare blankets and create some hanging or drawer space for guests' storage.
3. Dust your decorations. An easy method for this is to secure part of an old pair of tights over the nozzle of your vacuum cleaner. Works well on dusty garlands, tinsel and artificial trees.
4. Be organised with your washing-up and fill the dishwasher with all the stuff you will need when everyone gets hungry for their next feed. Including cutlery, plates, and glasses. Put straight on for a quick cycle. 
5. Recycle what you can. 4Homes suggest recycling wrapping paper, drink cans, glass and plastic bottles which is cheap and easy to do. Further to this, the Woodland Trust has a card recycling scheme available throughout January at Tesco's, WH Smith and Marks & Spencer. You should also find out from your local authority where you can recycle your tree. 

Android App 10p Sale

Android users, look no further. An amazing thrifty deal has been brought to my attention, available at the Android Apps Market. Yesterday, Google released a press statement announcing the Android Market had reached 10 billion downloads worldwide with an increasing monthly pace. They said:

"We want to celebrate and share this milestone with you, the people who made it possible. So what better way than by offering you more of the apps you love? We partnered with some of the top Android developers to make a bunch of great apps available at an amazing price. Starting today, and continuing for the next 10 days, we’ll have a new set of awesome apps available for only 10 cents each... Check in tomorrow to see what new apps our developer partners are making available on Android Market - for only a dime."

Alerted to this amazing offer this morning, by HotUKDeals, the growing list of 10p downloadable apps includes:

• Great Little War Game
• SketchBook Mobile
• Sound Hound 
• Asphalt 6 
• Fieldrunners HD 
• Swiftkey 
• Minecraft 
• Flick Golf 
• Beautiful widgets
• Doubletwist airplay 
• Reckless racing 
• Christmas HD 
• Fruit Ninja 
• Read it Later Pro 
• Star Chart

 Go on, take advantage and get it while it's hot!

Have Yourself A Very Thrifty Christmas: Decorations

Looking to save money this Christmas? Look no further thanks to the Thrift-Queen's thrifty Christmas tips, starting with decorating.

When decorating your house, it's important to remember less is more. It is easy to get caught up in the spirit of Christmas and end up having to live in a glitter-tastic, sparkling frenzied house. But equally, decorating doesn't have to be elaborate or expensive to look fabulous. Some people like to decorate the whole house - inside and out - whilst others decorate one room or only the tree. Whatever your preference, avoid the wrath of the recession and get thrifty. Below are my top three thrifty tips to achieve a beautiful, yet inexpensive, festive home.

• Be Natural: Add some free natural cheer to your home. Use ivy to wind round your banisters or drape over the mantelpiece. Pine cones make excellent Christmas tree decorations. For a more elegant look, they can be sprayed silver or gold. Or why not fill a bowl with them as a simple table centre piece. Tree branches arranged in a tall vase can look stunning as a decoration or as a Christmas tree alternative. Add colour and hang some pretty baubles on them.
• Get Kid Creative: If you have young children in your family, encourage them to help with decorating the house. Make paper-chains, use empty toilet rolls to make fairies and cut snowflakes out of paper. You could even let them loose with a can of fake snow to spray window. Disney's Family Craft website is an excellent source for cheap and easy Christmas decoration ideas. My favourite is Santa's list, with a twist; using a painted thread spool (see below.)

•  Make Existing Decor Seasonal: At Christmas I like to make other things in my house look festive. I decorate candles and mirrors with tartan ribbon, and add candy canes to fruit bowls or scatter them on my dressing table. Instead of a table runner, I alternate candles and either pine cones or nuts in a line. It makes the table look festive yet elegant. When I bake, I make Christmas shaped cookies and display them on a cake stand in the kitchen. The key aspect of this thrifty method of decorating is to use what you have and dress it up with either garland, ribbon, pretty beads or some other Christmassy items.