Tips For The Hosepipe Ban

With mains water being so precious during summer droughts, why not get creative and save water.

• Use ice cubes in hanging baskets and tubs, they will melt slowly and provide your plants with enough water.
• Utilise rain water and invest in a water butt to store water. They simply connect to the downpipes of your house/ garage/ shed and store water to be used at a later time in watering cans. They're also very handy for re-filling little one's water pistols!
• If you are used to using a sprinkler, switch instead to an automatic drip irrigation system. The pressure reducing valve minimises water waste, which, coupled with a timer for night use (to save water being evaporated) is an easy alternative to sprinklers. Plus, it is allowed in most areas.
• Left over fizzy drinks? Feed them to your plants. They'll love the sugar.
• Keep your borders looking fresh, mix water-gel in with your soil. It holds water close to the roots, reducing the need to water by up to 90%.

Our Thrifty House Purchases

Since moving 150 miles, myself and my better half have spent a large proportion of our time scouring flea markets, car boot sales and antique fairs looking for the perfect vintage (and cheap) accessories for our home. Here are some of our beautiful finds:

Left to right: a printing block tray £15, an old clarinet case £5, a 'Camp Coffee' box £15, an old trunk from WWII free, 2 bird seed bags £6, a painted fruit box £10 and a glimpse of our new kitchen table £90

Most of these items we already owned, but we bought the  pair of chairs (dating from the 1950's) from eBay for £52

We bought four apple crates for £20 each to use as kitchen shelves to display our favourite items of crockery. We lined them with vintage fabric, courtesy of my mother's fabric trunk!

The colander belonged to my late Gran. But with a broken handle, we up-cycled it to make this Ikea lamp a bit more 'us'

Possibly the best £17 we have spent so far. A beautiful set of vintage kitchen steps. With such high ceilings it is making reaching up for high up items a whole lot easier...

Apt Apple's

Before we moved from Derbyshire to Surrey, my son and I made a teacher's apple inspired thank you hankie present.

I bought some cheap plain men's handkerchief's and turned them into a lovely thrifty teacher's gift using a simple stamp technique. It would also work well with tablecloths, or tea towels.

• Slice an apple in half and blot away excess moisture with a paper towel. 
• Use a paint brush to apply red fabric paint to one apple half and firmly press onto fabric. 
• For the stem, we dipped the wooden end of a thin paintbrush in green paint and made a small dash above the print. 
• To finish, lay newspaper over the top of your hankie and iron to seal the fabric paint.

This thrifty project got me thinking about other crafts I could use apples for.

Making budget busting apple tea light holders couldn't be easier:

• Center a tea candle on top of an apple. 
• Trace around the candle with a utility knife, inserting the knife only as deep as the candle is tall. Cut the circle into sections and scoop out the pieces using a metal spoon. 
• Insert a tea candle and light. 

(NB: It is best to use firm apples like Red Delicious, Granny Smith or Fuji.)

But my personal favourite? Home made apple cider. Perfect for those long winter evenings or hot summer days.

The Ingredients
1 litre of apple juice (I have been known to use apple cider as a boozey replacement!)
60ml rum
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 cinnamon sticks
3 tsp brown sugar
1 apple (for garnish)

The Method
Heat the apple juice, rum, sugar and spices over a medium heat, stirring often. Once it's hot, pour into glasses of mugs and garnish with a sliced up apple.

I'm Baaaack!

After a house move, an epic re-decoration project and a month and a half with no internet access, the Thrift-Queen is back! Full of purse friendly tips galore, my 'Hand-made 2012' updates and plenty of pictures of the beautiful thrifty items we've been filling our lovely new house with.

As ever, check out my twitter @Queenthrift for daily updates on the best daily #hotdeals to be had or feel free to drop me an email at thrift-queen@hotmail.co.uk