Thrifty Weekend

June, for me, is the start of the pre Summer holiday saving. With this in mind, cheap activites are a must. But it's always good to vary days out.

London's Time Out is a fantastic site for ideas of free places to visit and sights to see. The Thrift-Queen's top picks for this weekend in the capital include:

Naked Bike Ride

• London's World Naked Bike Ride - a liberating nine mile cycle past major London landmarks taking place on Saturday 9th June and it's FREE to watch.
• Open Garden Squares - This weekend 200 private gardens are opened for the public to snoop around.With gardens such as Downing Street and HMP Wormwood Scrubs on the list, the £9 ticket price sounds like an absolute snip.
• London Green Fair - Regent's Park opens it's gates to the largest FREE eco fair with exhibitions, music, and fabulous family areas.
• Or why not attend one of the many FREE performances of the Spitalfields Summer Music Festival starting this Friday (8th June).

English Country Garden

My Top 12 Uses for Foil

We all have a roll of aluminium foil sitting in our cupboard, and yes it's good to store your sandwiches in, or wrap around a jacket potato in the oven. But there are many other fabulous uses for the stuff to help simplify everyday tasks. Get thrifty, save money and become a foil god/goddess!

Some of these tips I use ALL the time, and some are courtesy of the wonderful Reader's Digest.

In the Home

1. Clean pots and pans - Don't have a Brillo pad to hand? Scrunch up some foil and get scrubbing (works well on barbeque's and silverware too). Foil can also be useful for preserving the life of your Brillo pads. Prevent rust after initial use by wrapping it in foil and storing in the freezer. Go on, get your money's worth!
2.  Move furniture with ease - To slide big pieces of furniture over a smooth floor, place small pieces of aluminum foil under the legs. Put the dull side of the foil down, the dull side is actually more slippery than the shiny side. 
3. Speed up ironing - I hate ironing, it's such a boring chore. So anything to help speed it up is a winner with me. When ironing your clothes, a lot of the iron's heat is sucked up by the board itself, requiring you to make several passes to remove wrinkles. To speed things up, put a piece of aluminum foil under your ironing board cover. The foil will reflect the heat back through the clothing, smoothing wrinkles quicker. You can also use foil to clean your iron. Simply run your hot iron over a piece of aluminum foil. 
4. Sharpen your scissors - I use this method all the time to sharpen up my dull scissors. Fold a piece of foil about seven or eight times and cut a few times with the scissors. It works a treat. 
5. Keep a paintbrush wet - Going to continue painting tomorrow morning? Don't bother to clean the brush, just squeeze out the excess paint and wrap the brush tightly in aluminum foil (using a rubber band to secure). For extended wet-brush storage, think paintbrush ice-pop. Put your wrapped brush in the freezer. But don't forget to defrost the brush for an hour or so before you paint.

Out and About

1. Protect tree trunks - Mice, rabbits, and other animals often feed on the bark of young trees during winter. A cheap and effective deterrent is to wrap the tree trunks with a double layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil in late autumn. Be sure to remove the foil in spring. 
2. Put some bite in your compost - To keep hungry insects and slugs away from your cucumbers and other vegetables, mix strips of aluminum foil in with your garden compost. As a bonus benefit, the foil will reflect light back up onto your plants. Be eco-friendly and try using Lovechock's biodegradable foil.
3. Keeping your sleeping bag dry - When camping, place a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil under your sleeping bag to insulate against moisture. Stay warm without spending a fortune on gadgets and gizmo's
4. Keep matches dry - It’s a tried and tested soldier's trick worth remembering (I learnt it in Scouts): Wrap your kitchen matches in aluminum foil to keep them from getting damp or wet on camping trips. 

Do you know of any amazing uses for regular household items? Leave a comment, or email me at thrift-queen@hotmail.co.uk.

Make Your Own: Bath Oils

At this time of year there is nothing I love more than a relaxing hot bath. Unfortunately this means I tend to go through bubble bath by the bucket load. So why not get thrifty and make your own bath oils.

Wait until you have a nearly empty bottle of perfume (I usually have a few of these hanging around because I can't bear to throw away such beautiful bottles). Aftershave would work for a more masculine scent. Then prise open the lid, fill with baby oil, replace the lid and shake.

Next time you fancy a bath, add a few drops to the running water and relax. Stylish and eco-friendly, a Thrift-Queen favourite.

Freebies: Freecycle: A How To Guide

Following the success of a previous Thrift-Queen post on how to buy on eBay [Thrift-Queen's eBay Buying Tips and Tricks], I had had a request to write a How To guide for Freecycle, which, once you get to get grips with, will become a major asset to your every day life.

Freecycle.org is one of my favourite thriftful websites. It is an eco-friendly, convenient, and money saving site, that allows the user to keep their house junk free. Winner! Freecycle groups work by matching people who have items they want to get rid of with people who can use them. The only catch being you have to collect the item from the person offering it.

Getting started can be a trifle confusing, but follow my simple step by step guide and you'll be Freecycling in no time.

Joining

• Freecycle is a Yahoo Group, so you have to apply to have access to the group. To ease the application process, I'd recommend opening an email account and registering with Yahoo.
  
• Next, visit Yahoo's homepage and click on Groups, which will be listed down the left hand side.
  
• A search bar will open, allowing you to search for the Freecycle group you wish to join. Freecycle groups are divided according to area, the results will show you if there is a more than one choice for your area. There are no restrictions on the number of groups joined.
• Type in "Freecycle" followed by the area, i.e the town you live in, and then click on your chosen result.
• At this point you should click to join group and then a) amend contact info: choose which email address you would like messages to be sent. It doesn't have to be your Yahoo one; and b) select your choice of message delivery. I hate for my inbox to be filled with Freecycle messages so always opt for the web view only option.
• Your request may not get approved right away. Sometimes it has to go through the group mediator first.

Using

All items posted on Freecycle must be legal and free. You can give items away or OFFER, which must be followed up with a TAKEN post (when collected). You can also ask for a specific item by posting a WANTED message. This should be followed up with a RECEIVED post.

Once you are a member of the group you will then be able to see the message postings. You are usually required to offer an item before you can request one, but make sure to read all the rules and requirements.

Your Freecycle group homepage will give you the option of Messages or Post. Click Messages to view what is being offered and click Post to post a message. A specific subject line format is expected when posting messages and messages might be deleted if this is not adhered to. The format is ACTION: Item (Area). For example:

OFFER: Drum kit (Bournemouth)
TAKEN: Drum kit (Bournemouth)

and
   
WANTED: Ear plugs (Whitley Bay)
RECEIVED: Ear plugs (Whitley Bay)

 
The post, or message, should then outline what you have/want, a brief description of the item, where you live and collection time preferences (if any). If you see an offered item that you would like, make sure you respond as quickly as possible as some Freecycle members operate on a first come first served basis. When you post an offered item, it is up to you how much time you allow people to respond. I usually wait 24 hours to make it more fair. It is also up to you to choose who to give your item to, but bear this in mind when responding to another members' offer. A sentence of why you want the item can help your chances of being chosen.

If I have missed anything, or not explained myself clearly feel free to leave a comment on this post or send me an email to thrift-queen@hotmail.co.uk and I will try my best to help. Good luck and happy Freecycling!

Chipped crockery? No problem...

I love pretty mugs, teapots, cups and saucers, so it always saddens me when they get chipped or develop hairline cracks. But thanks to my thrifty solution, there is no need to throw them away. 

Reuse them and make your own pretty planters for your kitchen window, in just four easy steps. 

1. Place some gravel in the bottom of your cup/ teapot to allow for a bit of drainage if you happen to over water.
2. Add a small amount of potting soil or compost. If using a teapot remember to put some up the spout. A handle of a wooden spoon is a useful device to help push this down.
3. Loosen your chosen plant from its pot (my plant preference would be a beautiful smelling herb such as oregano), and plant in your new planter.
4. Add some more potting soil or compost around the top of the plant and compress. Remember to water and hey presto.