An apple a day keeps green potatoes away!

I have solved the problem of green potatoes in our household! I was constantly throwing out potatoes as we never seemed to go through a whole bag of potatoes in time before they turned green. We are only a small family but I didn't want to buy smaller bags, as the larger bags were so much cheaper. Fortunately I discovered a way to extend the life of them and it's so easy! All you need to do is to keep them in an aerated spot in a gunny bag or bowl (basically out of plastic) with a whole apple . The gases from the apple stops the potatoes from going green, doubling the shelf life of the potatoes. Needless to say, make sure you also check the apple each time you use the potatoes to make sure it's not going bad!

You can heal your life - and your nails!

A book by Louise Hay helped me to put an end to 45 long years of nail biting! According to her book, 'You Can Heal Your Life', biting your nails may represent 'frustration, eating away at oneself, or spite of a parent.' It wasn't until I made the conscious connection to my unresolved feelings and nail biting that I stopped. What I found really helped me was downloading some free meditations from YouTube. These cost absolutely nothing to help relax and unwind. I also repeated some daily affirmations such as 'I enjoy having beautiful, long and strong nails'. I have also used homeopathic remedies such as Brauer's Nerve Tonic, which in my opinion is the best thing since sliced bread to calm a stressed nervous system!

Stylish storage for virtually nothing

I created a storage system in my home office that cost next to nothing!

I stacked four white planks, one on top of the other, supported in between by two house bricks at either end. The bricks are covered in bright red fabric to stop scratches and to blend in with the office décor. Instead of buying cane baskets from Spotlight at $22 each, my 20 filing baskets are black mushroom boxes, free from the supermarket. These boxes are strong and sturdy and the perfect size for A4 papers; they even have handle slots, so the boxes can be pulled out easily. I stuck large labels on the front of each box indicating what is inside, and my invoices, accounts, bank statements and so on are now readily at hand.

My storage system is a great time saver, the red/white/black colour scheme looks great and it cost nothing except for the MDF planks which Bunnings cut to size to fit my space. I saved over $400 on the baskets alone!

Pleased with how well this worked, I did a similar thing in my craft room, to store and organize all my sewing, patchwork fabrics - immediately visible when the box is pulled out – knitting wools, card making paper and supplies. I covered the boxes in pretty pink wallpaper off cuts bought for a few dollars from a garage sale. Same story in the kids' playroom, where their storage shelves acts as a room divider. The kids have painted crazy designs on the boxes, which hold colouring pens and pencils, card, paper, scissors and toys. The kids are allowed to pull out only one box out at a time, so the toys are always cleaned up and put away before the next one can be pulled out.

Simple, cheap as chips and such a stylish way to stay organized!

Make your own liquid handwash soap

I can make four litres of handwashing gel soap for under $1.00! To make your own liquid gel soap, grate a bar of Sunlight or generic laundry soap into a two litre ice cream container. Pour boiling water to half fill the container and mix to dissolve the soap. Carefully fill to the top with boiling water and mix well. Pour half the mixture into another two litre container and top up both with boiling water again. The gel is very thick once it sets, but a good consistency for its purpose. Store in the two litre containers and refill pump bottles as needed. One pump is all it needs to clean your hands and can even wash dirty dishes if you squirt into the sink!