Recent Hints

End ant invasions pronto with Talon gel

I have found a truly fantastic product which gets rid of ants like no other pest treatment I've ever seen. Upon my recent invasion of ants, the faithful old borax and sugar mix was barely making a dent in their numbers. I couldn't use my own kitchen bench, guests were commenting and while I hate killing anything, it was driving the whole family crazy.  Thank goodness for Talon Ant killer gel! It works immediately (I saw ants leaving food and running to this gel), they swarmed it and as the product promises, they are gone in 48 hours. I can leave food out on the bench now and there are none to be seen. The gel works for 14 days, but at $8 for 5ml, it is totally worth it!

By: LLNOE 4 responses in the members' forum

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!

By: Natasha Z 1 response in the members' forum

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Hottest Hints

Eucalyptus oil for cleaning

I used to buy a large can of air freshener ($42 per year) plus a can of Glen 20 each month ($71.52 per year) for my home and bathroom. On top of that I would also buy a large spray bottle of Febreeze quarterly ($54 per year). That is a total of $167.52 just for freshening the house each year.

On top of that, there was the additional cost of $9.00 a week on floor washing cleaners and disinfectant ($468 per year). A grand total of $635.52 per year.

Now I buy two large bottles of eucalyptus oil ($22), plus I have bought two very sturdy two litre capacity spray bottles (at a once-off cost of $18).

One bottle is reserved for carpet, bathroom and fabric deoderising and freshening, which now has us enjoying the additional benefits of no fluorocarbons or chemicals being used in our home, and eucalyptus oil is twice as effective when it comes to fighting bacteria. I use two tablespoons of eucalyptus oil per two litres of boiled, spring or filtered water.

The second spray bottle is used as a floor sprayer. I now don't use a bucket and mop. I just sweep the floors, wet the mop, spray the floor as I go with the eucalyptus and, hey presto, clean, deoderised and disinfected floors in one easy go. I use four tablespoons of eucalyptus oil per two litres of boiled, spring or filtered water.

The total cost saving for an entire year has been $448, which is now being spent on music lessons for our children. The house always smells fresh, the floors are cleaner and we've had fewer colds than ever before.

By: Ailsa Cameron 29 responses in the members' forum

Cheap chocolate craving buster

Save on trips to the shops during a chocolate craving, with the most dangerous chocolate cake recipe in the world! It’s called Five Minute Chocolate Mug Cake.

Ingredients:
4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp oil
3 tbsp chocolate chips (optional)
Small splash of vanilla extract

Method:
Add dry ingredients to a large coffee mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips, if using them, and vanilla extract and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for three minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip onto a plate if desired. This can serve two if you want to feel slightly more virtuous.

And why is this the most dangerous chocolate cake recipe in the world? Because we are now only five minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

By: Merryl Christen 24 responses in the members' forum

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