Sock it to draughts with cheap 'door snakes'

With every winter, it's important to make our heating systems as efficient as possible. Draughts under doors (both to outside and to rooms not currently being used) let heat escape, driving heating costs up. Door snakes are often advertised at around $10 each. This means for a whole house you may be looking close to $100. Instead, you can use a pair of men's long, knee-high socks! These can be filled with rice (or sand if you have easy access to it). Either tie a knot or see the top to seal. You can purchase ind the socks at cheap shops or ok shops, use the cheapest rice you can buy and you can make a house-full for less than the price of one commercially produced door snake.

Treating nails in a positive way keeps biting at bay

I have found the trick to keeping nail biting and picking at bay is to 'fiddle' with them in a positive way. I am 67 and have bitten my nails since I was about three years old. My parents tried bribes, threats, nasty brown stuff painted on my nails - all sorts. I grew my nails when I got married, when my daughter got married - and indeed have grown them since for various special occasions - so determination can help! I now have nails on my fingers, but still bite/pick at my thumbs. My dad said my fingers would become misshapen, and he was right. What helps me is to 'fiddle' with my nails in a positive way - emery boards, manicure tools, nail polish, the nail treatments to stop biting - the taste does stop automatic, thoughtless nibbling. I am not a chewing gum lover, but that can also help. I crochet too, which keeps my hands too busy to nibble at!

Deluxe hampers for Christmas

Buying Christmas presents for adult friends and family can be both expensive and stressful, especially when trying to match the perfect present to the person.

So one year I decided to make up small deluxe hampers which contained a mini bottle of sparkling wine, two plastic champagne glasses, chocolates, mixed nuts and home-made shortbread. I purchased the gold wire baskets from the Reject Shop for $2.00 each and the glasses (also from the Reject Shop) were $2.00 each. The mini sparkling wines were purchased from Dan Murphy's and worked out at around $3.50 each when purchased in lots of six. The chocolates were a good quality brand, and individually wrapped, so I bought a large tray and then divided them up (which was cost effective as I only needed around three in each basket). I then purchased a large bag of mixed nuts, which I repackaged into small Cellophane sachets, and I made the shortbread, which worked out to only a few cents each.

The overall cost of each hamper was around $10, including the cost of gold tissue paper (also purchased from the Reject Shop) to line the baskets and ribbon for decorating. I suggest sticking to one colour theme for each hamper, for example, gold covered chocolates, ribbon and baskets or silver baskets and accessories.

It's a good idea to look in places like the Reject Shop or $2 shops as soon as you see Christmas decorations appearing on the shelves. That way you get the best selection and can start putting them together early (except for the shortbread or any home-made foods you choose to include in the hampers). This way you'll have plenty of time closer to Christmas to concentrate on the children's presents!

I saved heaps of money, made something original and had heaps of fun doing it!

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!