Put your nail biting habit to sleep for good

For most unconscious habits such as nail biting, hypnosis is often the best, cheapest and environmentally friendly cure for nail biting. No drugs, no chemicals and usable by any member of the family providing they are receptive to hypnosis. Some people cannot be hypnotised but they are very few and far between. A single personal session might be all that is needed, but there are some very good programs available in various formats for home use. Worth a go!

Priceless personalised gift for teachers

Our end of year teachers' gifts cost nothing and mean more to them than any expensive chocolates or mugs! For each of my young kids' teachers, we print a sheet each year titled "Tell Me About (Teacher's Name)..." It has 8-10 questions on it, with space for the kids' answers to be written in, either by them or dictated to an adult. Questions can be anything. We include things like:

How old is Mr X? What is Mr D's favourite food? Something Miss B always says is.... What does Miss J like to do for fun? Ms P loves it when.... If I had $1000 I would buy Mr H a .... Miss V is a great teacher because.... Mr K gets cranky when... And finish with: A Special Message for Ms A...

Every year it is a massive hit. Teachers love it and when there are multiple teachers, they love to get together and compare answers!

Professional rug cleaning - at the carwash!

I save over $300 every time I clean my rugs with this ingenious tip! About 12 months ago I bought three large rugs at a garage sale. They were marked, but mainly from day to day use. I figured even if I had to pay for them to be cleaned, it would still work out much cheaper than buying them new. Was I in for a shock when I rung around to get prices! To get just ONE of my average room sized carpets cleaned it was going to cost me around $100. Apparently they are harder to clean than a regular carpet, hence the hefty price. I was very disappointed and felt like I had just wasted the $110 I had spent on my 'bargain' rugs. I thought surely there had to be a better way - and there was! I rolled up one of the rugs and went down to the local do-it-yourself car wash. I hosed the dirt off the ground and then laid the rug down. Using the pressure spray on the soap cycle, I sprayed the rug, then used the rinse cycle to clean it all off! It was so easy; the high pressure made very light work of all the marks and left no soap behind. Best of all, it cost me less then $10 - a saving of $270 for all three rugs! The rugs dried in a day in the sun and they came up like new. My friends have all started doing this too and one of them swears that her rugs come up better then they did when she was paying to have them done professionally. It gets rid of all smells and marks right down to the backing. I wash my rugs every couple of months as I have three dogs and two young kids and this has saved me a whopping $1620 to date!

Add light and warmth with 'magic' mirrors

We have saved hundreds of dollars on making our daughters' room cosier! We are living in a rental property which we really like. However, our daughters are in the front bedroom and although it has a window, the room itself it doesn't get a lot of sunshine. This makes the room rather gloomy and feels damp in winter. We have a small heater which we use to try and take the chill off the bedroom before they go to bed but using it makes us feel we're watching money disappear before our eyes!

The perfect alternative would be spend hundreds of dollars on installing a skylight but since we're only renting, this really isn't an option.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a couple of mirrors for $4 each to stick on the inside of a wardrobe. While I was preparing the area, I put the mirrors on the windowsill and to my astonishment, noticed how much brighter the room was when the sun hit the mirrors and bounced off the ceiling. It was as though I'd switched on a light!

By using those two mirrors and angling them slightly, I was able to bring sunshine and some warmth into the room. I have since purchased two more mirrors to make sure I take full advantage of the entire time that the sun hits the windowsill. The room is heaps brighter and feels more cheerful and warmer. It only cost $16 and it was all done with mirrors!