WHAT'S IN SEASON IN DECEMBER?

Buying local and seasonal is not only good for the planet – it can be good for the pocket.

I’ve been to my local farm shop this week – the local coxes apples are scrummy. Not only are they cheaper than the supermarket, but they vary in sizes, so not all those uniformly giant ones that the supermarkets like to regiment into their displays.

British pears are around too

December’s veg include:

beetroot, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, celery, kale, leeks, parsnips, potatoes, swedes and turnips

Happy eating

WEC

Free storage

Here's a tip to make free storage containers from a commonplace item that would otherwise go into the household rubbish - milk cartons.

I often use milk cartons to hold bulk DIY items such as screws, nails, plumbing joints/fittings and so on. I've got a pair of scissors with pointed ends to stab the carton with to start the cut. A carefully-used craft knife would do just as well. The cap and the top go separately into the recycling and I'm left with a useful container, complete with built-in handle!

I hope this is useful to others.

Oil-filling a Fiesta

This is easier and quicker than it looks!

It should really be done with the car on a flat surface so that when 
measuring the oil that's in it using the dipstick it gives a true 
reading. But even on a slope it's worth doing as any measurement is 
better than none.

Lift the bonnet:

Inside the car, on the left-hand (passenger) side at about "shin-level" 
there is a bonnet-release lever in the form of a black "flap". Pull that 
outwards and you should see the bonnet pop up a couple of inches. At the 
front of the car a little tag will have appeared between the grille and 
the front of the bonnet. This has an outwards arrow on it. Pull it. 
The bonnet should now be free to be raised fully. There is a prop about 
a foot long on the driver's side and this should be used in the holes 
provided to hold the bonnet up.

Check the oil:

There is a yellow loop just behind the radiator and just in front of the 
engine components. This is the dipstick. Pull this upwards and out. Wipe 
it, put it back in and then pull out again. You should see the oil level 
near the bottom of the dipstick and the correct level lies between the 
two notches that are about an inch from the bottom of the dipstick. If 
the oil level is below the bottom notch, or not visible at all, then oil 
must be added.

Topping-up the oil:

Just left of centre of the whole engine area is the 
oil-filler cap - it may have an illustration to this effect on 
it. Lift this and there's a hole about 3cm across. Using a suitable oil 
(e.g. 15W-40, synthetic or semi-synthetic), pour in about half a litre. 
Then leave it for 5 to 10 minutes for the oil to trickle down into the 
sump, especially in cold weather. Re-check the oil level (including the 
wipe stage) and if the oil level is still low then add a further half 
litre. Repeat all of this until the oil level is between the notches. 
It's not worth hurrying this as there is a risk of over-filling and that 
will waste oil, clog up the innards of the engine and produce smokey 
exhaust.

It is worth checking the oil level every week and always before a long 
journey.

A message from Lynda Bellingham

Lynda Bellingham is a very successful actress, best known for her appearances as Helen Herriot in BBC TV's All Creatures Great And Small. She is also the Ambassador for the Turn2us organisation. She is obviously a deeply caring person and has had the following message printed in our local newspaper – a message we are pleased to repeat here:

In these increasingly difficult times, it is more important than ever to ensure that everyone, especially those who need help the most, are aware of their potential entitlement to welfare benefits. I would urge all carers and others to access the benefits checker at www.turn2us.org.uk and discover what they might be entitled to, how much and where to claim. Spread the message and let's get those who most need financial support claiming what they may be entitled to.

Lynda Bellingham

Ambassador
Turn2us

CHEAT’S COLE SLAW

I love cole slaw, but the supermarket pots are rather sloppy, not to mention stingy on the % of fruit/veg - too much dressing/not enough substance.

So I like to enhance it

All you need is 2-4 carrots, 1-2 apples, 1 large plate, 1 grater and 1 pot of supermarket cole slaw.

·         Peel carrots and wash apple (no need to peel apple)

·         Grate both on to large plate and mix together

·         Spoon bought cole slaw onto plate and combine, making sure your grated carrot and apple mixture is thoroughly coated in the dressing

You now have at least double the original quantity, which looks and tastes better than the original. And the additional ingredients make it healthier and a good contribution to your 5-a-day.

So you’ve upgraded it and increased the number of servings - at a cheaper cost than buying two pots.

And the real bonus is you don’t have to make the dressing. Once I've done this I like to cram as much as I can back into the pot, pop it in the fridge, and then eat/share the rest for lunch

Yummy

WEC

Repairing a dishwasher

Surely modern white goods are "throw-away" items? Well they don't have to be. Please read on...

Our dishwasher was bought at least 15 years ago. It's a Hotpoint Aquarius and proudly proclaims: Made in Great Britain. Some of us had bought into the "buy local" message even back then. Up until this year it had only gone wrong once which was when a plastic label got wrapped around the heating element causing it to overheat and burn out. An easy task for the local repair-man to do.

In recent months the machine seemed to be taking longer and longer for each wash and eventually would stall at various points around its programme. We looked into a replacement but even second-hand machines were out of our price range so I thought I ought to give good old reliable Hotpoint another chance.

I made sure the power was UNPLUGGED, unscrewed the left-side panel and found the nylon tank structure (see picture) inside was grubby with limescale and that the level-sensor was stiff to operate.

We used various techniques for cleaning the structure including an old toothbrush, cotton-buds, white vinegar (an excellent cleaning agent) and good old elbow-grease. Upon re-assembly the level-sensor moved nice and freely and there were no more areas with stains and limescale in. By the way, this is a particularly hard-water area. I then reassembled - the machine has now done dozens of successful washes with no leaks and lovely sparkling dishes, knives and forks.

This is obviously not a job for the absolute novice but by taking care and treating safety issues with respect it should be possible for the average DIYer to accomplish. A fuller description of this job is given here.

Car driving tips

Do you start up the car and then put your seat-belt on? I do it the other way round since reading this tip a few years ago. It's only a few seconds difference but these things add up. So the way to go is to clip yourself in and then start the car and drive away. Leaving it to idle for a while doesn't help.

Did you know that a car is most efficient when it's hot? That is, it uses least fuel when it is up to normal running temperature. This understanding can lead to a bit of fuel (i.e. money!) saving if we build it into our driving routine.

The routine is: do any manoeuvering such as reversing into a parking space at the end of the trip when the engine is hot, not at the beginning of a journey when the engine is cold. Personally, I find this easier for parking in the drive, too. When I'm in the road I can see when it's clear to reverse into the drive and can then drive out forwards. If I did it the other way round I'd be trying to reverse into a possible stream of traffic with the whole of the car behind me obstructing my view. Just my view...

AUTUMN GARDEN TIPS

I'm a fair-weather gardener, but with prices of fruit/veg/flowers soaring, this year I've taken a bigger interest in my garden. I've sown a few seeds, grown some veg, swapped produce and sweet peas with neighbours and family. A little bit of research came up with these 2 tips for the autumn

·         If you have an open compost bin it is time to cover it over the winter period, to keep the heat in and rain out. Also, any worms stay warm so that they can continue to turn your kitchen waste into fertile compost when temperatures drop. Mine has a lid and when I lift the lid I have to be careful because lots of lovely worms drop off. Apart from vegetable peelings I add grass cuttings (I mowed at the weekend, hopefully the last time this year!), torn newspaper, & old bank statements/any letters etc with my full details that I’ve put through my paper shredder.

·         What to do with falling leaves? If you don’t have too many they make good winter cover for bare soil (though you will have to remove them in spring before you start planting) But, it is easy to make your own leaf-mould, which is a good mulch and soil/lawn conditioner, which you can also add to potting compost. Rake up all your fallen leaves and put them into a black plastic bin liner. Sprinkle with a watering can if leaves are dry, tie loosely, and punch some holes in the sack with your garden fork. Forget about it for at least 1 year to let the leaves rot down to make leaf-mould. Not only is it FREE, but it saves the planet by replacing peat, and no need for a bonfire.  NB You can’t use evergreen leaves such as holly & laurel

That's a couple of tasks I think I can manage

Happy gardening

WEC

SAVE MONEY BUT KEEP WARM

Apparently the annual fuel bill for the average family is £1300

Ouch! That’s a lot of money. So, dreary as it may sound, it really is important to reduce the amount of fuel you use.

It’s good to know where you can get free advice (as well as here!). I’ve looked at the Which website and you don’t have to subscribe to access it for some basic info on how to save money on heating bills. Go to www.which.co.uk/money and click on bills and budgeting – guides - ways-to-save-on-heating. They have tips regarding heating costs which include:

1.    If you walk around indoors in a T-shirt in winter, you are burning cash. If you reduce room temperatures by just 1°C you could cut your heating bills by almost 10%. And you get to use those sweaters lurking in your wardrobe so you can save your T-shirts for summer

2.    Turn down radiators to the lowest setting, without turning off completely, in rooms you rarely use.  But remember to turn it back up when your favourite aunt / best friend comes to stay! You can also fit reflective foil behind radiators on external walls to help reduce the rate of heat loss

3.    If you draught proof your property it will stop costly heat from escaping. Fill gaps around window and door frames. You can use draught excluder strips or expanding foam fillers. Loft hatches should also be insulated, as should the edges of the loft opening.

4.    If you can use energy saving light bulbs this will add to your savings over time

5.    Did you know that up to a third of your heat vanishes through the roof? No wonder those pigeons march up and down my roof! Installing 270mm of insulation could cost as little as £250, and could cut your fuel bills by up to £100 a year as a result, so you are saving money by the 3^rd year.

6.    If you’ve got extractor fans in bathrooms and kitchens don’t leave them running as they just carry on burning your energy – mine is so noisy I’m glad to turn it off!

7.    Go to www.energysavingtrust.org.uk and get a free online home energy check

8.    If you have an old-fashioned hot water tank, which is either un-insulated or poorly insulated, you can reduce heat loss by 70 per cent, and save money, by treating it to a British Standard cylinder jacket (75mm thick). Jackets cost as little as £5

You’ve probably seen most of these before, but we all forget, so hope you don’t mind being reminded. Having written this I’ve just turned down the radiator in my spare bedroom (must make a note in my diary to turn it up when my next visitor comes for a weekend)

WEC

FUEL for FREE

Last winter I didn’t get round to using the wood burner in the cottage I’d just moved into, but the price of oil has gone up so much that this year I’ve had the chimney swept (used a voucher in the local paper) and I’m ready to burn. So far I’ve been lucky on two counts: 1) It’s still relatively mild, so only used it once, 2) I’ve been given some wood, nicely dried over a year and already cut to size by my lovely brother-in-law.

But I’ve now found a new free fuel – PINE CONES. There are several large fir trees near a car park I use regularly, and after seeing loads of cones lying on the ground I returned with a carrier bag. There were also a couple of small dead branches, so they went into the boot. The cones burn really well, don’t last very long, but they make a great addition. It’s worth giving it a whirl if you’ve got an open grate or a wood burner. You could get the added bonus of pine scent wafting through your living room.

If you’ve got full central heating you might think you don’t need to know this, but if you like walks in the country or the park, gathering cones can be a fun part of the walk (the kids will love to join in). And they make an unusual gift for somebody you know who does have an open fire. You could even pop them in a bag and tie a ribbon round it!

Sometimes it’s fun being frugal.

WEC

Take a "spare" memory card to the photo-booth

This is a time-saving tip that I hit on when I wanted to put together a photo album for a friend following a holiday we'd shared in Turkey. Like most people, I'd taken hundreds of digital photos and off-loaded them onto the computer. I had in mind that a memories album of about 12 or 20 shots would be about the right size.

By the time I'd come up with this idea I'd put the memory card back in the camera and was steadily filling it again with the usual family stuff.

I remembered that the camera had arrived with quite a small capacity memory card in it that was just sitting in the drawer after being upgraded with the large capacity card I'd taken to Turkey. So this had the makings of a plan.

I put the "small" card in the card reader slot of the PC and brought up on-screen the thumbnail icons in the "Turkey" folder. I could then easily scroll through all the likely shots and drag the best 20 onto the small memory card. Any photos that had any doubt over sharpness etc I could bring up on-screen to check before dragging onto the memory card. By the end of this exercise I'd got the best 20 shots on the memory card which I then took down to the DIY photo booth in Morrison's. I selected the print size and simply clicked "select all" and hit print. All my decision-making was done with the convenience of a large-screen display and the time in Morrison's was kept to an absolute minimum. Good result!

Hope you find this useful.

Wheel Trims

Here's an interesting little tale and I think it has a fairly surprising outcome.

About 3 weeks ago I'd run an errand, leaving the car outside the house for a couple of hours. When I'd finished the task I drove back home and left the car in the street instead of in the drive – I'd normally park in the drive which I feel is a little “safer” as it's easier to see from indoors.

After a bite of lunch I went back out to the car and found that someone has pinched all 4 wheel trims. The car looked terrible. So drab, dull and a bit industrial looking! I decided that doing without wasn't an option.

Looking on eBay for Universal 15” wheel trims I found several sets costing in the teens of pounds. Just for comparison, I checked at the main agent's spares department and found the official branded product would cost about £15 each. Ouch.

Having selected one of the designs on eBay (to look most like the original) I was a little unsure whether the 5 fake nuts shown made any difference as my wheels, like most, have 4 nuts. So I sent a message via eBay to the dealer asking for clarification on that point. Several days later – no reply. A quick follow-up but still no reply.

Luckily, and whilst looking for something completely different, I was in Lidl and noticed rather attractive wheel trim sets for an excellent £9.99 which was way cheaper than any others I seen. Quickly checking that I did indeed need 15” wheel trims I made my purchase and fitted them easily as soon as I got home. The question about 5 fake nuts for a 4 real nuts car turned out to be a complete irrelevance. The wheel trim is held in place by a springy ring near the circumference. It has 3 positioning options to make sure it's nice and tight on the wheel just inside from where the tyre is. The instructions are nice and clear. I also put a couple of nylon cable ties on each wheel trim to make sure they stayed on (whilst in motion and against ne'er-do-wells!).

A recommendation there for Lidl – who'd have thought?

FREE water saving gizmos

Did you know your water company probably supplies free tips and products to help reduce your water and energy bills? I didn’t, but I randomly selected three – www.anglianwater.co.uk, www.yorkshirewater.com, www.stwater.co.uk and they all offer a variety of items including a friendly hippo or frog to put in your cistern (not needed if you’ve got a modern dual flush cistern)

Gizmos offered for FREE include:

·         Flushsaver. The item, a filled plastic bag, or even a fun hippo or frog depending on where you live, is placed in your cistern to reduce the amount of water that flushes away (not needed if you’ve got a modern dual flush cistern). 1/3 of all water used in the home is flushed down the toilet.

·         Shower saver/flow regulator. This restricts the amount of water you use in the shower (not suitable for electric showers)

·         Tap inserts. Like the shower savers these save water and energy by reducing flow rate

Severn Water also offer free fat traps! To bag and bin fats, oils, greases that shouldn’t be put down sinks, drains

Tips which are worth being reminded of include:

·         Fix leaking taps

·         Turn off tap while brushing your teeth (can use 6-9 litres/minute)

·         Save energy, water & detergent by waiting until you have a full load before you run your washing machine or dishwasher

·         Keep a jug of water in the fridge so that you don’t have to run the tap each time you want a cold drink

So, check your water company and see what they have to offer. You might get a free frog!

Time to get started

It seems there is now a bail-out fund for the eurozone, and countries are being told not to borrow more than they can pay back. Fancy that! I'm not an economist, but I do know that there isn't a bail-out fund for you and me, so time to start saving.
Sorry to mention the C-word, but Christmas is only 2 months away, and that means buying presents. Though we at seekandsave will be recommending items you can make easily and cheaply, or buy at boot sales etc, you will undoubtedly want to buy some new items.
If you haven’t already discovered it, why not try ACHICA? It’s a members-only online boutique. I saw an ad on ch4 last night, but 1st saw it in last saturday's  Guardian. It’s free to join and you can buy leading brands such as Christy, Joseph Joseph, Tommy Hilfiger, Anglepoise Lighting, Janod wooden toys, up to 70% off RRP, during the 2-3 day ‘shopping events’. Visit www.ACHICA.com/guardian and enter ‘CHIP1’ to save £10 if you spend £50 or more before 1/12/11 (terms and conditions on the website). You’ll get daily emails notifying you of the new sales events, but you need only click on the ones that interest you. Obviously you can unsubscribe if you decide you’ve had enough. Worth a try. Happy shopping

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

They seek it here,
they seek it there,
those people seek it everywhere.
Is it in the sky or down in a cave?
That darned elusive way to save.
We hope Baroness Orczy wouldn’t mind us revising/recycling her famous lines from The Scarlet Pimpernel. At Seek And Save we like to recycle, but we also like to SAVE, and hope you do too. Much better than waste.
Whatever you want to save – MONEY – TIME – THE PLANET - we hope to gather some top tips which will just be a click away. Whether you’re on your own or part of a big family; student or pensioner; single parent or couple with house full of children; newly redundant or long-term unemployed; eco sceptic or eco warrior; over-worked or underpaid.
At the moment MONEY is a saving priority, so we’ll try and focus on that, but sometimes saving money can also save time and/or the planet.
The tips you’ll find on our website www.seekandsave.co.uk are suggestions that have worked for us, or been recommended to us, or we’ve read about them. We can’t guarantee they’ll work for you, but it might be fun trying some of them.
Happy saving

My brand new blog!

Hi everyone and welcome to my brand new blog. Enjoy your visits and find lots of tips and articles on how to save money, save time and save the planet. Also see www.seekandsave.co.uk for more in-depth coverage of these areas. Lots of love from me!