Ever thought of cleaning your toilet with nothing but baking soda and vinegar? Making fly spray out of black tea? Or painting your nails with henna? Writer, broadcaster, wife, mum and grandma Wendyl Nissen knows just how difficult it is to juggle family and career, while saving the planet and living within your means. After lots of research and trial and error, Wendyl has compiled this user-friendly guide to saving time and money without losing your sense of style - or your sense of humour. Domestic Goddess on a Budget includes: tried and true recipes for environmentally friendly cleaning products tips on how to de-clutter, reduce waste and save money on your food bill recipes for money-saving natural beauty products how to slow down, stop being perfect and find the right work/life balance for you Is there a domestic goddess lurking in you?

The book includes hints on how to clean a dirty clothes-line, remove paint from window panes and get rid of a whole host of stains, from rust and indelible ink to blood and mildew. This delightful little volume also reveals how to rid yourself of those annoying household pests, including ants, beetles and flies, remove odours from your hands and use natural products to clean floors, windows and cooking utensils. Fowler also shows the twentieth-century housewife how to perform miracles in the kitchen, from making pastry extra flaky to the quickest way to peel carrots and how to remove burns from a cake.

Grandma's Ways represents a large repository of knowledge that we have mostly forgotten. With a little modification for these busy modern times. Techniques for preserving food, keeping hens and bees, growing vegetables and fruit, making your own cosmetics and a host of other things will bring us not only closer to the products we enjoy, but closer to benefiting from the work we do for ourselves. There's nothing more satisfying than cooking wholesome food from scratch at home, baking your own bread, growing your own vegetables, foraging in the wild and even making your own household cleaning products. Not only will you live a more sustainable life in terms of the environment, you'll save money too. Contents: Introduction; Make Better And Mend; Making Your Own Beauty Treatments; Making Your Own Household Cleaners; Making Your Own Soap; Growing Your Own Herbs; Growing You Own Veg; Growing Your Own Fruit; Keeping Hens; Keeping Bees; Keeping Ducks; Foraging From The Wild; Baking Your Own Bread; Making Your Own Butter; Making Your Own Cheese; Making Your Own Sausages And Bacon; Making Your Own Stock; Making Your Own Pastry And Pies; Hearty Meals From Grandma's Kitchen; Preparing The Christmas Feast; Making Cakes And Puddings; Preserving Fruit And Veg; Making Toffee, Treats And Sweets; Making Squashes, Cordials And Teas; Making Your Own Beer And Wine; Index.

More than 100 "recipes" for the garden, kitchen and general home management are presented here, to demonstrate the joys and benefits of traditional country knowledge. The subjects range from companion planting and natural household cleaners to natural beauty and herbal remedies, and from recipes for the country harvest to love potions and celebratory customs. Reflecting a female culture, the book represents a heritage based on an understanding of nature treasured by country people all over the world. It is a homage to those people who know the usefulness of plants and can harness the rhythms of the seasons almost instinctively, and it champions those who know how to enjoy life without relying totally on technology and chemicals.

Hot off the pages of "Chat" magazine, thousands of handy household hints and tips. They're easy, they're clever and most importantly, they work! Don't you just love it when you discover a simple solution to what is normally a tricky or time consuming task? This fantastic book is crammed with a selection of invaluable ideas which do just that. Every one is thought up by real and ordinary people who are just trying to make their life that little bit easier. Whatever problem is nagging at you, this book probably holds an easier, faster, cheaper or more effective alternative! Don't risk biting into a toast soldier dipped in a gone off egg! Before you cook your eggs, try out this foolproof test. Place them in a pan of cool, salted water. If they sink, they're fresh. If they float, they're off. Struggling to get your kids to eat their veg? Try making magic food! Serve up blue carrots, red peas, and purple potatoes. A few drops of food colouring will ensure empty plates every time! To remove stubborn dried on stains from tricky dishes such as Bolognese, rub a squirt of anti-dandruff shampoo into your clothes before you wash them. So have a browse through these handy hints - you never know you may even come up with some of your own along the way!

Get ready to get organized: Your more-organized life starts today

Are you ready to take control of the clutter in your life? It's easier than you think. Professional organizer Marilyn Bohn guides you through the entire organizing process using her Lights On Organizing System, a simple but highly effective three-step process. You'll learn how to use the Searchlight, Spotlight and Green Light to transform your surroundings and create an organized home that you love to live in. You get in-depth advice on organizing every area in your home including:

• The Kitchen
• Bedrooms
• Closets and Storage Room
• Home Office & Paperwork
• Craft Room
• Laundry Room
• Bathrooms
• Memorabilia & Inherited Items

Plus, there's a special chapter on downsizing to help you organize for a move to a smaller living area, such as moving from a house to a condo. The best part is, you can tailor all of the advice to meet your specific needs. As Marilyn says, "There's no right or wrong way to be organized. What counts is that it works for you." Don't let clutter keep you from enjoying your life and your home any longer. Conquer it once and for all with "Go Organize"

Japan has a way of thinking that is just . . . different. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Tokyo-born journalist Lisa Katayama's collection of urawaza (a Japanese word for secret lifestyle tricks and techniques). Want to turbocharge your sled? Spray the bottom with nonstick cooking spray. Can't find someone to water your plants while you're away? Place the plant on a water-soaked diaper, so it slowly absorbs water over time. The subject of popular TV shows and numerous books in Japan, these unusually clever solutions to everyday problems have never before been published in Englishuntil now Urawaza collects more than 100 once-secret tricks, offering step-by-step directionsand explanations in an eye-catching package as unconventional as its contents.

This title includes home cures, recipes, everyday hints and tips. It is a celebration of one of nature's most powerful ingredients and how to use it for health, cleaning and in cooking. It includes a brief history of vinegar and a guide to the many different varieties that are available. Using vinegar for natural cleaning around the home, in the laundry, medicine cabinet and kitchen. It includes recipes for preserves, sauces and marinades, and how to make your own vinegar. Vinegar is an amazing product which has hundreds of uses around the home, not just limited to cooking. A natural cleaner, it can be used to freshen laundry, to cleanse and fragrance the air, and to add sparkle to many household surfaces. Vinegar comes in many forms, from red wine and cider varieties to malt and rice vinegars. You can even make your own vinegar at home. In the kitchen, it is a powerful preservative, as well as being a delicious addition to every kind of dish. This fascinating book explores the history of vinegar, from the time it was discovered by accident more than 10,000 years ago.Since then, it has become recognized as one of nature's most diverse and miraculous products, capable of doing the jobs of many household substances without causing chemical damage to the environment, or to our bodies. Why use manufactured cleaning fluids which could destroy the elasticity of your skin, when vinegar can do the job even better? This handy volume is full of hundreds of suggestions for making the most of this useful and versatile ingredient.

Saving time and money at the grocery store is simple. With this innovative book of food and nonfood mixes (from egg pasta to laundry detergent), Charlette Carollo shows shoppers how to get more by buying less. Using basic ingredients, anyone can transform ordinary kitchen components into brand-name quality items at a fraction of the regular cost. This handy guidebook enables readers to eliminate additives and preservatives in meals, reduce the waste of packaged materials, and, in the case of the nonfood items, limit the amounts of harsh chemicals in cleaning agents and personal hygiene products. Perfect for people with food allergies or restrictive diets, these recipes consist of essentials such as seasoning mixes, butters, cheeses, and breads. Entree, dessert, and snack recipes offer countless opportunities for special occasions and family meals. An assortment of practical household necessity mixes includes pet supplies, cleaning products, and toiletries. A food storage guide and disaster organization tips round out this indispensable resource.

Most of us lead desperately busy lives, with little time, we think, for spoiling ourselves or others. Yet wouldn't it be good to feel that we could make even the most everyday activities a little special? Domestic Bliss shows how to do just that. From throwing dinners and parties that everyone will kill to be invited to and welcoming house guests in style (even if they are only sleeping on the sofa), to forcing the more tedious domestic chores into submission and becoming the most ingenious present-giver ever, this book is packed with ideas. With Rita's idiosyncratic, sometimes bossy, always entertaining text, a chic design and fabulous publicity guaranteed, this book will allow everyone to add a little sparkle to life.

Rita's Tips for Domestic Bliss distills the essence from Domestic Bliss, Rita Konig's essential manual for living in style. 'Rita knows the secrets of good living and is prepared to share them' (Saturday Telegraph magazine) and this delightful little hardback is packed with Rita's hints and tips for better living. Including how to make the place you live into the haven you have always dreamt of, how to entertain house guests in style, and, of course, the perfect ways to spoil yourself, this is the ultimate present, or gift for yourself.

Ever wanted a cabin or little cottage in the woods but don't know where to start? With "Log Cabins," author William S. Wicks offers clear, practical instructions on how to build your own log cabin--and furnish it, too--while harmonizing the structure's interior and exterior with the surrounding environment. Topics include:
- Location scouting and preparation
- Foundations, tools, and materials
- Roofs and shingles
- Floors, ceilings, and partitions
- Chimneys and fireplaces
- Screens, windows, and shutters
- Doors and stairs
- And more
With line drawings of lean-tos, Adirondack cabins, simple log structures, furniture, and more, this handy how-to manual provides easy-to-understand and must-know information to make your cabin dream a reality.

Hundreds of humorous yet helpful tips on using brand-name household products are presented by the author from his "wackyuses" database. He explains what chore or problem the product can be used for, such as using Alka-Seltzer( to clean a toilet, or using Bounce( to remove soap scum from shower doors.

Imagine not needing money. Not for bills -- there are none. Not for food -- you grow or make it all yourself. Not for transport -- you have a bike. For six months, Linda Cockburn's family will live sustainably on only a suburban block. By drawing all their power from the sun, harvesting their water from the rain and growing enough produce to give them variety, they will do something positice for the environment and for themselves. This is a practical, fascinating and inspiring read that will have you looking afresh at your own backyard.

"Farm Conveniences and How to Make Them" is a fascinating volume abounding in valuable hints and suggestions for the construction of homemade farming and homesteading devices. First published in 1884, it contains the best ideas gathered from farmers, and teaches valuable lessons in rural economy. Filled with more than two hundred engravings, "Farm Conveniences and How to Make Them" includes information on how to build a milking shed, a dam, a sled for removing corn shocks, a variety of animal traps, gatepost braces, a log boat, cards, and a great number of other instruments.
Also an everyday farming handbook, it provides instructions on how to use wastelands, prevent the washing of hillsides, harvest manure, dress meats, build shelters, and much more. As the preface most accurately sums up, "Skill in the construction and use of simple labor-saving devices is of vast importance to the farmer, and any aid to the development of this manual dexterity is always welcome." Learn how the creativity and precision that went into developing these handy devices equipped farmers of the past with the knowledge and tools to work efficiently.

Time-honored advice from the great American heartland.

Over 400 time- and money-saving strategies for cooking, cleaning, canning, dining, and more.

Fear the deer! Nature has never invented a more efficient killing machine, at least from the point of view of most garden plants. Able to leap an eight-foot fence, sneak silently through the suburbs at night, and outrun a greyhound (not to mention a beagle or Labrador retriever), the deer is the number one enemy not only of the gardener but of anyone who wants to relax in the backyard without catching Lyme disease from deer ticks or drive safely down a highway without fear of collision.
Solving Deer Problems is an invaluable manual that covers: How to build a fence that will deter and withstand a deer onslaught; the use of chemical weapons such as bottled deer repellent; how to choose plants deer will avoid (and also those that attract them); how to avoid deer on the road.
Peter Loewer also discusses why deer seem to be overrunning our suburban communities, and what can be done on the local level.

Dating from the Golden Age of American Farming, this volume is both a tribute to days gone by and a resource for present day homeowners, farmers, and ranchers striving toward greater self-sufficiency. Here you will find hundreds of clever ways to transform those odds and ends that might seem like junk into very useful gadgets and tools, from a treadmill that can power a dairy separator and churn, to a drinking fountain for chickens. Other devices include a rig for moving large trees; a self-feeder for bees; a hand garden cultivator; and gates that lift over snowdrifts. It's full of useful illustrations and includes a whole section of tried-and-true tips.

When the farm is a lifestyle, not just a way to earn a living, that's hobby farming. Most of us want to live a sustainable life in which we protect the land and keep it safe from development and overproduction. But we can take this a step further by learning how to grow and savor what we can produce ourselves--while still maintaining an alternative career to fund this passion. Michael and Audrey Levatino here share how to:
- Grow your own food.
- Raise chickens, horses, llamas, bees, and more.
- Practice being (a little) off the grid.
- Sell the bounty in your local community.
- Balance a professional career with a rural lifestyle.
"The Joy of Hobby Farming" is a book that will excite armchair farmers and inspire any do-it-yourselfer.

In today's busy world it's easy to understand the desire for shortcuts. With our time eaten up by work, family, and errands, we almost unconsciously look for quick fixes that aren't always the healthiest for our home or family. With "The New Art of Living Green," authors Erica Palmcrantz Aziz and Susanne Hovenas dare us to stop and think for a moment about the type of chemicals we use in our home, where we buy our produce, and the amount of waste we create. With this book you'll discover simple tips and guidelines that will help you to make greener choices to the benefit of your growing family's health and a grateful Mother Earth.
This guide provides a collection of proven ways to live green practically, and on a daily basis. The book is divided into seven chapters, each represented by a color of the rainbow. Learn more about such topics as:
The World around You: How to act now
The Home: Making slow and simple changes
The Body: Going from chemicals to natural
The Garden: How to farm anywhere
Work and Play: Incorporating sustainable living into your routine
Raw Food: Green recipes for you and Mother Earth
Spirituality: Discovering the feeling of togetherness
It's easy to become complacent with a routine, so to help free you of bad habits, each chapter ends with seven challenges for you to try at home. Finally transform thought into action and lend a helping hand toward making our planet a better place for future generations to come. Even the smallest of changes can make a difference

Long before the discovery of modern medicines, families used remedies based on plants to treat everyday illness. Now there's a tremendous revival of interest in these home remedies. Not only are they often gentler than manufactured drugs, but many of them are now known to be effective too. This handy little book is packed with advice and recipes,including sections on: * Aches and pains - compresses, teas and rubs that will soothe joint pains and headaches * Coughs, colds and fevers - tried and tested ways in which families have relieved the symptoms of both colds and flu - without antibiotics * Stress - gentle remedies that will help promote relaxation * Insomnia - practical advice and remedies for the sleep deprived * Circulation - safe ways to stimulate blood flow and relieve conditions such as varicose veins, cramp and chilblains * Just for women - folk remedies designed to sort out the ups and downs in the menstrual cycle, help with nursing and childbirth and smooth the passage of the menopause * Alternative first aid - a short list of natural ingredients to add to a first-aid kit. In addition, Linda Gray reveals the secrets to achieving bright eyes, clear acne-free skin, healthy digestion, and a good night's sleep. A handy pocket reference book you will turn to again and again, Traditional Remedies is full of tips and advice on how to look and feel great - naturally.