Home is a place where lot is happening, right from cooking, cleaning to selecting things for the household. Most women try to find household tips to make the best use of resources around them. This not only saves money but also helps in giving a new look to your home.

In this section we bring together different household tips right from your own house. All you need to do is look around you and you will find a number of ways to work smartly and save money around the house.

Selecting Purchases in the Right Way

When fruit approaches its prime or becomes a little too ripe to eat raw, most homemakers tend to throw it away. Instead we can take a different approach. Cut up over ripe apples and sauté with mutton or pork chops.

The same can be done with pears, plums and apricots. Puree carrots and blend into spaghetti sauce or into a casserole with other veggies. Add citrus juice to water or club soda. Freeze bananas to use up in smoothies. If brown and mushy, use the fruit to make bread. Freeze grapes and puree them with curd.

Save on Beauty Products

The next way to push your savings is by selecting your beauty products wisely. Microwave that nearly over lipstick on low heat and use the thick liquid like a lip gloss, simply apply with a brush. No need for mascara; use petroleum jelly instead. Smear a bit of petroleum jelly on your finger and hold it in front of your lashes and blink several times, across the jelly. You will get easy shine and definition without using mascara.

Save your Tetrapacks

Save your empty tetrapacks whether milk or juice. Cut them into half, poke drainage holes in them and bury them, cut side up, near a plant that needs extra watering. While on your watering rounds, fill the container with water. Water will slowly leak out directly into the soil at the level of the roots. You will lose less to evaporation; this is especially effective during the dry summer months and won’t parch your greens.

Soap Savings

Collect leftover soap and sew into an old wash cloth. Use this as a scrub. Or fill a liquid soap container with leftover bits and water and use as a liquid soap. Another soap use is to microwave them and pour into soap moulds. Your local craft shop should have soap moulds especially for this purpose. You can give these leftover scraps a complete makeover by adding some food color; aromatherapy oils and fragrances to the molten soaps.

Aerated Drinks and Sodas

Don’t throw away flat, aerated drinks and sodas. They make great bathroom cleaners, simply because of their acid content. Just pour some into your toilet bowl. Wait for about five minutes, brush and rinse. The result is sparkling clean toilet. You can use flat sodas on tiles as well, but not so frequently on marble. Flat beer is a good conditioner for hair. Rinse hair with beer to add body and shine.

White Vinegar

White vinegar acts as an inexpensive cleaning liquid in several ways. Add one part vinegar to three parts water and substitute your store bought glass surface cleaning liquid. Spray this mixture and wipe with a newspaper for best results. Vinegar mixed with salts acts as an effective polish and removes tarnish especially from kitchen counters. You can even pour white vinegar down the drain to unclog it.

Fruit Peels

Dry out citrus peels, pound them and put into a home scrub. You can also cut out fine juliennes to add flavor to your bakes or just throw a handful into the fireplace to fill the air with a fresh, citrusy fragrance.

Cane Basket

An old wicker or cane basket with a slab of heavy glass on top acts as a coffee or side table and provides storage. You can even give it a coat of paint in a color such as warm brown, dull green or even silver and gold for a luxe look that matches your décor.

Dried Leaves

Dried leaves make great gift tags. Find as many as needed. If they have started to become brittle that won’t work. Large leaves like peepal, banyan or rubber plant work best. You may also try interesting shapes such as kachnar, palash and so on. To protect the leaves coat them with wax. Place leaves between two sheets of waxed paper and iron to melt the wax. Gently pull the wax paper away from the leaves when cool. Write the address on the leaf tags, using a permanent maker that can write on wax.

Homemade Gifts

Spend a relaxed weekend fashioning homemade gifts; beauty scrubs from your kitchen jars, food mixes, candles, breads, cookies, soap…almost everything and anything. Pack into attractive containers; tie with a bit of ribbon and stock. Remember to include a personal note with the gift.