Ive just been bombarded with inertia selling offers from Amazon - they must be desperate. £72 pa or £1.38pw Its not so much the money as the waste of time its going to expose me to. I already instinctively discount 99.9% Hollywood drivel (although fair play to HBO, they have produced some great stuff I looked through the available movies, and out of 650 I would only watch Sounds like the kind of video pollution I want to keep out of my life, like most of the rubbish on live TV I am appalled at the effect this must have on young minds:mad2:

Sorry I didn't catch this post earlier, It says it all and here's my 2c worth FWIW http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?456441-A-close-shave%281-Viewing%29-nbsp

I use a shattaff, so much more hygenic but not to be connected to mains pressure (most are not designed for that and will leak). You don't want a surprise enema of 60psi up the Khyber Pass - dangerous, ok on water from your Loft tank. Have you noticed a dearth of bidets, never see them offered as part of bathroom suites any more. I heard tell that when your average pretentious Brit family discovered they were not for washing your feet...................*&&%^$$£%$^%$^

In the process of creating some waterproof safety matches, I found I needed some nail polish. Now OH doesnt use this stuff cos the Swarfega she uses while fixing the tractor takes it straight off. So I thought I'd find some cheap generic clear varnish on Ebay - surprise - none to be found. Seems there's a cartel operating on ladie's things. £3.50 for a little 15ml bottle. That fluffed up my dander So after some digging, I found that the durable stuff is made from Shellac ca £30 kg, enough for a million nails. So I'm going to mix some up with meths and try it out on the old Nanny in our yard. She like a bit of attention. I'll mix in a bit of violet oil paint for a bit of tint so it will show up on her hoof (and match her eyes) Watch this space ladies:-D

Well it might also appeal to Lady Shavers:smile:

Still no links then, I cant find them on Ebay

OBTW I forgot Another money saver in the same vein Shaving cream, expensive innit? Well I got a tip to use cheap generic supermarket hair conditioner cream. It works surprisingly well, smoothes the skin and 1 bottle probably last 6 months - year? Ordinary soap dries out my skin. Now I ask my OH to close her eyes, while I give her a XXX and she says its like the young man she married

Exactly right TJ The BBC is a public service needing only to satisfy excellence and addressing public welfare. Who would dare argue against the Welsh and their language program, the Scots and RC Nesbitt, the Chavs and Eastenders As for Crossroads, well ITV is welcome to that Commercial stations live by audience figures. Its how they get revenue. Making the Beeb compete on these terms is a travesty of their Royal Charter

I thought I had replied to this, but must have pressed the wrong button, anyway in brief youcan go to 20C, takes 48 hrs and may develop a sour taste - still ok. even modern houses must use a radiator (with shelf, sunny window? take it to bed with you at night. Make a simple insulated warm cupboard with 25W filament lamp. Many other uses for this

This relates to a previous thread. When you are on a meter????????? http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?354115-Get-a-Rain-Barrel-%28Water-Butt%29 You can also save your grey water for use on your garden. Use a similar water butt system to collect water from your sink and washing machine (bath water would need a pump, and not enough shower water to justify a pump unless flooded with teenagers. Collecting sink water is fine but avoid edible food waste (attracts vermin). Mine goes straight down the loo, small piece only, or else collected in a bag for our dog poo bin. Can't put such waste in a refuse bag cos of our fox problem. I use a simple submersible pond pump ca £30 to pump out into a hose pipe for distribution to the flower beds. Does it smell, slight sniff of washing machine water but it goes after half an hour. My meter consumption is down from 100L/day to I could go completely off drain http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/may/12/humanure-composting-toilets but lets not go down there just yet:-D

Yes I wholeheartedly support rainwater harvesting. There are other uses, if you have an abundance, such as showering, washing machine - vg use far less powder, flushing toilet, dishwashing. Not advisable for cooking, consumption. Water collected off roofs may pass over bird droppings and also rotting leaves none of which should affect the above uses. You may want to create separate plumbing circuit for non-potable water. You could try using a system pressure pump instead of a separate tank in the loft

These are good and use 25% power for equivalent filament lamp BUT They don't like being switched on/off frequently and will quickly fail. Be wary of using them on automatic night light switches. These use a light sensor to detect the onset of darkness and switch the lamp on. Unfortunately some of them can tend to flutter around the switch over point and this is very bad for a CFL. Indeed there have been cases where a householder left one of these on while she went on holiday and came home to find her house burnt down. Fire caused by an overheated CFL using one of the threshold switches. Older CFls cannot be used with dimmer switches. A proper dimmable lamp must be used x2 cost) I now have gone over to LED lamps for outside security lighting 6W vs 15W and I leave them on permanently (porch side and back), no threshold switch to go wrong. Should last 20 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cost per year £10 pa Last year had 2 CFLs failed (£10) plus annoyance of getting ladders out.

If you use electric immersion for your hot water tank, then you will probably have a time switch on it so it uses off peak night rate. This is much cheaper than using your gas boiler. But your hot tank may only have old style insulation, even the spray on foam used by manufacturers is inadequate. I found that by wrapping an additional 6" thick layer fibreglass wool around the tank and taping it up with plastic sheeting made a big difference. How did I know - the difference in temperature drop through out the day, given no usage. I was also able to reduce the thermostat to 40C (much less heat loss than say 65C) which made improvements (take a shower directly without diluting with cold water). For tight areas, use a loose vermiculite, which you can pour down the back of the cylinder. Worked for me:smile:

OBTW, dont use flavoured yoghurts, only natural. Any natural yoghurt is usually "live" - though labels won't say as much - and will probably work unless it had been pasturised (never seen it. You dont have to go for expensive "live" or probiotic brands. Plain 500ml tub 45p, but I prefer Greek Style, gives a thicker fuller flavour - 85p

This is just so easy - a few moments work. Take a fresh 4pt flagon of semi skimmed milk, at the same time as you buy a tub of skimmed Greek style yoghurt. Decant ca cup of milk and save for other use. Top up the space with ca 1/2 tub of yoghurt TIP mix together in a jug first with equal amount of milk to make a smooth easy pour cream. Put cap back on and shake vigorously for a minute, loosen cap very slightly to let out any gases produced. Place in a warm space >25C Put in refrigerator and thats it - brill and so much better for you You have enough to make another 4 pts. I can keep mine for up to 3 weeks of daily use. Google Acidified Milk, it was an old way to preserve milk before fridges

Gents, do you have a strong beard growth? Are you fed up with the cost of disposable razors - as I am? They don't seem to do a good job for long. Well try going back to the good old Gillette 3 piece Safety Razor and razor blades. I found it a remarkably clean shave in comparison (its what I started with). I got 20x5 packs blade for a fiver Ebay. A blade can last a week, so thats 2 years worth. I bought a 2nd hand original Gillette blade holder for £3 Ebay. IMHO don't be tempted by the cheap charlie new ones, made of alloy with a steel screw, already rusting. Tip, get in the habit of turning over the blade before starting. The blade gets "stropped" by your skin. This way your blade last 2,3 times longer This isn't just about saving money for me, it is about getting a decent shave.

I do heartily agree with the sentiments expressed here, but in this ad sick blame culture world, its a matter of public liability. If you quietly go and rummage for some past sell by stuff then its all down to you - and good luck. If a 3rd party interposes and collects quantities of discarded goods and then retails them at cut price, who carries liability for anything going wrong, causing an incidence of food poisoning. You are probably fairly safe with fresh vegetables, processed food taken from a chiller? I daresay if there were a way of donating PSB food free from potentially liability to charitable organisations, supermarkets would jump at it, as they don't have to pay costs of disposal. Its a PC world with litigators ready to pounce:mad2:

You cannot post any critique of the Beeb on a Beeb website. They don't like it up 'em. But where to go from their egregious past blunderings? £6 mill for Wuss , competitive bidding for sports games etc IMHO scrap the licence fee and replace it with a per capita levy taken from the central tax revenues. A fixed percentage by parliament act. Done deal. BBC to scrap ch 3 and amalgamate 4 with 2. Keep regional stations supporting local culture and language. Beeb to get back to its core principles as a public broadcaster. Remove the yardstick (enforced by Thatcher) requiring the Beeb to compete for audience figures. Let it instead be judged on excellence Beeb not required to offer and compete for public sport programs (the commercial stations are well able to satisfy this demand) Beeb to be supervised by an apolitical council of "wise persons" chosen by public consent (renegotiated every 3 years. Absolutely no political appointments. Beeb to stand back from political grandstanding and staging confrontational debates (most clearly against their charter All persons employed by or under contract to the Beeb must submit to a CRB check. All contacts with 3rd party name of individuals, groups, organisations to be logged and recorded in a daily register A register of outside interest of BBC employees must be maintained Thats right, a new clean screen for the BBC - something we can trust:mad2:

Childrens drinks and snacks need to be subject to a far more rigorous scrutiny, never mind all the loaded E numbers and food colourings known to cause hyperactivity, it's the lethal combination of Sugar AND Salt and the devastating effect it has on dental decay.. Crisps are the very worst offenders. Trying to protect your kids against the pressures from the processed food industry must be a parents worst nightmare

OBTW, only allow yourself max 2oz of animal protein/day and the diet assumes you are not involved in serious manual work.

I'd had two seriously painful years with bad hip joints and finally got both replaced. In that time I was barely able to move about - too painful, so I had put on weight up to 105kgs (I am 5'10" 60yrs male.) Now this was a lot of weight to heave around on my new hips, so Jan 1st this year I went on my much derided "cabbage soup" diet. Its actually a generic name for counting calories, avoiding all manner of processed foods, sugar salt, oil fats factory bread. So what's left? Fresh fruit vegetables, pulses, fish lean pork skinless chicken, eggs (no cheese), home made yoghurt and bread, tinned sardines, tuna, mackerel, pilchards. Get to know your calories labels on supermarket foods My diet took its name from a favourite chinese soup using green cabbage and 2oz lean pork cubed small handfull of noodles. You would be surprised how good that can taste. When I studied what went into commercial bread I was appalled and, following 1000+ good ratings from users I got a breadmaker. These are so simple to use, takes 5 mins and press a button, come back 4 hours later. My bread is real wholesome seed loaf which I slice up and freeze. I can only manage 1 slice with low fat spread and marmalade in the morning, couldn't manage another, too filling. To stave away hunger, chew on celery, carrots, apples, pears. The first month is the worst. Keep a chart, weigh yourself at same time, same conditions. It worked for me and I am not lugging an airport suitcase any more. I am going to keep going down to 80kgs then I will be the same weight I was 20 years ago. My stomach has shrunk to barely accepting more than a child's portion or I'm full That's my true story, no fads, no BS or hidden agenda just plain healthy food

Many of these "private car park owned by stores are managed by a contracter. They often have video cams that phto your licence plate as you go in. They are supposed to photo you when you go out and cross cancel, but it doesnt always quickly, maybe the end of the day. For instance if you go out and come back in an hour or so later that day (cos you forgot something) then the second exit photo is used and hey presto you are banged to rights. This happened to a friend of mine shopping at Wickes. He kicked up a fuss, but the manager said he was unable to help (couldn't be bothered more like). He wrote a letter to CEO and told them. He was told to pay , keep the receipt and bring it in for a credit note, which was OK, but then he insisted on matters being corected so other customers didnt get caught likewise. I think Wickes stopped using this draconian company and its methods

And the success rate of these crowdfunders is?????????????????? Hope people have woken up now to this free for all bonanza for fraudsters

Do you need planning permission to raise your house on stilts?

can't you post any links, can't comment without