If you have a stubborn stain on the bottom of a glass vase or cruet, fill it with water, drop in two Alka-Seltzers and when they’ve stopped fizzing, give the vase a shake and pour out the water.

To remove melted wax from clothing lay a brown paper bag over the garment before ironing with a warm iron. Keep moving the bag around and it will absorb the wax.

If the grouting between your tiles is dirty, try cleaning it with a typewriter rubber. Or cut a lemon in half and wipe the cut side over the grouting.

To make your crystal glasses sparkle like new, rinse them in a weak solution of white vinegar and warm water.

If your bread bin becomes mildewed, wipe it with a cloth soaked in vinegar and leave the bin empty with the lid open until the smell has gone completely.

Sponge mop heads dry out and crack and break up if they are not used. They will last much longer if you wrap yours in a plastic bag before you put them away after use.

If you dampen your dustpan before you start sweeping up, the dust will stay where it should be - in the pan - and won’t roll out.

Make your dusters last longer and work more efficiently by soaking new ones in a solution of one part glycerine and one part water and allowing them to dry thoroughly before first use.

The best way to clean a glass decanter is to fill it with finely chopped pieces of raw potato, add water and shake it well.

Well, it’s barbeque season. The sun is out, the shorts are on, there’s lots of scorched flesh on display. Time to go and check what state you put the BBQ away in last September.

I bet it’s a bit minging!

So, either soak it in expensive chemical ridden, fumey barbeque cleaning stuff. Or try good old fashioned soda crystals.

Liquid soda crystals are easy to use. Spray it on, leave it for a bit whilst you spray yourself with factor 20, open a bottle of lager.. no no, don’t do that just yet or the BBQ will never get cleaned. 

Give it a good scrub, maybe use a bit of bicaronate of soda if in needs extra scouring. Jobs a gooden! Ready for that special burnt-yet-raw-in-the-middle-sausage experience!