Surfing Finds

Photo: Midnight Trucker

Yet another month seems to have passed in the blink of an eye and although I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped, I did manage to find some really useful sites that I thought you lovely people might also be interested in.

Here you go:

How To Mend It – As more of us are trying to mend and make do rather than keep chucking stuff out and buying new, I thought this website would be of HUGE interest to you. You can post a question on how to mend just about anything from how to fit a roller blind to uPvc (nasty, horrid stuff) and how to change the brake pads on a bicycle to how to repair a scratched mirror and how to fix a broken handle on a coffee cup. The site’s huge with questions being answered by other members. You’re not guaranteed a solution to your problem but it’s always worth asking.

DIY Network – Another good one for those of us who are trying to fix things ourselves. Whether you’re just looking to perform a few simple tasks yourself, like replacing a door knob or plan to tackle bigger jobs like changing your own kitchen units or installing outdoor lighting, the advice you need is probably here.

Cooking by Numbers – Like most of those trying to lead a simpler, greener life, I really hate wasting food. Hate, hate, HATE it! This site’s handy because you just click off the ingredients you have available and Bob’s your uncle, up comes a list of meals you can make, complete with easy to follow recipes. It’s not huge and I’d have liked a better choice of ingredients but it’s still useful enough to merit a look.

Complete Recipes – A huge resource. To give you an idea, there are 34 pages of recipies starting with W and 114 starting with B. There’s everything from aromatic lamb to zabaglione so I’m pretty sure that if I can’t find something I fancy amongst this lot, I’ll never find anything.

GetOrganized.com – Trying to cut the clutter? Spending too much time on cleaning tasks? Need to cut back on the money you spend on food? I’ll bet you’ve answered yes to at least one of those questions. I answered yes to all three! There’s loads of advice on these and other home organisation subjects on this site so nip over now and have a butcher’s.

Simple Housekeeping - An incredibly useful site where users add their own tips on cleaning, cooking, economics, gardening, maintenance and lots more. There's also a forum and although it appears to be relatively new, the site has lots of potential. I think the site's owners are Dutch so be warned, there's plenty of dodgy English!

Simple Survival – If you like the great outdoors it’ll teach you all sorts of skills from how to make and light a fire to survival cooking and how to make a stretcher in an emergency. Even if you’re not keen on camping, hiking and the likes, articles that teach things like how to survive during winter if your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere are still worth reading. It’s a US based site but a lot of the information is just as useful here in the UK.

Pioneer Thinking – Another US site that’s equally as useful here. Lots of articles based around simple and frugal living covering a plethora of different categories from cooking basics and home decorating to weddings and natural healing.

Hopefully, at least one of those will be useful to you but you won't know if you don't take a look so g'won... click the links and have a gander.

Sharon J

~~+~~