Category Archives: Home & Garden

Another Hosepipe Ban

Home & Garden,

Another Hosepipe Ban in the UK

It seems that more and more often the UK introduces hosepipe bans in various parts of the country to help save water. This year many people have been surprised by the introduction of a hosepipe ban once again as it has seemed like there has been a lot of rain recently. However, after two very dry winters it is the long term water stocks that are running dangerously low and this has led to low river water levels as well as low levels of water in the reservoirs around the country.

As from 5 April 2012 hosepipe bans were introduced by the following water authorities in the UK:

  • Thames Water
  • South East Water
  • Sutton and East Surrey Water Authority
  • Southern Water
  • Anglian Water
  • Veolia Central
  • Veolia South East

Fines For Using Hosepipes

Although it seems that it might be difficult to police, there will be fines in place of up to £1,000 for anyone who flouts the hosepipe ban. Some businesses, disabled people and sports fields that are used for national or international events are not included in the ban. This will help the Olympic venues for one thing.

Although it is unlikely that Water Authorities will send round employees to check if anyone is using hosepipes, people are being encouraged to use less water as a moral responsibility. There are plenty of ways to save water including the following:

  • Recycling any water that you do use – for example bath water can be used to water the garden
  • Taking baths instead of showers
  • Not running the tap while brushing your teeth
  • Installing water saving devices in the home

Get a Water Butt


If you have a garden that needs a lot of watering, or you are growing your own vegetables then one of the best ways to have the water that you need to use on your garden is to install a water butt. A water butt is a large plastic tank that collects rainwater that is diverted through the guttering system.

Water butts are pretty easy to install and the sooner you get one set up the more water you can accumulate during the rainier Spring months.

Water butts tend to come in two sizes – the smaller ones hold around 100 litres of water and the larger ones around 200 litres. A decent water butt will cost you around £50 and you may also want to have a stand so that you can easily access all of the water down to the bottom of the butt. Most water butts have a tap on that you can open to get the water out but you can also get a water butt pump to make it easier to distribute the water if you have a larger garden. See the water butt on the left and click through on the link to get lots more options on buying water butts.

 

Can I Wash a Sultan Huglo Ikea Mattress Cover?

Home & Garden,

So I asked myself this question recently. I have a nice Ikea Sultan king Sized bed but I had a lodger sleeping on it for about 4 months over a very hot summer and I didn’t feel too inclined to sleep on it after that without being able to wash it.

The instructions on the Ikea Sultan Huglo mattress cover say ‘Clean with uphostery shampoo only’. Well for a start with I don’t have any upholstery shampoo. Secondly I felt it needed a bit more than just a surface clean and thirdly I think they just put this to protect themselves.

I searched on the internet to see what the consensus was but there was not a lot of information about washing my mattress cover. I did find one person who said they they had put a similar Ikea mattress cover in the wash and it had come out OK. So I bit the bullet and decided I would wash it.

Now as I say, I have a king sized bed and the mattress cover was quite large and I figured that it would not actually fit in my washing machine so what I did was to wash the Ikea mattress cover in the bath. I dumped it in there and turned the shower on to soak the whole cover. Once I had done that I ran the bath water and put a bit of washing powder in. I kept turning it round in the tepid/warm water until i figured it was cleaner than it would have got with the upholstery shampoo.

Once I had drained the worst of the water off, I hang it over my outdoor clothes dryer to dry. Now given that I live in a place where the temperature at that time was about 40 degrees Celsius, it dried within a few hours. However, if you live somewhere cooler, be prepared to wait somewhat longer!

So, in conclusion, I think that you can wash your Ikea mattress cover if you do it carefully and don’t stick it on a hot wash or put it through the dryer. No guarantees though!

Where Can I Get a Home Generator?

Home & Garden,

With the recent power outages in various parts of the country, the importance of having a home generator is coming to the fore. As our demand for power increases the likelihood of more power outages increases as the power companies struggle to cope and hence we need to have some kind of power back up.

Not only this, but also the increase in adverse environmental and weather conditions which are likely to cause other power outages is another reason to consider installing a home generator.

But if you are new to the world of home generators then you may be wondering ‘where can I get a home generator?‘

Well, if you are looking to buy a home generator or even a portable one, then there are a few things that you will need to consider before you buy one.

For example do you want a portable or a standby generator, what is your budget and how much will it cost to install the generator –  and you will also need to determine the amount of power you will need (which is measured in watts) to keep your key appliances running during a power outage.

Portable and home generators vary in cost from around $150 upwards so if you want something reasonably small then you don’t have to pay the earth to get it. Of course you can also be talking tens of thousands of dollars for a big generator with a large amount of power but it’s unlikely that you will want that kind of power for a small home back up generator.

If you check out the available home generators on Amazon then they also give you a detailed buying guide so that you can check that you are buying the right home generator for your situation.

There are many options available at different wattages and with standby generators as well as mobile or portable generators. Here are a couple of options that may be suitable.

it’s quite a complex subject so if you are not sure what you will need then check out the generator buying guide here.

 

Ikea Furniture

Home & Garden,

For many people Ikea furniture is the default option when furnishing a new house or apartment. I know that I myself have furnished at least 3 places almost wholly with Ikea furniture. So what is it that ikea have got that others fail to replicate?

Well in my opinion, Ikea have got the mix of design and price just right. You can get stylish furniture at sometimes dirt cheap prices. OK, so you may have to put the furniture together yourself (or some stores do offer a service where they will build your furniture for you for a fee or if you spend a certain amount in store) but once you get the idea of how to build one bit of Ikea furniture, you are pretty much an expert in putting any of it together!

The design side of Ikea furniture is really clever – the pieces of furniture that they sell are often very simple in style and design but at the same time modern and fashionable. You can easily furnish a bachelor pad with Ikea furniture but equally you can furnish a family home and both will come out looking great.

The other thing is with Ikea furniture that is is functional. So if you just want a few functional pieces to add to your home then it is a great place to go – and you can easily mix it with your existing furniture.

Furniture – Sleep Number Bed

Home & Garden,

So if you are looking for a new bed then you may have come across the concept of the sleep number bed. This is a bed that you can adjust to your own preference in mattress softness and it will adjust to fit your body. But not only that, the sleep number bed can also help where couple like different types of mattress – for example if one of you likes a hard mattress and the other likes a soft – or if one of you has back problems or is pregnant then the sleep number bed can adjust just one side of the bed to suit you.

The concept of the sleep number bed is that everyone has a favorite setting (sleep number) between 1 and 100 and the mattress is adjusted to that sleep number on each side.

The sleep number beds are said to be able to give a better night’s sleep to many people – including those that have problems due to: change in sleep patterns due to age, back problems, those with snoring problems and also during pregnancy when you are advised to sleep on your left side (which may be different to how you usually sleep). You can adjust the sleep number to fit any of your circumstances.

So if you want a great piece of furniture for your bedroom then it might be worth considering the sleep number bed.