Keep a carton of milk in the freezer so that if you get back very late you know you’ll be able to make yourself a cuppa in the morning.

Don’t leave dirty dishes in the dishwasher, as a fair old stink will have developed by the time you come back home!

Stick a bunch of plump black grapes in the freezer for a few hours, and when they’re nice and solid, pop them into your mouth like sweeties. Guilt-free and gorgeous!

Stale water and warm weather are not a good combination, so if there’s slime and algae present, here’s what to do. About once a week, bale out the water with an empty yogurt carton and, with a solution of equal parts clear vinegar and warm water and using an old toothbrush, give the birdbath a good scrub and rinse well with fresh water. The birds will love you for it.

I love hanging washing but occasionally a passing bird will leave a deposit on my freshly laundered sheets. As long as the items are white or colourfast (and not nylon), immerse in a solution of hydrogen peroxide, available from the chemist (one part 20-vol peroxide to six parts cold water) for up to 30 minutes, then wash in the machine as normal.

In hot weather damp, unwashed laundry left in the basket for too long can become a bit smelly! Counter this by cutting the foot off a pair of old tights, fill it with bicarbonate of soda, knot it and keep it in the laundry hamper. Replace after a couple of months.

A 40-degree wash is perfect for sheets, pyjamas and towels (any higher and the enzyme in the detergent that does all the good work on the bacteria produced by the body becomes inactive). Any lower and your items may not be cleaned properly, particularly if the bacteria load is heavy (such as on towels and underwear).

You could be overloading the machine. The more you put in, the less room the clothes have; they stay in one position and dye gets drawn out of the creases.

Scrunch up aluminium foil and take it back and forth across the grilling bars to get the worst off. Then scrub that part in the sink using a strong solution of soda crystals (200g to 500ml hot water).

If you’re preparing a casserole or lasagne, make double (much less than double the work) and freeze the other half for later. The freezer’s also a great place to store food about to go past its use-by date and you know won’t be eaten before it does – that way you can cut down on waste.

If you roast a chicken and don’t have enough time afterwards to boil the carcass for stock, wrap it well, stick in the freezer and boil it another day – straight from the freezer – when you have more time.