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How would a switch to nuclear affect electricity prices for households and industry?

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/roger-dargaville-1832">Roger Dargaville</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a> Peter Dutton has announced that under a Coalition government, seven nuclear power stations would be built around the country over the next 15 years. Experts have declared nuclear power would be <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-20/power-prices-wont-fall-with-nuclear/103998172">expensive</a> and <a href="https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/nuclear-to-cost-17b-and-take-until-2040-to-build-csiro-20240521-p5jfaj#:%7E:text=Nuclear%20could%20cost%20up%20to,until%202040%20to%20build%3A%20CSIRO&text=Peter%20Dutton's%20nuclear%20energy%20plans,operational%20until%20at%20least%202040.">slow to build</a>. But what might happen to energy prices if the Coalition were to win government and implement this plan? <h2>How might we estimate the cost of nuclear?</h2> By 2035, 50–60% of the existing coal-fired fleet will very likely <a href="https://aemo.com.au/-/media/files/stakeholder_consultation/consultations/nem-consultations/2023/draft-2024-isp-consultation/draft-2024-isp.pdf">have been retired</a>, including Vales Point B, Gladstone, Yallourn, Bayswater and Eraring – all of which will have passed 50 years old. These five generators contribute just over 10 gigawatts of capacity. It’s probably not a coincidence that the seven nuclear plants proposed by Dutton would also contribute roughly 10 gigawatts in total if built. Neither my team at Monash University nor the Australian Energy Market Operator has run modelling scenarios to delve into the details of what might happen to electricity prices under a high-uptake nuclear scenario such as the one proposed by the Coalition. That said, we can make some broad assumptions based on a metric known as the “levelised cost of electricity”. This value takes into account: <ul> <li> how much it costs to build a particular technology </li> <li> how long it takes to build </li> <li> the cost to operate the plant </li> <li> its lifetime </li> <li> and very importantly, its capacity factor. </li> </ul> Capacity factor is how much electricity a technology produces in real life, compared with its theoretical maximum output. For example, a nuclear power station would likely run at 90–95% of its full capacity. A solar farm, on the other hand, will run at just 20–25% of its maximum, primarily because it’s night for half of the time, and cloudy some of the time. CSIRO recently published its <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/research/technology-space/energy/gencost">GenCost</a> report, which outlines the current and projected build and operational costs for a range of energy technologies. It reports that large-scale nuclear generated electricity would cost between A$155 and $252 per megawatt-hour, falling to between $136 and $226 per megawatt-hour by 2040. The report bases these costs on recent projects in South Korea, but doesn’t consider some other cases where costs have blown out dramatically. The most obvious case is that of <a href="https://www.edf.fr/en/the-edf-group/dedicated-sections/journalists/all-press-releases/hinkley-point-c-update-1">Hinkley Point C nuclear plant</a> in the United Kingdom. This <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/edfs-nuclear-project-britain-pushed-back-2029-may-cost-up-34-bln-2024-01-23/">3.2GW</a> plant, which is being built by French company EDF, was recently <a href="https://www.edf.fr/en/the-edf-group/dedicated-sections/journalists/all-press-releases/hinkley-point-c-update-1">reported</a> to be now costing around £34 billion (about A$65 billion). That’s about A$20,000 per kilowatt. CSIRO’s GenCost report assumed a value of $8,655 per kilowatt for nuclear, so the true levelised cost of electricity of nuclear power in Australia may end up being twice as expensive as CSIRO has calculated. <hr /> <iframe id="Aryx7" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Aryx7/4/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe> <hr /> <h2>Other factors play a role, too</h2> Another factor not accounted for in the GenCost assumptions is that Australia does not have a nuclear industry. Virtually all the niche expertise would need to be imported. And very large infrastructure projects have a nasty habit of <a href="https://www.cis.org.au/publication/bungles-blowouts-and-boondoggles-why-australias-infrastructure-projects-cost-more-than-they-should/">blowing out in cost</a> – think of Snowy 2.0, Sydney’s light rail project, and the West Gate Tunnel in Victoria. Reasons include higher local wages, regulations and standards plus aversion from lenders to risk that increases cost of capital. These factors would not bode well for nuclear. In CSIRO’s GenCost report, the levelised cost of electricity produced from coal is $100–200 per megawatt-hour, and for gas it’s $120–160 per megawatt-hour. Solar and wind energy work out to be approximately $60 and $90 per megawatt-hour, respectively. But it’s not a fair comparison, as wind and solar are not “dispatchable” but are dependent on the availability of the resource. When you combine the cost of a mix of wind and solar energy and storage, along with the cost of getting the renewable energy into the grid, renewables end up costing $100–120 per megawatt-hour, similar to coal. If we were to have a nuclear-based system (supplemented by gas to meet the higher demands in the mornings and evenings), the costs would likely be much higher – potentially as much as three to four times if cost blowouts similar to Hinkley Point C were to occur (assuming costs were passed on to electricity consumers. Otherwise, taxpayers in general would bear the burden. Either way, it’s more or less the same people). <h2>But what about the impact on your household energy bill?</h2> Well, here the news is marginally better. Typical retail tariffs are 25-30 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is $250–300 per megawatt-hour. The largest component of your energy bill is not the cost of generation of the electricity; rather, it’s the cost of getting the power from the power stations to your home or business. In very approximate terms, this is made up of the market average costs of generation, transmission and distribution, as well as retailer margin and other minor costs. The transmission and distribution costs will not be significantly different under the nuclear scenario compared with the current system. And the additional transmission costs associated with the more distributed nature of renewables (meaning these renewable projects are all over the country) is included in the estimate. According to my back-of-the-envelope calculations, your retail tariff under the nuclear scenario could be 40–50c per kilowatt-hour. But if you are a large energy consumer such as an aluminium smelter, you pay considerably less per kilowatt-hour as you don’t incur the same network or retailer costs (but the cost of generating electricity in the first place makes up a much bigger proportion of the total cost). So if the cost of electricity generation soars, this hypothetical aluminium smelter’s energy costs will soar too. This would be a severe cost burden on Australian industry that has traditionally relied on cheap electricity (although it’s been a while since electricity could be described as cheap). <h2>A likely increase in energy costs</h2> In summary, in a free market, it is very unlikely nuclear could be competitive. But if a future Coalition government were to bring nuclear into the mix, energy costs for residential and especially industrial customers would very likely increase.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/232913/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/roger-dargaville-1832">Roger Dargaville</a>, Director Monash Energy Institute, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a> Image credits: Shutterstock This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-would-a-switch-to-nuclear-affect-electricity-prices-for-households-and-industry-232913">original article</a>. </div>

Money & Banking

Your unique smell can provide clues about how healthy you are

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/aoife-morrin-1478132">Aoife Morrin</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/dublin-city-university-1528">Dublin City University</a> Hundreds of chemicals stream from our bodies into the air every second. These chemicals release into the air easily as they have high vapour pressures, meaning they boil and turn into gases at room temperature. They give clues about who we are, and how healthy we are. Since ancient Greek times, we’ve known that we smell differently when we are unwell. While we rely on blood analysis today, ancient Greek physicians used smell to diagnose maladies. If they took a whiff of your breath and described it as fetor hepaticus (meaning bad liver), it meant you could be headed for liver failure. If a person’s whiff was sweet or fruity, physicians thought this meant that sugars in the digestive system were not being broken down, and that person had probably diabetes. Science has since shown the ancient Greeks were right – liver failure and <a href="https://tisserandinstitute.org/human-volatilome/">diabetes</a> and many <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00216-023-04986-z">other diseases</a> including infectious diseases give your breath a distinctive smell. In 1971, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1962/pauling/facts/">Nobel Laureate chemist Linus Pauling</a> <a href="https://edu.rsc.org/feature/breath-analysis/2020106.article#:%7E:text=The%20'modern%20era'%20of%20breath,in%20an%20average%20breath%20sample.">counted 250 different</a> gaseous chemicals in breath. These gaseous chemicals are called volatile organic compounds or VOCs. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RzozmYPfCmM?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Since Pauling’s discovery, other scientists have <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40291-023-00640-7">discovered hundreds more VOCs</a> in our breath. We have learned that many of these VOCs have distinctive odours, but some have no odour that our noses can perceive. Scientists believe that whether a VOC <a href="https://tisserandinstitute.org/human-volatilome/">has an odour</a> that our noses can detect or not, they can reveal information about how healthy someone is. A Scottish man’s Parkinson’s disease onset was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-47627179">identified by his wife</a>, retired nurse Joy Milner, after she was convinced the way he smelled had changed, years before he was diagnosed in 2005. This discovery has <a href="https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/smell-of-skin-could-lead-to-early-diagnosis-for-parkinsons/">led to research programmes</a> involving Joy Milner to identify <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-supersmeller-can-detect-the-scent-of-parkinsons-leading-to-an-experimental-test-for-the-illness/">the precise smell</a> of this disease. Dogs can <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01629-8">sniff out more diseases</a> than humans because of their more <a href="https://www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk/news/the-science-of-sniffs-disease-smelling-dogs%20-%20I%20think%20the%20previous%20nature%20link%20has%20more%20credibility%20for%20here%20also">sophisticated olfactory talents</a>. But technological techniques, like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/mass-spectrometry">analytical tool mass spectrometry</a>, picks up even more subtle changes in VOC profiles that are being linked to <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(20)30100-6/fulltext">gut</a>, <a href="https://www-sciencedirect-com.dcu.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0165993618305168">skin</a> and <a href="https://err.ersjournals.com/content/28/152/190011">respiratory</a> diseases as well as neurological diseases like Parkinson’s. Researchers believe that one day some diseases will be diagnosed simply by breathing into a device. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xjo2M-XMYfs?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <h2>Where do VOCs come from?</h2> Breath is not the only source of VOCs in the body. They are also emitted from skin, urine and faeces. VOCs from skin are the result of millions of skin glands removing metabolic waste from the body, as well as waste generated by bacteria and other microbes that live on our skin. Sweating produces extra nutrients for these bacteria to metabolise which can result in particularly odorous VOCs. Odour from sweat only makes up a fraction of the scents from VOCs though. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrmicro.2017.157">Our skin</a> and also our gut microbiomes are made up from a delicate balance of these microbes. Scientists think <a href="https://journals.lww.com/co-gastroenterology/abstract/2015/01000/the_gut_microbiome_in_health_and_in_disease.12.aspx">they influence our health</a>, but we don’t yet understand a lot about how this relationship works. Unlike the gut, the skin is relatively easy to study – you can collect skin samples from living humans without having to go deep into the body. <a href="https://www-sciencedirect-com.dcu.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S1471492221002087">Scientists think</a> skin VOCs can offer insights into how the microbiome’s bacteria and the human body work together to maintain our health and protect us from disease. In my team’s laboratory, <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1752-7163/abf20a">we are investigating</a> whether the skin VOC signature can reveal different attributes of the person it belongs to. These signals in skin VOC signatures are probably how dogs distinguish between people by smell. We are at a relatively early stage in this research area but we have shown that you can tell males from females based on how acidic the VOCs from skin are. We use mass spectrometry to see this as the average human nose is not sophisticated enough to detect these VOCs. We can also predict a person’s age with reasonable accuracy to within a few years from their skin VOC profile. This is not surprising considering that oxidative stress in our bodies increases as we age. <a href="https://www.metabolismjournal.com/article/S0026-0495(00)80077-3/pdf">Oxidative stress</a> happens when your antioxidant levels are low and causes irreversible damage to our cells and organs. <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jasms.3c00315">Our recent research</a> found by-products of this oxidative damage in skin VOC profiles. Not only are these VOCs responsible for personal scent – they are used by plants, insects and animals as a communication channel. Plants are in a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-10975-x">constant VOC dialogue</a> with other organisms including pollinators, herbivores, other plants and their natural enemies such as harmful bacteria and insects. VOCs used for this back and forth dialogue are known as pheromones. <h2>What has science shown about love pheromones?</h2> In the animal kingdom, there is good evidence VOCs can act as aphrodisiacs. Mice for example have microbes which contribute to a particularly <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982212012687">smelly compound called trimethylamine</a>, which allows mice to verify the species of a potential mate. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0093691X21003083">Pigs</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/4381097a">elephants</a> have sex pheromones too. It is possible that humans also produce VOCs for attracting the perfect mate. Scientists have yet to fully decode skin – or other VOCs that are released from our bodies. But evidence for human love pheromones so far is <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/do-human-pheromones-actually-exist">controversial at best</a>. <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3835-colour-vision-ended-human-pheromone-use/">One theory suggests</a> that they were lost about 23 million years ago when primates developed full colour vision and started relying on their enhanced vision to choose a mate. However, we believe that whether human pheromones exist or not, skin VOCs can reveal who and how we are, in terms of things like ageing, nutrition and fitness, fertility and even stress levels. This signature probably contains markers we can use to monitor our health and diagnose disease.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215311/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/aoife-morrin-1478132">Aoife Morrin</a>, Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/dublin-city-university-1528">Dublin City University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/your-unique-smell-can-provide-clues-about-how-healthy-you-are-215311">original article</a>.

Body

Stage 3 stacks up: the rejigged tax cuts help fight bracket creep and boost middle and upper-middle households

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ben-phillips-98866">Ben Phillips</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a> The winners and losers from the Albanese government’s <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-01/tax-cuts-government-fact-sheet.pdf">rejig</a> of this year’s Stage 3 tax cuts have already been well documented. From July 1 every taxpayer will get a tax cut. Most, the 11 million taxpayers earning up to A$146,486, will also pay less tax than they would have under the earlier version of Stage 3, some getting a tax cut <a href="https://theconversation.com/albanese-tax-plan-will-give-average-earner-1500-tax-cut-more-than-double-morrisons-stage-3-221875">twice as big</a>. A much smaller number, 1.8 million, will get a smaller tax cut than they would have under the original scheme, although their cuts will still be big. The highest earners will get cuts of $4,529 instead of $9,075. But many of us live in households where income is shared and many households don’t pay tax because the people in them don’t earn enough or are on benefits. The Australian National University’s <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/policymod">PolicyMod</a> model is able to work out the impacts at the household level, including the impact on households in which members are on benefits or don’t earn enough to pay tax. <h2>More winners than losers in every broad income group</h2> We’ve divided Australian households into five equal-size groups ranked by income, from lowest to lower-middle to middle to upper-middle to high. Our modelling finds that, just as is the case for individuals, many more households will be better off with the changes to Stage 3 than would have been better off with Stage 3 as it was, although the difference isn’t as extreme. Overall, 58% of households will be better off with the reworked Stage 3 than they would have under the original and 11% will be worse off. Importantly, there remain 31% who will be neither better off nor worse off, because they don’t pay personal income tax. <hr /> <iframe id="0CWXE" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0CWXE/4/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe> <hr /> But it is different for different types of households. In the lowest-earning fifth of households, far more are better off (13.5%) than worse off (0.2%) with the overwhelming bulk neither better nor worse off (86.3%). <hr /> <iframe id="KC5zy" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/KC5zy/3/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe> <hr /> In the highest-earning fifth of households, while more than half are better off (54.4%), a very substantial proportion are worse off (42.3%). Very few (only 3.1%) are neither better nor worse off. <hr /> <iframe id="WSkSL" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/WSkSL/3/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe> <hr /> <h2>But high-earning households go backwards on average</h2> In dollar terms, the top-earning fifth of households loses money while every group gains. That’s because although there are more winners than losers among the highest-earning fifth of households, the losers lose more money. The biggest dollar gains go to middle and upper-middle income households with middle-income households ahead, on average, by $988 per year and upper-middle income households by $1,102. The highest-income households are worse off by an average of $837 per year. As a percentage of income, middle-income households gain the most with a 1% increase in disposable income. Lowest income households gain very little, while the highest-income households go backwards by 0.3%. <hr /> <iframe id="kAPmC" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/kAPmC/3/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe> <hr /> <h2>The rejig does a better job of fighting bracket creep</h2> And we’ve found something else. The original version of the Stage 3 tax cuts was advertised as a measure to overcome <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-2-main-arguments-against-redesigning-the-stage-3-tax-cuts-are-wrong-heres-why-221975">bracket creep</a>, which is what happens when a greater proportion of taxpayers’ income gets pushed into higher tax brackets as incomes climb. We have found it wouldn’t have done it for most of the income groups, leaving all but the highest-earning group paying more tax after the change in mid-2024 than it used to in 2018. The rejigged version of Stage 3 should compensate for bracket creep better, leaving the top two groups paying less than they did in 2018 and compensating the bottom three better than the original Stage 3. <hr /> <iframe id="YG0cT" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/YG0cT/1/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe> <hr /> Not too much should be made of the increase in tax rates in the lowest income group between 2018 ad 2024 because some of it reflects stronger income growth. We find that overall, the redesigned Stage 3 does a better job of offsetting bracket creep than the original. It is also better targeted to middle and upper-middle income households. Having said that, the average benefit in dollar terms isn’t big. At about $1,000 per year for middle and upper-middle income households and costing the budget about what the original Stage 3 tax cuts would have cost, its inflationary impact compared to the original looks modest.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221851/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ben-phillips-98866">Ben Phillips</a>, Associate Professor, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Director, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a> Image credits: Shutterstock This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/stage-3-stacks-up-the-rejigged-tax-cuts-help-fight-bracket-creep-and-boost-middle-and-upper-middle-households-221851">original article</a>.

Money & Banking

How household gas leaks affect your home in Adelaide

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you're an Adelaide local, you'll know the city is as notorious for its hot summers as it is for its icy winters. One common necessity across all seasons is the reliance on gas. Be it for the central heating in winter or that gas oven whipping up a delightful roast, we can't really do without it. However, any discussion about gas and electricity supply here would be incomplete without addressing household gas leaks in Adelaide. <span style="font-size: 17pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Silent Stalker: Gas Leaks <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Often undetected and woefully underestimated, gas leaks can become a real concern if not addressed promptly. The main culprit in residential settings usually boils down to faulty gas appliances. An incorrectly installed gas appliance or ageing unit can develop leaks over time, silently emitting gas into your living space. <span style="font-size: 17pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Signs of a Gas Leak <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, what are the <a style="text-decoration: none;" href="https://cyberairconditioning.com.au/blog/what-do-gas-leaks-smell-like/"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #1155cc; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; -webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">indicators of a gas leak</a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">? In the absence of an instinctive warning, we might unknowingly be dealing with a perilous scenario right at our fingertips. Luckily, nature offers us a clear heads-up: our sense of smell. Indeed, that rotten-egg-like aroma you sniff is likely due to the addition of a chemical called Mercaptan to your natural gas supply, which serves as a leak alert. Thus, if your nose detects something unpleasant in the air, it's a credible signal that a gas leak is present. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2023/12/GasLeaks02.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apart from the smell, other signs include a higher-than-usual gas bill, dead patches on your lawn, or the persistent sound of a hissing near gas lines. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what do you do if you suspect a gas leak? Well, common sense and caution are your top mates here. <span style="font-size: 17pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When a Gas Leak Occurs <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Start by making sure you're not creating an ignition source. This means avoiding lighting matches or using a cigarette lighter inside your home. Similarly, don't operate electrical equipment close to the suspected leak area. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ensuring good air circulation is paramount in such situations, so swing open your doors and windows to facilitate the diffusion of the gas. If the odour is overpowering, promptly guide your loved ones and pets to a secure location outdoors. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2023/12/GasLeaks03.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once you're in a safe position, immediately dial emergency services. And remember, attending to a gas leak isn't a task you just anyone can do. <span style="font-size: 17pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What Happens If a Gas Leak Goes Unnoticed <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A frequently unobserved gas leak can pose significant dangers in your home. While it's crucial to heed the signs, smell gas, and call in professional help, it's also vital to understand what can happen if a gas leak goes unnoticed. As Adelaide homeowners, it's our responsibility to remain well-informed on the consequences of an ignored gas leak and be prepared to take swift action. <span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Health Hazards <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The primary danger of an unnoticed gas leak is its potential health impacts. Being exposed to leaking gas—from devices like stoves, heaters, or your gas water heater—can induce an array of symptoms, including <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/health/body/6-ways-to-combat-headaches-without-painkillers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">headaches</a>, dizziness, nausea, and weariness. These minor symptoms could potentially worsen to more critical health conditions, such as breathing difficulties, memory impairment, and in severe situations, unconsciousness. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Furthermore, carbon monoxide, an invisible and odourless hazardous gas that occurs from malfunctioning gas or electrical appliances, can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning. This condition can display symptoms resembling flu but can escalate to chronic neurological impairment or even prove fatal in the long run. <span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fire or Explosion Risk <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A more immediate danger of an unnoticed gas leak is the potential for a fire or explosion. When the concentration of leaked gas in the air reaches a threshold level, even the smallest spark or open flame can ignite it. This might result from someone lighting a match or a cigarette lighter or inadvertently switching on an electrical device near the gas leak source. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consequently, the ignited gas can cause a destructive fire or explosion, leading to significant property damage, serious injuries, or fatalities. <span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Environmental Impact <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Say, for example, your outdoor gas metre is damaged or the gas pipes buried in your garden develop leaks. The escaped gas can cause harm to your plants and lawn, creating dead patches of grass, discoloured vegetation, or stunted growth. Furthermore, prolonged leaking of natural gas can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, aggravating the issues of air pollution and climate change. <span style="font-size: 17pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Call in the Experts: Licensed Gas Fitter <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When it comes to gas leaks, it's critical not to mess with things you're not licensed to handle. In Adelaide, turn to a licensed gas fitter for gas leak repairs. Your gas fitter is trained in gas leak detection and repair gas leaks to ensure the safety of your home. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2023/12/GasLeaks04.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Further, regular inspections and proper installation of gas appliances can prevent gas leaks in the first place. If you've been regularly revamping your home with advanced gas installations and didn't already know this, well, you've been living under a rock, mate. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Proactive steps in your gas supply system, like the installation of carbon monoxide detectors and reviewing your gas metre's location, can help identify potential leaks and prevent dangerous carbon monoxide poisoning, exhibiting your perfect gumption. <span style="font-size: 17pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wrapping Up <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As part of the Adelaide community, it's essential to be aware of the potential hazards that household gas leaks can introduce into our homes. A gas leak can spell disaster, from health risks to damage to our property. Being alert for the signs and knowing when to call in the professionals is our best defence against these leaks. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Secure your home from gas leaks with trusted <a style="text-decoration: none;" href="https://cyberairconditioning.com.au/locations/sa/air-conditioning-adelaide/"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #1155cc; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; -webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Air Conditioning Services in Adelaide</a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Remember, it's always better to have a professional tend to leaks or complications with your plumbing gas system, rather than trying to be a hero and tackling it yourself. Prevent gas leaks, save lives, Adelaide! Images: Supplied. This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with Cyber Air Conditioning.

Home & Garden

Unlocking the wealth in your home for a better retirement

In an era where the cost of living continues to rise, Australian retirees are facing unique financial challenges. Many find themselves in a situation where the bulk of their wealth is tied up in their family homes, leaving them with limited options to fund their retirement comfortably. That’s where <a href="https://householdcapital.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Household Capital</a> steps in. As a specialist retirement funding provider, Household Capital offers a solution that empowers retirees to make the most of their home’s value. Through a helpful and enlightening Q&A session with Household Capital, we explore how their innovative approach allows retirees aged 60 and above to access their home wealth responsibly, providing flexible options such as regular income streams, lump sum payments, and even assistance for those still paying off mortgages! Whether you're looking to beat the cost-of-living crisis, help your children enter the property market, or simply secure a more comfortable retirement, Household Capital offers a pathway to a brighter financial future. Here’s how: <h3>Q: What does Household Capital do?</h3> A: Household Capital is a specialist retirement funding provider that provides responsible long-term access to your home wealth. Our approach aims to provide you with the best of both worlds – to continue living in your family home with the confidence to enjoy the retirement lifestyle you deserve. <h3>Q: How does Household Capital help retired Australians?</h3> A: If you’re like most Australian retirees, the majority of your wealth is probably tied up in your family home. This wealth is a valuable resource that could be used to improve your retirement funding and enhance your retirement lifestyle. Our Household Loan helps Australian homeowners aged 60 plus to unlock that wealth and put you in control of your retirement. Your home wealth can be drawn as a regular income, a lump sum payment to renovate your home, buy a new car or cover medical expenses, or both! Importantly, it provides flexibility and choice, so you can look to the future with confidence. <h3>Q: How can Household Capital help me beat the cost-of-living crisis?</h3> A: Many Australians are grappling with the rising cost of living. Food, medical costs, insurance premiums, petrol prices – it seems never ending. How do retired Australians manage this on a fixed income? In many cases, they don’t. Some give up doing things they love – other forgo necessities. Unlocking the wealth in your home can provide a regular income to supplement that received from your superannuation or government pension. You don’t have to go without. You can enjoy the lifestyle you deserve. <h3>Q: I’m over 60 and still paying a mortgage – can you help me?</h3> A: You may be one of the millions of Australians aged over 60 still paying off their home loan. Those principal and interest repayments can really stress budgets, especially as the interest rate for ‘old loans’ may be much higher than current rates for younger borrowers. For some over 60s, it means they can’t retire when they want to. For others, it’s having to find that monthly repayment from a fixed income that’s already been stretched by increasing rates and inflation. There is a better way. Many of our customers use a Household Loan to refinance their bank loan. Because a Household Loan does not require regular repayments, your retirement income is freed up. Notably, there is no risk of foreclosure if you miss repayments – because regular repayments are not required. You can stay in your home as long as you want with guaranteed lifetime occupancy and retain 100 percent ownership, meaning you benefit fully from any growth in your home’s value. <h3>Q: How can I help my kids get onto the property ladder?</h3> A: Did you know the ‘bank of mum and dad’ is consistently ranked among Australia’s top ten lenders? Typically, funds are drawn from retirement savings, which can have a detrimental impact on the ‘bank’ over the longer term. If your retirement funding needs are in hand, you can use your home wealth to contribute to a first home buyers deposit or help children with mortgage expenses. This enables you to help children and grandchildren when they need it most and use your home wealth to help the next generation build theirs. <h3>Q: How much home wealth could I unlock?</h3> A: The amount of home wealth you could unlock is dependent on the Loan to Value ratio (LVR). The calculation takes multiple factors into account including the age of the youngest borrower and the value of your property. The LVR for a Household Loan starts at 20 percent of the agreed property value for those aged 60 and increases one percent per year thereafter. To see how much home wealth you could unlock, check out Household Capital’s <a href="https://householdcapital.com.au/home-equity-calculators/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">online calculator</a> or call and speak to one of their Australian-based retirement specialists on 1300 734 720. Applications for credit are subject to eligibility and lending criteria. Fees and charges are payable, and terms and conditions apply (available upon request). Household Capital Pty Limited ACN 618 068 214, Australian Credit Licence 545906, is the Servicer for the credit provider Household Capital Services Pty Limited ACN 625 860 764 Image: Supplied. This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with Household Capital.

Retirement Income

We found 3 types of food wasters, which one are you?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/trang-nguyen-1454838">Trang Nguyen</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-adelaide-1119">University of Adelaide</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/patrick-oconnor-109973">Patrick O'Connor</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-adelaide-1119">University of Adelaide</a> Each year, Australian households discard about <a href="https://workdrive.zohopublic.com.au/external/06152b9ff5971843391f39fc4d32a847e56fb907c167a4a645887b0a4bc43000">2.5 million tonnes of food</a>. Most (73%) of this food waste <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622042081">ends up in landfill</a>. This is costly and contributes to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37118273/">escalating greenhouse gas emissions</a>, because food waste rotting in landfill produces methane. So reducing household food waste and diverting it from landfill saves money, improves food security and benefits the environment. To address the problem, we need to understand how people generate and dispose of food waste. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2023.105000">our new study</a>, we found households fell into three categories – based on the amount of food wasted, how much of that waste was avoidable and how it was sorted. These insights into consumer behaviour point to where the most worthwhile improvements can be made. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JvAFaD5f1Lo?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption></figcaption></figure> <h2>Three types of households</h2> We conducted an online survey of 939 households in metropolitan Adelaide between April and May 2021. The sample closely matched the national Australian population in terms of gender, age and income. We asked about the types of food waste produced, the amount of food waste typically discarded in a week and motivations towards reducing and sorting food waste. We identified three distinct types of households: Warriors are typically older and highly motivated to reduce and sort food waste. They generate minimal waste (9.6 litres per week), such as bones and vegetable peels, that is mostly unavoidable. This group comprised 39.6% of the sample. Strugglers mainly consist of families with children who produce the largest amount of food waste (33.1 litres per week). They produce the highest proportion of avoidable food waste, such as uneaten fruits and vegetables, bread and cereals. They are moderately motivated to reduce and sort food waste, but more than half of their food waste still ends up in landfill. This group made up 19.6% of the sample. Slackers are generally younger. They show little concern about reducing or sorting food waste. Slackers produce the smallest amount of food waste overall (9 litres a week), but the proportion of avoidable food waste (such as mixed leftovers) is significantly higher (38.9%) compared to warriors (24.5%). They are more than twice as likely to live in units, with 17.2% doing so, compared to just 7.8% of warriors. This group was 40.8% of the sample. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550951/original/file-20230928-27-f7cw8e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550951/original/file-20230928-27-f7cw8e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550951/original/file-20230928-27-f7cw8e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550951/original/file-20230928-27-f7cw8e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550951/original/file-20230928-27-f7cw8e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550951/original/file-20230928-27-f7cw8e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550951/original/file-20230928-27-f7cw8e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550951/original/file-20230928-27-f7cw8e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Graphic explainer showing the three types of households with their typical characteristics and food waste behaviours." /></a><figcaption>The three types of households with their typical characteristics and food waste behaviours. <a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2023.105000">Trang Nguyen using Canva.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></figcaption></figure> <h2>What can households do about their food waste?</h2> Reducing household food waste involves changing behaviours in both food management (“upstream”) and waste management (“downstream”). Upstream measures aim to prevent food waste in the first place. For example, households can avoid buying or cooking too much food. Supporting households to plan and buy just the right amount of food is a great starting point. Once food waste has been produced, downstream measures come into play. The focus shifts to how we handle and dispose of this waste. When households engage in food waste recycling they <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su131911099">start thinking more</a> about their behaviour including purchasing and cooking. In Australia, food waste management is mainly the responsibility of local councils. There are three ways to target household food waste management and drive behavioural change: <ul> <li> providing kerbside collection of food organics and garden organics, also known as “FOGO” </li> <li> changing social norms around food waste </li> <li> offering economic incentives and disincentives. </li> </ul> <h2>1. Providing a FOGO system</h2> Councils should provide this option at a minimum. This ensures sufficient infrastructure is available to support motivated households to sort food waste. Unfortunately <a href="https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/e6b5c78e1dac47f88e7e475ffacfc49b">fewer than half of Australian councils</a> provide a garden organics system and only a quarter of councils provide a FOGO system. You can explore <a href="https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/e6b5c78e1dac47f88e7e475ffacfc49b">the FOGO interactive map</a> to see how your area stacks up. <a href="https://www.greenindustries.sa.gov.au/resources/adelaide-metro-kerbside-waste-performance-report-2021-22">Most councils in metropolitan Adelaide</a> provide access to food waste recycling through the FOGO bin. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134636">our research</a> indicates more than half of household food waste still ends up in landfill. So we need additional programs to promote more sustainable behaviours. <h2>2. Changing social norms</h2> Social norms, the unspoken rules about what behaviours are deemed appropriate, can drive behavioural change. Examples of promoting social norms around food waste reduction include a <a href="https://www.stopfoodwaste.com.au/stop-food-waste-nationwide-consumer-campaign-summit-communique/">nationwide consumer campaign</a> on stopping food waste and the <a href="https://www.cityofadelaide.com.au/resident/recycling-waste/kitchen-caddies/">kitchen caddy</a> for benches to increase convenience for collecting food waste. But our research suggests some groups, like slackers, remain unmotivated without additional incentives. Economic incentives might motivate this group to engage in more sustainable behaviours. <h2>3. Economic incentives</h2> Currently, Australians pay for waste management through their council rates. This is a “pay-as-you-own” system. The cost is determined by the property’s value, regardless of the amount of waste generated. Renters indirectly contribute to this cost by paying rent. Neither owner-occupiers nor renters have any incentive to reduce waste generation when the cost is levied on property value rather than the amount of waste. An alternative approach gaining momentum in other parts of the world is the “pay-as-you-throw” approach, such as <a href="https://www.collectors2020.eu/wcs-ppw/stockholm-se/">Stockholm</a> and <a href="https://pocacito.eu/sites/default/files/WasteCharging_Taipei.pdf">Taipei</a>. This system charges households based on the weight of their waste, usually the general waste that needs to be discarded in landfill, while the collection of food waste and other recyclables remains free to encourage waste sorting. Recent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.137363">research</a> in Italy shows pay-as-you-throw schemes result in significant reductions in both the quantity of waste and costs associated with waste disposal in many Italian municipalities. The reduced costs flow on to savings for councils that could potentially reduce waste management fees passed on to homeowners and renters through council rates. Giving households incentives to reduce waste and find alternatives to disposal encourages residents to place a higher value on food that may otherwise be sent to landfill. <h2>Reducing food waste is a win-win</h2> Tackling food waste is a win-win for people and the planet. It’s worth using various approaches to encourage people to change their behaviour. Our findings can help inform the design of interventions aimed at reducing and sorting food waste in specific segments of the Australian population.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214482/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dx7RWtfgbVw?wmode=transparent&start=11" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption>No time to waste: Halving Australia’s food waste by 2030 (Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre)</figcaption></figure> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/trang-nguyen-1454838">Trang Nguyen</a>, Postdoctoral Fellow, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-adelaide-1119">University of Adelaide</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/patrick-oconnor-109973">Patrick O'Connor</a>, Associate Professor, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-adelaide-1119">University of Adelaide</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-found-3-types-of-food-wasters-which-one-are-you-214482">original article</a>.

Food & Wine

3 household items that expire sooner than you think

Milk, cheese and other fridge-dwelling food items are stamped with expiration dates that, should you choose to ignore them, will make themselves known via smell. But your house is actually peppered with items that require regular replenishment - many of which are outside of the kitchen. Thanks to this handy info, we're now aware of the many surprising household items that require a monthly or yearly upgrade. From knickknacks on your dresser to the staples in your pantry, your house is chock-full of items that can go bad. Here are a few of the most surprising. Hydrogen Peroxide Expires in: 2 months Why: Hydrogen peroxide, the versatile topical antiseptic used to prevent infection in cuts, scrapes, and minor burns, actually turns into water just two months after opening. An unopened bottle should be thrown out after one year. Kitchen spices Expires in: 1-3 years Why: Household kitchen spices, like cinnamon, cumin and basil, reportedly begin losing their lustre after just one year - both in terms of taste and smell. Brightside also claims that ground spices should be thrown out after just six months. Mosquito repellents Expires in: 3 years Why: Mosquito repellents are essentially useless after just two years, according to Brightside. You can usually tell if a bug repellent has expired by the smell - if one spray doesn't emit the pungent odour you've grown used to, it's time to throw it out. Written by Kelsey Clark. First appeared on <a href="http://www.Stuff.co.nz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stuff.co.nz</a>. Image credits: Getty Images

Home & Garden

Going up! The rising cost of living

You don’t need to watch the news to know the cost of living is rising – and for many products and services, well above the headline inflation rate. The evidence is there every time you walk down a supermarket aisle, fill your car with petrol and open an energy bill. It’s at the doctor’s surgery and the pharmacy, the butcher and the baker. It seems that inflation’s appetite for your retirement income is insatiable. Then there’s the other unknown that affects your retirement income – the number of years you need to fund. None of us know how long we have to budget our retirement savings for. When your income is fixed at a rate to make it last across many years of retirement, something has to give. And for many people, the first things to go are those they enjoy most. A restaurant meal, trips to the cinema, exercise classes at the local gym. For others, more critical things may fall by the wayside – heating in winter, nourishing food, critical repairs to the home or car. If you’re worried that your retirement income won’t stretch to cover the rising cost of living over an unknown number of years, there are ways to boost it. Despite a recent dip in home values, strong growth over many years has seen the value of retirees’ home equity skyrocket. And now, you can unlock the wealth accumulated in your home to <a href="https://householdcapital.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">improve your retirement funding</a>. This wealth in your home can be used to fund a monthly or fortnightly income stream, to top up pension payments received from your super fund or the government. It can also be drawn as a lump sum – or a mix of capital and income. Access to capital is important – you can use it to repair or renovate your home, buy a new car or enjoy a holiday. Unlocking the wealth in your home enables you to live the retirement lifestyle you deserve in the home you love…without watching every dollar you spend or foregoing the important things that make you happy. About Household Capital <a href="https://householdcapital.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Household Capital</a> is a specialist retirement funding provider that provides responsible long-term access to home equity to meet the needs of an ageing population. We work with you to improve your retirement lifestyle: by enhancing retirement income, providing access to capital and improving retirement housing. Our approach aims to provide you with the best of both worlds – to continue living in your family home with the confidence to enjoy the retirement lifestyle you deserve. In providing access to your <a href="https://householdcapital.com.au/household-loan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">home equity</a>, we offer you the choice and flexibility to use the wealth in your home in a variety of ways that suit you, today and in the future. These might include: <ul> <li>Providing <a href="https://householdcapital.com.au/testimonials/bill/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a regular income stream</a> through a regular drawdown facility, so the rising cost of living doesn’t mean going without</li> <li>Paying off <a href="https://householdcapital.com.au/testimonials/dennis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an existing mortgage</a> or other debt to free up your cashflow</li> <li>Setting up <a href="https://householdcapital.com.au/testimonials/john/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a contingency fund</a> for those unexpected expenses, which can be drawn on as you need</li> <li>Covering the costs of in-home or residential aged care.</li> </ul> Our customers – Lynne, Raylene and Suzanne <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8Czho7sfH8I?si=Ih6vH8COkfvGR3xK" width="770" height="433" frameborder="0" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe> Lynne, Raylene and Suzanne have been friends for more than 30 years and although they no longer live in neighbouring suburbs, they get together at least weekly to laugh, to talk and to sew. The three of them sew quilts to donate to aged care facilities, where they are gratefully received by the residents. Lynne was the first to approach Household Capital. She needed a reliable car – but as a widow in her 70s, banks would not lend to her. Instead, Lynne unlocked her home wealth to purchase her new car and to set up a contingency fund to draw on in the event of unexpected expenses. She told her friends Raylene and Suzanne about Household Capital, as both were struggling to make ends meet. Raylene and Suzanne have now used their home wealth to each establish a regular income stream and a contingency fund, giving them confidence in their future and the flexibility to meet their financial needs. Despite the rising cost of living, you can take control of your retirement and Live Well At HomeTM – and it’s Household Capital’s mission to facilitate that. After all, home can be both the best place to live and the right way to fund your retirement. To find out more about the retirement wealth source that most Australian retirees aren’t using, and see how much wealth you can unlock visit <a href="https://householdcapital.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">householdcapital.com.au</a> or call us 1300 734 720 to have an obligation free chat with one of our Australian based retirement funding specialists. Applications for credit are subject to eligibility and lending criteria. Fees and charges are payable, and terms and conditions apply (available upon request). Household Capital Pty Limited ACN 618 068 214, Australian Credit Licence 545906, is the Servicer for the credit provider Household Capital Services Pty Limited ACN 625 860 764 Image: Supplied. This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with Household Capital.

Retirement Life

The hidden dangers of household products

The materials, fabrics and fragrances contained inside our homes are host to thousands of chemicals that may pose a threat to human health. Healthy home expert Nicole Bijlsma says there simply aren’t enough regulations to ensure the products and materials in our homes are safe for consumers. “We have this incredible, unregulated, chemical onslaught in our household products, personal care products, building materials and cleaning products which is why the burden of chemicals is increasing with each generation,” Bijlsma says. “Just because it’s on the supermarket shelf doesn’t mean it’s been tested.” The largely unregulated cleaning product industry is often placed under scrutiny in the fight against chemicals but Bijsma says this issue extends to all areas of the home. “What happens is we wait for the disease to occur in the general population before we look back and realise [the harm]…It’s a stupid system; it doesn’t protect consumers and it certainly does not protect the most vulnerable in our society– our children and the unborn fetus.” Only through thorough research can consumers determine where their products are being sourced, under what conditions they’ve been made and the impact they may have on health. Even then there are gaps. Imported items are not under the same regulations as those made in New Zealand. “A lot of the products, especially furnishings, you can’t load with formaldehyde but if you import them from Asia as most people do, they’re going to be loaded with chemicals…Bijlsma says. Bijlsma advises going back to basics when selecting materials and products, reducing the chemical load, choosing natural fibres and buying home made. “The big problem is most chemicals in building materials and household products have never been tested for their impact on human health,” Bijlsma says. Creating a healthy home is of the utmost importance to homeowner Irena Bukhshtaber, who has recently extended her home to be 100 per cent sustainable and hypoallergenic. “Because our industry standards are so high, usually it’s a local product too…Watch out for imports, from floorboards to air-conditioning, as there’s no way to guarantee what they say on the label unless the seller can guarantee provenance or knows the company.” Despite the time-consuming research process (three years) of renovating the home to a healthy standard Bukhshtaber says the outcome has been worth the effort. “How difficult is it to live with sick or tired family members? How hard is it to live your values? If the outcome is positive then it’s not difficult, but it is time consuming and does require you to spend time researching, calling and discussing with suppliers.” To keep her costs down when renovating, Bukhshtaber advises determining the elements of a home that matter most to you, whether this be using recycled materials, limited chemicals, high-quality design, ethical manufacturing or buying New Zealand made. “None of these things are mutually exclusive but you do need a hierarchy in mind as no one has unlimited budget,” Bukhshtaber says. Written by Amelia Barnes. First appeared on <a href="http://www.domain.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Domain.com.au.</a> Images: Getty

Home Hints & Tips

Perfect perfume or eau de cat’s bum? Why scents smell different and 4 fragrance tips

Mother’s Day is coming up in Australia and that means a surge in perfume sales. Of course, scents are purchased year-round and not just for mothers. Fragrance sales in Australia will amount to <a href="https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/beauty-personal-care/fragrances/australia%5D">over A$1 billion</a> this year. The word “perfume” is derived from the Latin per fumus, meaning “through smoke”. The <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mendeleyevs-Dream-Elements-Paul-Strathern/dp/0312262043">very first account</a> of using perfumes dates back to 1200 BC when a <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Women_of_Science.html?id=S7DaAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">woman called Tapputi</a> mixed flowers, oils and various plants with water or solvents, then extracted their fragrance. The basis of this technique for making perfume is still used today. But how do we smell? What makes perfume appealing? And why does it smell differently on different people? <h2>The science of smell</h2> A sense of smell is vital to all species on Earth. One <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/elephants-may-have-best-noses-earth">study</a> identified African elephants as having the “best noses” in the animal kingdom, not to mention the longest ones. It can help animals sniff out danger, food and mates. For humans, too, being able to smell is not just for the enjoyment of pleasant odours. It can also protect us from toxic chemicals with noxious smells, such as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ershdb/emergencyresponsecard_29750038.html#:%7E:text=Hydrogen%20cyanide%20(AC)%20gas%20has,as%20a%20solution%20in%20water.">hydrogen cyanide</a>. When something has an odour, it means it is chemically volatile – vaporising from a liquid to a gas. When we smell a scent, gas molecules enter our nose and stimulate specialised nerve cells called <a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-do-we-smell-104772">olfactory sensory neurons</a>. When these neurons are triggered, they send a signal to the brain to identify the chemicals. Humans have around 10 million of those neurons and around <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1905909/">400 scent receptors</a>. The human nose can distinguish at least <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/human-nose-can-detect-trillion-smells#:%7E:text=These%20are%20only%20three%20of,never%20been%20explicitly%20tested%20before.">1 trillion different odours</a>, from freshly brewed coffee to wet dog to mouldy cheese. The more volatile a compound is the lower its boiling point and, from a chemical perspective, the weaker the forces holding the molecules together. When this is the case, more molecules enter the gaseous state and the smell is more intense. <h2>What makes things smell good though?</h2> Different classes of chemical compounds can have more pleasant or offensive scents. Fish and decaying animal cells, for example, release chemicals called <a href="https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/BridgeValley_Community_and_Technical_College/Fundamentals_of_Chemistry/11%3A_Organic_Chemistry/11.15%3A_Amines#:%7E:text=Amines%20generally%20have%20rather%20pungent,odor%20associated%20with%20dead%20fish.">amines</a>, which don’t smell appealing. Fruits, on the other hand, are composed of chemicals in a class of organic compounds called aldehydes, esters and ketones, which have sweeter and <a href="https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/Sacramento_City_College/SCC%3A_CHEM_330_-_Adventures_in_Chemistry_(Alviar-Agnew)/09%3A_Organic_Chemistry/9.08%3A_Carboxylic_Acids_and_Esters#:%7E:text=Esters%20occur%20widely%20in%20nature,fragrances%20of%20fruits%20and%20flowers.">more pleasant odours</a>. Chemists have been able to identify the <a href="https://jameskennedymonash.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/table-of-organic-compounds-and-their-smells-revised-edition/">specific chemical smells</a> released by substances we encounter in everyday life. <h2>Smells different</h2> So it makes sense that pleasant-smelling aldehydes, ketones and esters are used to create perfumes. However, some perfumes also contain unusual ingredients that don’t smell nice on their own. For example, Chanel No. 5 perfume – the iconic 100-year-old favourite – contains civet as one of its base chemical notes. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/15/archives/a-boycott-of-chanel-no-5-urged-by-humane-groups.html">Civet</a> is used by perfumers for its <a href="https://theconversation.com/civet-musk-a-precious-perfume-ingredient-is-under-threat-steps-to-support-ethiopian-producers-and-protect-the-animals-193469">long-lasting, musky scent</a>. It is traditionally extracted from the anal glands of <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2012/07/chanel-no-5-a-brain-parasite-may-be-the-secret-to-the-famous-perfume.html">civet cats</a> but Chanel has used a synthetic form of civet <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/99a13235-cdb9-431b-b8f1-e52ce4a10486">since 1998</a>. <h2>Tips for choosing and using perfumes</h2> Our ability to smell a perfume will depend on two factors: how well our olfactory sensory neurons are performing (a virus or infection could affect function, for example) and the volatility of the chemicals in the perfume. 1. Try before you buy You can’t really do much about your sensory neurons, but you can increase the intensity of perfumes, such as by warming up the perfume on your skin or applying to pulse points. This will help to give molecules more energy and increase the number of molecules entering the gaseous state. Specific perfumes will not smell the same on different people’s skin because the chemicals in them can be affected by the skin’s type and condition (dry or oily, acidic or base) and even their diet. Some foods we eat, such as garlic, are released from our bodies through our skin. Those chemicals can mask perfume chemicals. So, it is better to buy someone their tried and true favourite scent rather than risking a new one. And those department store sample sprays can be useful to try before you buy. 2. Moisturise before use When you spray perfume on very dry skin, some of the perfume’s chemicals – the large organic ones that are similar to skin’s natural oils – are absorbed by the skin and then into the sebaceous glands. When some notes in a perfume are absorbed this way, it can take on a different smell. That’s also why it’s better to moisturise skin before spraying perfume, so perfume chemicals stay on the skin for longer. 3. Experiment with spraying techniques To avoid changes in the scent of your favourite perfume and increase the time the perfume stays on you, you could spray your hair instead. Your hair is porous so perfume molecules might remain there longer. However, most perfumes contain alcohol, which dries out hair. Spraying perfume directly onto a hairbrush first, then brushing your hair, might prevent some of this drying effect. <a href="https://www.byrdie.com/how-to-apply-perfume">Spraying then walking</a> through a mist of perfume so the chemicals settle on your hair, skin and clothes might work – but you risk losing a lot of precious perfume with that technique. 4. Keep it cool Temperature will <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5674095_Effect_of_Temperature_on_the_Floral_Scent_Emission_and_Endogenous_Volatile_Profile_of_Petunia_axillaris">affect volatility</a>. To keep perfumes lasting longer in the bottle, keep them in the fridge or cool dark place and tightly sealed to prevent your expensive, heat-sensitive scent evaporating into thin air. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/perfect-perfume-or-eau-de-cats-bum-why-scents-smell-different-and-4-fragrance-tips-203905" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Images: Getty

Beauty & Style

1 in 4 households struggle to pay power bills. Here are 5 ways to tackle hidden energy poverty

<a href="https://energyconsumersaustralia.com.au/news/how-increases-in-energy-prices-are-impacting-consumers#:%7E:text=Energy%2520affordability%2520is%2520not%2520just,in%2520the%2520past%252012%2520months.">One in four Australian households</a> are finding it hard to pay their gas and electricity bills. As winter looms, <a href="https://www.aer.gov.au/news-release/default-market-offer-2023%25E2%2580%259324-draft-determination">energy price rises</a> will make it even harder. Cold homes and disconnections resulting from energy poverty threaten people’s health and wellbeing. <a href="https://www.acoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ACOSS-cost-of-living-report2-March-2023_web_FINAL.pdf">Income support for welfare recipients</a> and retrofitting homes to make them more thermally efficient – by adding insulation, for example – can ease the burden. And when homes are not too cold or hot, <a href="https://theconversation.com/fuel-poverty-makes-you-sick-so-why-has-nothing-changed-since-i-was-a-child-living-in-a-cold-home-201787">people’s health benefits</a>. This in turn <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/319556">eases pressure on the public health system</a>. However, many people are missing out on assistance as programs often do not recognise their difficulties. Their energy vulnerability is hidden. <h2>What forms does hidden energy poverty take?</h2> <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629623000737">Our newly published study</a> has revealed six aspects of hidden energy vulnerability. These are: <ol> <li> underconsumption – households limit or turn off cooling, heating and/or lights to avoid disconnections </li> <li> incidental masking – other welfare support, such as rent relief, masks difficulties in paying energy bills </li> <li> some households disguise energy poverty by using public facilities such as showers or pooling money for bills between families </li> <li> some people conceal their hardship due to pride or fear of legal consequences, such as losing custody of children if food cannot be refrigerated because the power has been cut off </li> <li> poor understanding of energy efficiency and the health risks of cold or hot homes adds to the problem </li> <li> eligibility criteria for energy assistance programs may exclude some vulnerable households. For example, people with income just above the welfare threshold are missing out on energy concessions. Energy retailer hardship programs also ignore people who have voluntarily disconnected due to financial hardship. </li> </ol> <h2>5 ways to help these households</h2> Our studies suggest trusted intermediaries such as people working in health, energy and social services can play a vital role in identifying and supporting such households. First, energy efficiency and hardship initiatives may be <a href="https://www.rmit.edu.au/about/schools-colleges/property-construction-and-project-management/research/research-centres-and-groups/sustainable-building-innovation-laboratory/projects/care-at-home-system-improvements">integrated into the My Aged Care in-home care system</a>. Energy poverty risk identification, response and referral could be built into the national service’s assessment form. This could leverage existing client screening processes. The system’s front-line staff could connect at-risk householders with energy counsellors. These counsellors could help people access better energy contracts, concessions, home retrofits and appliance upgrade programs. A new Commonwealth “energy supplement” could help pay for essential energy-related home modifications. This would help avoid My Aged Care funds being diverted from immediate healthcare needs. Second, general practitioners and other health professionals could help identify energy vulnerability among patients with medical conditions of concern. They could also provide letters of support emphasising renters’ health-based need for air conditioners or heaters. Third, energy providers could use household energy data to identify those that seem to be under-consuming or are often disconnected. They could also identify those that are not on “best offer” deals. They could be proactive in checking struggling householders’ eligibility for ongoing energy concessions and one-off debt relief grants offered by states and territories. Energy providers could also make it easier for social housing providers to ensure concessions for tenants renew automatically. Fourth, local councils could use their data to identify at-risk householders. They might include those with a disability parking permit, discounted council rates or in arrears, on the social housing waiting list, Meals on Wheels clients and social housing tenants. Maternal and child health nurses and home and community care workers making home visits could call attention to cold or hot homes. Councils could employ in-house energy counsellors to provide assistance and energy literacy training. Council home maintenance teams could develop bulk-buying, insulation and neighbourhood retrofit programs. Strategies to reduce vulnerability to energy poverty should be part of municipal public health and wellbeing plans. Under these strategies, net-zero-carbon funds set up by states and local councils to reduce emissions could finance targeted housing retrofits. We also suggest setting up a central helpline to improve access to energy assistance via local referrals. Fifth, residential energy-efficiency programs could become more person-centric. For example, we already have <a href="https://www.homescorecard.gov.au/">Residential Efficiency Scorecard</a> audits to assess the thermal quality of a home. These audits could also explore whether concessions and better energy deals are available to the household. <h2>Building capacity at all levels</h2> <a href="https://cur.org.au/cms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/tackling-hidden-energy-final.pdf">Capacity-building strategies</a> are needed at all levels – individual, community and government – to overcome the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629623000737">challenges</a> of reducing energy poverty. Current obstacles include the competing priorities of service providers, lack of time and resources, and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214629622003553">poor co-ordination between siloed</a> programs and services. Access to essential energy services should be part of state and local governments’ strategic health plans. Housing, energy and health departments could work together to include housing retrofits in preventive health programs. A comprehensive approach is needed to overcome hidden energy poverty. It must include public education, integrated services and well-funded energy-efficiency programs. Regulatory reforms and ongoing funding are both needed to improve the availability of energy-efficient, affordable homes for tenants. Our suggested strategies start with improving the skills and knowledge of trusted intermediaries. Doctors, social workers, housing officers, community nurses and volunteers can play a central role. Using these front-line professionals to help identify and act on energy poverty offers a novel, cost-effective and targeted solution. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-4-households-struggle-to-pay-power-bills-here-are-5-ways-to-tackle-hidden-energy-poverty-204672" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Images: Getty

Home Hints & Tips

How to clean jewellery at home: 14 household items that work miracles

<h2>How to make your jewellery shine</h2> If you want to clean your bling but don’t want to shell out lots of money for a professional, fear not – there are lots of easy methods for how to clean jewellery right at home. You don’t have to save it for your most valuable cocktail rings or necklaces, either. Even the best affordable jewellery needs a cleaning every now and then, especially those delicate earrings that you never take off, even after they turn your skin green. <h2>What is the best home remedy to clean jewellery?</h2> These trusted everyday items are just as good as (if not better than) jewellery cleaner, and you probably already have most of them in the house. <h2>Alka-Seltzer</h2> Drop your dull-looking jewellery in a glass of fizzing Alka-Seltzer for a couple of minutes. It will sparkle and shine when you pull it out. <h2>Aluminium foil</h2> Here’s how to clean jewellery with aluminium foil: simply line a small bowl with it. Fill the bowl with hot water and mix in one tablespoon of bleach-free powdered laundry detergent. Put the jewellery in the solution and let it soak for one minute. Rinse well and air-dry. This procedure makes use of the chemical process known as ion exchange, which can also be used to clean silverware. <h2>Ammonia</h2> Brighten up your gold and silver trinkets by soaking them for ten minutes in a solution of 1/2 cup clear ammonia mixed with 1 cup warm water. Gently wipe clean with a soft cloth and let dry. Note: do not do this with jewellery containing pearls, because it could dull or damage their delicate surface. <h2>Baking soda</h2> To remove built-up tarnish from your silver, make a thick paste with 1/4 cup baking soda and 2 tablespoons water. Apply with a damp sponge and gently rub, rinse, and buff dry. To polish gold jewellery, cover with a light coating of baking soda, pour a bit of vinegar over it, and rinse clean. Note: do not use this technique with jewellery containing pearls or gemstones, as it could damage their finish or loosen any glue. <h2>Light-coloured beer</h2> Get the shine back in your solid gold rings (read: bands without any gemstones) and other jewellery by pouring a bit of light-coloured beer (not dark ale!) onto a soft cloth and rubbing it gently over the piece. Use a clean second cloth or towel to dry. <h2>Soda water</h2> Soak your diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds in club soda to give them a bright sheen. Simply place them in a glass full of soda water and let them soak overnight. <h2>Denture tablets</h2> Has your diamond ring lost its sparkle? Here’s how to clean jewellery using denture tablets: drop the tablet into a glass along with 1 cup water. Follow that with your ring or diamond earrings. Let it sit for a few minutes. Remove your jewellery and rinse to reveal the old sparkle and shine. <h2>Ketchup</h2> Let ketchup do the work of shining tarnished silver. If your ring, bracelet, or earring has a smooth surface, dunk it in a small bowl of ketchup for a few minutes. If it has a tooled or detailed surface, use an old toothbrush to work ketchup into the crevices. To avoid damaging the silver, don’t leave the ketchup on any longer than necessary. Rinse your jewellery clean, dry it, and it’s ready to wear. <h2>Toothpaste</h2> Put a little toothpaste on an old toothbrush and use it to make your diamond ring sparkle instead of your teeth. Clean off the residue with a damp cloth. <h2>Vinegar</h2> Is vinegar good for cleaning jewellery? Yes! Here’s how to clean jewellery with it: soak your pure silver bracelets, rings, and other jewellery in a mixture of 1/2 cup white vinegar and 2 tablespoons baking soda for two to three hours. Rinse them under cold water and dry thoroughly with a soft cloth. <div> </div> <h2>Vodka</h2> In a pinch, a few drops of vodka will clean any kind of glass or jewellery with crystalline gemstones. So although people might give you strange looks, you could dip a napkin into your vodka on the rocks to wipe away the grime on your eyeglasses or dunk your diamond ring for a few minutes to get it sparkling again. But don’t try this with contact lenses! Also, avoid getting alcohol on any gemstone that’s not a crystal. Only diamonds, emeralds and the like will benefit from a vodka bath. <h2>Window cleaner</h2> Use window cleaner to spruce up jewellery that is all metal or has crystalline gemstones such as diamonds or rubies. Spray on the cleaner, then use an old toothbrush for cleaning. But don’t do this if the piece has opaque stones such as opal or turquoise, or organic gems such as coral or pearl. The ammonia and detergents in the cleaner can discolour these porous lovelies. <h2>Dish soap</h2> Dish soap can do a whole lot more than just clean your kitchen! It’s great for regular jewellery cleaning. All you need to do is mix a few drops of dish soap with warm water and let the jewellery soak in the solution for a few minutes. You can use this method for silver jewellery too, but you’re better off using a toothbrush or cloth to wipe down that jewellery rather than fully submerging it. Don’t forget to rinse! <h2>Shampoo</h2> A bit of mild shampoo – think baby shampoo – is a great way to polish your pearls. Stones like turquoise and opals will benefit from this treatment as well. To use this method most effectively, mix a little bit of shampoo with warm water and use a soft, clean brush like a makeup brush to polish each pearl with the mixture. You don’t want to risk damaging pearls by soaking them. Image credit: Shutterstock This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/food-home-garden/diy-tips/how-to-clean-jewellery-at-home-14-household-items-that-work-miracles?pages=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.

Home Hints & Tips

7 ways to clean your kitchen with simple household items

The folks at <a href="http://food52.com/blog/14173-7-kitchen-cleaning-tricks-that-really-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Food52</a> have exhibited some inspired thinking and shown how we can solve various household problems with simple household items. Some of these are way too clever. 1. Get rid of fruit flies in your kitchen Before you flood your kitchen with Mortein, consider this method. Simply halve a lemon, put both sides in your oven and leave the door propped open overnight. In the morning close the door and turn the grill on for a few minutes. Turn it off, let the oven cool, throw away the lemons, clean the bottom of your oven and voila, no more fruit flies! It sounds strange but it really works. 2. Remove hard water deposits using just vinegar Forget toxic chemicals, you can brings your dingy sinks back to their glory by simply applying vinegar. It’s not just good for fish and chips – it’s pretty much a ready-made, powerful household cleaner. 3. Clean kitchen cabinets with baking soda The perfect cleaner for your gunky kitchen cabinets is actually already sitting in your kitchen! Make a solution that’s one part vegetable oil, two parts baking soda and you can clean those gunky kitchen cabinets in no time at all. All you need is a sponge, toothbrush or even just your fingers. 4. Cleaning white sinks with lemons When life gives you lemons, you actually have the perfect tool for cleaning your sink. White sinks can look dodgy with the smallest bits of mess, so combine baking soda with a lemon half to kill germs and bring back shine. Sprinkle the soda in the sink and use your lemon wedge as a scrubber. 5. Toothpicks for mixers and machinery Electric mixers and other devices can open up a world of possibilities in the kitchen, but they get dirty fast. A good way to get around this is by using a toothpick to get into any cracks and crevices that may have opened up. Then simply wipe off the residue with a damp cloth. 6. Get rid of grout with baking soda and vinegar These two common household items combing to make a gentle solution that's very effective at getting rid of stains. Simple make a paste, apply it to the grout and let it sit for a little while. Before too long spray it with vinegar. It will fizz a little, then scrub with a toothbrush and voila – clean! 7. Clean the air in odd smelling kitchens Sometimes no matter how hard we try we just can’t get our kitchens to smell clean. But before you go all gung-ho with the bleach, try this solution. Simmer some vinegar on the stove. This will help you clean the air and restore it to a more neutral smell for cooking and cleaning. Images: Getty

Home Hints & Tips

6 household items to complete your space

Forget perfect furnishings and decorations and focus on the household items that are easy to forget. 1. A comfy seat As basic as it sounds, it is definitely a necessity. We all do a lot of sitting at home so make sure you invest in a nice, comfy chair or fold-out sofa that won’t hurt your back. 2. A lamp Power outages can and do happen, so make sure you’re prepared with a torch or solar-powered lamp. You’ll thank yourself during an emergency! 3. A shower curtain Buy a fresh shower curtain and experiment with different colours. You could also match the colour of your shower curtain, towels and floor mat to really bring the room together. 4. A good mattress This one is so obvious, but have you bought the right size? Is it good quality? You spend around a third of your life asleep, so make sure you get a good one. A mattress should be more of an investment than a simple purchase. 5. Kitchen utensils Prepare yourself to cook! Make sure you have a wooden spoon, a spatula and basic cutlery. Invest in a fry pan and some saucepans too. 6. Potted plants Your home is going to feel fresh and healthy with a few indoor plants around. They will help clean the air and add a little style to your room as well. Image credit: Shutterstock

Home & Garden

The household item with the most germs

New research has found that chopping boards are up to 200 times dirtier than a toilet with an average bacteria count of 61,597 per square inch. Poor kitchen hygiene can lead to serious illnesses caused by salmonella, E-coli and campylobacter. The side effects of these illnesses include vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhoea. Dr Lisa Ackerley, The Hygiene Doctor, has revealed the common mistakes people make when using a chopping board, including washing them wrong and not replacing them regularly. “By not regularly replacing your chopping boards you are putting yourself at risk,” she said. “Chopping boards are a dangerous source of cross-contamination if not cleaned, stored and used properly, and replaced due to wear and tear with age." A survey commissioned in the UK by Sainsbury’s Home found 40 per cent of people are putting themselves at risk by using the same chopping board for meat and vegetables. Those germs can contaminate any food that is prepared on the same chopping board. Dr Ackerly explained that washing up liquid isn’t sufficient enough to clean your chopping board. Soaps help remove bacteria but it does not kill them. It is recommended that you use a disinfectant spray that is safe to use around food. If your chopping board is scratched, it is worth investing in a new one as bacteria can easily hide in scratches and crevices. Dr Ackerly said, “A good tip is when a board gets so rough you could snag a cloth on it, then it is time to replace it.” Image credit: Shutterstock

Home & Garden

How many of these dirty spots in the home are you guilty of NOT cleaning?

Just when you think you’ve got the house spick and span, along comes a list like this to keep you on your toes. Ceiling fans The tops of these can get dusty and grimy quickly, especially if they are anywhere near the kitchen. Get up there with a hot soapy cloth and give them a good wipe down. TV remote Dirty fingers can leave sticky marks on your remote, which should be cleaned with a slightly damp cloth. If you ever eat in front of the TV you can just imagine how dirty the remote must be. Dustpan and brush The products that clean up the mess need a wash now and then too. A soak in a bucket of hot water and bleach is a great way to clean these. Then allow to dry in the sun. Yoga mat All that Zen-sweat can be a breeding ground for bacteria. Give your yoga mat a clean regularly by taking it in the shower with you and rubbing it with soap or shower gel, then dry on the line. While you’re in the mood, pop your gym bag in the wash too. Cloth bags If you’re toting around your groceries in a cloth bag, little bits of food can start to accumulate in the bottom. Throw them in the washing machine regularly to keep them in good condition. Tops of doors and picture rails What you don’t see can easily be forgotten but the tops of doors and rails can quickly accumulate dust and grime. Get up there with a hot soapy cloth, followed by a buff with a dry clean cloth. Bathroom door handle We don’t need to go into too much detail as to why you need to clean this, but it is important that you do it. Fridge seals and handle The grime that gets in your seals can be easily removed with a hot soapy cloth. Remember to clean the handle regularly too – just think how many times you open the fridge when preparing food (with potentially sticky fingers). Hairbrush All that hair and dead skin accumulates quickly in a brush. Remove any hair and then use hot soapy water to soak your brushes. Allow them to dry in the sun. Sponges It’s scary to think that the item you use to clean your whole kitchen could be harbouring some serious bacteria. You need to regularly clean your sponges and cloths by soaking them in the sink with a big glug of bleach in hot water. Image: Getty Images

Home Hints & Tips

15 plants that are poisonous to dogs

<h3>Plants and your pup</h3> Plants are having a real moment right now, and for good reason. They add beauty to your home, help you feel more in tune with nature, and they even boast health benefits. Unfortunately, some of the most popular and best indoor plants are toxic to dogs, who don’t know which ones are safe to munch on or play with and which absolutely aren’t. With veterinary help, we’re calling out the most common indoor and outdoor poisonous plants for dogs so you can avoid or get rid of them and replace them with some pup-friendly options. If you suspect that your pup has munched on a poisonous plant for dogs, consult your vet immediately. <h3>Aloe Vera</h3> Toxic components: saponins, anthraquinones Because it’s so easy to maintain and boasts medicinal qualities, aloe vera is a common household plant that people keep both indoors and outdoors. Unfortunately, the gooey gel beloved for its soothing benefits also contains two components that make this plant toxic to dogs when consumed. Typically, signs of ingestion include lethargy and upset stomach, including vomiting and diarrhoea. If you bring this plant into your home, we recommend keeping it high up – like on a sink ledge – so it’s inaccessible. <h3>Golden Pothos (epipremnum aureum)</h3> Toxic component: insoluble calcium oxalates The winding, ivy-like golden pothos (“Devil’s Ivy”) is another poisonous plant for dogs that contains insoluble calcium oxalates – glass-like crystals that can cause severe irritation when eaten. One of the key symptoms is oral itching and irritation, which can sometimes lead to intense burning and pain in and around your pet’s mouth. It can also lead to excessive drooling, vomiting, or difficulty swallowing. <h3>Milk Weed</h3> Toxic components: cardiotoxins, neurotoxins Though it’s a wonderful beacon for some of our favourite insects – including monarch butterflies and tussock moths – milkweed is one of those plants toxic to dogs. Some species contain cardiotoxins that affect a pet’s heart, while others contain neurotoxins that can affect organ function and mental state. As such, this plant should always be kept outdoors and/or out of reach from your dog. When consumed, it can cause severe reactions, including depression, weakness and diarrhoea, followed by more intense reactions such as seizures, breathing difficulty, organ failure and death. <h3>Sago Palm (cycas revoluta)</h3> Toxic component: cycasin The sago palm is leafy, beautiful and very easy to grow, which makes it a popular choice as an indoor plant. However, this plant’s toxic to dogs, so you should definitely keep it out of your house. “If consumed by your dog, the sago palm causes severe vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain, as well as stumbling, tremors, seizures and temperature-regulation issues,” warns veterinarian Christie Long. “Ultimately, it causes liver failure, and death can occur with ingestion of an amount as small as a single seed.” <div class="slide-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #444444; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"> </div> <h3>Azaleas (rhododendron)</h3> Toxic component: grayantoxin Azaleas are colourful and interesting to look at, so it’s easy to see why your dog might be attracted to them. Unfortunately, all parts of the azalea plant are poisonous to dogs, including the flower, leaves, seeds and even honey that’s made from the nectar. “When azaleas are consumed by your dog, it can result in hypersalivation, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle weakness, vision problems, slow heart rate (bradycardia), heart arrhythmia and/or low blood pressure (hypotension), cardiovascular collapse, and possible death,” warns vet Shelly Zacharias. <div class="slide-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #444444; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"> </div> <h3>Tulips (tulipa)</h3> Toxic components: tulipalin A and B Tulips are one of the most popular plants come springtime, but they can cause big problems for curious canines. The flower and stem parts of the plant are toxic, but the bulbs are especially dangerous when consumed. Clinical signs of ingestion include vomiting, diarrhoea, hypersalivation, and even depression. <div class="slide-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #444444; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"> </div> <h3>Garlic and onion (allium species)</h3> Toxic component: n-propyl disulfide Though it’s easy to assume that all vegetables and herbs found in the garden are perfectly OK for your pup, that’s not always true. The allium species – which includes garlic and onions – are poisonous plants for dogs. “Any plant in the allium family, if ingested in large enough quantities, can cause a severe reaction in the bloodstream called hemolysis, in which red blood cells are destroyed in large numbers,” says Dr. Long. “The results are severe weakness, rapid breathing, and red-coloured urine.” She adds that forced vomiting by a veterinarian is key here, and many dogs will require blood transfusions to replace the blood cells that are damaged in order to survive. <div class="slide-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #444444; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"> </div> <h3>Dumb cane (diffenbachia)</h3> Toxic components: insoluble calcium oxalates, proteolytic enzyme This stout, leafy tropical indoor low light houseplant may be pretty, but it should be kept out of reach of canines. “This plant contains calcium oxalate crystals, which are similar to microscopic pieces of glass resembling needles,” explains Dr Zacharias. “Chewing or ingesting it causes toxicity. Common symptoms are vomiting, swelling of the mouth and/or throat, severe oral pain, pawing at mouth or eyes, severe skin irritation, agitation, coughing, gagging and hypersalivation.” Simply coming into contact with the plant can cause symptoms, as well. If your dog’s eyes and skin are exposed, flush immediately or give them a bath. <div class="slide-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #444444; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"> </div> <h3>Elephant’s ear (alocasia)</h3> Toxic component: insoluble calcium oxalates Alocasia – also known as elephant’s ear – is a striking dark green plant commonly found indoors. Like dumb cane, it contains glass-like insoluble oxalate crystals that can cause severe irritation both internally and externally, notes the Pet Poison Hotline. If consumed, an immediate visit to your vet is recommended to monitor and treat symptoms. If your dog’s skin or eyes has become irritated by the plant, a bath and/or flushing the skin and eyes with water is recommended. <div class="slide-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #444444; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"> </div> <h3>Citrus plants and peels (rutaceae family)</h3> Toxic components: essential oils and psoralens “Many [citrus] plants that produce edible fruit – including grapefruit, oranges and lemons – are toxic if the actual plant portion is ingested. For example, the skin of the fruit, the leaves, or stems can often be dangerous,” says Dr Zacharias. Whether you grow these plants in your yard or bring them into your home from the grocery store, keep your dog away from them. Reactions may not be as severe as with other plants toxic to dogs, but if you suspect consumption, call your vet for guidance. They may request that you bring your dog in, especially if severe symptoms occur. <div class="slide-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #444444; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"> </div> <h3>Oleander (nerium oleander)</h3> Toxic component: cardiac glycosides Oleander, known for its white or pink flowers and height that provides privacy between yards, is another poisonous plant for dogs. “Oleander ingestion causes extreme salivation, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and lethargy. In severe cases, it causes liver failure and death, and it can ultimately interfere with the heart’s ability to beat properly,” explains Dr Long. “Once it is known that the dog ingested these poisonous leaves, rapid transfer to a veterinary hospital where vomiting can be induced is key. Supportive therapy with drugs designed to control gastrointestinal signs, as well as reverse liver and heart issues, is key to survival.” <div class="slide-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #444444; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"> </div> <h3>Snake plants (sansevieria trifasciata)</h3> Toxic component: saponins Because of its striking appearance and the fact that it’s a houseplant that’s very hard to kill, snake plants are found in houses all across the world. Unfortunately, they are also poisonous plants for dogs and can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea if consumed. It’s important to contact your veterinarian right away if you think your dog has ingested any portion of a snake plant. Depending on the severity, you may need to simply monitor and treat your dog’s symptoms, or you may need to take your dog in for more aggressive treatment. <div class="slide-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #444444; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"> </div> <h3>Morning glory (ipomoea)</h3> Toxic component: indole alkaloids This beautiful vine plant that flowers in the morning may be irresistible to humans – and also to dogs – who might be tempted to chomp on them when they open. “The seeds are most toxic, and canine consumption can cause vomiting, nausea, pupil dilation (mydriasis), hallucinations, incoordination, diarrhoea, anaemia, confusion and liver failure,” notes Dr Zacharias. Go to your veterinarian or an emergency veterinary centre right away if you suspect consumption. Treatment consists of activated charcoal, IV-fluid administration, and ongoing symptomatic support. <div class="slide-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #444444; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"> </div> <h3>Lily of the valley (convallaria majalis)</h3> Toxic component: cardenolides Lily of the valley is a beloved indoor and outdoor flower, but pet parents should not introduce it to their home or garden since this plant’s toxic to dogs. Known for its delicate white flowers, it is a highly poisonous plant for dogs and can result in vomiting, irregular heartbeat, reduced blood pressure, confusion and disorientation. In severe cases, it can even cause seizures or lead to a coma. Consult your veterinarian immediately for further instruction if you suspect your dog has consumed this plant. <div class="slide-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #444444; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"> </div> <h3>Yew (taxus)</h3> Toxic component: taxine Yew is an evergreen shrub typically found outdoors. “If ingested, it can cause sudden death, trembling, muscle weakness, trouble breathing, collapse and heart arrhythmia,” says D. Zacharias. “If you suspect your canine has eaten any part of this plant, immediately go to your veterinarian or emergency veterinary centre. Treatment will consist of gastrointestinal decontamination – activated charcoal or possibly gastric lavage or an enema – as well as IV-fluid therapy and supportive therapy for any respiratory or cardiovascular function.” Image: Getty

Home Hints & Tips

Household items you should use a beauty products

Your house is full of products that can be repurposed as effective beauty products. From static-y hair to puffy eyes, we bet you’ve already got the fix at home! Oatmeal: If your skin is feeling dry, add unsweetened oatmeal to your bath to help sooth your skin. This can also help when the little ones get chicken pox. Spray starch: No time to wash your hair? If you’re out of dry shampoo, try baby powder or spray starch, both of which have similar ingredients as your favourite dry shampoo sprays. Coconut oil: Coconut oil has amazing moisturising benefits. Apply it to your hair and use it as a hair mask or rub it on your skin to use it as a body moisturiser. Dryer sheets: Static-y hair? Banish flyaway hair by running a dryer sheet over your strands. It has the same effect on your hair as it does on your clothes. Green tea bags: If your eyes are puffy as a result of a lack of sleep, try de-puffing them by applying chilled, moist green tea bags under your eyes for five minutes. The caffeine and coolness help to reduce the swelling. Tape: If you can’t seem to get your cat-eye liner straight, apply a piece of tape to the side of your eye to act as a stencil for your line. Baking soda: This one is a cult classic at this point, but it’s worth repeating for anyone unaware: Brush your teeth with baking soda before your toothpaste to get whiter, brighter teeth. Matches: If you find yourself with a broken nail and you’re lacking a nailfile, use the striking strip of a matchbook in the meantime. Petroleum jelly: Apply some to your pulse points before spritzing your favourite scent on to make it last longer! Image credits: Getty Images

Beauty & Style

17 things you need to throw out ASAP

Dangers in the home You wouldn’t think old pancake mix, spices, or makeup could be a problem – but they have the potential to make you very sick. Remove the dangers from your household with this handy guide. Off-brand phone chargers You may be tempted to buy that cheapy model at the airport, but studies show this can pose dangers to your expensive smartphone. Ken Shirriff of How-To Geek took a dozen chargers and put them to the test. He found that most off-brand chargers provided inconsistent power, leading to battery damage. Old pancake mix According to experts at DoesItGoBad.com, packaged pancake mixes (along with many other cake mixes) can be toxic in certain circumstances. It’s a breeding ground for hard-to-spot mould and bacteria, which can be fatal for allergy sufferers. If it is past the “best by” date on the label, toss that expired box or bag right away. Dried flowers Pets tend to chew on things they aren’t supposed to – and that can be dangerous if you have dried flower arrangements lying around. According to The Nest, the issue is twofold: The flowers themselves pose a threat, and so do the materials used to make the flower arrangements. Many plants are toxic to both dogs and cats, and these materials can cause serious intestinal blockages or even acute poisoning. Expired makeup Yes, beauty products do go bad. Even worse – they can cause breakouts, skin parasites, infections, and loss of vision if not disposed of at the proper time. While it may be difficult to toss away our precious samples, old makeup can serve as a breeding ground for germs, harbouring nasty bacteria that can wreak some serious damage. Wire hangers Keeping your clothes on flimsy metal for too long can damage your favourite pieces. Maeve Richmond, a home organisation expert and founder of Maeve’s Method, tells Well and Good: “Wire hangers truly are too thin." "Not only can they cause awkward stretch marks on clothes, but they will bend over time, causing unsightly bunch-ups in our closets, and our clothing to hang at funny angles.” Old dish sponges A study published in Scientific Advances reveals that the most bacteria-riddled thing in your house is your kitchen sponge. Their porous nature and liquid-absorbing abilities make them the ideal living space. Even if you’re practicing proper hygiene – soaping and rinsing the sponge regularly – it won’t be enough. Experts recommend replacing your kitchen sponge weekly. Stale spices Most people choose to believe spices can last forever – they don’t. A report from the FDA notes that common imported spices are contaminated with salmonella at twice the rate of all other imported foods, including coriander, oregano, basil, sesame seeds and black pepper. If you want to avoid an unexpected bout of food poisoning, make sure to clean out your pantry regularly. Cheap jewellery Those bargain deals are too good to be true: A non-profit organisation called The Ecology Centre ran tests on 99 pieces of jewellery that were purchased from 14 different discount stores. They found that over half of the jewellery – all of which cost less than ten dollars – had high levels of toxic chemicals; 27 of the pieces had lead levels that exceeded the safe limit (300 ppm) for children’s products. Air freshener You may be a fan of the way they make your house or car smell, but air fresheners can contain serious toxins called phthalates – and many don’t even list them as an active ingredient. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, those toxins can easily affect hormones and reproductive health, especially in children. Side effects for men included lower testosterone levels, decreased sperm counts, and lower sperm quality. Plastic containers Tupperware, Gladware, Snapware, you name it – everyone has a collection of plastic containers. They’re great for storing leftovers, but studies show these can contain high levels of bisphenol-A (BPA), a toxin frequently found in plastics. Even in low doses, it can have a significant impact on hormonal balance and the brain. Make sure to never use plastic containers in the microwave unless they are labelled microwave safe. Try using glass or stainless steel containers instead. Fabric sprays While they might protect your couches and chairs from stains, many of these sprays contain questionable chemicals that can contaminate the air in your house. The National Consumer Affairs Centre of Japan found fluorine resin in four of seven major spray brands. The size of the particles was enough that inhaling the spray would pose a significant health risk. Old contact lens case If you’re neglecting the case you store your contacts in, you’re risking an eye infection according to optometrist Reecha Kampani, OD. She advises throwing out your solution daily and replacing the lens case once every three months. Using a case for too long can add to pathogen build-up, leading to potential scarring and vision loss. Old electronics How many old mobile phones do you have cluttering up drawers? How about out-dated laptops stacked in the closet? You need to get rid of them because they’re chock full of toxic stuff, like arsenic, lead and cadmium, that erode over time. The lithium batteries in old electronics can also burst, creating a potential fire risk. Just be sure to dispose of them safely – they shouldn’t be placed in your bin. Old bras Bras shift and stretch over time – and this is more than an aesthetic nuisance: You won’t get the support you need from that worn-out underwire. According to the HuffPost, a bra’s lifespan could be only up to eight months. If the band is stretched and not fitting as well as it should, it may be time for a new one. Old non-stick cookware Non-stick pots and pans are made using a carcinogenic chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which starts emitting toxic fumes every time you cook. This kind of cookware is associated with harmful side effects to the liver, thyroid, and immune system in general, according to the EPA. Go for stainless steel, glass, ceramic, or iron pots and pans instead. Oven cleaner Most of these cleaners contain highly corrosive chemicals that can cause redness and burns if they come in contact with the skin. Don’t worry, you can always use alternatives like baking soda paste instead. Simply combine baking soda and water to create a safe oven cleaner. Clogged air filters Some studies suggest that a poorly maintained A/C system can become contaminated and be harmful to your health. Their findings note that moisture-related HVAC components, such as cooling coils and humidification systems, can trigger symptoms like upper and lower respiratory problems, eye and skin irritation, headaches and fatigue. Older filters are more prone to contamination, so be sure to change them every 30-60 days. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/home-tips/17-things-you-need-throw-out-asap?pages=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.

Home & Garden

Cooking from meal boxes can cut household food waste

The amount of food wasted by households each year was estimated at <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/report/unep-food-waste-index-report-2021">570 million tonnes</a> in 2019. This is food that has been produced, packaged and taken to shops and homes, only to end up in the bin. Not only is the food wasted, but the greenhouse gases emitted during the entire process – from raising livestock, making packaging, transporting fruit and vegetables in refrigerated vehicles – are a pointless ecological burden. Once in landfills, the food rots and releases gases that are highly toxic for the environment, such as methane. Studies have shown that food waste accounts for between <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/fight-climate-change-by-preventing-food-waste">6-8%</a> of all the greenhouse gas emissions fuelling climate change. Food waste not only squanders natural resources, money and effort, it degrades the environment. It’s also ethically wrong to waste so much food while so many people are hungry. The fact that households waste such vast quantities of food in the first place may come as a surprise. Most people tend to believe they waste very little and often <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590289X19300234">trivialise the consequences</a> of wasted food. But the amount of food being sent to landfill suggests we are not so good at predicting how much food we actually need when cooking. One way to limit the chance of cooking too much or buying too many ingredients may be to cook from subscription meal boxes. In <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622035739?via%3Dihub">a recent study</a>, we looked at whether cooking from meal boxes helps reduce food waste. Are people better off outsourcing part of the cooking process with a subscription that sends pre-portioned ingredients in the exact quantities needed for each recipe? Our research suggests that the answer is yes. We found that households wasted on average 38% less food when they prepared dinner using a meal box compared to when they bought the ingredients from a shop. This was largely due to there being less food left in pots and pans after cooking with a meal box. <h2>Six countries, 914 kitchens, 8,747 meals</h2> We surveyed 914 households from six countries (the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands) that subscribed to a meal box scheme during November and December 2019. A subscription meal box provider helped by allowing us to run our survey on their customers. Households reported the amount of food waste from multiple dinners over the course of four weeks. Participants weighed the food they wasted while preparing their dinner and the uneaten leftovers in pots and pans and on plates after the meal. We measured food waste from 8,747 meals, of which around a third were cooked using meal boxes. We compared the food waste from these dinners to the food waste that accumulated when people cooked a meal from scratch with store-bought ingredients. Our results showed that most of the food waste from dinner is food left in pots and pans that isn’t served and eaten, and is instead thrown away. Meal box dinners reduced this type of waste by 34% compared with store-bought equivalents. Meal box dinners also cut food waste during preparation by 45%, but increased the amount of food wasted as leftovers on plates compared to meals made with store-bought ingredients by 15%. This may be because these recipes offer instructions for how to arrange the food on a plate which can induce people to dole out larger portions before serving. Combining these three different types of food waste, cooking from meal boxes reduced how much food was wasted at dinner by more than a third compared to traditional meals. By providing people with ingredients in amounts tailored to the number of people eating in a household, meal box providers can offer a convenient way to cut waste. Even without subscribing to a meal box provider, our results suggest that taking care to measure and weigh the exact amount of ingredients you need before cooking is a good way to lower the amount of food sent to landfill. This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/cooking-from-meal-boxes-can-cut-household-food-waste-by-38-new-research-192760">original article</a>. Image: Getty

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Cooking from meal boxes can cut household food waste

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