Natural beauty

Ditch a few products in favour of some homemade skin goodies. A mashed banana makes a nourishing facemask, cooled tea bags deflate eye bags, olive oil mixed with caster sugar makes a great body scrub, and runny honey a simple cleanser.

Make do and mend

Turn fashion designer and give old clothes a new lease of life. Change the buttons on shirts, use ribbon, lace or other trimmings to add personality to your skirt hem, add a belt to your outfit to knock pounds off your waist. All you need is some cheap ends from your local market or haberdashery department and a little imagination.

Grow your own

Plant some insect friendly flowers in your garden to attract bees and butterflies next summer. Share their enjoyment of plants such as rosemary, thyme, mint and chives by adding them to your cooking – it's much cheaper to grow your own and pick what you need.

Get knitting

Get together with friends and start a knitting group. It's great for your stress levels according to scientists from Harvard University who found that knitting could lower your heart rate by 11 beats a minute and calm your blood pressure.

Luxurious leftovers

Wasting good food cost the average UK family £420 a year say Love Food Haste Waste – we throw away a third of the food we buy. Get leftover savvy. Use brown bananas or bruised fruits to make nutritious smoothies, blitz left over veggies with stock for homemade soup and turn extra mashed potatoes into fish cakes, shepherds pie or bubble and squeak.

Save your scraps

Keep your kitchen peelings, tea bags, egg shells and boxes and mix with your grass clippings, garden trimmings and dead leaves and you could make some lovely rich compost to feed your very own vegetable patch. Visit www.tesco.com/greenerliving for loads of composting and grow your own advice.