We’ve had an email from Natalie:

We’ve been buying little cheese from our local farmers’ market which are covered in wax like Edam or Babybell, except they’re all different colours.

Can we use the wax to make candles?

I’ve never made candles so I’m not 100% sure but my research (reading Wikipedia) tells me that cheese wax is typically paraffin wax and that can be used for candle making (although some people prefer to avoid it…)

Apparently it can also be used for sealing jars, bottles and the like so that might be an option if you make your own preserves or pickles.

Anyone else know anything more about making it into candles? And what about other reuses?

• How can I reuse or recycle … old candles?

We’ve had a message from Helen, asking:

I have a rubber bath mat that the kids don’t seem to need any more. It’s (to be frank) a bit manky so I feel I can’t freecycle it. However I don’t want to just chuck it either. Is there a way to recycle something like this?

All suggestions gratefully received!

I’m sure there are tons of ways to reuse them around the home and garden. The first ones that spring to mind take advantage of the fact it’s non-slip – cut circles out of the least manky parts and there you go, non-slip mats for underneath plant pots or the like

Any other ideas?

(Oh, and if you’re wondering about fabric bathmats, we covered them a few months ago.)

Friday’s post about Weetabix reminded me of something that happened last week.

After indulging a little too much of late, John was having a week without sugar and he had to find alternative to his usual added-sugar fruit and fibre breakfast cereal. He hadn’t planned it too well and we didn’t have much in, so he decided to have porridge from some oats we’d had in the cupboard for a while.

I came downstairs to find him like a little kid, going “urrrrgh” with the half-chewed oats on his sticking-out tongue – they’d taken on that extra special “cupboard smell”, the one which smells stale and a tiny bit like the other hundred things we keep in that cupboard, from ginger and porchini mushrooms, to liquorish and dried chillis.

Now unlike my unsureness with Weetabix, I know that rolled oats can definitely be made into a facial scrub – but what else can be done with them? I think the “cupboard smell” is going to get in the way of culinary uses but I suspect there is still options for them yet…

We’ve had an email from Jenna to our Compost This address:

I just found a box of Weetabix in my kitchen cupboard that went off last April! Can I compost it?

In a basic, non-sealed compost bin/heap, one of the general rules is avoid putting anything in there that might attract vermin. While I certainly wouldn’t put milk-soaked cereal in there, crushed dry Weetabix should be ok – it’s even recommended in some circles as a starter food for wormeries.

(Another general rule of compost heaps is keep it balanced and well mixed, so keep that in mind if you’ve got a lot of the wheat biscuits to get rid of.)

Aside from composting though, are there any old uses for out of date Weetabix? I have a half memory of a facial scrub/mask thing using Weetabix but a search doesn’t show anything up. Anyone know?

We’ve had an email from Nise:

Hello, I know you have featured wire hangers, and plastic shop hangers, but how can I recycle/reuse those plastic tube hangers that became ubiquitous in the 80’s/90’s?

Please help, I have several dozens! They multiply when I’m not looking!

They were ubiquitous, weren’t they? I have a good number in my wardrobe too.

If they’re still in good condition, I’d offer them to charity shops/thrift stores – they don’t tend to take the flimsy plastic ones from shops (or at least they don’t around here) but they might be more interested in sturdier ones. Someone on one of the old threads also suggested giving strong coathangers to churches or community centres to use in the cloakroom – these might be ok for that too.

Aside from that, you could use the odd one for a homemade peg bags – but that’s not going to use up multiplying dozens.

Any other suggestions?