I found a stack of amazing little secrets that could have a big impact on making your life that much easier, I bet you'll thank your lucky stars you read these when you need them most...

The magic of ice cubes: Never have a lemon when you want to make a drink? Squeeze some lemons into an ice-cube tray and freeze. You'll have ready iced lemon in a jiffy...

Your dish turned out too fatty and no time to refrigerate to harden the fat so you can remove it? No problem, drop some ice cubes into the pot. Fat clings to ice cubes like magnet. Remove the ice cubes and fat straight away before they melt.

Forgot to buy dessert? Run some grapes under cold water and dust them with ordinary sugar and place them in the freezer for an hour. Your guests will be back for more!

Put some salt into your frying pan to prevent splattering!

If you've over-salted a soup or stew... Add cut raw potatoes and discard once they're cooked. They'll have absorbed a lot of the salt.

Is the butter too hard to spread? No problem, heat a small frying pan on the stove and invert it over the butter.

Add two teaspoons of oil when cooking rice or pasta, it will stop the water from boiling over.

The fizz gone from your champagne? Put a raisin in the champagne bottle. It won't affect the taste and the raw sugar will get the bubbles going again.

To keep the egg yolks from crumbling when slicing hard-boiled eggs... Wet the knife before each slice.

Before adding dried spices to your dishes... Crush them with your fingertips to release their flavour.

Pascale Barrow
Managing Editor of Personal & Finance Confidential