Steve Litchfield

Sourced from Simply Cars , for about £25, I have to apologise if I gush a little in praising what is, at heart, a bit of moulded plastic. But it's also genius. Let me explain... We've all been there. It's time to transport, perhaps once a month, something really dirty in our otherwise well-kept car. So it's seats down and start loading. Old hardware that's been in the rain for weeks, rusty iron, tree branches and stumps covered in flaky wood and general biological muck, garden rubbish such as mown grass, you name it, we've all stuffed it in our cars at some point. And then, when returning from the recycling centre or rubbish dump, the back of the car is littered with damp sawdust, grime, water, mud, and so on. Which then needs drying and vacuuming. What a pain. So I leapt on this tailored boot liner. Yes, you could line any boot, for a few pennies, with plastic sheeting, ostensibly protecting your car and making clean-up easier. And I've done this in the pas...

One of the best things we ever did was get a Dyson clear-barrelled vacuum cleaner. Not just because of the way the sucking strength carries on even when the barrel is full - clever tech there - but because you actually get to see what it's picking up. One look at your house after a few weeks without vacuuming and you wouldn't know anything was amiss. But run the Dyson round it and you'll have a barrel chock full of dust, fluff and hairs. It's amazing. And a bit disgusting. But thinking of all this 'stuff' sitting around on your carpets, waiting to be disturbed and to fly up and be breathed in or cause allergies (etc), or to be a safe haven for mites and other insect nasties.... Try it yourself. It's sooo satisying doing the vacuuming now. Ooh, I must be getting old.