Buying Jeans

General rules

• Take time to try on an assortment of sizes and styles - they may fit slightly differently depending on the cut and the brand.
• Sit down while wearing the jeans to make sure they are comfortable and there is no gaping at the back. 
• Consider buying a size smaller to allow for the natural stretch in denim, especially with a non-stretch pair.
• Bring or wear the shoes you are most likely to wear the jeans with in case any alterations are needed.

Your shape

• Larger thighs? Try bootcut and avoid tapered legs or anything baggy.
• Pear shaped? Low rise styles will make your bottom appear smaller. Wide legs will help slim your figure.
• A bit of a tummy? Look for specialist designs with hidden control panels. Avoid fussy waist details.
• No waist? Detailed waist bands and belts create shape. Tuck in tops to add definition.
• Wider calves? Look for flares and bootcut styles.
• Curvy? Choose classic straight cut or bootcut styles for balance. Choose dark shades for a leaner look.

Petite? 

• Make legs look longer with a narrow cut. A higher waistband lengthens the silhouette. 
• Gap brand: styles Best Girlfriend, True Skinny Ankle and Cropkick Flare are cut shorter in the leg than the rest of Gap fits, so end up the perfect length for petite frames. Gap also offer a customization service that includes hemming. 

Washing

• Wash jeans inside out, and with similar colours - new jeans are especially likely to bleed colour.
• If drying outside, hang them inside out to lessen fade. Shake before bone dry and fold - they shouldn't need ironing.

Good Housekeeping, February 2014 and February 2018

Lemon Slows Carb Breakdown

A squeeze of lemon juice can lower the GI (glycemic index) of food, slowing breakdown of carbs and helping to keep blood sugar levels steady.

80/20 Principle

In any activity (e.g. book clubs and art groups, Women's Institute and Lions and Rotary Clubs, committees of all sorts, amateur orchestras, choirs, music and drama groups, and even Internet forums), the typical membership will fall into two groups.

There are the 20% who are givers - the organizers and the do-ers (e.g. chair, committee, coffee makers, note takers, those who answer queries on Internet forums, etc.). They are what keep groups alive.

The remaining 80% are the takers - they attend meetings and take part in events, and lurk on Internet forums. It is always a challenge to turn takers into givers.

High Heels

Finding that wearing high heels is painful?

As the foot's natural padding thins with age, gel inserts and soles are a must. You'll still feel the burn in heels over 3.5cm (one and a half inches) high, and in shoes where the heel is set back, so keep them for special occasions.

For general wear, the heel of a shoe should be under the centre of the heel.

If you wear heels a lot, your calf muscles can shorten by as much as 13%. To help prevent this, stretch your legs regularly by standing barefoot on a step and dropping your heels towards the floor. Try and alternate high heels and flat styles.

On the other hand, if you spend most of your life in flat shoes, then wearing heels on a night out is likely to be painful. Wearing the same height shoes every day means your calf muscles set in a fixed position. So vary heel heights.

Good Housekeeping, February 2014 and September 2016

Finding Similar Websites

If I can find a particular site, are there any ways that I can quickly find other similar sites. Try Who Is Like It? (whoislike.it/). You simply type in a URL of a site that you like and it will try and find other similar sites for you.

Similicio.us (www.similicio.us/) and inSuggest (web.insuggest.com/) do the same job. Or you could use the Google 'related:' option: just type in a web address in the form of 'related:www.whatever.com' and it will try and pull up a couple of dozen alternatives for you.

Phil Bradley in CILIP Update (date not known)