Thrift is a dying art, according to the Women's Institute (WI). Rising household bills and the credit crunch mean that old-fashioned home economics is more important than ever, but fewer people know the basics. This lack of domestic knowledge is costing us dear, the women of the institute argue.

There is evidence of a revival of interest in frugal living. The WI, which has been educating women since its formation in 1915, says that it is receiving more and more membership applications from younger women who want to learn skills such as knitting, needlework and cooking - skills that were second nature to their grandmothers.

Another telling sign of this revival is that sales of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management - essential reading for any aspiring domestic goddess - increased by 13 per cent cent in the year to April. Moreover, all Mrs Beeton titles enjoyed record sales last year, according to the The Bookseller magazine.

Sue Bridger, a WI course instructor who has taught microwave cooking since the Eighties, says: “As well as being useful, domestic science can help to save money. But now we have two generations of children who have not been taught even the basics. We are losing vital life skills.”

Times Money spoke to six members of the WI at Denman College, the institute's training centre in Oxfordshire, to ask for their top tips on beating rising living costs, WI-style.

Shopping

Plan ahead. Five or ten minutes of planning can save money as well as time. Check what food you have in before you go shopping and check recipe books to see if you can use old items before throwing them out.

Take a menu list to the supermarket, so you buy only what you need. Shopping once a week instead of two or three times also saves petrol.

Never go shopping when you are hungry and try to shop in the last hour of the day to get reduced items. Never buy ready-meals.

Ignore buy-one-get-one-free offers unless you are sure that you will use the extra. Look at the cost per unit or the number of portions rather than the price. Value ranges are good for basics such as pasta.

Check how much energy white goods use. AA-rated appliances need less electricity.

Buy clothes in colours that match your wardrobe so you do not have to buy more to match what you have just bought.

Do not buy fabric softener - it's an unnecessary luxury. Never buy cushion covers, make them. Go to jumble sales for old household goods.

Buying sandwiches from high street retailers is “pathetic”. Make your own.

In the home

Don't always throw away food if it has gone past its use-by date. Some items, such as yoghurts, are often OK for a few more days. Store things in airtight plastic containers so that they keep longer. Also bulk out meals with frozen peas and sweetcorn.

Use a three-tier steamer instead of several saucepans, or cook several things in the oven at once. Microwave ovens take less time and use less power. For instance, lemon curd takes 25 minutes in the saucepan, but only three in the microwave. A good microwave costs as little as £40.

“When taking clingfilm from the dispenser to the dish, hold it flat over your bosom,” says Sue Bridger. “This way, it is less likely to get screwed up and you will waste less.”

Families should eat meals at the table together. Never graze.

Read Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management. “When I was first married, I was desperately poor,” says another WI member, “I was always looking for ways to use cheap ingredients. I found a vinegar cake recipe [see box, top right] in Mrs Beeton's book and still use it regularly. My family loves it.”

Use a few key ingredients well. “Grate cheese so it goes further and mix with bread crumbs from the ends of loaves for a delicious topping,” says Mrs Bridger. “If you make too much, keep the rest in the freezer.”

Use leftovers wisely. For example, roast leftover vegetables for ten minutes and then add macaroni cheese on top. Leftover pastry should be kept in the freezer to grate on top of pies. If you use lemons, keep the skins in a bag and use them to put around a roast chicken for flavouring.

Turn off electric cookers a few minutes before food has finished cooking. It will still be hot enough to cook and it saves electricity. The same applies to an iron - it will be warm enough for delicates for a few minutes.

Make stock from ham bones and chicken carcasses from your local butcher. Then make soup from the stock and leftover vegetables.

Keep a Thermos flask near the kettle. “Boil what you need, but if there is any extra, you can use it later for washing up,” says Innes Brett, a WI member for 42 years.

Buy good-quality washing-up liquid, put half in another container and top up both with water. It is just as effective. Cut open “empty” tubes of toothpaste to scrape out what is left.

Don't buy cleaning products. All you need is lemon juice, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar.

“Edges to middle” your old bedsheets. When they start thinning in the middle, fold in half, cut a line up the middle, bring the edges together and sew back up.

Make old clothes look new by adding corsages, buttons and bows.

Offer jars of chutney or jam with a ribbon wrapped around as homemade presents.

In the garden

Don't throw boiling salted water down the sink. “It makes a great weedkiller,” Mrs Brett says. Never throw out cereal packets; use them for compost.

Reduce water bills by using rain water butts and soakaways in drains.

Tomato plants grow anywhere. A pack costs between £2 and £3.

With thanks to Innes Brett, Donna Butcher, Lucinda Phillips, Mandie Bowles, Jean Sheppard and Margaret Church.

For more top tips from the W-Icon, visit www.sky.com/w-icon in October

Let them eat cake: Mrs Beeton's vinegar cake recipe (1861)

Ingredients: 5 teacupfuls of flour, 1 teacupful of melted butter, 1 teacupful of cream, 1 teacupful of treacle, 1 teacupful of moist sugar, 2 eggs, oz of powdered ginger, lb of raisins, 1 tsp of carbonate of soda, 1 tbsp of vinegar.

Method: Make the butter sufficiently warm to melt it, but do not allow it to oil. Put the flour into a basin, add to it the sugar, ginger, and raisins, which should be stoned and cut into small pieces. When these dry ingredients are thoroughly mixed, stir in the butter, cream, treacle and well-whisked eggs. Beat the mixture for a few minutes.

Dissolve the soda in the vinegar, add it to the dough and be particular that these latter ingredients are well incorporated with the others. Put the mix in a buttered mould or tin, place it in a moderate oven immediately and bake from 1 to 2 hours.

Average cost: 1s 6d.

DIY enthusiasts can save a small fortune

Some odd jobs are best performed by a professional tradesman, such as electrical work, brickwork, repointing and replacement of heating systems. But on projects where there are fewer health and safety issues, DIY can save you thousands.

Tim Doherty, of the National Self-build & Renovation Centre in Swindon, says: “Anyone with some practical knowhow and patience can tackle some home improvement.”

Ripping out and installing a new kitchen yourself can save you £2,000 to £3,000. Doing the ripping out yourself but leaving the installation to professionals will still save a few hundred pounds.

Decorators charge up to £150 a day, so painting your own walls is much cheaper, though it is likely to take longer.

Laying your own insulation is more simple than you might think. DIY loft insulation can be done for about £300 and will also reduce electricity bills.

Landscape gardeners are expensive, but laying your own patios, pathways and fencing can save thousands of pounds.

Laminate flooring and guttering should also be possible for capable DIY enthusiasts. But tiling, Mr Doherty says, is not as easy as it looks. It is best to invest in a course to cover the basic skills. Even then, it is worth hiring an experienced tiler for large areas.