Yes indeedy….free, gratis, zip, zero and totally complementary. Get your hands on one of our handy tape measures for absolutely no pounds and no pence. To receive yours, simply register and give feedback on one of the thousands of tradesmen or suppliers in our directory whose services you have experienced, here.

If you can’t find your particular tradesman or supplier, please send as many details as you can about them to us at contact_us@simplifydiy.com and we’ll add them to our directory PDQ*.

Oh….our mini-tape measure has a 1 metre-long tape, with both metric and imperial gradations, plus a secure keyring so you can keep it handy for those frequent ‘How big is it, exactly?’ moments. Marvellous.

* = Pretty Damn Quick

FACT: DIY is much more enjoyable with music in the background. Indeed, a builder’s most crucial bit of kit is not his cordless drill, but that tired, paint-splattered, dust-riddled portable-stereo. Quite right!

So, for a bit of a laugh, we’ve put together our Top 10 (slightly altered) tunes to DIY by:

• Spirit Level In the Sky – Doctor & The Medics
• I Second that Emulsion – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
• Agadoo It Yourself – Black Lace
• The Vinyl Countdown – Europe
• House of the Rising Damp – The Animals
• Sanding in the Shadows of Love – The Four Tops
• Paint it Black & Decker – The Rolling Stones
• Sweet Home Anaglypta – Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Paintdrops Keep Falling on My Head – B. J. Thomas
• Damn, I Wish I Was Your Plumber – Sophie B. Hawkins

And a double bonus given their 007 topical nature at the mo’:

• Nobody Does It Themselves Better – Carly Simon
• The Man With the Golden Sealant Gun – LuLu

Visit amazon.co.uk, our partner in all things musical, to buy these and many more…

It might be late, but winter’s definitely here and the trees are finally shedding their leaves. This is great news if you fancy using your gutters to make some excellent composting material, but not brilliant if you actually want to drain your rainwater away.

However! An American company called GutterStuff have conjured this sponge infill for your gutters which allows rainwater to flow through it while keeping the leaves out. A great idea, which is also easy to copy.

A good quality shoe makes an excellent hammer, and a knife isn’t bad in place of a slot-headed screwdriver either. But the real thing is much better at keeping your wardrobe and cutlery set in tact.

See our guide to all the right tools here.