What’s the funniest thing you’ve seen/ read in Take a Break/ Chat/ That’s Life etc?

[TeacakesFTW]

Prior to the internet and the likes of Mumsnet, I used to love these trashy magazines, especially their real life stories and top tips. It’s still my guilty pleasure when I’m in a waiting room/ hair salon TBH.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen in one?

The most memorable for me was one where a woman had moved in with her new boyfriend and the boyfriend’s disabled son. The son was in his 20s, non-verbal, in nappies etc. The woman got involved in his daily care, changing his nappy and so on, and it later turned out that the whole thing was a scam for disability benefits! The man had nothing wrong with him. He could talk and everything!

Oh no, I have job covers. Am I a Take a Break looney? In my defense, they’re adorned with nothing more than polka dots. Not a people’s princess in sight.

Best one I saw was that if you buy a new washing machine keep the glass door from the old one and slide it under your bed to use for a night time potty.

OMG!!! 😂

I use mine as a plant saucer 🤣. Best one I saw was use the plastic bottle tops of your fabric conditioner as egg cups & there was a photo of two eggs in two Comfort bottle tops.

One that had a tip of placing a plastic mixing bowl into a toilet and use the flush from the cistern to create a " luxurious " foot spa experience to soak your foot

Also the page called look the biz with Liz where people would share tips like eat beetroot to bring colour to your lips and save using lipstick 💄

'Fitting tribute' - Princess Di would have been so honoured!

I was about to post this! I still think of it when I want cheering up. Would love to see photo of her at wedding.

Yes I remember that one too! He was watching telly at the same time too.
A fitness instructor I know of was in it as "I'm addicted to the gym!" because she started exercising a week after she'd had a baby. Yes love, clearly an addiction.

Here's an old Mumsnet thread about Take a Break. Some of the posts are very funny.

Take a Break magazine - guess the story. | Mumsnet

I used to love those magazines for a long train journey!
A front page title that stuck with me was
"I handed my child to a stranger to save her life AND NEVER SAW HER AGAIN"
It was about giving a baby up for adoption!

Et voila:

The mints made from toothpaste frozen. How low can you go?

2nd hand toothpaste 🤮

To be fair, I don’t think most of the tips are in any way serious. I said up thread, I had a friend who used to send them in for a laugh - I doubt she was the only one!

Then again, people are insane….

Maybe this is the moment that I realise I am turning into just the kind of woman these magazines were for because I think that looks surprisingly good! 😂😂😂😂

Well, I was pondering using the hard boiled egg tip upthread when winter comes on ...love a couple of hardboiled eggs for lunch😄

I cannot believe anyone else in the world remembers this and has actually put it in this list Bashful!! For some reason it is the very definition of something that lives in my head rent free. I think about it almost every time I’m in a toilet 😂😂😂

I remember the washing machine door as a potty I've!

My grandma, in the 50s, would bake potatoes in the range overnight in winter and give my dad and his sister two each- one for each pocket- in the morning for the cold walk to school to keep their hands warm. And then they ate them for their lunch!

Yes! I actually do tear Brillo pads in half (though I thought of it myself and didn't get the tip from the magazine). I think Brillo pads are brilliant but only need to use one occasionally. They go rusty if you leave one wet so I use half and chuck it away when I've used it. I'm not about to start making my own slippers out of sanitary pads though!

I also remember the loo paper in the toilet pre-poo one, and I've done it in house shares when the walls were paper thin and someone's bed was right the other side of the bathroom wall, and can safely say it makes everything a lot quieter 😬

I actually snorted at this. WTAF…

I remember a ‘top tip’ where someone was outraged at the waste from cat food pouches when they first came out so had started rinsing them out to make handy shopping bags etc. I must have read this about 15 years ago and I think about when I feed the cat every single day!

I had a really dull temp job taking student photos in the middle of the school year. Literally about 2 a day came into the room.
In the corner of the room were a pile of really old magazines of this ilk.

I spent the rest of my day writing the tips from one magazine to another and sending them in.

Made a few 100 quid doing that!
I cant actually remember any of them though.

@Auburngal Thanks for this! My face is sore with laughing 😂