Cut Flowers - How do I keep them looking great for longer?

[NotAMammy]

I love having flowers in the house so after buying our place I bought some hard to kill plants (helloooo spider plants) and I've started treating myself to fresh flowers every fortnight. How do I keep them looking as good as possible as long as possible?
I cut them every other day and change the water. I've read that you should put a wee bit of bleach in the water, which I've started doing, but the weather was so warm my last bunch didn't last much longer than a week. I'm not sure if the bleach helped or hindered.
Any other clues? Does anyone know what's in those packs you get with the flowers?
Apparently MIL can keep flowers for almost a month, but having asked her she just says she uses plain water. I'm not sure if she's hiding her tricks or what...

The beach is to limit bacteria proliferation. I personally never tested how much of a difference it makes. Be careful, it makes pink flowers get hints of blue (a sign of wilting) faster.
The white powder contains stuff to limit bacteria and nutrients. I'm not overly keen of it, fresh water is always best, you can try and sprinkle paringly it to make it last longer and allowing you to change the water.
A cooler house helps, as does keeping the flowers away from direct sunlight.
There are flowers that last longuer as cut flowers: cymbidium (pricy), fudji/tokyo chrysanthemums, alstromeria, carnations, caspia perform
quite well.

I never add anything to the water but I do bleach vases between uses.

My flowers last ages, I buy them from tesco or Aldi as they seem to last the longest. If I put anything in the case it's a pinch of sugar.

Try taking most of the leaves off, as they will otherwise take up the water before it can get to the flowers. If they are nice leaves, e.g. rose leaves rather than chrysanthemums, you can always put them in the vase separately. Make sure there are no leaves below the waterline as these will spoil the water.

Cut the stems just above a nodule rather than underneath, and make the cut a slanting one as this gives more surface area for taking up water.

Roses especially, but actually any hard-stemmed flower, benefit from the boiling water treatment to get rid of any air locks in the stems. You have to have long stems to do this because you need to cut the stems twice. First cut a small piece off the stems, then put the flowers into an inch of boiling water and leave them for 30-60 seconds. If you've used a clear container you will see the bubbles rising up! Then recut to take off the boiled bits and put them straight into the base with fresh water.

I always use the flower food if it's provided. If it's hot weather, spraying the flowers will help them last longer too.

Sorry, "vase" not "base"!

Some flowers just don't last eg daffodils: they are 5-6 days tops, in our house. Tulips similar, but my mum swears by adding a 2pence piece to the water. I often buy roses which never open and this really really annoys me.

I got a week out of the stocks last week, but they had been delivered to the supermarket that day, so were really as fresh as they get.

I bought peonies last Friday and they are looking absolutely gorgeous. I hope to get another week out of them as they are just so beautiful.

Supermarkets will have 'Display until' stickers on cut flowers. If you don't already, have a rummage through, as even the same flowers can have wildly different dates.

Gladioli and alstromeira last the longest in our house. I always use the flower food too. I keep them out of the sun and only change the water when it gets smelly!

Thanks for the hints and tips. I bought peonies from M&S last Thursday. They opened up the next day and are big puffs of gorgeousness right now, I don't think I'll get a fortnight out of them. I used lukewarm water though and I've since read that you should use cold to slow them down.
I'm considering buying alliums the week after next as my mum is a big fan and she'll be staying with us, but I don't know if they'll be too fleeting...