HARK! Is that the sound of a sandwich maker being dragged from the back of the cupboard?

Perhaps it’s the gentle rumble of snoring, or even the whirr of a sewing machine?

It could be any of the above, as we are turning to a number of money-saving ideas to tide us over through the credit crunch.

According to a new nationwide survey, families in the South are among the most enterprising when it comes to tackling the recession head-on.

One in six (16 per cent) said they were now mending clothes to make ends meet, while visits to car boot sales to sell unwanted goods were up by 17 per cent.

Participants also came clean by admitting they shared baths (up nearly 11 per cent) while 19 per cent of us are sleeping more and 23 per cent are having holidays in the UK.

The findings come in a OnePoll nationwide survey of more than 3,000 adults commissioned by flour producer Allinson.

The company wanted to understand more about Britons’ behaviour during the credit crunch after seeing sales of its flours rocket due to a dramatic increase in the popularity of home baking throughout the UK.

In Dorset and Hampshire we are the nation’s leftover kings, according to the survey, with more than one in three families (36 per cent) saying they are letting little or nothing go to waste during the recession.

They are also leading the way in other money- saving areas with one in 10 southerners taking up knitting to beat the coming winter chills.

Cooking from scratch in the region is up by more than half, while baking bread and cakes is up by 29 per cent.

Vanessa Day-English, marketing manager from Allinson Flour, says: “We are not that surprised to discover that people are trying to save money at home as we have noticed a surge in interest in back-to-basics tasks such as home baking.

“The number of visitors to our website, which shows people how to get into baking, has virtually doubled in the last year. People are now constantly looking at ways to save money and baking at home is just one way to do that.”

People are also turning to age-old favourite comfort foods to cheer themselves up during the economic downturn, with retro favourites cupcakes, profiteroles, chicken kiev and macaroni cheese among foods topping the credit crunch menu.

However, watching TV appears to be the most popular solution for beating the recession blues with just under half of those surveyed admitting they were spending more time in front of the box.

The survey also shows that health-conscious folk have fallen in love with exercising at home on a budget during the recession, with dumbbells and exercise bikes getting dusted off throughout the region.

When asked which appliances and contraptions were most useful during the economic downturn, more than eight out of 10 (85 per cent) said they were now using or considering using exercise equipment at home as opposed to paying for gym membership.

Appliances being liberated from the back of cupboards or at the top of credit crunch wish lists were 1980s favourite the sandwich maker (85 per cent) followed by the slow cooker (82 per cent), bread maker (76 per cent) and smoothie maker (73 per cent).

Around a third to a half who plumped for each of the appliances said they already owned one, while the rest said they were keen to buy one or get one as a present.