Waste not want not

Dclutterchique · 13 October 2016 at 5:35PM

suki1964 wrote: »

TVs are set to turn themselves off if they aren't being watched.

jackieblack wrote: »

How do they know? :huh:

It's OK they (the tellies) don't actually know if you are or aren't watching them. It's simply a case of when the auto shut down is activated the telly will turn itself off when no controls have been pressed for a given period of time as it assumes that anybody who had been watching has either fallen asleep or gone off to do something else. It will still turn itself off if one sits in front of the screen for the duration giving it an evil death stare. And most, if not all, of them will give an on screen message approx. 1 to 5 mins before shut down to say something like 'press a button to continue viewing'

jackyann · 13 October 2016 at 5:38PM

Oh I think we all, however hard we try, have the odd extravagance and the odd mistake.
I understood that it wasn't that you 'couldn't' eat the potato salad with hot food, it just got pushed to the back. I have occasionally done that - a few weeks ago with a few raspberries left after Sunday dinner, I put to add to my morning porridge and forgot about them!
I have a stupid tendency to waste mushrooms - I always like to have some by me as they are so useful in stretching a dish, adding flavour, or on their own can be made into something nice.
That means that I don't always have a plan for them and occasionally find them languishing at the bottom of the fridge! This week, in the spirit of not wasting food, I bought no mushrooms that were not part of a plan - now guess what I wished I had yesterday evening ekeing out the 'left overs' stir-fry!

[Deleted User] · 13 October 2016 at 6:29PM

My new TV that I bought earlier this year has this auto-function which is great but not so much if you are in the middle of watching something

then its scrabbling around to find the right remote to press a button in time

.Virtually no waste in my house either especially with food, far too canny to throw food in the bin it goes into me, or the freezer if I'm not going to eat it fairly soon

Slowly57 · 13 October 2016 at 6:45PM

I hate wasting food (but I'm not prepared to be a refuse bin in order to use it up lol).
I hate wasting time or having my time wasted.
I hate wasted imagination (paddy's mums charity shop ladies lol)

Gosh, its a good job I'm perfect :rotfl:

Linda32 · 13 October 2016 at 8:51PM

Time, I really hate to feel I've wasted my time, whether its a day off work, a weekend, or half an hour hanging on the phone to get no where.

trailingspouse · 13 October 2016 at 9:07PM

No hens, or dogs, so that's not an option for us. Also, a tiny garden so composting doesn't happen - maybe it should. Where we lived before, the council collected food waste separate from the rest of the rubbish - don't know why this council doesn't do it.

Lynplatinum · 13 October 2016 at 11:07PM

Evening all

VfM4meplse - I too do the falling asleep in front of TV!!

jackyann - I too do the wasting mushrooms!

Am trying to cure these by a) being on here last thing at night, standing up and switching everything off - marching upstairs to bed and reading for a bit!

Re the mushrooms - it's a problem of being on one's own. The only criticism I can find of L!dil is that they sell things in packets (which is why they are cheap - fair enough) but for soft perishables (mushrooms/pears/cucumber/etc) is that they really aren't very freezable and on your own you only need a small amount!

I go to great lengths to not give big corporations any more of my money than I have to. For example - no heating on at moment but have warm cardie on + blanket on my lap + nice warm laptop !! Also only use cold water to wash hands + face + teeth. Cook on 'roll over' as well - always hard boil 2 eggs thus using electric only the once. All to save electric!!

Also careful with water usage - never using more than I need to boil stuff - usually microwaving veg or steaming them.

I dont know if other notice this but much of this is habit now - it is only when other people come to stay - or if I stay with them - that I notice/ they notice my energy and food saving habits - in short how I live a frugal life! So much so that when trying to get a mortgage last year they refused to believe how low my bills were!
Do others notice when visiting others??

[Deleted User] · 14 October 2016 at 9:00AM

Indeed my eldest DD has a habit of forgetting to switch off lights and if I am at her house I am continually switching them off .Why she does this I don't know, as its not how she was brought up.
They also have the TV running when no ones watching it ??? why ? mine goes on when I sit down to watch something, and off when I've finished ,seems logical to me.
I too make a double boiled egg, and then its one for now and one for 'Ron (later on

)

Lots of things I seem to do without thinking really and I have done them for so long its second nature really. I have three bottles that I fill up and have in the fridge with water from the tap so I always have a cold drink or ice cold water if I am having squash. My kettle I only boil enough for a cuppa, or if I do more then the rest goes into a thermos that I keep by the kettle for hot drinks during the day.

I cook with electric so always turn a saucepan off 5-10 minutes before its done and put a lid on to let it finish off cooking in its own heat.My slow cooker is used overnight to do casseroles,rice puds,whole chicken etc.Means a warm kitchen in the winter when I get up in the morning.

An extra cardi or thick dressing gown ( I bought one of the thick White Company ones several years ago when on offer and its paid for itself over and over a again) instead of turning on the heating just for an hour or so before bed.

I also have a warm knitted blanket that I made to go over my knees if it gets a bit chilly in the evening.My heating bills aren't that high as I had extra insulation in the loft, and the walls have been cavity foam filled

If anything my house gets too warm in the summer

I am always careful with water as living with a meter makes you realise how much you can save by being sensible and its your cash getting washed down the drain.

Recycle and reuse as much as possible is not being mean or tight, its just means that you can use your cash to buy what you want or need without going into debt. perhaps its a generation thing.

I was watching The Victorian Slum programme on TV the other night and a lady on there said something very relevant

'Seeing how they lived makes you so glad life has improved for all of us'

Back then it was definitely survival of the most able for millions of people . A good programme to watch and make you feel so very lucky to be alive today with all the mod cons of 21st century life

Out,_Vile_Jelly · 14 October 2016 at 11:28AM

Since being on a water meter my parents keep old milk bottles under the kitchen sink, and fill them up with water from the hot tap before it heats up to washing up temperature. They then use them on the garden (dry area of the south coast).

I've never kept the tap running while brushing my teeth- why would you?

My food waste either goes in my compost bin for the worms or is collected by the council to be mulched into fertiliser, so it's not just rotting in landfill. I don't like waste, but also don't like eating food just because "it's there".

Slowly57 · 14 October 2016 at 4:05PM

JackieO wrote: »

I cook with electric so always turn a saucepan off 5-10 minutes before its done and put a lid on to let it finish off cooking in its own heat.

I cook with gas and my hob has a split cast iron pan support which is great for this and for keeping things warm or for a really slow simmer

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Waste not want not

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free