Double Duty

LittleBrownFrog

Consider a Mooncup as an alternative to disposable sanitary towels/tampons. I've been using mine for around five years now & wouldn't be without it.

LollopyBear

I've been looking at everything I throw away into landfill and I'm making more and more drastic changes to go sustainable/money saving. I now use washable pads and love them. I'm also in the process of going shampoo/conditioner free. I now use a small amount of baking soda and apple cider vinegar to wash my hair in and although my hair has been more oily, it is now coming out of the transition period to be soft, shiny and wavy. A lot of things we use, we only do because we've been brainwashed into it. Instead of just thinking of 'old-style' as being war-time era, think pre-industrial revolution and you can identify more areas to save in.

I am not saying that everything we have in modern times is bad or unnecessary, but we don't need as much as we think we do.

zippychick

Ive merged this with our double duty thread which shows what other uses people get from various items

There may be another thread but I just can't get it to come to mind....

Zip

Rebob

I was cleaning the oven the other day and got out a wooden skewer for getting at the bits that are otherwise impossible to clean. I use the side of the skewer to drag out crumbs and other debris. I started to wander what other people used for an unusual purpose.

What do you use, NOT VINEGAR lol, for what job that is unusual.

Justamum

I've got two of those "in, out, pending" trays (I can't remember what they're called!) in the kitchen. The bottom one is facing outwards, and I keep my shopping list and pens in it. The top one has the opening against the wall, and I use it to keep headache tablets, etc in.

Boodle

I use those wooden skewers for testing cakes rather than for kebabs lol. Only other thing that springs to ming is a soap dish for keys. Oh and the cake stand gets rubbish dumped on it: currently it has my perfume, a baby brush, a wind chime, a paint tester pot and various itty bits on it. I use a large pasta serving bowl for the fruit. I keep my potatoes in a massive roasting tin. I use anything hanging around to dust, like a top that is about to washed, or toilet roll, or my finger...

There are probably a hundred other things but I can't think of them right now

Justamum

Boodle wrote: »

I use those wooden skewers for testing cakes rather than for kebabs lol.

I use a piece of spaghetti! :rotfl: I got that tip from Linda McCartney's cookbook years ago.

MaggieBaking

That spaghetti tip is great!! I normally use a knife and ignore the gash it leaves in

My friend uses window cleaner to polish up her chrome socket plates etc. I use baby oil for all our brushed stainless steel in the kitchen - our extractor fan, some drawers either side of the oven - just very lightly and it keeps them streak free for AGES.

I use fairy liquid to wash our persian cat, and my Dad uses it for his dogs. (Just the green one though, don't use the anti-bac ones.)

susyrosy

I have a teaspoon with a pointy end - the bowl and the pointy end are excellent for scraping limescale (really hard water area) out of awkward bits in and around the shower.

An occasional boyfriend hoovering the stairs while I write ....

ubamother

old toothbrushes, use in the bathroom and kitchen for cleaning taps, awkward bits of the hob, tile grout and the 'pleat' in the fridge seals - perfect for cleaning the awning channel on the caravan too. One caution - do mark your cleaning brushes clearly so they don't get mixed up by other members of the family when they're too sleepy in the mornings to work it out!