Being old-stylers when others aren't

Slinky

I use kitchen towel, supermarket value brand, and make no apology for it. In my childhood home, the kitchen worktops used to be wiped down with one of those horrendous knitted dishcloths. Maybe once a month this thing was boiled up with some soap powder on the cooker releasing it's nasty smells, deemed clean, and returned to the cleaning cycle again. I guess we all had good natural immunity as that cloth must have been full of bugs.


The vast majority of our used kitchen towel goes into the garden waste bin, where it is recycled.


MITSTM I hope I've misunderstood, you're not flushing kitchen towel down your loo are you? It doesn't break down like toilet roll and you're in danger of blocking your pipes.

maryb

when I went part time people told me smugly that I would only end up doing five days work for four days pay. I pointed out that it was better than doing six days work for five days pay! (okay, I know the maths don't work out but you get my point)

ScotinLondon

We also use kitchen roll but sparingly. We use sponge cloths more often than not.

Unlike my in-laws, we use the sniff test and don't overbuy on fresh foods stuffs, they have been known to throw out jars of sauces, jams, bread when it hits the use by date or it only has a little bit left to use up. Its not my house, so I stay quietly seething, but stay quiet. It has taken me a long time for DH to learn that use by dates are a guide and you sniff and a little taste before throwing out (if completely gone mind you) and to completely use the jam jars totally before they go in the wash then recycle bin.

I think it is each to their own in terms of how they spend their money, as long as they don't tell me what to do and how to do it, unless I have asked for advice.

We don't go on holidays abroad every year, Lord we normally have staycation where we live rather than a different part of the country, but it all depends on DH's health and if we can afford it. We save up for everything and do try and treat ourselves every now and then too.

SIL

Siebrie

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Confesses to being a kitchen roll user - because I really/really can't stand housework and any tiny bit I can save myself helps imo. So - yep....initial wiping up of an oil spill on floor for instance. In my current house I frequently spot a daddy longlegs literally "hanging around" - so that's two pieces of kitchen roll (one to grasp it from each side) and then down the loo it goes

Please be careful throwing kitchen roll down the toilet; it is designed to absorb water and not disintegrate, so it might clog the drains. (Maybe you don't, I wasn't sure what 'it' refers to).

Siebrie

lobbyludd wrote: »

honestly I don't care if other people think I am stingy, and I really don't care how other people spend their money, it is none of my business.I've never known anyone comment about lunches etc except an "ooh that looks nice", or " I must start doing that", because most people I work with don't seem to be that bothered about what other people do either? or if they thought I was doing it because I was poor, there is no way they would draw attention to it/make fun of me because of it.

I make my own sandwiches every day at work, and most of my colleagues have made a remark along the lines of 'don't I get tired of the same thing everyday'. To me the variety is in what I put on my bread, not in whether I have bread or pasta. By now, over 8 years, I have saved about €5,000 compared to them buying their lunch every day. It paid for our last secondhand car I take great pleasure in telling them that, although to most €5,000 is not a large amount (international head office - I'm only an Assistant).

maman

Sayschezza wrote: »

I confess to being a little bit cross with a friend I had staying with me when she opened the bedroom window wide because she was too hot but had the radiator belting out heat. I showed her how to turn it off. And her a householder without a lot of spare money. Odd.

In someone else's home I wouldn't normally turn off a radiator as I'd assume that the householder had their own reasons for choosing how to set the timer/thermostat. So I'd go along with the temperature they'd decided on. The converse is that unless it was a very close friend or family I'd probably grin and bear it if the temperature was lower than I might like in my own home.

kboss2010

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

It's something that "Obvious isn't it!" category to me that a coaster gets put down first on a table before putting a mug or glass on it/

But I have been (unpleasantly) surprised over the years by just how many people don't.

Yep, we learned the hard way when we were renting and my flatmate's boyfriend at some point put a cup down on a very expensive wooden side table we'd inherited from a family member and it left a huge mark.

To be fair, though, my family never really used coasters because we never had any expensive furniture to ruin and my dad was terrible for spilling his cups of milky tea EVERYWHERE lol not to mention leaving them on window ledges, behind curtains etc. It used to drive me scatty because the PC was in my room and on the days I wasn't staying with my dad he'd use it for his emails then leave cups behind the curtain for me to find three days later because he'd forget about them :eek::mad:

As a result I've gone a little bit coaster mad now that I have my own place. My hexagonal coffee table has a coaster on every corner and a slate placemat in the middle, my side tables all have a minimum of 3 coasters each and all of my bedside tables have coasters on them too lol. You'd be lucky to find a space on a table in my place that doesn't have a coaster on it :rotfl:

Yep, cart me off to the crazy house!

kboss2010

Siebrie wrote: »

I make my own sandwiches every day at work, and most of my colleagues have made a remark along the lines of 'don't I get tired of the same thing everyday'. To me the variety is in what I put on my bread, not in whether I have bread or pasta. By now, over 8 years, I have saved about €5,000 compared to them buying their lunch every day. It paid for our last secondhand car I take great pleasure in telling them that, although to most €5,000 is not a large amount (international head office - I'm only an Assistant).

It's amazing how often people will judge you for what you eat for lunch. It's bizarre, I would get judged more at one job for making a makeshift stir fry in the microwave (adding frozen veg to a packet of noodles) than my colleagues would for eating KFC for lunch.

I used to take bento boxes and sometimes leftover stir fry. I would often eat with chopsticks and it raised quite a few eyebrows although the bento boxes were always a great talking point. The great thing about leaving chopsticks in a communal kitchen is that no one will steal them as most folk can't use them :rotfl:

I worked with a guy once who was the king of frugal lunches, he had some really great ideas like 25p Asda noodles with a tin of mackerel in tomato sauce (it sounds awful but it's actually really nice if you use cheap curry or prawn flavour noodles!) - just perhaps not pleasant for your colleagues lol.

moneyistooshorttomention

Slinky wrote: »

MITSTM I hope I've misunderstood, you're not flushing kitchen towel down your loo are you? It doesn't break down like toilet roll and you're in danger of blocking your pipes.

Errr...nope...you're not misunderstanding me....

I know that fair size wodges of kitchen paper towel can block up the loo - and indeed it did so on one occasion and I had the unsalubrious experience of having to haul some out of my outside drain.

But I tend to think just the odd literally one or two sheets of it should be okay?

That's pretty much all I use on a regular-ish basis. Just one or two sheets to wipe water off in my bathroom after a shower and one or two sheets for catching the daddy longlegs that think they live here as much as I do....

maryb

[Deleted User] wrote:

Nope! I hadn't used it in years, instead making kitchen cloths from past-it bed sheets. I have recently bought some as it makes cleaning the glass on my woodburner easier. It is only used for that and lasts ages.

Allie a bit of scrunched up newspaper dipped in a bit of water and then dipped in the ashes gets the glass beautifully clear. I always have a couple of newspapers near the wood burner for lighting it so for me, it's easier than kitchen roll