Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

That sounds lovely, @DawnW, & I do like the idea of collecting vintage tupperware for pantry storage. I already had 6 enormous glass jars with spring clip lids, which I use for rice, oats, lentils, chickpeas, pasta.....stuff like that & I got a couple of nice smaller ones from a bric-a-brac stall. I save recycled big jars too. Years ago, somebody gave me 2 carrier bags full of those coffee jars with the glass stoppers as he thought I could use them for my preserving. Instead, I use them for herbs & spices. I've labelled them simply by writing directly on the jar with a permanent marker pen. I do still have some of the usual small glass jars for spices I use only in v small quantities, but I much prefer the big ex-coffee jars, esp as I can now re-fill them at our local eco-shop.
It's surprising what can be done with old understairs cupboards.
F x

themadvix

You must get through a lot of spices if you fill those coffee jars Foxgloves!

Dawnw, I hate to say this, but while the vintage Tupperware might look nice, be careful as old Tupperware contains chemicals which we now know can leach into food and cause us health problems - BPA, and in old enough stuff probably the dyes used are not safe either (red and yellow children’s toys from the 90s can contain similar - antimony among others, I think). Just something to consider.

SusieT

themadvix said:

You must get through a lot of spices if you fill those coffee jars Foxgloves!

Dawnw, I hate to say this, but while the vintage Tupperware might look nice, be careful as old Tupperware contains chemicals which we now know can leach into food and cause us health problems - BPA, and in old enough stuff probably the dyes used are not safe either (red and yellow children’s toys from the 90s can contain similar - antimony among others, I think). Just something to consider.

Oh that is a very good point, and something that had not really occured to me in relation to storage containers. I have a lot of 1980's containers sitting at the back of a cupboard that are whiteish with snap on coloured lids, so as I rarely use them it may be worth me getting rid of them and having a few new ones instead - will help my declutter mission as well  

foxgloves

@themadvix - Well I don't fill them to the brim when I buy new, because I just buy the quantities I need. I tend to get through more of certain things - turmeric, ground coriander & cumin for example, but other things such as fenugreek, asafoetida & ground cloves, etc, I would only want in small quantities so as not to have stuff lurking for ages & ages going stale. But yes, I suppose I do use a lot of herbs & spices - I do grow & dry various herbs myself too.
F

scandimore

Your understairs grotty cupboard of old sounds like ours foxgloves, also a 1930s house. It confused us mightily as there was a door from the hall to said cupboard but then inside the cupboard was a blocked up doorway which presumably led to the kitchen (though the kitchen was absolutely tiny so just can't picture how that would have worked as that would have meant 3 x doorways in an 8x6 room). I did briefly consider re-knocking through from the kitchen to make a pantry but in the end we knocked the whole cupboard wall out into the hall and have part of it as magic pull out drawers for shoes and part as an open area with a window for coats etc. It's still not completely right but better.
Then we swapped our kitchen and dining room around and knocked through between them which works much better for us. Would have loved a pantry though- with a cold slab etc. Yours sounds great and absolutely ideal especially with the shelves made to fit your jars exactly. There's something very pleasing about that! 

enthusiasticsaver

Glad you got your plumbing trouble sorted with just the rodding and hopefully that will be it for a while.  At least you know the cost of the CCTV thing should they block again so building up the savings again sounds like a good call.  

Re containers I have moved to getting staples like sugar, flour, pasta, rice etc from our zero waste shop and storing in glass jars in our larder.  As the jars are clear I can tell at a glance if I am running low too. 

We cannot get into our grotty understairs cupboard.  It is like a tardis storing ironing board, hoover, vax, buckets, shopping bags,coats etc etc. The grandchildren moan as they used to be able to hide in there a few years ago when playing hide and seek but even they (small as they are) can no longer get in there.  Time to sort it when I next get a free day methinks.

foxgloves

@scandimore - Yes, that sounds a bit similar to our house. The houses on the opposite side of our street, which I believe were built a year earlier than on our side, so date from 1935, have the cupboards in the same basic kitchen/previous kitchen corridor space, but their doors are on the outside of the house. I'm guessing that although the houses on both sides were built to the same basic model, those cupboards were probably for coal, as the coalman would have been able to deliver it straight in there. I think by the time those 1930s builders had got to our side, they were maybe getting a bit bored & making a few variations. Some houses on our side (including ours) have nice bow windows, others (not ours) have diagonally set bathroom windows (diamond-shape). I am not someone to be in & out of neighbours houses, but it would be interesting to see how people have altered the same basic model of house over the years, who has knocked through, who has the closest to the mid-1930s original, etc.

@enthusiasticsaver - Oh, that sounds like a 'glory hole' & is exactly the sort of cupboard I love clearing out & reorganising - Mr F loves a good tip run, so we make a good team on clearing out.
F

foxgloves

Evening m'dears,
Pleased to report a nice gentle day which began with this shocking insomniac actually sleeping through until 6.16 am - very unusual & I felt much better for it. We've been into town to get the last few bits of grocery shopping, plus birthday gifts for two of our nephews & a little inexpensive item just to finish off my best friend's birthday bag. 
Small money saving wins:
*Found 3 promising looking novels in the charity bookshop - 2 of them hardbacks & in excellent condition.
*Discovered we had sufficient loyalty card stamps for a free cup of coffee. Shared a toasted teacake to reduce the bill still further.
*Bought 2 packs of a local indie coffee roaster's blue mountain coffee for.......38p each! I feel sure this will now be our best January bargain. It was 3 weeks past its BB date, but is in sealed foil bags so I am perfectly happy to drink it.
*Finished Mr F's big hiking socks - completely free project as all yarn from my stash.
*Found more stash yarn & needles to knit a scarf - I don't need one as have one in a similar colour. If I don't need it for a present, & I don't think I will, I will probably donate it to a charity shop. Could try it on ebay - will see how I feel once it's finished. Either way, it will keep me busy on a night while watching TV without spending any cash.
*Cleaned the house between us with the usual minimal products - I can't see the point in wasting money on buying different products for broadly similar jobs - far too much plastic for my liking.
*Bought 2 rolls of cheapo yellow-stickered turkey foil in Wilk*s as we this seems to have become more elusive every December. Mr F was doing my head in....he was looking at the last remains of their Christmas sale stuff which had all been reduced to 3p. He kept saying "Ooooh, do we need any Christmas cards?" Me- "No, I've already bought next year's cards". Him -"But they're 3p". Me - "Yes, they are, but we don't need them"......
Then...
Him: But these cards look as though they might be Santa models.
Me: Yeah, they might well be, but we don't need any more cards. You were with me when I bought next year's in the sale a couple of weeks ago.
Him: There's ribbons here. Look. Do we need any ribbons? 
Me: No, we don't & I'm not sure if it's maybe a bit plasticised?
Him: But they're only 3p. Hey, what's in here? Ooooh, bows! Don't you want to buy some bows. There's loads here.
Me: No, I don't really buy those any more. You could buy some if you want, but it's me that wraps most of the presents.
Him: But they are LITERALLY 3p!! Hey, what's this? Do you think it's 3p? 
Me: I don't know, but even if it is, it's not coming home with us because it's huge, pink & we don't even know what it is.
Him: Yeah but I reckon it's only 3p though.
Finally managed to stave off the 3p refrain by suggesting we go & look at cat food prices.....while explaining that OF COURSE 3p is an amazing price for anything, but that I don't want to buy things we don't need just for the sake of it. By the time we'd got to the tills with the one item we went in to purchase, I was thinking "Actually, I reckon he was just winding me up!"
Anyway, he is just putting the finishing touches to one of his lovely turkey mince chillies & has offered me a glass of wine, so he's not a bad lad, lol.
Intend to watch a bit of Scandi-crime tonight, cast on scarf & continue to enjoy being a person who actually began the day on over 7 hours sleep!
Love F x

Blackcats

The 3p conversation might me laugh.  My OH loves the idea of a potential bargain and the 3p bargains would have absolutely thrilled him.  He has a money off voucher pinned to our noticeboard £100 off a weekend break at a swanky health spa at the other side of the country.  Neither of us have ever expressed a wish to visit a swanky health spa 🤷‍♀️

foxgloves

To be fair, @Blackcats, we have had some excellent bargains in that store's post-Christmas sale in past years, including very good sets of white fairy lights for 50p, but this time, it really was just the dregs. He was delighted with the 38p bags of coffee though, as it was the house blend of an upmarket little indie coffee shop we occasionally visit when we are in its home city. A much better bargain than oodles of 3p packs of bows!
F