Organize your bits and pieces

Hello. I try and keep things tidy so I know where to find things. There are plastic storage boxes you can buy, of varying sizes, to store small items in. I don't spend money if I can find a cheaper or free alternative. My bead collection is stored in various tins and boxes. These two plastic trays once contained posh cakes from M & S, I nabbed them after a party as they were about to be thrown out. The trays fit exactly inside an old chocolate tin, one on top of the other. 

In this tin I have a couple of ice cube trays, and small individual pots made by cutting the top off some supplement containers. I collect all kinds of plastics and have had these for a long time, when I used to take extra vitamins. Yes, I fell into the trap of thinking I needed them, but having not taken any for several years, I now know they did not make any difference to my general health and well being.

Another tin, this one has those small yogurty type drinks bottles in it, with the tops cut off. I buy these if they are on a yellow sticker, would never pay full price for them. They make handy little containers for bits and pieces.

Those Ferrero Rocher plastic boxes make good storage boxes as well. You can see at a glance what you have without taking the lid off. 

Has anyone else got their own unique storage system made with re purposed tins, boxes, jars, and plastic bottles? Share your tips so we can save money by not buying new from a shop.

Thanks for popping in. We'll catch up soon. Toodle pip

Emergency fund to the rescue

Hello. I have been Christmas shopping, for myself. This is my present to me.

I've been expecting it, my current fridge freezer has been going a bit doolally over the last few months. The salad has been freezing in the salad drawer, and frozen soggy lettuce isn't nice. The thermostat has taken on a life of it's own, sending the temperature up and down willynilly, out of control. Now it has defrosted itself leaving a puddle on the floor, so it has to go.

I've still got the receipt for it, bought 8.5 years ago for £180. I was a bit dubious about buying an unknown make, but I had a height restriction at the time and it was the only one which would fit underneath a wall cupboard. Since then the kitchen has been renewed and that wall cupboard was taken out. Problem gone so I can have whichever one I like.

I have chosen the Hotpoint. There are plenty more expensive ones,  but I see no point in paying  extra for the  all bells and whistles version. I don't want a black one or a silver one, or a stainless steel one. I don't want an American one, or a water dispenser, or an ice dispenser.

I had some Tesco Vouchers saved up, and as they have a double up promotion on at the moment, it makes sense to use them on something I need. The price of the Hotpoint is £230, and with a reduction of £49, it makes it £181. I'm chuffed with that. Only £1 more than I paid in 2007.

Luckily I am in between yellow sticker shopping and was already using up what I had. I have been eating everything that has cost me the most money first, yesterday was the Quorn fillets, Quorn nuggets, and veggie burgers, followed by copious amounts of yogurt. There is very little left today, I have just eaten a portion of home made veggie stew, there was no bad smell, perfectly fine, and I haven't been sick yet, ha ha.. The half a tin of mixed salad beans stored in a mug pongs a bit so they have been chucked. My porch is not heated and quite cold, so a few bits and bobs will sit there for a day or two. They said 3 - 5 days for delivery, no charge. They take away the old one, no charge for that.

This is what my emergency fund is for, no worries about paying for it, the money is saved in the bank. Now I need to move the old one out of the way, and wait for the new one to arrive.

I'm off to the Christmas Tree Festival at the church in town in an hour, it finishes today and we have to dismantle our tree and take it away. Thanks for popping in. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.
Toodle pip

I can see the wood for the trees

The morning wasn't too good today, dull, overcast, and cold, so I stayed indoors and got on with the artwork. I must say it's coming together nicely now. I ran out of the yellow paint I was using, so had to continue with a slightly lighter shade of yellow. It looks quite good, so now I'm not sure that it needs any other colours. Have to think about it.

After lunch the weather picked up a bit so I carried on sorting the garage out. Here you can see what a mess it is, piles of wood everywhere, think I have a wood fetish, ha ha. A lot of this was collected from B & Q when I worked there. Some pallets were picked up from the back door of Wickes, the DIY store. They have a special pile where they put stuff they don't want, anyone can help themselves. If I see a nice pallet I can't drive past it without stopping to pick it up.

There is a paste table on the right, buried under stuff and about to collapse. Old kitchen cupboards come in handy for storing small stuff.

I've got stacks of blue plastic trays, retrieved from the skip outside the takeaway. They had mushrooms delivered in them and they are non returnable, so they get thrown away. 

Right, get some of the large items outside, so I have room to work.

That's a big improvement, long lengths of wood on the right hand side, lots of rubbish thrown out. Cardboard broken up and put in the recycling bin.

Timber sorted into lengths, oddments of pallets stacked up on the left.

Nice tidy stack of wood here, now I can see what I've got without having to shift a load of stuff.

The canes are stacked up on the right, ready for the runner beans. Now I can walk in without falling over things. Much better, job well done.  I must say I quite like my garage, well it's more a shed really. It's a bit tumbledown, but it serves it's purpose. I can do a bit of potting up in there if the weather isn't too good.

Library day today, so I took half an hour out to change my books. I'm a bit limited for choice in the van, as I only read non fiction, and they don't seem to get many new books in. Never mind, I managed to find four, just have to expand my horizons a bit more and read about new topics.

Dinner tonight was steamed brocolli, leeks, potatoes, and celeriac, with half a 99p cauliflower cheese Value ready meal. It was very nice, and oh so filling.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.

Plastics and pea burgers

We've had some right funny weather here today. First it's sunny, then it gets all windy, then big black clouds come over and chuck a load of snow at us, then the sun comes out. Temperature wise, it's flippin freezing cold. Not a good day for going out. So what did I do? I thought you might be interested to see how I organise this cupboard.

I have a big wall cupboard in the kitchen which houses all my plastic containers and bottles, it could do with a sort out and a tidy up. These bottles are different sizes, I keep them because they are useful for making up diluted fruit juice drinks to take with me when I go out for the day, or several days. The bigger bottles I fill with tap water if I take a trip in the car.  I wash the bottles out when I get back home, and if any of them are looking a bit grotty I chuck them in the recycling bin. The old bottles get thrown and new ones are bought to replace them. Most of these have come from the cash and carry, or the reduced section of the supermarket. I never pay full price for a bottled drink. The smaller bottles will fit nicely in a shoulder bag, along with a sandwich and a banana. A handy lunch for the day.

In this pile are an assortment of small pots and tubs. Some are used for freezing portions of soups or stews, others can be used for storing any small objects in them. You never know when you might need a small plastic container, so it's a good idea to keep some handy. I haven't yet found a use for the small white Coffee Mate shakers. They could be used to store any dried food and herbs. Some of these could be used to propagate seeds, especially the yogurt pots, and the milk bottle. Just cut the top off the bottle and make drainage holes in the bottom.

I like to keep a few microwavable dishes, for heating up portions of my home made soup or stew. There's no need to buy any of these from a kitchenware shop, just buy a few ready meals and keep the trays they come in. They can be used over again, and replaced and recycled when they are worn out.

These are storage boxes which I have bought from shops. I bought them long before I started my frugal journey, some of them must be more than twenty years old. I won't be buying any more, these will last me. Sometimes I make up a salad in a box and take it with me when I go out for the day. They are also useful for storing portions of food in the refrigerator.

I keep a selection of smaller containers. Some of these are handy for packed lunches if I want to take some tinned fruit with me. I can put some into a tub with a tight fitting lid. I use them for camping and hostelling. Coffee, sugar, and dried milk containers.

The small ones store nicely in this big plastic box.

All sorted and tidy.

So, what happened to the peas. They soaked in a bowl for 24 hours. Then I followed the instructions on the packet and rinsed them, boiled them for ten minutes, and simmered for 40 minutes. Then they were done. I added about half of them to the vegetable curry I made yesterday. Then put several spoonfulls into a mixing bowl. They were a bit sloppy so I added three slices of crumbled granary bread and some grated cheese. I chopped an onion and fried it in a small pan with some garlic, a crumbled veg stock cube, and some dried mixed herbs. When the onion was cooked I added it to the peas. It would have been better if I added an egg, but I didn't have any left.  

 

Next I made three small burgers. They were falling apart a bit because the mix wasn't stiff enough, I don't have any flour so I opened a cheap packet of stuffing mix and used this to coat them, and firm them up. I cooked them in the pan with a drop of oil, and flipped them over to cook the other side. Here they are, my pea burgers. They were very nice, but the stuffing had such a strong sage and onion taste. Perfectly acceptable but maybe I won't use the stuffing mix next time.

I'm going to freeze the rest of the peas in portions. There's a heck of a lot of peas in one 45p bag of split green peas. I shall probably buy them again, as they are a perfect filler for soups and stews, and maybe more experimental burgers.

Toodle pip.