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Ok, I knew a lady who would heat up her iron, then unplug it and try to iron as fast as she could before it ran out of heat!
Back in the 70s, I had an iron that was made in China for third-world use, which had no controls. Plug in for "on", pull plug for "off". Get it hot, unplug, iron with it, when it cools down, plug it back in for a minute. It was very heavy, so it stayed hot for a long time. Modern irons are too light to stay hot very long.
100 years ago, irons weren't even electric. You put it on the wood stove until hot, then ironed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallysmom
I do wash plastic bags though. Usually several times over. People think it's crazy, but 6 years ago I bought a four pack of gallon freezer bags from Costco, and I'm finally finishing it up.
The supermarket gives me all the plastic bags I want, free---one with every produce purchase. I've never bought one, in my life. When I weigh the produce, it spits out a PLU sticker to affix to the bag, that can be scanned. I carefully put the sticker right on the upper edge of the bag. Then I can reuse them as freezer bags, and write the contents on the sticker with a sharpie.
Back in the 70s, I had an iron that was made in China for third-world use, which had no controls. Plug in for "on", pull plug for "off". Get it hot, unplug, iron with it, when it cools down, plug it back in for a minute. It was very heavy, so it stayed hot for a long time. Modern irons are too light to stay hot very long.
100 years ago, irons weren't even electric. You put it on the wood stove until hot, then ironed.
The supermarket gives me all the plastic bags I want, free---one with every produce purchase. I've never bought one, in my life. When I weigh the produce, it spits out a PLU sticker to affix to the bag, that can be scanned. I carefully put the sticker right on the upper edge of the bag. Then I can reuse them as freezer bags, and write the contents on the sticker with a sharpie.
Those bags are too thin for my liking. That's why I use freezer bags. I buy chicken in bulk, wrap it in freezer paper and use the bag to store the wrapped chicken. I buy bacon on sale, split it out into servings, wrap those in waxed paper and store in a freezer bag. I store light and dark and confectioners sugars in freezer bags. Which I usually end up changing out yearly from use. Whole wheat pastry flour gets stored in a freezer bag -- in the freezer. And nuts -- when I buy them, I chop them, then break them down into cups (most recipes say to use a cup) and they get stored in freezer bags in the freezer. The produce bags are very thin and wouldn't hold up to that sort of abuse.
As for an iron? I love love love my Maytag titanium soleplate cordless iron. It's light enough to do serious pressing, but heavy enough to do the fine pressing I do for my quilting.
I don't think they make it anymore. And when this one wears out, I like the looks of the Oliso.... but the price! 170 bucks.
I just bumped into a neighbour who was wearing 2 left slippers (no, he doesn't have 2 left feet!). El Cheapo here said he had lost the right slipper of the first pair and the right slipper of his second pair was stolen. I am guessing that the thief was a one-footed burglar.
I just bumped into a neighbour who was wearing 2 left slippers (no, he doesn't have 2 left feet!). El Cheapo here said he had lost the right slipper of the first pair and the right slipper of his second pair was stolen. I am guessing that the thief was a one-footed burglar.
While I'm laughing my fool head off, I'm thinking, 'Who would want to steal one slipper? Moreover, why the right one? Maybe it was that crazy cat that was featured on the news a few months ago. He'd go out - pardon the pun - cattin' around and night, stealing items from the neighbors. Thanks for the laugh!!!
I know someone who reuses paper towels, washes and hangs them up to dry on a clothesline in the kitchen.
I re-use kleenex. I just spread them out and leave them lying across the top of the kleenex box, until next time. As long as I don't have a cold, it's fine, if it just an allergy nose-run or from hot food, or after I sneeze.
Actually, I don't use kleenex, I use the paper napkins I get from fast food places. Reallly, newspaper works OK, too, and I can get free weekly shoppers out of the rack. Crumple them up good to make them softer and more absorbent.
To me, it makes little sense to put a lot of effort into cutting back on the small things if you haven't made an honest effort to cut back on the big ticket items first like:
I re-use kleenex. I just spread them out and leave them lying across the top of the kleenex box, until next time. As long as I don't have a cold, it's fine, if it just an allergy nose-run or from hot food, or after I sneeze.
Actually, I don't use kleenex, I use the paper napkins I get from fast food places. Reallly, newspaper works OK, too, and I can get free weekly shoppers out of the rack. Crumple them up good to make them softer and more absorbent.
I keep restaurant napkins in the car to use also. Have not tried newspaper for that use.
Napkins: Everyone gets a quarter of one. And that's it. No replacements.
Cups: Dixie cups for drinks. No refills. Once can of soda goes a long way in her house.
Tin Foil: Gets washed and reused.
Etc. Basically nothing gets thrown away until it falls apart or is completely unsanitary.
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