Check the Dollar Store first!
We have two oven mitts. One has a burnt spot right where your fingers grab so I've been having to try and hold that one oddly in order to grab cookie sheets from the oven without getting burnt fingers. The other has the insulation inside the mitt stripped right where your fingers grab. Same scenario really. We haven't been in desperate need of a new oven mitt because I can use towels to grab pans from the oven or hold a towel in the mitt but I have been wanting a new mitt.
I truly do not buy much stuff and I use re-purposed socks as dish rags. We only got our portable dishwasher about two years ago as my Christmas gift from my MIL. Before that we never had a dishwasher and I usually didn't have a dish brush either. Yes, I'm a minimalist. Since having the dishwasher I've noticed that I really don't do a good enough job scraping all the little specks of food from the dirty dishes so that slowly a nice grainy mess had accumulated in the bottom of the dishwasher. I'm sure you're all glad to know that about my life now. I cleaned the mess out but also realized I needed to do a better job of washing the dishes before putting them in the washer. I'm sorry but does anyone else think its crazy that most dishwashers require relatively clean dishes? I came to the conclusion that a dish brush that I can quickly wipe away food residue, crumbs, and ketchup (oh the mounds of ketchup that my guys leave on all of their plates...) would be the best plan of action.
I have been pricing oven mitts and dish brushes for awhile now. The oven mitts I've seen have ranged from $5 to $7 to $11. I couldn't bring myself to spend that on something that isn't really a necessity. The cheapest dish brush I saw $3.49 and they just go up in price from there. A few days ago little Abe and I stopped at the dollar store so that he could pick out a toy. We happened to walk past the dish brushes and I gasped. Every single time I go to the dollar store I find something that I've been putting off purchasing and every single time I'm surprised to see this thing at the dollar store. We saw the oven mitts a short while later. I let little Abe pick the color mitt we should get and I'm very happy with the good quality of it. Some things at the dollar store are such cheap quality that they aren't worth saving the money on but many many of the things there aren't as nice as their counterparts in regular stores but just as effective at their task. It's a tiny bit pathetic but it feels like Christmas to me that I've just acquired two new very useful items that I've been wanting and putting off getting. It's like a gift.
If I would have spent $3.49 on a dish brush and $5 on an oven mitt that's $9 with tax. I spent $2.12 at the dollar store instead and spent $6.88 less. Hip Hip Hooray! Frugal tip for today: Check the Dollar Store first.
Yay!!! I also hate shelling out money for oven mitts and never thought to look at the dollar store!!! Another frugal tip I was going to mention since I know you have pets - the BEST thing I have found or getting hair up off the furniture is a rubber glove that I use for dishes - everyone probably knows that but I just found out and it is AMAZING!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip! Now, not everyone knows that because I did not. I wish I knew that when I lived at my mom's still. My brother had a German short hared pointer and those things shed like crazy.
DeleteI have an even more effective way to get dog hair off the furniture: non-shedding dogs. Haha! We have miniature schnauzers. They actually do not shed. My husband is allergic to dogs but he's not allergic to the breeds that don't shed; they don't have the dander that people are generally allergic to with dog allergies.
I do have a white cat but she pretty much sticks to the kitchen and high places (she does NOT like the dogs). Gee, you're starting to make me think my animals have all these benefits I hadn't realized before now.
I am a huge fan of the dollar store. I get all wrapping supplies, batteries, lighters for candles, fun napkins, and other stuff I didn't know I needed :)
ReplyDeleteI got wrapping supplies there last Christmas. Do the batteries last? I often wondered if they were worth the savings.
DeleteI can't believe you didn't think of the Dollar store for the dish brush. The Dollar store is often my first stop for most household items. Eventually you become aware of what is worth it and what is not.
ReplyDeleteSee that's where you've caught me. I wrote this post for myself. I never think to look at the dollar store first. I take my son their for his chore reward and then we walk around and I usually find something that I'm delighted I can get for just $1. But I need to remind myself to check the dollar store for so many other things when I find myself needing something. that place is amazing!
DeleteI use the dollar store for many things, in fact my favorite rolling pin is from Dollar Tree. Son3 is living in his first college apartment and one of his Christmas gifts will be a box of kitchen gadgets form there.
ReplyDeleteThat is a cool gift! You could put some many awesome (and useful) things in there!
DeleteI am mighty jealous after my oven burn! What's not to get excited about a new Ove Glove! More baking!. I love the Dollar Tree in town-little goodies everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI know I thought about you when I was posting this.
DeleteThe problem with the Dollar Tree and other dollar stores is that there is so much stuff you never realized you needed! I got about 20 potholders from WM for 10 cents each one time. I am still using some of those. Some I put in with gifts. Right now, I am making the woven ones on a loom--my favorite kind of pot holder. I cannot get the hang of the gloves. I always get them in the pie or whatever I am removing from the oven.
ReplyDeleteMy very old dishwasher does not require me to wash or scrape much from dishes to get them clean. That gunk in the washing machine is also the type dishwasher detergent used.
Dollar Trees and toys are all from China, well, mostly. I fear the contaminants that are in and on them.
My husband and I prefer a mitt over a flat potholder. I love that you're making woven ones right now though. So cool!
DeleteAs for the "stuff you never realized you needed" I'm in a pretty good habit of seeing something I need and then "waiting till next time" for most any purchase I want to make including stuff at the dollar store. Basically by the time next time rolls around I've talked myself out of needing the item. So that helps me out when going to the dollar store.
The dishwasher I have (a pretty small portable one) said on the manual in big bold letters NO food can go in the dishwasher. I thought that was kind of funny. I'm thinking to myself, "um, these are dirty dishes I'm putting in here; things used to eat off of. duh, how is there not going to be some food on them?"
And last but not least, I'm officially no longer amazed at how much stuff is made in China. I work in very big super center type stores that sell items in all price ranges and I look at "made in..." tags a lot, actually I have to install "made in..." tags sometimes when a manufacturer screws up and leaves that off and SOOOOO much stuff is made in China. It's actually rather difficult to get away from that. It's sad.
I do have two mitts. One was in the 10 cent stuff I bought on clearance at WM. I use mitts to lay a cookie sheet or casserole on.
DeleteSince I can barely walk long enough to get the one thing I want, I don't get the things I did not come for. Unlike some people, the Dollar Tree is my last resort since it does not have electric cart.
If I ever need a portable dishwasher, I will watch out for that sign. I can see why you need to wash off the catsup!
Thinking of gobs of catsup left on the plate, I have an idea I wish I had had when my kids were little. I think getting several of the little condiment dishes about three inches across would help the catsup not get smeared all over the plate. The cost of the little dishes would soon be made up by the saved cost of catsup. The sell them in the kitchen supplies in WM for about a dollar.
I get depressed over the foreign made things. Buying things made in Pakistan is like our helping support terrorists. I really don't mind too much buying things made in Mexico. At least they like the US and don't want to kill us.
I get depressed over the foreign made things too. I completely agree with you. That's also why I read the made in... labels. But in reading them I have come to the realization that the vast majority of items for sale in this country were made in less than ideal places.
DeleteThe condiment dishes is great idea for the ketchup dilemma. Thanks :)