New Uses for Old Articles

General Discussion
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I have been called a hoarder, and it is true I am reluctant to throw stuff away, just in case…
I wonder what uses others have put things to?

I’ll make a small start. Latest first.
I have a particular problem with Super U jam which I like but is too runny. My breakfast each day after numerous pills with water, is first porridge and then 2 slices of toast with jam or marmalade. I put a large knob of butter on my plate and then a spoonful of jam. Trouble is frequently it starts to spread all over the plate and also as I am a multitasker, I eat it as I type mainly to SF. Dangerous and hard to avoid a sticky keyboard but today I had a brilliant idea. As I almost never eat soft boiled eggs there is a whole set of pretty china egg cups doing nothing. So today was the first outing for my jamcup. Fill the cup with jam, it takes up less room on the plate and the product can be moved on knife tip to toast from very close proximity, thus, no sticky keys.

Fridges and freezers, also ovens. In a small house space is at a premium and in mine what there is often contains boxes and bits of boxes. Outside in the garden is no different. Fridges, Freezers, Washing machines, at least 8 at last count. But 2 of them contain garden tools another other tools freeing up space in the car now I am no longer doing long distance journeys. An upright fridge contains long items and a freezer on its back makes an excellent waterproof tool chest.

Smaller is no different. I never throw away used envelopes, the long ones, beloved of water and electric people alike, make really good shopping lists. I even use both sides. The long back side is for the big weekly shop, the reverse where the little window is, allows plenty enough room for the Thursday fish market and minor purchases at various shops, and also for the Sunday fruit and veg market.

The bigger ones are for jottings, memory lists, drawings, and more notes. Even as small briefcases, carefully slit one end leaving a 3 cornered opening and you have a useful space to carry bunches of folded documents and prescriptions to take to the doctors or hospital. Contents can be listed on the outside. As I have a terrible memory these days one of those large ones is on the fridge door and the rule is that whenever I think of something to be reminded of, I must write it down there for checking before going out anywhere.

Sorry this has turned out longer than intended, I only had a couple of things at the start but the exercise has dragged stuff back from the darkest refuges of my disordered mind as I wrote.

Other ideas ?

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Re the Jam, buy a better quality make and it’s usually much thicker with more fruit in it. Learned that lesson years ago. My dad used to use his under the work top fridge that he replaced with a big upright one, as a larder for tinned and bottled foods, obviously it was not connected to the electricity but it gave him more room in the kitchen pantry. Regarding envelopes, I have a box file in my office cupboard where I keep bits I put into envelopes for safe keeping like keys, the code and key info for the car, various computer bits, padlocks and keys and all are marked up on outside what they are once sealed. I keep a large exercise book in the kitchen for writing down items that I have used up or need for whatever purpose when going shopping again, they get crossed off when obtained. I also have one of those plastic cubes with coloured small pieces of paper in for making notes and a pen with it that I just place on the worktop to remind me such as when one of the grandchildren are coming for lunch or the day.

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Agreed - Bonne Maman Intense even more so.

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You can thicken jam with chia seeds

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Worth paying the little extra it costs too and a lot of the artisan jams are good and thick

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Brilliant post - love it. I love reusing things and it’s amazing what you can go with stuff.
My grandma taught me to cut up old cereal boxes for shopping lists !

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My late father-in-law , Piotr, in Odesa lived in a Khruschevka and kept all his tools in a defunct Soviet fridge on a 5th floor balcon. I was always very nervous walking out there, knowing Soviet construction quality.

I’m just a locataire, so I try hard (and usually fail) not to accumutate junk. The one thing we have done is use the large potato boxes from the Lidl around the corner for furniture. This mainly satisfies the cats, because we stack them up 3 high and they sit on them and look out the window. We had one cat very destructive cat that used to shred them and anything else that was in his path. Now that I am moving, I am able to deconstruct them and use them in the move and decluttering process.

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I cut these into squares, stick a hole in them and thread some string through. I then write on it as to which type bulb(s) is in whatever container it was in during the winter. I then hang them up (I use old potato or onion bags) in the garden shed until next winter. So it makes it easier come November time when all the summer bedding etc. has been lifted as to what bulb needs to be planted into the correct container.

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Sue, Lidl do one too but somewhat cheaper!

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Intense jam, that is

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I too keep envelopes for shopping lists, I have some nice, pretty shopping list pads to use but it seems a shame to actually use them. I also have a tiny slate as used by Victorian school children on which I write additional items to add to the shopping list, that’s if I can find the chalk to write it on the slate board. I actually used a slate in primary school for one term only. Don’t know why other than they had run out of paper.

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Some great suggestions, just what I hoped for.

Re the jam, I will follow the advice and search for Bonne Mamam next Monday.

Cardboard from old boxes.
Recently I had a leak under the kitchen sink and until I could find a plumber (found 2 :astonished_face:)) the 2nd one the day after I found the first but is English and I will keep him in mind for next time. I shoved a large plastic bucket under the sink which did capture some of the water but the skirting board prevented it catching the drip closest to the wall. No problem, I cut up a porridge oats box into 4 x 6" strips, jammed them under some other pipes hard against the wall and allowed the bottom to rest inside the bucket. Perfect even though they quickly became soft and soggy nevertheless 100% of the leak was re-directed into the bucket. :joy:

Arrived today 2 dog lead swivel clips.
I have previously mentioned that Jules the Beauceron is too fond of following ground scents and so must trail a 33 metre red nylon line, Clipped to a newly bought large orange harness which directs the line back over his bum, much safer to avoid a sudden yank on a dog collar, it trails out behind him but there was one snag. OK if I was just a couple of metres behind him but if I lagged further back by then it had dropped to the ground and I tripped myself more than once in avoiding stepping on it and arresting his progress.

I had bought some heavy duty S hooks but with the smaller loop welded to the main shaft. These were for use with the ratchet straps I use to secure cargo in the trailer but there were a few more than I needed so I hit on the idea of passing an old dog collar through the smaller eye and strapping the lead to my leg above the knee. Promising but not perfect so I hung it round my wrist instead, loose but it can’t fall off because the straps of my Alpine walking sticks which loosely attach my wrist to the stick are in the way. In principle it worked but there was a snag. In certain circumstances way too frequent the line jumped out of the larger, open, hook.

So, the trial will be this afternoon. Dog collar is passed though the small enclosed eye and the line will pass through the main clip which a spring loaded trigger opens and closes. Fingers crossed. :grinning_face:

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No, I didn’t go to school in Victorian times!

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My children when they went to primaire in Bretagne had to write on slates with chalk, we the parents had to buy them but they saved the village school a lot of money on paper. They also had to wear slippers in class as many kids came from farms and trod the mess in so the slippers helped the cleaners to take less time too!

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I keep all the old towels and tea towels that have got holes in or got thin and they are so useful for cleaning the car, wiping up spills, put round the little one’s necks so they don’t mess up their clothes and for cleaning where you use strong stuff and can just bin the bits. A towel in the car is useful if you have to do something dirty or end up at the beach and need to clean feet of sand.

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I try to keep the house uncluttered, but my garage is different. I have plastic boxes for wood offcuts to be cut for kindling, wood that is slightly too goid for kindling that might be useful and another for definitely useful wood. Similar fir metal, one for the dechetterie and one for useful oneday. Pots of assorted screws etc , never know when you need something a bit different .

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I too have loads of nuts bolts and screws, in jam jars screwed into their lids which have holes in for the screws that drive into a piece of wood which is freely resting at each end onto 2 beams, part of the construction. This plank can therefore be put across at any point between the door and the other side of the building.

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My shed is a veritable quincaillerie.

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I have a large shed in which to keep potentially useful stuff. To make room for more stuff the contents are regularly removed to the decheterie - a week before I actually need some of it

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I do the same with my underwear, once they get holes in them :joy:
And t-shirts of course.