ferrousland.com - daily news archives
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
creating money out of nothing - 08:00 PM
(filed under 'general')
it seems i've created money out of nothing this afternoon. let me explain .. but this is going to be really long, so read on if you have the time &/or the inclination ..
i'd bought some weather sheild thingies (you know, the things which go across the top of the front windows to stop rain coming is when your window is open) for my lovely new car, fiona, previously melanie's car. they were on order from a couple of weeks ago & arrived only yesterday or the day before. it was only this afternoon that i had a chance to try to fit them. however, the universe had other ideas, because it turned out that they were for a car one year later than fiona. she's a 1993 model ford festiva & these were made for a ford festiva made in 1994. needless to say, they didn't fit. so i rang supercheap auto & check i could come back to return them. i then headed off & went back to the shop.
let me back up a bit here, however. i wrote a few entries back about buying some drawers for my room. i got this one in white as pictured, with the shallow green drawers. i'd been thinking that i might like to return it & choose something else, because i wasn't crash hot on the white .. or the green drawers for that matter, even though it was going to be in the cupboard & it wouldn't ordinarily be seen all that much.
my drawers were still in the box, since i hadn't had a chance to put them together yet & since i was having second thoughts, anyway. i looked at the ikea catalogue again to see what else there was. i really wanted some darker wood colours in my room, but i had to choose some drawers which would go with a possible future dressing table & maybe bedside tables.
i found the perfect headboard for a future purchase .. future purchase because it's almost $300. however, it really is perfect, because not only will it fit behind my bed, therefore not causing space issues where on one side there are the sliding cupboard doors of the wardrobe & on the other, the sliding door to the small balcony, but it also has some drawer things in it that slide out from the sides. so when they're not being used they won't be sticking out. also, if my undies & socks etc can fit in the sliding sections, then i won't even need other drawers.
since i'd decided not to keep my set of drawers, i looked for something else i could purchase at ikea with the money from the return of the drawers & tubs. i found this really nice computer desk workstation. i'd still have to pay another $36 dollars on top of my returned money though & if i scraped up that extra money then that would leave me too tight until the next day of parenting payments.
since i was going to return the car weather shield things, i was wondering if they'd give me cash, or put it back into my bank account via electronic transfer, which is the way i paid for it. usually they'll always put it back the same way it came out. i thought i'd try my luck, so i loaded the shelves & the tubs into my car & headed off. i figured that if they gave me cash, i'd continue on to ikea & get the computer desk, since i'd then have heaps more then enough cash to pay for the extra. if they put it back into my bank account, it takes several days, so i wouldn't be able to do it .. & joy of joys, they gave me cash without me even having to ask/beg!
so i went off to ikea. when i got there, i decided that i'd first check out the 'as is' section, which is where they have seconds, display stock, scratched & dented stuff, etc. lo & behold, they had there, right in front of me, two of the headboard things, even in the colour i wanted (medium brown)! not only that, but they were reduced from almost $300 to $74.50!! this way, not only could i now get the computer desk, but i could get the headboard thing as well. wooooohoooooo!
one was pretty badly scratched, but the other one wasn't too bad, so i chose the less damaged one & asked the guy if he could mark it as sold or something while i went to get the computer desk. he said they don't hold things in that section of the shop, but that he'd take the price sticker off for me since i was just going to go & collect the desk i wanted.
i got back, he stacked it on my trolley & i paid for everything. taking it apart & packing into my car is a whole other story, but this is long enough now, so let's just leave it at that i got it & myself home safely & undamaged, despite not being able to see out the left side of the car & despite it starting to rain on the headboard & inside the open passenger window where part of it was sticking out. lol!! 
i also didn't get caught by the cops, so the huge saving that i made wasn't then spent on a fine for overloading my car. *phew!*
so after not being able to buy the desk i wanted or the headboard i wanted, i got the cash from thin air & could buy both. yay!
[edited to add: smiley wasn't in the car with me at the time, just in case anyone was wondering if i would be taking such risks with him in the car. nope, i wouldn't.]
avoiding plastic - 09:40 AM
(filed under 'healthy living')
i was talking to jade recently about storage for food, especially leftovers & the like, & how since i'm having to buy pretty much everything from scratch again, i wanted to avoid getting plastic.
there are a few reasons for this. firstly, i'm not sure that plastic is all that healthy for us. there's information out there about how certain gases are released from plastics. i can't give you any links or anything, but just as one example, have you ever opened a big box of plastic kitchen items that have been in storage for a while? the smell is something to behold. it's not any food smells which have soaked into the plastic, either, it's a pure plastic smell & it's awful. i'd hate to think of those chemicals going into my food.
secondly, i don't want to use plastics all the time & become a consumer to add to all the non-bidegradable wastage of stuff that everyone's using all the time. most plastic storage containers don't last very long & aren't even designed to last all that long (tupperware is an exception, but since i'm trying to avoid plastics for other reasons as well, then it's not an option) so i don't want to encourage the companies to keep making the stuff. as long as one more person keeps buying plastic, they'll keep making more of it.
one other reason is that plastic always ends up getting smelly or stained from the food that's stored in it. since it's so porous, it's almost impossible to get the smell out. once you've used them for something like spaghetti in a tomato based sauce, then you'll never get the red colour out.
there's always the option of using crockery & simply putting cling wrap over the top of it, but since i don't want to consume plastic every day or have the food touching the plastic, then that isn't ideal.
so glass is a good option for me. one of the things i've been spending money on for the house is glass storage containers. they're not cheap, but at least i know that they'll last a long time. i also really like the look of glass. since it's clear, then you don't have any trouble seeing what's inside & you don't need labels. it doesn't degrade & it's easy to clean. if you get the right type of glass, you can even boil it to sterilise it if you're inclined that way.
so i've been buying some lovely little spice bottles, various sizes of jars with good rubber seals & metal closures on them for the pantry & some pyrex storage containers for the fridge & freezer.
i'm really loving my pyrex storage containers. i'd not seen them the last time i was in the market for kitchen stuff. i've always known that they make great casserole dishes & the like, but i'd never seen these with the air tight lids. i know they're plastic, but in most cases the plastic isn't touching the food since the food is down inside the bowl. they're also built to last so they won't break easily & hopefully i won't have to be buying more lids any time soon.
they come in a great range of sizes, & even better still, they stack two high perfectly in my relatively small fridge, so i can use the space well. i've bought two of almost each size as i've seen them available at the supermarket or kmart or big w. about the only sizes i don't have are the large & the small rectangular dishes. the meduim one is about right for me at the moment, but i may end up getting one of the large ones at some stage. i've got three sizes of the round dishes, i think it's the largest round one i don't have.
they're not cheap, but i don't mind spending money on quality products which will last me a lifetime. pyrex have been around for so long. my mum's had pyrex measuring jugs for as long as i can remember & they're still in perfect condition. i do so love a good quality, convenient & well thought out product. 
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