Quick post: Easiest, cheapest kitchen roll holder

I thought of this as I was walking to the park! 

You will need:

Kitchen roll, some twine or string, and a thinner cardboard tube (optional really). That's it!





Then decide where you want to put it - you need two points to attach your twine to. Attach one end: 




I live in a rented flat so I can't put nails or hooks anywhere (but you could of course). Luckily, there was a tiny gap between the shelf and the wall, so I threaded the twine through with a needle, and made a knot in it so it wouldn't fall down. 


Next, put your thinner cardboard tube onto the string. It will help the kitchen roll move more freely. I tried it without, and it's still ok (in case you don't have a thinner tube spare -I think mine came from a roll of baking parchment, cut to size). 

Then add the kitchen roll and attach the twine to the second point. Attach it in a way that allows you to easily remove it, when you need to change the roll. 

I did this:




I wrapped it round the shelf and tied a little knot in it. But not too tight so I can get it off when I need to change the roll. 

And voila, my new kitchen roll holder! For the cost of pennies!

One less thing that lives on the kitchen counter!

I'll share a post on the spice jars soon. I'm really happy with how this turned out! 

What thrifty things have you been doing? 

Quick post: A Snickers Experiment

So I fancied doing some baking - we had Snickers bars in the house and I found a recipe in my notebook called "Snickers cookies".  Ideal! 

I've never tried the recipe before, and I have no idea where it came from.  I get slightly dubious when a recipe calls for mugs of something, in this case flour.  It's not the american cup I imagine, or any other standard measurement, so what is it? I just chose my favourite mug and used that.  

I had no idea what to expect with these; the dough was quite tough and they made a bit of a mess in the oven because the chocolate melted and spread.  The result tastes like a scone, and I have no idea why. But all the same, they are yummy!! 

Anyone else been conducting experiments in the kitchen?

Quick post: Quick sink solution

Just after I moved in, I discovered that there was no real place for the scourer/sponge to go (I hate it when it ends up in the sink!!!)

 

So I took an empty yoghurt pot and cut it up to fit around the tap, as a little holder:

This took all of five minutes, and it's working well! 

 My inspiration for this came from this post for a holder while a phone is charging (so clever), and there is a slightly more elaborate tutorial here for doing this with a shampoo bottle.  I must admit theirs is prettier than mine! 

You could do this with any plastic container that is big enough to hold a sponge or brush when it has been cut.  Again, perfect recycling and repurposing! :D 

-Linda

Quick post: wastepaper basket

We wanted a wastepaper basket in every room, because the flat is long and sometimes it's too much effort to walk to the kitchen!  I had 2 already, for the study and bedroom.  Since most of our time is spent in the lounge, we figured that we really needed one in there too.

When I unpacked my craft box I found the packing paper I'd saved, and decided that it was perfect to make a woven basket out of (instead of buying one).  I decided on blue for the living room a while ago, so I went with blue strips for the highlights:

 It's a small basket, but big enough to hold all those itty bits that accumulate! I just put a small plastic bag in it to keep the paper nice and clean!

So, there you go, a waste paper basket made from waste paper! Perfect.  See my previous basket, here.  Click here for the tutorial.

-Linda