Monday Miscellany
I have random things to say, people!
Tide pods are convenient, but not THAT convenient.
Since they're definitely more expensive than the liquid Costco or Aldi detergent I use, I'd never tried them until I got a pack for almost nothing at CVS (coupon and sale).
I finished up the bag, and I have to say, they are easier than measuring out laundry detergent.
But the thing is, measuring out laundry detergent isn't hard at all.
We're talking about a choice between A) very easy and B) even easier.
So to me, it just doesn't make sense to pay more for a very slight convenience improvement.
(Although I can see the appeal if you start your kids doing laundry at a really young age. You can't really spill laundry pods but you can definitely make a huge mess by spilling laundry detergent.)
I sold some furniture! But not on craigslist.
I tried craigslist, but boy, things are kind of quiet over there these days.
Several of my Instagram followers suggested I try Facebook marketplace, so I did. And wow, I got tons of responses.
Unfortunately, 98% of them sent messages saying, "Is this still available?" and then....<crickets>
But I did eventually get a solid buyer.
And I listed one other thing that is supposed to be picked up this morning. Fingers crossed!
Edit: She cancelled. Ugh. THIS is why selling things is annoying. People flake so often.
I gave away a bunch of stuff on Facebook.
Our church is part of a local Facebook group that operates kind of like Freecycle.
Except: I have much better luck getting my stuff picked up promptly in this group.
I was helping my kids clean out their rooms, so we had quite a few outgrown/un-needed things to pass on, and they are all gone to new homes now. Yay!
In summary: Facebook is not my favorite social media platform, but it IS handy for selling/giving away things.
I have tons of purple hyacinth bean seeds.
We've had several freezing nights here, which means all my vines are dead. So yesterday I plucked off the seed pods and pulled the vines down.
I'm leaving the pods out to dry completely before I store them over the winter. Some of them are almost dry, while others are still quite wet.
I definitely have plenty for next year, though!
I'm not much of a gardener, but these hyacinth beans are easy enough even for me to grow.
Here are some of my other favorite frugal plants for black thumbs like myself.
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Alrighty. I'm off to the store to buy things for Thanksgiving.
Because as I was telling Mr. FG last night, I have no reason to put it off (I'm not at work, after all), which means that it would be pretty darn stupid of me to wait until Wednesday to go.
Grocery stores will just get worse and worse between now and then, so I might as well get that job done ASAP. It'll be a little crowded, but nothing like Wednesday.
God bless the poor grocery store cashiers this week!
I like the pods only because my washer is in an upstairs carpeted hallway and there are no shelves to store supplies, so the pods mean there is far less chance for accidents. And to your point, I think I first bought them when teaching my kids to do the wash and picturing a hall carpet flooded with detergent. I do also have a bottle of liquid detergent for when I’m doing a smaller and/or gentle load, as using the pods would be wasteful.
Ah yes. My washer is in an unfinished laundry room with a cement floor. So...way different than yours! I can completely understand not wanting to risk soap spills on carpet.
I bought them for my son to take to college, and they don't work that well with front loader HE machines. They don't always dissolve completely requiring rewashing at least one load per week. Won't be buying them again!
Yep annoying for HE machines. I dissolve them in a cup of hot water before putting them into the washing machine which pretty much defeats the purpose of using them. But while traveling they are so much easier to lug around.
It is also helpful for those who tend to overload the soap dispenser with more detergent than what they need.
My daughter's college actually doesn't allow them because they don't break down in their machine, either.
I grow the purple Hyacinths now and save seeds because of you. I am going into year 3.
My college age son uses the pods. He tended to use wayyyy more detergent than needed when pouring so it is a good solution. PLEASE INFORM COLLEGE AGE CHILDREN THAT STINKY SOCKS AND WORK OUT CLOTHES NEED MORE THAN 1 POD!!!!
I only use them when I get them for less than 1.50 /pack . I do like them tho. But am fine either way.....
I throw a half a cup of vinegar into stinky washes and it works great. And cheaper, too.
People flaking is one reason why I hate selling stuff online too. We have a community FB page where my neighbors just give away stuff, so I do that too for free. It kinda feels great knowing people can use the stuff we no longer need though 😀
Pods are also great when you are going on vacation--they are small and non-spillable and therefore easy to pack. Also, for elderly people and/or those with arthritis, they are a lot lighter to manage than hefting around liquid detergent, even in the smallest of containers.
I was relieved that you didn't give away the Fisher Price garage. My in-laws have one and it's been a favorite with all the grandkids.
I much prefer eBay over Facebook marketplace due to so many people flaking! I do not have the patience (or time!) for that.
Besides all the reasons mentioned above Pods produce more plastic garbage.
Hmm, the pods themselves dissolve completely in the wash, so no plastic there. Are you just referring to the bag the pods come in? I'm thinking that's probably not worse than a plastic jug.
Here, at least, the jugs are recyclable. Those weird crinkly plastic bags are not recyclable. You can't put them in with your plastic grocery bags, and you can't put them in the curbside recycling. You can pay to mail them in to Terracycle, but that's not so frugal at all. I wish they would put things in another kind of packaging.
I've bought them in recyclable plastic tubs. You just have to buy more at a time.
I wish they had them for fabric softener. My apartment building has a laundry room and so many people way overdo it on the scented fabric softener that my clothes smell like Downy if I do my wash after them, and that's after the pre-wash and regular wash cycle that every machine goes through. ARGH!! It's so annoying as I have sensitive skin and sometimes I react to it. I tried to suggest banning scented laundry products in our complex but too many people refused to go along. (We can't have washers in our apartments or else I would do that.)
If only that was the worst problem with public laundries!
Annie:
Could you ask that one or two washers or dryers be marked for unscented products, unless all other machines are in use? Probably the ones that are hardest to reach?
I also hate the smells of laundry detergent and know of other people who are highly allergic to scents and additives.
I tried that and they would only agree to it on two of the smallest washers, (we have double-loaders, double-loader plus, and triple loaders), and that means it will cost us more per load and take much longer to do laundry. It was a good suggestion though Heidi, I appreciate it. I have not given up. If I can continue to convince more people to support my idea perhaps we will prevail one day. I am choosing the path of most persistence!
Try for a doctor's note, which says you need a dedicated washer-dryer, meaning in your own apartment! Good luck!
My mom still has that same parking garage, that she also uses when small people visit. It is a hit!
Right? And it's so durable. Even the elevator mechanism still works on ours. We got it on eBay when Joshua was a little guy.
I find the convenience of pods, either dishwasher or laundry, doesn't outweigh the price difference for me, either. Besides, sometimes I have to do a small load and I hate using a whole pod for it.
I tried to sell my old dining table on a Facebook yard sale page, and got only a couple of nibbles. I finally donated it to an animal rescue thrift store, and THEY posted it on the yard sale page, and the excited comments came thick and fast. Go figure.
I was on Freecycle, but let it drop while I was changing jobs and email addresses. I ought to get back on it, I suppose.
Totally random question: Am I the only person who finds it really odd that department and clothing stores sell new ugly sweaters for Ugly Christmas Sweater parties? What also amazes me are the ugly Christmas men's suits. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but it just strikes me as a bit surreal.
Yep, I agree the whole *new* ugly sweater idea defeats the purpose of scrounging up an ugly sweater that the original seller thought was not ugly. 🙂 Go figure!
I wouldn't object to the pods so much, if the manufacturers didn't make them look like candy. They'd do just as good a job if they were brown and beige and wouldn't pose such a risk to small children.
The ones I got were unscented, and they had pretty much no color at all! But maybe the scented ones are colorful?
The purple beans are so pretty -- you can eat them, right?
Ha -- we have a similar garage at school and the kids love it -- some toys are just great year after year.
Good luck shopping!!
You know, I have no idea if you can eat them!
No!!! You cannot eat them!!! They are very poisonous! Also, should go without saying, don't eat tide pods! Ha!
Upon further research, it appears you can eat them, but only with lots of boiling and water changes if the beans are mature-sort of like pokeweed. Might not be worth it, but didn't want to give misinformation. http://www.eattheweeds.com/hyacinth-bean-purple-protein-and-more-2/ Also, if you have small children that like to put things in their mouth, this plant might be best to categorize for them as poisonous. But I stand by my strong assertion that tide pods should NOT be eaten. 😉
Oh, good to know, thanks! They are still pretty . . .
Hah!! -- will try to avoid the Tide pods, although am feeling a bit peckish . . .
UGH! I hate when you're selling items on Craigslist and people cancel. I swear, I think I have a 50% success rate with Craigslist people just showing up. I have no idea why they think that's cool. :/
I did my Thanksgiving shopping on Saturday morning at 7:30 am, and it was already crazy. I can't imagine how it'll be for the brave souls going to the store on Wednesday!
It will be ugly by Wednesday. I work at a super Walmart and I'm not looking forward to work tomorrow.
I feel for cashiers at food stores this week!
My son in college uses the pods in the school laundry room. Less stuff to lug back and forth, as his laundry room is in another building, and he doesn't want a wheeled cart for his hamper.
We use a natural liquid detergent at home.
I love the pods because I always stain and ruin my clothes with liquid detergent! I can't stand ruining all my clothes, so I am really grateful that the pods don't do that. Saves me money in the long run, for sure.
I make my own laundry detergent using washing soda, castile soap, and borax. I calculated I spend about $20 per year on laundry detergent supplies, which are unscented, have no dyes, and are chemical free. This is for a family of 2 adults and 2 children. A lot cheaper than chemical-free detergents you would buy in the store. No reason to use fabric softner in my opinion; less chemicals on our skin, less money, and less chemicals getting into our water supply.
I make my own laundry soap as weĺl, and have so for years, a mixture of washing soda, borax and a little blue Dawn. My "fabric softener " (when I use it) is diluted liquid fabric softener in a plastic container with à few small sponges, cut from a dollar store sponge, just squeeze one or two out and throw them in the dryer.
My clothes are always clean. I can't understand why people pay big bucks for the expensive pods and dryer sheets.
I make my own laundry soap as weĺl, and have so for years, a mixture of washing soda, borax and a little blue Dawn. My "fabric softener " (when I use it) is diluted liquid fabric softener in a plastic container with à few small sponges, cut from a dollar store sponge, just squeeze one or two out and throw them in the dryer.
My clothes are always clean. I can't understand why people pay big bucks for the expensive pods and dryer sheets.
We just made laundry detergent last week! In less than 1/2 an hour we made 10 gallons of detergent. For maybe $10? I do keep a small pack of pods on hand for vacation but one pack last a few years, lol. I never thought about the easy of using pods for folks with physical chalkanges, I think that is a great idea!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
We're having snow today in NH so I'm thankful I hit the grocery store yesterday morning.
We keep pods around for trips and when the eight year old does laundry. We started the kids on laundry when they were four and l had trouble with stairs- you don't need to be able to read to hit a couple of buttons and they sniffed the pod and figured out pretty fast they aren't candy.
In slight defense of people on FB Marketplace - when you're on a mobile device, there are buttons that pop up that say "Is this still available?" and "Is the price negotiable?". It's pretty easy to accidentally click one of those (I've done it before). In theory the person would just tell you they accidentally hit a button so you're not waiting around for their response, but I suppose it's also possible they just think you are randomly messaging them. Just so you know that not everyone is a flake!
Ah, good to know, as I've never used FB as a buyer. I had dozens of responses, so probably at least SOME of them were purposeful. And the flakiness that bothers me the most is when someone messages back and forth, arranges a date and a pickup time, and then cancels. That's frustrating!
I totally agree. I’ve had people arrange a meet up place and time, not at my house, and then they don’t show up or ever answer my messages! So I sit there waiting. That being said, most of my experiences selling on Lone have been positive.
When a local grocery was closing out I got somw method laundry detergent for cheap. I keep and reuse the pump dispenser for liquid detergent. It makes it easy for my children to help with laundry because they get to count pumps instead of making a mess! I tried the pods but I didn't like the fragrance. I also don't like how you can't measure less detergent when you need less.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw that Fisher Price garage in the same paragraph as the donation group. I loved that thing as a kid. Glad you are keeping up...but I would buy it if you were selling!
I buy the pods for my son to use when doing his laundry because although he didn't ever spill the liquid detergent he seems to understand One Pod better than Only This Much liquid detergent. 32 pods is 32 loads, whereas a 32 load bottle of liquid might only last him a month. It's cheaper in the long run. SMH...
Hi All,
I am a British mum, and I just thought I should mention there have been several quite serious accidents involving kids and laundry pods; including one of a little boy who was helping his mom and accidentally broke the pod and squirted detergent in his eye (losing his sight in one eye).
There was a big public health campaign over here about it and now pods are only sold in kid-proof containers. Just thought you should should all be aware of this risk. Not sure if your pods are sturdier or the detergent less caustic..