We buy glad catering plastic wrap and it lasts 2 yrs and the foil too. I only use foil to cover roast meat. I have loads of Tupperware containers heehee.

We now buy OMO front loader powder in a huge bucket 10kg, it was a box beofre but we will get a bucket when we finish. For nearly ayear I have only used half the normal front loader dose. It still works, I don’t use fabric softener.

I found great ‘name’ brand toothbrushes (like Colgate) in ‘go lo’ (super discount stores for US people) but they have foreign writing not english but who cares when they are 57c -$1.

I have dozens of cloth terry squares since I use modern cloth nappies - I should use them more often for spills and stuff.
Thanks for sharing these great ideas.

My Little Drummer boys

Maggie - good luck with the stocking up! I always need to be very careful when I have it in mind to do a stock-up shop. I tend to buy more than we need. LOL. Sounds like you do pretty well with non food items.

Caroline - I added a small amount of bicarb to my hair (at the roots) before I went for a shower and then allowed it to get wet under the shower as I rubbed it in. I hope that helps with your question.

Jen - It’s good to know buying bulk works well for you. I wish I could get a bit more in bulk. I have found one place in Adelaide that has some stuff in bulk (get there about once a year) but not the more general stuff like rolled oats. Long comments are fine BTW.

River - I’m pretty cautious when it comes to contamination from raw meat. I guess I figure some things aren’t worth the risk. Mind you, I don’t usually use snap lock bags for raw meat anyway. Interesting how different things will bother different people isn’t it? I often put raw meat into bread bags because I figure it still has to be cooked but wouldn’t put it in a bag that had had raw meat in it previously. With a dog, cats and chooks we don’t tend to have too much in the way of food scraps that end up in our bin. Unfortunately, we still seem to have way too much rubbish.

I had changed to homebrand baking paper but for the things I bake, like multiple trays of biscuits, I found I could re-use 2 sheets on 2 trays a couple of times over for a large batch of biscuits while I had to put a new piece of baking paper on for each tray and remember to spray it with oil too (or pay the price of levering warm bickies off a hot tray!).

In my house there are levels of container usage depending on time of storage eg. Gladware for quick storage in fridge (last a good couple of months before someone reheats tomato dishes in them and they are binned), Decor for biscuits and things that may be around for a week or two, and then Tupperware for longer storage of flour, sugar, etc. I barely ever use plastic wrap, a roll lasts years, and foil only gets used on top of casserole dishes that have lost their lids so it lasts a long time too.

Just as an aside I found bulk buying works well. I buy rolled oats, flour of both types, sugar and sometimes nuts in bulk from Trumps in Brisbane. Even with delivery to mid NSW I am getting a better price for rolled oats than the homebrand supermarket price (and better quality). I store my goods in their bags (usually plastic lined anyway) with pegged tops rolled over in a 125litre plastic container under my dryer table. Knowing that I will run out of baking basics very rarely makes it easy to whip up a batch of biscuits when the kids are starving and it doesn’t require a run to the shops like fruit or dairy snacks needs when the cupboard (and fridge) is bare.

Sorry for such a long comment. This has been an area of interest for me for a while and I have learnt some great things with experience (like buying in bulk with friends if a hindquarter is too much for my budget, and getting bulk chickens from the butcher too!). I have even shared my chest freezer space to just have the benefit of T-bones at only $6.50/kg instead of $*%#@*& .

Whoops, shut me up please!

Jen in Maitland, NSW