Have you ever looked at a "good" idea and thought of a better purpose? Well, this happened to me when looking over a bin of plastic in the grocery store.
The package to hold multiple batteries was great. The batteries each has its own little "bed" they don't jostle around. My only regret is I did not purchase a dozen of these jewels. sigh
First, a little background on a personal habit. I use so many emery boards. I bit my nails for over 40 years, broke the habit, then had to have a crutch to keep from peeling my nails off or biting them. I now have had nails for over 20 years.
I must have an emery board within reach because I file gently instead of destroying nails by ripping them off. Mind you, I love to peel a nail into the quick. It hurts so good! I use the emery board to reduce any risk of my picking at or biting the tempting snag in a nail.
Soooo...
I was looking at the bin of plastic when it was reduced to a quarter. There was a butter keeper which looked like a good idea. For ten years it has never housed butter. Online, the butter keeper is about $8. I paid less than $1 for the flip top box.
Last week as I was fighting falling emery boards, the butter keeper surfaced. I had three packages of emery boards because I would buy another package when I was at Walmart needing an emery board. My need of an emery board is about as desperate as a smoker's need for a cigarette.
Unfortunately, once emery boards are opened, the boards tend to stray from the plastic bubble attached to a card. I popped three packages into the butter keeper and my problem was solved. The butter box is just the size of a stick of butter with a flip-top box.
Additionally, in the plastic bin there was a plastic flip-top box for holding pre-sliced and wrapped cheese. Once metal Band-Aid boxes were eliminated and a flimsy cardboard box replaced it, I used the cheese box for Band-Aids. Now, I don't have to tape the smashed cardboard box together and retrieve Band-Aids from the floor (yuck) or from the bathroom cabinet.
Your turn
Do you have a favorite use for a product not intended for that purpose? Have you seen either the cheese keeper or the butter keeper in stores? Did you ever bite your nails for years and finally overcame the habit?
I love to use containers to organize my closets. Though I do wonder if I will ever get them organized completely. Or maybe I am a bit too picky.
ReplyDeleteSonya Ann,
DeleteI like containers, too. Then, I have to organize the containers. If you can find things or keep them under control, that cannot be too picky. I am all for being organized.
I bit my nails for a very long time. A very, very long time. And then I stopped. Not certain why or how, but it has been well over twenty years since I bit them down to bleeding stumps...
ReplyDeleteEC,
DeleteGood for you. I do know why I started, continued, and why I stopped
"Bleeding stumps" is an apt description.
Doing that to your nails is usually a type of OCD. I didn't bite my nails, but I pulled the skin off around my nails for years. My mother and then my husband shamed me for it. No one helped me. I was a bad person for doing that stupid thing. Earlier this year I finally Googled it and learned it's OCD. Then I looked at solutions. A number of people said that getting acrylic nails stopped them. I got them. It worked. I don't like spending the money, but it's worth it. I'm sure I've used lots of things for various purposes for which they weren't intended, but I can't think of one now.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Janie,
DeleteBefore I went to a hs reunion, I got tips for "just three days. I had them removed on NYE about 3.5 YEARS later. That stint and pretty nails stopped me. It did not cure me since I really want to do it still. The reason I had them taken off was because I had to take the required dreaded-by-me algebra course right after the Christmas break. It was my last course before graduation. I would be stressed and did not need to go and have a nail repaired when I knew I would just break it off again soon.
I do know it is a reaction to stress. I don't know about the OCD. But, I carry nippers for cuticle and emery board for nails. I don't take chances...lol.
I use things all the time for uses they are not intended for. I think that is why we have our noggin's. If people all thought the same way nothing earth shattering would ever happen
ReplyDeleteAnne,
DeleteSo true. I know that people who must have a certain item because the item isI advertised for a certain purpose. I was just looking for unique example. Some people appear not to use their noggins. A friend asked me in dismay why I would put bandaids in a cheese container. "Why not?" She has to have the "right" container to organize things and will spend the money to get it.