leanneabe's Profile

If you live near a Smart & Final, you can buy sleeves of plain cardboard pint containers (and lids) without having to pay for shipping. We use them all the time for ice cream. I find that after eating the ice cream, we have about one pint leftover that needs storing.

If you are working with limited water (and I'm guessing sinks), I would stock up on disposable plates, lots of foil (maybe foil pans), and crockpot liners. When we redid our kitchen, we had plenty of water, but no sinks (the bathroom sinks are tiny). I could cook just about anything, between the toaster oven, crockpot, and grill (and its side burner), but the cleanup of pans, pots, large ceramic insert, utensils, plates, etc was a huge pain. I had been concerned about how I was going to get things cooked, not how I was going to get things clean afterwards.

We ended up doing a lot of foil packets on the grill (and covering my cutting boards with those flexi-disposable cutting mats), eating out one night and reheating those leftovers the next (either in the microwave or in more foil packets), or just plain eating out. We did have full use of our fridge (except for the water filter part).

We lived like this for just under 6 weeks. When I was able to use the new sink, it was like a dream come true.

I tried this with my Buff Orpington - I got as far as tucking her head under her wing and she went to sleep. The Easter Egger wasn't having any of it, though.

We just redid our kitchen with Ikea cabinets. Everyone gave us a bit of flak until they saw the finished kitchen - no one could believe it was Ikea (until you open the cabinet doors and see the drawer shelves). Unless you're going completely custom, I think Ikea gives you a better price and more options than a typical Lowe's/Home Depot type of store. The cabinets themselves are made out of particle board (like most of Ikea furniture) but the doors are solid wood (but different styles have different types of wood).

We hired the Ikea installer (actually an independent contractor who only does Ikea installations) but saved money by assembling the pieces ourselves (it all goes together like Ikea furniture and once you do a couple, the rest are a piece of cake). The installation was totally worth it. They make sure everything is level and square and install the end pieces or trim fittings so it looks good. If you do hire an installer, I would review the cabinet plan/order with them before actually purchasing it, because they know what pieces work together (and how they fit or how much space to leave at corners) better than the sales staff.

One thing I love about the Ikea cabinets is that you can add door/drawer dampeners (self closing so they don't bang when you close them) for $5 per door/drawer. We priced the self-closing option at Lowe's and it was more than $20 per drawer. Also, the pull-out shelves for pantries was a bargain and it's my favorite part of the whole kitchen.

Even the cabinet hardware we picked out came from the Ikea selection.

I would recommend looking at the style examples in the store. Open the doors and test out the durability (on the back of the door so it's not visible). Lightly scratch it or press your nail into the wood. We decided against a couple styles because the wood for the door fronts were a soft pine and would have scratched or dented too easily. I'm glad we figured that out early, or I would be so sad right now!

We also splurged on the dishwasher at Ikea where you can attach a matching front panel. It blends in with the rest of the cabinets and most people can't even tell it's a dishwasher. But, the dishwasher (whirlpool) and matching panel still ended up $200 less than a comparable dishwasher at Lowe's.

People may think particleboard isn't long-lasting, but we just pulled out cabinets in our bathroom that have been there 20 years and those suckers were still solid!

Please don't let that organization dissuade you from chickens if it's something you've been seriously thinking about. It's like telling people not to get dogs because too many of them end up unwanted in shelters, dropped off by irresponsible people.

You can buy sexed chicks (although, there is always a chance - maybe 10% - that it'll end up a rooster) or you can purchase laying pullets (chickens under a year old but usually of laying age). If you do decide to purchase chicks, make sure you've made a plan for what happens if you end up with a rooster. As long as you plan to be a responsible chicken owner, the arguments shouldn't keep you from doing it.

The problems with roosters is that they often start crowning long before they are of good eating age. Either your neighbors or city ordinances object to the noise of roosters, which is why most people try to avoid having them even for the shortest period.

I think if you keep a small number of chickens in a good sized space, you won't have to worry about a smell issue. We have 2 chickens in a coop run space that's about 8'x15' and it's not smelly at all. We also handled them daily since they were chicks, so they're pretty friendly. One you can hold and pet, the other you can't, but neither are aggressive.

I also don't understand how FLOR tiles are a budget-friendly, inexpensive option. Every time I look at pricing a FLOR rug for a room, I'm way over $500, which is definitely not friendly to my budget. Am I missing something here?

I keep my flours and sugars in small bins at home and having small scoops (mine are plastic) makes it so much easier to scoop them into measuring cups. I can't remember where I bought mine, though, so thank for these links! Now I can go get new ones for my other bulk grains.

I also have two large scoops (purchased at the pet store - expensive!) for our dog and cat food. So handy - I don't know what I'd do with out them.

I rinse it with the spray nozzle from the back as soon as I'm done with it. This way, nothing has time to dry and stick and most of the whatever rinses off easily. If anything is stuck, I'll scrub it with a scrubby sponge from the bottom and that seems to do the trick. I don't ever wash it in the same direction food was straining (does that make sense?)

Give up on the dishwasher... it's taking up too much of your budget and it doesn't make sense to install it under the sink.

Click and lock laminate flooring is easy to install yourself, but are you sure you want white? I'd go with a light wood color...

Ikea cabinets can be installed yourself, too... just make sure when you're adding up the cost you include the wall rails, trim pieces, side panels, crown moulding, etc. To lower costs, I'd probably look into Ikea's panel countertops, too.

If you're not too picky about the sink and/or faucet, Home Depot and Lowe's often have them on their clearance end caps. I picked up a 26" stainless steel sink there for $25.

Do you have to have the remodel work done when you move in? If it can wait a couple of months, I agree with moving in and then seeing what you need based on how you live in the space.

I have one of those tall pyramid-shape pot racks that stands in a corner (or, in our kitchen, next to the wine rack). The lids are stored upside-down on the corresponding pot and then they all stack. I can usually fit 2 pots per "section" of the standing pot rack.

Some of our pans and skillets have lids that fit, too. We slide the pan handle through the lid handle and hang the whole unit on the hanging pot rack hook. Standing on a chair to get lids off the top of the pot rack would drive me insane.