I fixed my dishwasher's silverware basket for pennies

Sometimes the solution to a problem is a snap. Or maybe a zip to tie things up fast.

My dishwasher’s plastic silverware basket had sprung a few leaks. Actually, the grid work on the sides and bottoms of several sections sported gaping holes, where sharp steak knives and other utensils had poked right through the plastic.

I started looking online for replacement baskets for the dishwasher. A matching basket for my particular dishwasher was going to cost about $40. Ouch!

So I did what any other improvising individual might do. I grabbed some plastic zip ties and closed up the holes. (They really are just pennies apiece.) Then I snipped off the tails. And that was that.

It’s not all that pretty, but it works fine. And who’s looking closely inside my dishwasher, anyway?

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Photos by LAN for Practically at Home

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Door to door meat deals? No thanks.

 “Ding-dong!”

Nope, it wasn’t Avon calling. It was a guy with meat for sale. Are they kidding?

“Good morning ma’am. Do you like steak? I’m selling $25 worth of meat for $5,” chirped the cheery door-to-door salesman.

He pointed at a rusty truck with a makeshift freezer compartment in the back and hand-painted lettering on the sides. The thing looked like it might have been t-boned a time or two.

Chop! Chop!

“No, thank you,” I answered and closed my door.

I had no beef with the guy, but I wasn’t buying. Potential food poisoning is no bargain – at any price. And the quality control appeared questionable. Not exactly well done.

The meat salesman didn’t give his name. Maybe it was E. Koleye, Sal Minella, Claus Tridium, or Les Teria. Who knows? He could have been Chuck Waggon, Biff Brisket, Phil Aye, Van Eisen, or Sir Lon Supreme for all I could tell.

Whatever his name, he was a rare one, trying to stake his claim to our neighborhood’s meat consumption business.

Sometimes you just gotta shake your head and wonder. It’s one thing to order meat from a reputable purveyor for home delivery. But cold-call meat for sale smacks of something entirely different.

Well, hot dog!

As the guy climbed into his truck to drive away, I ran a quick online search for his company name. You guessed it: I found nothing online.

I might have a bone to pick with such a business.

Fly-by-night door-to-door discount meat may not be such a great deal, after all. And that’s no baloney.

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Adapted from public domain artwork

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Simple solution: Keeping tabs on home hair coloring

Do you color your own hair? (OK, don’t answer that. No one needs to know.)

However, if you do dye your own hair, using either demi-permanent or permanent hair coloring (or even highlights or temporary hair glitter), here’s an easy way to keep track of coloring dates and the products you have used.

Simply tear the top of the hair coloring product box. Usually, the product name and color number are printed on the top. Flip the top over, and write the date on the other side. Then tuck the box top into the bathroom cupboard or drawer.

That way, you will have your personal hair coloring information handy, right at that crazy moment when you happen to look in the bathroom mirror and see those tell-tale roots beginning to show.

Within a few months, you may have a growing collection of hair coloring product box tops, so you can look back and consider which hues you liked the most and how often you needed to re-apply your dye.

It’s that simple!

Image:

Public domain photo

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