I’ve just experienced something that has made me realize this U.S.A. economy really has slowed down! What did I do? I washed my salt and pepper shakers! I’ve been Ms Stewart in my household for 62 years and I never remember washing salt and pepper shakers before. I just upgraded them in the past when I had a job and could afford to throw dollars to the wind. I remember the exhilaration of that upgrade! Tupperware! That set with the “hingy” top. . . . (Time out.) . . .
. . .Had a time out because curiosity got me. I went online. Couldn’t find them. Knowing they are in existence since they are drying out on my kitchen cabinet, I would not be refused. (These are the kinds of activities that cause situations like my Christmas stuff not yet being put away.) I finally found some on e-bay. But they are not salt and pepper shakers; they are Modular Mates Spice Shakers. That certainly blows any claim I have to the Ms Stewart effect. I’ve used them wrongly (in a wrong way) for all these years!
Back to the economy. I considered going to dollar store, but these Modular Mates Spice Shakers have served so well, I decided to wash them. Not wash like taking the salt and pepper out of them but wash like taking the lids off and scrubbing both sides of the lids, even the hingy part. I even used a sandwich pick and cloth to clean out the holes. When I do a job, I do it well! Except for the fact that I only washed the lids not the containers.
The DOW was down yesterday. It might be wise for you to check your salt and pepper shakers. If your lungs are good, you can just blow off the loose stuff and make your evaluation. Can you get by with a dusting off or damp cloth wipe down? Will a thorough cleaning be needed? Or will you need new ones? If the economy continues its downhill plunge, you probably will have to downgrade not upgrade. Buyer beware. When the scam artists take note of the weakness in our households, they are sure to arrange a “salt and pepper” shake down of some sort. Take heed, this is my word to the wise today.
Sweet aroma 
This is a great post. Thanks for the laugh! I think I will clean the modular mates spice shakers on my day off tomorrow! 😂
Makes me so happy to know we will leave the world (kitchen) a better place! Be sure to use sandwich picks, regular toothpicks are not wide enough – I guess you could but you will have to try harder to do an efficient job.
Okay, Oneta, I still have a pair of the Tupperware salt and pepper shakers and matching sugar “bowl” and creamer. The salt and pepper shakers have been on a kitchen table for forty-four years. (I’ve washed them many times by hand and in the dishwasher.) The pepper shaker’s “hinge” broke too many years ago to remember. I was once informed that if any part of a Tupperware product broke, the company would replace it. They did that for me for one of their pitcher tops. (I didn’t bother to try out the policy for the pepper shaker.)
Best I can figure with your DOW analogy, our household money must be holding. I am glad you found a replacement for your old shaker set.
I didn’t replace. Didn’t need to after a scubbing. Forty-four years, huh? I started to say more than thirty but that seemed so long ago. We moved out of the house I connect my tupperware years with in 1982, so it had to be nearly thirty-five years since I bought them. I had two sets. One of my pepper tops broke also, so I use only one for pepper. Two salt.
My daughter, who is now forty-five, was a year old when I bought them.
That seals in the date for you doesn’t it? Seriously they have been a good buy.
This is awesome Oneta! I enjoyed the humor, I think now I must get new Salt Pepper shakers! 😀
Upgrade, girl, upgrade while you still have money! :D:D
Too funny!
😀 😀
I have one of those hinged salt shakers. I have no idea what happened to the pepper. That’s not a problem, really, because our family never used pepper at the table anyway. However, I have washed plenty of salt and pepper shakers in my time. Actually, I’ve washed one set, over and over. I have my grandmother’s range shakers and grease catcher — they’re Universal Cambridge, in the bittersweet pattern — like this.
This is terrible. My china-collecting juices just got stirred. Sometimes I wish I had back all that I’ve sold. Then I think, where would I put the danged stuff?
Linda, now that you mention it, I do remember those shakers that were kept close by the range tops. They did get pretty greasy back in mom’s chicken frying times. I think we sometimes had to dump the contents out to wash the containers. How pretty and clean they were when they were filled again. See how much aesthetic value our children never are exposed to, now that chicken only comes via the Colonel or his competition. I looked at your Universal Cambridge pattern. It seems familiar. But I don;t think we ever had any. Yep, storing the stuff is daunting! I’m behind on my e-mails. It seems I haven’t seen you this week. If you’ve written, I’ll get there. (now that the salt shakers are clean and filled!)
No, I’m trying to get back on my once-a-week, post-on-the-weekend schedule. Taking a deep breath after the frenzy of Christmas and New Year posting is good, particularly since posting to deadline can be a little more nerve-wracking. Coming up with a New Year post on January 15 just doesn’t cut it!
It is a dead give-a-way that you are behind, isn’t it? 😀
You are so funny, yet so true! I am most definitely NOT a Ms. Stewart in my house. Dust on the furniture is for writing love notes, and the windows, well, best not go there.
Thank you, Dawn. I got wound up over this world shaking subject! Glad you have found a way to make dust a blessing. And you chose the right year to mention windows to me. My husband cleaned them this fall.
That’s wonderful! Bob does bathrooms!
We take ’em any way we can get ’em, huh? 😀
The “like” button only lets me hit it once, but consider that I hit it multiple times…..
Birds of a feather…..:D
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