Ikea: Mecca of Housewares

Being smack dab in the middle of the US has its advantages. The cost of living is low, you get to enjoy a varied range of seasons, we've got the sweet grapes for my favorite kinds of wine (aka grape juice with alcohol.) There's lots of open land and farms nearby, and there's less pollution and traffic.

Convenient IKEA shopping is not one of those advantages. So when I had the chance on Saturday to drive 5 hours to the nearest one in Bolingbrook, IL, you bet I was excited. Of course, the trip was really for my cousin's 1st communion (photos to follow later.) But when you're going in the right direction, you make sure to squeeze it into your schedule, right? We had two hours to spare, and never even made it to the upper floor with all of the furniture. I guess I spent too much time contemplating the hundreds of pillow covers... anyway, here's my loot!

 

1. The 365+ Spice Mill. Sean grows his own herbs and spices, and I've seen him spend far too much time drying them out and mashing them up in order to cook with them. I'm looking forward to more conveniently using his stevia in my tea with this little gadget.

2. The 365+ Spice Jar Set. You can't just have one, of course. And these will also connect to the spice mill itself, so hurrah for no mess! The lids have a little sprinkle top and a pour top for serving.

3. An apple slicer! I know, why did I have to go all the way to Ikea to buy one? But it matches a corkscrew I bought there a few years ago... and I kept forgetting until I saw this one that I've been meaning to buy one since my roomies and I split in 2007. (I wasn't the lucky one to get the apple slicer out of the deal back then...)

4. Plastic storage bags. Yeah, they don't seem that special, but they're reusable, and they're super thick. There's 50 in the box (two different sizes) so I think I'll hand some out to my friends since they're much more durable than your average sandwich bag and I can't imagine needing to use that many at once.

Well there you go. My frugal shopping at it's best! Obviously nothing so special that I'm going to tell you to run to the nearest IKEA asap, but they'll definitely make my, and Sean's, kitchens a better place to be.