What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[saysfaa]

Along with mending but not when it costs more in time/money/materials/waste to do the mending...

When ashes get wet from the vent holes of the burn barrel, it may be a good idea to dry them in the house. It adds much needed moisture to the air with no cost to run water, use up the water filter, use electricity. But it is NOT a good idea to let them dry in the basement. Unless, maybe, you have a wood stove in the basement.

I think I lost the rest of the squash to mold, and possibly the boxes of things closest to the ashes. Hopefully, that is all.

Spoiled chickens, to get their dust bath dampened in the summer. In the winter, when it would freeze solid, they get it the additions dried.

Really, I just wanted to vent a little.

 

[LizzzyJo]

Make reusable bags!!View attachment 3378994View attachment 3378995
Church sales, non profits, Christmas gifts, egg sales, farmers markets. Nothing to it! 🛍

I love these! My chicken feed is from a mill so the bag is just white. But the rabbit bags would be cute!

 

[Sally PB]

Today I bought a couple of the reusable ziploc style bags. Not cheap; $7 for 2. I would like to get away from freezer bags that I use a couple times then they split and end up in the bag recycle bin.

If anyone uses these, do you have a favorite brand that works well for you? These are Kolorae. I really want to find one big enough to hold a loaf of bread. I make may own bread, and need a bag to put it in. I want a bag I can wash and reuse.

 

[gtaus]

I really want to find one big enough to hold a loaf of bread. I make may own bread, and need a bag to put it in. I want a bag I can wash and reuse.

Grandma used to bake bread a couple times a week. She kept the bread in a bread holder, something like this....

No need for a plastic bread wrapper with her homemade bread. And, IIRC, her homemade bread did not have any preservatives in it so we had to eat it up in a few days. Putting her bread into a plastic bag would not have prolonged the life of the bread. Or, at least I don't think it would.

Having said that, if you need a plastic wrapper for your homemade bread, why not just buy a commercial loaf of bread of the size/shape of your homemade bread and then reuse that plastic bag for your bread? Last time I bought a loaf of bread at WalMart, it was about $1.00 for the house brand. Anyway, you might as well eat the bread and reuse the plastic bag.

My grandparents lived through the Great Depression. They washed and reused almost all their plastic bags instead of throwing them away. It was their way of life. The plastic bag was only thrown out if it ripped or tore and was no longer usable.

My Dear Wife and I are not in sync in reusing plastic bags. I don't mind saving those bags for reuse. She will only consider using a plastic bag once and then throwing it away. There will be no washing plastic bags in her kitchen. For me, reusing plastic bags is both a way to save some small amount of money, but perhaps more importantly, it reduces the amount of plastics that continue to pollute our world. So, I appreciate your desire to reuse plastic bags.

On a more positive note, we are in agreement on reusing the plastic containers we get our sliced ham in from the store.

I just peel off the top label and we reuse those containers for leftovers. They are great in the refrigerator because they stack so nicely. Also, since they are not round, there is less wasted space. They also work great in the freezer, but sometimes the plastic might crack if you bump it around. No big deal, if they crack we just toss it out at that time.

I think I already mentioned it, but I use brown masking tape as a label and write the date and what is inside the container using a black Sharpie marker. Helps us to use up our oldest leftovers and/or decide to give it to the chickens at a later date. If you have good refrigerator management, you probably don't need labels and such. But we tend to have things get shoved to the back of the fridge and then forgotten. We could do better, but the labels on the containers of leftovers have helped.

 

[Sally PB]

I've been looking for a bread box. Have not found one yet.

Remember when a hint on the size of something was, "Bigger (or smaller) than a bread box"?

 

[gtaus]

I've been looking for a bread box. Have not found one yet.

My grandmother's bread box ended up being passed down to me. You might have luck finding one at a thrift store at a good price. Of course, you could always buy a new one online if none are available locally.

Remember when a hint on the size of something was, "Bigger (or smaller) than a bread box"?

Yes, I remember. I don't imagine that hint would make any sense to kids nowadays. I suspect not too many people bake their own bread these days, certainly not compared to years ago.

 

[gtaus]

Along with mending [socks] but not when it costs more in time/money/materials/waste to do the mending...

I like to buy my white socks in large packs. Since they all are the same size/brand/style, if one sock gets a few holes in it, I just use it as a rag out in the garage and keep the good sock to match up with another. The socks I buy in those packs are not high quality and I cannot imagine mending them would be worth anyone's time. But they serve well as cleaning rags before they finally get tossed into the garbage.

 

[Sally PB]

I like to buy my white socks in large packs. Since they all are the same size/brand/style, if one sock gets a few holes in it, I just use it as a rag out in the garage and keep the good sock to match up with another. The socks I buy in those packs are not high quality and I cannot imagine mending them would be worth anyone's time. But they serve well as cleaning rags before they finally get tossed into the garbage.

I do the same thing. Except my socks are grey. Hubby's are white, so I can tell them apart when I match them up after washing.

 

[igorsMistress]

Chip Drop is a cheap resource for wood chips for mulch. It’s nice if you give a “donation”
but not mandatory, and you can specify what you do and don’t want also. I got a small load but it was enough to mulch all of the backyard except the food gardens and then some. Not only is it good as a mulch, but it also improves the soil structure for better moisture retention and much less runoff.

I have recycled broken pavers and masonry edging into a decorative path from the patio to the RV gate in our backyard. You can use up those last bits of spray paint on the tops for more color. To make ollas (a way to water plants) I reuse terra cotta pots that get small breaks, cracks or are starting to fall apart; just put a cork in the bottom hole, bury to the rim between plants, fill with water and put the saucer on top. I also fill the saucers with marbles or small rocks and water for the bees and yizards

One of the biggest money savers for me as a suburbanite is having a pigeon proof feeder. I don’t have a run and feed my flock pellets so the little birds can’t eat it. The pigeons used to stalk me though! They’d wait on a two story house a few streets over to see me outside to feed and then when I went back in the house they’d swarm it. My feed bill was cut by 2/3 when I changed to something new.

 

[gtaus]

One of the biggest money savers for me as a suburbanite is having a pigeon proof feeder.

Any more info, name, brand, picture? Thanks.