What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[gtaus]

Goodwill type stores vary a lot in how worthwhile they are.

I started shopping our local thrift store a few years ago. It is run by a church group and their profits go to help charities in our local area. Good for me when I can find something I want or need and knowing that my money is going to help others in need in my community. Sometimes I buy an item that may or may not work out for me. If it's a complete failure for my use, at least I consider my money went to charity. Sometimes I just donate an item back to the thrift store, but if broken or doesn't work I trash it myself.

Not all of it is the garbage we are currently generating; some of is decluttering.

I usually box up items in the house that we no longer want and drop it off at the church thrift shop. They can decide if they want to sell the items, put them outside in their "free" bins, or dump the items in their big trash bins. One person's trash might be another person's treasure.

 

[TropicalBabies]

One of my favorite subjects! Bravo OP!

I try my best not to bring extra into my house. We built our "tiny house" 540sq with the planet in mind. I buy my clothes used sometimes but barely buy any anymore. No makeup for most all my life. No real hair products... Soaps are barred or eco friendly and refilled and/or bought in bulk. We shred our paper and I use in nest boxes along with the tall grass I cut and dry. All waste goes into one of our composting systems along with our green/house/yard. I have not bought a zip lock bag in 15 years @ least and purchased very few b4. We don't drink soda, grow our own fruits, dry all clothes on a line. Use a ton of mulch for water retention and organic mater back into our soil. Also have well water on solar for our yard.
My new feed bag project- I'm collecting feed bags and sewing shopping/feed bags and selling them for 100% nonprofit. I have kept about 200 bags out of the landfill so far with another 400 waiting to be sewn and adding a small cash flow to 2 of my favorite nonprofits.
We have solar and PV. I only drive with purpose and multi task and recently bought a motorcycle for my main transpo. So my gas consumption is awesome-ly very minimal. Am working on making a basket for my motorcycle out of used irrigation drip line so I can deliver my eggs and people won't have to come and get etc though must confess most my customers are very local by plan.

Horse feed sourced locally and we also graze a lot. Have a 150 eco boost. Everyday I hope and try to do better and am really glad to hear of a few of my fellow humans doing the same ✌

Real minuses. Cat food.

 

[LizzzyJo]

No more spending money on decorative gourds! I smashed our purchased ones in the compost pile last year and continued to put my rabbitry waste there and…well… this is about 75% of them.

 

[gtaus]

Anyone else have these crazy dystopian fantasy moments?

I'm not into prepping, per se, but I have encouraged Dear Wife to stock up on supplies when things go on sale. I believe in a well stock pantry. She is more of a minimalist.

When COVID-19 hit the supply chain, Dear Wife got into a panic and created a supply closet full of toilet paper, paper towels, and other products that she cannot live without. Of course, at that time, TP and paper towels were about 3X the cost of pre-COVID prices. Now that stores are more of less restocked with products, we still have a nice supply of products in her panic closet and now buy items on sale prices to keep it restocked.

Speaking of supply chain problems, even our local WalMart is now frequently out of stock on many items that we never used to bother to store at home. Changing with the times, we have increased the size of our pantry and have had to change what we eat or use depending on the availability of the items in the store. It's a different world now. A nice home pantry helps smooth out those temporary shortages in the store. Flexibility in what you eat or use is also key to success.

 

[LizzzyJo]

I grew up in a rural small town. We had about 40 family farms in our area when I was going to school in the 1970's. When I graduated from university in the early 1980's, there were only 2 family farms left in that same area back home. Everything changed.

I’m the opposite of this. I grew up in an urban area in a big city. Totally oblivious and reliant on corporations. Husband is from the country. We moved out to the country on land in 2017 to begin hobby farming (with a pipe dream of homesteading). We both have good non farm jobs.

I’ve had to learn EVERYTHING from scratch and am still dumb. Haha. When we moved out here I’d never seen a tractor up close. Didn’t know what propane tanks were for, thought well water was contaminated, was scared of the idea that my neighbors were armed, thought white haired devil children may live in the corn fields… the list goes on!

All I knew was animals from having them and working with them for my job from time to time.

I am learning one day at a time!

 

[TropicalBabies]

We also sell our composted horse poop in used feed bags. Almost all customers save their bags and we cycle them that way.
My egg cartons are saved from friends and neighbor and recycled.
We just keep pecking away... would like to use more grey water ♡

@gtaus Mmy auntie was the same about her plastic bottles. We bought her a ceramic water dispenser and refil it with reverse osmosis @our local store. Also got her a nice travel canteen and so far... she has lessened her use quite a bit. We also got her recycling much more major victory lol with baby steps.

 

[YolkFolksHome]

Yes. I don’t consider myself a prepper, I consider myself prudent. We have extra food for humans and animals, 2 months worth on hand at all times. We also have emergency food buckets and alternative options for cooking other than electricity. I have a bunch of water storage as well, but haven’t filled them yet as I haven’t figured out where I’m going to store it all. It’s not just for those dystopian fantasy moments. It’s for any event that puts us in a bind. We are saving for a generator, I’ve heard about rolling blackouts too many times in other areas recently and people are moving here to the desert in droves. That’s adding stress to both our electricity and water resources and I think that is what frightens me the most. I’m looking into hydroponic gardening as it uses less water than a traditional one. Space is my biggest issue there as well.

Pardon my ignorance but, why are people moving to the desert? I'd think that'd be the last place for human settlement. I wanna know what I'm missing in life. My neighbor talks about going to see his friend in Arizona once a year and how a lot of people are living an Rv/nomad lifestyle and I can't understand why.

 

[Sally PB]

Here's something that pisses me off, and my work around.

Pump bottles of shampoo and conditioner are MUCH easier for old arthritic hands to deal with than prying open a snap cap on lid. But the "straw" on the pump won't get all the product out of the bottle. Even worse, sometimes they cut the straw a bit short, knowing you will just pitch the bottle and the week -- or three -- worth of shampoo.

Nope, not me. Dang it! I paid for 38.2 ounces of Pantene, I want thirty-eight point two ounces!

So I do this. (Don't tell my husband.) If someone has a better way, let me know. When it makes the shhmmoook shhhmmmoook noise because the straw isn't sucking up shampoo, I add a little bit of water, say about a tablespoon. Swirl it around really well. It's good for a few days, maybe a week.

I do this twice, and then it's runny enough that hubby will probably notice. But do I throw it out? Nope! Now I take the top off and dump a blob into my palm. Then I set the bottle on the edge of the tub, on its side, which in our house means, "This bottle is too empty [for hubby] to bother with. Get out the new bottle."

I'll do the "dump a blob into my palm for a few days, leaving the bottle on its side, on the edge of the tub. Hubby has been around me long enough not to question this any more. Leave Sally to her weirdness.

But I am hardcore. I want at least 38 ounces of that shampoo. The .2 .... well, ok... I grudgingly will let that go. That's probably what is stuck in the straw anyway. So now the new bottle and the old bottle go into the kitchen. I add about 2-3 tablespoons of water to the old bottle and do my best to swish every bit of shampoo off the sides of the bottle. Then I dump that into the new bottle. I use the pumper straw to stir it around a bit. Then I put the bottle back together and put it on the shelf in the shower.

And because I am really hardcore, I put another 1/4 cup of water in the old bottle, shake it up, and then go take a shower and wash my hair with that.

Now, the bottle is clean for recycling, my hair is clean, and I feel very smug.

 

[gtaus]

The fail that bothers most is feed bags. I wish feed still came in burlap bags.

Agree. Add to that, I remember the days when you could reuse your feed bag and save half a dollar on a refill of feed. Now, we are forced to buy a new, paper-plastic feed bag every time.

 

[saysfaa]

I only have access to water bath. What would happen it I tried beans? Would I know that they were bad? Like botulism?

The problem is that you would not know if they are bad. Yes, like botulism where is no difference in color or smell or taste. I don't know what the actual risk is in percentages of batches that might have it but it is quite deadly if happens and very nasty even if you don't die.

It is much better to freeze beans or dry them if you don't have a pressure canner.

Edit to add: or pickle them. Thanks gtaus

Edit, again, to add: or otherwise cured (smoked, brined, etc). Some things will keep well for months in a root cellar - especially if you look into which need more/less humidity and which like each other.