What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[igorsMistress]

I was a young student studying in southern France back in the early 1980's. There was a political "Green" party that was talking about reducing packaging and plastics. At that time, I never heard of anything like that. Took a long time for us in the USA to even start thinking about all those plastics we dump in our landfills.

I think we have made some progress here in the USA. But still, most of what I do to reduce my waste is because I take the time and effort to do it. Not because of rules, laws, or regulations. Having said that, I am not opposed to making food packing biodegradable. Won't it be nice to compost our food packaging instead of hauling and dumping all that plastic in a landfill? I think it would. But I live out in the country and it's easy for me to compost anything I can.

I really don't have much confidence in the recycling in practice. I think most of that stuff just gets dumped into a landfill. Better to make the packaging compostable and if it ends up in a landfill, at least it would compost down to something safe.

Playing devils advocate here. The way I look at it, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you live, you’re having an impact.

We all buy things, for an example toilet paper; it comes in a plastic package. The product and the packaging all go through a process to be made, then a truck and maybe a train bring it to you. You use the product, recycle the cardboard and throw the plastic wrapper in the trash. What does the chemical process to make the product and its package do to the planet? What about your laundry soap? It may be eco friendly, but how friendly is the processing and packaging? Wait, I use soap nuts! They come in a cloth bag I can reuse, minimal plastic. Yup, but where did those soap berries come from? How did you get them?

Unless we grow 100% of our food and essentially do away with all modern conveniences then we are all having an impact in some way. Recyclable packaging may not necessarily be the answer either.

 

[Jenni Hen]

Playing devils advocate here. The way I look at it, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you live, you’re having an impact.

We all buy things, for an example toilet paper; it comes in a plastic package. The product and the packaging all go through a process to be made, then a truck and maybe a train bring it to you. You use the product, recycle the cardboard and throw the plastic wrapper in the trash. What does the chemical process to make the product and its package do to the planet? What about your laundry soap? It may be eco friendly, but how friendly is the processing and packaging? Wait, I use soap nuts! They come in a cloth bag I can reuse, minimal plastic. Yup, but where did those soap berries come from? How did you get them?

Unless we grow 100% of our food and essentially do away with all modern conveniences then we are all having an impact in some way. Recyclable packaging may not necessarily be the answer either.

To be even more brutally honest, to minimise impact on the ecosystem, I think we'd need to revert to being nomadic hunter-gatherers living and moving in small family groups. I don't feel like being first to volunteer!

 

[igorsMistress]

To be even more brutally honest, to minimise impact on the ecosystem, I think we'd need to revert to being nomadic hunter-gatherers living and moving in small family groups. I don't feel like being first to volunteer!

Nope, me neither!

 

[saysfaa]

We don't have to do everything in order for doing something to matter.

If not enough people do anything for it to be noticeable environmentally or in the local economy or any other way, it is still beneficial to the few to do something. Often to the people around them, also.

 

[SmiYa0126]

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.

That's an awesome idea! I wish they still did that. I save me bags, can't bear to throw them away , me neighbor took a bunch to store her flower bulbs.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Not to turn this into a prepper thread - I am not truly a prepper- but I do like to think about how long we’d last after a big crash. Then my issues of self sustainability would be my electric well pump and my lack of a fireplace.

Anyone else have these crazy dystopian fantasy moments?

Yup! I think about that too

 

[Sally PB]

I think about that too. DH and I have had to be self sufficient at times, when the power is off in the winter. Yeah, we have a generator for that reason.

The wood stove is for heat, and even though it probably cost $1500-2000 (25ish years ago; they're nearly $4000 for that model now), it has long since paid for itself. Will the $2000 wood splitter pay for itself...? maybe. But it'll out live us, probably, and it handles what we have, easily. So it was a good buy.

The garden? It's helping more and more. And if you add in the idea that the food I grow is better quality than what I can buy, it's even more frugal. I have to remember, don't look at the cost of potatoes, look at the cost of organic, purple potatoes. Because that's what I have. I might not buy organic purple potatoes in the store, but I gotta compare potatoes to potatoes.

 

[Sally PB]

Oh, this is something that has been brought home to me (again) recently. One of the BEST ways to save money is to stay as healthy as you can. Do the best you can to maintain or improve your health. You only get one body. Think of it as your high performance Maserati. Baby that thing. It seems these days like a lot of people think that poor health is something that *might* happen down the road, or is to be expected, or "there's a pill for that."

DH and I were blessed with good health. Though we're 60 and feeling our age a bit now, I remind him that we are VERY lucky in that regard.

 

[LizzzyJo]

I think about that too. DH and I have had to be self sufficient at times, when the power is off in the winter. Yeah, we have a generator for that reason.

The wood stove is for heat, and even though it probably cost $1500-2000 (25ish years ago; they're nearly $4000 for that model now), it has long since paid for itself. Will the $2000 wood splitter pay for itself...? maybe. But it'll out live us, probably, and it handles what we have, easily. So it was a good buy.

The garden? It's helping more and more. And if you add in the idea that the food I grow is better quality than what I can buy, it's even more frugal. I have to remember, don't look at the cost of potatoes, look at the cost of organic, purple potatoes. Because that's what I have. I might not buy organic purple potatoes in the store, but I gotta compare potatoes to potatoes.

I really want a wood burning stove. Our house isn’t set up for it I always have to remember to compare my hobby farm food to the organic. Potatoes to potatoes . I used to have to remind myself to compare my eggs to organic, but not anymore! It’s too bad my ladies are still on winter sabbatical. Soon, though!

 

[gtaus]

Oh, this is something that has been brought home to me (again) recently. One of the BEST ways to save money is to stay as healthy as you can. Do the best you can to maintain or improve your health.

If you can grow your own food, you can not only save money, but you get fresher, tastier, food to eat. Learn how to cook the food to preserve as much of the nutrients as possible. Some methods, like steaming vegetables, lock in the nutrients whereas boiling vegetables leaches out the good stuff into the water. Some foods are better raw, but others need to be cooked to release the nutrients our body can process. I'm just learning more about this stuff, but the way we approach growing and cooking our food does make a difference.

I have started going to a Senior Citizen's cooking class that is held once a month. Our instructors are always telling us how to get most out of the food we buy at the store or grow at home. It's all new information to me, so I learn a lot. Like most guys my age, I spent my time in shop class while the girls took Home Economics and learned how to cook. I think we all would have been better off learning both skills, which I think kids today have that opportunity.

Dear Wife is a great cook, so I can't complain about anything. But I try to help out and prepare one or two evening dinner meals every week. She appreciates the attempt. Like any skill, I'm slowly getting better with more experience.