What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[igorsMistress]

I don't live in town, but somehow, I managed to get about 4 or 5 Harbor Freight 5-gallon buckets this past year on their weekend sales. I only go into town maybe once a week. If I lived in town, I would probably go on each day of the bucket sale and pick up a free bucket with supplies I need. Unfortunately, my old Ford Explorer is only getting 13 mpg so it costs me about $8 round trip just to drive in town and back home. Not going to make a special trip in town to get a $5.00 bucket for free, if you know what I mean. That would not be frugal.

Those 5-gallon buckets are also used a lot in gardening. Lots of YouTube videos on making them into self-watering containers for your plants. Never tried it myself, but looks like a good idea.

I use them for so much. Water from showers and faucets while it’s warming up, stuff for the compost pile, to cart my tools around with me as I go about my yard chores. I have one to mix whitewash and one for scrubbing the interior of the coop. As you said they stack up nice in a corner and don’t take much room.

I’m starting a small hydroponic garden now so they’re good for that and I do want to try a wicking bucket or two so that’s on my list. I’ve read that hydroponics uses less water than traditional gardens and since our water is a huge concern I’m going to try it. Maybe pass the skill to the teenager who wants to learn and digs science.

 

[Sally PB]

I got a bunch of 5 gallon food grade plastic buckets with lids for $1.50 each. Not free, but cheap enough for me to buy them up. I got them at a donut shop; they get their donut fillings in them. Some I turned into "worm hotels" for the garden some are still in my basement.

I forgot to mention one of my neighbor's frugal hacks. She goes to a lot of estate sales. The second day, everything is usually marked down by 1/3-1/2. She gets most of her household "stuff" for pennies on the dollar. Things like aluminum foil (mostly full roll for 25 cents), bars of soap at 10 for a buck, that sort of thing.

Obviously, they have to drive to the sale, but they're going anyway. She's learned what to look for in the ads to know what might be a "good" sale for, say, kitchen appliances, and then gets the small stuff as a bonus.

I was in their garage one time, and commented on all the tools(!), which must be worth thousands of dollars. Nope. From estate sales. Her hubby goes for tools, she goes for kitchen gadgets/appliances. If she doesn't need yet another breadmaker, she knows someone who does, and it's $10.

 

[gtaus]

If they show the buckets out in the sun, it would be worth shading them so less water evaporates and so they don't get brittle. It takes more than one summer form them to get brittle but all that many summers.

If you top mulch the soil in the buckets, or any raised beds, it will help reduce water evaporation. I have seen some systems that cover the topsoil with a heavy, dark, plastic and just cut a hole in the plastic for the plant. I have used top mulch, but have never tried the heavy black plastic method.

I just watched a YouTube video last night and that guy was using buckets to grow food. His buckets, sitting outside without shade, lasted him 6 years before he replaced them. I suppose the amount of sun damage depends on where you live. I also wonder if the color of the bucket makes a big difference in terms of useful life if it sits out in the sun?

I saw one person suggesting that the plastic buckets and bins be covered with burlap from potato sacks or from a roll of burlap. In his opinion, the burlap helped protect the plastic from the sun, and more importantly to him, covered up the advertising on the Home Depot, Harbor Freight, Lowes, etc... buckets. I will say that I, too, thought the burlap covered planters looked better than an assortment of multi-colored buckets with advertising on them. Is it worth the effort? I guess that depends on home much protection you get from the sun and how much you like the looks of burlap over adversting on the buckets.

 

[gtaus]

I got a bunch of 5 gallon food grade plastic buckets with lids for $1.50 each. Not free, but cheap enough for me to buy them up. I got them at a donut shop;

That sounds like a great deal to me. I have been getting my buckets for free, but the lids alone cost $2.48 each (or higher). I don't live in town, but if I did, I might be looking into restaurants and such for "free" buckets, or like you, for a very low cost. I bet most restaurants just toss those buckets in the garbage.

 

[Sally PB]

This particular donut shop saves buckets, knowing several people will buy them. She told me if she has too many, she puts them in the recycle bin.

Hmmm... the idea of using them as planters.... hmmmm.

 

[samanthaoverton]

I've done peppers in them..I had hubby drill holes in the bottom though so it would drain

 

[saysfaa]

... I suppose the amount of sun damage depends on where you live. I also wonder if the color of the bucket makes a big difference in terms of useful life if it sits out in the sun?
...

Yes, the color makes a big difference. I don't know if it is because of the color or if it is something else about the kinds of plastic.

White lasts the shortest time.

 

[gtaus]

I've done peppers in them..I had hubby drill holes in the bottom though so it would drain

There are lots of YouTube videos on making self-watering planters out of 5-gallon buckets. Most of them use two buckets, with the bottom bucket used as the water reservoir. The advantage to that method is you use significantly less water than a typical planter with drain holes in the bottom. If interested, here is just one example of how to make the 5-gallon buckets self-watering planters...

If you understand the basic concept, and this sounds interesting to you, then you might want to consider this guy's "upgraded" version which holds even more water.

I built a sub-irrigated elevated planter using this guy's design from a different video. He seems to know his stuff. The sub-irrigated planter I built is my best producing planter and/or garden bed and at the same time the least work.

 

[gtaus]

Yes, the color makes a big difference. I don't know if it is because of the color or if it is something else about the kinds of plastic.

White lasts the shortest time.

Interesting, I would have thought a white bucket would last longer because it reflects more sunlight than a darker bucket. I know not all plastics are as UV resistant as others. I imagine one would have to test the same kind of plastic buckets but with different colors to be sure.

 

[LizzzyJo]

Interesting, I would have thought a white bucket would last longer because it reflects more sunlight than a darker bucket. I know not all plastics are as UV resistant as others. I imagine one would have to test the same kind of plastic buckets but with different colors to be sure.

Geography also makes a difference. The same plastic materials in the sun where I am in NW ohio will stay seasons longer than where I’m from in KY. The sun and heat I suppose. Not to mention kudzu taking over and smashing it. But that’s another story.