What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[saysfaa]

Yup, I find a lot of things are more expensive on Amazon. The only thing that often helps is the savings on shipping. However, I always check other sites because a lot of them give free shipping if you spend more than a certain amount.

Also, my mother lives in BFE, Alabama. Amazon is no longer offering free shipping unless she spends $150 or more. I expect to see similar things happening elsewhere. Maybe not in large cities, but more rural areas for sure.

The effects of getting closer to a monopoly.

 

[igorsMistress]

The effects of getting closer to a monopoly.

Yup. I just heard on the news amazon made 9% more in 2022 than 2021, yet it’s going to lay off 18,000 workers to cut costs. Pretty sad.

 

[LizzzyJo]

Amazon tried doing drone order drop offs, but they piloted the program in Detroit. Dumb. I live about an hour from Detroit and I love it - good, hard working people and a city with a lot of love to give. That being said - obviously all the drones were shot down as they passed backyards and people took them as spying. Lolol

 

[SmiYa0126]

Frugal Tip for cutting up fallen trees by yourself.

At least once a summer we get a strong blowing wind and have some trees uprooted and/or big branches falling down in the yard. Where I live, it can cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to hire a crew to come to your house to clean up trees after a big storm.

My dad and I always did the tree clean up jobs ourselves. I have a number of chainsaws in the garage ready to go. My father passed away a few years ago, and I found out how much more work it was for me to lift and cut up the fallen trees by myself. But I did not want to hire a crew and have to pay someone for the clean up job.

If you want to extend your abilities working alone, let me suggest my best helper for cutting up those large tree trunks and branches that are too heavy to lift. It's called the Woodchuck Timberjack.

I'm not a very big guy, and not as young with a strong back as years ago, but the Timberjack makes it really easy to roll over and lift up big tree trunks off the ground to cut with the chainsaw.

I have been able to safely lift a tree trunk the size of the one in that photo by myself using the Timberjack. As you can see, it keeps the chainsaw bar out of the dirt which would dull your chain or damage it in no time. It has allowed me to work by myself saving me hundreds of dollars if I had to hire someone else.

Anyway, the WoodChuck Timberjack sells for about $110 today, but it's worth every penny. No doubt I got my money's worth the first time I had to use it to clean up some fallen trees out in the yard. If you consider the cost to hire someone to do the job, or the cost of hurting yourself if you tried to lift or roll over one of those big trees without any aid, then you realize how valuable this tool is.

You can buy less expensive brands with wood handles, at about half the price, but they are not as strong as the WoodChuck. The WoodChuck Timberjack uses aircraft aluminum which will not bend whereas some of those wood-handle timberjacks will break under the strain of a large tree trunk.

I figure that Timberjack has added maybe 10 years, or more, to the time I can do those jobs cutting up trees by myself. There's a lot of value in that tool.

My hubs uses his all the time too! He said it's paid for itself many times over.

 

[Sally PB]

Also, my mother lives in BFE, Alabama. Amazon is no longer offering free shipping unless she spends $150 or more. I expect to see similar things happening elsewhere. Maybe not in large cities, but more rural areas for sure.

I live in BFE, Michigan. FedEx won't drive down my drive, I doubt UPS will either. I'd rather buy stuff in stores. USPS will, but I don't think that's a shipping option with Amazon.

 

[gtaus]

Yup, I find a lot of things are more expensive on Amazon. The only thing that often helps is the savings on shipping.

As an Amazon Prime member, I get "free shipping" on most items I order. However, to get that "free shipping" advantage, it now costs me $149 per year to be an Amazon Prime member. When I first started as an Amazon Prime member, IIRC, it was $99 per year.

You also get "free Amazon Prime" TV, which offers many older movies for "free" online streaming, however, it always seems that the new movie I want to watch is still somehow pay for view only! In no way would Dear Wife and I pay $149 per year for Amazon Prime TV, but we don't watch that much TV at our age. Maybe one or two movies on the weekends. Usually not available on Amazon Prime.

For a lot of the items I buy for yardwork, it's still much cheaper for me to buy them at our local Fleet store. The Fleet store still has the advantage of moving a number of large, heavy items on a semi-truck and costing them much less per unit than an individual Amazon item shipped via UPS, FedEx, or USPS.

 

[fishygirl25]

I try hard to lower my carbon footprint. I have solar panels on my roof. Usually my electricity bill is very low but it is inconsistent. They make us stay on the grid so no choice there. I always bring my own bags whenever I shop. I brought an ev last year. I use the regular 110v plug to charge it. It takes a day or so but who cares. I am retired so it doesn’t matter. Our community recycles plastic containers, paper products & cans. I hope they really recycle but who knows where it really goes. I give my chickens my leftovers which they really enjoy. I have a compost barrel for food scraps & chicken waste.

 

[Jabroni]

My biggest thing probably is using flour sack towels instead of paper towels. All purpose and I use some of them for cloth diaper inserts too. I do not cloth diaper most of the time because of the excessive laundry and because Aldi still has very cheap and good quality diapers, but I had to for a while during shortages and I still do it in a pinch so there's never a diaper panic in the house. (If you're wondering why I need to use diapers so long it's because I've had successive pregnancies lol). Baby wipes are even easier if you have old washcloths/rags and some mild/baby soap diluted in water.

I make my own laundry detergent that (in my opinion) is better than Tide for a fraction price. I also do not buy dishwasher detergent because I already keep washing soda around for making laundry detergent. I do not yet make my family's bath soap but I'm going to start that as soon as I pick up some lye.

I really like this thread!

 

[ChicksnMore]

My biggest thing probably is using flour sack towels instead of paper towels. All purpose and I use some of them for cloth diaper inserts too. I do not cloth diaper most of the time because of the excessive laundry and because Aldi still has very cheap and good quality diapers, but I had to for a while during shortages and I still do it in a pinch so there's never a diaper panic in the house. (If you're wondering why I need to use diapers so long it's because I've had successive pregnancies lol). Baby wipes are even easier if you have old washcloths/rags and some mild/baby soap diluted in water.

I make my own laundry detergent that (in my opinion) is better than Tide for a fraction price. I also do not buy dishwasher detergent because I already keep washing soda around for making laundry detergent. I do not yet make my family's bath soap but I'm going to start that as soon as I pick up some lye.

I really like this thread!

Your flour sack towels instead of paper towels made me think of coffee filters...lol. I use cloth coffee filters. Mine are made by Hario and have a handle and a metal ring. I use them with a pour over coffee pot. They make them without the frame for use in a regular coffee pot. Empty into the compost, rinse, dry and reuse.
I really like them even though they're more work.

 

[Sally PB]

I think I'll look for a reusable coffee filter next time I go into town...