What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[gtaus]

Repurposing Small Bottle for Pruning Chainsaw

Not a big tip here, but one I just happened to fall on to this week out of necessity. I have mentioned that I am using my small 6-inch pruning chainsaw a lot more than I thought I would. It's just the right tool for cutting up small stuff.

Those small pruning chainsaws don't come with a bar oil tank. That is nice in one way because you don't have leaking oil all over the place when you put the pruning chainsaw in storage. The speed of the chainsaw was reduced to prevent overheating of the bar and chain - and that is why you don't need much bar oil.

Having said that, the owner's manual still recommends that you oil the bar and chain before using the pruning chainsaw, and periodically thereafter if you use it for an extended period of time. So, you should have some bar oil handy when using the pruning chainsaw.

The other day, I attempted to pour a little bit of bar oil on my bar and chain on the pruning saw, and a whole bunch same running out of my bar oil one gallon container, most of it spilling on to the ground. Well, that's just a waste of money. I needed a small bottle and a lot more control over the flow of the bar oil.

Turns out the next day we finished off one of our small honey bear containers. Instead of tossing it into the recycle bin, I washed it out and filled it up with bar oil. Makes a perfect small bar oil container for my pruning chainsaw. Even the colors match! It only pours out a little bar oil at a time instead of spilling everything all over the ground, so it will also save me money. With the cap on, the bottle is watertight and no oil leaks out. It just turned out to be a perfect fit for my needs and I thought I would share that tip for others.

 

[gtaus]

I need to do a quick shout out to WalMart Automotive shop here where I live. I had a front tire on one of my riding mowers that was going flat. The bead had broken over the winter and it was slowly leaking air. I could fill up the tire with air in the morning and run the machine all day, but the next morning the tire would be flat. My main shop for lawn mower repairs has an employee shortage at the moment and they said it would be two weeks before I could get my tire fixed. WalMart said they would do it that day. So, I dropped off the tire and they said it would take about half an hour. I had other errands to run in town, so I left.

About an hour and half later, they called and said the tire was ready. When I went to pick it up, expecting to pay about $15.00 for the service, they told me NO CHARGE!

All they had to do was remount the tire with new sealer and the tire was fine. They also put in a new valve stem. But I could not believe there was no charge at all. So, I put the tire on the mower when I got home, and it seems to holding air just fine.

I have been quick to complain about WalMart in other aspects, so I thought I should be fair and compliment them on providing me great service on my tire repair and not even charging me for it! Kind of made my day in a nice way.

 

[Sally PB]

Yes, it is so easy to complain about the negative, because that leaves a lasting impression and makes you doubt them doing it right the next time.

It is heartening when they go the extra mile and do something nice. Maybe the no charge is their policy, maybe someone was feeling generous, but it's still a nice thing.

 

[Smokerbill]

I've sort of needed a post hole digger since I bought my home a couple years ago, mainly so I can install a new mailbox and post.

The current mailbox is on the opposite side of the road from my house, and I got the OK from USPS to relocate it to my side of the street. And the post (a section of railroad tie) is loose in the ground and leans at around 20 degrees off of plumb.

I've searched on OfferUp for the last two years, and finally, yesterday, I found a deal on a post hole digger. It pays to be patient. It was local, so only about a 2 minute drive from my house!

It's an Ames brand post hole digger, and they retail for $50 new these days. I picked it up for $5! The handles are weathered pretty bad but they seem to be solid, and the nuts that attach the blades to the handles were all loose, which is no big deal.

This is what it would look like new.

 

[gtaus]

It's an Ames brand post hole digger, and they retail for $50 new these days. I picked it up for $5!

Nice find! Those post hole diggers can last a lifetime if you take care of them.

Well, that, and I imagine most people do not use them very much. I bought two post hole diggers about 30 years ago for around $25.00 each and they don't get used much. So, they are still in great shape. I seem to need a post hole digger maybe only every other year, but then it's the perfect tool for digging that post hole.

Anyways, at $5.00 for a post hole digger that you can have for life, that's just a great deal. Check out a 4-hour rental at Menards for comparison...

 

[Smokerbill]

Nice find! Those post hole diggers can last a lifetime if you take care of them.

Well, that, and I imagine most people do not use them very much. I bought two post hole diggers about 30 years ago for around $25.00 each and they don't get used much. So, they are still in great shape. I seem to need a post hole digger maybe only every other year, but then it's the perfect tool for digging that post hole.

Anyways, at $5.00 for a post hole digger that you can have for life, that's just a great deal. Check out a 4-hour rental at Menards for comparison...

View attachment 3814860

I'm sure I'll use it for more than the mailbox. I have a lot of black currant cuttings that are rooting, and when it's time to plant them the post hole digger should make the perfect size planting holes in the hard soil of my yard.

 

[fuzzi]

I made a new pond filter out of a cat litter bucket...

Full build here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/what-did-you-do-in-the-garden-today.670277/post-27695385

 

[gtaus]

I have two small (100g) preform ponds. For one I made a filter from a 5g bucket filled with scrubber pads, but after 6 years exposed to the weather it started to break apart.

Nice project. Thanks for the link. I am thinking that your used 5-gallon bucket might be good for one of those bucket-in-bucket 5-gallon self-wicking planters. It would not matter if the top edge of the bucket was broken, or not, as the remainder of the bucket would be inside the bottom bucket.

 

[SmiYa0126]

I saw this cool idea for garden plant markers, use the slats of broken blinds, cut into long enough strips and write the plant name.

 

[fuzzi]

Nice project. Thanks for the link. I am thinking that your used 5-gallon bucket might be good for one of those bucket-in-bucket 5-gallon self-wicking planters. It would not matter if the top edge of the bucket was broken, or not, as the remainder of the bucket would be inside the bottom bucket.

View attachment 3815820

It's probably too brittle, it's just disintegrating. However I have a 5 gallon waterer that failed (cheap cups, not as good as Rent-a-Coop brand) that I am just using to store an extension cord.