What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[Sally PB]

There are things we store for a future date, and things we KNOW we will maybe need one more, someday.

When you learn the difference, it helps you decide how to buy.

Except books. Hubby has boxes of books that we moved here from our old house 30 years ago. They remain unopened and in the closets they landed in. But he does not get rid of books. I wish I had hope of them becoming collectible... but probably not.

 

[gtaus]

For me, buying storage system components has ended up with even more time, money, and energy invested in (sunk into) stuff we have not used in 10, 20, even 35 years. Once in a while, it was because we couldn't find it when we needed it or because it was too much hassle to get to it.

Most of the time, it was other reasons - moved and the new house(s)...

That's a great point. When I was serving in the US Navy, we went through a period of time that we moved every 10 months. During that period of my life, I only bought what I needed for the immediate job. It made no sense to buy more than we needed because, for many years, it seemed like we were living out of moving boxes from one house to the next. I can totally relate to that situation.

It was not until I left the service and settled down to one house that my habits changed. I finally had a garage. I started buying tools and hardware for house repairs. Over the years, I have saved a lot of money by doing repairs myself, and only calling in the professionals for jobs that I could not do. It took me a long time to get where I am today, but if I buy supplies for future use, I now have a storage and organization system that allows me to find the stuff I need. So, I buy stuff on sale and use it when I need it. That has saved me money for many years.

Also, I really like all the self-help YouTube videos. I have been able to learn how to do a number of repairs myself that in the past I would have called in a professional. In most cases, I have come out way ahead by buying the tools and parts to do the job myself. But I am the type of guy that is willing to buy $100 in tools and parts and try to fix it myself than calling in a professional and getting charged $150 for the job. YouTube gives me a pretty good idea if I am able to do the job.

The only investment I made in the last few years that I would reconsider is that I needed a welding repair job on my woodchipper chute. It had cracked on the seam. The welding shop wanted to charge me $80 for the repair. I decided to do it myself and bought a welder and supplies for around $150. I did fix the woodchipper chute, but it was not very pretty. Welding is a skill, to be sure. And I have done a couple of other small welding jobs around the house, but nothing vital. I have not used that welder in the past 2-3 years and now it just takes up space in my storage garage.

 

[gtaus]

There are things we store for a future date, and things we KNOW we will maybe need one more, someday.

When you learn the difference, it helps you decide how to buy.

Agreed.

Hubby has boxes of books that we moved here from our old house 30 years ago. They remain unopened and in the closets they landed in. But he does not get rid of books. I wish I had hope of them becoming collectible... but probably not.

Yeah, I think the internet has killed the value of many printed books. I used to buy all kinds of books and had a mini library of my own. I don't think any of those books much value today. Even the classics. I can download an .epub version on my tablet for reading, or even better, get an audiobook of the same title and listen to it while working outside. I mainly listen to audiobooks these days while working, and don't have or take the time to read like I used to back in the day.

 

[gtaus]

Buying Extras Saved Me Money Today!

OK. Just so happens that I have a perfect example of why I often choose to buy those bulk/variety packs of parts when I do a job. A couple days ago, one of my riding mowers up and died on me. It was running fine, then it was not.

I'm not a small engine mechanic. Actually, not any kind of mechanic. But I went on YouTube and did a search for the symptoms I noticed before and after the riding mower died. The engine would crank over but would not start. I learned the steps to diagnose and fix the problem from a couple of YouTube videos.

This morning, I went outside and started working on the lawn mower, one step at a time. I found the problem was a clogged fuel line. I found a bit of plastic or rubber was blocking the line. So, I had to clean out the fuel line and change out the fuel filter as long as I already had the fuel line off. YouTube said to replace the fuel filter annually, so I did, since I already had the fuel line off the mower.

Here is where buying extras saved me money. This spring, I had to change out the fuel filter on a golf cart. I went to our local stores and found out they no longer sell the generic fuel filter for ~$1.50 each in a bin. Now, they only sell individual fuel filters at a much higher price...

At the time, I only needed one fuel filter, but that is an item that I will most assuredly need for other machines in the future. I went online and found this 10-pack option from Amazon...

I had to wait a few days, but when my 10-pack came in I replaced the fuel filter in the golf cart and put the other 9 filters on the shelf. Those filters sat there for the past 7 months, but this morning I needed one and I had it on hand. I was able to complete the repair without having to go into town ($5.00 in gas) and buy a new fuel filter ($7.50). Not to mention the time wasted if I had to make a special trip to get that part. Anyways, that 10-pack has already more than paid for itself.

Once again, YouTube University saved my backend. Our local repair shop is down to one mechanic - instead of 3 or 4 full time mechanics as in the past - and that sole mechanic is backed up a good 3 weeks or more. It took me just over an hour to diagnose and fix the riding mower problem, but it was the first time I ever did that job. If I ever had to do it again, it would probably take me about 15 minutes. If I was not able to fix that lawn mower, no doubt it would have been sitting in the repair shop until Thanksgiving!

I am kind of upset that our local stores no longer carry those generic bulk fuel filters in a bin for less than $2.00 each. They are forcing us to go online and buy more and more stuff from places like Amazon and eBay. That is too bad. I would prefer to support our local businesses. But more and more I only see items sold in individual packaging at extremely marked up prices. What's up with that?

 

[fuzzi]

Sometimes I have things stored that weren't saved for the same purpose but still filled a need. Case in point, the fluorescent light above the sink was showing dark on the ends of the bulb, so I knew it needed replacing but put it off. After it died I sent DS to Lowe's to get another. Put it on, didn't work. I wondered if the starter/ballast had gone bad at the same time. A memory tickled my brain, so I went in the spare parts box for my aquariums and found a new 2 pack of ballasts I'd bought years ago for my aquarium lights. I installed one in the fluorescent light fixture and Ta Da! the bulb lit up.

That was a good thing to keep on hand.

 

[gtaus]

Using ChatGPT.com AI to save money!

I have an older Samsung laser printer. It has been having challenges feeding the paper into the machine. I checked out YouTube and found out that one common problem could be that the rubber uptake roller inside the machine is either dirty and/or old and cracked from age. One solution is to get some rubber rejuvenator spay to clean and revitalize the rubber on the roller.

Sounds easy enough. Unfortunately, nobody in town carries a can of that stuff. I found some on Amazon, but it's almost $20 for a can of cleaner which I know I would only need a few squirts of spray for this job...

So, I got the idea to ask ChatGPT.com if there was any homemade, DIY, type of rubber cleaner solutions that I could try. IIRC, it gave me 3 options. The one idea that really caught my eye was that I could use automotive belt dressing spray which would both clean and rejuvenate my rubber roller inside the printer.

Just about all the local auto stores carry belt dressing spray, and it's a whole lot cheaper than that can of rubber roller cleaner spray on Amazon. Even better, I still have a half can of belt dressing out in the garage that has been sitting out there for maybe 10 years!

This morning, I sprayed some belt dressing on a paper towel and cleaned off and revitalized my uptake rubber roller in the printer. So far, the printer is working like new! I don't know how often I might need to repeat this cleaning, but I still have a half a can of that belt dressing, and I might as well use it up, a few sprays at a time.

Point is, I would have probably never thought of using automotive belt dressing for a computer printer cleaning, but ChatGPT.com AI listed it as an option. In this case, it saved me about $20 and half a week in shipping time waiting for my Amazon order to arrive.

Truth be told, I was considering buying a new laser printer for around $300.00, or more, because I was getting so frustrated that my old printer was not working. That idea for a new printer is on hold as long as the belt dressing cleaning repair works on my old laser printer!

I really like using these new tools like the Artificial Intelligence program ChatGPT.com and YouTube "University" with videos showing me how to perform many of my household repairs. You can really save money by doing repairs yourself. ChatGPT might provide you with alternative money-saving ideas that you have not thought of. All I had to was ask!

 

[Smokerbill]

Using ChatGPT.com AI to save money!

I have an older Samsung laser printer. It has been having challenges feeding the paper into the machine. I checked out YouTube and found out that one common problem could be that the rubber uptake roller inside the machine is either dirty and/or old and cracked from age. One solution is to get some rubber rejuvenator spay to clean and revitalize the rubber on the roller.

Sounds easy enough. Unfortunately, nobody in town carries a can of that stuff. I found some on Amazon, but it's almost $20 for a can of cleaner which I know I would only need a few squirts of spray for this job...

View attachment 3967186
So, I got the idea to ask ChatGPT.com if there was any homemade, DIY, type of rubber cleaner solutions that I could try. IIRC, it gave me 3 options. The one idea that really caught my eye was that I could use automotive belt dressing spray which would both clean and rejuvenate my rubber roller inside the printer.

Just about all the local auto stores carry belt dressing spray, and it's a whole lot cheaper than that can of rubber roller cleaner spray on Amazon. Even better, I still have a half can of belt dressing out in the garage that has been sitting out there for maybe 10 years!

View attachment 3967199

This morning, I sprayed some belt dressing on a paper towel and cleaned off and revitalized my uptake rubber roller in the printer. So far, the printer is working like new! I don't know how often I might need to repeat this cleaning, but I still have a half a can of that belt dressing, and I might as well use it up, a few sprays at a time.

Point is, I would have probably never thought of using automotive belt dressing for a computer printer cleaning, but ChatGPT.com AI listed it as an option. In this case, it saved me about $20 and half a week in shipping time waiting for my Amazon order to arrive.

Truth be told, I was considering buying a new laser printer for around $300.00, or more, because I was getting so frustrated that my old printer was not working. That idea for a new printer is on hold as long as the belt dressing cleaning repair works on my old laser printer!

I really like using these new tools like the Artificial Intelligence program ChatGPT.com and YouTube "University" with videos showing me how to perform many of my household repairs. You can really save money by doing repairs yourself. ChatGPT might provide you with alternative money-saving ideas that you have not thought of. All I had to was ask!

I had an old HP ink jet printer many years ago that had the same problem. HP recommended lightly cleaning/scuffing the feed rollers with a green Scotch Brite pad. Worked very well.

 

[gtaus]

I had an old HP ink jet printer many years ago...

I don't print very much anymore. I had three ink jet printers over the past 7 years that the heads dried up and clogged and would not print. Turns out, once the ink clogs the print head, you might never get it working 100% again.

I should have known better about not using the ink jet printers at least once a week, but I don't know if it makes sense to print out stuff you don't need just to keep the print head from clogging. That ink for the ink jet printers costs a lot. Remember when they basically gave the printers away for next to nothing just to get you to buy their ink cartridges?

In comparison, my laser printer can sit for months without printing, and it will print just fine when I do need it. (Except the uptake roller that dried out with age). I have had my old Samsung laser printer for about 15 years, and it has outlasted about 5 ink jet printers during that same period.

I still remember getting all excited about my color dot matrix printer that I picked up for around $300 back in the 1990's! When you consider the cost and quality of printers back then, I guess just about any printer you would buy today is a much better deal.

Well, my laser printer is back up and working great again. It will probably last me another 15 years if Microsoft does not kill it with a software update. The main point of my previous post was that I am finding that ChatGPT.com AI is really good for lots of things, including getting ideas that may save you money.

 

[gtaus]

The solar charge can last weeks so when I notice the light dimming I take one that's charged up and switch them. If I leave the light outside for a day it's fully charged.

Just wondering if they make solar lights with solar panels that could be separated from the light. It would be great to mount the solar panel outside and the light inside the shed.

Reviving this topic from a number of weeks ago...

I just got a Menards ad with the latest sales for the week and noticed this little gem, a 1000 lumens Solar Motion LED Flood Light, that some people here might find interesting based on the previous posts.

It's both an LED motion flood light with a separate solar panel that can be mounted outside. That might be a perfect fit for those that liked the idea of having a motion light inside the shed but maybe don't want to have to take it outside to recharge the batteries. At least for those that are considering installing such a setup for the first time and have not purchased a solar light, this might be an option to consider.

I don't know anything about this light or the quality of the product, but I put it down on my list to check out when I go into town later this week. I personally liked the idea of having a motion solar light in a shed/garage/etc... but liked the idea of having the separate solar panel mounted outside. This little unit might be the perfect solution for me.

Well, all that, plus it's less than $10.00!

 

[BDutch]

Reviving this topic from a number of weeks ago...

I just got a Menards ad with the latest sales for the week and noticed this little gem, a 1000 lumens Solar Motion LED Flood Light, that some people here might find interesting based on the previous posts.

View attachment 3973724

It's both an LED motion flood light with a separate solar panel that can be mounted outside. That might be a perfect fit for those that liked the idea of having a motion light inside the shed but maybe don't want to have to take it outside to recharge the batteries. At least for those that are considering installing such a setup for the first time and have not purchased a solar light, this might be an option to consider.

I don't know anything about this light or the quality of the product, but I put it down on my list to check out when I go into town later this week. I personally liked the idea of having a motion solar light in a shed/garage/etc... but liked the idea of having the separate solar panel mounted outside. This little unit might be the perfect solution for me.

Well, all that, plus it's less than $10.00!

I bought something similar last year. About the same price. I used it outside. It lasted less than a year. Probably not really waterproof.

Last month I bought 2 new ones for 24 € each. With a splash proof claim. IP 54 and 2 years garantee.

https://prd01-pim-documents.diymaxeda.org/products/10103934/s04/origin.pdf