What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[saysfaa]

About paper goods... we moved recently and our new house has a bidet. It uses somewhat more water, I'm sure, but saves paper as well as all the resources that go into making and distributing the paper. I make a point to not waste water but I'm not very worried about the trade off for such a good purpose.

Ours isn't as fancy as those in the house my son bought last year. His are heated, lighted, and programmable. Ours, hm, aren't. It doesn't matter much other than it was nicer to have used his for the first few times. When I told him about ours, he said he's gotten to where he doesn't like to use any other toilets anymore. I'm quickly coming to the same conclusion.

Anyway, both ours and his were added to standard toilets. So, something more Americans might consider. Or other peoples but I think bidets are used a LOT more in other countries.

 

[gtaus]

About paper goods... we moved recently and our new house has a bidet. It uses somewhat more water, I'm sure, but saves paper as well as all the resources that go into making and distributing the paper.

I was looking into bidets during the COVID pandemic when you could not buy toilet paper at the stores. IIRC, they also went out of stock at that time because of the sudden increased demand. Something to consider now before another shortage on paper products hits. Well, lets hope we don't have to go through again. But when people start panic buying, supplies on the shelf go fast.

 

[gtaus]

Regarding possible shortages...
Food. Stock up on store bought shelf stable items like:
Canned beans/soup/stews/meat, etc.
Dried beans/rice
Pasta
Mixes and seasonings
Taco shell and chips (lots of uses for chips, besides as chips; if anything gets stale, re-crisp it in the oven)
Flour and things you use like flour
Sugar
Baking essentials like baking soda, baking powder, salt, etc.
Honey

Other pantry items you might not think about until you need them:
Shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, mouth wash, dentil floss, bar soap, liquid soap, cleaners, TP, paper towel, other personal care and household products.

Learn to bake. Make dehydrated fruit/veg/jerky if that interests you (a dehydrator is an expense). Freeze driers are even more pricy, but might be an option for some people.

Get some good quality shoes and boots. Find out where to get them repaired near you if you have to make do.

Clothing: Goodwill and thrift stores! That's where I get a lot of my clothes. Also, garage/yard/estate sales. My neighbor gets a TON of household items at estate sales! An open but mostly full roll of aluminum foil for 50¢! Light bulbs, matches, candles, and all kinds of small kitchen appliances. (Both my food processors and my stand mixer are things she found for me.)

And... back to food:
Grow a garden and learn to preserve food. I bet just about everyone on this thread does this already.

Lots of great suggestions. Thank you.

I do have a dehydrator, so I should probably look into using that more. In the past, I have only used it to make beef jerky. I need to look into dehydrating fruit and vegetables.

I buy lots of my work clothes from our local church Thrift Shop. I get a good price on my working jeans and the Thrift Shop uses our money to support local charities in the community for people in need. It's a real win-win for everybody.

I want to buy some good quality steel toed boots, but those have proven to be a lot harder to find at our Thrift Shop. Mostly, it's just women's footwear. But I guess I can wait. Most of my special footwear needs are rubber shoes and boots when I'm working out in the chicken run. And I have both rubber boots and shoes that I bought 20+ years ago and are still as good as new!

I have started a number of plants for the garden this year. So far, my seed starting in the house has been disappointing, but some plants are starting to grow. I guess I have always been better at building raised bed gardens and such and less good with the green thumb aspect of seed starting and planting. What I cannot get started in the house, I'll just have to buy 6-packs at the nursery. That's my backup plan every year. We save lots of money growing our own food.

 

[Sally PB]

I buy apples for dehydrating in September when they sell them by the half bushel.

Another GREAT treat is banana chips. I bought about 30 pounds of the "banana bread" ready banana at the store last November. I think I spent about $12? I have to make banana chips when hubby is gone; he finds the overpowering smell objectionable.

Melon is another dried fruit I love. It's too expensive to buy melons and dry them, so I only make them from home grown melons. Cantaloupe/muskmelon style melons are the only ones I've done.

 

[TooCheep]

For those looking for ways to preserve food, one thing you may not have tried but likely have handy is eggs. I always save some eggs in the spring for use over the winter when the girls mostly or fully stop laying.

There are a number of ways to preserve eggs, but the three I think are best are freeze drying (very good but requires expensive equipment), freezing (works but uses valuable freezer space) or water-glassing (cheap, requires no power, but has ~10% failure rate). I've been doing water-glassing for a number of years now.

Here is the master thread on water-glassing:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/water-glassing-egg-preservation-experiment.1428588/

 

[Molpet]

And I have both rubber boots and shoes that I bought 20+ years ago and are still as good as new!

HOW!!!!
my chore boots get so run down at the heals they leak. I get about a year out of them.

When I was working I went through a pair of boots in 6 months. I walked 5-8 miles a day at work. Now it's 2 to 4 miles a day.

 

[gtaus]

HOW!!!!
my chore boots get so run down at the heals they leak. I get about a year out of them.

When I was working I went through a pair of boots in 6 months. I walked 5-8 miles a day at work. Now it's 2 to 4 miles a day.

Well, I only wear my rubber work boots or shoes for maybe 5 or 10 minutes a day, at most. And I only wear them if the ground is wet when I go out to the chicken coop and run in the back yard. Otherwise, I just wear an old pair of tennis shoes, which I wear out every year. This time of year, when the ground is still wet from winter snow, I'm wearing my rubber boots more than usual. But nowhere near miles per day.

I want to buy a pair of steel toed shoes for when I use the chainsaw, or maybe busting up pallets. I don't want to step on a rusty nail or drop a heavy log on my feet. But I think you need a special kind of boot with nail protection and not just a normal steel toed boot.

 

[Molpet]

But I think you need a special kind of boot with nail protection and not just a normal steel toed boot.

They used to have metal in the sole and were hard on the feet... and set off the metal detectors at the airport.... don't ask me how I know

Now the puncher resistant (PR), are available with kevlar. I have not tried them but supposed to be more comfortable.

I am wetter than you are I guess. Most days the morning dew soaks shoes. The poultry yard has a flat spot on a hill that muddy a lot.
I also have a creek that I can't use the stepping stones anymore without throwing out my hip or back. So I walk in the water anymore if I need to cross it. .
So a couple months I wear shoes

 

[C Siena]

For those looking for ways to preserve food, one thing you may not have tried but likely have handy is eggs. I always save some eggs in the spring for use over the winter when the girls mostly or fully stop laying.

There are a number of ways to preserve eggs, but the three I think are best are freeze drying (very good but requires expensive equipment), freezing (works but uses valuable freezer space) or water-glassing (cheap, requires no power, but has ~10% failure rate). I've been doing water-glassing for a number of years now.

Here is the master thread on water-glassing:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/water-glassing-egg-preservation-experiment.1428588/

We would so enjoy a freeze dryer but not for the money it costs! We have water glassed and work for eggs but for an omelet or quiche, I cook with half preserved and half fresh.
Also, dehydrating eggs works great, then vac seal. Best for scrambled/omelets/baking also. I'm making a quiche today with 4 dehydrated eggs (1 Tbl each) and 4 fresh.

 

[C Siena]

There's no need to be nervous about canning fruits and vegetables. The process is pretty straightforward, but you do have to stick to proven, safe recipes and don't modify them, or you could change the acid content.

Here are a couple of the best resources I've ever found:
https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html#gsc.tab=0
and
https://www.amazon.com/Ball-21400-Blue-Book/dp/B005SK6Y1Q#:~:text=Ball Blue Book 1 Each edition is filled,ingredients that make it easy to capture freshness.

I use water-bath canning for high-acid foods like tomatoes, tomato sauce, salsa, jellies and jams, most fruits, and pickled foods. I use pressure-canning for low-acid foods like green beans, corn, beets, spinach, turnips, asparagus, soups and stews. I haven't tried canning meat yet, but plan to give that a try this year.

I know this is 2 yrs ago but have you canned meat products yet? If not, it's as easy as the other food products. We've eaten beef, chicken, pork that was canned over 2 yrs ago and you would think it was just cooked fresh.