What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[fuzzi]

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/

I make refrigerator pickled eggs. They only last about 6 months, but are an easy way to have eggs to eat when the hens decide to molt!

 

[fuzzi]

While hubby was visiting his dad in Charlotte, NC, their water heater died. It was a smaller unit, in a closet on the second floor. (That seems like a really dumb idea to me. I've not been impressed several aspects of the build on this house.)

The cost was $3000 for the replacement.

Charlotte is not a cheap place to live.

We rented a duplex apartment for about a year. It was fairly new, and the water heater was in the attic! That's an expensive accident waiting to happen.

I had to replace my 18 year old water heater last year. I was horrified at the prices, but my plumber (yeah, Tim!) gave me a cash price of $800 including installation.

Oh, and it's in the outside closet, which is part of but lower than the living areas of the house.