What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[Rillowen]

This and blood or blood meal attracted something to dig it up at night. Not sure if raccoons, opossums or skunks.
I do this in beds I'm not using that year.

I dont use blind meal for that reason, I havnt had any problems with the bonemeal, even though we have lots of carnivorous diggers around here. I even tested it, tried sprinking a large amount around a grass clump I didn't want to have to tackle it spring... did nothing. I have heard mixing it with ash kills the smell. I do that when I actually use it, and bury it at least 6 inches deep. I always scorch the bones just a bit at 350 at the end of my oven dry time, so I wonder if that kills the smell.

 

[Sally PB]

Well, it sounds like if you want to start growing Purslane again, there is a way to do it safely even if you have to start with a cutting from a parking lot plant. It sounds like a healthy plant to eat and free for foraging. I'm planning on looking for some this spring and transplanting them into pots on our deck.

The other thing I love about purslane it's a low-growing plant. I helps shade the soil to keep in moisture and keep out other weeds.

Someone remind me in the early spring, and I'll get a picture of purslane as it just comes up. It's tiny, and i get it in clumps, as it's from the prior year's seeds.

Since bone broth extracts out more of the minerals from the bones, they will likely compost faster.

I use bones twice (or more!) to make batches of bone broth. I can tell when they're "done" because I can mash them with my fingers. Then they go into a bag to add to the mash snack I make for the chickens. They love the bone bits.

I'll look into that bone broth. As for composting, I really don't care if it takes years to break down the bones. We toss all our chicken soup bones out into the chicken run as well. I have no idea if those boiled bones compost faster than the fried chicken bones, but it seems like that would make sense.

Yes, look into bone broth! I can make it for nearly free, other than the time and electricity to do the cooking. I save any kind of bones that we get in a bag in the freezer. I also save the ends of garlic and onions I cut off, ends of carrots and celery. I add black peppercorns, a bay leaf, and about 1 tablespoon of ACV. (The ACV draws minerals out of the bones.)

This is where I learned about how to make bone broth in my Instant Pot. You can also do it in a crockpot.
https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/instant-pot-bone-broth/

Chicory root is a nice one to ease in as well, its pretty easy to identify (being the only tall blue flower i have ever seen!) And the root makes a very nice digestive aiding tea, high in fiber, that tastes a bit like coffee.

We have a lot of chicory out here. I'd try the tea ... but I think the roots contain inulin, which gives me gas. It's an ingredient in a lot of protein bars. I made the mistake of eating two such bars instead of lunch. Whoooooeeee! I did NOT make that mistake again. ONE bar only from now on.

 

[fuzzi]

I second the bone broth recommendation. I make mine in a slow cooker aka Crock Pot, set on low for about 12 hours. I break the smaller bones, cover them all with water. I only use peppercorns and ACV. Adding different types makes a richer broth, so if I'm making chicken broth I add a beef or ham bone.

 

[Rillowen]

I second the bone broth recommendation. I make mine in a slow cooker aka Crock Pot, set on low for about 12 hours. I break the smaller bones, cover them all with water. I only use peppercorns and ACV. Adding different types makes a richer broth, so if I'm making chicken broth I add a beef or ham bone.

Oh also, for storage I pop it on the stove to simmer on low for a few hours without a lid, then take the concentrated stuff and pour it into ice cube trays. The frozen concentrate is a bit softer than ice so sometimes has to be scooped with a spoon, but it still makes excellent frozen portions! (And takes up way less room)

 

[gtaus]

Amazon Woes (final?) update

I have been an Amazon Prime member for many years. I usually have no problem with them. They send me what I order and I pay them. Pretty simple.

This is, I expect my last update on this issue. Back in Aug 2025, I ordered an 18TB HHD enclosure. Amazon sent me out a ~3-years old model that was 12TB. I notified them that I did not receive what I had ordered. They sent me a replacement unit, but that too was another 12TB model ~3 years old. I requested a full refund. Given that they sent me outdated stock, they said I did not have to spend my time and money to return the old units. They were of low value, and I did not even get the new models listed. Fine.

However, their "automated system" started sending me notices to return the items or be charged. I contacted Amazon and was told to ignore the automated messages, that the rep had overridden the notices, and that I would not be charged. Fine.

Of course, I ended up getting charged for not returning the old unit on 2 Dec 2025. I contacted Amazon, and they once again told me that was an error, and they would get the charges reversed. The charges were not reversed. Not fine.

Again, contacting Amazon on 8 Dec 2025, a live rep told me she would reverse the charge by sending me out a $50 refund to my account. I even got an email from Amazon stating so. But it never happened. Really not fine.

Tonight, I contacted Amazon via chat and talked to another live rep. She first told me that the previous rep never processed the $50 refund transaction despite sending me an email confirming it.

So, I asked her to process the $50 refund since it had not been entered. A few moments later, she replied that the live rep on 8 Dec 2025 had made a false promise and that the email from Amazon was no good! I was reaching my limits about this time....

I remember the days when people would process a transaction as expected and that a company would stand by their promises to a customer. I did not expect to hear that their agent made a false promise and that the company would do nothing about it despite sending me out a confirmation email that I would receive a $50 refund/credit on my account.

I requested to chat with a supervisor. After a few minutes reviewing the chat log, the supervisor issued me a $50 gift card into my Amazon account. Yeah, I'll take the money, but really all the time and effort I had to spend on this stupid issue over the past 4 months makes the whole experience not worth it. What burns my butt, is that I still need an 18TB HDD enclosure, I cannot buy one locally, and I don't trust Amazon to send me what they have listed online. I don't want to go through this ordeal again. Having said that, we don't have any local computer stores in town so, sooner or later, I will have to try to order a new unit again.

I hope this situation is not what I can expect in the future. I heard Amazon laid off a lot of their people recently. I never thought I would hear a customer service rep tell me that the previous agent had made false promises to me and that the company email sent to me means nothing. That was hard to process. I think Amazon laid off the wrong people if what they currently have employed just lie to you and send out bogus confirmation emails from the company. That does not reflect well on Amazon. Unfortunately, I live out in the country, and our nearest town does not have some of the items we want/need. So, Amazon is still our main backup for stuff that we cannot buy locally.

 

[BDutch]

Amazon Woes (final?) update

I have been an Amazon Prime member for many years. I usually have no problem with them. They send me what I order and I pay them. Pretty simple.

This is, I expect my last update on this issue. Back in Aug 2025, I ordered an 18TB HHD enclosure. Amazon sent me out a ~3-years old model that was 12TB. I notified them that I did not receive what I had ordered. They sent me a replacement unit, but that too was another 12TB model ~3 years old. I requested a full refund. Given that they sent me outdated stock, they said I did not have to spend my time and money to return the old units. They were of low value, and I did not even get the new models listed. Fine.

However, their "automated system" started sending me notices to return the items or be charged. I contacted Amazon and was told to ignore the automated messages, that the rep had overridden the notices, and that I would not be charged. Fine.

Of course, I ended up getting charged for not returning the old unit on 2 Dec 2025. I contacted Amazon, and they once again told me that was an error, and they would get the charges reversed. The charges were not reversed. Not fine.

Again, contacting Amazon on 8 Dec 2025, a live rep told me she would reverse the charge by sending me out a $50 refund to my account. I even got an email from Amazon stating so. But it never happened. Really not fine.

Tonight, I contacted Amazon via chat and talked to another live rep. She first told me that the previous rep never processed the $50 refund transaction despite sending me an email confirming it.

So, I asked her to process the $50 refund since it had not been entered. A few moments later, she replied that the live rep on 8 Dec 2025 had made a false promise and that the email from Amazon was no good! I was reaching my limits about this time....

I remember the days when people would process a transaction as expected and that a company would stand by their promises to a customer. I did not expect to hear that their agent made a false promise and that the company would do nothing about it despite sending me out a confirmation email that I would receive a $50 refund/credit on my account.

I requested to chat with a supervisor. After a few minutes reviewing the chat log, the supervisor issued me a $50 gift card into my Amazon account. Yeah, I'll take the money, but really all the time and effort I had to spend on this stupid issue over the past 4 months makes the whole experience not worth it. What burns my butt, is that I still need an 18TB HDD enclosure, I cannot buy one locally, and I don't trust Amazon to send me what they have listed online. I don't want to go through this ordeal again. Having said that, we don't have any local computer stores in town so, sooner or later, I will have to try to order a new unit again.

I hope this situation is not what I can expect in the future. I heard Amazon laid off a lot of their people recently. I never thought I would hear a customer service rep tell me that the previous agent had made false promises to me and that the company email sent to me means nothing. That was hard to process. I think Amazon laid off the wrong people if what they currently have employed just lie to you and send out bogus confirmation emails from the company. That does not reflect well on Amazon. Unfortunately, I live out in the country, and our nearest town does not have some of the items we want/need. So, Amazon is still our main backup for stuff that we cannot buy locally.

Aren’t there any reliable webshops with good equipment in Canada? Maybe not as cheap as A-mazon, but with good customer service?
We have a few good ones and have specialised webshops for computers/equipment here in the Netherlands.
A-mazon has a large concurrent in Bol, that operated with online whatever can be sold things long before A-mazon.

In the list are all kind of web shops, including grocery stores, clothes…

Top-10 webshops Nederland in 2023:​

Position	Shop.	Turnover
1	bol	4,30 miljard euro
2	Albert Heijn	1,80 miljard euro
3	Coolblue	1,55 miljard euro
4	Amazon	1,20 miljard euro
5	Zalando	1,00 miljard euro
6	Picnic	800 miljoen euro
7	Jumbo	655 miljoen euro
8	Wehkamp	552 miljoen euro
9	Belsimpel	432 miljoen euro
10	Apple	430 miljoen euro