What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[fuzzi]

Yikes! I would keep the covers on my empty jars if I were you.

Oh, it didn't go in the jar by itself...I found the snake by the back steps. I laid the square jar on its side next to the foundation and used a stick to herd the snake into it.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

When I was a kid, my parents used to buy becel margarine. We used the empty containers for everything, freezing food, collecting stuff, I think we had a tower of them in the storage, their lid was see through, the container itself white, I think one or two are still hanging around here, we never heard of tupperware cos we had the becel container

 

[gtaus]

Empty Feed Bag Used as a Temporary Tarp

I have a compost bin filled with leaves that I will use to toss on top of the snow in the chicken run this winter. My chickens will not go outside and walk on snow. So, my idea was to save a lot of leaves to use this winter...

But I don't want those leaves to get covered with snow every time we have a storm. I was going to use a new 6X8 foot tarp to cover the leaves, but it would be too big and I really did not want to waste a new tarp to cover that ~4X4 bin. This morning I got the great idea to cut open an empty feed bag, spread it out, and use that as a temporary tarp...

Just about a perfect fit! I put my wire frame top on it to keep the feed bag from flying out in a strong wind...

So, I used one of my old, empty feed bags and I did not have to use a new tarp to cover the leaves. Not only did I save a few bucks, but I was able to use an empty feed bag for something useful.

 

[TooCheep]

Nice. Keeping the leaves dry is the key for preserving them for later use.

 

[bearcreekbees]

Empty Feed Bag Used as a Temporary Tarp

I have a compost bin filled with leaves that I will use to toss on top of the snow in the chicken run this winter. My chickens will not go outside and walk on snow. So, my idea was to save a lot of leaves to use this winter...

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But I don't want those leaves to get covered with snow every time we have a storm. I was going to use a new 6X8 foot tarp to cover the leaves, but it would be too big and I really did not want to waste a new tarp to cover that ~4X4 bin. This morning I got the great idea to cut open an empty feed bag, spread it out, and use that as a temporary tarp...

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Just about a perfect fit! I put my wire frame top on it to keep the feed bag from flying out in a strong wind...

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So, I used one of my old, empty feed bags and I did not have to use a new tarp to cover the leaves. Not only did I save a few bucks, but I was able to use an empty feed bag for something useful.

Very nice!

I am also in Northern MN- not as far North as you, but pretty far.
I go through around 100 bags of leaves every year. Some are used in the chicken coop, some in the goat pens, some to feed my isopods, some as bedding for my four hedgehogs in their burrows, some as food and bedding for my composting and fishing worms, some as mulch in the garden, and some in compost bins to make leaf mold and/or to be added to other materials to make compost for the garden. Oh, and the tarp on my new chicken tunnel is 6" too short on the bottom on each side so I will use some of the leaf bags as a wind block/insulation there, and then I will be adding some inside the tunnel itself as bedding and for the flock to scratch through.

This year I did not get a single leaf raked up. Recovering from cancer this year and while I feel great I am low on energy and everything just seems to take 2-3x as long. We just ran out of time before we got several days of snow and now all of the leaves are buried till Spring.

Luckily, I put an ad on social media asking for leaves and have had two responses so far. I picked up 18 bags of leaves this morning when I went to town and the lady had two more bags that did not fit in my van that I will get the next time I am there. Another lady has 35 bags in her garage, all nice and dry, which I will have to make two trips for but well worth it, IMO. That gets me to about half of what I am looking for. I know where to find some in Brainerd the next time I am there, maybe next week. If I can get 60-75 bags I can manage, especially since our Amish neighbors run a sawmill and all but beg us to come get sawdust. If hubby can get me one more load before we get snowed in some of that can be used as bedding as well. And if I still come up short I can use shredded cardboard. I collect cardboard all the time and shred it to use in my guinea pig litter boxes and as bedding/food for the worms. There is no shortage of free cardboard- I just have to spend some time shredding it, but I do that anyway so I can just do a bit more if needed.

 

[bearcreekbees]

Repurposing Plastic Jars

Although I try to reduce as much plastics in my life as possible, we always have too many plastic things coming into the house. Mostly plastic food storage units that get tossed into the recycle bin when we empty them. It seems like such a waste.

I try to repurpose as much plastic stuff that comes through the house as possible. Recently, Dear Wife bought some fancy nut mixes from QVC that were "Special Value." Yeah, I don't know how much that special value cost, but she was happy with the purchase. We got 5 of these square plastic jars with a round lid on top...

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Despite the "Special Value" pricing, I imagine she paid a lot more for those mixed nuts than I would be willing to pay. Having said that, the stuff is good to eat. She is happy. Life is good....

Anyways, I looked at those square plastic jars and knew they would be great as small parts storage jars for my garage in their second life. If you had an arts and crafts setup and needed storage for beads, buttons, etc... these would be excellent for that as well. The plastic is solid and I expect it will last many years, even if tossed about in my tool box filled up with screws, bolts, etc...

If you bought a small parts storage jar at Menards, for example, it would cost you $1.60 each for a plastic jar like this...

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All I had to do was peel off the mixed nuts label and I would have a clear small parts storage jar for a second life in the shop.

On the first jar, I peeled off the label and it came off pretty good, but it did leave a lot of label glue on the plastic jar. My go to fixit solution for removing label glue is Goo Gone...

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Just spray it on, leave it for about 5 minutes, and then wipe it off. Sometimes it takes a second application to remove all the glue, but the stuff works pretty good on lots of things. I bought a spray bottle of that stuff about 7 years ago and still have about 80% of it left. It lasts forever.

Another good option for removing labels off of jars and cans is using a hair dryer to heat and soften up the underlying glue.

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I tried that approach on the second mixed nuts jar plastic jar and when I peeled off the label, all the glue came off with it! So, I did not have to do anything more with that jar other than washing it out for reuse as a small parts storage jar for the shop.

I guess I should have tried the hair dryer approach first. Depending on the label and the glue, sometimes the hair dryer method does not fully remove all the label glue, so you need to use that Goo Gone anyways.

For only a few minutes of work, I got some nice plastic storage jars for the shop, saved money from not having to buy storage jars from Menards, and kept some plastic out of the recycle bins.

I know it's not a big deal, but it's often the little things that we can do like this that add up over time. It can save you money, and keep a few more plastic containers out of the recycle bins for a number of years.

I love those plastic jars! I dig them out of the bins at the local recycling drop off location all the time. I just used 8 of them to sort and organize canning lids in a lower drawer in our kitchen. For years those lids have been all mixed up in the drawer, along with other kitchen tools and accessories, and it has been a royal pain every time we have to go dig through the entire large drawer just to find a few lids for canning. So I got 8 clean plastic jars and set them in the front of the drawer in two rows of four each. I sorted 8 different types/sizes of lids and now all I have to do is reach into a jar and grab whatever lids I am after. I can't believe how much easier this is- I should have done this 15 years ago, lol. But then, I don't know if those jars were around 15 years ago so maybe not.

Now I will be looking for other uses as I see them in the bins all the time.

 

[bearcreekbees]

I organized my small shed today. I have been putting all my chicken and much of my gardening "stuff" in there. It had gotten cluttery.

I love collecting coffee canisters, use them for so many different things. I have one in the chicken coop, full of feed. I use it to top off the feeders without having to go over to the shed. I use another one for rinsing and storing paint brushes.

Today I used them in a different manner:
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I rolled up netting and floating row covers, stuffed them in coffee canisters and then placed them in a large tote. All clean, neat, contained, and in one location. Easy to find. Oh, and I slid the canister lids inside as well.

On Wednesday I replaced my two short (10') shade cloths with one longer one that covers the entire coop.
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What did I do with the older ones? I folded them neatly and tied up the bundles with straw bale string.
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Final look:
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Plastic fencing rolled and stored in a box, totes filled with netting and row covers, tarps rolled/folded and placed in paper grocery sacks, hardware cloth sections rolled and zip-tied, stored in a box...all my garden and coop fencing/covers in one space.

It looks better, and it didn't cost me anything to organize.

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"A place for everything, and everything in its place" as my dad used to say. SO true.

I picked up a half dozen of those Folgers canisters at the recycling center a few months ago. We keep one on the kitchen counter at all times to dump coffee grounds and any other food waste that is saved for my worms. The lid is easy to get on and off and it keeps fruit flies out. We have a compost bucket that sits on the floor, which is where we put anything that is going out to the chickens.

I am looking for more uses for the Folgers canisters as there are tons of them in the bins.

 

[gtaus]

I go through around 100 bags of leaves every year.

That is a lot more than I expect I will use. But I have maybe 20 bags worth of leaves in that stackable compost bin by the chicken run gate. I also have four other bins full of leaves out in the raised bed gardens, so maybe totaling close to 100 bags worth of feed full of leaves if I needed them. Mainly just saving those for composting.

This year I did not get a single leaf raked up. Recovering from cancer

Wishing you a fast recovery...

We just ran out of time before we got several days of snow and now all of the leaves are buried till Spring.

Well, I guess you will have a lot of work next spring working up all those leaves for a compost pile, or something. Get those wet leaves off the ground before they kill all your grass!

if I still come up short I can use shredded cardboard.

I use a power cutter to cut my cardboard boxes into 2 inch wide strips. Then I can shred them in my home paper shredder using the credit card slot in the middle of the input feeder. Cutting the cardboard into strips prevents jamming and overworking my home quality shredder.

There is no shortage of free cardboard- I just have to spend some time shredding it, but I do that anyway so I can just do a bit more if needed.

If you use something like the power cutter, it will make the job go a lot faster. Well, it did for me. Plus, at my age, I used to get my hands all cramped up using my heavy duty scissors to cut cardboard. No problems like that using my power cutter.

Don't know if you have a Menard's locally, but they have the least expensive power cutter I have been able to find. Right now, they are still on sale through the end of the day...

Even at full retail price, that power cutter at Menards is way cheaper than power cutters sold at my other local stores.

FYI, since you already shred cardboard, I would suggest considering using shredded paper as coop litter as well. I started using shredded paper as coop litter about two winters ago and love it. First of all, I get rid of all our paper stuff at home by shredding it, but as litter out in the coop, it is almost dust free compared to using either leaves, dried grass, or wood chips that I used in the past. And shredded paper mixes so well with any coop litter material. This winter I started off with a base layer of leaves in the coop. Now I am adding shredded paper and cardboard on top of the leaves in the coop. It's working out great for me. And it's all free material.

In the springtime, all that old coop litter will get tossed into the chicken run and compost in place. It makes great compost for the gardens.

 

[fuzzi]

I picked up a half dozen of those Folgers canisters at the recycling center a few months ago. We keep one on the kitchen counter at all times to dump coffee grounds and any other food waste that is saved for my worms. The lid is easy to get on and off and it keeps fruit flies out. We have a compost bucket that sits on the floor, which is where we put anything that is going out to the chickens.

I am looking for more uses for the Folgers canisters as there are tons of them in the bins.

I have several coffee cans around the yard that hold plastic grocery store bags. We leash walk our dog, and those cans in strategically placed locations make cleaning up after her simple and immediate. And most of the time the cans are watertight.

 

[bearcreekbees]

That is a lot more than I expect I will use. But I have maybe 20 bags worth of leaves in that stackable compost bin by the chicken run gate. I also have four other bins full of leaves out in the raised bed gardens, so maybe totaling close to 100 bags worth of feed full of leaves if I needed them. Mainly just saving those for composting.



Wishing you a fast recovery...



Well, I guess you will have a lot of work next spring working up all those leaves for a compost pile, or something. Get those wet leaves off the ground before they kill all your grass!



I use a power cutter to cut my cardboard boxes into 2 inch wide strips. Then I can shred them in my home paper shredder using the credit card slot in the middle of the input feeder. Cutting the cardboard into strips prevents jamming and overworking my home quality shredder.

View attachment 3997215



If you use something like the power cutter, it will make the job go a lot faster. Well, it did for me. Plus, at my age, I used to get my hands all cramped up using my heavy duty scissors to cut cardboard. No problems like that using my power cutter.

Don't know if you have a Menard's locally, but they have the least expensive power cutter I have been able to find. Right now, they are still on sale through the end of the day...

View attachment 3997217

Even at full retail price, that power cutter at Menards is way cheaper than power cutters sold at my other local stores.

FYI, since you already shred cardboard, I would suggest considering using shredded paper as coop litter as well. I started using shredded paper as coop litter about two winters ago and love it. First of all, I get rid of all our paper stuff at home by shredding it, but as litter out in the coop, it is almost dust free compared to using either leaves, dried grass, or wood chips that I used in the past. And shredded paper mixes so well with any coop litter material. This winter I started off with a base layer of leaves in the coop. Now I am adding shredded paper and cardboard on top of the leaves in the coop. It's working out great for me. And it's all free material.

In the springtime, all that old coop litter will get tossed into the chicken run and compost in place. It makes great compost for the gardens.

Thanks for the kind words and thoughts for recovery. I am basically done with the cancer, just trying to build my strength back up now.

Yes, I will be out in the yard the minute the snow melts and the leaves have dried out in the Spring, picking up every last one of them! No leaf ever goes to waste around here.

Great tip on the power cutter. I do have one- the one in your first photo, which I paid $30-something for a couple of years ago. It has been very useful. Wish I had seen the ad for the one at Menards when I still needed one!

I have used shredded paper in my coop before and did not love it- maybe time to try it again- if I mix it in with the sawdust and shredded cardboard and leaves and a bit of old hay maybe I would like it more. But the leaves and sawdust are my favorite so far.

I had another response to my ad yesterday- a guy wrote to say that there are 100 or so bags piled up on a trailer at the town garage- not sure why, lol, but the high school kids do a service day in October where they go out and rake leaves for people who live in town- I am guessing that the leaves are from that project and no one has gotten around to hauling them to the yard waste facility. I am going to call on Monday and see if they will deliver them to my farm- or at least let me go pick them up myself. I have never made it through a winter and had excess leaves leftover, but if I had those 100 bags, added to the 56 bags I already got, I just might have a few left next Spring.