Someone Asks What Is “The Most Frugal Hack You’ve Discovered That Made The Most Difference” And 30 People Deliver

No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. Shampoo- and conditioner-bars, reusable cotton pads, quality linnen clothes that lasts a lifetime, instead of plasic-polyester-acrylic-nylon, which emit microplastic when washed.

Same! I hardly need to buy new clothes & shoes. Save $, time, effort, footprint: -For certain projects/work sites, pick a few staples (tops, slacks), seasonal scarves/coats & practical footwear. Wear repeatedly & coordinate! -For a tailored fit, attach clasps/pleats/gussets/etc to slacks & tops for more room on bloaty days & a better fit on leaner days -Wear low profile undergarments to prevent clothing damage fr laundry/soiling/sweat to prolong the life of my gear -Make a valet set (steamer, brush, debris removers, iron) to further save time, effort & avoid the disgusting chemical footprint of a drycleaner -Pick quality footwear & a reliable cobbler (be your own?). My shoes are resoleable and reupperable. He even made me some nice waterproof breathable goretex dress boots. 😊Amazon Walmart etc haven’t seen my $ for clothing, footwear, fabric, sewing supplies, scarves, belts, jewelry. Shop regionally sourced if possible.

Being vegetarian isn't that environmentally friendly. Livestock contribute less than 4% of greenhouse gases and can utilize grasslands that cannot support crop growth (think dust bowl) I am allergic to chicken and the vegetarian chicken products are more expensive and require more effort (processing, electricity, transportation) to produce than real chicken does.

Well done, I've gone back to cake soaps, and to sheet laundry detergent, use tea towels etc.

Unfortunately, these days a lot of thrift stores mark things up so much that sometimes they're more expensive than buying new. see https://doyouremember.com/163474/shopper-shares-alleged-thrift-store-price-markup

Make a folder in your inbox. Forward the link to yourself and put it in there. At the end of the month, go and look at the stuff in there. I guarantee you won't buy almost any of the things you sent yourself.

I do this all the time. Usually for clothes, though, which I definitely don't have enough of

This! I have roundabout 80 Items in my shoppingcart on wish. Everytime in want to shop in delete what in don't want anymore and ad new stuff.

Have started this. The only exception is books.

I do this. I've saved myself thousands of dollars. Truly.

How fücking long does it take for your shower to heat up? Mine is about ten seconds.

THIS. We use this to fill toilet tanks, and back on the farm, water animals, etc. Every gallon counts!

It drives me mad to see someone running a tap into an open drain.

Ditch showers. Go for buckets. Best option to save water. And fun advice: only half bucket required to have bath in the mornings..

How inefficient is your water system that you use ten litres getting up to temperature?

I do this with anything that won't go off or has a long enough shelf life that I can use it before it goes out of date. I even do it with milk, as the lactose free stuff I use has a best before date of about a month on it, and as it only comes in 1 litre bottles, I get through a lot of it!

I did this once... We ended up with 72 large jars of Douwe Egberts coffee. With the sale price, a multibuy offer and a staff discount, it ended up costing us about £2 a jar.

You have to be very careful with this one, because you can easily end up with junk you don't really need, as you bought it because it was on sale.

I've found large tubes of mainstream brand toothpaste at the dollar store.

Covid shopping has made this our routine. Pre covid, we always stocked up on sales staples if they were truly sales.

Restaurants in general, at least in my area, have done so much penny-pinching for profit that almost any food they serve would be better tasting and more nutritious if I make it, and by the time you factor in travel and waiting it doesn't even save time to eat out. Top that with the exploitation of their staff with the incredibly corrupt tipping system they use, just please don't eat out if you can help it.

I made a spice rack the other day from scrap walnut worktop, put it up discover that I need another 30 or so spaces, apparently we have around 90 different spices. Thankfully I have extra scrap wood and it's on one side of a corner so I can use the other but why do we have so many spices?

That was my Dad's advice. You want to eat well, learn to cook well.

I prefer my cooking over what most restaurants offer, plus I know I follow clean habits in the kitchen.

Yeah, I'm like, "why buy a takeaway or go to a restaurant when I can make it myself". Pizza being the best example.

"short pants" is infuriating

Tiny holes in my clothes? Stick on little flower motifs

It's a good way to make sure all your black garments are the same shade of black.

invest in a quality fuzz buster! I got a super large one w extra blades, that runs on batteries or plug in, and keeps everything looking new, from my couch to hats. and a good pair of fine sewing scissors to get the places near pits and crotches that can't be reached easily by a larger machine.

I've tried this several times and I can never get it to work well!! It takes such a long time to dye and not make a mess then after one or two washes (cold water only) my stuff is back to the same level of faded. I use dye fixant. What am I doing wrong?

Tangentially related - get a thermometer for your room. Is the room cold, or is it just you? If the room temp is 20°C put on a jumper, if it's 15°C, it's time to put on the heating (at least for a little while). Note, the lower temp is based on the HSE minimum working temperature in an office.

In the winter we want the home at a temperature that would make us turn on the AC in summer, and in summer we want the home at a temperature that would make us turn on the heat in winter.

Do people not normally do this?? What about when you go outside???

You don’t live in Canada. And who expects to live in summer gear year-round???

This is the only thing I don't care to do. Growing up it was always too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. I run my heat and ac how I want it. I'm pretty sustainable with everything else.

My sponges have life cycles. First they're a dish sponge. Then a sink scrubber. Once they're done with that, they scrub the bath. Finally they get demoted to a toilet scrubber, then thrown in the bin.