I was about to toss a good winter coat because the zipper pull broke off. An older woman named Marge saw me fuming and grabbed a paperclip from her purse. She bent it into a little loop and threaded it through the zipper slider in like 30 seconds. Has anyone else picked up a random skill from a stranger at a thrift store?
I boiled the carcass for broth, shredded the meat for tacos and sandwiches, and even crisped up the skin for a salad topping, and I'm wondering what other people's record is for making one cheap ingredient last the longest.
I used to hit the store right after work around 5pm and spend like $80 a week on basic stuff. Then I started going at 8pm last month because I was bored one night. The meat section had clearance stickers on almost everything because it was close to the sell by date. I got a pack of chicken thighs for $3.50 that would have been $9 earlier. My weekly total dropped to around $45. The produce isn't as picked over but you can still find good stuff if you dig a bit. Has anyone else noticed the same thing with evening shopping?
My Dell from 2014 was taking like 10 minutes just to open Chrome, and I was about to trash it. Then I remembered reading somewhere that you can pop the bottom off and clean the fan with a toothpick and canned air. Did that last Saturday, and now it boots up in under 2 minutes. Has anyone else tried just cleaning the dust out of their old machine instead of giving up on it?
I always thought you had to buy those iron-on patches for rips in jeans, they're like 8 bucks for a tiny pack. But this older lady at the Goodwill in Portland saw me holding a pair of jeans with a hole and just said 'just grab a worn-out pair for 2 dollars and cut patches from the leg.' She was right the fabric matches better and it's way cheaper. Has anyone else gotten a solid fix tip from a random person at a thrift shop?
I ripped a hole right on the knee of my only decent pair of work pants. Couldn't afford new ones until payday. Found a matching blue t-shirt from a thrift store haul 2 years ago, cut a square, and hand stitched it inside the hole. Literally no one said a word until my roommate pointed it out while doing laundry. Has anyone else gotten away with a fix that should've looked terrible?
I cracked 18 eggs for a quiche last Tuesday and almost tossed the shells before remembering my neighbor uses them for garden calcium. She grinds them up and mixes them right into the soil for free plant food. What cheap kitchen scraps have YOU been tossing that actually have a second life?
I was dead set against using used motor oil on my bike chain because it sounded messy and gross, but I got stuck 30 miles from home on a trail near Austin last month and a guy pulled out a tiny bottle of it. He said he strains it through a coffee filter and mixes it with a little acetone to thin it out. I tried it on my old mountain bike and I swear the chain is quieter and it didn't attract nearly as much dirt as I expected. Plus it cost me basically nothing since I had a quart sitting in my garage from my last oil change. The only downside is the smell for the first ride or two, but it fades fast. Has anyone else tried this or found another cheap lube that holds up in muddy conditions?
I took my old Dewalt drill to a shop in Austin last month, paid them $45 to fix the chuck, and two weeks later it locked up again. Now I'm watching YouTube and doing all my own repairs with a $12 set of screwdrivers from the grocery store. Has anyone else had better luck fixing their own tools than paying a pro?
I used to pay $16 a month for Netflix and still couldn't find anything good to watch. Last month I got a library card in Portland and found out they have Kanopy for free. I've watched 5 documentaries and 2 indy movies since then, no charge. Has anyone else tried the hoopla app through their local library?
I was always one of those people who thought an emergency fund had to be like 3-6 months of expenses right off the bat. Kept putting it off cause I couldn't save that much. Then I just started tossing $20 here and there when I had it. Hit $500 and man, it felt different. Like a weight off my shoulders. When my car needed a $300 repair last week I actually had it. No panic, no credit card. Changed my whole view on saving. Anyone else have a random number that made it feel real?
I used to swear by spending real money on tools, but last month I snapped a name brand flathead prying open a paint can. Picked up a $1.25 set from Dollar General just to finish the job, and that cheap thing has held up through 3 weeks of pressure washer disassembly. Has anyone else had a cheapo tool outlast something from the big box store?
Ended up with a mess that looked like a marshmallow exploded and had to scrape half of it off with a putty knife, so now I just use rolled up towels like a normal person - has anyone actually gotten that stuff to work cleanly on the first try?
After my plastic fridge shelf cracked last Tuesday, I cut a wooden broom handle to size and slid it under the glass as a support, and it has held perfectly for three straight days now even with a gallon of milk on top. Has anyone else used random hardware store stuff for fridge repairs?
Last month I had a string of bad luck that almost broke me. My alternator died on a Tuesday, then my fridge stopped cooling on Thursday. I had about $400 saved up from skipping takeout for 6 months, and it covered the $350 repair on my old Honda Civic. The fridge I just packed with ice and moved stuff to a cooler for a week until payday. Has anyone else had a moment where a little bit of savings kept them from a total disaster?
Last week my neighbor kept going on about how much money I'd save with a Costco membership. I finally snapped and showed him my food budget is $40 a week. A $5 rotisserie chicken sounds great until you realize the membership costs $60 just to walk in the door. And who has the cash to drop $200 on a giant pack of toilet paper upfront? Not everyone has that kind of money sitting around. Has anyone else gotten sick of this advice from people who forgot what it's like to count every single dollar?
My elderly neighbor Mr. Patterson saw me hauling groceries over the big crack in my driveway last week and just said 'you know concrete patch is only 8 bucks at the hardware store.' I'd been telling myself I needed to save up for a full repave for over a year, but I had 8 dollars and a free Saturday. Has anyone else had a small fix they kept putting off that turned out way cheaper and easier than they thought?
Honestly, my fridge light went dark last Tuesday and I couldn't find a replacement bulb anywhere in my apartment. I just strapped my old camping headlamp to the top shelf with a rubber band, and now it lights up every time I open the door. Has anyone else MacGyvered something dumb like this?
She watched me spend $8 on a spray for the kitchen and just shook her head... told me to mix half vinegar with half water in a old bottle. I tried it on my greasy stove in Denver and it worked better than the expensive stuff. Anyone else have a relative who proved you were doing it all wrong?
I kept wondering why my shirts looked faded after 6 months, then a coworker at the laundromat pointed out I was using way too much detergent. Anyone else figure out they were overloading the machine and burning through cash for worse results?
So I saw all those TikTok videos about putting celery bottoms in water and getting free celery forever. Sounded perfect for someone like me who's trying to stretch every dollar. I did exactly what they said - cut the stump, put it in a shallow dish of water on my windowsill. After 4 days I had this slimy mess and it smelled like rotten grass. My kitchen smelled funky for a week. Did I do something wrong or is this just a scam for views? Or does it actually work if you do it some other way? What's your experience with this kind of thing?
My fridge stopped cooling last Tuesday and I was panicking about buying a new one. I looked up the error code online and it pointed to the start relay being bad. Found a replacement for 8 bucks on Amazon, swapped it out in 10 minutes with a screwdriver, and it's been running fine for 3 days now. Anyone else had luck fixing appliances instead of tossing them?