Stuff you can do without

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sonya123

sonya123

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Thought about this today. There are so many things probably many people in the US think they can't do without , but you really can and it saves money and resources.

Here are some examples: hot showers in summer. Most of the US is very hot in the summer, so why not take a cold shower? We do it all the time since our hot water heater is hooked to the wood stove and only heats water in winter. I don't mind at all. Heating water uses up a ton of energy if you take 20 minute showers all the time too ( our kids used to do this in FLORIDA, talking about wasteful)

Buying clothes and shoes you don't need, just because. I never did a lot of that but still ended up with a closet full of clothes when we moved. Now I just buy new stuff if old stuff breaks. And then I look at the Goodwill first.

Going out to eat. What a waste of money. Last time we went out to eat, it was $30 for 2 bowls of mediocre noodles.

Changing clothes every day . Not necessary. Now we wash them when they are actually dirty.
Washing clothes in hot water is not necessary either. They do just fine in cold water.

We can't do this anymore, but husband used to when we lived in the city: going to the convenience store to buy some overpriced drink or snack item. Bad for you, plus wastes gas and money. Now if it's not in the house, it doesn't get shopped for until we do a major shopping trip in town, or have to go there for some other reason.

Can you think of any?
 
sonya123 said:
Thought about this today. There are so many things probably many people in the US think they can't do without , but you really can and it saves money and resources.

Here are some examples: hot showers in summer. Most of the US is very hot in the summer, so why not take a cold shower? We do it all the time since our hot water heater is hooked to the wood stove and only heats water in winter. I don't mind at all. Heating water uses up a ton of energy if you take 20 minute showers all the time too ( our kids used to do this in FLORIDA, talking about wasteful)

Buying clothes and shoes you don't need, just because. I never did a lot of that but still ended up with a closet full of clothes when we moved. Now I just buy new stuff if old stuff breaks. And then I look at the Goodwill first.

Going out to eat. What a waste of money. Last time we went out to eat, it was $30 for 2 bowls of mediocre noodles.

Changing clothes every day . Not necessary. Now we wash them when they are actually dirty.
Washing clothes in hot water is not necessary either. They do just fine in cold water.

We can't do this anymore, but husband used to when we lived in the city: going to the convenience store to buy some overpriced drink or snack item. Bad for you, plus wastes gas and money. Now if it's not in the house, it doesn't get shopped for until we do a major shopping trip in town, or have to go there for some other reason.

Can you think of any?
Click to expand...
Razors and haircuts.

Ben
 
Libraries are great but sometimes I want the book so I look for it online used, plus free shipping.
Paper towels are expensive and wasteful. Still like to use them once in a while, but use rags instead.
Still haven't gotten rid of using plastic wrap completely but put leftovers in jars with lids.
Dislike wrapping paper and gift bags and people don't appreciate my hand made wrapping paper. haha. Guess I need to dress it up more. I take paper bags and crumple them up hard to soften them, makes 'em look old fashioned. Use twine instead of ribbon. They don't like that either. :rolleyes: I suppose some appreciate it the little house on the prairie look.
I hate shopping of any kind, except online. ;)
Swiffer mops. No, use an old cut up piece of fabric from a flannel shirt to mop.
Have been using baking soda and vinegar for drain cleaners.
Never have had much luck at second hand stores for clothing.
 
A UPS for my computers. (This is different than a surge protector) I used to obsess over having each and every computer on a UPS, so they could do "controlled shutdowns" in the even of a power failure. But as the decades have passed, I can't say I've ever seen a computer that was severely damaged by an uncontrolled shutdown. Sometimes a file may end up corrupted which requires a file system check. Worst case, a restore from backup. But 99.9% of the time I don't even see this. Most people these days have journaling file systems that are a massive help during crashes (if you don't know what this is, fine, you're probably using one though). For critical operations, yes, you should have a UPS. For home use that devolves into mostly emails and web surfing for us old codgers, a UPS might now have become overkill (assuming you do frequent and routine backups, as you should).
 
Haha, Sonya, I'm with ya on several points: I only wash clothes in cold water; I rarely eat out at restaurants because the cost is ridiculous; I frequently wear clothes for more than one day, though I tend to swap out clothes during the day as well; I cut my own hair with the Sunbeam clippers I've had for 20 years or more; I minimize my town runs so I'm only making one or two a week, and I combine errands whenever I make a town run; I also fix or repair just about everything on my property, rather than pay someone to do it; and I think twice about any costly venture or excursion, just to make sure there's not a better & cheaper way to do it, lol. ;)

Of all these examples, the restaurant number stands out: for what I pay, even at a fast food restaurant, I can eat several good home-cooked meals, and the meals I cook will be far more nutritious, lol. The biggest savings probably stem from repair jobs I tackle myself... :cool:
 
Patchouli said:
Paper towels are expensive and wasteful. Still like to use them once in a while, but use rags instead.
Click to expand...
😳 You got me on that one...I use a ton of them. I tried kitchen towels but it just didn't work. I use them to cover my baked stuff while it cools so no dirt, fly or dog hair lands on it. I just want everything to be super clean in my kitchen while I am baking. Haven't figured a good way around that. Thoughts?
Any towels, even if I try to wash them seperate, seem to end up with dog hair or human hair or something.
 
Wingnut said:
Haha, Sonya, I'm with ya on several points: I only wash clothes in cold water; I rarely eat out at restaurants because the cost is ridiculous; I frequently wear clothes for more than one day, though I tend to swap out clothes during the day as well; I cut my own hair with the Sunbeam clippers I've had for 20 years or more; I minimize my town runs so I'm only making one or two a week, and I combine errands whenever I make a town run; I also fix or repair just about everything on my property, rather than pay someone to do it; and I think twice about any costly venture or excursion, just to make sure there's not a better & cheaper way to do it, lol. ;)

Of all these examples, the restaurant number stands out: for what I pay, even at a fast food restaurant, I can eat several good home-cooked meals, and the meals I cook will be far more nutritious, lol. The biggest savings probably stem from repair jobs I tackle myself... :cool:
Click to expand...
More good points. I try and fix and do repairs, when its cost effective. Alot of times is cost vs time. Some things I'd rather pay for to save time for a bigger project.
Always washing cold water. We do eat out some, but much less than we used to. Cut back on that more all the time
 
I hear ya, Bacpacker, finding good solid work boots seems to be harder nowadays than it was in decades past... and I'll wear old clothes into the dirt while doing stuff round the property. Worst-case scenario, old clothes & footgear become painting clothes & footgear, lol... once they're totally ruined, they get tossed. ;)
 
As I dwell further upon this topic, I realize that I forgot to address the Big Tech issue: under my current circumstances, I don't need or want the latest smart phone, TV, other gadgetry, etc. I know some folks may need the latest smart phone for work or whatever, but I'm not that guy... I grudgingly "upgraded" to a 4G flip-phone, lol. The Samsung 6 Series 65" curved screen TV I bought 6 or 7 years ago will hopefully be the LAST TV I ever buy, lol. I don't use it that much, nowhere near the usage of a modern video gamer, for instance, but I like the TV and it suits me fine... I've never been one of those guys who has to have the latest Big Tech BS, aye? I'm sure I'm saving BEAUCOUP BUCKS by sticking with what I have in the way of phone & TV... to be honest with y'all, I didn't wanna give up my perfectly-functional 3G flip-phone! 😒
 
Most of my "stuff" is old or secondhand. My TV is from 2010. My home entertainment stereo/DVD I bought new in 2005. My furniture is mostly cheap and or secondhand. (I'm looking to upgrade soon.)

Certain things are too important to do without or to buy less than excellent quality. My living depends on being able to get where I need to go, and that can be a thousand miles away. I no longer accept poor quality vehicles, and I'll drop 30k to replace a vehicle that doesn't do what I need it to do. I don't skimp on work gear. My boots are $250 and I won't accept lower quality boots.

I have been looking at ways to cut back on around home expenses. Like I could drop my gym membership, but I feel that's important for my health and quality of life. If I became unable to afford it I would drop it real quick. But, one of the reasons I'm fairly comfortable now, is that I made a lot of decent decisions about what I need and don't need when I was young and struggling. That experience has served me pretty well for the last 20 years...
 
As far as tech goes, our TV is more than 10 yo. Stereo more than 20. My phone is 10+ and ill keep it until the battery craps out. I have purchased some new ham radios over the last couple of years, but they weren't top end gear. Ill likely buy a new HF radio before I retire. Ill have time to use it some then.
Puters, I've got a couple laptops, one maybe 3yo, the other less than a year. But both are cheaper models. I get what I need but not much more.
 
Haertig said:
For critical operations, yes, you should have a UPS. For home use that devolves into mostly emails and web surfing for us old codgers, a UPS might now have become overkill (assuming you do frequent and routine backups, as you should).
Click to expand...
I went one step further and parked my PC.
Yes I still have it and it is still connected to a 'backup power supply' (not fast enough to be called a 'UPS' because if the power blinks, the PC would still reboot :().
But that isn't a problem, because I have turned it on a total of (1) times in the last 3 years:rolleyes:.
I have no problem doing everything on my Kindle Fire tablet today.:thumbs:
(...except for editing pictures to make fake stuff:()
 
There isn't much that we need to do with out, or want to cut out. We try to combine our trips as much as possible. We have a small grocery store in town 20 miles away. When we go to the feed store we also go to the building supply store and large grocery store, its over 200 miles round trip. Some times we take the small 12' trailer for light purchases, other times I take my 25 foot goose neck trailer. These trips usually take over 12 hours so we have to eat breakfast and dinner on the road, which isn't cheap.
At home there's no need to conserve water or electric. We generate our own. Other than some farm equipment, we only buy new. Plus we make every opportunity to buy US made products, or at least not junk made in China.
 
Haertig said:
A UPS for my computers. (This is different than a surge protector) I used to obsess over having each and every computer on a UPS, so they could do "controlled shutdowns" in the even of a power failure. But as the decades have passed, I can't say I've ever seen a computer that was severely damaged by an uncontrolled shutdown. Sometimes a file may end up corrupted which requires a file system check. Worst case, a restore from backup. But 99.9% of the time I don't even see this. Most people these days have journaling file systems that are a massive help during crashes (if you don't know what this is, fine, you're probably using one though). For critical operations, yes, you should have a UPS. For home use that devolves into mostly emails and web surfing for us old codgers, a UPS might now have become overkill (assuming you do frequent and routine backups, as you should).
Click to expand...
The UPS for my modem and router just bit the big one, it will not be replaced.
 
sonya123 said:
Thought about this today. There are so many things probably many people in the US think they can't do without , but you really can and it saves money and resources.

Here are some examples: hot showers in summer. Most of the US is very hot in the summer, so why not take a cold shower? We do it all the time since our hot water heater is hooked to the wood stove and only heats water in winter. I don't mind at all. Heating water uses up a ton of energy if you take 20 minute showers all the time too ( our kids used to do this in FLORIDA, talking about wasteful)

Buying clothes and shoes you don't need, just because. I never did a lot of that but still ended up with a closet full of clothes when we moved. Now I just buy new stuff if old stuff breaks. And then I look at the Goodwill first.

Going out to eat. What a waste of money. Last time we went out to eat, it was $30 for 2 bowls of mediocre noodles.

Changing clothes every day . Not necessary. Now we wash them when they are actually dirty.
Washing clothes in hot water is not necessary either. They do just fine in cold water.

We can't do this anymore, but husband used to when we lived in the city: going to the convenience store to buy some overpriced drink or snack item. Bad for you, plus wastes gas and money. Now if it's not in the house, it doesn't get shopped for until we do a major shopping trip in town, or have to go there for some other reason.

Can you think of any?
Click to expand...
We honestly need to think about camping and what we need for suirvival.
 
@Patchouli I don’t use paper towels either and haven’t used plastic wrap in about a decade. @sonya123 if you get an all cotton sheet and tear it into squares (12”, 15”, 18”) whatever size you prefer. They don’t seem to attract “stuff” like other fabrics.
@Bacpacker Hubby likes Loah - Tibetan boots. They get thoroughly abused and last better than the ones he used to wear. There are other models, but the tibetans have ankle support so he wears them hunting also.
 
Most folks won’t want to hear this but we don’t need more than about 3-4 rooms of the house, the riding lawnmowers, holiday decorations, abundant clothes (already mentioned), hair color, nail polish, makeup, electronics, microwaves, most kitchen gadgets, hmmm. Let me do a little more thinking 🤔
 
LadyLocust said:
@Patchouli I don’t use paper towels either and haven’t used plastic wrap in about a decade. @sonya123 if you get an all cotton sheet and tear it into squares (12”, 15”, 18”) whatever size you prefer. They don’t seem to attract “stuff” like other fabrics.
@Bacpacker Hubby likes Loah - Tibetan boots. They get thoroughly abused and last better than the ones he used to wear. There are other models, but the tibetans have ankle support so he wears them hunting also.
Click to expand...
I'll check those out. I mostly wear boots around the house and hiking. I've got 3 pair of hiking boots that I really like. One is a pair of leather Vasque that are more than 30 years old. Another pair of Vasque lite hikers that are maybe 20 yo. They are showing quite a lot of wear, so I use them around here working. I bought a new pair just like them that are still in the box.
At work I generally wear tennis shoes which I get 6 months to a year out of. They then go into a rotation of worn out shoes for gardening, mowing, tending chickens, etc. Once the soles wear thru, or the tops start coming off I'll toss them then. Work provides protective work boots for when they are needed.
 
LadyLocust said:
Most folks won’t want to hear this but we don’t need more than about 3-4 rooms of the house, the riding lawnmowers, holiday decorations, abundant clothes (already mentioned), hair color, nail polish, makeup, electronics, microwaves, most kitchen gadgets, hmmm. Let me do a little more thinking 🤔
Click to expand...
There's a big difference in what one needs and what one wants, and can afford. We have 5 big screen TV's between the house, garage, shop and fur shed. Of course we can only watch one or two at a time. We don't need any TV, but we want them. We have 2 cell phones, 2 laptops, and a desk top computer, and no internet. I have several pairs of boots; Redwing, Whites, Filson and Sorrel.
As long as we can afford it, we'll keep buying the things we want. Besides. When we get too old to take care of this place, we'll have one heck of an auction and sell almost everything. The main thing is, get what you need/want and stay out of debt.
 
When I buy something my wife will ask me why I need that.
My reply is what does need have to do with it.
We have a house full of stuff we don't need but we want it so we have it.
My wife and I have different thoughts on what we need.
I don't think she needs 400 Santa's and she thinks I don't need more fishing stuff or guns and ammo. Silly woman.:)
 
LadyLocust said:
@Patchouli I don’t use paper towels either and haven’t used plastic wrap in about a decade. @sonya123 if you get an all cotton sheet and tear it into squares (12”, 15”, 18”) whatever size you prefer. They don’t seem to attract “stuff” like other fabrics.
@Bacpacker Hubby likes Loah - Tibetan boots. They get thoroughly abused and last better than the ones he used to wear. There are other models, but the tibetans have ankle support so he wears them hunting also.
Click to expand...

Cotton sheet is not a bad idea. I looked for real cotton dish towels but they seem to not make them anymore. All I can find is stuff that is fuzzy and not good for what I want it for.
Need to look up Tibetan boots
 
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