#WorldEnvironmentDay - Save some dosh!

Former_MSE_Nick_T

Hey Guys, it's officially #WorldEnvironment day.

I've recently joined the reusable cup gang and saved quite a bit at Starbucks, and only recently I've been pretty good at taking my own reusable bags shopping (mostly cute Disney one's from Primark which make it quite enjoyable for me haha).

What's your top green moneysaving tips to save a bit of dosh?

choille

Re-use envelopes. Use a paper knife to open & easily seal with sticky tape.

Cover over old stamp & address with sticky label.

Presently using old cut-into-strips tee shirts as ties in the garden. I plait the strips so they look quite good. They work well.

Davesnave

Sadly, one doesn't usually save 'dosh' when gardening.

Growing one's own is never going to pay better per hour than stacking shelves on a minimum wage, or if one has skills, doing something much more lucrative.

I sell surplus plants, which offsets the cost of the other gardening I do, but to make a serious profit, I'd have to make it a full-time job again.

So, gardening, large or small scale, has nothing directly to do with moneysaving; it's about enjoyment. Spending on it within one's means is justifiable if the end result is wellbeing and pleasure.

Davesnave

choille wrote: »

Presently using old cut-into-strips tee shirts as ties in the garden. I plait the strips so they look quite good. They work well.

Morning choille.


Old tights for tree ties. Better than the rubbish I bought last time that didn't last 3 winters. Avoid the ones that look like this folks:

choille

Davesnave wrote: »

Morning choille.


Old tights for tree ties. Better than the rubbish I bought last time that didn't last 3 winters. Avoid the ones that look like this folks:

Well, we all know how you like wearing tights:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

But some of us are more tee shirts and boots sort of ladies;)

But I'll ask Mr Choille - he's probably got some fish nets kicking about somewhere!

Davesnave

Trying to remember when I last wore tights.... I think it was only the once, when I was a serf in Robin Hood. Long drawers and stripey socks is my usual female panto garb.


I thought Bob Flowerdew was the person who recommended wearing tights when gardening outdoors in winter, but extensive research over 5 whole minutes seems to suggest he just uses tights for tying stuff up and straining liquids etc.

Anyway, in typical Bob style, my tip for the day is to get an old, large sized microwave and cook your spent compost in it, before mixing it with new. Yes, it will cost electricity, but you will get rid of all the vine weevils and other nasties that lurk. I do about 3litres a time and remove worms first. 15mins on high.

Now people will come along and say the resulting compost will be inert, but that's why I mix it with new and add a little fertiliser or top soil.

madjackslam

My first money-saving tip is to stop going to Starbucks.

As Dave says, gardening isn't particularly money saving. Last week good old Monty Don was suggesting making soil blocks instead of using plastic pots. I looked up the tool he recommended and it was £100+. Smaller, cheaper ones are available, but I wasn't convinced by his efforts. Besides, who's run out of plastic pots?

In terms of eco-friendly gardening, this year I've stopped putting prunings in the green bin. Instead, I'm creating a bug hotel. Unfortunately, it's not like this one it's more like a run-down B&B. Any prunings, perennial weeds I don't want on the compost heap, etc, just get stacked up. It's not pretty, but it's hidden from view. Will it attract wildlife? I don't know yet, but my theory is that bees, bugs, etc, aren't fussy, and stuff will move in. Will it rot down to produce usable compost? Maybe, but not for years. But what it does do is to capture "stuff", maybe carbon, maybe biomass, on my plot.

Finally, a question. The previous owner made a fence out of pallets at the back end of our garden. It's now collapsing. What should I do with this and other decomposing wood? Stack it up and leave it to rot further? Burn it? Something else? I'm looking for the greenest, cheapest, laziest option! (Don't underestimate my laziness) Thank you

PasturesNew

MSE_Nick_T wrote: »

#WorldEnvironment day.

....reusable cup gang and saved quite a bit at Starbucks...

My tip would be not to go into Starbucks at all. I've never been in one, they're not one of life's "essentials", they're just an utter waste of money and people've been sucked into some marketing ploy that overpriced coffee is "the norm".

Former_MSE_Nick_T

choille wrote: »

Re-use envelopes. Use a paper knife to open & easily seal with sticky tape.

Cover over old stamp & address with sticky label.

Presently using old cut-into-strips tee shirts as ties in the garden. I plait the strips so they look quite good. They work well.

Really love these suggestions, may need to steal them for one of my posts!

malebolge

Gardening can be an expensive hobby, but you can make quite few savings if you put your mind to it. These are some off the top of my head:
- take cuttings. I take them in my own garden, in friends' gardens, and have even taken a sneaky cutting or two from bushes I've likes at hotels & pubs I've been to. There's loads of plants that root very easily, such as osteospermums, chrysanthemums, carnations, fuchias etc, and even those that are a bit more temperamental will give you some results from a batch. I've got pieris, camellia and rhododendrons in my garden, all from cuttings, amongst others. You can then save some more money by swapping them with people for other plants, or something completely different. Ive swapped plants for eggs, help painting a shed & some seriously mindblowing homemade wine in my time.


- recycle, recycle recycle. Bubble wrap seems to cover most things sent by post these days. Save it and use it to protect plants in winter. I use the free newspaper that's delivered to make pea & bean pots. Used ice cream containers, trays that fruit are sold in etc can be used as trays for plant pots or cut up and made into plant markers. Loads of other things can be recycled, too.
- Look out for seed offers at the end of a season, or join a seed swap.

Davesnave makes valid points about moneysaving & gardening, but it's good to save a bit - you can use the money saved on other things in the garden...


Btw - if anyone has any good ideas on what old garden hoses can be used for, I'd be very happy. I can only use the crappy extendable ones that split way too often (can't manage to hold a proper hose) and I've a lot stuck behind a greenhouse waiting for me to think of something to do with them.



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madjackslam

malebolge wrote: »

Btw - if anyone has any good ideas on what old garden hoses can be used for, I'd be very happy. I can only use the crappy extendable ones that split way too often (can't manage to hold a proper hose) and I've a lot stuck behind a greenhouse waiting for me to think of something to do with them.
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Could use them to make cloches, as suggested here