Steph Walker

Another suggestion that I use: selling used/repaired items!

I sell on eBay and FB Marketplace (I hate FB but it is a necessary evil for selling/giving things away). Craigslist has been good for giving away items. You can build your own personal knowledge of what people like to buy, clean it /restore it, and sell it. Knowledge of art styles, material quality, and repair tools helps. I steer heavily into the "saving items from the trash" - buying on the last day of estate sales, the Goodwill bins, hoarder house clearouts, etc.

I need a flexible job because I burned out in the corporate environment. This also lets me align with my permaculture-ey values (recycling / upcycling / low-waste) and slowly work on building my garden, taking care of the house, etc. On good months it makes me an income of around $2-3K/month, but it is also a lot of physical work. It also takes a lot of self motivation which I struggle with, but everything is a process.

I also am able to effectively "glean" items for free from house clearouts/auction lot purchases, which lets me distribute a lot back directly into the community. Items like clothes, kitchen tools, small decor items, house repair items are not worth a *ton* on the used market, but they are useful for someone - especially if I'm giving it away for free.

Good idea! Label label label!!

I unfortunately have the brain that needs to "see" what food I have in store in order to know it exists, so labeling and clear containers are key. I'm lucky that our two person household has a pretty simple diet and can live off of a lot of foods that store as dry goods.

Something that's saved me many times is keeping nuts and flour in the fridge/freezer right after buying - helps reduce bug issues and get a little more longevity out of the food without needing to eat it quickly.

I have to remove a lot of labels and I use warm water/soap and a glass scraper commonly used in hardware stores. Best option I've found, takes 1-10 minutes depending on the label size. In my experience theses scrapers don't damage glass. Pic below:

I've definitely done this (the very lazy way) where when I pruned some unwanted trees that had gotten out of hand I formed a little teepee with the larger branches and put the smaller cut branches in piles around the teepee. Its is now a favorite hangout for my chickens, cats and wild birds! This was a local suggestion from our Marion County Soil and Water Conservation district to help local wildlife by making natural hidey-holes / habitat for them. If you look closely at my photo there is at least one wild bird in there

I've been putting tight mesh shade cloths and tarps on the outside of our uninsulated exterior walls and it helps a lot! Anything that can prevent the direct sun from hitting the house is a win for me during hot days. The key to preventing house heating during summer is preventing light from hitting the house/entering windows (the other is not having a hot black roof). For cold days blankets and quilts are also in the windows but I have to be careful to check the window/quilt gap space for mold because condensation can hang out in there. My dream is to have shaded porch/greenhouse areas around the entire house and a white/reflective roof but those are long term plans. Photo (not mine, from www.sevendaysvt.com) for inspiration:

I have an imperfect and sometimes ugly-looking system for all types of "trash"!
1. Any natural products (hair, paper, wax etc.) are mixed into a long-term compost bin OR are burned depending on whether it's dry season (compost) or winter season (burn).
2. I've been using the mail-in envelopes from Ridwell to handle thin plastic films and layered plastic films, though I try to reuse the bags when I can. Sometimes the films just go into the trash bag.
3. Food scraps are composted.
4. Layered paper with plastics/coatings/etc is put into the recycling bin, I have an old kitty litter bucket for this. Loose (not bagged) recycling is easier to separate (so I've heard).
5. Metal pieces (random metal cut-offs, rusted screws, foils) are collected and brought to the scrap metal recycler/given to someone who wants to take it in for cash.
6. Our county takes food cans in the recycling bin, I put them in the same kitty litter bucket as before and then pour it outside in the curb can.
7. Aluminum cans are given away at the curb for anyone wanting the 10 cent per can recycling money (we're in suburban Oregon).
8. Glass is reused as much as possible and our recycler takes the rest in a small bin outside.
9. Any specialty items (batteries, lightbulbs with mercury, electronics etc) are taken to the local dump recycling area for those categories.
10.  Leftover bits considered "true" trash are put in the trash collection curb bin. I've been using paper grocery bags for awhile as small trash bags because I hate the idea of buying more plastic garbage bags just to throw them away. My thought is that paper will degrade eventually (theoretically).

My setup is a mixture of kitty litter buckets, paper bags on the floor, big yogurt tubs (metal bits) and old bowls/buckets (compost/burn).

Writing all of this out I am realizing this is easy to manage now but is definitely more to keep track of!

William Bronson wrote:We have a growing population of "Lazarus" Lizards.
I think they are why we don't have more slugs than we do.

I think other inflexible, modular, biologically inert items might work as mulch.
Aluminum pans, or ceramic plates, for instance.
Aluminum flashing,would be more flexible but still ridgid by comparison to black plastic mulch.

Petrified hessian/ concreted burlap is another possibility for a ridgid mulch.

Ceramic plates sparked something in my brain! They're everywhere and I often can get them for free. Going to think on this more

Great idea! I've wanted to do do this also because weeds can't (theoretically) grow through a piece of tile or concrete in the short term

I use another way of shading windows. I've tacked white cotton sheets/fabrics in front (outside) of our hottest windows and it helps a lot. I get light but also a reduction in direct sunlight. It is also moveable if I want to peek outside to check on our animals. It only works for those who can tack items outside their windows (maybe not for 2nd floor rented apartments for example) but is an easy fix and probably as cheap as paint. Works better in times where I don't get a lot of summer rain. I've gotten my sheets at estate sales etc. for $2 or so a piece and take them down in winter. Something to keep around and always handy!

I REALLY like how my Yarrow is spreading over my small backyard and front yard! It is great for the bees/pollinators and keeping areas pretty and green with judgy neighbors. It's native here and is so easy to grow. I've also seen someone online use it as a lawn replacement which is my ultimate goal for certain dry areas of the yard.