OK, so I may go to waste money, want to get the propane furnace at the cabins,going. They can no longer do the smaller tanks, so $183 for a bigger tank, and $59 a year tank rental. Now sure we could still keep using space heaters and the fireplace, but I am going to waste the money.
In the last two places I have lived, I have installed attic fans that pull the air through the lower windows of the house and exhaust it out the vents in the attic. This reduces heat buildup in the attic that can radiate into the house. I often run the fan at night and pull the cooler night air into the house. In the morning, I turn off the fan and close the windows. We can usually go to mid afternoon before we turn on the air conditioning.
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We live in the Pacific Northwest and the house we moved into a few years ago has a geothermal heat pump. The system is considerably quieter than a conventional heat pump since there is no condenser and fan outside to make a lot of noise. I can hear my neighbors conventional heat pump running but not my geothermal.
The downside, the house is now 16 years old and the original installation of the heat pump was barely adequate. That is, the cooling loop wells werenāt dug deep enough and the heat exchange underground isnāt what is should be. I understand there were some lawsuits filed against the builder/installer when these houses were new because of poor heat pump operation. The good news is that as the systems were a bit overloaded and failed, all the neighboring houses converted back to conventional heat pumps. Now Iām the only house within a 5 house radius that is still geothermal, and my system works fine.
Metal roofs cost about 2 1/2 times what a good shingle roof does here, and they are expected to last 50 to 100 years. I however will be shocked if I last 10 and if I do, some of it would probably be in a nursing home. When I buy caulk and the clerk asks me if I want the 15 year, 25 year or lifetime caulk, I just laugh.
We build to a 48" frost line and when we get a long cold spell everything heaves.
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Iām still using a 63 year old steel snow shovel that was my dadās to clear the driveway and walks in winter. The edge has worn down considerably and become ragged but still gets the job done. 
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I think thatās great! It gives you connection to your dad when you use it. In a similar vein, I inherited a pair of my dadās rusted needle nose pliers. They were rusted solid, the jaws wouldnāt budge. It took three weeks of soaking in WD40, penetrating oil, wire brushing, and a pipe clamp, but I finally got the jaws freed up. They still have a rust-encrusted appearance, but they are my go-too tool for needle-nose pliers applications.
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I donāt have a 63 year old shovel but I do have a 47 year old Airens Sno-Thrower (their terminology) that walks through 4ā drifts and I have never taken to a shop. It was made as a two wheel tractor that you could also get a rototiller or lawnmower head for. Wish they had made a trencher head, it would be great for putting in drain tile.
I have a buddy who does mold remediation. Much of what he sees is caused by people being cheap or maybe I should just say stupid. People leave for a while and turn off all climate control systems. The pipes break in the winter and leave water all over. Then in the summer they just turn off their AC. He says people come home from their 3 week vacation and find nothing but mold all throughout their homes.
I turned my AC on not because I was hot, but because the humidity level was getting high and I was worried about this.
As for lights, I think LEDs are the way to go. Only one has really failed me. Otherwise I had a couple cheapo store brands from somewhere that are too dim to be of any use. So yes, I bought them because they were cheap and now they sit back in the box. I think I used one for an over the stove light and it is fine there but they are really no good for anything else.
Can we all bring this back more toward car-related topics? Thanks.
Something kinda car related is the oil re-use. I keep my used oil in jugs after changing it and take it to a parts store for recycling. I usually let several of these things build up before I bother to take it in.
I had a riding mower with the Kohler Courage engine which I would NEVER suggest! The Kohler Command is great but forget about the Courage. It is cheapened junk if you ask me. The governor gear and timing gears are made of plastic but ride on a steel crankshaft gear. You have a soft material riding on a hard material and we all know what happens.
Anyway, I had always heard these were not the best engines but never really had an issue. I used synthetic oil and changed it before it was due. Then one day the thing revved up on its own until the pushrods went through the rocker arms and everything was all bent up. I replaced the pushrods, rockers, and reset the lash.
Apparently the governor on my model had lots of problems with it breaking because of the nylon gear. So, I fired it back up after fixing it, not realizing the governor was broken. It revved to the max and floated the valves so the pushrod fell of the rocker and I was able to just put everything back. I bypassed the governor and went to manual throttle which was a pain but it worked.
I donāt know if I had broken a ring land or a ring, or what with it revved up so high but the thing started using oil pretty badly after that time. It was actually bad enough that I had times where it would run without spark like a diesel on all the oil it was burning. It was a fill up the oil and check the gas kind of mower. I read all the reviews and problems about this engine and decided it wasnāt worth fixing.
I also decided that with all the oil it was using, it wasnāt worth putting in new premium synthetic. I started adding used oil from my cars and trucks. It burned it just as it did the new synthetic of course with blue and yellow fire coming out of the exhaust once it was warmed up. It would smoke at first and quite badly but once it was hot, it burned oil so cleanly that there was no smoke or smell. The front of the thing would just be glowing hot from this issue.
I had to shut it off with the deck engaged with the hope I would kill it, otherwise it would run wild and out of time with no spark!
Back to āpetty thingsā to save money . . .
Our local department of sanitation periodically has a deal . . . you bring 2 used engine oil filters to a certain auto parts store, on a specified date, and you get 2 new engine oil filters
Iāve taken advantage of it quite a few times, scoring top of the line filters in the process
I take my old engine oil, atf, coolant, etc. to work and pour it in the appropriate containers. Why waste a trip to the proper city facilities on the weekend, when I can just take it to work with me?
I also dump scrap metal, including struts, control arms, cv halfshafts, etc., at work, throwing it in our metal dumpsters. Why pay to dump something, when I can responsibly dump it at work at no charge to me . . . ? And I know it will get disposed of properly
I buy button cell batteries at dollar tree . . . 3 x LR44 for a dollar, or 2 x CR2032 for a dollar. The LR44 I use for my electronic calipers, the CR2032 is for key fobs.
a gallon of washer fluid at the dollar tree also isnāt a bad deal, in my opinion
I would never use dollar tree rtv, though. Iām not convinced itās oxygen sensor safe, due its wicked smell 
When I was working at the dealership, I used to wash my personal car there. This was around 9pm at night, after I got done studying at the library, but the dealership was still very busy
I saw something amusing several years ago. A guy saw a penny on the ground and attempted to pick it up, but couldnāt, because it had somehow been ground into the asphalt. He returned later on with a hammer and chisel . . . 
years ago some 8 year old kids well known for their neighborhood mischief ā such as pouring dirt into mailboxes ā they epoxy-glued two quarters to the sidewalk in front of their house, and they would laugh and laugh when somebody would bend down to pick them up. I saw what was happening, next time they were up to this trick I picked up a rock as I walked by and in like 3 seconds knocked the quarters loose with a sideways hit, and handed them to the kids, saying āhey, do you two kids want these quarters I found?ā
Another similar story. Somebody at my local gym was playing a joke on the other members by putting a cheap combo lock onto full-of-clothes lockers, locking the memberās clothes away. The member would first be confused as to which locker they had used, and once they figured it out theyād have to find a staff person who would eventually find the bolt cutters to cut the lock, and by the time all this was done the member had chalked up a 30 minute delay in their day before they could leave. Most of us knew who this practical joker was, but could never catch him in the lurch. The one day it happened to me. The practical joker was there watching me acting confused, saying to me āhey, you must have an enemy here!!ā ā¦ lol ā¦ of course I knew he was the one who did it. Instead of finding the bolt cutter staff guy, I started fiddling with the lock myself. The joker walked away smiling. He came back in 3-4 minutes, and found Iād opened the locker. I had already studied how to open that sort of cheap combo lock, so I had it cracked in like 45 seconds. When he came back in he looked shocked, asked how I had opened it. I told him āoh, I found a screwdriver over by the weight machines and pried it openā ā¦ he says āI thought that was impossibleā ā¦ lol ā¦ still using the lock myself to this day.
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Did the joker ever get a taste of his own medicine . . . ?! 
In rural New England people would save drain oil and pour it into holes they drilled into the rocker panels below the doors on trucks. Also put it in a pump up orchard sprayer and squirt it all over the bottom of the truck, all to try and slow down rust.
Donāt know. Not soon afterward that fellow disappeared and never came back. Donāt know if he was expelled from the gym, had his membership revoked, or, more likely, he just moved on to a different gym to ply his practical jokes. For some reason jokesters find the gym to be a good place for practical jokes. Thatās the only place Iāve ever been on the receiving end, and not once, several times. Itās a sophomoric attempt at humor, easy enough to just ignore. I find no need to make an issue of it. Let the jokesters have their fun.
I have heard of people who just drive around town like 3 times until they find the absolute cheapest gas station. They double or triple check every station before filling up and drive miles and waste lots of time in the process.
Then there are the people who fill up with only one gallon each day, thinking they are somehow saving money. I have done work for many gas stations and boy do they have some stories to tell.
Some of the veterans of this forum may recall my tale of a wacky old boss of mine who never filled his gas tank because āthat way they can cheat youā. 
So, rather than fill his big-ass Buickās tank once a week, he visited a gas station every day in order to buy a few dollarsā worth of gas.
I sometimes only fill the tank halfway if I think the price may drop later.
I drive to CT from NH frequently. On the way back to NH, I will only add 2 gallons of gas in CT, just enough to make it. The gas is 40 cents higher in CT.
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Yeah, sometimes I only have enough gas to get to the next town to the west if I am heading that way as it can be 25 cents cheaper. Otherwise I donāt worry as it certainly isnāt worth driving 60 miles out of the way to save 25 cents a gallon. That is especially true when I am making good money working and I drive a fuel efficient car.
Again, TIME is worth a lot more than the gas. If everything else is equal, I try to fill the tank as full as possible and then run it down as low as is safe before refilling because fewer stops for gas = less wasted time.
I have a good friend who will drive 25 miles each way to save 3c/gallon on less than 10 gallons and thinks sheās saving money. It doesnāt seem to occur to her that sheās burning 2 gallons to save 30c. I have been able to keep my mouth shut and let her enjoy the experience.