Frugal tips thread

[Ellsworth]

Last month I played Dr. Young Frankenstein and found a great use for the old style of small jump box/air compressors.

You know the type, the ones have lawnmower batteries inside.
The one's that often have a built in flashlight and USB charging ports.

The kind that you can buy for $10 or less (or free) at a garage sale because the battery died.

Open the case and remove the dead battery.

Add a Pos and Neg lead that you run out of the case through some freshly drilled holes.

Add an Anderson quick connector to those leads.

Buy a lawnmower sized, 12v lithium battery off Amazon.
Add two short leads and an Anderson connector.

To increase utility, cut an old pair of jumper cables in half and add an Anderson clip to both sides
These can plug right into your lithium battery.

There's an odd source for free Anderson connectors of a suitable size.
You can pick up a free powered wheelchair from CL or FB marketplace.
Tear it down and there's a lot of great wire connectors inside attached to usable length wires.
Bonus, the heavy duty run flat tires.

[Shark]

Along those same lines, so many electronics things just die, and get tossed out.

We have a rechargeable dog collar (remote with buzz). After a couple years they just don't hold a charge.

A couple minutes with a screwdriver to open it up, easy to find replacement batteries ($14) on Amazon. Good as new. Much cheaper then buying a new one.

jandjloghome.blogspot.com

[Ellsworth]

The last dog we adopted barked for about 6 months.

Non-stop for the first few months.

I wore ear plugs under ear muffs.

He was never a bad dog, and the behavior wasn't abnormal. IIRC we were his 8th home, in less than a year.

The battery replacement also works on those outdoor solar lights.
RTV sealant on the cover plate.

[allen84]

Along those same lines, so many electronics things just die, and get tossed out.

We have a rechargeable dog collar (remote with buzz). After a couple years they just don't hold a charge.

A couple minutes with a screwdriver to open it up, easy to find replacement batteries ($14) on Amazon. Good as new. Much cheaper then buying a new one.

jandjloghome.blogspot.com

You might be on to something there... A person could probably make a living just changing batteries these days. A lot of the electric razor bikes and such, that kids have, the battery connections are soldered on. Your average parent can't replace that.

[Ellsworth]

You might be on to something there... A person could probably make a living just changing batteries these days. A lot of the electric razor bikes and such, that kids have, the battery connections are soldered on. Your average parent can't replace that.

I can usually swap a battery, but beyond that I might as well fix it with a hammer because I'm not too familiar with circuit boards.

Some communities have free repair events. It's a frugal and ethically conscious, to try and fix it before tossing it.
https://www.repaireconomywa.org/fix-repair/ (opps, that site might be spammed or filled with retail services)

https://www.washingtoncountyor.gov/swr/repair

https://nwfreerepairs.wordpress.com/

[Shark]

Another thing is appliances.

Our current washer/dryer were hand me downs, left at the last house in town that we renovated. So they are likely 10+ years old.

Washer I replaced the filter and pump. Dryer I replaced the heating element and cleaned the circuit board when it was throwing odd codes for no reason
Both times Amazon parts and less than $25 fix.

Way better than buying new machines!

Also fixed the stove when we had a runaway oven 500+F.... Failed temp sensor. Swapped and working again

jandjloghome.blogspot.com