Share your (cheapo) workarounds that seem second nature now

[Zaga]

I thought of another one, one my dad did.  His old truck, I think it was a 90-something F250, had a very quiet turn signal.  He would leave the damned thing on for miles after changing lanes.  So he wired in a beeper, that turn signal was never left on accidentally again!

[Elaine]

These dad workarounds remind me of our childhood car which was one of those iconic VW buses (in burnt orange). If you're looking at my age, you're correct, it was super old when we had it. There were no seats in the back so when my dad had to take me and my brother places, we would bungee some lawn chairs to either side of the back and sit in those.

[SisterX]

I used to have a hatchback that needed a long stick to hold the hatch up.  Unfortunately, it gave me a concussion one time when I was pulling my bike out of the back and...you get the rest.

The hatch on my jeep doesn't stay up when it's cold out, and it NEVER occurred to me to keep a pole in there to prop it up. most times i just hold it open with my head with varying results. thank you for the not-100%-safe workaround!!

You know you can get new gas struts at Napa? It's really a very cheap and easy fix.

At the time, I was a college student and living in a cabin that didn't even have running water.  A broken hatch was one of the lower things on my list of what needed to change, well below "live in a place where I don't need to use an outhouse when it's -60F".  Then shortly after I moved, other problems in the car cropped up so that it wouldn't run and I ended up selling it to someone for parts and going car-less for a while.

[nawhite]

I had a 99 Subaru Outback that had... problems. Though 2 stand out. First, the Speedometer was intermittent. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Fortunately the times it did work allowed me to carefully calibrate in my head "If I'm in 5th gear and the Tachometer reads 3500rpms then I am going 74mph." 45mph was about 2900rpm in 4th. I never got a speeding ticket at least.

Second, there was a spring in the ignition switch which would push the key back from "Start" to "On" (most cars have 4 steps on the switch, "off", "accessories", "on", and "start"). In a normal car after you start it, the spring pushes the key back into the On position because the Start position turns off everything but the starter motor so that you don't stress the battery. So in my car, most people would start it and it would be running but nothing else would work. No radio, no lights, no wipers etc. Eventually the Check engine light would come on if you didn't switch it back to On.

The check engine light became my "Someone else drove my car" indicator (very helpful during college) because no one else would know to turn the key back to On.

[Unionville]

I have a 20+ year old faded backpack I wear everyday, but over time the zippers (and you name it) have all failed. Luckily Patagonia has a policy of repairing things for life.  People often wonder why I continue to use it, it is so ugly. My "workaround" is to keep mailing it to Patagonia!

[lukebuz]

I used to have a hatchback that needed a long stick to hold the hatch up.  Unfortunately, it gave me a concussion one time when I was pulling my bike out of the back and...you get the rest.

The hatch on my jeep doesn't stay up when it's cold out, and it NEVER occurred to me to keep a pole in there to prop it up. most times i just hold it open with my head with varying results. thank you for the not-100%-safe workaround!!

A pair of vice-grips on the metal tube work better, and is a little safer.  Try it!

[Hedge_87]

I used to have a hatchback that needed a long stick to hold the hatch up.  Unfortunately, it gave me a concussion one time when I was pulling my bike out of the back and...you get the rest.

The hatch on my jeep doesn't stay up when it's cold out, and it NEVER occurred to me to keep a pole in there to prop it up. most times i just hold it open with my head with varying results. thank you for the not-100%-safe workaround!!

A pair of vice-grips on the metal tube work better, and is a little safer.  Try it!

Vice grips are pretty handy for all around vehicle repair. Works great for replacing window cranks, door handles, and adjusting the defroster when the knob breaks.

[sheepgetlambs]

When I was a kid my dad's truck would sometimes not shift out of first gear. (It was a manual transmission.) So, he'd pull over and have me operate the clutch and gear shift while he used a forked stick he cut from a sapling to do something under the hood and get it "unstuck." Ran like that for years.

When I had a VW Rabbit in the 80s and 90s, I left the gas cap on the roof one day and it got run over as I pulled away from the gas station. My dad got an old locking gas cap from some old vehicle a friend had. It fit my car but would freeze up in the winter. I didn't use my hair dryer on my hair so I carried it and a 50 foot extension cord with me and would thaw the gas cap with the hair dryer whenever I needed to get gas. The gas stations never complained when I asked to plug in! I guess they understood winter in Wisconsin could cause anything to freeze.

[LibraTraci]

My workarounds are very boring and unclever! (not technical at all), but I'll post them here anyways!

The rice cooker broke about a month ago, and since then I've just been nuking the rice in a huge pyrex measuring cup.  Once I got the formula down (fill water this high, nuke on full power for that long, nuke on half power for this long), it became as mindless and effortless as pressing the button down on the rice cooker. 

Another one:
When I moved to an apartment without a washer and dryer, I quickly started re-wearing tops once or twice before putting them in the hamper.  Yet, by doing that, I started running out of clean underwear before I had enough for a full load.  So, now, everytime I hop in the shower after work, I take a pair of underwear in with me, and wash them by hand with a bit of shampoo.  No hassle at all!  (Side note for anyone who has not paid laundromat prices lately:  a load of laundry here costs $2 for the washer, and $1.75 for the dryer.  Is that really the going rate these days???  Seems like highway robbery to me, but maybe I am just out of touch!)   

 

[NeverWasACornflakeGirl]

We have a laptop that is a little on the oldish side, but it works fine except for the port for the power cord.  I've tried new power cords, but I'm pretty sure it's the port.  Using a rubber band on the dongle to make it loop back on itself used to work, but now I have to keep the cord pressed very hard a certain way into the port for it to keep contact enough to charge the battery.  On my desk this means rigging up heavy objects like metal staplers, three-hole punches, and a metal in-box to keep the pressure on, then yelling menacingly at any family member who comes near or seems likely to move (or breathe on) my set up.  On those occasions when I'm stubborn enough to try to put this thing on my lap, like last night, I use a ball-point pen, stuck at just the right angle between my leg and the power cord, to keep the contact between the port and the cord.

Does anyone know how easy/difficult it is to replace a power port in an HP laptop?  I'm comfortable with computers in general, but I've never done much with hardware.

[Russ]

(Side note for anyone who has not paid laundromat prices lately:  a load of laundry here costs $2 for the washer, and $1.75 for the dryer.  Is that really the going rate these days???  Seems like highway robbery to me, but maybe I am just out of touch!)   

The laundromat here is $1.50/wash and 25¢ per 10 minutes dry so like $1

That's in semi-rural WI so if you're in a city that's probably about right

[SweetLife]

When I first started reading this a few months ago I looked around the house for things I  could be more frugal with ... one was paper towel ... I went out and bought 12 dark blue faceclothes that are perfect size and we use those at meals, I found them in a sale aisle at the grocery store for .24 a piece. No more paper towels!
And now since I am pregnant we are looking at cloth diapers ... definitely more frugal than the land-fillers.

[Dee]

My mom had a workaround like this when I was growing up. Well, she probably had many, but one I particularly remember was with putting a metal wedge that had originally been part of a shoe, to hold up the ironing board. Which is cool, except that the metal wedge always got misplaced so every incident of ironing involved a momentary loss of temper.

So I try to remember to keep the innovative work around but lose the temper.

[Simple Abundant Living]

My puppy chewed my MacBook power cord. Apple doesnt recommend repairs to the power cord, but i didn't want to pay for a new one, so I cut the wire, stripped the inner wire and twisted it together, wrapping it in plenty of electrical tape, then twisted the outer wires together-with more tape. Then wrapped the entire fix with tons more tape.  I've done it twice now and the power cord is still working great!

[urover]

In India, cheap workaround is called "jugaad" and it's everywhere and it's very common. It's common here because a lot of us cannot afford to buy new, it's not the result of an MMM-style lifestyle transformation.

I do a lot of jugaad myself. I used epoxy seal to fix plastic handles on 2 broken pair of scissors recently. My water-filter's tap started to leak a little, so, instead of spending on a new tap, I put a used container underneath it to collect the drip-drops. The drip is so slow the water evaporates and I never have had to empty the container.

I use empty CD containers I pick up from office for my plants. I take abandoned prints (A4 paper) as scrap paper and to absorb oil from anything we fry.

My motorcycle's front dome around the headlight broke off due to plastic aging, so I used epoxy seal to fix the broken plastic bits and that's how it's held up for the last 4 years. It's fuel indicator died 2 yrs ago but it has a fuel-reserve so I manage. The clutch is long overdue it's replacement but I try not to revv too hard and I have managed to put around 15000KM and it still shows no signs of dying on me.

My mom's netbook on Win7 was slow as crap. Peppermint Linux now runs like Bolt on it.

I'll share more when I recollect them.

[Zaga]

A friend of mine found an old workaround in her house a few years ago, done by the previous owner.

The ceiling in her dining room started to leak, they had to call a plumber.  What the plumber found was the bathtub overflow was directed into a bucket, that was sitting on the rafters in the dining room ceiling.  It was never a problem for years because most people took showers, the trouble started when a family member started taking too many baths.

So, someone thought that was a good workaround, and it would have continued to work if the old owners had shared the info with the new owners.

[DTown]

Does anyone know how easy/difficult it is to replace a power port in an HP laptop?  I'm comfortable with computers in general, but I've never done much with hardware.

This can definitely be repaired. All you really need are basic soldering skills which are pretty easy to learn. It's likely that the solder that connects the laptop port to the motherboard has broken or gotten loose. You could take the laptop apart, and heat up the solder behind the power port with a soldering iron ($25 at radio shack, 15W is best). I've fixed several 'dead' Xboxes with a similar problem.

If that's not the problem, then the port and plug are probably wearing out. You'd need to get a little more creative and find a donor plug and port (maybe radio shack?). You could solder and rewire the old port to the new port, and strip the power cable and solder it to the new plug.



My completely unrelated workaround: A while ago the base and hanldes of my metal strainer broke off so it won't sit level because it has a round bottom. Instead of a strainer, it's now my steamer! I fill a large pot with water, suspend my vegetables in the strainer which is set on top of the pot, then put the pot lid in the strainer over the vegetables. Works great!

[AllChoptUp]

On the other side of the coin, I remember reading in "The Tightwad Gazette" (retired in 1996 I think) about things you shouldn't bother doing because they really don't save money.  One was cautioning people not to buy two-ply bathroom tissue and then separating it into single-ply.

I was in grad school when Amy Dacyczyn published her monthly Tightwad Gazette newsletter.  Two coworkers and I split the cost of the subscription and made copies when it came in the mail.  I had a massive binder of her newsletters, sadly lost in one our many moves.  Wish I still had them!

[MorningCoffee]

I was in grad school when Amy Dacyczyn published her monthly Tightwad Gazette newsletter.  Two coworkers and I split the cost of the subscription and made copies when it came in the mail.  I had a massive binder of her newsletters, sadly lost in one our many moves.  Wish I still had them!

They have been republished into a book (maybe 2? I can't remember) for those who would like to re-read them.

[Jack]

...Tightwad Gazette newsletter.  Two coworkers and I split the cost of the subscription and made copies when it came in the mail.

The ironing is delicious!

I wonder if such a thing would have been officially condoned, given the theme?

[NestEggChick (formerly PFgal)]

Another one:
When I moved to an apartment without a washer and dryer, I quickly started re-wearing tops once or twice before putting them in the hamper.  Yet, by doing that, I started running out of clean underwear before I had enough for a full load.  So, now, everytime I hop in the shower after work, I take a pair of underwear in with me, and wash them by hand with a bit of shampoo.  No hassle at all!  (Side note for anyone who has not paid laundromat prices lately:  a load of laundry here costs $2 for the washer, and $1.75 for the dryer.  Is that really the going rate these days???  Seems like highway robbery to me, but maybe I am just out of touch!)   

That sounds great to me! I pay $2.50 to wash and $2.50 to dry and unfortunately that's pretty normal around here.

[Greg]

This is less of a work-around and more of a saving every bit sort of thing.  I have 3 cars to take care of for my family and do my own oil changes.  When I'm done, I drain all the oil bottles into one over the course of a few days, and end up with nearly a quart of oil that will come in handy for top-offs between changes.

[Dicey]

I was in grad school when Amy Dacyczyn published her monthly Tightwad Gazette newsletter.  Two coworkers and I split the cost of the subscription and made copies when it came in the mail.  I had a massive binder of her newsletters, sadly lost in one our many moves.  Wish I still had them!

They have been republished into a book (maybe 2? I can't remember) for those who would like to re-read them.

Originally, there were three books. After Amy D closed up shop, the publisher did one big blue book that included all three books, plus the contents of the last few month's Gazettes and a slew of testimonials, which are still fun to read. It can be hard to find used because people hang on to it. Worth the price even if you have to buy a new copy.

[crumbcatcher]

In the 90's I owned two different 1985 Toyota Corollas (both had high mileage, I bought them on the cheap and drove them until they died). Oddly, each one of them had the same problem with the fuel gauge not working once it got below a half tank. Because I couldn't usually afford to fill the tank halfway through a pay-period (and these things got decent mileage compared to other sedans at the time), I would reset the trip odometer every time I filled the tank.  When it got to 300-325 I knew that I'd better start thinking about filling it soon.

There was some trial and error involved in establishing how many miles of buffer I had left on the tank.  ;-)

[Hedge_87]

In the 90's I owned two different 1985 Toyota Corollas (both had high mileage, I bought them on the cheap and drove them until they died). Oddly, each one of them had the same problem with the fuel gauge not working once it got below a half tank. Because I couldn't usually afford to fill the tank halfway through a pay-period (and these things got decent mileage compared to other sedans at the time), I would reset the trip odometer every time I filled the tank.  When it got to 300-325 I knew that I'd better start thinking about filling it soon.

There was some trial and error involved in establishing how many miles of buffer I had left on the tank.  ;-)

We do this now on one of our vehicles. The indicator light that tells you if you are in drive or not quit working about 50k miles ago. This is my wife's vehicle so I don't drive it very often. I noticed it one day when I got in to move it or something. When I asked her about it she said "oh that quit working a few weeks ago now I just count the clicks.". I was so proud of her lol.

[Shor]

My old, pre-smartypants phone would lose power if the battery was pressed too hard in to the case (caused the contacts to misalign). Parents suggested that I send the phone in to get repaired, I folded up a piece of paper and wedged it between the battery and the phone. Worked forever.

I also have a wireless rechargeable mouse which doesn't quite fit in to its the docking station to get charged. I cut up an old credit card and taped triangles on to the dock until the mouse contacts snugly fit right on the charging spot. Nowadays it doesn't work quite so well anymore, so I sit there for about 5 minutes nudging the mouse left and right until the charging light turns on, then I slowly back off so that the contacts keep in.. contact.

[ginastarke]

Was that phone by chance a Nokia 5100?

[Unionville]

I got tired of my rubber bands breaking (they are made crappy these days), so I sliced up an bicycle tire into little "o's" and they last forever as rubber bands. 

[Shropskr]

I made curtains out of full size sheets.  Cost $4 at goodwill I think it was 13 years ago and there still in use.

[KatieSSS]

In high school, the used car I owned had a lot of plastic parts. Soon enough, the plastic knob that controlled the temperature of the fan (AC to heat) broke off. Instead of ordering a new part, I kept a wrench in the glove compartment and used that to turn the switch.

And holy crap Batman, to that stop sign story! 

[nikki]

I take abandoned prints (A4 paper) as scrap paper and to absorb oil from anything we fry.

Whoa... I never thought about this. Sopping up grease is the only thing I use paper towels for now, and it seems I could totally eliminate that. Well, I also use it for the occasional cat puke, but there are other ways to clean that too.

[homehandymum]

I take abandoned prints (A4 paper) as scrap paper and to absorb oil from anything we fry.

Whoa... I never thought about this. Sopping up grease is the only thing I use paper towels for now, and it seems I could totally eliminate that. Well, I also use it for the occasional cat puke, but there are other ways to clean that too.

I stuck a wire loop through our last year's telephone directory and hung it in the kitchen - I rip off a page when I need a paper wiper.  It works really well for wiping grease out of things.

Other workarounds - We have two heatpumps in our house that use identical remote controls.  The kids dropped one and broke it, but we just use the one functional remote for both heatpumps.

The front of our cutlery drawer keeps falling off (cheap 1980s chip-board kitset junk).  I've nailed it twice and hot-glued it twice.  We'll see how long it holds out.

The dishwasher needs to be pushed really hard just by the latch to 'know' that it is shut before it will begin washing.  Some weeks it works perfectly, other weeks there's a lot of slamming and re-slamming of the door.  We also have re-wired the cutlery basket with twist-ties and wooden kebab skewers to keep it functional.  We bought it second hand 7 years ago so it's not doing too bad.  We just keep nursing it along.

The lights in the fume hood over the stove burnt out.  Haven't replaced them - there's enough light in the kitchen without.

The fancy-pants head for the vacuum cleaner broke, so I've been using the smooth floor brush-head for everything.  Works fine so long as I keep clearing the fluff from the bristles as I go (we have three long-haired people and a cat in this house - lots of hair on the carpet).

The springs in the couch are going and the couch cushions keep disappearing under the back-cushion and into the saggy bit.  I rolled up an old cot quilt (not a precious one - a made in china one) and stuffed it under the back cushion.  The seat cushions stay where they should now.  My next step is to repurpose some of our very very thin bed pillows and lie them under the couch cushions to plump them up a bit more.  We inherited this lounge suite from my parents when they upgraded.  It is 25 years old and starting to look it, but my kids are too hard on furniture for me to want to put anything new in my lounge!

Oh lots more.  I'm trying to get on board with that 'repair one thing each weekend' thread, so we'll see how that progresses.  Just today I put a screw in the toilet roll holder to hold it more securely to the wall.  It's been bugging me for months, and it's nice to have sorted it.

[kt]

We also have re-wired the cutlery basket with twist-ties and wooden kebab skewers to keep it functional.

might be worth looking online for a replacement. my parents got one for a pound or so (UK) and couldn't believe they'd put up with the hassle of a broken basket for so long when a replacement was so cheap.
they also had a faulty door latch too and i think that cost about £10 for the replacement part which my dad (not usually extremely handy around the house) had no trouble installing.
considering how troublesome these things can be and how cheap the repair might be, it's worth a thought.

[johnintaiwan]

My second hand washing machine has a problem with the start button not staying down. It will pop up and turn off the washing machine. I just used packing tape and a piece of bamboo to tape it down and now use the cord at the power switch. been like that for over 2 years.

[ginastarke]

Simple, but it works. Wyler's drink mix lids make idea drain covers when washing dishes

[Jomar]

Not mine, but my Mom's. Her 33 year old washing machine kicked the bucket (the machine she got as a wedding present and put 4 childrens worth of clothing through, including cloth diapers). She looked at prices of new ones and decided that they are ridiculous. Since she always went to visit her mother on Sundays anyway, she started bringing her clothes along with her. She's now been doing this for over a year. My grandma loves it since it virtually guarantees that my Mom will visit every week!

[sheepstache]

Does simply realizing that something you thought was broken isn't count?  I always used to stash the free contact lens cases I used to get from the optometrist.  1. My new optometrist doesn't give them, 2. they cost like 5 bucks or something ridiculous to buy at the store, 3. if you can even find this kind, rather than the more built-up kind with ridges in the cups for no reason that I can discern except that it forces you to use more liquid.

But eventually the plastic hinges connecting the caps to the base break.  At which point I regretfully pull a new case out of the stash.  This last time, I realized there's no reason it's not still usable.  So now I've been using a case with separated lids for years.  If anybody else saw it they might think it was funny, but whatevs.

[Self-employed-swami]

(And no facepunches for using a dryer--I mostly don't, but for the things that I do remember that it's winter in AK right now, I have limited space for line drying, and we don't pay electric for the garage, where the washer and dryer are.)

Are you trying to tell me it's hard to dry clothes outside at -47?

Dry, yes; freeze stiff, no.

;)

[nikki]

In order to charge my cell phone battery, I have to take it out, put it in an external battery charger, and wiggle the wire a bit until it starts charging. Sometimes it takes quite a bit of wiggling... .__.

[Hedge_87]

In order to charge my cell phone battery, I have to take it out, put it in an external battery charger, and wiggle the wire a bit until it starts charging. Sometimes it takes quite a bit of wiggling... .__.

lol I have a silimar issue. Sometimes I give up and use some of my wood working clamps to apply a little preasure at just the right angle

[nikki]

In order to charge my cell phone battery, I have to take it out, put it in an external battery charger, and wiggle the wire a bit until it starts charging. Sometimes it takes quite a bit of wiggling... .__.

lol I have a silimar issue. Sometimes I give up and use some of my wood working clamps to apply a little preasure at just the right angle

Bahaha I might resort to clamps some day! Sometimes I have to pinch the battery charger to convince it to work.

[Hedge_87]

Here is my charging station

[nikki]

Here is my charging station

Bahahaha! I love it!

This thread reminds me of how my grandfather used Bondo to "fix" everything. Isn't that stuff meant for automotive repairs?

[anastrophe]

I think it's funny how 90% of this thread is about cars.

[greaper007]

I've had a check engine light on in my car for 4 years now.   I have a scanner that I can hook up to my computer to rum vag-com(sp?).   The light is for something like catalytic converter inefficiency.   What it really means is that the new cat I had to put on when the old one failed doesn't work with vw's computer.

So when I have to take it in for an emission system check every other year I just clear out the fault codes, that gives me about a week of driving before it comes back, and take the test.    I've never been anywhere near the emissions limit so I don't consider it unethical.

Sure I could buy a $20 spacer for the o2 sensor, but who has 15 mins to install that?

[Elaine]

My puppy chewed my MacBook power cord. Apple doesnt recommend repairs to the power cord, but i didn't want to pay for a new one, so I cut the wire, stripped the inner wire and twisted it together, wrapping it in plenty of electrical tape, then twisted the outer wires together-with more tape. Then wrapped the entire fix with tons more tape.  I've done it twice now and the power cord is still working great!

Hah! That's pretty badass.

[anastrophe]

My puppy chewed my MacBook power cord. Apple doesnt recommend repairs to the power cord, but i didn't want to pay for a new one, so I cut the wire, stripped the inner wire and twisted it together, wrapping it in plenty of electrical tape, then twisted the outer wires together-with more tape. Then wrapped the entire fix with tons more tape.  I've done it twice now and the power cord is still working great!

Hah! That's pretty badass.

Same for me! But pet rabbit and it's not a Mac.

[Beardog]

I used to buy fluoride mouthwash to help strengthen my tooth enamel.  Now, after I'm through brushing my teeth I swish the last of the toothpaste around in my mouth for a couple minutes before I spit it out.  I figure it has fluoride in it, right?  And fluoride mouthwash is expensive!

[wordygirl]

I didn't know there was a term for this.

Our washing machine intake gets clogged easily (we're on well water) and so we unscrewed the hose from in back and fill it manually. This requires that we listen carefully for the sound of the agitator starting up, otherwise we are in for a flood. It's so ingrained now that if I'm at a friend's house and their agitator starts up I get a sudden panic attack wondering if I remembered to turn off the tap (we had a few minor floods until it became second nature to us).

Our dishwasher (I think it is the original 1987 that came with the house) also has a malfunction. The little tray that holds the soap doesn't pop open automatically, so we have to listen to the loud "THUNK" as the machine tries to open it, stop the machine, and add the soap to the open tray. We refer to it as "the THUNK". As in, "Honey, did you get the THUNK?".

[10dollarsatatime]

Well... since it's back...

My first car was an 89 Chevy Nova that would vapor lock after you had been driving and then stopped for more than a couple of minutes and less than a couple of hours.  Solution:  I cut the bottom out of a paper cup which fit perfectly over the fuel pump under the hood.  Whenever I stopped somewhere, I would fill the paper cup with ice.  Problem solved.

Next car was an 87 Honda Civic.  The relay that controlled the fan died out and we could not figure out which relay it was... so my dad punched a hole in the dash and put in a toggle switch that was hardwired from the battery to the fan.  I just had to remember to turn it on and off.  The wiring burst into flame one day... but when I took it to my dad he just wrapped it with e-tape and sent me on my way.  Stupid car worked fine for years.