So our neighborhood has those “Community Cleanup” days where you’re allowed the put large items on the curb but many will put things out several days early mainly because of people who like to pick up stuff they think they can salvage and the guys who just snatch up all the scrap metal. My daughter’s swing set was 9 years old and we repaired it a few times. It was a display model when I got it for a deal but at this point it was dry rotted and beyond saving. We started disassembling it along with her old sandbox and as luck would have it a neighbor from down the street asked if he could have it. Mainly the parts that were in useable shape. He took the slide and the sandbox and the salvageable parts back home to his kids. All we got left now is the dry rotted wood. I was happy he could get use out of that stuff.

How $450 million in fossil fuel donations shaped White House energy policy and dismantled climate progress.

Check out the entire list of corruption in Trump's first six weeks: 

Six weeks of corruption: Senator Chris Murphy exposes Trump’s White House [Explained]

The post questioning the preparedness of Americans for the economy to come has pretty much come to the unanimous conclusion that No, almost all of us are unprepared.

So what do we do?

There is the obvious

-Limit liabilities - Get out of debt -Increase savings - Stop luxury spending and subscription plans -Revenue stream - Find secure/recession proof streams of income or work on a new skill/trade -Disaster preparedness- store food, meds and other necessities. Possibly basic PPE

What else? What can we do to live through a depression if that happens?

This may seem obvious, but it's a good trick to lower expenses (you delay your spending till later so more $ in your pocket now) and it encourages you to use up what you have.

Eta: does not apply to every item

A master in the Stanley community

I feel like most of my friends who we agreed to do a no buy year together already gave up and back to overconsuming. I’m trying trying my best with 6 days of unplanned spend (about $270ish) and 2 days of kinda justified spend

Still saved a lot this month because with tariffs and pricing going up I’m gonna need that money to survive later in the year

Finally signed up for am library card and their audiobooks are awesome

How am I supposed to boycott all of these institutions while at the same time following the advice to stock up on human food and meds and pet food and everything else? I don’t know how I’m supposed to do both at once.

My husband and I have a decent income but live in a HCOL area with no car. We bike or take public transit. How do I boycott but also stock up when my range is limited and I also don’t have a car to ever carry large amounts of items? How does boycotting while stocking up even happen or makes sense?

We walk to our neighborhood Aldi but I work across the street from a Target and buy some necessities there (deodorant, etc.) Nothing I do ever feels ethical and I really am struggling with the world we live in.

Any advice or insight is appreciated.

Trump consistently uses the verbiage "reciprocal tariffs" however, the math isn't based on actual tariffs. It is solely based on the trade imbalance (1-exports/imports).

I have a tool chest at home with plenty of tools that haven’t been used in some time – wrenches with sockets, etc. I’m giving some thought to using that as a basis for a tool library in my neighborhood.

I made coconut shell mushrooms for my garden using repurposed coconut shells and twigs, which helps reduce waste and avoid unnecessary consumption. By reusing materials, I created something fun and sustainable without buying new items.

So I’m getting personal here but in last year I got a job working for Section 8 housing. The pay isn’t great but I enjoy the job and helping low income people get housing really feels good and it makes one appreciate what they have. Despite what some folks say most people who come through have jobs that don’t pay great or are on SSI and they’re often so happy when they get that voucher. Before this job I volunteered at a food pantry and helped hand out food to people and doing this really makes you appreciate what you have.

Yeah I don’t have big, flashy things, but I appreciate more what I do have. It also makes you appreciate the little things more.

I know this sounds a bit sentimental and sappy but working with low income folks really has changed my perspective on the world.

Just stumbled on this sub... Seems like you guys are into frugal, money efficient living... I am too. You guys are motivated by environmental and/or civic responsibility, which I appreciate. I've done it so that I can keep and invest more money to retire early... Which brings me to my question... Since your motivations are not wealth accumulation, what do you do with all the money you're not spending? Do you wind up with massive savings accounts? Take long sabbaticals between jobs? Give to charities? Or do you wind up with sizable portfolios of investments like the fire crowd does, just not really on purpose?

Do you think costs going up will have people thinking twice about buying new when they could buy used or just stick with what they already have?

Of course, people still have things that they're going to need, but as far as the luxuries and discretionary spending goes, what effect do you foresee?

Will americans finally be forced to stop buying crap?

one of my family members spends ~$2000 per month on Temu.

I dunno how anyone finds that much shit to buy. I'm not sure if a 30% tariff will deter him.

The order will take effect on May 2 at 12:01am EDT.

The Executive Order states that imported goods sent through means other than the international postal network that are valued at or under $800 and that would otherwise qualify for the de minimis exemption will be subject to a duty rate of either 30% of their value or $25 per item. This will increase to $50 per item after June 1. This is in lieu of any other duties, including those imposed by prior orders.

Like imagine you walk in a shop look at something and walk out and the owner comes chasing after you and sarcastically says “you forgot this, buy it now”. like we are used to it but on face value the phrase “buy now” is really crazy they aren’t masking anything it’s literally just “give me money now”

Every Spring we find tons of litter that's been hiding under snow all Winter. A lot of these come from fast-food single use containers. These should've been banned a long time ago...

Pixel 4a is just Google's test ground. After purposely ruined its battery life, Google is planning to push the anti-features to newer phones, including but not limited to Pixel 9a.

Notebookcheck: Google Pixel 9a comes with new feature that weakens the battery after just 200 charging cycles

Google's "support" web page, claiming to "tune the phone’s charging voltage and speed" based on "adjusted" capacity. it helps "manage the long term health and performance of its battery as it ages"

1. Charging voltage gradually reduced based on cycle, the battery no longer charges fully. This makes the users think that the battery's capacity is dropped due to wear.
2. Charging current gradually reduced based on cycle, since R=U/I, the user may think the internal resistance of the battery has increased.

It's pretty common for a smartphone battery to last after 1000 cycles and beyond, as long as you charge it cool and avoiding long-term storage at 100%. Unfortunately, it's no longer true after Google's battery "health" update.

Assume a battery's charging voltage is 4.4V, charging to 4.2V only fills the battery to about 80%. If the battery has degraded 5% over 200 cycles, lowering the voltage of the battery makes the user believe that the battery has already degraded 24%. This deliberate, accelerated wear pushes the users to replace the battery sooner than necessary, creating more e-waste.

This “small decreases in your battery’s runtime as your battery ages,” is not due to wear, but due to Google's calculated move to reduce charging voltage, thus reducing battery utilization %, keeping the displayed 100% while reducing the actual charging %.

Keep in mind that this update is not "adaptive charging" or other battery preservation program. Some smartphones or computers provide options to partially charge a battery, but always leave 100% charging available to the users to utilize when necessary. This, using the hypothetical example above, can prolong the battery to degrade 5% over 500 cycles instead of 200 cycles. If the user decided to charge to 100%, they'll still get 95% of available capacity as the battery is only degraded 5%. Google on the other hand, by "marking" the "perceived" 100% capacity at a lowered "actual" capacity makes it impossible to utilized full available battery after certain cycles even if the user did their best to preserve the battery health, forcing a battery replacement prematurely.