I don’t live in the UK, would you be willing to give an example of what the yearly lump sum is vs the monthly fee? I’m genuinely curious!

Shepherd’s Crossing 2, for the DS. I’ve put a truly ridiculous number of hours into it over the years, and keep coming back.

It’s not popular in the farm sims because a key part is butchering your meat animals so you can feed your dogs.

Fair opinion, it can be a little rough to follow along if you’re not in the mood for comedy. Rating things as cringe is so dead tho.

If you work on your feet/have to stand on concrete/tile, definitely look at “Heel That Pain” brand heel seats. Full price is way too much (44$ for two boxes), so look for sales.

There’s a gel one and a more firm one. The gel one helped with sciatic pain, and still works ~3 pairs of shoes later.

(I’ve also layered the heel seats over top of the typical Dr. Scholl’s work gel inserts. Works great for me but my partner hates the feel. YMMV.)

The mushy flipflops!! I can’t believe I forgot about those things. I had a pair as a gift when I graduated and they lasted me years. Once they died I wanted a new pair. Coughed up for the same brand and they…leave weird black rubber bits on everything.

Unfortunately, I can’t afford the price just to try Hokas. They were recommended by another nursing student, and seem to be a gold standard shoe for a lot of healthcare workers.

From what I’ve heard, though, it “depends on your usage”.

What do you do to make your 20$ shoes last as long as you can? And tips and tricks?

Super neat!! Thanks for the link. :) If anyone likes the style of writing, go look at the Discworld community. These books are great.

I’m hoping this quote can drive some critical thinking about sustainability, and maybe some discussion about how to better what people CAN afford/already have.

Here’s my example: Nice Hoka shoes are typically 100$+, but Sketcher’s Work Sneakers are ~40$. The Hokas would last a lot longer and be more ergonomic, but that price is way out of my reach. The Sketchers get disintegrated by a year of use.

What I do is add arch supports and gel shoe inserts (9$ iirc) into the Sketchers, and replace those when they wear. It adds about two years of life to the shoes! :)

Very interesting documentary on YouTube about using wood, wind, and sunlight as the sole powers to support a house and a family. Definitely sustainable! Thanks for sharing.

Home-raised meat sounds like the best option for people who like to or have to eat meat. Without any interest in discussing veganism or not, I think that raising meat hens, meat rabbits, or any other healthy, sustainable meat source is good. I think I saw someone discussing meat rabbits over on /animal_husbandry?

The meat industry itself is incredibly suspect, and being able to provide your animals with a healthy, enriched life before they provide you with nutrients in turn seems perfectly solarpunk and sustainable to me.

The hardest part of backyard livestock is humane euthanasia. In some states and cities, dressing your birds in your own yard may be illegal (due to coyotes or health concerns) Have you looked into a butcher who can humanely kill & dress the birds for you? There are plenty that will do that service for larger animals (sheep, cattle, any wild game carcass you bring in) for a small fee. My local butcher will do birds in small batches, too.

One good way for people in apartments to start some sustainable living is regrowing veg whenever you can. I don’t necessarily mean container gardens/etc, but using veggies from the store to grow new ones in water trays left on the windowsill. There’s lots of guides online!

Keep in mind that this is in your house and can’t be affected by any right-to-garden laws, but I have heard of certain brand name veggie companies wanting to make it illegal. :) What they tend to do is trim off all that root fiber to make the veg “prettier” and thusly it can’t regrow. Or they deliberately make sterile crop, but that’s a whole other bucket of worms. Pick your veg wisely, especially from a farmer’s market if you can!