Gear review – Sustaining Sara

5 Tips for Buying Snowboarding Gear Cheap!

It is no secret that many people, myself included, cannot resist a good deal. Saving money anywhere possible is important and that is no different when starting to accumulate gear for a new hobby. In my last post, I Guess I Snowboard Now, I talk about this year being pivotal in getting myself into snowboarding. Since shredding the gnar with my pals in the UP, I have started to gather my own snowboard with bindings, snowboarding boots, and helmet. As a newbie I have been looking for cheap ways to get myself on the slopes!

Secondhand

I scoured secondhand shops and Facebook Market Place for cheap boards. This meant that I was looking at pre-loved boards from people growing out of the sport or just getting other specific gear. I also think it is important to consume second-hand items, you know, for the environmental impact (Sustaining Sara).

After looking through what felt like millions of 155 cm boards, a 145 cm came up from a pregnant woman whose husband was planning to buy her a new board to start her next shredding next season.

I lucked out because this woman obviously took care of this board and I was only out 75 bucks. Looking for second hand gear takes patients, but can be worth it to save out for nice gear at lower cost.

REI Garage Sale

I am the biggest advocate of becoming and REI member. I have gotten so many great, cheap pieces of gear for backpacking and snowboarding because someone had the nerve to take advantage of REI’s return policy. I am talking 40-60% off things like my jet boil, Nemo Hornet Elite 2 Tent, and now my Burton snowboarding boots with BOA system!

After adding on my REI Co-Op dividen, the boots were around $25. Seriously, these are the perks of a lifetime membership that cost me $20 to start with.

Grab End-of-Season Deals!

NOW IS THE TIME! I will admit I want the Smith Hoyt helmet because my husband has the Smith Hoyt helmet. Charlie got his helmet from the Smith website and used a coupon code (we are so proud!), but I was waiting for a bigger deal (and a different color). I finally got my deal on Facebook Marketplace when a company was getting rid of their stock now that the season is ending. I got a few more bucks off compared to Charlie’s deal and I will start next winter with a brand new helmet!

(it is important to note that at the time of publishing this article my helmet has not been shipped yet, it has been 12 days.)

Join Facebook Groups

I think this goes for any or your interests. I am in Facebook Groups for backpacking, camping in Northern Michigan, and now snowboarding to name a few. These niche groups often have different guidelines for selling items that one person no-longer needs but fits the interests of the group at large.

For example, I joined Girls That Board. Or the the group for this very blog; Sustaining Sara!

Talk about it

I have a lot of friends that snowboard. If I need a piece of gear I let them know and they will often have recommendations for me or even might have something to sell me. Even outside of snowboarding I have had friends tell me about something they want me to keep a lookout for just in case I come across their holy-grail item!

These are my tips for getting cheap gear. You may find different things work better for you or even get a chance to score brand new gear, that’s great! but on this blog, pre-loved gear and good deals are king,, so I hope this helped you out!

Love,

Sara

I Guess I Snowboard Now.

Hi all!

This winter I have had some amazing opportunities when it comes to winter sports. Thanks to a great friend group that came together for a snowboarding trip and a husband that already had a passion for the sport, I have now snowboarded for the second and third time ever and I do not want to stop!…which sucks because it is the end of the season, BUT WOOOO SNOWBOARDING!

Not a lot of people know this about my college experience, but in my senior year of college I learned that I was in a ”short major” and that while I had taken all my required credits, I needed to fluff my curriculum with electives. This lead to me taking over 20 credits my last semester of college and included a spring break snowboarding lesson! While this still seems like a joke to me, it was a great opportunity to get away for spring break and learn a new skill that I had hoped to fester into a hobby.

Charlie had let me borrow his childhood board and boots to help me lessen the financial sting of the trip, but they were definitely a little small on me. The lesson was great and I was decently successful at carving, falling, and getting up again, but after a week on the hill I was discouraged by my bruises and aches. Between rental costs, moving to SoCal (and not venturing up the mountains), and just being busy with other adventures, that lesson was my first and last snowboarding experience until 2022.

When Charlie told me that some friends wanted to head north to the UP to shred the gnar, I was in! This avalanched (not literally) into buying new winter snowboarding gear, GREAT times, and a new appreciation for snowboarding.

First, I want to share the snow gear I got because a) you know I cannot resist a good gear list and b) your girl is always looking for the best bang for her buck and I think I found it in the jacket and snow pants I chose!

For my outer layers I wore a MOERDENG ski jacket (in pink camo, duh) and Arctix womens bibs (PINK) snow pants. Plus my Lisa Frank mittens Charlie got me for our first valentines day…they are old but stylish! I get so many compliments on those mittens!

I was on the slopes for under $150 with a new jacket and snow pants!

I also wore a good amount of merino wool. I am obsessed with merino wool. This means I wore a merino buff, smart wool merino socks, and smart wool merino leggings that I bought at the ski lodge. I was not planning on buying the leggings, but they were a great price compared to REI and DANG ARE THEY WARM!

My gear was great and kept me warm when used correctly. When I started pulling my buff up and down over my mouth, the moisture from breathing on it would freeze, making it very uncomfortable. Same for my goggles; they were awesome but condensation froze on them if I pulled them on and off my face. I am mentioning this to hopefully save a few people from the same fate, because once your gear starts freezing up it becomes useless for its intended purpose.

For these trips I rented my gear. While continuing this sport and renting every single time would become expensive, it just made sense to considering we were not sure if snowboarding was something I would continue to do. I have spent some time looking around for used gear now, but renting just made sense for the time being!

Once geared up, our first snowboarding trip of the season was at Ski Brule. From what I understand, this was better than any hills in our native southeast Michigan and I loved it! Ski Brule is family owned and I hope that that family and the locals are proud of this establishment. Ski Brule was so much fun and everyone that works there seems friendly and knowledgeable. However, even if the gnar was not gnarly (it was), we were up there with the best people and there was no way not to enjoy ourselves!

See more reels on the Sustaining Sara instagram

My second snowboarding adventure this year was a quick day-trip to Mt. Holly. I had entirely too much fun even after my rage-quitting breaks and Charlie took the above video of my progress! Since this last trip I have been acquiring new-to-me snowboarding gear, joining snowboarding groups on facebook, and in general consuming snowboarding content! I am falling in love with this sport and actually sad the season is already over in lower Michigan!

What about you, what are your favorite things to do in the winter? Do you snowboard or ski? Let me know in the comments!

Love,

Sara

Update on the garlic patch and a picture of the celery I just planted after growing it from celery I bought at the grocery store!

Today’s Project: Flowers Coming Summer 2024!

When life gives you clearance heavy whipping cream, make butter!

Didn’t plan on this one, but ANOTHER lighthouse!

2021 Faves!

I will never not say ”fave” when talking about my favorites. I do not care about how lazy or untrendy it sounds, I will always talk about my faves as “faves!” And while this post is months late and I have a great backlog of adventures to talk about, I will start my 2022 posting on Sustaining Sara with these faves:

Nemo Hornet Elite 2 Tent

I hope everyone followed my tent escapades when planning for last summer’s Pictured Rocks Backpacking adventure. After much thought and help from my sister Rachel, in Gear Shakedown #3, Charlie and I decided to borrow a real backpacking tent.

This tent was so easy to set up and carry! Charlie and I liked it so much that when we found one in the REI Garage Sale, we coped it for ourselves!

AreoPress

A very exciting thing I did in 2021 was become a barista! When I first started I wanted to learn everything I could about coffee and TRY ALL THE COFFEE DRINKS!

Since Charlie got me my AeroPress for my birthday, I have been making my at-home espresso with it. It is super-simple to use and there are so many instructional videos online to get you started!

My Toiletry Bag

Due to some life stuff, I was moving around a lot in 2021 and having the OMYSTYLE Cosmetics, Makeup and Toiletries Organizer came in so clutch. I always had what I want with me (as long as I had this bag packed lol).

Trello, these are my fave things from 2021. I hope you can see that these things are all useful based on the lifestyle I live. While I may not be using the tent everyday, the other two items are very important parts of my everyday life! Anyway, what has been your fav useful gadget? I would love to know what things make your life easier!

Love,

Sara

Gear Shakedown….#1?

Please be aware that clicking any links or purchasing from links may result in Sara receiving compensation. This is at no cost to you and helps Sara continue to share on Sustaining Sara. Thank you!

Last time I spoke to you on the blog I talked about starting to prepare your backpacking trip (see post here) and I talked about the gear I am taking with me for my Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore trip. I even talked about some items I may switch around, and if you follow the Sustaining Sara socials (see above), then you already know an item I have been pondering over.

Charlie and I have decided to move away from our hammock shelters and move toward a tent shelter. I have heard from many sources that your tent should be under 3.5 lbs and there are so many tents available in that range. However, I will be the first to say that I do not want to spend that much money and I’d prefer to work with what we have, and what we have is a Coleman 2 Person Dome Tent. In the 2 person model this entire tent system is 7 lbs. and I dare say no one wants to add a 7 lb. shelter to their pack. HOWEVER, Charlie and I can split the weight together AND save money.

Tent in backyard — Our Coleman 2 Person Dome Tent!

Now I went to some Facebook hiking and backpacking groups to see what they thought about this plan and the perspectives were mixed to say the least. One person told me that taking this tent into the back country was “a terrible idea” with no other context. Others said it is a great idea to work with what we have and some agreed but also offered better options. I am happy I got perspectives for people but I have figured that this comes down to three main points in our case:

Availability – we already have this tent. I already set it up once this season to make sure all pieces are accounted for and in good working order!
Cost – there is no extra cost to us to use a tent we already have. We may even use some money we would have used on a new tent on getting better sleeping pads (yes, now I need to add “sleeping pad” to my updated gear list).
Splitting Weight – yes, this tent would be way too heavy for one person to carry. However, since Charlie and I can split the weight together we should be at a reasonable ~3.5 lbs.! There is nothing wrong with that!

So Charlie and I are pretty set on using our heavy tent, no matter what others say. I am very happy that we have this opportunity and can see how our shelter system evolves as we continue our backcountry journeys! Make sure to check out my socials below to see our Pictured Rocks Trip as it rolls out!

Thank you!

Sara

2020 Faves…and 2019!?

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I think we would all be surprised how much weight our recommendations have to those closest to us. Sometimes our interests overlap with the people we know more than we realize and that is what I found out in 2019 when I decided I needed to tell people about items that I truly loved and made my life easier. With those posts buried in the Facebook archives, here is a list of things that I loved in 2020 AND 2019!

2020

Marmot Trestles Elite 20 Sleeping Bag

With 2020 not meeting anyone’s expectations, I started to finally feed my desire to start backpacking. That being said, one of the first things I bought was my sleeping bag. For this I researched bags used for backpacking and a handful of qualities that were important to me; warmth and comfort, compact-ability, and affordability. The Women’s Marmot Trestles Elite 20 Sleeping bag caught my eye for its price compared to other backpacking sleeping bags and the partner compatibility – meaning I convinced my fiancé to also get this bag so we could zip the bags together!

This bag is so warm that it is chihuahua approved!

IPad Pro

I have not had a personal laptop since college and on top of that I tend to over-flood my IPhone 7, so I remedied this by buying and IPad Pro. I have been able to separate work and fun (a big struggle for me) by moving game and social apps to my IPad, leaving my phone to its bare necessities. With the addition of the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil my IPad has become my laptop and has even enabled me to start this blog! While it is definitely a luxury item, it has really made my life easier.

Hammock Accessories

Once you decide to start backpacking you realize there are many choices in gear, but I dare say picking a shelter provokes the most research. There are so many varieties of tents or even just a simple tarp for the brave, but I chose to evolve my hammock kit as my backpacking shelter. I have had an Eno Eagle DoubleNest Hammock for 2 years and coveted my sister’s Eno Hammock for years before that. Since I already had the hammock and the straps it was easy to start building this shelter. All I needed was the bug net and rain tarp. This is by far the most comfortable sleeping setup outdoors, has room for cutting costs to fit a tighter budget, and all the components can even be purchased at once with the Eno OneLink system.

Later on I even bought and under quilt for Midwest fall camping!

2019

Yeti Can Koozie

My fiancé had gotten me one of these can koozies and I can hardly drink a beer without using it. This koozie keeps your drink cold for hours (if it lasts that long). It is a little heavy, but you get used to it. They even have a slim can koozies that I think I may need to invest in!

Carhart Leggings

First clothing item! When I got these leggings I was working in warehouse management and my high-visibility vest would burst from holding so many pens, radios, and notebooks. But when I wore these leggings I felt like I had myself put together. There are no shortage of pockets, fit true-to-size, and are reinforced in the knees. A lot of my girlfriends that work outdoors, on farms, and other labor positions swear by these leggings!

National Geographic Road Atlas

In 2019 I had the pleasure of being on two road trips. One was from Michigan to California and the other was California to Michigan. On the first road trip my sister had me help navigate some of the no-service areas with the National Geographic Road Atlas. Then when my fiancé and I drove back to Michigan I just had to have my own Road Atlas! We even used this on a Northern Michigan trip. The maps are easy to follow and the states are even in alphabetical order. I just cannot recommend this enough for your car or recreation vehicle.

Bonus points that my uncle said he was so proud of me for acquiring map reading as a skill!

These were the things that were most useful for me, but what were your favorite items in 2020? Comment below or in the Sustaining Sara Facebook Group!

Love,

Sara