5 Minecraft habits that will help you save resources
Minecraft resources can be precious, and no matter how plentiful your stockpile is, you can burn through your resources as quickly as you collected them, if not faster. Hence, being a little more conscious of how you're using your resources is necessary. There are plenty of habits and tricks that can help you conserve resources even during activities you might not expect.
With that in mind, it's worth taking a look at some habits that can help you save materials/resources in Minecraft. These aren't mandatory, of course, but they might help you expend so many resources, keeping your stockpile a bit healthier for a bit longer.
Five Minecraft habits that should help you save on resource usage
1) Use Fortune tools for crop harvesting
While it might feel compelling to simply use a hoe to collect your crops since you used the tool to till the soil, this isn't always the best option. Instead, it's advised to use any tool you currently have the Fortune enchantment on, even if the tool isn't ordinarily used to harvest crops. This is because Fortune technically applies to breaking crop blocks, so you can get increased yields.
Indeed, Fortune can also be applied to hoes, but players typically apply the enchantment to other tools first. Since this is the case, if you don't have Fortune on all of your tools, don't feel shy about using the Fortune-enchanted tool you do have to harvest crops. You only stand to gain more crops as a result, saving you food in the long run.
2) Use waterlogged blocks for blast protection
When you need a blast-resistant chamber for TNT detonations, it's only natural to think about using hardy blocks like obsidian for it. However, if you'd like to save some obsidian blocks for other builds or projects, consider using waterlogged blocks like leaves or mangrove roots. Surprisingly enough, waterlogged blocks are capable of resisting a substantial amount of explosive force on their own.
Hopefully, this can help you reserve your obsidian blocks for other matters, as waterlogged blocks can be much cheaper to acquire. They are also easier to remove once you're finished using them.
3) Trade for diamond gear instead of crafting it
Diamonds are one of Minecraft's most precious resources, and even worse, they're non-renewable. So, it's worth saving your hoard of diamonds to craft necessities, and that doesn't usually include diamond gear. While diamond gear is incredibly useful, it's also possible to trade for diamond gear (often with enchantments) by leveling up villager professions.
Since villager trades only go on cooldown and never disappear, this is a great way to save diamonds for when you really need them.
4) Condense your coal
Coal is one of the standard fuels used in furnaces in Minecraft, but there's something that is often overlooked when you're busy smelting: blocks of coal are more productive. To explain, suppose you use nine pieces of coal to smelt in your furnace. This will provide a burning time of 720 seconds. However, if you use the same nine pieces of coal to craft a coal block, it'll have a burn time of 800 seconds.
This provides better overall fuel economy in Minecraft and saves you some extra coal in the long run.
5) Pick up excess arrows
If you're using a bow or crossbow for combat in Minecraft, there's a pretty good chance you'll miss a few shots on your targets now and then. This often leads to arrows being stuck in the environment. These can be retrieved simply by walking into/over them. It's highly recommended that you do so when possible, as this will save your flint, sticks, and feathers crafting additional arrows.
There will obviously be situations where arrows can't be retrieved due to where they end up landing, but you can save plenty of arrows simply by reusing ones that didn't hit their target. This will save you some crafting materials and spare you the inconvenience of combining for a time.