I like using the mods that allow the trader to sell anything you've held (with certain items excluded....like no dragon eggs or fuling totems or boss drops).

That means that once I've dug up and smelted some iron, I can buy more (configurable, but I think the default is like 200 gold per scrap iron)....There's also the ability to sell some additional items to the trader (at very low prices)....this helps mitigate some of the grind by letting you use alternate grinding methods. Buy those feathers, buy the iron rather than sail to ANOTHER swamp 3 islands away to find another crypt. Get rid of those spare 400 greydwarf eyes, and get 5 wolf pelts for them.

it doesn't skip progression, because you can't buy iron or silver until you've found it, but it allows an alternative grind and a way to delete some of those junk items without chuking them on the ground and hoping they disappear before you walk past them next gaming session.