What are your most unusual or creative ways that you save money? For example, I read an article about a woman who buys sweaters at yard sales for super cheap and then unravels them. She then re-uses the yarn to make her own blankets, scarves, etc.
I think we already discussed the no-spend month in another thread, but that's what I do. A couple of times a year, I have a no spend month where we live on the food in the pantry, use what we already have in the house and don't buy anything. When I do laundry during a No Spend Month, I use the laundry detergent samples that I get in the mail. We use the money that we save that month to pay debts.
I think the strangest thing that someone has done for money saving was my friends grandmother. She'd wash out and reuse ziploc bags, and would dry out paper towels and reuse them. She'd also only have ONE pairs of shoes and would wear them until there was literal holes in them, and only would buy new ones if the soles fell out of the old ones.
I think the no-spend month sounds like a wonderful idea! I wish I could do that! I am working on getting together a stockpile from my couponing. It's growing, but it isn't where I want it to be just yet. I've known a lot of people who washed out zip-lock bags; it isn't exactly a bad idea, but I don't ever do it. I think washing paper towels is a bit much, though! Why not just use a rag instead? I think the strangest things that I've seen people do to save money were on Extreme Cheapskates. The family that used rags as toilet paper and washed them was way too extreme for me. Ughhhh.
Weird. I would expect anyone that is trying to save money to never use paper towels at all. Cloth rags obviously make more sense. I can see how washing out ziplock bags might be beneficial or worthwhile, but then again, why not just use washable bowls instead?
My grandmother does this. We eventually had to clean her house out for her. She'd stockpile the to-go containers from restaurants, would re-use the to-go boxes (yes, the Styrofoam ones) without washing them, just to save a little money. I admit I'll reuse some containers, if they're made decently and I can wash them, because it's nice to use when you need to take food somewhere, but some things, no way, I couldn't do it. I'm guilty of watering down my fabric softener, though. I always keep the old, empty bottle. When I buy a new one, I dump half into it and fill it with water. So I'm really getting 2 for the price of 1. I always buy the same detergent, so it doesn't really matter, and as much laundry that we have around here, it doesn't get icky or anything. Another thing, I make my own wipes. There's so many recipes online for it, and it saves so much money. You can do it with paper towels, which is way cheaper than buying cleaning or baby wipes. Just don't flush them.
I guess for me it would be putting cans aside and taking them to the recycling center. It doesn't get us that much, but helps out some. Also selling old things like books that I don't need. Another way that I used to save money, but haven't been able to for a while, is putting any change and $1's I have at the end of the week ( or end of pay cycle) into a bucket or some sort of place where I can save it.
Without washing them?? That doesn't sound good at all. I'm a-okay with reusing containers. I don't usually reuse styrofoam, but if I did, I would definitely wash it first regardless! She could get seriously sick from consuming the food that would've gotten stuck in those containers originally.
I also scrap cans for cash. It doesn't really pay that much and you need a lot of cans to get any money from it but the extra money is nice when you do get it.
@stardisgate I also scrap cans for cash. It doesn't really pay that much and you need a lot of cans to get any money from it but the extra money is nice when you do get it.
