Cut out most of your big expenses but still need a little help? These tips can help in some creative (and some unexpected) ways.
1. Mend and/or Make your Clothes
Did you know that the world's clothing and textile industries made around $3 trillion in 2011? That's a lot of money! The average American family spends about $2,000 a year on just clothes, so if you can mend it and save yourself from buying a new blouse, that's an extra $30 you don't have to spend. If you repair more than a few articles of clothing a year, you can save even more. Making your own clothes can take a bit of practice, but there are a lot of patterns and different kinds of cloth available, and often times it's cheaper to make your own clothes than to buy them, even on sale.
2. More Money, Less Lawn
Depending on where you live, having a lawn can be extremely expensive, especially if you are the sort to obsess over every dandelion and clover that dare rear their flowery little heads. Watering, seeding, reseeding, pest control and herbicide usage to keep lawns perfectly manicured cost Americans an average of $40 billion a year. There are many ways to help reduce the cost in sweat and dollars.
Trees cast shade on both the lawn and homes, which can be beneficial especially in hot summers. Fruit trees are even better, because you can harvest from them and save on fruit or nuts that way. Planting drought-resistant grasses can also be beneficial, since they require less watering than traditional grasses. Weeds have many benefits to lawns: deep-rooted dandelions bring moisture to the surface for grasses to drink and clover affixes nitrogen to the soil and helps grass stay a rich green color. If you don't like your lawn at all, you can always put in a garden instead. Even large gardens require less water than pure lawns.
3. Consider The Necessities
This section is especially for the ladies. Feminine hygiene products have always been a nearly over-looked section of the budget, but there are ways to cope. Before industry commercialized the use of widely-available pads and tampons, there were other methods that were used and cost much less, and many have been vastly improved today and are reusable. Silicone and rubber cups are available, and you can get reusable pads and tampons, or even make your own. Patterns for making pads and tampons are widely available and are machine washable depending on the type of cloth used.
4. Craft it Up
Spending too much for party favors at the dollar stores? An hour or two of thoughtful preparation can save hundreds or more a year. There are hundreds of craft ideas and ways to spice up the party without breaking the bank. A little paper and a pair of scissors can make a plastic parade into a much more hand-crafted and earth-friendly clean-up. For winter parties, snowflakes and snowmen can be made with simple white printer paper folded properly and cut. Cocktail parties can be flamboyant with neon origami, and Hawaiian barbeques strung with cut paper flower garland. The possibilities are endless.
5. Entertainment on the Cheap
Need a break? Cut back on the stress and the budget. The price of cable has skyrocketed, but an amazing amount of television shows and news can be viewed online for free or for an inexpensive monthly fee, and can be viewed at any time with fewer advertisements. Movie night can consist of a rental and a bowl of fresh, air-popped corn. If you really want the theater experience, consider going during matinee times for half-price tickets, or even going to a drive-in. If you're an adventurous gamer, many games can be found online for cheap or in stores used for less than new price. Movies can be found this same way. If you're looking for more traditional entertainment or ways to bring the family together, try board and card games. Puzzles can offer a great deal in collaborative working rather than the competitive nature of many games. Simple games like Go Fish and Old Maid are great for younger children and can even be fun for adults. Mancala is another good one for kids because of the fun beads and simple rules, and can help them learn counting, but be sure they don't try to eat the pieces!
6. Re-use Containers
Do you buy pasta in the jar? Keep the jar! There are many containers that can be simply washed and reused over and over again, including but not limited to: jam, pasta and pickle jars, cottage cheese, yogurt and whipped cream plastic containers, as well as some others. Cans from industrial canned goods should not be reused for food, because once exposed to air, many foods can easily react with the metal.
All containers should be thoroughly washed in hot, soapy water before being used for other food items. Glass containers can be especially useful for brewing sun tea in various quantities. I usually use two tea bags in a quart jar filled nearly to the top with water and leave it in the sun for about 3-4 hours, depending on how sunny and hot the day is. The darker the tea, the less time needed to leave it in the sun. Once the tea is ready, I remove the tea bags and add sugar to taste, screw the lid back on and give it a good shake, then leave it in the refrigerator to cool. You can also use the jars to mix salad dressings, hold broth or a number of other mostly-liquid items. Containers from dairy products can be used for nearly hundreds of uses from holding leftovers to being used as bowls for eating directly out of, to hold craft items (like buttons, beads, spools and more) or even to make crafts from. Industrial cans can be used to hold mostly dry and craft items like markers, pens, feathers, and more. They can also be decorated, painted and turned into crafts themselves.
Do you have more fun and crazy ways to save some money? Feel free to share them in the comments below!
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