20 Unusual, Crazy, and Weird Ways to Save Money Part 1

Want to know some unusual, crazy, and weird ways we save money? These ideas are probably not your typical ways to save money. And none of these are going to make you a millionaire (at least tomorrow, but maybe over the long run, they will:).

Are you a saver or a spender? Is it hard for you to keep money in your checking account, pay bills, or think about your financial future? If you are a spender who wants to get current and even get ahead on the financial part of your life, there is good news. I’m hear to tell you, that there indeed is hope. You see, there is not a big difference in the saver and spender. We all have to spend money, so how does the saver spend money without going overboard?

It’s all in the mindset. It’s having the mind set that lots and lots of little things together equals a whole lot. It is the thought that you have something that’s easy to do. But it is also easy not to do (as in the principle from The Slight Edge).

The spender will often say that it just doesn’t make that big of a difference. The spender is right! That one thing in and of itself is not a very impressive money-saver. Cutting the dryer sheet in half might just save pennies, right. Doing that once. No big deal. Big whoop. It’s just pennies.

The spender hasn’t had the paradigm shift yet that says, “the pennies add up”. They really do. But it takes marathon thinking to look ahead. You can’t be all caught up in the here and now (I do think it’s very important to be present in the moment, but that’s not what we are talking about here). We’ve got to live in the moment and think ahead and look ahead always.

So, today I am sharing 20 weird ways to save money. Most of these silly money-saving ideas will only save you pennies. Some of these ideas will allow you to get double the worth out of something. But remember that all of these tiny savings add up. That’s how we paid off the college debt (read about it here and how toward the end, we paid off $16,000 in 16 months). It was dollar by dollar. I was so addicted to bringing that total down, that I started paying weekly and even multiple times a week since I teach piano lesson.

Onto the crazy, silly, wacky, and weird ways to save money (go here to read 20 Unusual, Crazy, and Weird Ways to Save Money, Part 2 over at Stacy Makes Cents).

For years I would tear my stick of gum into thirds and chew a third. I’d save the other portions for a rainy day.
When we used dryer sheets, we’d cut them in half.
Then we’d reuse the half-cut dryer sheets.
Then we moved to a foil ball in place of dryer sheets.
We’ve washed and reused foil for our dryer foil ball. Only foil that isn’t crazy dirty/oily, though because no one has time to clean up oil on what were clean clothes.
I’ve re-purposed flannel pjs into napkins because I like the way flannel absorbs (tutorial here). I finally upgraded to some fun flannel that I actually bought.

We have used leaves to keep down the weeds (but not from walnut trees…beware).

We are into year three of now using wood chips to keep down weeds. Love these for the perennials! You can refer to our “Gardening without Watering or Weeds” post and the Update on Back to Eden Gardening without Weeds for more info.

I’ve used different types of clothing re-purposed to make snack bags. Snack bag tutorial here.

I kept the velcro off my defunct jogger stroller to make those snack bags.
And for my very first honest to goodness re-purposed project, I took the leftover jogger stroller material and made a lunch bag. I also did that with a beat up lawn chair. I was so excited when I did it, and was showing my neighbors and piano lesson families.
We don’t have any kind of Netflix or anything. We use the public library to put movies on hold that we’d like to see. Even if it means being 222th on the hold list. We aren’t desperate.
We bring the crock-pot on road trips when we know we have access to an outlet. Check out our ideas for road tripping with the crock-pot here.

I reuse my disposable razors. Not for days. We are talking months. And sometimes a few years. Did I just admit that? As long as it works, why not. Go here to read how to extend the life of your disposable razors.

I use the cardboard from my girls’ new tights packages for all of my to-do lists because they are so sturdy. My latest list is on cardboard shaped like a shoe. I trimmed it a bit to fit in the ol’ purse better, though.
We paint ourselves into a monetary corner every month by only leaving $300 in our checking account for incidentals. Gas is going up again though, so that amount might finally have to increase.
I wear some clothes to their deaths. i.e. my slippers…

I asked our kids about weird things we do to save, and our 10 year old said that we freeze food scraps to make broth. The savings is INCREDIBLE here because it’s all “garbage”, so basically you are making broth practically free.

We use the hotel room shower caps to transport dishes to potlucks that would normally require plastic cling wrap. Don’t worry. They weren’t used for hair. And I wash them after each use.
Ready for what I think is my most embarrassing way to save? I debated even sharing it, but here I go. I hate water in my ears after a shower, so every night I shower I clean my ears with a cotton swab using one side. Then I save the other side for the next day. They are relatively clean since I use them everyday. Think I’m weird?

And if God made you a saver by nature, what kind of unusual, crazy, and weird ways do you save money? Want more crazy ideas? Go here to read Unusual, Crazy, and Weird Ways to Save Money Part 2 over at Stacy Makes Cents.