I hope you all have been learning and felt challenged by all the ways there are to save! I know I have! I ran the dryer twice this week due to a lack of time and felt convicted by it! 
If you have missed the first 7 days of the series, click the links below. Today will be a mish mash of household savings tips, a few more holiday savings tips, a few more wedding on a budget tips, and a few more frugal craft and decor ideas as well.
Enjoy!
General Household Savings Tips…
701. Dust off your light bulbs. This will allow your light bulbs to shine the brightest and eliminate your need to replace them for being dull and hopefully keep you from needing additional lighting turned on.
702. Clean your lighting fixtures. This will have that same effect. We have little glass covers over our lights in the bedrooms and they get nasty after awhile! Keep them clean and let the ultimate amount of light shine throught them.
703. Extend the life of your broom! Store it brissles up and handle down. Your broom brissles will stay upright longer therefore lengthening the broom’s life.
704. Extend the life of your blue jeans! Zip them up, turn them inside out, and check pockets before washing. Then dry them without the dryer if you can.
705. Have you noticed a lot of cold/cough medicine on sale for kids? There’s a reason and you’re not going to like it! This week at Rite Aid there will be 31 items free after rebate– a lot of them cold and cough medicine for children. Unfortunately, these sorts of medication have been proven to be a major concern for children under 6. Read this article for more info.
706. Have a favorite restaurant? Go to their website and find out if they have a newsletter and/or birthday club. My favorite is Ruby Tuesday. I never see any advertisements for a club or newsletter and they were not listed on Freebies4Mom.com’s list of birthday clubs to join. I was on the website filling out a survey for a coupon when I saw a link for a newsletter! Lo and behold, a birthday club too! The website said I would receieve a special gift for my birthday! My guess it will be a coupon or a free dessert or appitizer! Even then, free is good, especially at Ruby Tuesday!
707. Repurpose the holder your blank cds/dvds come in! I found this video and want to try idea number 4! I would never have thought to use it as a sandwich holder either! Check out the video HERE!
708. Got an old broken Nintendo? Turn it into a lunch box! My husband loves this one by the way! Click HERE for the how-to.
709. Got crib bumpers and don’t know what to do with them? It is pretty well known these days that bumpers are not very safe for baby. But if you already had some, what do you do with them? I have read a ton of great ideas and I like the idea of making a matching valance for the windows by removing the stuffing. You could also make fabric books, use them as liners on laundry baskets, or fill with rice to make heating pads. (I love my rice heating pads!) Click here for details and more ideas!
710. After Easter, Peeps go on clearance for a great price. Want some ideas on how to use them? You won’t believe this book I found! Some of the ideas are to use them as chopstick holders, cake toppers, even make a wreath! I love it! Maybe next year I’ll pick up a box for a quarter! Click here to read about the book!
711. Old Nalgene bottle? We’ve got two and now that they are no longer safe to drink out of, I’m thinking I may want to try some of the ideas I read about HERE! I like the idea of making a waterproof first aid kit to place on a boat or take to the beach. I also think that placed in a freezer filled with water, the Nalgene could act as an insulator. A full freezer works more efficiently.
712. Wash fruits and veggies in a pan of water vs. running the tap. This will conserve your water usage.
713. Frugal toilet leak test: Put some food coloring in your toilet water tank. If it seeps into your toilet without flushing, you have a problem that may need addressing.
714. If its a windy day, don’t water your lawn. The wind will cause water to blow in different directions and increase the amount of water wasted and/or evaporated.
715. Creative ways to water house plants: Dropped an ice cube? Don’t throw it in the sink, throw it on a houseplant instead. Fido need fresh water? Dump what was leftover in the houseplant! Bits of water left in guest’s drinking glasses? Water your house plants!
716. Plug the tub first! Don’t wait for the temp. to change, it will be warmed up eventually when the hot water kicks in.
717. Fill the tub just 1/3 of the way. I have read that this is the optimal amount for a good bath, but also keeps the water usage lower.
718. Vacuum your refrigerator coils! This is recommended twice a year to keep your fridge compressor running efficiently. (I’ll admit, I’ve never done this!)
719. Keep the garage door closed! Especially in the winter! This will affect your heating bill!
720. Defrost in the fridge. I often forget to put the meat I am going to cook for the night in the fridge when I leave for work. That means that I have to use the microwave or run water over it when I get home. The best option if you forget is to use the microwave; they use energy efficiently. The best thing though is to put what you need in the fridge before you leave in the morning.
721. Do you need a leaf blower? Rakes and brooms work just fine and don’t require electricity. Plus you get a free work out!
722. Clean your sidewalks with a broom vs. with a hose. Saving water and again, free work out!
723. Teach your kids about saving energy with a fun free website! I’ve mentioned before that if you are going around turning everything off all day because the rest of your family leaves stuff on, your savings are not going to happen. You have to work as a team! This site is fun! I actually played a few of the games just to make sure it wasn’t too lame. Kids have to find the energy hog! Click Here for more.
724. Use old newspapers to clean glass! From what I’ve read, newspapers work great for cleaning glass objects around the house! Use a little vinegar and you’re good to go!
725. Reuse newspaper as liner for pet/bird cages. Good idea if you have pets! Why purchase lining when you can make your own!
726. Stuff wet boots with newspaper to help them dry quicker. I have blow dried shoes before in order to have them dry the next morning. If only I’d known about this! Less stressful and doesn’t require electricity!
727. Got unripened fruit? Wrap it in newspaper and it will ripen quicker! This is a good tip because usually fruit is cheaper when it is not ripe!
728. Skip the paper towel! When you have a huge mess, a spill, or an overflowing washing machine as I’ve had in the past, use newspaper to absorb the bulk of mess. This will extend the life of your roll of paper towels!
729. Reuse plastic grocery bags as paint tray liners! You can then use your paint tray over and over again with very little cleanup!
730. Keep a couple of those bread tags! They make good scrappers for removing price tags or little cleaning jobs.
731. Reuse the mesh from bagged veggies. Sometimes veggies come in those mesh baggies at the store. Use them as scrubbers! Wad them into a ball and you are good to go!
732. Got a clogged iron? Click here to find out how you can bring it back to life with some vinegar!
733. Never buy fabric softener again! Make a wool dryer ball and from what I’ve read, it works just as well! I don’t use my dryer very much anymore, but if I did, I would consider making this. Click HERE for the how-to.
734. Put foil under the fabric cover of your ironing board! The foil will deflect the steam and keep your ironing efficient!
735. Prevent wear and tear on your pants! Add an extra piece of fabric to the heel of your pants and jeans. This is the place that gets the most wear on your pants.
736. Have lace that needs to be whitened? Wash them in sour milk. This is also a good use for old milk!
737. Use olive oil to get crayon marks off the wall! Baby oil works too! This would be cheaper than repainting!
738. Clean out your gunky glass bottles and vases instead of replacing them, all you need are some eggshells! Yes eggshells and warm soapy water! Place inside the bottle/vase, shake, and walah! Good as new!
739. Reuse carrot peelings to clean the tea kettle! I am going to try this one as I have a build up in mine! You can also use potatoes for this tip. Boil the peelings or potatoes in the tea kettle, empty and rinse.
740. Don’t toss your burnt aluminum sauce pan! I wish I had known this before I replaced my old one. Put an onion in the pan with water and set it to boil. The burnt stuff will start to come off as it boils!
741. The ultimate in free tv! I have been posting tips for how to watch tv without cable, and this post beats them all! 35 ways to watch tv without cable! Click HERE for more!
742. Use the brocolli stems instead of tossing them! These can be chopped up finely and added to stews, omelets, scrambled eggs, or stir fry.
743. Too many grapes to eat before they go bad? Freeze them! They work great for a fruity frozen treat or work well in smoothies!
744. Freeze those bits of leftover wine! Nathan and I are not wine drinkers, but I realize that this can be a hefty expense for those of you who are. Freeze those leftover bits in ice cube trays and you will have a perfect little cube of wine to use for cooking!
745. Make your own reusable tea bags! Click HERE for more! These may also make great gifts!
746. Buy a whole chicken vs. bagged chicken pieces. This is an idea that Nate and I are looking into. I bought a bag of chicken yesterday for 7.39 and will be able to stretch 4-5 meals out of it. If we bought a whole chicken, which I saw was $5.97, we could stretch even more out of it and spend less. I found this post on the dollarstretcher.com and am going to try this next week! Click HERE for the how-to on stretching out a whole chicken.
747. Stretch out your butter! All you have to do is beat 1/2 of luke warm water into a stick of softened butter. Put it back into the fridge and it will reharden to the appropriate consistency! I am going to try this one!
748. Make your own ice cream in a Ziploc bag! I really want to try this! I have all the ingredients except the rock salt! Click HERE for the how-to!
749. Toss your citrus peels in the fire for a fragrant aroma!
750. Don’t have a fireplace? Simmer them on the stove in a sauce pan with some cinnamon for a great smelling aroma!
A few more wedding tips…
751. Purchase a signature frame at Wal-Mart! We got ours for just $10! Honestly, you do not need to purchase the frame that is specifically made for signatures. Purchase a frame with a wide white mat and a nice thin sharpie or another permanent pen and you’ll be good to go!
752. Cut your flower girl’s petals from fabric scraps! I had a friend who did this instead of buying flower petals. A box of flower petals from the florist costs about $5. Cutting your own from fabric you already have, free!
753. Print your own programs! Use microsoft word and again make two columns. Make sure you have two programs visible on each page. Print them on cardstock. My sister added a little ribbon to the top of hers, though you don’t have to, it’ll still look pretty if done in a lovely font.
754. Consider carrying single stems! Or at least having your attendants carry single stems. My sister did this at her wedding and it was lovely!
755. Buy rings you can pay for in cash. It makes me sad that a couple would enter into their marriage already laden with bondage to debt! Buy a ring you can afford to pay for in cash! It can be challenging! But my ring cost just $500 and its lovely and classic. I have friends that went into major debt to buy their rings; please do not make that mistake. You can always add to the ring as your marriage goes on! That is what my parents did and I think it is terribly romantic! Can’t find a ring in your price rang at the jewelry store? Shop around the after Christmas sales and also look at bluenile.com. (That’s where we got mine!)
756. If your jeweler does not offer ring cleaning for free, clean it yourself! I bought a little thing of ring cleaner at Wal-Mart for $2 and clean our rings about once a month. Otherwise I would pay $25 a pop!
757. Need an affordable caterer? Try a grocery store! We used Wal-Mart and it was perfect!
758. Have a friend or two video record for you! Most times you can have friends do this and it won’t cost you a dime. Professionals charge a pretty penny!
759. Make little memory books for your bridesmaids as thank you gifts! You can just use the little memory books from the dollar store, or just make your own using chipboard or cardstock.
760. Repurpose your wedding dress! I personally am just hanging on to mine! But if you like the idea of finding new ways to keep your dress, I found a great post HERE that has lots of great ideas!
Holidays on a budget…
761. Make your own popcorn chain! Popcorn is so frugal if you pop it yourself instead of buying microwave popcorn. You can pop popcorn in a kettle, or with a machine. Popcorn machines are pretty cheap and for me, are worth it! We have one that we got for our wedding. Use a needle and carefully thread through the popcorn! It would be a fun family project!
762. Use Tulle as a Christmas tree skirt! I use leftover tulle from our wedding! I bunch it up so it looks like snow at the base of the tree! Its lovely and for me was free! If you don’t already have some, it runs pretty cheap at Wal-Mart! I saw some Christmas tree skirts at Target for $30! Tulle would be a cheaper alternative.
763. Beef up your instant cocoa in fun ways! I always like to stick a candy cane in a mug of cocoa to give it that yummy mint flavor. I’ve also added marshmallows and a little cinnamon and nutmeg. I found this post HERE that has a lot of other great recipes for making plain, cheapy cocoa something really special!
764. Make your own cocoa! It only takes 3 ingredients that you probably already have! Click HERE for a great how-to post!
765. Make your own caramel apple cider! I love this stuff from Starbucks! I watched them make it once and here is what I saw! They used 100% apple juice, heated it up with their steamer, added caramel flavoring, put a dollop of whipped cream on top, drizzled some caramel and sprinkled with cinnamon! We’re going to try this at home! Though I don’t have a steamer, I’ll just heat it in a saucepan.
766. Applesauce ornaments! These make such good gifts! My friend Heather told me about these! With apples so cheap right now, you could make your own applesauce to make ornaments out of! Click HERE for the how-to.
767. Oriental Trading Co. This is a cheap-ish place to buy gifts. I was looking online and saw that they had sets of a dozen Christmas ornaments for as low as $3.97. Divided by 12, that’s $.33 each! Attached to a lovely homemade card or bag of Christmas goodies, that would be a very sweet gift! Plus, if you ordered through myPoints, you would get points per dollar!
768. Make post cards out of last years Christmas cards! Save on postage, be earth friendly, save money! Just cut the cards in half!
769. Families with little ones– make a video of your children performing a play of the Christmas story for family members! Your parents will love to see their grandchildren doing a little play! You can easily make costumes from sheets, blankets, spare fabric, table clothes, towels, what ever you have! Paint some scenery on the side of big cardboard boxes and you are good to go! It would be priceless! When I thought of this idea, I wished with all my heart I had a family to do this with!
770. Beware of Black Friday! This is the day after Thanksgiving sale where stores “slash prices” and whatnot. I kind of feel that its a bit of a trap. You have to be armed and ready not to buy anything that wasn’t on your list! I like to go just for the fun of it. Plus, you get free donuts and a free snow globe at JC Penneys!
771. Give a gift of your favorite things! I love this idea! Put together a little goody bag of the things you love the most. Give them to a friend! You could put a travel size of your favorite lotion, your favorite gum, soft drink, candy bar, and salty snack!
772. Make a themed recipe book to give to friend or family member! You could do a chocolate lovers theme, a pie theme, a vegetarian theme, a sugar-free theme, a frugal meals theme, whatever suits the person you are giving to!
773. Be open and honest with people you give gifts to, ask if they will be willing to skip gifts, set a $5 limit, do a white elephant gift exchange, or just exchange cards! You are not the only trying to make ends meet this holiday season! Don’t let your pride stand in the way of saving your family money.
774. Make your own egg nog! Mmmm, I love this stuff! (Non-alcoholic of course! 
) I found a fun how-to video.
775. Fun Holiday website for kids! I played on this site for about ten minutes! You can design your own gingerbread house! Its so cute! Click HERE to get there.
776. Holiday gift list printable worksheet. This makes it easy to set budgets and record how much you spend. Click HERE to print a copy!
777. Holiday budget printable worksheet. This includes ALL holiday expenses! A great tool to hold yourself accountable! Click HERE to print one!
778. Make a tree decoration out of a phone book! Just fold the corner of the pages inward and eventually, you will have a tree! Spray paint it green and you are good to go!
Concerning decorating and crafts…
779. Do you have a walnut tree? If you do, you could make a really cute walnut wreath with a lightweight wreath form, styrofoam would work. You just glue on the nuts with hot glue! Click HERE to see a picture.
780. Make cute snack holders out of old bed springs! I saw this idea in a Country Home magazine and I just love it! You take an old spring, and insert a cute little hankie or cloth napkin. Click HERE to see the picture!
781. Design remix! I loved that show! When I had cable, it was one of my favorites. The premise was that you redid a room using $50 and some paint. The before and afters always surprised me! I found this short clip and though its not my personal style, the before and after is great! Click HERE to watch the clip and be inspired!
782. Old fish tank or fish bowls? One idea is to turn your fish tank into a terranium. (I think that’s kind of weird.) I like the idea of making an unusual coffee table. This would look cool in a game room or “guys room.” If you have smaller fish bowls, fill the bottom with pretty river rock or glass beads and place a pillar candle in the middle. Click here for photos and more ideas.
783. Make giant spiders for your Halloween decor! Again, I shy away from the creepy/evil stuff on Halloween, but this is so creative! You take a black garbage sack, fill it with newspaper or leaves, tie it off in the middle so it looks like it has to segmented parts, and then use long branches, 4 on each side! You have to check out this picture! Click HERE for more!
784. Fun craft idea to make for your frugal friends! Take a clothes pin and with a fine tipped permanent marker, write “penny pincher.” Place a penny inside the mouth of the clothespin! Add a magnet to the back with hot glue!
785. Variation of 784. Use the clothes pin and place a washer in it’s mouth. Write on the clothespin “world’s cheapest washer and dryer!” It’d make a great gag gift or just because gift!
786. Make a neck cooling device! I’ve talked about the rice heating packs before, what about when the weather’s warm? I found a great how-to here. You’ll need a disposable diaper, some fabric, water and hydrogen peroxide! Click HERE for more!
787. Make your own cat scratch post! All you need is some scrap wood, some carpet samples, and some rope! These things cost anywhere fro $25-100 bucks at stores! If you don’t have scrap wood, Home Depot has a discounted wood section for odd size wood scraps. (Call ahead to make sure yours offers this!)
788. Make your own baskets from scrapbook paper! I found a template HERE! It may be hard to read, but I printed it okay.
789. Make snowman ornaments out of burnt out light bulbs! After all, we will be replacing those light bulbs with CFLs right? These are too cute! Use acryalic pants to pant white, then paint a simple face. Use an upside down baby sock for the hat! Hot glue the hat and some ribbon to make the hanger piece. Click HERE to see someone’s sample!
790. Make a rose out of dollar bills! I love this idea and told my husband that this would be a good idea for me someday! (Hint hint…) You’ll need a fake rose stem, 6 one dollar bills, some craft wire, and a pencil. I think this would be fun as a graduation gift as well! Click HERE for the pictures, they are very helpful!
791. Make a garbage bin out of recycled newspaper! I wouldn’t recommend placing this in a room with food garbage, but an office might be fun! Click HERE for the how-to!
792. Use twigs from your yard to make twig chairs! These are obviously for decorative purposes only, but the look is really cute! I’ve seen mini chairs like these at decorating stores for $30! Click HERE to see pictures and read about the supplies you’ll need.
793. Make a decorative hanging ball out of old cards– great for Christmas! I love these! One of my students made one for a project last year. You need old cards, glue, some paper clips, scissors and some ribbon. For the how-to and pictures, click HERE! I think I’m going to try this this year!
794. Make scarfs in minutes! Purchase a 1/2 of a yard of fleece. Cut the fleece into appropriate sized strips for scarfs. Cut the ends of the scarf making 2-3 inch tassels on each end. If you want, tie pieces of matching ribbons to the tassels for a full and fun look!
795. Use old sheet music! Coming from a musical family, sheet music was just every where growing up! We hate throwing music away because of what it represents! My brother came up with a great way to re-use it. He tea dyed some of his favorite Jazz tunes from high school. Tore the paper into square pieces, decoupaged them to an old lamp shade, did an overcoat of decoupage when he was finished, and it looks so cool! I wish I had a picture to show you!
More savings tips…
796. Choose one cause and give. If you’re school is anything like mine, you are just being bombarded with fundraisers. Choose one as a family, for the year, and give. For all the fundraisers that don’t require your money, like the box tops, participate in. I chose the payback fundraiser as I was buying coupons that would save me money! Don’t feel obligated to give to all of them, one is enough.
797. Make money buying chapstick at Rite-Aid this week! Rite aid is offering the Chapstick brand Shimmer Chapstick for Free after rebate. In the coupon inserts in this Sunday’s paper, there was also a mail in rebate from the company! You can send in for both rebates and make a couple bucks buying chapstick!
798. Evaluate who you’re money is going to. With money being so tight these days, its worth it to truly evaluate which kinds of companies you are keeping a live with your funds. Nate needed a different translation of Bible for a class. We looked at amazon.com, but then decided that we wanted to try to support a ministry if we could. We found a great ministry that was selling that Bible and we still got a great price! It’s worth it to evaluate these days. What kinds of companies do we want surviving this economic dark time?
799. Become a Kashi taste tester! Click HERE to read more!
800. Cheap seasonings! Normally I try to end with a heartfelt, thought provoking idea, but this time I have to let you know that seasonings are 2/$1 at Walgreens this week with the in ad coupon! They are good seasonings and can help save you a bundle!
Thanks for being patience as I work though the last 200 tips of our 1000 Ways To Save series! It is becoming more and more challenging to find tips without repeating myself! I will be doing more research tomorrow and will hopefully have the next post up on Tuesday! If you have any tips that I haven’t listed, please leave a comment! I love to hear about what others do to save money!
5 Comments
October 13, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Have a pond outside that needs constant refilling? Make your own rain barrel. We use ours to fill the pond, water the garden and other outdoor plants.
October 13, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Okay, this makes me sound incredibly cheap, but one thing I do is reuse the big plastic wrappers from the 12 roll packs toilet paper or paper towels or big bags of diapers. If you only open one side (like the top) rather than ripping it open, you can use it as a little trash can liner. A lot of times there’s a plastic handle and you can use that to carry it out when the trash can’s full.
October 13, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Thanks for the link! There are so many wonderful ideas here!
October 13, 2008 at 5:25 pm
I’m so excited for Christmas and reading your post just makes me more excited! I’ve already watched “White Christmas” and have started listening to Christmas music! For a tip, I have realized that my jar candle keeps its scent better when I leave the lid on if I’m not using it. When I take the lid off it smells up the room and I don’t even have to light it. Thus causing my candle to last longer. :0)
October 25, 2008 at 4:13 pm
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