How Do You Get Creative To Save Money?
By RenaeT
@RenaeT (681)
United States
March 29, 2007 4:32pm CST
I thought about asking this because yesterday, I needed a wheel barrow really bad. I had dug up lots of weeds and raked leaves and they were all in a big pile. I went to Wal Mart and they were out of them. So, being discouraged, I decided to go home and figure something out that didn't cost money. Ah ha! I realized how easy this is!! I got an old plastic shower curtain, took it outside, laid it next to the pile of leaves and merely raked them on to the shower curtain! We live on the edge of a drop off cliff, so this part was really easy. I dragged the debris to the edge of the drop off and just turned the shower curtain over and dumped it down the hill! Wow. I was pretty excited that I had just saved 20 to 40 bucks on a wheel barrow!! The shower curtain actually worked better, less work!
2 people like this
5 responses
@Kaeli72 (1229)
• United States
29 Mar 07
How clever! If you have a child in a high chair, just lay that down and have him eat away. Works well with rice because then you'll just need to shake out the food rather than sweep. Right now, my 14 month old baby is testing mummy by sweeping the rice off his tray with his hands...I love that boy...I love that boy...I love that boy...
@RenaeT (681)
• United States
30 Mar 07
I like that idea!! I will have to tell my daughter in law that one! I have two sweet 'messy' little grandboys! They rented a place that had carpet in the dining room, so I bet she already knows that trick! I can just see your little one brushing his little hand across his tray like a windshield wiper!
1 person likes this
@cutepenguin (6430)
• Canada
29 Mar 07
I have been pretty creative in the past to find different ways to do things, although I have never needed a wheelbarrow.
I did make a new bathmat by crocheting together yarn and rags.
1 person likes this
@cutepenguin (6430)
• Canada
30 Mar 07
It's rectangular, mostly blue but with a small spot of pink. (My husband was very puzzled at the pink, but figured we could just turn it over and not see the pink - ummm...it's one piece, thus the same on both sides).
I like the pink spot. I wanted to make it into a flower, but it came out as a blob, so left it as a blob.
LOL, I'd probably use your idea before I went out and bought a wheelbarrow - I'll always have a shower curtain around, whereas I'll never have a wheelbarrow just lying around, and if I need one, well, I'd need it right then. So I'd end up using a shower curtain instead.
1 person likes this
@RenaeT (681)
• United States
30 Mar 07
For some reason, as I think about your bathmat, I think of a bathmat that my daughter in law bought when she and my son went on a mission trip to Fiji.
It's made from scraps of fabric, but each scrap is folded into a triangle, then they are all sewn together. I think it's rather ugly, but on the same token, pretty clever! The pieces of fabric are all random, prints and solids. Like I said, it's sort of ugly!! LOL!!
@cher913 (25781)
• Canada
30 Mar 07
Good for you! I try to think of ideas like that too...I visit the local thrift store often as well... (why pay $33 for one pair of jeans, when you can get 2 or even 3 pairs for that much?)
Hubby and i are having money issues due to him being off for about a year a couple of years ago...we have to daughters, so we eat thriftily (is that a word?) we make our own bread/soup etc...i make my own cards and gift tages and sometimes gift wrap too
there are lots of creative ideas if you take the time!
1 person likes this
@wifeofharvey (1156)
• United States
30 Mar 07
Being a long time cheapskate I have done lots of replacing high priced items with stuff that was already around.
I love sewing, I love buying huge cones of thread for next to nothing at yard sales, thrift stores and flea markets. To make the thread easier to use on my sewing machine I use old thread spools [yep, saved them] and rewind the thread from the cones onto the old spools. This is pretty easy when you use an electric drill to do the job.The drill bite goes through the center of the empty spool, pull the drill trigger and watch it wind. Really, watch it, it goes fast.
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