Things I've Done to Save Money

I was reading Kim's blog and saw this interesting post on things she did to save money.  She's done some pretty interesting things!  While I am not nearly as creative as she is, here are some things we have done/do to save money...

• Leave the car at home and walk/take the bus to do errands and save money/gas.
• Slept in the airport over night when we volunteered to get bumped in order to get a free ticket to use at a later date.
• Took up a collection for a relative's teeth (she needed a full set of dentures and while we have a dentist in the family to do the work for free, we took up a collection from family members to pay for materials and the denture maker's services).
• Coordinated a trade when an employee's mother needed teeth (we traded his carpet installation work with a dentist and a denturist to get free dentures for his mother).
• We've rarely had cable TV unless the package price was cheaper than regular internet price; we use an OTA antenna instead.
• We cut paper towels in quarter-sized sheets; it makes the right size for most uses and saves wasting an entire paper towel.
• We cook a lot of meals at home but when we do eat out, our average price at a restaurant is about $5 each at most (we use coupons and split meals).
• I research discounts for nearly every purchase--senior discounts, locals discounts, military discounts, etc.
• We watch YouTube videos and try to fix things ourselves before calling in a professional (most of the time we can easily fix things with just a video though).
• We rarely spend money on gifts for parties and events, instead we volunteer to help out with the event by baking desserts or cooking for the event.
• One of my first jobs was teaching gymnastics in exchange for free dance lessons.
• We've taken several off-off-season cruises (one went all over the south Pacific for two weeks and cost $250 each!).
• I've tried hanging the laundry outside to dry instead of using the dryer but it comes our crunchy so this was a short-lived experiment.
• I've worked several temp jobs just for the experience and a bit of spending money (my favorite was World Series of Poker, least favorite was Dollar Tree).
• I often have hubby cut my hair and I do my own coloring.  Hubby let me cut his hair once.  Did I mention I have no artistic talent at all?
• We buy all of our clothes (except socks, shoes, and underwear) from the Goodwill.
• We've stayed married for 35 years (a great way to save money; divorce is expensive!).
• I unplug appliances that aren't being used (like the TVs and lamps in the guest rooms, a printer that we rarely use, etc).
• We've picked up several things from the sidewalk on trash day and either used them or resold them.
• I've chosen jobs that come with fringe benefits (like working at a pizza place during college and eating free every day that I worked!).
• I try to use up as much old produce as possible--turning old apples into applesauce or apple pie, making stew or curries out of older vegetables, and making banana bread from old bananas.
• When we host guests (which we do a lot because we live in a tourist destination) we almost always cook at home for them.  Taking people out to dinner is expensive; for the same price we can make several meals for everyone!
• We don't use wipes and Swiffer pads and other disposable items, bleach water and a rag works just as well!

I'm sure there are other odd things we do to save money which have become normalized for us but those are all I can think of at the moment!