Persimmon Glen

Today I thought I would share some great ways to reduce, reuse, recycle and save money.

A couple of my favorites are PaperBack Swap and SwapaDVD. It's free to become a member, all you do is list some books or dvds that you don't want anymore, other members request them from you, you wrap them up and mail them off. When the other member receives the book or dvd from you, you get a credit which you can then use to request a book or dvd for yourself. The only cost involved is the cost of mailing. What a great way to recycle and save money. Feel free to click on the link on the side of this page, it will take you directly to each site.

You can also take books, cd's and dvd's to local shops for credit that you can use to purchase more more from their store.

If you'd like to make a few dollars from your books or dvds, then you can sell them directly on Amazon.com or Half.com. It doesn't cost anything to list your items, they take a small percentage when you have sold one, then transfer the money to your bank account.

If you have some things laying around that you'd like to get rid of, list them on either Freecycle or on Craigslist. Both sites are free.

If you need rain barrels you might try asking at the carwash. The soap that they use comes in barrels that are perfect for collecting water. See if they would be willing to sell you a few. I take mine to the carwash and rinse all the soap out of them.

Of course, there are lots of thrift stores around to help out the budget and start going to yard sales. You can save a tremendous amount of money on things you need.

Around the house, start saving glass bottles instead of throwing them away. You can re-use them for storing anything from buttons to putting homeade jam in them, or you can even build yourself something with them. Mortar them in a wall and it will be highly insulated.

Re-use plastic bags of all kinds. Save your old bread bags and the bags from the produce department, any kind you get. That will save you from buying so many new ones.

If you're a smoker, here's a great tip that will save a ton. Buy yourself a pipe and buy bulk cigarette tobacco from the smoke shop. Smoke that instead of costly prepackaged cigarettes, or you can roll your own. The cigarette stores sell all the makings.

Get a freezer, preferably used, and start buying in bulk when items are on sale. Shop at the bread outlet stores and freeze if necessary. You can freeze milk when it's on sale, just make sure you remove a small amount first to leave room for expansion.That also helps to reduce the number of trips you make to the store, saving gas.

Buy your lumber from a local sawmill if possible. You'll see a tremendous savings over going to your Big Box store, and you will get true measurements. A 2x4 actually measures two inches by four inches, rather than 1 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches.

One of the most simple ways to save money is to always pay cash. Leave credit cards for others to use. If you don't have cash, don't buy. What good is it to get an item on sale if you'll have to pay all that interest? If you absolutely have to use your credit cards, make sure you can pay it in full at the end of the month.

Shop the discount stores, like Dollar General and Family Dollar, Dollar Tree for things like aspirin, shampoo, beauty and household products. They work just as well as name brands at a fraction of the cost, and you'll also find name brands at a big discount, even over Walmart.

Unplug anything around the house that you don't use all the time. Most televisions use 80% of their power even when they are turned off, so unplug that baby if you're not watching. Likewise with everything else in your house. It takes a bit of getting used to, but you'll be rewarded with lower electric bills.

If you're a cook, save money by making from scratch. You can make that Hamburger Helper way cheaper on your own rather than buying a box and it really doesn't take much more time.

Here's a neat little tip for making your mascara last longer. When you think the tube is empty, you can usually get another month out of it by letting it warm in a cup of warm water. The warm water will soften it and you'll get a lot more uses out of it. One caution, once you start doing this, you'll have to do it every time, so don't do it until you think it's empty.

Try using witch hazel instead of expensive astringents. You can get a large bottle for a dollar and it will last a very long time.

Make a great garden cart out of an old lawn mower that doesn't work. Remove the engine, bolt a metal trash can to it where the engine used to be  and you've got a great cart for moving things around your yard.

I hope these tips help you to be creative in reusing and recycling. Look at everything in a new way and you'll come up with lots of great ideas of your own.