Five Dollar Decor - Cardboard

Today, I'd like to talk about cardboard.

Mr. Scrimp and I have an entire closet that is filled from top to bottom with cardboard boxes from moving. We can't bring ourselves to throw them away (I have packrat tendencies). After all, the cardboard is perfectly good, and if we don't use it for a project, we'll need it again eventually anyway.

Well, I think it's time to break into the closet, because I've put together a list of some really great ways to use cardboard in your home.

Most of these involve a fair amount of DIY effort from you, but if you're like me, cardboard is going to cost you nothing because you have already accumulated so darn much of it. So it's a fair trade-off, I think.

My Nemesis

I hate wearing pantyhose. Still, sometimes there just isn't another option, so I sigh and pick up a pair at the store, and wear them once or twice. Maybe they get a run. Maybe they don't. Maybe they accidentally end up going into the dryer and turning into a mess of horrible static. Maybe I just get sick of them and throw them away.

From  now on, though, I think I'm going to try and use them around the house. WiseBread put together a list of 20 money-saving ways to reuse old pantyhose and I'm going to give it a shot. I feel guilty throwing anything away when I can still get good use out of it, even if that use has no connection to the item's original purpose.

Snips and Sniffles

I am indeed staying home sick today. The problem with staying home sick from work is that if you're sick enough to stay home, you don't really feel up to doing all the things around the house that you ought to do.

I'm trying to decide which projects I'm going to attempt today. I've got to sort through some clothes, and if I find any appropriate t-shirts, I might try to make this re-usable shopping bag from Cut Out & Keep, which is made from a t-shirt sewn into the shape of a plastic grocery bag.

(Found via a five-page list of t-shirt mods at HideYourArms. Go read all of them.)

Food Waste

Mr. Scrimp and I hosted our own Thanksgiving dinner this year, which was a first for both of us. It went incredibly well--the house was clean, the guests were happy, the food was delicious and abundant, and we'll be living on the leftovers for several days. I'll try and get some pictures up later today.

I was saddened this morning to see this article, which discusses a new study that finds that Americans throw away forty percent of all food produced in this country. On average, we throw away 1400 calories of food per person, per day.

I can absolutely believe this. I know Mr. Scrimp and I have been culpable in the past when it comes to buying more food than we need, which of course then spoiled and went bad.

I will emphasize again how valuable it is to plan meals and cut grocery spending, which will also cut down on grocery waste. If you have the extra food in your house, you'll either eat more than you should, or throw away entire meals' worth.

For crying out loud, people, eat your vegetables. There are starving people in China.

 

Groceries

We recently put a new grocery shopping strategy into practice. I sat down and planned out seven days of meals, wrote up an ingredients list, and only bought exactly what we need to make it through a week.

I think I can safely call this the single biggest change we've made to reduce our spending and food waste. I've bought groceries for less than $40 for three weeks running now. This past week, because we're shopping light on the promise of Thanksgiving leftovers, we got our week's worth of groceries for a whopping $28, and all the food we bought was fresh and unprocessed. I feel pretty good about it.

I was amazed to realize how much food we were buying that was simply extra. We ate most of it, but a fair amount was getting thrown away, because it was being bought without a real plan.

I definitely recommend giving this method a try if you don't do it already. You might be surprised.