Disposable Things Waste Money - Simple Ways to Save by Reusing Stuff

If you use something often, find a way to use a reusable item instead. Buying the same thing again and again wastes money you could be saving and investing.

Water Mug/Container
If your office/school/place you go everyday has a water cooler or a water fountain, then do not buy bottled water. Buy some sort of mug or container that you like, and fill it up for free. You can save a hundred dollars or more a year depending on how much you drink. And I hate to be the one to break this to you, but it's the same water.

Lunch Bags
If you make your own lunch and bring it to work or school, you are already saving hundreds of dollars a year; good for you. However, if you are using disposable lunch bags and zip-locks, you are also throwing away money.

A brown bag is just a waste. Get a nice permanent lunch bag and you save money for the rest of your life. Also, instead of zip-lock bags, you can buy reusable sandwich bags. I got some and they're pretty neat. You just rinse them off and let them dry over night, and they are ready to use the next day. And if you actually make something better than a sandwich, invest in some nice plastic boxes.

Batteries

This goes without saying; Don't ever buy batteries! Get a good set of rechargeable batteries, and recharge them.

USB Stick

Don't waste money burning data on to a CD or DVD every time you just want to bring something with you to work. If you aren't going to keep that data around, you're hurting the environment, and your wallet buy using permanent media. USB sticks are cheap, small, and convenient. Get one, and use it to bring digital data with you.

Digital Camera

First, don't buy disposable cameras. Second, if you still have a camera that takes film, you better be a photographer. If you want to save money, you should buy a digital camera. Not only will you save money on film, but you will also save on prints. You no longer have to waste money on an entire roll if you just want a couple of photos printed. But even better, you can email your pictures, or use a free online service like Flickr or Picasa and save even more.

Towel

How often do you wipe up a little spot of water with paper towels, or dry some dishes with paper towels, etc.? You might as well dry them with dollar bills. Using paper towels is so wasteful.  How did that become so prevalent in our kitchens. A good hand towel for drying dishes and water spills will save you money, and helps the environment. Paper towels have their uses (tomato sauce comes to mind), but not for that small spot of water next to the sink.

If your goal is to save money, then don't waste money buying things you could be reusing. While you are buying bottled water and batteries, I'm investing in stocks and making money.

DIY and Save Money - Computer Cables

A great way to save money is to do something yourself.

I have all my computer stuff in one corner, and it's a big mess. My goal was to organize and clean up the clutter from all the wires and power cords. I went to stores like Office Depot and Best Buy to see what my options were, and they were all the same: expensive. CompUSA had a computer cable organizer for $75, and it didn't really remove the clutter. No way I was spending that much money on a piece of plastic to wrap my cables around. So to save myself money, this became a do-it-yourself project.

Here is the before situation:


The goal was to hide and organize the following cables and power cords:
- APC power supply
- Cable modem
- Apple Airport Extreme
- 2 WD MyBook external hard drives
- Cell phone charger
- Camera docking station

I wanted a solution that looked nice and neat, but did not cost me any money. At first, I considered a shoe box, but the power cord transformers can get really hot, so it seemed like a fire hazard. So I went to the store looking for something similar to a shoe box.

I found the following at the Container Store. It cost $1.99.


I drilled holes in the top for air flow, and holes on the sides for cables to pass through.

The next step was to pack everything in the box, with the wires passing through the holes.


I tied the wires up with twisty ties to pack them in there nicely. The twisty ties only cost 1 dollar. Actually, I could not find just twisty ties. I checked the dollar store and Big Lots. So I had to buy some plastic storage bags to get the ties.

After everything is packed in the box and the cables and power cords hooked up, all that was left is to close the box and arrange everything into the corner.



I think it looks pretty good for the amount of time and money spent. It is definitely better than the mess of cables and power cords owning up the floor space before. Everything is neat and packed into the corner.

Total cost: $3
Total time: 20 minutes of work
Money saved: $50+

The lesson is don't spend a lot of money on something if you can do it yourself for cheap.