In the wake of NYU move-out day
Magazine File
I was in need of something to hold my magazines, so before heading to the store I poked around the house a bit looking for ideas. I found cereal boxes in the recycling bin and paired them with the leftover suede contact paper in the craft drawer. Got out the scissors, cut the boxes on an angle, used the refuse to make a band to go around the boxes, covered it all in contact paper. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Not the coolest thing I've ever made, but it has great function.
Library Sales
I love the smell of libraries, the hush of its patrons; I love perusing libraries, reading in them. The only problem I run into is that I like to write in my books and keep them on my bookshelves, both to look smart, and so I can go back to my notes and sound smart also. That's how my memory works--it needs its madeleines. So the library shelves are not ideal for me, but library sales: oh what a place for books! 25 cents! That even puts Strand's dollar racks to shame, and the selection is often really great. My dad (from whom I inherited this frugan gene) has even found scads of classic first-editions ($!). Most public libraries have sales, usually every month or two. You can find sales here. In addition to expanding your knowledge whilst saving money, you're also supporting the library, saving trees, shunning land fills, and all the rest of it.
Freegan Books
A great source for books are the trash receptacles surrounding college dormitories at the end of the year. In fact, this is a good place to find pretty much anything that you might ever need, or even lots of stuff you don't. I found this book in the trash room of my dorm senior year. It's an especially remarkable treasure because it's an advanced manuscript signed by the author, wowza!
Dinner party freecycle
If you have stuff to get rid of, why not have a "who wants this junk that I'm getting rid of?" segment during your next dinner party? Everybody loves a party favor.
Shelving
I got these wooden planks from the lumber yard (but preferably would have picked them up off the street or purchased them from a salvage yard), cheap L brackets from the corner hardware store, and plaster screws. Then I stained the wood with stain leftover from the previous tenants. I painted the shorter wood pieces with zero VOC paint leftover from painting our walls and put them up with the same screws and the smaller size of the same L brackets. I found the medicine cabinet mirror on the street. After a quick sponge bath it was ready to throw on the wall and has proven very useful. The project took me the better part of a day, but I learned a lot, it felt good, and cost about $15.
Stationery Stockpile
This is a good example of stockpiling refuse for future re-purposing. This yellow note came from a CocaCola tin that I acquired some 10 years ago. When at the last minute I was asked to put together a slideshow, I was trying to come up with a quick tactile way to present my contact info (phone number scribbled to acquiesce to mom's fears of identity theft). As ever, I went to my hold-for-later drawer (admittedly easier to have in Los Angeles abodes than in New York shoeboxes), and found these silly yellow paper slips. Pile that on a sheet of paper with my custom name stamp from 1991 and presto!
Dress Up
Look at how much fun a girl can have trying on frugan clothing. These items are from Grandma Eileen's closet.
Open your arms
This beauty is on loan from the Takal Gallery. When you live frugan, your friends become aware of it over time. They use you as their trash receptacle. And you happily oblige.