Money saving: Water recycling and facebook groups

It’s been a few weeks since I posted any tips about saving money. If you’ve been thinking it’s because we’ve run out of ways to save money, think again. Saving money is always on the forefront of Lance’s mind. Making more money is how I like to roll. We all have different points of view when it comes to money :) 

1. Water recycling. I think that I’ve mentioned a couple of times that my husband is a recycling nazi. He will bring home things from places we’ve eaten at so he can recycle those items. It’s annoying. But Lance has concluded that the key to getting his yard into great shape is actually watering it. Last year Lance operated under the presumption that after month upon months of skin scorching temperatures and no additional water (aside from what Mother Nature bestowed upon us), our lawn would simply go dormant and then come back in the spring. Boy was he wrong. Not only do we have bare patches where nothing came back, we also have rampant crab grass and what I lovingly call “crunchy” grass that you shouldn’t walk barefoot through. But Lance’s new brilliant idea is to save all the excess water we waste while waiting for the temperature of the water to turn hot or cold. He keeps a bucket in the kitchen to store his “recycled” water and then takes it out to the yard daily to water plants. We already utilize a rain barrel for our garden, but it’s hard to collect rain water during a drought. Recycling our indoor water for our yard works for us (well at least Lance. I think this is a little nuts.)

Lucan is helping recycle water for the lawn!

2. Facebook groups. Great for selling (or buying if you are me!) stuff you no longer need. I’ve been finding that many of these area facebook groups are a good way to group like-minded folks who might be selling your next treasure. For example, I bought Lu’s sandbox off of an area FB group. $10. Easy. Cheaper than the sand we put in the box. I’ve also sold a bunch of miscellaneous household items (a mirror, an exercise ball, some lights, a bedding set) all to the same lady. We agreed to a date and time and did our trade. I think these groups led to more serious buyers who will actually follow through. Much more than some of the people I’ve seen on Craigslist.

3. With my FB group tip, I also highly recommend buying some of these larger toddler “play” items used. I like to tell Lance that I’m doing my part in recycling and keeping things out of landfills, but mostly it’s because I want cheap stuff that Lucan will play with. Everything I’ve bought has been in great shape. But it’s because I’m picky about the quality and also the price. To date I have bought the following “large” toy items from various people: a water table, a plastic spaceship sand box with a lid, a play kitchen, and a tool bench. I’ve paid a grand total of $125. I also dug out a Fisher Price basketball hoop out of someone’s garbage can earlier this spring. But that’s a tale for another day!  

This is the exact water table we have. Except I paid 50% less.