Guest post from Asheritah of One Thing Alone
When my husband and I went minimalist, we quickly realized that our trash habits had to change too. With a little research and some planning, we saved over $684 — and lightened our carbon footprint.
Here’s how you can too:
1. Sell old appliances and electronics ($100)
Our electric company pays $50 for refrigerators that still function, and offer reimbursements for energy-efficient replacements. And when our laptop crashed, we bought a new one and sold the dead computer for $50 online. Easy-peasy!
2. Reuse veggie scraps ($204)
I save all my veggie scraps and rotisserie chicken bones in the freezer and make crock-pot stock once a month. One batch equals $17 savings, and if I’m not planning on making soup that week, I simply freeze the stock for later use. The other scraps go into our compost.
3. Recycle aluminum, glass, and plastic ($68)
The average American drinks roughly 16 oz of soda a day (source), the equivalent of two aluminum cans or one plastic bottle. If those containers were recycled, a household of five could recover at least $68, if not more in certain states. You can also recycle wine corks, cooking oil, tennis balls, and golf balls for cash.
4. Drive scrap metal to a junkyard ($48)
When we remodeled our bathroom a few years ago, we took the old cast-iron tub to a junkyard and got $48 for something we were going to throw out anyway. Since then, we’ve also sold old wiring, aluminum house paneling, our old water heater, and other miscellaneous metals.
5. Get a tax deduction for clothing and furniture (varies)
The best way to get money for things around the house is to have a yard sale. But for those of us who just don’t have that much to sell, donating items to thrift stores results in an easy tax deduction.
6. Sell books ($156)
You know those old college textbooks you’ve been hanging onto “in case you might want to refer back to them someday?” (Please tell me I’m not the only one.)
Five years after my graduation, I still hadn’t opened the cover on a single one, and I decided they had to go. Some I listed on Amazon and others I sold in bulk for easy payments. I also sell books I receive from publishers to do video book reviews, so I get to read books and make some money off of them. Voila! More shelf space and more money.
7. Pay less for trash collection ($108)
As a result of our collective effort to throw out less stuff, we found our 120-gallon trash bin was nearly empty each week. I now pay only when I need a pickup. We went from paying $10/month to $2 every two months, and they pick up our recycling for free!
Have you tried any of these methods? How else do you throw away less trash and make more money?
Asheritah helps overwhelmed women find joy in Jesus on her blog and through her books. She likes giving away free stuff to encourage women in their walks with God.
I have done the goodwill donating. Also, it takes me 2-3 months to fill a trash can since I recycle most things. So it’s just 2.85 every two months for trash removal
We live in woods & don’t throw food scraps in trash but put them out, away from house for raccoons, possums, birds, deer, wild turkeys, etc. What these don’t eat, the rest goes into lake for fish, frogs, etc. & some like egg shells, coffee grounds goes around plants . Can also make a collection for garden. We do pay to recycle & trash pickup, but would like to “get paid” to recycle ourselves. Trash company gets paid to pickup & paid from recycling our stuff too, hmmmm! Thanks for info.
We cut out our trash collection a couple of years ago and have never looked back. It saves us $17 a month, which over a year really adds up. Our town doesn’t pick up recycling so we were taking the recycling to the high school, anyway, so now we just throw the trash in the car with us and throw it in the high school dumpster. Only takes and an extra minute or two.
These are great tips! How do you get cash for recycling? I’m not sure how to go about doing that.
Bethany, that’s a great question! I do an online search to find local recycling centers and scrap metal yards. Then I call them and what type of recycling they accept and how much they pay. Oftentimes this information is listed on their website. Hope this helps!
Could you give some links to sites/places you’ve used for these services, please? Those would be really helpful to have. 🙂
Hi Blaire! I’d be happy to give you some links:
* sell college textbooks: http://www.cash4books.net/blog/2012/03/13/sell-books-in-bulk/
* find a local recycle center: http://recyclerfinder.com/
* recycle your fridge: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=recycle.pr_refrigerator_rec
Hope these help! Let me know if you’re looking for something specific.
Our trash pickup is included in our property taxes so that is not an option for us. We do donate to Goodwill but the way we file taxes doesn’t help us any. However, I use very few paper towels, we recycle anything we possibly can and I try not to waste food (Went out to eat with my husbands’ aunt recently and she did not eat 3/4 of the lettuce in her salad. She could have gotten a takeout box and taken it home and made another salad with her homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers . I had to bite my tongue hard. It was upsetting to see good lettuce go to waste- let alone the waste of money. ) If I eat out and use plastic ware– I wrap it up and bring home to wash and use for family get togethers. They don’t got in the trash and I save money. My friends roll their eyes sometimes at the things I do to reduce spending and cut down on waste and trash- but saving money and helping the environment are part of who I am.
Plastic ware can harbor bacteria so we quit washing it and just use the real thing now. I would not want a whole group to come down with food poisoning after eating at my house.
My friends roll their eyes at me too, and I have to bite my tongue a lot too! Sometimes I want to ask if I can take that 3/4 of a salad, most of which is totally untouched. I have, thus far, resisted that impulse 🙂 Then they might truly think I’m crazy. Honestly though, people’s opinions are some of my biggest obstacles to saving. I still do the things, but it’s as Dave Ramsey says, living like nobody else (to later live like nobody else). But living like nobody else does is hard sometimes, emotionally.
Delorise, I can totally relate! I’ve had those bite-my-tongue moments, and people stare at me weirdly too. Bethany, we should start a club! 🙂
Definitely!
I have not paid for trash collection in over 15 years. We just haul our own trash and dump it at the county “Convenience center.” It is on the way to town, so not out of the way. Since I drive a pick up, it is easier for me to haul 4 trash cans plus boxes, bags, etc. But it would be doable with a car too. And it is a great place to pick up free boxes! Whenever someone is moving (I have 4 kids in college, so lots of moving) or storing items, I just ask if I can take some boxes from the recycle area. Last time I found professional moving boxes- lots of them all for free.
#7 Is something I’ve never considered before but I hope to use this tip! Thanks!
Let me know how it works for you! 🙂
I am curious, how did you figure you save $17 on one crockpot of stock?
I’m guessing it’s based upon buying quality stock at the store. Trader Joe’s is $3/quart so I don’t think her numbers are far off.
I started making homemade stock last year. It is so much better than anything i’ve ever bought in the store and so easy to throw together. We don’t eat a ton of soup, but it freezes well to use later. Yum!
Sara, thanks for your question! Adrienne is right: I priced organic stock at our local premium grocery store and then compared it to how much stock I can make in my crock pot (which holds 6 quarts). It’s quite the savings!
You are not the only one who wants to hang onto college textbooks…my husband is the worst and I haven’t convinced him to change yet. We had 2 identical Calculus books from each of us taking Calculus in college before we knew each other…a couple years ago I finally convinced him that mine could go, but his still sits on our bookshelf, along with all his other textbooks. (He is a big-time “I might need that one day” kind of person.)
We did just clean out a bunch of stuff by taking it to Goodwill and getting a donation receipt. We had been saving it in boxes thinking we might have a yard sale one day, but we just don’t have the time to do it right now and wanted it gone. While it would have been nice to have the cash, we needed the space and freedom from the stuff more than we needed the money we would make from the sale.
Hi Rebecca!
Good to know I’m not the only one. 🙂 It was hard to part ways with those textbooks, but now I’m glad I did.
And way to go on the Goodwill donation! Taking action now is usually better than waiting for “some day.” 🙂
Most people throw a lot of food away. Reducing food waste is a great way to keep from throwing money away. I wrote an article on 34 ways to reduce food waste here: http://everydaymindfulliving.com/34-ways-to-reduce-food-waste/
Thank you so much for these other suggestions!
Hey, that’s my problem-food waste. Thanks for sharing. I will look at your post.
Kariane, what a great list of ideas! We shop at a overstock discount store for most of our produce and routinely get groceries for 60% less than the local premium grocery store. And having a leftover meal is a great way to use up the odds and ends in the fridge. Great ideas!
Thank you for sharing these practical ideas that anyone can do! 🙂
So glad you found them helpful!