Easy Tips for Saving Money and Earning Extra Cash

I was in our garage the other night crushing pop cans when I started thinking.  I was thinking about the ways we can all save money on expenses.  I do the couponing when I can and that helps out but I was trying to think of other ways around the house we can save.  We started saving soda cans and crushing them.  We haven’t been doing it for more than a couple month’s but it doesn’t take long to crush the can and toss it into a trash bag after you drink it.  I don’t know how many cans we had the first time we did it but when my husband came back from recycling them I was totally excited.  We got $9!  It was awesome!  I know that isn’t a ton of money but I figured I could put it in a little Christmas fund or add it to my grocery money.  I figure every little bit helps.  (Plus it helps out the environment!)

Here are a couple other things I do around the house to save money.

• Empty your pocket change each night into a jar for birthday’s or Christmas.  (I like to swipe my husbands extra change too!)
• Reuse dryer sheets.  Every couple loads of laundry I do, instead of getting out a new dryer sheet I grab 2 or 3 used ones from previous loads and toss them in.  They still have enough power when combined.  They totally work and it helps you use less dryer sheets.
• Sell your and your kids clothes at consignment stores.  This sometimes takes longer to receive the money because you have to wait tell it sells to get paid but it does help get a little extra cash from things you’ve outgrown.  I like to take my kids outgrown clothes to Kid to Kid and they will actually buy your clothes on the spot from you.  You can take the cash or get in store credit to use at their store.  You can also try places online like craigslist or thredUP.
• My favorite thing to do is Swagbucks.  I love this!  If you haven’t heard of it you definitely need to get signed up.  You get points for  taking polls or surveys and you also get points by searching the web.  Once you get a bunch of points you can redeem them in their store.  I like to get the Amazon gift cards but they have a million other options.  I’m also saving those up to use for Christmas presents.  In six months I’m up to $80 in Amazon gift cards already!  My goal is to double that by Christmas.  Oh and did I mention it is totally free to sign up?  Check it out here.  It really is worth trying out.
• And last but not least is to re-use swimming diapers.  Those things are so expensive!!!  I had heard this once so I tried it last year and it totally works.  After your done swimming and if the swimming diaper hasn’t been really used you can wash it in your washing machine and hang dry it.  Then you can re-use it!  You can do it a couple times until they get all worn out and it will definitely save you some money!  Those diapers are so expensive and they don’t have many that come in a pack.

Does anyone else have any money saving ideas or tips of their own?  We would love to hear them!