Thrifty Tips Best of 2009 | Apartment Therapy

Looking back on the year, economic times were tough. But, as always, Apartment Therapy tried to help with smart and frugal advice on making your home healthy, beautiful, and happy. Let's take a look at a few of our favorites:

FIRST ROW:

1 Foregoing the dryer, from The $5 Indoor Clothesline nd Why We Can't Live Without It
2 Frugal flowers from How To Choose Flowers at the Supermarket
3 Another use for fitted sheets, from How To: Cover Your Box Spring
4 Get a new look at home for nothing, from How To: Rearrange Furniture When There's Only One Of You
5 Cleaning house with things you already have on hand, from 9 Nontoxic Cleaners in Your Pantry

SECOND ROW:

6 A green and frugal favorite for the bed, Best Product: Target's Organic Cotton Sheets
7 Stay on top of spending, from How To: Organize Your Receipts
8 How buying used items for your home makes it less catalog-y and more you, from How To: Avoid the Catalog Look at Home
9 Tune into your home by cleaning it, from Cleaning as Meditation
10 Freshening up for less, from Tips and Tricks: 5 Cheap Alternatives to Air Fresheners

Comments (6)

the link for the box spring is going to something about artwork.

Thanks, inkstainedwriter and PeacefulHeights. The box spring link is fixed!

FYI: My local Target had their organic and bamboo sheets on clearance.

I know this seems trite on this site but I think the number one Thrifty tip is don't hoard and regularly de-clutter ( just a bit) and look at what you've got.

I'm currently helping a friend de-clutter and clean her house (she had some serious health issues and was over worked over the past few years, it got out of hand so a few friends and I are giving her a helping hand). This is what we've noticed about her clutter so far...

a)She has over 60 towels!! and more than 5 bed sheet & "duvet sets" per bed in the house!!! Her husband said, "If we've over sixty towels, how come we can never find one at shower time?"
She and her husband couldn't understand this but I reckon its because their linen closet got so packed when they opened it, they could only see mess and not what they had.

2)She had Three laundry baskets full of used/half used/ used up toiletries.

3) Every time she bought something she bought two or three, just incase

I could go on, but the point I'm making is I reckon the overspending in the household was a minimum of €20-€40 per week ($50), thats almost €2,000 per year. If she sold half her other clutter she'd make about €1,000 I reckon.

Think about it, clutter really really does cost.