How are you cheap?

Amps 13

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9D53BFA3-1579-4CAB-B1D1-F4CC67BDBD66.jpeg I hate wasting money on things I don’t need to. Am sure I am not alone in this way. One thing I feel is a waste is dumping money into targets when after 20 shots it’s basically useless. Targets are not that cheap especially if you buy the reactive ones, though I will use them once in awhile. Here are some targets I made at home. I have an endless supply of cardboard from my job and the stickers were 40% off.
 
I wash and reuse the cleaning patches.
 
I troll for targets when I go to the range. Most folk leave targets (paper or shoot-n-c) with only a few bullet holes in them or the occasional clean target. I peel them off and use pasters to cover the holes. There always seems to be an endless supply at the range...

The only target I buy are the NRA official targets for competition practice but I’ll make those last forever by pasting holes over and over
 
I know this is in the firearms section but I’m gonna take this as a general question.

How I am cheap:
I switched all my bulbs to LED
I drive a tiny car because 44 MPG on the highway. I buy used and used them up.
My computer is 12 years old
I cut up worn out socks and tee-shirts (washed) to make rags and cleaning patches
I use cardboard and craft paper from shipping boxes for clean targets & backers.
Sometimes I eat lunch at Costco. $1.50 for a coke and a foot-long can’t be beat.
I buy glasses online
I don’t go on expensive vacations.


Where I’m NOT cheap:
Shoes & boots
Belts and holsters
Coffee
Doctors
Christmas and Birthday for the Wife
I have a yard service
I know my DIY limitations. When it’s time to call the man, call the man.
 
I printed a bunch of pistol targets on 8-1/2 x 11 paper, and tape them over the bullseye of a large target at the range. By changing the printed target after every magazine I can see how I'm shooting. Then at the end of the session the large target shows the combined results of the whole session.
 
How do I love Cheap?
Let me count the ways...

I used to have an endless supply of work-related cardboard; now it's only a plethora. I made a silhouette template out of leftover Masonite/hardboard & glued & screwed a handle to the middle of it. I can hold it down with one hand and cut around with a razor knife. It ain't regulation or nothin, but [shifts to mindless robot tone] Reduce, Reuse Recycle! right?

I cut up old t-shirts & bedsheets & such for rags and patches.

Paste holes with masking tape. Or painters tape. Or duct tape, or whatever tape is in the truck when I'm at the range, wattle & daub, whatever...

Leftover site lumber/plywood scraps for target frames.

Probaby a few others that I can't remember at the moment.
 
I make liquid laundry detergent. Ten bucks worth of material will do a one years laundry.
Somewhat similar...

We use the foaming hand soap dispensers in our bathrooms and kitchen. But it’s much cheaper to buy the big regular soap refill. Roughly a 4:1 water to soap mix works well.

Only problem so far was I never told the wife that’s what I did, and she went to refill one with 100% soap. Needless to say, that pump didn’t work too well until it got cleaned. :eek:
 
I know my DIY limitations. When it’s time to call the man, call the man.
This is key, IMO. Knowing the point at which you should stop, back out, and call the expert is the difference between saving money by solving the problem yourself, or costing more money by making it worse.
 
The above responses have been great....@Red Marley, too good! Nothing to do with shooting but I'll scrape a Jif Peanut Butter jar till it is Clean!!!

Same here, then I'll clean the jar/cap and use it for storage.

Nails, screws, nuts, bolts, cleaning patches, brass pickups from the range, etc.

After the jug-o-laundry detergent is "empty", I'll run a couple cups of hot water into the jug, shake it up and there's enough detergent left in there for 2-3 more loads of laundry.

Empty 2 liter Coke bottles get washed out and used for water storage.
 
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This is key, IMO. Knowing the point at which you should stop, back out, and call the expert is the difference between saving money by solving the problem yourself, or costing more money by making it worse.
Yep! I charge 50% more to fix Your denture repair.
 
View attachment 169370 I hate wasting money on things I don’t need to. Am sure I am not alone in this way. One thing I feel is a waste is dumping money into targets when after 20 shots it’s basically useless. Targets are not that cheap especially if you buy the reactive ones, though I will use them once in awhile. Here are some targets I made at home. I have an endless supply of cardboard from my job and the stickers were 40% off.
What I use for targets

9194E616-7495-4A7F-84A9-FE02570A1DD8.jpeg
 
I make liquid laundry detergent. Ten bucks worth of material will do a one years laundry.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk

We do the same. Some things we have to wash with Gain, but most everything else is washed in homemade laundry detergent.. Lasts a long time.
 
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Where I’m cheap is paying people to do things. I’ll do everything I possibly can by myself and use the money I saved to purchase higher quality materials and/or finishes.
 
I am deeply grateful for this thread. I’ve been self-conscious about my refusal to spend good money for targets ( cut open eggo waffle boxes and put bullseye on the inside with a sharpie) when I’m just gonna shoot holes in them. I’m glad to know I’m not alone !!!!
 
I troll for targets when I go to the range. Most folk leave targets (paper or shoot-n-c) with only a few bullet holes in them or the occasional clean target. I peel them off and use pasters to cover the holes. There always seems to be an endless supply at the range...

The only target I buy are the NRA official targets for competition practice but I’ll make those last forever by pasting holes over and over
I do this all the time. Most range trips I only end up using half of the homemade targets I brought cause I am able to poach nice ones that only have a few holes in them. Usually it’s only a hole on the outer edge of target and since I only shoot the middle it’s all good.
 
This thread just reminded me of another Windini Cheapism, one that got me recognized at the range...

I was sighting in a rifle. I had a 36" wide piece of paper with a very light dot-grid on it, kinda like an engineer's sketch pad. I ued a Sharpie to make crosses-in-boxes; they were 1"x1" or so close as to make no difference (to me).

During a cold spot, while I was pasting holes and making new Sharpie marks, another shooter came up and asked me where I got the "target paper" in that size, and was it expensive?

I told him I had a special source in West Asheville, wasn't sure if it was available elsewhere, that I bought it in quantity, and would consider selling him some... He looked hesitant, so I upped the sales pitch, flipped a corner over, and showed him he could wrap gift with it if he used the off side!! :D

Family Dollar has good prices on rolls of it, especially if it feaures wreaths and elfs in July.
 
This one doesn’t save much money, but it’s now become a personal quest. I haven’t thrown out a bar of soap in probably 10+ years. When it gets down to the little sliver, I open a new one. After my shower, I get the new and old all sudsy and press them together. They dry overnight, and it’s become the never ending bar of soap.

I can’t even begin to imagine the pennies I’ve saved.

And don’t get me started on the wife wasting those last 2-3 squares of TP just because they’re glued to the cardboard roll!!
 
Shooting related.
I cast bullets from whatever free lead I come across.
When I want a paper target I print one, ideally on the back of some memo from work.
I make my own holsters.
Old t-shirts for cleaning materials.
There's other things, but they probably qualify as compromises.
 
Firearm related, all my target stands are built from my dumpster diving spoils. I drive street sweepers/washers two evenings week, so I’m always in neighborhoods under construction. Grab stuff as I need it. Generally nails become my only cost.

Target stands
Rack to hold gas cans for generators
Bridge across the creek in the backyard
Etc, etc


If you need cardboard, keep an eye on Craigslist and Nextdoor. People that move end up with a ton of boxes they usually just give away.
 
Firearm related, all my target stands are built from my dumpster diving spoils. I drive street sweepers/washers two evenings week, so I’m always in neighborhoods under construction. Grab stuff as I need it. Generally nails become my only cost.

Target stands
Rack to hold gas cans for generators
Bridge across the creek in the backyard
Etc, etc


If you need cardboard, keep an eye on Craigslist and Nextdoor. People that move end up with a ton of boxes they usually just give away.
I could get a 100 boxes a week of cardboard boxes free if anyone was in need..
 
every trip to Home Depot has me checking the trash bin in the lumber section for free wood. Also I pillage the clearance/70% off lumber rack.
And even dumpster dove into a member's dumpster for scrap wood for the garage.
 
Oh hell, how did I forget last night!

I play ice hockey up in Greensboro. When I first started back in 2012 I bought a reebok jock for hockey (hockey ones ARE different, have velcro on the shorts for the 'socks' that go over your shin pads).
Anyway, after almost 8 years the part that holds the cup in is falling apart. A new one is about 20 bucks. I, instead, bought a $2 sewing kit and sort of stitched it up a bit so I didnt have to buy a new one. I'll do this until I cant.
It's 20 bucks, I spend that much on coffee and hot tea a month, but I dont feel like I need/want to spend it on the jock right now.
 
Oh hell, how did I forget last night!

I play ice hockey up in Greensboro. When I first started back in 2012 I bought a reebok jock for hockey (hockey ones ARE different, have velcro on the shorts for the 'socks' that go over your shin pads).
Anyway, after almost 8 years the part that holds the cup in is falling apart. A new one is about 20 bucks. I, instead, bought a $2 sewing kit and sort of stitched it up a bit so I didnt have to buy a new one. I'll do this until I cant.
It's 20 bucks, I spend that much on coffee and hot tea a month, but I dont feel like I need/want to spend it on the jock right now.


Sorry but I'll hafta' respectfully disagree ...ma' twig-n-berries are worth 20 shekels!!:(
 
Sorry but I'll hafta' respectfully disagree ...ma' twig-n-berries are worth 20 shekels!!:(
The CUP is fine as always, just the fabric of the part that hold the cup in.
 
PS -
@Ronsc some might argue the value of your twig and berries and say youre wrong lol just kidding bud
 
Oh hell, how did I forget last night!

I play ice hockey up in Greensboro. When I first started back in 2012 I bought a reebok jock for hockey (hockey ones ARE different, have velcro on the shorts for the 'socks' that go over your shin pads).
Anyway, after almost 8 years the part that holds the cup in is falling apart. A new one is about 20 bucks. I, instead, bought a $2 sewing kit and sort of stitched it up a bit so I didnt have to buy a new one. I'll do this until I cant.
It's 20 bucks, I spend that much on coffee and hot tea a month, but I dont feel like I need/want to spend it on the jock right now.
I wouldn’t pay $ for a jock either.

now women, that’s a Whole 'Nutha Thang

.
 
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