OK, so I'm a cheapskate and I know it, but Son doesn't have to remind me! I'm just joking, and so is he, of course, but being a cheapskate is akin to an art form with me.
To give you an example, I recently used a plastic 32 ounce cup from a fast food place to make plant identifier spikes for my seedlings. I cut off the rim and the bottom, then cut strips from the cup. I cut those in half and made points on one end of the smaller strips. Now, I have a way to write the name of the seedlings and poke them into the seedling trays so that later I'll know what's growing.
Most mail and unneeded papers and receipts are dutifully shredded and added to the compost heap, along with egg shells and veggie/fruit waste, coffee grounds (with the filters), and tea bags. I also add leaves and grass clippings, and even fallen, rotten tree limbs to the heap. After all year of doing that, the heap is still only about a foot deep, which means the goodies at the bottom are decomposing just the way I want them to.
I'll be turning the pile and mixing the bottom layer with manure, topsoil, and potting soil for my garden beds and containers.
I've saved foam egg cartons so that my seedlings can be put in those after they've sprouted and are touching the top of the mini-greenhouses. Then, it's an easy move for them to be put into peat pots, then later into the ground, without much stress on them. By the way, planting from seed is the very cheapest way to have veggies in the garden. Plants can be a couple of dollars a 4-pack. I've spent under $20 and so far have about $44 worth of plants, not counting the ones I just planted today!
I'm not a cheapskate. I'm thrifty. I'm frugal. I'm discerning.
