How to Make Your Newspaper Pay For Itself

Sure, I've written a few dozen editorial columns for newspapers, and that's brought a modicum of cash my way. But you don't need to do that to make your newspaper subscription pay for itself. Check out these ideas.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Newspapers.
• Scissors.
• A pen.
• Maybe some paint if you roll that way.

1. COUPONS: This alone will pay for your entire year's subscription to a newspaper - and then some! Call it "red neck" if you will, but my wife and I calculate that we save $2,000 a year just by clipping coupons. NOTE: Don't buy things you wouldn't buy otherwise. That's how advertisers "extort" you. Just throw those ads for Pepperidge Farm cookies away, unless they're already a part of your lifestyle.
2. YARD SALE WRAPPING PAPER: Have a yard sale and wrap the dishes up in your left-over paper. This is also a good use for those all-too-many plastic bags you probably have lying around from the supermarket.
3. READ THE ADS: We found a $2,000 couch for $150 by reading the ads. We also found a life-long devoted companion, which is priceless. (Good ol' Henry, our dog.)
4. Here's Cosmo Pace wearing a sweater I later purchased from him. Look him up! IF YOU'RE ARTISTIC: Our friend Cosmo, a painter and shirt artist, saves newspapers from special days (like 1/1/00), and then drips paint over images that he collages. Eventually he frames then with left-over wood he finds in the yard, and wow do they make great conversation pieces!
5. GLASS-CLEANING: There's still nothing quite out there that matches using newspaper to clean windows along with Windex. Try it! It works. I know you might think that the print on the paper would wind up on your car or house, but trust me: It just doesn't work that way.

Tips & Warnings

• You can obviously also use your newspaper as packing paper.
• Use it to make papier-mâché items over balloons.
• Enjoy the odd familiarity of having home delivery. A scattered Sunday paper adds to the ambience of your home.