1. Use any and all materials you have on hand in the house first
2. Buy seasonal embellishments during “off time” of the season you are working in. (i.e. buy Christmas embellishments a week or more after Christmas, etc.)
3. Seek page layout ideas from the internet, as opposed to buying high priced scrapbook ideas books at the book store.
4. Swap tools and embellishments with your friends and family who are not using them now.
5. Only buy your supplies when they are on sale.
6. Don’t overstock yourself on embellishments in advance…you may be building up inventory that you may never use again.
7. Build a “scraps” collection of unused or “extra” scraps of paper of unused materials. You can always make use of these scraps later.
8. If you use stamps, contact your scrapbooking “buddies” and trade use of your stamps for theirs and swap them back.
9. When getting photos reproduced, don’t over order duplicates thinking you are going to use all of them. Plan in advance and only order the photo prints you are going to actually use.
10. If you are going to use a lot of a particular embellishment, get your scrapbooking buddies to chip in money to buy them and share the embellishments with them.
11. Contact your scrapbook buddies and ask them if they have any embellishments or materials that they don’t intend on using and ask for them.
12. Always be on the lookout for discount coupons at art stores like Michaels. You never know when you will have need for them in a moment’s notice!
13. “Shop” the internet for scrapbook supplies….quite often they are cheaper than you could buy at a local store.

These are just some ideas to make a scrapbook on the cheap. There is always creative ways to make scrapbooks. The main expense on any scrapbook project is going to be the binder. Don’t sacrifice on that….you want the binder to last for a very long time. As always, use acid free paper for mounting photos.