Whenever someone is ready to destroy a pallet or burn it, I try to take a small prying tool and salvage some of the nails first. Sure beats buying them; I've saved a little money this way whenever doing little projects around the house.

I do the same thing with bolts and wheels on office chairs whenever someone throws out their broken one to the curb. I find that the bolts and wheels on most modern models are often almost exactly alike and interchangeable, and whenever one gives out in my chair I just replace it. I've been using the same office chair for about five years now, cannibalizing parts from their cousins.

I also remember some time ago in another post I mentioned finding little cheap-o LED lights at Target on clearance. I cracked those ones open because they used the same type of batteries that go into the clearly superior Photons. I saved a LOT of money doing that, those little quarter-sized CR2016's cost a bundle!

I take apart any broken electronics I have as well, to see what parts I can mix, match, and use.

And OH YEAH, I almost forgot. If I ever use a disposable camera (the kind with a flash function), I always make sure the film is winded in the internal canister, then crack it open and take the AA battery that's inside, powering the flash. If I hardly used it it can go into an Inova X1 or my headlamp and last for a little while.