If you want to save money on backpacking gear, there are a lot of everyday items lying around your house that you can use. The only limit is your imagination!

For example:

Trash Compactor Bags – Line the inside of your backpack with a trash compactor bag instead of using a backpack cover. These plastic bags are extremely durable and they will keep your gear DRY.

Soda Bottles – 1 liter sized soda bottles provide an ultralight alternative to heavier Nalgene bottles. Many long distance hikers swear by them and they’re easy to replace.

Reflectix Insulating Wrap – use this to make freezer bag and cook pot cozies.

Padded Mailing Envelopes – The kind lined with bubble wrap. These also make great freezer bag cooking cozies.

Household Bleach – makes a great water purifier for long distance hikers. The CDC and EPA even recommends it for water purification, but stay away from the scented kind.

Plastic Shopping Bags – these make great snow anchors in winter if you need to pitch a tent on snow. They’re also ultralight. Just make sure to pack them out when you’re done using them.

Nail Spikes as Tent Pegs – Go to the hardware store and pick up some 8″ or 10″ nails spikes to use as tent or tarp stakes. You don’t need to shell out big bucks for titanium tent stakes.

Tyvek House Wrap – Got some extra Tyvek? It makes a great ground cloth that’s lightweight and waterproof.

Safety Pins – These are a great addition to your gear repair kit. I’ve pinned a shoulder hardness back onto a backpack in the middle of nowhere so I could finish my planned trip. Locking safety pins are the best!

Oven Bags – Oven basting bags make great vapor barrier socks. Just put them over a sock liner and then cover with a second warmer sock and your feel will stay toasty warm all day. These are best used when temperatures are well below freezing. The ones sized for cooking turkeys are too big – go a size smaller.

Styrofoam Cups – Why buy a $50 Snowpeak titanium insulated mug when you can use two styrofoam cups together to keep water hot in cold weather? The styrofoam cups are also lighter weight!

Drier Lint – Makes a great fire starter.

Plumbers Tape – Wrap a little plumbers tape around the threads of your water reservoir or water bottle to prevent it from leaking.

Cat Food Can, Paint Cans, Peach Cans, etc. – You can turn these cans into alcohol or woods stoves very easily with a kid’s hole punch.

Plastic Spoons – You don’t need to pay $20 for a titanium spoon. Just use a plastic spoon that you pick up at a fast food restaurant.

Plastic Spice Bottles and Prescription Bottles – These are great for carrying small quantities of olive oil, DEET, liquid soap, or hand cleanser so you don’t have to carry more than you need. You can also use them to carry spices and pills.

Duct Tape – So many uses ranging from first aid and blister prevention to gear repair.

Vaseline Soaked Cotton Balls – Makes a long-lasting and inexpensive fire starter with a very long shelf life.

What household items have you adapted for backpacking?