+Milbank Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 I have many places I would like to place geocaches, but the cost of placing them is really adding up. The standard geocache I place end up costing me $9-$17. ------------------------------------------------ Ammo: $4-$5 Rubbermaid container $3 Small note pad and a couple pencils. $1-$2 Swag. $5-$10 ------------------------------------------- I started out using swag items from around the house when I first started, but I'm running out of things so I have been spending more on swag then when I started. I also started out using ammo cans, then I found some really nice clear rubbermaid containers with screw on lids at wal-mart. They were a little cheaper then the ammo cans. My wal-mart no longer has the nice rubbermaid containers so I have gone back to ammo cans. It seems like I'm always running out of the small note pads I buy to use for log books so today when I was getting a couple of caches ready I decide to just staple a couple of extra sheets of printer paper to the print out that explains what the geocache is and write "Log Book" on top of them. Guess I can save a buck or so cutting out the note pad for a log book and just start using printer paper or do you think that is getting to cheap?? Anyone have some idea's of containers I could use that would be really cheap or free? I have been looking for some kind of container that I would get with something I would buy. Something that could be cleaned out and reused as a geocache container. How can I cut back on the cost of putting together a geocache to hide and still have a nice geocache? Quote Link to comment
+TeamAO Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 30calibur ammo cans can be as low a $3. Buy Dollar Store swag, and small .50-$1 stuf like carabiners. ($8) Pencils, Pens- $1 will cover 5+ caches. Notepad- .75 That's as cheap as I can wiggle through for. If you're placing a quality cache $10 is your average minimum. If you really don't want to spend any money on placing them, I suppose some sort of Tupperware you have lying around would work. Things can be "makeshift" but my best advice would be shop around. And when you find swag online, buy in bulk to set a cheaper price. Quote Link to comment
+Airmapper Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 Lock & Lock: ~$2.75 Note pads: ~$0.50 Swag: I'll have to get back with you on that one. Dollar store has good stuff, like notepads and pencils. I use left over food containers. Some people might give you troble about that but it has worked good so far. However I'm still working with pre-caching surplus, for swag and pencils and containers. Quote Link to comment
+TeamAO Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 If you want cheap swag, you'll have to buy in bulk, and if you want to do that this company has worked very well for me in the past. Quote Link to comment
+Snoogans Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 (edited) OOOOooOOOOooo... I'm gonna get flamed for this. M&M mini's container= Free. I bought the candy to eat and the container was recycled into a cache. Adding machine tape for a log= Also free. My company threw away cases of addy tape when they went paperless. Yay! Snoogy saved a tree. About 2 cents worth of camo tape. That figure may be inflated just to show that I spent something other than time on it. Results: 2 years of fun! OVER 2 years of fun! No camo tape here. For the micro haters: Read the logs and then tell me they aren't the type of so called "good caches" that the OP wants to place. Micro doesn't equal BAD. It just takes some thought, or a beautiful spot to be all it can be. Edited October 8, 2005 by Snoogans Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 (edited) Lock n Locks are 50 cents to $3.00 depending on size. Nalgene Straight Jars $1.50 to $2.99 depending on size. Wirebound steno pads $3.98 for a pack of 5 at Staples. Cut in half so you get 10 bringing it to 39 cents each. A box of 144 golf pencils at Staples $6.95 (4 cents each) Matchbox cars on sale 50 cents each Emergency poncho at Walmart 89 cents Enegerzer squeeze light $1.29 SBA dollar $1 Carabiner 79 cents Assuming the most expenisve of the containers listed above the cost of a halfway decently stocked cache in a solid, watertight container, under $8. Edited October 8, 2005 by briansnat Quote Link to comment
+Airmapper Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 Lock & Locks are GREAT. It's like a plastic ammo box. (You do have to camo them though.) Quote Link to comment
+Rich the Bushwhacker Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 Have you tried a local yard sale for containers? I've picked up used tupperware for under 50 cents, they work ok, but have to be replaced occasionally. You can also pick up swag for really cheap while you're there. Wal-Mart has logbooks for 25 cents, but sometimes you can pick up small preprinted pads for a dime or so at the local job lot. Quote Link to comment
+chstress53 Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 Yard sales & flea MArkets are where I purchase containers. Found 2 very large Bear proof containers for 8. Most times I have purhased ammo cans 2 for 5. Tupperware usually is 25 or 50 cents Sometimes I can get log books in bulk there too. 100 for 5 Usually last a long time. Fortunately there are Flea markets every day but Mon in my area. (Tuesday -Cowtown, Wed -New Egypt, Thursday- Columbus, Fri -Ettingers, Sat -Berlin or Englishtown, and Sun- New Egypt or Berlin.) I also watch ebays bulk lots for swag. I was lucky to win a case of 500 little leather back pack coin purse for 5. with shipping it cost 3.99 more. These have lasted me a good year. I have stocked a couple of new caches and have trade swag left. I hit the flea market early and then cache for the rest of the day. Quote Link to comment
Hugh Jazz Posted October 9, 2005 Share Posted October 9, 2005 Garage Sales. The Hugh Jazz Cooler Cache, a 20 gallon coleman cooler filled with great big swag, was purchased in its entirety at garage sales for less than $5. It's the largest cache in Kansas and it was only a few bucks. This is the magic of Garage Sales. It also helps if you have friends and relatives who are recovering packrats. Recovering packrats often have lots of great swag for free that they're giving away to try to rid themselves of their hoarding compulsion. Fortunately for us cachers, they can *never* rid themselves of this compulsion but they are periodically compelled to try so this results in lots of free swag for the rest of us. My name is Hugh Jazz and I approved this message. Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted October 9, 2005 Share Posted October 9, 2005 Ammo Can. 2.00 Or a Decon 1.00 Pencil 0.50 if I spent way too much. Buy the handy multi pack. Log book .25 each in a 4 back at the dollar store. Swag is optional, but based on what I have on hand and how much $ I have. I can spend as little as 2.75 for a cache or as much as 100+. If I find tupperware at a garage sale I can use one of those containers and lower my cache price to 85 cents for the basics. Give or take. Quote Link to comment
+FlyfishermanMike Posted October 9, 2005 Share Posted October 9, 2005 Garage sales, thrift stores, neighbors garbage cans... I'm fine skimping a little on other things but the container should be waterproof. Why spend the money on all the other stuff if you're going to have to replace it from a bad container? Shop around for some good deals. I just bought a bunch of waterproof, screw on top 6x1.5 nalgene type containers that are perfect for a big micro for $.99 Sometime I'll make my own log in Photoshop or word. My dad is a teacher so I get all the pens and pencils he finds laying around his room. ^^ike Quote Link to comment
+Milbank Posted October 9, 2005 Author Share Posted October 9, 2005 Renegade Knight, were do you buy ammo cans for $2? I found the 25 cent note pads at wal-mart. I also found a large pack of pencils at wal-mart and I will cut them in half on the band saw so I can get twice the use out of them. Thanks for all the other tips, will have to shop around some more. .. Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted October 9, 2005 Share Posted October 9, 2005 ... were do you buy ammo cans for $2?... We have Mountain Home Air Force Base in Southern Idaho. They have pallets of ammo cans come up for sale. That's not where I got them, but when I posted that we should, someone else knew a friend who had a ton of the things for 2 bucks each for 30cal. Not much more for 50. If you have access to a local base you can bid and win one of those auctions. Then they get cheap. You just have to work out the logistics and get a bunch of buyers together to front the money. The guy who sold us them for 2.00 probably made money at it from when he got them at an auction. Quote Link to comment
Team Firebird Posted October 9, 2005 Share Posted October 9, 2005 Ammo: $4-$5 You put live ammo in a cache? There has to be a rule aginst that somewehere... Quote Link to comment
+CompuCash Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 THE DOLLAR STORE! Lock n Lock - $1.00 I just bought 20 more today! They finally got some more in. Log books - 6 for #0.69 at McFrugals Spiral 60- sheets - nice little logs books A few hours spent sanding and painting Paint - Orchard Hardware (OSH) About $1.50 a can Swag - well I get a lot of my swag free -- neat stuff too but I also haunt the Dollar Store for some great swag sometimes I even get 2 or 3 items for $1.00 they do have some neat stuff in the computer electronics section LED flashlight - BRIGHT! Carabiner and survival Whistle (that's a 2for) Today I grabbed a couple neat digital clocks several sized of calculators - from mini key chain to large watches we did a pet cache with a lot of neat pet stuff wife did a kitchen cache pens 10 for $1.00 check out Oriental Trading Company for some nice stuff - most of the stuff I buy is $3-5 per dozen. Order a printed catalog so you can thumb through all their stuff. so you see it does not have to cost quite as much as you say - but I do agree that it can easily add up really fast. cc\ Quote Link to comment
jbeanie & family Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 I used a canister from Wal-mart. It's air tight and clear, and it's a good size. Then I camoflagued it from the inside with black paper. The canister wasn't too expensive, only a couple of bucks. Sometimes they have them at the dollar store, too. Quote Link to comment
+bykenut Posted October 11, 2005 Share Posted October 11, 2005 Garage sales are a great place for swag, especially late in the day. Once I was able to get about 50 small toys, all in good shape, for $2 (the woman selling them gave me a grocery bag and told me I could have however much toys I could get in the bag for $1. I only filled it up about a third (I was on my bike) and gave her $2. Many garage sales in my area sell swag for 10 to 25 cents a piece. I've found that garage sales in "nice" neighborhoods offer the best swag at the best prices. For notepads, I keep a lookout for the 7-day coupons at Walgreen's. Once I was able to get the 3x5 pads for 10 cents each. Normally their coupons are for 3 for a $1, which is still a great buy. Smart and Final carries some nice sized clear plastic containers for about a buck. I've used several of them for cache containers and they've been working out fine. I get a most of my pens for free. Whenever I go to a fair where they hand out free pens, I grab one. You can also buy a dozen stick type pens for about a buck at Staples. Quote Link to comment
+Super_Nate Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 For regular-sized caches...I got 4 ammo cans for my birthday: FREE Another Regular-sized cache...Bought 10 rubbermaid containers for $1 each at Dollar stores Small caches: Bought 10 small canisters that were on sale at a fundraiser for $.50 each Micro caches: Went up to the photo dept @ Wal-mart and requested film canisters that they were throwing away...they gave me over a 100 without charging! I buy note pads for $.50 Swag crap is whatever I find around the house...'cause we got a lot from moving! Quote Link to comment
tossedsalad Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 (edited) I bought 100 of the small screw top vials they use in bio labs. A lot of times they are called Nalgene vials but mine were made by Nunc, same thing. I paid $10 plus $4 shipping, IIRC, at eBay, so $0.14 each. They make great micro containers which I typically hide inside of something else, like a stick, a hole in a rock or some other natural object. I am making a 6 stage multi where these are cast into concrete fish. I have also used TicTac containers to hold micros. I painted them black to look like wrought iron and used a small magnet in the bottom to hold them to a fence. The magnets were about $0.10 each and I used two. What is that about a quarter if you count the paint? The down side is I have become addicted to TicTacs now and I have a closet filled with future cache containers! BTW, I don't like placing micros as the final stage of a cache. I think a lot of people cache because they like the swag. So my finals are always big enough to hold *some* swag. One other comment, my most recent cache uses a figurine I bought at the Walmart clearance rack for $8 which I cut the bottom out of and made a metal plate held on by six of those same $0.10 magnets! Those magnets are GREAT! Edited October 12, 2005 by tossedsalad Quote Link to comment
crush_tb Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 I've seen caches in cleaned-out peanut butter jars. Those are cheap! The screw lids make them waterproof (at least here in the desert...), and they are a nice size. Quote Link to comment
+fauxSteve Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 One cheap-hide technique that I've seen before goes something like this: "I found this great location for a cache while I was out today, but I didn't have a good container with me. Therefore, the cache is a sandwich bag with a piece of paper in it to sign. Would the next finder please replace the bag with a better container. A small lock n' lock would work well. Thanks!" As long as enough hiders trade up, you will eventually have swag as well! Quote Link to comment
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