As my material inventory increases and my money decreases, I am finding myself looking for other ways to get tying material.
I just went out to the local fly shop and bought a section of fuzzy tying foam, only to get it home and find it was a square of tan velour blanket material? For the price I paid for a six by six square, I?m sure I could have gone to Walmart and bought a square yard in the cloth department.
Anyways, here some other things I have found:
The nylon yarn at Walmart costs 25 cent for ten yards, come in a dozen colors, and looks just like Antron yarn that costs much more for much less yarn.
The 5-Minute clear epoxy that sells for $5.00 at fly shops is $1.97 at you-know-where, same brand, same size.
Kroger supermarket is selling the thin metallic Flashabou right now in caddis green, blue, and shrimp pink. They?re disguising it as Easter basket grass and selling it for $1.50 in a bag large enough to cost over twenty dollars at your local fly shop.
I work doing service in several factories around the state. Each factory has ear plug stations. The foam ear plugs are connected with vinyl tubing in cicada orange, blue, red, or catalpa worm yellow/green.

I?m sure we can all think of things like this. Maybe you could share your ideas.
Alan