The plastic lever broke off of my toilet handle. I tied a piece of nylon rope to the valve and ran it out through the hole that the handle was in. Pretty rustic but it works. It was more about just making it work and "whatever works" (innovation) than not spending money. I didn't want to spend time on it.

I remember temporarily replacing an electrical wire on my car with a 110 wire from something in the trunk, but it only worked enough to get me the last mile home. I didn't even know if it would work. But like Zotron, I usually did it out of necessity rather than to save money. You can use the little plastic mesh sleeve garlic comes in to strain oat or nut milk in place of a nut sack (that's really what its called) and you can use a clean sock or knee high hose to strain water off small seeds like alfalfa seeds for sprouting. I've used a lot of stuff for other stuff, like a butter knife for a screwdriver or a shoe heel for a hammer or something like that. But you can also reuse a lot of containers instead of buying them. I always re use any container that comes with a lid! And you can organize magazines in a cereal box, just put some art on the spine. You can even make silverware type drawer organizers out of cereal boxes cut down. I use oat meal cans for holding my yarn sometimes. It keeps it neater. But I don't spend money on organizers anyway. I usually just reuse the bag from the store. I also reuse the small boxes my drink mixes come in. You can make organizers for small things with ice cube trays or egg crates. I keep some ice cube trays in clear shoe boxes with various findings in them. I also use shoe boxes and a shoe rack for my spice rack. You can also use ice cube trays for screws, nuts, and bolts, fishing tackle or freezing small portions of chopped onion or red bell pepper. But don't forget the duct tape. If duct tape can't fix it, its broke!! I even saw someone fix a plumbing leak with a roll of duct tape. It can also work as an insect trap! haha