Scrimping to Spend

'Tis the season for over-indulgence, spending freely, and lots of consuming. That's okay, really. I'm okay with that. I like shopping and I really like gift giving, but where's the balance in all that?
I rationalize my spending by choosing where/what to spend money on. One thing that screams waste is the plastic dish scrubber. I feel guilty buying them. In fact, I feel so much guilt that I tried to grow loofahs last year to replace the plastic, but they were mislabeled seeds and I actually grew delicata squash. I have since paid way too much for coir scrubbers, but know their time is limited.
Enter the onion bag. Scrunch it up so it's nice and frilly (lots of surface material for scrubbing action), sew a few stitches through the center to keep it in said scrunched up shape and voila! Dish scrubby without excess plastic waste!
I used a sturdy upholstery weight thread to sew it together, then attached a loop of thread to it so I can hang it to dry, too.
Are you scrimping in some ways to spend in others? What sort of crafty recycling are you doing these days?