I have saved money by not buying stickers or other ready made embellishments. Instead I make my own. You can find lots of ideas with a search. For instance you could cut out little flowers and make a border.
I know people are saying, "Are you nuts? I don't have time for that!" But you can cut things out while you are watching t.v., waiting at the doctor's office....
Another cost cutter are punches. Just get some real basic designs and you will be able to change them up to look very different. Run a search for a specific punch to get ideas.
Watch your junk mail. There are some adorable embellishments that come in the mail! Really look at the item and ask, "How could I cut this out?" or, "What can I add to this to make it work on my page?"
You can also use actual items: movie tickets, brochures, napkins, place mats.... all work as embellishments. You don't have to use the whole item, just cut out what works. For instance cut a circle shape out of a brochure and then adher that to a square of a solid color.
Another tip: Do not scrap all your photos. For instance if your daughter is in gymnastics do not scrap photos from 9 different competitions. Instead do a 2 page spread of gymnastics for the entire year. Then start a shoebox for all the additional photos. Put the photos in a white envelope. Date it. Tuck in box. Done. I believe it is the doing 9 competition pages for one type of theme that "does in," the scrapper and makes her/him want to quit scrapping.
Last tip: limit all of your events (birthdays....) to 2 pages. I know folks who do 6 pages on one birthday party. My boys are now 23 and 18 years old. I have about 20 HUGE albums and that is with limiting all my layouts. That is a lot of scrapbooks!
Hope this helps you save money!