My fiancé and I will cut down milk and water jugs for templates, it's something he picked up from his mother and grandmother when he was helping them quilt. I do go ahead and buy the acrylic templates when it's a pattern that I know I'm going to see a lot of, like the Double Wedding Ring and then some basic diamond and triangle shapes, but the milk jugs are perfect for us. I figure if we're paying almost $5 a gallon for milk, might as well squeeze that lemon until there's nothing left of it.