cr0sh:
Would you be willing to try surplus components? For breadboards, LEDs, transistors, switches, motors, etc - these surplus vendors have worked well for me:
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As you can probably tell, I'm a "surplus and junk" connoisseur; I'll only buy new parts if I have no other way to get a particular device (or, if I were doing small-scale manufacturing or something where I needed a dependable supply).
I sometimes see these surplus components can be more expensive than new components. As well sometimes they are old, and you will ecounter difficulties to aquire the same parts again in a year.
A solution that works for me is to buy bulk quantities, not single components.
I am the opposite of a junk connoisseur, sometimes I use old parts from VCRs indeed but only if I don't have new parts available. There are good parts sometimes but you can't specify exactly what you need, or use let say 20 of them.
One really cheap surplus vendor I saw is Pollin Electronics, I never tried them myself but they have sortiments for good prices. I'd say this is hobby stuff and won't be used for professional circuits or circuits that are sold, but that's opinion.
Or I suggest that you team up with some people you know to share bulk purchases of components.
Even searching eBay, there are some moon price vendors, some regular vendors with good prices, if you search really hard, you typically can get it for 1/2 price. Well ordering from China can take 3 weeks to arrive.
I saw Mouser recently does not have any minimum order policy, and Farnell (UK) the same, no minimum order policy.