How do you stretch every penny?

[chiguirre]

Can you possibly keep the car? Since your kids are in ps, you'll be able to work. Your oldest is old enough to babysit your youngest, and soon your 2nd will be too. If you can't keep the car, can you move within walking distance of a commercial center or town where you could work? Without a job or AFDC, I don't think there's any way to get through a year without any income unless you have substantial savings.

 

Good luck!

[Brindee]

We don't need one. (Except the two or three days after hosting Christmas. I over catered!)

 

I was reading "Food, Not Lawns" and there was a chapter about giving up fridges. We've been unemployed for two years now, so getting rid of a large appliance if we didn't need it seemed like a good idea. I looked in the fridge and realised we were running it two keep six things we didn't need cold, so I went to hubby. He looked in the fridge and came to the same conclusion, so we ate those six things and turned the fridge off.

 

I know I have the computer on all day, and that uses electricity, but it's a matter of priorities ;) I don't need a fridge. I do need internet access or I'll go nuts!

 

Rosie

Really? Wow! We certainly use AND need our fridge. We put fruit, veggies, left-overs, soy milk, margarine/butter, condiments, etc. in there. We could NOT get along without a fridge! What do you eat that you don't need one? Sorry if this is taking away from the OP! Just a quick jog to the left..... :001_smile:

[tex-mex]

Then there's the dreaded moving in with your parents.

:lol::lol::lol:

Sorry -- but this is one thing we're trying to avoid. LOL We'd drive each other crazy. :D

[tex-mex]

Do you have an Aldi's nearby? This was a huge help to us a few years ago when money was tight. I think I cut our grocery bill nearly in half during that time.

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

[mariposa]

A friend sent this to me a couple of weeks ago. Actually, reading this thread made me go back and actually take a look at it. There's lots of helpful information here...

 

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=127811d592a1194d&mt=application%2Fpdf&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2F%3Fui%3D2%26ik%3Dce06dc00b5%26view%3Datt%26th%3D127811d592a1194d%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dattd%26realattid%3Df_g6sxoue10%26zw&sig=AHIEtbR8Ifgf07ITfRe-cjyZmWmwUkuSyQ&pli=1

 

Thanks for asking the question, it's good for all of us to remember to use whatever we have wisely!

Sarah

[Colleen in NS]

Can you give me any idea of good things to stock up on with excellent shelf life?

 

Here's how I think about this: what nutritious food groups do I need to provide for my family? Grains, protein, dairy, fruits/vegetables. Then, within each group, I look around where I live and figure out costs per serving, and then buy whatever is the cheapest in each group. For example, here, whole wheat flour is the cheapest form of grain. I can use this to make tons of different items. Then there are rolled oats, rice, and cornmeal. Big variety of things to make within those. And they store well. Same with proteins: even within legumes, I figure out *which* legumes give me the most protein per serving, for the least cost, and then stock up on a couple varieties of those. Within dairy, powdered milk is the cheapest form of calcium here, so I stock up on that. Fruits here? Bananas, then apples. Veggies? Carrots, onions, turnip, cabbage, canned tomatoes, frozen green beans. Most of these store long term, too.

 

Paper products? Old flannel sheets from a thrift store or your closet can be cut up into handkerchiefs - bye bye tissues. We use rags (old socks or sheets) to clean up messes and do general cleaning - no paper towels. I even learned about "family cloth" (toilet tissue) here on the forums a few months ago (I don't use it, but it stretched my frugal thinking!!). Then there are reuseable feminine hygiene items. I guess you'd have to scale back and find your comfort level with these things - Amy Dacyzyn of The Complete Tightwad Gazette (a book you should try to find in your library) says that you should scale back until you are no longer comfortable, then kick it back up a notch, just so you can figure out what you really can live with. I'm always experimenting with this - it's good mental exercise.

 

Baking soda can go a long way in a household for baking, cleaning, deodorant (mixed with cornstarch), laundry, teeth cleaning, and I'm sure a million other things. Vinegar, too.

 

Ok people are going to think this is gross-- but If when we took our clothes off at night, if they looked clean and smelled clean we put them back away to wear again (NOT underclothes)

 

Not gross; sensible.

 

You know, that's exactly how I feel about not using our fridge. It's a very interesting experiment.

 

Rosie

 

How is the fridge experiment going? How do you live without it?

[shinyhappypeople]

Check out the Department of Energy's Weatherization program. They'll weatherize your home for free, which should save a lot on your utilities.

[Rosie_0801]

Really? Wow! We certainly use AND need our fridge. We put fruit, veggies, left-overs, soy milk, margarine/butter, condiments, etc. in there. We could NOT get along without a fridge! What do you eat that you don't need one? Sorry if this is taking away from the OP! Just a quick jog to the left..... :001_smile:

 

We're mostly vegan, and the bits of non-veganness we indulge in don't require refrigeration. We also shop for fresh food every day or two (it's a good way to make sure we don't spend the whole day slouching around the house,) so we're not buying large amounts to try and keep for a fortnight. We live within walking distance to the shops. I doubt I'd do this if we lived more than two km away. Most of the things people refrigerate don't need to be, even if it says so on the jar. Vegan left overs from dinner will be just fine for breakfast the following morning even in the middle of our summer. In winter, a pot of soup will be fine sitting on the bench for a few days.

 

Rosie

Edited April 16, 2010 by Rosie_0801

[H.S. Burrow]

No additional advice, just wanted to give you :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

[Kimm in WA]

You mention being in a ranch area. Are there also orchards and farm stands nearby? If so, I would recommend canning as much as you can this summer. I have a family of 6 and each summer can a lot of peaches, pears, applesauce, and grape juice concentrate (as in a total of hundreds of jars). I also dehydrate pears (YUM, my favorite) and apples. All of this fruit I've obtained free. After the orchard has been picked, the grower will often allow people to glean the remains (often too small, but also quite often too BIG, peaches). I've not had to ask at orchards, as friends have known the growers or are our neighbors (pear orchard). If you don't have canning jars, join freecycle - they are listed often on there.

 

In addition to the fruit I've canned for free I've also canned zucchini relish (can't tell it's not "regular"), sauerkraut, salsa, pickles, pickled asparagus, and fruit jams from veggies and fruit that are inexpensive during the summer in my area. I don't can all of this each year, but I would if I knew I'd have no income in a few months. They store great, and it'd be nice to have it on-hand since you'll be more home-bound with no car.

 

Hope some of this helps.

Kimm

[Lara in Colo]

I've thought of something that needs to be added. The old saying "a stich in time saves nine" is so true. So even though money is very tight, don't put off maintenence. For your body, your car, your house--you get the idea. A simple leak can turn from a $50 plumber problem to a $500 drywall repair if left too long. A cold that needs a little antibiotic can become pnuemonia. Use your judgement, use your friends, pray a lot. Holding it all together is sooooo hard. Don't forget to release the stress on yourself every now and then. Throw things, cry on the cat late at night, take a bath and forget the world now and then, treat yourself to the "too expensive" chocolate ecair.

 

Lara

[Pippen]

Really pay attention to how much food costs at your grocery stores. We've been on severe budgets a lot in the past 7 years, and I was shocked to realize that I could buy more, better food at Trader Joe's than I could at Safeway for the same amount of money. All the other stores nearby cost even more than Safeway. We might be able to do better at Costco, but I've never been willing to fork over the membership costs.

 

I had to go to Walmart the other day so I price-checked the foods I buy most frequently and discovered the only thing I that was cheaper than what I'd bought elsewhere recently was peanut butter. A few days later there was a great sale on peanut butter at a local store, so even that didn't hold up.

 

When Walmart first came to town it was by far the cheapest. Not anymore. You really have to pay attention.

[ConnieB]

Our income is about to become nothing and I am not sure what to do. So, how do I stretch every penny? Any and all ideas will be awesome!

 

First you need to determine what your absolute core basic expenses are....for my family this is mortgage, utilities and food. The must haves is ONE vehicle and gas for it, so that dh can seek work. When we've had a second car and come upon financial difficulties, it is either sold or parked (and insurance company notified so that insurance costs can drop). Other things that are cut completely when necessary: cable TV (actually we cut this early in our marriage and have never added it back, but I know most people have cable tv or netflix or some other paid entertainment....we use the library for DVDs and only buy the DVD if we find outselves repeatedly looking for it specifically over and over at the library); cell phones (we use a month to month service so we've never had to deal with penalties for early termination, but I have heard of several families that were able to talk with their cell phone companies and have the service "interrupted" for a few months, meaning they can't use them, but they aren't cancelling their contract so they don't pay penalties, but those non-use months are tacked on at the end of the contract....think deferred).

 

Depending on your loan company, sometimes you can get a similar differment on your mortgage...it still accrues full interest but you can make a smaller or no payment for a couple of months. This works best when you are not already in arrears of course.....and works even better if you've paid extra principal on the loan. We were able to differ for 6 months because we'd paid so much principal extra each month for several years. The added interest was depressing, but it only added a couple of extra payments to the end of the loan, and of course we don't actually presume we'll even pay those last months anyway, we move often enough, lol).

 

Food....this is one of the must-haves that while you can't eliminate it, it's amazing the frugal ways that you can eat when you have to. I wouldn't want to eat this way forever, but a few months to stretch savings while we hunt for income sources, we make a game out of it. There are sooo many ways to do it, I won't make this long post longer, but check your library for titles like "how to feed your family on $5 a day" type books. The food isn't exciting but it cheap and filling. Time to clean out the pantry and freezer to put together some interesting meals with just the items you have on hand.

 

Take a long hard look at the rest of your expenses and decide that for the short term until you get back on your feet you'll stop them. It's almost unthinkable, but do you really need internet at home? DH can go to the library and use the computer to job search and check email there. Less convenient, but a good steady savings each month. Our local library allows one hour computer use per library card.....so he took each family members cards and was able to finish his business, including some relaxing surfing and still have cards left over, lol.

 

Look around and figure out what you have sitting in closests that no one uses anymore that can be sold, either on a local homeschool board, or something like WTM if it's school related, or if you have enough a garage sale. It is actually quite amazing how much money you can make selling your old un-needed items. We made enough in a garage sale once to pay the mortgage!

[cjbeach]

We've been flat on our butts broke for almost 2 years. It's a sad, sad state that we have been in. We have a family of 5 and we've really struggled. Here are some suggestions:

1. Cut out cable. Get a digital box and there's hulu if you really want to see a tv show.

2. make the library your 2nd home (movies, books, kids events)

3. look up all the free events in your county, mark them on a calendar and go. There are so many free things to "do."

4. We were denied all "Assistance" except for a kids' health program which shockingly provided us more services than any of our old private insurers did!

5. Call you utility companies... this is HUGE.. ask about assistance programs. We've had our electric bills paid twice - 2 different agencies.

6. Call 211 United way about food assistance or utility assistance in your area. We did not qualify for food stamps and there were times we had no food.....had it not been for food assistance places I don't know what we would have done. If you can go to a few of these places to get you through a pinch you can stock up on some food goods (especially canned).

7. farmer's market for produce

8. befriend Aldi or Sav-a-lot. I have befriended both and they have saved us plenty ......... I haved fed our family on 5 on very,very, very little per week

9. make the Dollar Tree a weekly trip if you are lucky to have one local. If we've been stuck i have been able to pick up spaghetti and sauce for $2 there. Bread is a dollar but I find it's even cheaper at our Walmart now. I try to stock up at our bread outlet.

10. once a week we make homemade pizza. super cheap. I use the recipes from http://www.tammysrecipes.com/

11. one night a week we make breakfast for dinner. super cheap.

12. a bag of popcorn goes a long way (microwave in a paper bag folded over)

13. we have one cell.....cheapest plan we can find

14. we have one car......cheap van

15. we do not have a home phone but have skype for 2.95 a month and I paid for a phone number so anyone can call me

16. hillbilly housewife has some amazingly cheap ideas. http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/40dollarmenu.htm

17. check out http://www.5dollardinners.com/ for cheap dinner ideas, I stretch it by adding rolls (super cheap at Aldi and sav a lot0 like 38cents a tube I think) and canned fruit.

18. no name brand boxed cereals. we eat malt-o-meal bags (which i actually prefer), oatmeal, etc......

19. craiglist anything you do not need (cash, pick up only). Keep an eye on FREE section in craigslist for things you do.

20. find some awesome thrift stores.

 

I could go on..... it's been rough but we've made it!

[m0mmaBuck]

I don't know if anyone mentioned Angel Food Ministries, but if you have them available in your area, check them out.

 

https://www.angelfoodministries.com/