Okay, ladies if ever there was a time that I need all of your money saving, penny pinching, sending less ideas its now! Dh came home today and informed me that his company is doing another round of layoffs and this time he is probably going to get cut which means that his pay check is cut in half. This means that we are going to only get enough every month to barely cover our house payment and nothing else. Dh is freaking out. I'm freaking out. I have tried looking for a job but havent found anything yet. We have sold just about everything we arent using to pay bills since he already had hours cut a few times here and there.

We are supposed to get a check tomorrow from the insurance company to fix the damages done to our car when I was rear ended last week. We both want to get the car fixed but we are both thinking now that it would just be better to take the money and put it in savings to help with upcoming bills.

So I guess now that I am done freaking out...kind of if I could get all you money saving tips that would be wonderful since Im not real sure how we are going to make it through.

One thing I have found when I'm shopping, I try to be very careful with a list. I only buy whats on the list, or try to. LOL

Also I have found its cheaper to not buy meal kits, but to buy the ingrediants seprately. Like instead of buying a whole taco kit, buy the season package for .75, then buy the shells for $1 instead of spending 2.99 for a whole kit.

I try to buy in bulk as much as I can. Like if the store has the giant pork loins for sale, I buy a huge one, and just cut it up into pork chops for 5 or 6 meals. That helps out alot.

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~Missy~Mommy
Meghan7.Samantha6,Cameron4

Back together!! Sept 28th Boston TDCenter!! Woohooooo!

Have you checked out Angel Food Ministries? I've posted about it before. They offer food for families at a reduced rate. It is not for low-income families. It is for anyone who wants to save money on groceries. A type of co-op. I buy the food every month and its always great. Also, check out your library (mine stinks!) and see if they have The Tightwad Gazette Books. They are the best I have read so far. There are TONS of ideas for saving money in them. Also, look and see what other frugal living books you can find. Shop for foods that you cook with from scratch. Don't buy convienience foods. Also, take advantage of help in your community. Don't be ashamed to get help from others. Most programs are intended for families like yours. Shop at the thrift stores. Check out churches that offer free goods. Ask the local DFACS office about programs for families like yours. I am also praying for you.

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Alicia (Tree-hugger wannabe)
mom to Shawn, Jake, and Toad
Want to save money on Greeting Cards? Learn how to make your own! HERE

I'm sure you have heard it time and time again but I think that now is a good time to refresh.
GO through EACH and EVERY bill you pay per month. Do you really need cable tv? Can you lower the channels you have? What type of car insurance do you have? If you and your husband will not need the car much can you lower your premiums to a low mileage rate? Check different insurance companies. Just because they company you are with was the cheapest a year ago it doesnt mean it still is. These are just some examples. If you do this with every bill (even if you can only lower it by a few dollars) the savings will add up.

I will keep you in my thoughts. Hope everything turns out for the best.

Sorry to hear you are having bad times. Some of the things that help us are going to the bread outlet store, making my own shower spray like the clean shower stuff with 1/2 rubbing alcohol, 1/2 water, planning meals around the sale ads and cooking from scratch, not eating out. Do you have a Walgreens near you? They have a rebate program every month where you can get a lot of free stuff like shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes(I can't remember the last time I bought a toothbrush), deoderant, etc. I have saved so much money with this plus you can get 10% back when you reuse your gift card. Some months I have received $30 some dollars back from the rebates. Also, use double coupons if you can. Our grocery store finally does this on Wednesdays and I have been getting a lot of free stuff. We are only allowed 5 coupons but it has helped a lot. Drink water instead of soda, cut cable or ask for a discount. I recently did this and they took $12 off the monthly bill. We never go out so cable is about our only entertainment besides the computer so we keep it. That's all I can think of for now, good luck!

I am so sorry to hear you are going through this. Besides what everyone else has already wrote do you think you could quaify for programs like WIC fuel assistance, food stamps etc? That would help you out alot if you could get it. i wish you luck and hope that everything turns out ok for you and your family

I agree you should check out angelfoodministries.com and see if they offer it in your state. Shop at Aldi's or Save-a-lot. The grocery budget is usually the easiest to cut back on. Buying name brand items will save you lots of cash. Don't buy convenience foods (prepackaged), make it from scratch. Go to your library and check out books by Mary Hunt and Jonni Mccoy or you can visit miserlymoms.com.

Cut your dryer sheets in half.
Use conditioner as shaving cream.
Make your own cleaning solutions. .
Always shop with a list, if it's not on the list don't buy it.
Hang your clothes up to dry. (i've read it can save .50/load)
To save on gas: don't drive if you can walk there, combine errands, ride the bus.

Good luck, I'll be thinking about you.

Do you need ideas to save money with kids?

These are good ideas but we dont have an Angel food ministries where I live and in order to get any help from the food banks you have to be on some sort of state assistance which we dont quialify for. My Dh makes less than 25,000 a year, which to me is low income but apparently not here so we dont qualify. The food banks now require that you bring proof that you are on state assistance in order to get anything from them. Which in my opinion is bull. At our old place we used to drive by a food bank all the time and you wouldnt believe what kind of cars these people on state assistance drive! Im talking Cadilac Escalades. If I drove a car like that I would be selling it for a junker to afford my food.

We do visit the library as often as possible. Usually, once or twice a week. Its not super close so that limits us a bit but I did pick up a schedule for the book mobile and they are usually in our neighborhood every two weeks so I think we will do that instead of trekking to the library.

We dont have cable so thats not an issue there. No cell phones or anything like that. No long distance. We have pretty much lowered all our bills for the most part. The only thing we really cant get rid of thats not a necessity is the internet. If I wasnt going to school online we wouldnt have it. Our insurance is as low as it can be. We only have liability on both cars instead of full coverage. Plus, our insurance company will match any price quote that another insurance company gives us so every few months or so I call around and find the lowest price and then call our agent who lowers our insurance for us.

I could definitely use ways to save money w/ the kids. We tried going to garage sales to see what people had to get school clothes for my ds but people just dont have his size. Not sure what we are going to do about school clothes for him yet.

I did put a ton of items on local selling sites similar to craigs list but havent sold anything yet. Am thinking about making arts and crafts type items to sell for the holidays but thats a ways off. I just hate being in a position where you are barely scrapping by and then knowing that not making may be a possibility very soon. The crappy thing is that most of the guys getting laid off dont even get told ahead of time. They just get a check on Friday (usually pay day is on Wed) and are told to not come back on Monday. So they really have no time to prepare before hand.