sunni

How do you make ends meet week after week?

I have pretty much been out of work since July 09. I've had a few things here and there that didtn't work out, and now am doing house cleaning part time, which translates to when she needs me LOL

DH has an okay job for this area and a pension check from a job he had for 27 years, but trust me with a mortgage, car payment, utilities, and other normal monthly expenses it is really hard to stretch his check week after week, and still have a little aside if something unexpected comes up.

I was wondering how others do it?

thanks
robin

crochetetc

We did it by choice when we had our first child and I decided to be a stay at home mom. We lived on less than 20,000 a year for 2 years until my hubby got a better job.

Coupons for groceries, we ate whatever meat was on sale that week and I watched ads like crazy. Never enough money to stock up so just bought what we needed. We watched movies at home on tv no going out. We didn't eat out. We seemed to have more friends and more time when broke and took advantage of it. At the time our rent was $900 a month so not sure how we managed but we did.

I would figure out the bills and arrange them by due dates and juggle them, not everything got paid every month but nothing ever got disconnected. At the time the late fee was worth it to hold off paying it on time.

sunni

I do use coupons and shop sales....we did eat out last week and made a trip to the fabric store for the first time in a long long time. As long as I can get a couple days a week work, we do have the extra, but not otherwise.

I have sold some cross stitch things that I know I won't use, that gives me extra spending money :) and thankfully when I was working full time, I bought lots of things for my hobbies, so now mostly when I want to make something I have the supplies:)

I guess I am thinking ahead if I dont' get at least 2 days work and wonder just how long DH's checks can get us thru.

robin

KarenR

First sit down and decide as a couple what you can do without. The first thing that went for us was the cell phone, next decrease tv to the cheapest available or go without, look at all the little things that add up.

The hardest was getting the cheap toilet paper it was not very soft but it did the job.

Contact your community job service and see wht they have and then also NETWORK-- Let everyone know your looking for a job and maybe let them know that you will not be that picky.

And remember that keeping up with your neighbors is not important.

I was unemployed for over 2 years so I speak from personal experience.

IrelandDragonQuilting

One thing you might want to try is go to your local workforce center. Each state has some kind of a training program and usually offer it for free. And priorotize as you are. Also one person who helped me a great deal and still helps me a lot is Dave Ramsey, www.daveramsey.com you can listen to his podcasts for free.

CarrieAnne

I lost my waitressing/bartending job last year when the place I worked for 10 years closed. I made good money there, since then, I have only found a parttime minimum wage job. Living with out is my middle name, lol!
I coupon, and garden, plus pick wild berries, fruits, nuts, dandelion greens. I recyle anything I can get my hands on. Parents save their soda cans for me.
I am very careful with the electricity, turn everything off if I dont need it. I live in the country, so cold water is free, but I am still careful with the water, save rain water for the plants.
I very seldom drive anymore, just to work or help my Parents....anything else, like groceries or bank is done on the way home!
LOL, last time I ate out was a few YEARS ago....really....just would rather save my money for something I need.
Hugs, I know its hard, but you WILL get through, so hard right now for so many. I just keep being positive and Thankful for my home, family, and friends!

arimuse

I lost my last job in 2001 and had to scrape to save my home! (farm). turned off the dish, got an antenna, stopped buying any kind of fee /subscription service (use the public library extensively now - free internet, free movies, free music! my library joined w/ 14 others including the state library so I have a data base of nearly 3 million items of music/movies/ books/ books on tape. You go online to your library web site, search the base, order what you want and its delivered to your local library, and if youre on a trip and near any library in the group you can return your stuff to the closest library in the group.), Started a garden (I have 18 acres in the country), learned to can, turned down the AC in the summer, put in a wood stove for the winter (I live in SC so dont need that much heat), got a fishing license and caught fish, stopped eating so much any meats - which made me feel a lot better, flossed/brushed teeth, and use a restorative mouthwash twice a day! (still have a cleaning once a yr and the dentist is amazed at how good my teeth are). Never have lites on in the house in more than the rm Im in. Use candles more! Use a treadle machine when practical, hand sew a lot, got a cell phone that uses a prepd card and have it for emergencies, have a house phone cus I needed it for internet connection, but can only call locally, ate ramie noodles once a day (12C a package), and cut out alllll other prepackaged foods -(cooked from scratch), collected cans on the roadways etc, and even dumpsterdived!
Stopped buying fabric and used what I had and cut up clothes no longer good and found clothes thrown away and on the roadway I washed and cut up - now I buy about 4X a yr from fabrics.com so I get cutoff bundles and free shipping - keeps me in more than enough cloth! lol-
I was in my late 50s, widowed, no kids, no one in the family could afford to help, finally I gave my youngest brother, now in his 50s - single no kids, a promise of half my property and the whole thing if I die first for help in the mortgage (he was a trucker at the time). I managed to get by, and now make the bills on SS and a small pension from where I worked for 20 yrs. I also found a new hubs and have moved into town and my bro is on the farm, but we still own it and it is mine, not hubs- he owns the town house and other stuff.
But, I learned, you can do it on your own if you dont panic and think things thru, you can live with a LOT less and still be very happy, and your health is something you have a lot of control over if you are willing to "own" your body, your health issues and do what needs to be done to keep it healthy - read up on everything about it.
on the farm we had many strays cats and dogs, and still do. My brother started picking up dead deer (only fresh ones) there are so many down here and dressing them out and freezing the meat, we cook deer for all the animals (he still does - never raw, always very well done to kill any bad germs) every 3 days to supplement dry food.
sharet
hope you find something soon, am glad you have a hubs to help out and be supportive of each other

mimom

I dont get my hair cut but twice a year, I dye my own hair, I dont buy alot of clothes, I buy everything on sale. Chicken is cheap and you can do alot with it, same with hamburger.. I never pay full price for anything. If I find something at the grocery store really cheap, like 10 for $10 and get 11th one free, I will buy it and charge it if I have to then pay it off first chance I get. Its tough, I have a 10yr old and 13 yr old and they always want something but I think they are starting to understand how to budget and save money.

nativetexan

I've been out of work over a year now. on unemployment which helps. i've sold some qlting items here in the past, given lots more to charity. i paid off my car loan. hated to do that with my IRA money but that large pmt had to go.
i'm trying to figure out how to pay off the Bank loan my hubby has let go on for yrs and yrs.
and of course i use coupons on groceries and other things. that helps too.
now that i pay the bills and do the grocery shopping, i don't spend half the money my hubby did.

clynns

I've been unemployed since March 1, 2009. I can, freeze food from 1/4 acre garden. I am in the process now of getting rid of fabric that I'll never use. 99% of the fabric I own is LQS. There's a few stray pieces that I've purchased from others. The only thing I have to buy for a quilt at this time is batting. I save coffee grounds for my roses, plant flowers close to my garden (bees pollinate), look for canning jars on free cycle and garage sales (I only have to buy lids), use cold water when I wash clothes, hang outside when I can, recycle aluminum (I take to recycleing place), my last drop off I got $19.50. EVERY little bit helps. Get rid of newspaper, read it online, the library is very good resource. Networking is the best way. Let people know what your looking for. Work, wood, tools, help....