CNA's Have to Be Thrifty......How Do You Stretch a Dollar?

So aside from cutting coupons and looking for deals such as dollar store or sales I look for freebies. I have kids so the funnest thing is to find fun things to do together for free. Here are some ideas so far:

Free movies at the local theater in the am on weekdays and in the local parks on the weekends

Free family swim nights at our city pool

Free music in the park

Free crafts every weekend at lakeshore Learning

Free storytime at libraries and book stores

When we go out to eat we search "kids eat free" in our city and get a list to choose from for every night of the week

We also spends lots of time going for walks, to parks and even putting golf balls for free at the golf course which my kids love!!

I'm not in CNA school, but in college getting my pre-req's for ADN. I have 4 kids and we live on fluctuating commissions. We save money by:

1. Buying all clothing except socks, undies, and shoes at a local thrift store, everything's $1.75. My kids wear much nicer clothes than if I shopped at the mall.(Believe me, been there, done that. They went from Wal-mart, Target brands to A & F, Aero., Gap) On that note, have money saved to buy shoes when they are on clearance at Ross or Marshall's. It's much cheaper than waiting until they NEED a pair. I buy socks and undies at a local store geared towards Hispanics, it has a Hispanic name. I save 50-60% off Wal-mart prices.

2. I drive a used car, we bought a another used car this year, a 2007 Civic, and the only reason we bought it is because it get 31/38 mpg

3. We go to matinees once or twice a month, and sneak in our own candy

4. Go to the grocery store early the day after a holiday and stock up on marked down meats for the freezer. Also I price-match and go to 3 different grocery stores on shopping day. I go the store twice a month and Costco once a month.

5. We planted a large garden from seed this year, don't use pesticides, water with our well water and freeze or can whatever we can. We even got 12 watermelons out of it. Watermelons are $4-$5 each. Total cost-$35 for the whole garden

6. We don't have insurance, so swallowed our pride and signed up for state health insurance for our kids. Still has a copay, but we save $350 a month over private insurance

7. I go to garage sales and shop clearance sales and stock up on new items. They come in handy for surprise birthday, wedding, Christmas, etc.

8. Buy in bulk at Costco or Sam's. You would be amazed how many meals you can make with rice and beans.

9. I buy toiletries, razors, gift bags, and anything else that is cheaper (you have to know your prices) at Dollar Tree or Dollar Store.

10. We bought a house as a foreclosure and saved $40,000. We live in a nice neighborhood, and our house needs paint and carpet but have a much lower mortgage than our neighbors. As far as paint, Home Depot and Lowe's sell $5.00 gallons that have been mismatched. If you wait, you can find a great color for 25% of the original price. Buy home improvement items in December when clearanced. We never change a faucet or replace something on a whim. My SS sink with $130 faucet was purchased for $30 at Home Depot.

11. We pay cash. You really determine whether you need it our not when you pay with $100 bills instead of plastic.

12. Check around for the best deal on Electricity. We saved 5 cents a KW by not being loyal to the company we'd been with for 5 years. Same goes for car and homeowner's insurance

13. Buy all furniture secondhand or at a clearance center. Our 3 piece 100% leather living room group was $800 at RTG outlet. My daughter's bedroom set was an antique set from a garage sale that we painted black to match her lime green and pink bedroom. Total cost $100

14. Barter-we got 2 new recliners and 2 marble topped tables in exchange for my DH hanging a TV and running stereo wire for my sister. They didn't need the furniture and had no $, we needed the furniture. She also gave me my $800 teacup yorkie with kennel, food, and shots updated when she was 6 months old because she was too much trouble(Don't pay for pets, you can get them for free)

I'll think of more later, that's all I can think of right now.

I'm a CNA/pre-nursing student and my husband is on SSDI so you know we don't have a lot of spare cash lying around. We have 3 children and fortunately, 2 of them are still young enough to qualify for WIC. That really helps with our food budget. We're trying to get back on food stamps but seem to be just slightly over the income threshold

We do a lot of our grocery shopping at Aldi's. It's cheap and the food isn't bad if you don't mind canned veggies, canned fruits, non name brand foods, frozen meats, etc. You can fill up an entire cart for about $100. They do also have fresh meat, fruits, and veggies but the prices for those are only slightly lower than Wal-Mart's prices. We use the crock-pot a lot because it doesn't use much energy and I get to come home to a nice hot meal without much effort. If it requires too much effort, I'm more likely to end up at McDonald's. We like meat so we tend to make it the main part of the meal, but if you're not a big meat eater you can save money by making casseroles or something with just a little bit of hamburger or chicken breast.

Using the dryer is a big energy drain and can run up an electric bill. We um...borrowed...yeah, that's what I'll call it...a set of T-Posts out of my Grandma's backyard to hang the laundry out on nice days. I've noticed that when we hang the laundry out at least 75% of the time, it knocks at least $40 off the electric bill.

We don't go out very often and instead watch movies at home, read, or play video games. We like to play video games, or rather my husband and son like to and I used to but no longer have time. We get them used from Gamestop and trade in when we're finished with them. Our other hobbies are really cheap after the intial expenses. We're cavers and dropped maybe $400 on equipment plus another $60 or so for our NSS memberships and $20 for our Grotto membership. That sounds like a lot, but it's really not when you consider that equipment lasts a very long time despite the abuse we put it through. I like to hike and that's free. I get books from the library. We love the art museum and science center and all that costs is gas money.

My husband is home all day so we don't have to pay for daycare. That saves a bunch. When we're really low on money and out of cleaning supplies, he makes his own spray cleaner out of vinegar, water, and tea tree oil. You can find recipes for making your own laundry detergent online using grated soap, washing soda, and something else, can't remember what. I've made it and it worked really well. You can subsitute vinegar for fabric softener in the wash (it doesn't smell after it dries).

Some easy ways to make a little extra money online include ChaCha, ExpoTV, and MyPoints. You can sell your extra stuff on eBay. If you know how to tie dye/knit/crochet/whatever, you can set up an Etsy shop. I'm trying to talk my husband into taking up tie-dyeing again for extra money.

If you have children in diapers, cloth is a huge money saver *if* you have your own washing machine. It sucks if you have 2 or more in diapers but if you only have 1 it's really not that bad. You can get cloth diapers that snap or velcro and are just like cloth versions of disposables for about $17/diaper (they have a good resale value so you can get most of that back later on) or you can go cheap and use the prefolds with a cover. If cloth isn't your thing, I've found that the Parent's Choice diapers at Wally World work great and are very inexpensive. Instead of tampons or disposable pads, you can use a Diva Cup or cloth pads.

If you're on prescription medications and don't have health insurance, there are ways to get your meds for either free or for a very low cost. Just Google "prescription assistance" or go to the manufacturer websites and you'll find forms for your doctor to fill out. When I was uninsured, I managed to get a 3 month supply of my Lamictal for $10 total. That was before it went generic and would have cost me over $200/month!

The USDA website has low cost meal plans. Hillbillyhousewife.com also has low cost meal plans and recipes, but they're not what I'd call especially healthy. If you're low on money, you have to do the best you can though.

Thought of some more.

We drive used vehicles and refuse to have a car payment. Our car cost $800 and our van was about $3500. I don't like having 2 vehicles but my husband says he needs something to drive since he's home with the kids and they drive him crazy. We get a multi-car discount. I've had 2 auto loans in my life and it was so not worth it. My "new" vehicles were a year old and 3 years old when I bought them, still under warranty, and we had more problems with them than we have with our cheap vehicles. By paying in full, you can also avoid having to carry full coverage. We only carry liability and it saves us over $2,000/year.

Instead of renting, we bought a mobile home and put it on my Grandma's land. We could rent a 2 bedroom apartment for about $450 here but our 3 bedroom/2bath trailer only costs $267/month. We get to live on a huge amount of land with a lot of privacy for really cheap. We don't have to pay for water or sewer because we have tapped into my parents' well and septic (they live next door). If you currently rent, buying a mobile home may be worth looking into. It's cheaper than renting, even if you do have to rent a lot to put it on. On the other hand, if you're looking to upsize in the near future it's not worth it because the resale value is low.

Thrift stores aren't always cheaper for clothing, but you may find "better" brands in them. We like to buy the kids clothes at Wal-Mart or Target off the clearance racks. You can find stuff at the end of the season for $1 sometimes.

Excellent topic I do a combo of all these things.

I also bring my own dinner to work. You can save a ton by packing!

I have a savings account, and I transfer $50 per pay period into it. I don't touch the money in there unless it's an emergency.

I use my checkcard for every purchase. If you have a list of all your spending, it makes it easier to hold yourself accountable and budget better. I had no idea I was spending so much on food until I did this. I've cut my grocery spending in half now.

I got rid of all my credit cards, except one. I use it sparingly (usually for gas) and I try not to keep a balance on it.

I buy scrubs at Wal-Mart (love theirs, actually!) or consignment/thrift shops.

And my best tip? I act like I have NO money all the time. I only spend on absolute necessities. I treat myself to the occasional movie, but even that "extravagance" only costs me like $20 total.

I remind myself that all my sacrifice is going to pay off. I'm in NS

I try to cut expenses wherever I can. I am studying to be an RN, but am taking CNA classes while I am waiting to get into school - just finished with my pre-nursing. I work now, but when I switch to being a CNA my wages will probably be cut. In the long run it will be worth it, but money will be very scarce for the next couple of years.

One thing I just did is discontinue cable TV - I live in the center of a big city, and we get all of the broadcast channels fine with DTV antenna & converter box. No need to spend an extra $40 to $50 a month on cable TV. I do have broadband internet - but I keep that because I'm in school. We buy things like rice, oats, chicken, fish, in bulk and make our meals at home rather than buy premade stuff. Saves tons of money. We drive an old beat up Chevy van but only when we have to..... don't want to spend too much money on gas. We'd like to live in a bigger place, but are making due with a very tiny one bedroom apartment for now. Our rent actually went down a bit on account of the housing market here tanking - it even affected rents here. We look for ways to save money wherever we can now. We don't go out much anymore - just too expensive to eat out or go to movies etc., but there are other, cheaper ways to have fun.....

These are great tips. My hubby is on SSDI & I'm currently unemployed. My biggest money saver has been using coupons, there are great sites out there that let you know sales a week in advance so you can plan ahead. I buy coupons on e-bay for things that we use a ton of like taco seasoning & stock up. I found coupons on e-bay for 35 pks of my favorite mashed potatoes and I got them for $10.00 and if I bought them at the store it would have cost me $35+.

I love shopping at Aldi. There really hasn't been anything there that we didn't like and they have great prices on produce. You could get a bag of 6 onions for $.99. We saved our money and are getting ready to purchase 1/2 of a grain fed cow to stock our deep freezer, which should last us a year or more. There are 3 of us. If I buy an 8 pk of hamburger buns, I figure out 2 meals back to back so that none go to waste.

I purchased a $250 pair of MBT's off ebay for $50 brand new. If there is something you need, get sized & hit the internet to find cheaper deals.

I also blog for extra money. I'm currently saving up for an electronic scope & that's money I can make on the side that won't come out of our regular budget. We also use it as an emergency fund.

When I start nursing school in the spring, I will pack my lunch to save money.

Taking advantage of free swim nights at city pools, music in the park, library programs are all good to take advantage of if your city still has them. Times are tough though. The city I live in has closed the pools early because of budget shortfalls - our city has little or no money for anything but essentials (police, fire, etc.). The city library closes earlier now with less services, most of the freebies that low income people could take advantage of are gone now..... But we still do things like take walks in the park - doesn't cost anything to anyone to do that. Sometimes picnic lunches in the park are fun. They haven't closed the city parks yet anyway...... The city pools are closed here, but we are fortunate to have a pool at the apt complex that we live in.

On the rare occasions when I hit McDonalds when I have just one of the kids I NEVER purchase Happy Meals.

It's something I never started with them...therefore, they don't expect it.

I can feed them for $1.20.....How??????

I order a combo....get it supersized....I then get a cup of ice and order a cheeseburger or chicken sandwich for $1.00.

I pour some of my drink in the cup, give them part of my fries, and then they eat their own sandwich.

I save even more if they want chicken nuggets...I get the 10-piece combo...I eat 6 and one of them will eat 4.

Arby's is running a special this month where in dine-in, kids eat free on the weekends with a purchase of an adult combo.

How do you make money from blogging? I have a blog and use Google Adsense but don't make anything.

The biggest thing I've done to save money is stop eating out unless it's absolutely necessary. I don't like it, but I'm poor. I can't afford to spend $20 on a meal out for the family when I could easily spend closer to $5 by cooking at home.