Ok folks, I just stole some ladies' ideas from another thread. I really wanted to see their idea on a thread. Thanks to vixen007 and just cause as well as OP.
They were on a thread talking about the repayment of loans. It turned to the flailing economy and how we need to live frugally even as nurses to pay back the debt. Also someone mentioned living as a broke student.
I am sure the majority of us are feeling the economic crunch in some way right now. My family's breadwinner was let go about three weeks ago and Florida is backed up many months to recieve unemployment, in some cases. So we need to find/ share ways that we can feed our families, save on shopping and attempt to save for a rainy day or that time when loans start to kick in.
As for myself I only shop for clothing for the kids and I in thrift stores. I also purchasre all my books that I read there. I also buy alot of generic brands when I grocery shop. For savings on electricity we make sure to unplug EVERYTHING that isn't used. For instance all the cell phone chargers, etc. They will burn up if you leave them plugged in anyway. We also make sure the ac is on 78 degrees and the filter is changed monthly. As for our transportation I bought my Honda outright. We are driving that while my BF's GTO sits in the garage until he finds a job that can pay for the premium gas and synthetic oil changes! But he keeps loosing my keys.......I might have to rethink that one.
I wish that I had an more thoughts on crock pot and cheap type meals but that is definately not my strong suit. I hope some of you can share with us ways you help your family get by, in these times. Although I do have one recipe that I love I'lll post in a bit.
Thank you in advance, I hope we can a learn a thing or two!
I bought a membership to Sam's Club with a gift card that I got for Christmas from work. So technically it didn't cost me anything. So now whenever I need anything that will last I go there and buy the value pack. It will last me much longer and is cheaper. The ultimate goal is to buy a chest freezer and buy meat and frozen veggies when I can afford it. Then I don't have to worry about it when things are tough. Plus soon we will be shutting off our cable and home phone and just keeping the cell phones and internet service. This summer we will have a garden and that will help with costs.
I am really open to hearing everyone else's ideas about saving money because God knows I need them! My hubby will be coming off active military duty soon and he works in the auto industry and if the company lays off tomorrow (as is the rumor) he probably will not have a job and our income will be less than half of what we have now... Ugh.
I just went to the bookstore tonight and wrote the ISBN's down so that I can start looking. At my school I haven't really found that they are too helpful with book lists or syllybus' before hand to give you the opportunity to comparison shop. Usually they only change books in the fall, so I should be ok since I start in one more semester!I think I will be able to save a great deal of money!
I bought a membership to Sam's Club with a gift card that I got for Christmas from work. So technically it didn't cost me anything. So now whenever I need anything that will last I go there and buy the value pack. It will last me much longer and is cheaper. The ultimate goal is to buy a chest freezer and buy meat and frozen veggies when I can afford it. Then I don't have to worry about it when things are tough. Plus soon we will be shutting off our cable and home phone and just keeping the cell phones and internet service. This summer we will have a garden and that will help with costs.
I am really open to hearing everyone else's ideas about saving money because God knows I need them! My hubby will be coming off active military duty soon and he works in the auto industry and if the company lays off tomorrow (as is the rumor) he probably will not have a job and our income will be less than half of what we have now... Ugh.
You are doing great things to save! I wish I could have a garden but I live in a town home. Good luck with your hubby's job!
If you drive older cars, look at th NADA value of it and see if it is worth having collision on it for your car insurance. It can save quite a bit on the car insurance bill and the insurance company will hardly give you anything if you crash an old car. We drive really old cars to save money and it helps a lot.
Don't go "window shopping" because you will always see something you want and buy it. Watch old shows off the internet on places like hulu.com or go to the library and borrow movies instead of having cable.
Have potluck dinners in with friends instead of going out as often. These are fun because you don't have all the work and everyone can bring something interesting. Go for walks with the dog or work out at home so you don't have a gym bill. Good luck!!
Just to let you guys know the funniest thing. I did look up all the books I needed for Nursing I last night, you will never beleive it but out of like 8 books I would only save 40 bucks by ordering them from half. Shipping would eat that up. I was flabbergasted. Maybe it's because they are all pretty new editions or something.
Some random money-saving things we've done around here (hubby has been disabled and unable to work for 2 years, so we are well-versed in thriftiness, LOL!):
Got rid of the TV a few years ago. That saves A LOT of money. Who has time to look at the boob tube, anyway, especially when you are in nursing school? Neither my husband nor I miss it, and we watch a lot of TV on the internet (hulu.com especially).
Paid off my car more than a year early. Saved a bundle in interest and now, no matter how tough things get financially, I don't have to worry about anyone repossessing my car! That would be disastrous.
I shop at rummage sales for clothing. I love rummage sales. I'll get 2 giant trash bags full of clothing for 10 bucks!
I have sold a ton of stuff on eBay and Amazon.com and I'm continuing to do that. I couldn't believe what some twits were willing to pay for some of my old junk around Christmas time. :) I don't like Craigslist.com; too many wackos around here. But when I have junk I want to get rid of, I post a "Curb Alert" on Craigslist and tell people to come and get it from the curb. The junk magically disappears!
I am a couponer, but only for things I use all the time, like pet food and paper towels and some brands of canned soup, like Progresso. Did you know you can buy coupons on eBay? When I see a coupon for say, a brand of paper towels I use, I go to eBay and enter a search like "Scott Paper Towels coupon". I then sort the results by Buy It Now (usually, I can't be bothered doing a regular auction) and then sort by Price + Shipping Lowest First. You can get coupons for pennies. I'll get 10 or 20 paper towel coupons for a dollar or so (make sure they don't expire soon!) and wait until the supermarket has a sale. I buy the maximum number of rolls/cases of paper towels with my coupons, go put them in my car and walk back in and buy more. :) This works great for pet food for me, too.
Speaking of pet food, for certain brands I buy from petfooddirect.com. I signed up for their emails and I wait for their 22% off sale (which happens pretty frequently). With the 22% off and not having to pay sales tax or pay for gas, I come out ahead, even having to pay shipping. (They are in PA and I am in NJ, so the shipping isn't too bad.)
I have a CVS Extra Care card, which saves me lots of money. Every quarter, I get "extra bucks" that I can use to buy stuff at CVS. I wait until there's a sale on my supplements (calcium, vitamin D, etc.), buy them cheap and use my Extra Bucks to defray the cost. I recently bought 6 months worth of supplements for 15 bucks!
We almost never eat at restaurants, not even fast food or diners. I cook in bunches/batches and freeze what I think might go bad before we use it. Speaking of which, a stand-alone freezer is on my Wish List! LOL
Several years ago, my husband built wooden shelves in our basement, so when there's a sale on canned goods at the supermarket, I can take advantage of it and buy a bunch. Running out to the store every time you run out of something is a sure way to overspend on food!
I agree that a Sam's Club membership is worth it. I buy certain food items there, along with stationery and generic over-the-counter drugs. An entire giant bottle of generic Benadryl is something like 4 bucks! LOL
Around Mother's Day and Father's Day, my husband and I buy ourselves discounted gift cards for the salon where we get our hair cut. (They sell gift cards for a year's worth of cuts, without putting a maximum on the number of cuts you can get.)
If you're going to make a large purchase (like a major appliance), check eBay for gift cards for the retailer you're going to purchase the appliance from. You'll usually pay close to 90% of value of the card, but you'll still save money. And sometimes, you can get a much bigger discount. :)
I use a Discover Card and pay it off every month. I take the Cashback Bonus (1% of purchases) and just tell them to apply it to my account, thus reducing the amount I have to pay them. I got several hundred dollars in Cashback Bonuses last year -- free money, since I don't pay them a cent of interest.
When I'm near a Big Lots store, I check out what they have. They get a lot of stuff from manufacturers when the manufacturer changes the packaging or makes some other minor change. Then Big Lots sells at a big discount. I have gotten some real bargains on personal care items like soap that way.
When I shop online, I always do a search for a coupon for that website. Or I click through a link on discovercard.com and get a 5%, 10% or even 20% extra Cashback Bonus. Again, the key is to always pay the card off every month, or else you're not "saving" money!
That's it for now. I'm sure I'll think of more things. Can you tell this is one of my favorite subjects! Makes my Scottish blood run more quickly through my veins... LOL!
You are doing great things to save! I wish I could have a garden but I live in a town home. Good luck with your hubby's job!
Benya, you would be surprised what you can grow on a back porch or small deck, if you have one! For growing things like tomatoes, Earth Boxes are awesome. But if you can't afford them, regular old containers will do. Here is some more info:
My daughter and I live with my parents while I finish school. We're lucky there. I also sold my house last year, paid off my debts, and saved a little to have during school. I planned my student life very carefully by making sure I didn't have any debts to pay or money worries while in school. I also worked a whole lot this past year to save more money, too.
We buy generic brands, price match everything we can, and frequent Goodwill. We cleaned out many of old toys and items so live modestly, instead of with so much junk we didn't even know what we had!
We also plan our outings, with coupons, memberships, and special deal days. I pay for one year memberships to the zoo and museums so that we can frequent these places as much as we want in a year and all for free!
We also see movies on Tuesdays because at the discount movies they are $1 all day.
I also bought my books on Amazon and it was so much cheaper than buying at the school! Selling on ebay helps. There is always someone out there who will buy your things.
I used to run an ecomerce business a few years ago and decided to just do it as a hobby and donations to our church. If needed, I will start selling my products again online!
Cherry2000
149 Posts
I bought a membership to Sam's Club with a gift card that I got for Christmas from work. So technically it didn't cost me anything. So now whenever I need anything that will last I go there and buy the value pack. It will last me much longer and is cheaper. The ultimate goal is to buy a chest freezer and buy meat and frozen veggies when I can afford it. Then I don't have to worry about it when things are tough. Plus soon we will be shutting off our cable and home phone and just keeping the cell phones and internet service. This summer we will have a garden and that will help with costs.
I am really open to hearing everyone else's ideas about saving money because God knows I need them! My hubby will be coming off active military duty soon and he works in the auto industry and if the company lays off tomorrow (as is the rumor) he probably will not have a job and our income will be less than half of what we have now... Ugh.