Okay it is my turn....

**alotofgooddeals** · 06-13-2010, 09:54 AM

My situation is dh's unemployment has run out..
I work academic year however was offered a summer contract however one of the children i am working with has not submitted all paperwork so i am only working two days next week. This may go longer until child submits paperwork and if it is not submitted i may continue to work only the two days however will be able to collect unemployment to make up the difference...

House payment is 641.00 because it is based on my income and dh's unemployment... trying to get it readjusted however rural economic development is being a pain in the hiney and we already paid 1 payment of 641 with another one being due... as soon as it is adjusted we will be able to make it until i go back to work full time at the end of august but it is going to be a hard, hard 10 weeks..

So i am open for suggestions..anything to save any money..food is not an issue as i have a very full freezer.
My light bill this past month was 196.00 which is so high for us at this time of year....and we are trying really really hard to shut things off and not use the air conditioners...not use the computers as much and make sure to shut the satellite off when not in use... I have actually installed a powercord that i can shut completely off when not in use...however i am open to any and all ideas to save dollars....

I also have a friend who is going through way worse things than me at this point and would love to pass some of these ideas on to her...

Thank you for your help....

**DJ1972** · 06-13-2010, 11:11 AM

When we were in a tight spot, we just cut back to basics...no cable, dial up internet, no eating out, and any clothing was bought at garage sales or thrift stores. I also would have a garage sale to make money. We would go to the library, the park, or fishing for fun...all basically free.

Good luck!

**NikoSan999** · 06-13-2010, 11:40 AM

Hi, I just answered you under my thread...refreshed and saw this.
A few things that may or may not help but will list anyway.
Electric...If you have a toaster oven or can pick one up cheap. Use instead of oven. Less electric to use PLUS the biggie...dosen't heat up the house like the oven..hence less air conditioning. Bakes in half the time or less..less area to preheat or bake. Even muffins can be bakes in the small tins.

Check with electric company and see if it is cheaper after 9PM.

Maybe try to stay off the road driving just a tiny bit more...gas usage.

If I think of anything else I'll come back. You've been on here long enough you know as much as we all do. Hugs coming your way and my thoughts are with you. You know that..

**alotofgooddeals** · 06-13-2010, 01:40 PM

The kids wanted to go fishing today and dh is with his friend providing emotional support as his friend is a recovering alcoholic. He hasnt had a drink in 7 years but i know he is getting to a breaking point which i totally understand. So we went fishing and dh is visiting his friend trying to keep his spirits up...I was also going to go to town but i decided that no i will wait till tomorrow because i have to go to the bank and figure out why there is only 19.00 left in there when i had way more than that a week ago...so i figured i would stop in at the grocery store and check out their clearance produce they have....The toaster oven sounds like a great idea and we do have one so i will pull that out and use that and maybe unplug my stove all together as our gas grill has a burner on it....
Thanks for the ideas and keep them coming...i know we will make it through but i am praying really hard for something to kick in so our friends can dig themselves out enough to survive...

**Libby** · 06-13-2010, 01:50 PM

As Niko said, you've been around long enough to have a great base start. Have you tried drawing the curtains closed in the day to keep the sun out/house or room cooler? What about starting to live outside - as in spending more time in the yard or deck. Hopefully you'll have some sort of shade and natural a/c (wind) lol. Use the community pool more often. Can you go to the library for a date, way to pass time, enjoy their free programs/resources and a/c on a super hot day? Streamline your trips to stores/town into one day. Batch cooking is great b/c all you have to do is nuke leftovers vs cooking daily which could end up using more hydro. HTH

**Darlene** · 06-13-2010, 03:49 PM

Can hubby pick up any job at all to help out? It may not be what he wants to do but may be what he needs to do for now. Sorry if I am not remembering an older post that told more of your family's story and dh's circumstances.
Wishing you my best.

**Dancing Lotus** · 06-13-2010, 04:02 PM

I don't have any new suggestions for you but I want to send you encouragement.

**Imarachne** · 06-13-2010, 04:08 PM

I hope things improve for and in the meantime , look on the forums to get ideas. A lot of folks don't have any skills for this--good luck .

**ladytoysdream** · 06-13-2010, 04:10 PM

Sorry to hear about the UE ending.

Mine ran out in middle of May. I had tightened up the budget in previous months to get ready for this. I learned to say no a lot, both to myself and hubby. Garden is in, the stockpile is decent and the freezer is full......just hope it lasts for awhile.
Been digging out a few things at a time, and selling them on craigslist. I go to garage sales and look for cheap bargains.

I am even more creative in pinching pennies than ever before.
More aggressive in finding cheaper solutions to solve problems.

I try to limit the times I go to town to run errands. Less gas and less money spent. Do errands in a loop.

Hubby's job is low income. The pluses are; it's year round and minimum of 40 hours a week. Some OT in the winter. Three miles one way to work. And it gives us our health insurance. If we didn't have health insurance, we would be in dire straits.
He made this decision to take this job just over 5 years ago.
It turned out to be a wise move with the economy the way it is.

We have a package with DSL, Direct TV, and land line phone. I would tweak this if I have to. We also have tracfones. If push came to shove, I would not renew my tracfone minutes quarterly and transfer my minutes over to his. He needs his for his job. But for only $ 7 a month each, hopefully we can hold onto both of them.

We don't eat out. I can't remember the last time we did.
It's been quite awhile.

We don't rent movies. I have quite a collection of older VHS movies that we can use if we need to.

Couple of books I would like to read for information. I plan on checking out the library for them.

Get a copy of Tightwad Gazette if you can. Lots of ideas in there to get you thinking even more. I am going to get mine out again this week, and start looking through it for more ideas.

We do get a newspaper delivered for 50 cents a day times 6 days a week. If the budget gets any worse, I could let that go.

Our food treats now are limited to fresh fruit in season and only on sale. Vegtables are mainly canned and a few fresh. Waiting on the garden.

Hanging clothes outside. Waiting to have full loads.

Changed the one gold fish over to a cheaper food I found at the dollar store. Changed the 2 dogs over to canned food, that I can buy with coupons. Took the dogs to the clinic for their rabies shot versus a regular vet visit.

Not a lot more we can give up or tweak, but if things get any tighter, than we will do what we have to do. I plan on paying all bills on time, so we don't get hit with any late fees.

One day at a time, and one problem at a time........

**krbshappy71** · 06-13-2010, 04:50 PM

My advice: bye bye satellite, set the house thermostat higher than usual to cut back on the air conditioner kicking on, and sell everything and anything you own on Craig's List. (if you haven't already)

Got a car payment? Sell the car, buy a beater. Worked for me! Even my recent car repair on the beater wasn't as much as it would have been if I kept the previous car and paid everything I had to on it.

**alotofgooddeals** · 06-13-2010, 05:01 PM

we cut the satellite back to the $10 package which is called the welcomepackage.... if i let it go before my two year contract is up they charge my card an unreasonable about of money...so we went this way... no car payments....and no air conditioning this year i told dh we cant put it in because if we do we will use it... he agreed...the only thing that i can cut back on at this time is the cell phone package but that is only by $20 which was middle son having unlimited texting... he came to us the other day and said mom i dont use it enough to have it take it off my phone...we are stuck on a contract with them until next october...roughly 108.00 a month without the texting...we have four lines and i tried cancelling two of them as that would save us another $20 a month but they told me that i couldnt and would be charged $150 for each phone that i canceled...we do not have a land line phone went all cell... but if worse comes to worse dh and i could go with net10 or tracphone...we each have to have a cell phone because daughter has medical conditions that make it so we both have to be reachable at all times....however for breaking the contract i would be charged $600 at one time and i cant do that right now....

**krbshappy71** · 06-13-2010, 05:06 PM

Sounds like your whole family is on board for this situation and making it better, that is such a great sign!! Hang in there!!! You all can do this if you keep pulling together like that.

**NikoSan999** · 06-13-2010, 05:14 PM

One thing on canceling the texting...You may cancel it but if any of his friends on purpose or accidentally text HIM you will undoubtedly still be charged...even if he dosen't read the message.

At one time the kid had friends texting her and we were always charged. She kept saying Mom, I didn't open it. Called Nextel and sure enough...don't have to open it. Just receive. Verizon is the same and so I believe is Sprint. So Check before you cancel. Could end up costing just the same. With Verizon you can block it but it also cancels voice mail etc. At least according to them..Course they've lied all the way across the board...Nextel lies also.

**alotofgooddeals** · 06-13-2010, 06:20 PM

we have u.s cellular and i believe we can receive text however just cant send them however i am not 100% sure so will check tomorrow...

**Luv2BeFrugal** · 06-15-2010, 03:15 AM

Originally Posted by NikoSan999

One thing on canceling the texting...You may cancel it but if any of his friends on purpose or accidentally text HIM you will undoubtedly still be charged...even if he dosen't read the message.

At one time the kid had friends texting her and we were always charged. She kept saying Mom, I didn't open it. Called Nextel and sure enough...don't have to open it. Just receive. Verizon is the same and so I believe is Sprint. So Check before you cancel. Could end up costing just the same. With Verizon you can block it but it also cancels voice mail etc. At least according to them..Course they've lied all the way across the board...Nextel lies also.

We have AT&T and you can formally request for ALL texts to be blocked so there are no accidental charges. This is what we did so that we wouldn't get hit with any 'surprises'.