If you noticed, I haven't been posting as many shopping trips in recent weeks. Although this week at Walgreens there are plenty of RR deals, My stockpile is full and I don't need most of what they have on sale. Also, with the change in my husband's job situation, for those who don't know, he is no longer getting full U.E. benefits. He is working part time at a fast food restaurant, making minimum wage, thus bringing our income down even more. Which means our credit card payments to pay off our debt will also decrease slightly, but we will still be on for payoff by the end of the year. So, my goal has been and will be to NOT spend any cash. That doesn't mean I won't use my gift cards or use my freebie coupons, but it does mean that I have to spend as little out of pocket as I can. I also picked up a small, quick job in October pet sitting. Not alot of money, but every bit counts.
Currently, In Gift Cards I have Kmart, Target, Mastercard Gift Cards (4 of them), Starbucks, Subway, and Walgreens. We can use those to stretch our dollars if we need something.
My dishwasher died, so I am selling my entire Dishwasher Detergerent Stockpile to my mom. That will be enough to cover 2 tanks of gas for me, which will keep me going to work for 2 weeks.
My stockpile, which I reviewed yesterday, can make about 30 meals (dinner and lunch) and about 40 breakfasts ( as long as I have milk for cereal, which I would have to buy). I also have enough health, beauty and paper supplies to keep us for about 3 weeks. I have enough canned goods, frozen meals, pancake mix, etc to keep us for a while. I have 21 containers of Crystal Light and over 100+ packets of Kool Aid for drinks along with some frozen canned juice, tea and some milk. I have lots of cans of soup, mac and cheese, ground turkey and peanut butter and jelly. The kids get lunch at school for a reduced fee which makes their lunches great! I have lots of speghetti noodles and sauce. I have beans from my garden. I have recently gotten some left overs from a big gathering meal at my church. That is enough casserole to feed us for a few days. I got some potatoes from our garden so we will have a potatoe bar one night for dinner. 30 dinner and lunch meals can keep us about 3 weeks, which means I can plan a big shopping trip in October ( although there may be a small one before the end of Sept. if I have any good September expiring coupons, will see!)
So, that is what I am going to do for now. My husband has been laid off since Jan, so it's been over 9 months. I just started back to work this month, so I will start getting paychecks soon. We will live off the stock pile until things get a bit better or until He or I can find another part time job or something for more money.
I will still post some deals, if I pick them up, but I haven't shopped since Sept 8th and that was a $35.00 trip!
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6 comments:
keep up the dealing! We're rooting for you.
Hey Angie! Just read your post and wanted to let you know that I am praying for your family! You have frugalness down to an art form and I know that our Most High God will see you through anything, and I'll be praying for you! Are your kids old enough to be hand-washing dishes? That's one of the few homemaker tasks that I really dislike :o)
Jess
jlr846@yahoo.com
Jess, My son loves to do dishes with his daddy and I had 8 bottles of dish soap down in the stockpile shelves. So, we are set for daddy and my son to do dishes! :)
My daughter loves to clean toilets ( I know, weird but true!) and I stockpiled those Scrubbling bubbles toilet cleaners awhile back, so we are set for that too! LOL. I got 6 free boxes of those kits! So, again, stockpile is full and we will live off the stockpile!
Thank you for the words of encouragement. God has blest our family and I am not giving up hope that soon my husband will find the job that God has for him. I struggle with patience, but I know this is something I have to be patient about.
I am so inspired by you and your family. Thank you for continuing to post. I have learned a lot from reading your blog.
Liz M
Angie,
Have you given any thought to starting your own business? I started my business 19 yrs ago to supplement our family income and it is the best decision we made as a family. I am a Mary Kay consultant living in SE Wisconsin and it allows me the flexibility with time for my family and still i am able to bring in the income needed for the extras.
Just sharing this worked for me, maybe it could for you as well.
Valerie,
I was a Avon Lady for 5 years. I ran a unit and everything. After all the work I put into it. I was making such a small amount of money, it was hardly worth it for all the work I put in!
A woman at church has asked me to sell Mary Kay, but I am not really interested in selling things that I think are overpriced. My whole goal is to spend less and make every penny count, so to me that is hypocritical.
If I did do something, it would be a workshop or class on couponing and saving money. If I could find a publisher, I would like to write a book.
But honestly, Do people really want to pay to read my book when they can get almost all the information on the internet for free?
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