Do you have any hints on things you or someone you know have done to stretch resources till pay day? Maybe from your younger days. Spreading the peanut butter a little thinner on your toast, mixing a little water in your gas tank so you'll have enough fuel to make it to work or washing your hair with laundry detergent cause you ran out of shampoo.
I'm not very good at saving but I'm not wasteful. I hate spending money on cleaning supplies so I usually make it from something like vinegar or baking soda. I will also buy cleaning supplies from the dollar store.
Occasionally my husband and I clean up estates and we get to take whatever the heirs leave behind so I get a lot of cleaning supplies that way. It helps out.
Have you heard of benefits.gov? There is help from the government for help paying the rent, buying food with foodstamps which today is a an EBT card to be used like a debit card-it's replenished every month. You have to apply first then it's every 6 months. Once for review and the second is the annual reapplication. Foodstamps helps especially the elderly who are on very fixed income or for struggling families who need the help. Every Thursday's there is the Foodbank's give-away. It's a long process and you got to spend hours till your number is called then you go in line to pick up groceries they have gathered from the Foodbank. Fresh foods, breads, canned goods and all quality products are available at these food pick-ups. Check if your neighborhood participates. I see trucks from Walmart all the time being unloaded for the event. All you have to have is a picture id and you get a number and you just wait till your number is called to get food from vegetables to bread. To stretch your dollar there are thrift stores to buy your clothing and purses; all you have to do is inspect them a little better before you buy the things you need. I recently got curtains at a bargain for it was on sale at the time. Sign up for their e-mail alert for sales and save even more. We have weekly sale ads from the newspaper's Midweek a local newspaper that has weekly ads for local supermarket like our Times Supermarket. Inserts from Safeway is included and from time to time stores like Walmart, Target or other participating stores like CVS and Walgreens send their weekly ads to Midweek. In the library you can borrow the Sunday newspaper for the CVS and Walgreens weekly ads or go online to see them too. If you sign up for your walmart, cvs, safeway and walgreens for free you get to see if they got coupons for you to take advantage of aside seeing their weekly ads which saves you so much money as it does me. When we got older no one told us we weren't going to get enough money, so we adapt with all the help we can get. One last thing there is LIHEAP in every State, that helps you pay for your electricity. It's an every year event where you got to apply for it. Locally we go to our HCAP offices. The popular LIHEAP is so huge here we got to go clear across the island to get our application in so we can have payment for our electricity for a few months, but it helps so much it's worth it.
You are sweet Krissttina, I just posted that thread to try and get some action going on this forum. You said "you" so I thought maybe you were talking to me personally. I am not poor but I do try to be careful with $ and I'm always looking for good ideas to save and make things go further. And the bit about putting water in the gas to make it go further was a joke. We aren't rich but we are above the Federal Poverty level. We can't get any of those government benefits because our home is paid for and we really don't have any bills. You've given us a lot of good information here Krissttina, thank you so much for taking the time.
In my younger days I did the obvious things and loved clipping coupons. I knew how to save a dollar at the store and cook good, inexpensive food. Our eating has changed but I used to love my own tuna casserole as a great bargain meal. I kept all the makings in the cupboard for a "close to payday" meal.
@Krissttina Isobe wow!!....I'm very pleased to say I am not on the poverty line, although it could happen to any one of us at any time, please god it doesn't happen to me, but if it did I'd hope I'd have a friend like you who would know how to help me find all the ways to eke out my money.. @Karen McKenzie oooh yes I remember the tuna casseroles and flans when I was younger...sometimes I look back and think that is all I seemed to make in those days , we were so poor when my daughter was small, my husband was in the navy and the wages were absolutely dreadful, so I had to pull out every trick in the book to manage on what little housekeeping we had.. I remember having patent shoes and the heels had started to peel, so I painted them with gloss paint and they looked like new..no-one could tell..
The Blackjack Dealers always appear perplexed when I "buy-in" for only 20 bets. On a $10 table, that's two-hundred bucks! Rarely, almost never, are 20 bets lost thereby depleting the "grubstake". Thinking about posting a thread about casino gambling, and how I've seen it change in the 40 or so years I've been involved with it. Urge me on.......Frank Edit: My "payday", eagerly awaited, is two days from now. Set aside enough dough for the 5-1 mortgage payment, and after that, "SKY'S the LIMIT!"
I remember scrounging change from old handbags, pockets of jackets, drawers etc for either gas or cigarettes.
Karen I loved my tuna casserole too! Especially with a vinegary salad. I can't even remember the last time I made it.
I also remember making tomato and mayo sandwiches for lunch. It was a favorite of my daughter....I loved them too.