Stretching the $$$ or Getting the most Bang for the Buck.

trying to digest....

I believe in Forget the Past and Strugle for Future. If you do so, then regardless of pressure you are facing, you will be very happy and satisfied. At least I am. I have plans which I will take-out, if I live, and I had a long list of failures through which I have learnt many things but i have burried them in the past.



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I get my most creative(culinary wise) when I am financially limited.
I start making more meals my grandmother cooked on a regular basis(like limabean soup,pea soup,beans and rice, scalloped potatoes,potato soup,stew,oxtail soup,mac n cheese,chicken stew, chicken soup,any meal that can utilize leftovers over an extended period of time,shephards pie).
I don't go to the stores that have everything under one roof(it's a temptation to spend more money than I have budgeted)like walmart or kmart.
I limit my spending on name brand items, only purchasing name brand if I have tried the bargain or noname brand and it falls too far short of the original.
I shop closer to home instead of going several towns over to shop(or I shop only on banking day and then shop at the store closest to my bank.)
turn on fewer lights in the evening, put a sweater on if it's too cold, or sit outdoors if it's too warm.
turn off the television after 10pm and read instead.
do my laundry in the late evening hours to conserve electric
only purchase the medications prescribed to me that are necessary for survival(no allergy meds or anti acid meds)
patch holes in jeans instead of tossing and purchasing new, cut the boy's hair at home instead of getting it styled, limit my haircuts to what I can do myself(in other words bangs and that's it.)...
lots of things I do to economise.
I maintain my budget,in spite of pay cuts and unrecieved childsupport payments, and I don't use credit ever.
if the funds are not in my bank, I don't need the item.
edit: btw, this is what I do NOW, every day. and while they say the economy is on the "upswing" it is at this time during a recovering economy that the depressed or recessed economy hits those of us at the bottom of social ladder.(those making less than 40k a year)

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wulfn1 that is refreshing to see, in its' honestly and I appreciate the feedback.
I am newly married (well 5 years as of august), so all my experiences have been during reletively good times or times when the economy didn't matter. The Tween years I call them. I am learning and living the hard time stories part of our lives, like the stories our folks told us when we were growing up.I had more to say but was distracted by my wife and daughter, abducted into installing a game and joystick, after searching the game and joystick in my box-o-parts and stuff, and then WC timed out with my original post and I had start again, drat!

I sell my children into slavery. You can get $8k on the black market for a good healthy caucasian male. Especially one in good health.

Dang...I new there was a good use for rug-rats.....is it too late to have some?....

I'll sell ya my siblings Jafo! I've got three of 'em. Two girls, one boy. I'll charge you $7,000 american per child, so then you can sell them for $8,000 in Oz and make yourself $3,000 in the process.

Oops.....'Knew'....

Frogboy, Cerebro, obviously your wives are VERY understanding, because I tried to sell my boy once (He'd crashed my comp for the third time) and I ended up sleeping on the sofa.

Since making money off the kid is definitley a no-no we get by by looking for sales at the local grocery. I'm also the official 'light turner-offer', constantly running around the house turning lights out (sometimes EVERY light in the @#*% house is on). We organize trips in an effort to save gas. And my mrs is pretty good when it comes to getting the most out of the food we buy. (If you could see me in person, you'd know that we're not starving. We may not be eating steak and lobster, but we not starving, thanks to God.)

Anyway, I think getting by is possible if you're disciplened(?) and you use and stick to a good budget. Do that and you'll at least be reasonably comfortable.

'disciplined'....

Children are a renewable resource. I don't see what the big deal is. I've got a million (literally) more where they came from.

If I could sell my Daughter I'd be rich. Lord knows she's been putting the wife and I through the ringer this year (Junior Yr.)But seriously, I amglad to hear from any of you and follow some of these practices myself, and am glad to learn of some new ones that might be helpful, to me or any others that might be reading. God Love the younger crowd, maybe some of this might influence them, or they can be "SOLD!"

Children are the 'renewable resource'....that make blokes like me the 'old-growth forest'....we're protected....

Your only "protected" till you die

No children? No little Paul's!
That's just... sad