As God is my witness, as well as my husband, my family and friends, I have been struggling and panicking of the unknown that was falling around me. My husband and I have been in a tremendous down burst of financial worry ever since December, and it seemed as the past three months have tagged along, the financial burden worsened instead of bettering itself. It’s been scary. I was doing everything I could to cut corners. I was homemaking our laundry detergent, fabric softener and fabric sheets. I was home preparing store-bought mixes *Bisquick, corn muffins, nesquik, pancakes, etc*, we cut out our once-a-week date night evenings, we had no cell phones, and we ended up in my Grandparent’s basement. In other words, money was tighter than tight, it was non-existent. There were days where I would cry myself to sleep and questioning why all of this was happening to us. We were good Christian people who tried each and every day to live by God’s eyes, why us? If it wasn’t for our love for each other, and our faith in God, we never would have made it through.
Sooner than later I knew my Savior was going to pick me back up and dust the dust off of my knees, but the waiting process was getting hard. We began making a back-up plan of moving back up to our home-state, Michigan, to live with my Mother-in-law, where we would be shoved into a small bedroom with just our bed and placing all of our other belongings in a friend’s garage for a few years until we picked back up on our feet financially.
However, just as I was breaking off my chains and throwing them aside, God answered my prayers: I got hired on full time as a CNA at a hospital! My dream of becoming somebody in the health care field has come to reality. I am so grateful for this opportunity, all I want to do is fall down on my knees and thank the God Almighty for all that He is and all that He promises and grants.
By the way, if you are wondering how I home-make a couple of my things I use on a daily basis here are the links:
Pancake Mix: http://www.armommy.com/food/home/
Bisquick Mix: http://www.ehow.com/how_4533016_homemade-bisquick-mix.html?ref=Track2
Corn Muffin Mix: http://thewelcominghouse.blogspot.com/2012/01/making-do-without-missing-thing-master_03.html
English Muffins: http://myfairbaking.blogspot.com/2012/12/homemade-english-muffins.html
Pizza Dough: http://lizziejanebaby.blogspot.com/2012/08/tasty-tuesday-homemade-pizza-dough.html
Nesquik: http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/08/homemade-nesquik.html
How to regrow your green onions: http://www.bakedbyrachel.com/2011/11/kitchen-tip-green-onions/
Laundry Soap (I prefer powdered, but there is a liquid option): http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2011/07/brand-name-laundry-detergents-last.html
Fabric Softener: http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/02/homemade-fabric-softener-finally.html
Fabric Sheets (I went to the thrift store and purchased $1 fleece blanket, and cut it into equal sized squares instead of cutting up washcloths. I also use my homemade softener in this recipe.): http://thefrugalfind.com/frugal-diy-homemade-dryer-sheets/
There are a ton more things I do to save money. In fact I’ve realized buying certain things in bulk actually saves you money and time in the long run. An example: Cottenelle 12 Double Rolls at Walmart is $6.97, but if you buy the Cottonelle 24 Double Rolls at Walmart its $13.97. They’re the same price in the long run, but the larger package would last twice as long, saving you time. Example number two: Purina Dog Chow-an 18.5 lb bag costs $12.88 at Walmart, but a 46 lb bag costs $24.88 is also available at Walmart. Buying the bigger item saves you money because you are getting more pounds for a lesser cost! Another great hint: Walmart is not always the cheapest place for certain items. I’ve learned to shop around for every little thing. Sometimes I will shop at Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Super Dollar (grocery store in my neck of the woods), Walmart, Sam’s Club, Food Lion (another grocery store), etc. just to save a few extra dollars. For instance, a 10 lb bag of granulated sugar costs around $5.58 at Walmart, but at Sam’s Club it is $4.87!
I even go to the extent of compiling a monthly grocery list of 20 dinner meals, Sunday breakfast meals and lunches for the entire month! This literally takes me two weeks, sometimes more, to sort out each and every recipe, compile a list of each ingredient I will need to purchase (then I calculate how much or how many of each product), then I go through my coupons and see if there are any that match the products I need. When it comes close to the day I decide to go grocery shopping I then begin shopping around for the best deals.
My husband cannot believe all the hassle I put myself through when it comes to the grocery shopping, but when he sees the final bill and all the things I purchased he is always astonished!
In other words, I’ve learned to cut alot of corners by shopping around, clipping coupons like crazy and learning what to buy in bulk when necessary. It has kept us on our feet for many of years, and still will in the future.
The one great thing about being economically scarce in this economy is I realized the importance of living off of the things you need and using eco-friendly versions of typical resources that are available store wide. In fact, I’m still going to continue making things homemade and I’m still going to shop around and look forward to Sunday couponing!
In addition to clipping coupons out of my Sunday newspaper, I also visit http://www.coolsavings.com/, http://www.thekrazycouponlady.com/, http://www.craigslist.org/, I purchase All You magazines and clip out valuable coupons, I ask family and neighbors for their unused coupons, and so much more.
What are some of the ways you have handled living in tight circumstances? Have you gone to the same stretches I have? Are you willing to take a chance on any, if not all, of the links above?
The Blabbering Mommy 