This economy...how people are handling everything...working from home?

[poppycat]

While I generally agree with the above posts about saving and living below your means and all that, I also know that some circumstances are outside of anyone's control.

I think a whole lot of people have had times when they have a little month left at the end of their money.

When this has happened to me (and believe me it has,) it really helps to know some ways to get by on a little less. Thanks for sharing what you are doing.

 

[amyquilt]

 

[Alaskan]

oh, there is one thing I have done to try to cut my food bill....

I have planted lots more "stuff" (service berries, strawberries, blueberries, some apple trees, etc.)

Of course, what I really need is a banana grove

 

[JennsPeeps]

DBF has been out of a job since March. It got hard last month for us.

We're eating a lot more pasta & rice now than we used to. It's amazing how far you can stretch a food budget.

We're also just watching every penny. DBF wants to go see movies but I say no & we rent or watch chicken tv instead. Friends ask me to go out for drinks and I suggest a picnic in the park instead (who needs to sit inside more anyway?). We stock up on pantry items that are on sale. We don't spend unnecessarily. I make our own yogurt & laundry detergent, both super easy.

In short: we're frugal but careful.

 

[SandraMort]

My husband and I are moving to an apartment that is four hundred dollars a month less than what we currently pay in NYC. It will be on 8 acres, permitting me to grow the chickens and vegetables that I have been wanting for a while. I do part time freelance computer work (more on that in a bit) and will be using that money to pay for the chickens and vegetables and this will be my contribution to our family's food. Ideally, if all goes well, I will also be bartering eggs and meat for produce with one of the many local farms. I'd also like to have enough money leftover from my weekly income to accumulate a disaster preparedness supply (food, water, meds, etc).

When we move, my husband is going to be telecommuting from home. This will cut down on commuting costs, but also it permits him to have more than one job at a time. He does free lance work at the same time (since programming has lots of dead time while programs compile). The freelance jobs pay more per hour, but of course have no benefits, so living off of those is difficult. I know many people who have no health insurance, but I have a serious back injury and use it every year. Just this fall, I have another MRI and at least one procedure scheduled. (Which reminds me that I need to figure that out schedulewise before ordering birds).

When my husband was laid off two years ago, he started working through a freelance web site (www.guru.com, no referral bonuses so feel free to sign up directly). It isn't required for you to join, so he applied for work using a free membership. Once he got enough work to pay for the paid membership, he used that money to upgrade, since the paid membership has much lower fees attached to it. Still, it meant that he was able to bring in enough money to keep us afloat for a while.

Then a stay home friend of mine mentioned needing help, so my husband and I paid for a membership for her. She went in a very short time from not earning money to earning enough to cover all of their food costs for their family of five. Then she found another site called Elance. Like Guru, you can sign up for free, but you get fewer free "bid points" and paid membership costs more than Guru. The good part is that there's MUCH LESS competition for jobs.

She referred me to them (there's a referral bonus involved, I'll post the link in a moment) and I was able to land a small part time job the very first month. I write three articles a week for him every week and will be starting transcription very soon, perhaps as soon as I move. I've been earning enough so that by this fall, I should be making enough to cover my chicken and gardening costs without help from my husband. This will truly be MY contribution to the family.

If you're interested in elance, here is my referral link:
http://www.elance.com/p/landing/buyer.html?1BBTI

The only bad thing is that my friend recently mentioned that the lower end jobs at Guru have been swamped by international competition, so the job offers have changed to reflect that. You know, things like "Want brilliant self motivated blah blah.... will only pay $2/hour". There's some of that at Elance, too, but since it's more expensive to pay for the bids, there's less competition.

 

[lorieMN]

things are actually pretty good here,I work from home so try keep trips to town at a minimum,I planted a HUGE garden this year,and will have tons more stuff then the two of us can eat but will deliver to the neighbors..I have our chickens and turkeys,tho they are costing me money now,with feed and fencing and a coop,they will pay for themselves next spring,I plan on keeping some turkeys for breeding..we put up our own hay for the horses so I wont have that several thousand dollars going out this fall.DH just got laid off his job,but he is a truck driver and got a new and actually better job within a week,he does have a new pickup(1 year old now),that the payments are high on,but we looked at used and with the milage they had and most were just used up we went with new as it has bumper to bumper 100,000 mile warrenty,I have a 8 year old XL7,I dont love it,but it runs great and looks good and I can haul a bunch of stuff in it,we dont have any kids to worry about,we have a small one bedroom house,but it is easy to heat.So all and all we are doing well..and I thank God often for giving me this great life,it took some hard times and life kicking me in the butt for me to figure out what I really needed in life,and what material things I dont need,and I have to say I have never been happier

 

[Janie]

It has been so interesting reading how things are over the pond. The UK economy tends to lag the US by 6 - 18 months (I think).

Transport costs have gone mad here too - I drive a diesel Ford Focus but with diesel at £1.28 a litre it doesn't go very far! My work is a 50 mile round trip so I am setting up more 'mini enterprises' that I can do from home.

Food has also gone up - including the chooks food. Today I find out it has gone up for the 2nd time within 6 weeks. Our summer is yet another washout here (surprise surprise!) and whilst it means that the fields are looking pretty & green I would imagine that we are gonna have to import even more grain so this is just gonna keep raising.

We are lucky in that we rent a cottage on my parents small farm and therefore have access to all the space we could ever want to grow eggs & meat (chicken, duck & thinking of pork & beef). We swap with other friends for fruit, veggies & lamb.

Doom n gloom aside I am actually enjoying the frugal shopping trips I'm making, the new ways I find from places like this to make a small gain in our household. I also like that our nation as a whole is starting to take some responsibility for the fuel that we are using.

PS for all that are interested this site www.moneysavingexpert.com is ful of a wealth of info - ways to cut back in every arena - be it food shopping or credit cards. It is a UK site so not all will be appropriate but there is some fantastic ideas that may help, esp on the forums xx