Staying home now...what ways can I save money over working?

[CJW]

I just thought of something that helps around here. Foaming hand soap dispensers.

My boys used to pump the soap and we would go through it like wild fire (and I am not a big fan of bars), but with the foam, you add a little soap with some water and it really stretches the soap.

I actually use Dr. Bronners Liquid Castile Almond Soap and it works really well and isn't drying. I don't use anti-bacterial soaps.

 

[savingdogs]

I actually make my own homemade soap so I'm already not spending much on it.

I'll have to try using less shampoo, that is a good suggestion. Shampoo and conditioner can be very expensive!

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I am in part, where you are. I went from nursing to tending a bridge, due to painful feet. I make a little less than half what I used to make per hour. So I am cutting every corner I can.
I've been at it for a year now.
As of now I am working some overtime, as so my husband who is also a tender, so we are neglecting our farm activities.
Don't get me wrong....the money is welcomed, esp having just survived Christmas with 5 children and umpteen nieces and nephews, but when they hire some new tenders, we will be able to concentrate on our girls studies and various farm activities, which we use to suppliment our livelyhood.
I am going to take the Farmer's Almanac suggestion of good chores to do per day. Tomorrow looks like a good bleeding day and I have 13 broilers that need tending to.
I tried checking into flylady, but when I got the e-mail with the link I needed to get on something called bigtent and it didn't let me......it said "oops" so I went to 'small baby steps' on flylady's website for some suggestions. Its a start.
I have a strange way of keeping my checking acct in good standing. I intentionally subtract and add to my disadvantage to be safe. Also, every payday, I subtract a fake service charge. And when I am really into self-sufficiency, I calculate some money I am saving and subtract some of it in my account balance. It saves me when an emergency occurs.

 

[Homemaker]

I started staying at home last April. It has turned out to be the best time of my life so far. Good luck to you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

I just want to say that I love this forum. What a great group of people. And, there are so many wonderful ideas in this thread.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I keep trying to convince my older kids to read some of the topics on here....I tried to get my son to read this thread.
Some of this stuff can really help you stretch a dollar.

 

[maf8009]

Me too... became disabled and wrestling with both income and health problems..

I learned to buy in bulk and break down the portions... you can save 70%!

I do not use coupons much at all... mostly they are for junk processed food anyway

Go to your local butcher... (small out of town ones are best) you can get FREE "soup bones" on cutting day... just ask... thats lots of meat great for soups stews... or evem doggie bones! LOL

OR if you can, raise a calf, butcher and split the meat with someone for a purchase or a repair.... "If you fix my fence today, I will butcher this calf next week and pay you in x lbs of beef...." it works!!!!!

Use your crock pot.. great food cheap and fast.

Use one car OR make all of your errands in one day... do not "go out" unless you really need to get something done

Cut portion sizes on soaps, and every day things... most of the time work just as good anyway

Buy used clothes, learn to not buy unless really needed or a special occasion....

Barter, barter, barter!!! Craigs list is your best friend or free cycle.

Good luck to you

 

[savingdogs]

I feel like I should print out this whole thread and re-read it every morning! So many great ideas here, thanks everyone. I'm using as many of these as I can and that are applicable!

 

[Wannabefree]

Has anybody brought up bartering? I may have just hit pay dirt bartering for some things I needed done that I have no way of doing because we don't have a truck at the moment. Bartering for services is a TREMENDOUS money saver, and what one can't accomplish alone, many can accomplish together. Set up a cooperative with friends and family. Work together, offer your time and talents, goods and services, in exchange for others time and talents, goods and services.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I've gone to flylady a few times and always stopped at some point in the sign-up when she says she sends TEN emails a DAY!!!! That is more clutter in my mind, somehow. 'Splain, please? TEN emails? Really? Yikes! Just the thought of it overwhelms me.

Free, you can sign up for the digest, where you get one mailing of all of the messages. PM me your email address and I'll forward it to you.

I've had flylady sending me messages for several years. i haven't followed her plan in a while, but she helped me set myown plan. I still keep here though, incase anything happens and i get overwhelmed. She's good.

 

[Jared77]

Know a gal who posts an add on Craigslist for unwated chickens age/sex doesn't matter, if you want them gone, she'll pick them up. She says right in her ad that she wants them to feed her family. Husband, wife and young daughter. She told me she keeps a 20 mile radius from her house. She says she gets calls all the time for people looking to unload extra roosters or old laying hens that are no longer producing. Or folks get ultra cute fuzzy chicks from TSC or the local feed store that are now hormonal/tempermental crowing roosters that are making everybodies life miserable.

She makes the arrangements so she can pick up a bunch in one swoop and collects them and stores them in a dog crate in her garage. They get water, and a little scratch then (so their systems are clean when its time to process) the next day she processes them herself.

Follows the cooking directions on the ALBC (American Livestock Breed Conservancy) website under the document cooking with heritage chicken. Its a PDF. I don't have enough posts here to put up a link apparently. Only thing it costs here is the gas/time to travel to pick up birds and process them.

She says she usually goes to pick up a bird or 2 and then is offered more when she gets there. Its a steal considering your getting them FOR FREE.

Roasted chicken is great for a multiple meals, so is shredded chicken.

She says when she's running low on chicken she'll repost her add and get that many more people looking to unload birds. Same could easily be done for turkeys and/or ducks.

Something to think about looking into.