Saving $$$

[Marilyn]

This is an awesome thread. We're doing okay here, but hubby's home building business is down. He has one home under construction and two cash customers who say they still want to build. He has one other he thinks may be able to build also, but this is way less than ususal. He will probably lay off his superintendent. Hate to do it, but the business is just not there. Our 401k's and IRA's took quite a hit. I almost threw up a couple of times this week. Retirement plans will probably have to be pushed back. My business is still booming, but I was the one who was planning to retire first. Oh, well.

Love the cost saving ideas. We did the no long distance on our land line a long time ago. Don't even subscribe to a long distance service on it.

Will definitely check this all out and post any additional ideas!!!

Hang in there ladies!!!! We can make it & we are here to help each other.

[DianaB]

My husband said that he won't be selling any grain for a while. The grain markets are taking a plunge too. That always worries us because that is our income.

[gja1000]

Originally Posted by DianaB

My husband said that he won't be selling any grain for a while. The grain markets are taking a plunge too. That always worries us because that is our income.

I completely understand - my mom was the manager of a grain elevator in our little town. I remember when the prices would be so low, it wasn't feasible to sell - it was better to pay storage in the elevator. Of course, many people now have their own storage bins and can wait till the prices come up. I hope the grain prices improve!!!

[HALEY]

Originally Posted by Marilyn

This is an awesome thread. We're doing okay here, but hubby's home building business is down. He has one home under construction and two cash customers who say they still want to build. He has one other he thinks may be able to build also, but this is way less than ususal. He will probably lay off his superintendent. Hate to do it, but the business is just not there. Our 401k's and IRA's took quite a hit. I almost threw up a couple of times this week. Retirement plans will probably have to be pushed back. My business is still booming, but I was the one who was planning to retire first. Oh, well.

Love the cost saving ideas. We did the no long distance on our land line a long time ago. Don't even subscribe to a long distance service on it.

Will definitely check this all out and post any additional ideas!!!

Hang in there ladies!!!! We can make it & we are here to help each other.

Marilyn, how is your area doing, i heard the south is doing bad with the economy?
Pa is getting hit pretty bad, around my area.

[DianaB]

Here's a site that you can sign up with to get rebates on what you buy. They have a lot of places to choose from.

www.rebateshare.com

[DianaB]

I just ordered gift certificates from using the points off of my credit card. I got 2-$50 certificates from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, 2-$100 gift certificates from Lowe's, and a $75 gift certificate from Sears. My husband is getting the Sears one and my older kids are getting the other gift certificates for Christmas. I'm really pleased.

[DianaB]

JC Penney's is starting a reward program too. I'm not sure exactly what it involves but here's the site for it. It's a free membership.

www.jcprewards.com

[Tiramisu]

I just got inet back up at home and feel like a little kid on sugar! I'll need to mellow out and look at all these ideas tomorrow (at work).

[HALEY]

i also replaced all my light bulbs with the energy ones, i replaced all my storm doors and screen doors with Pella doors, ( plus i'm getting a tax credit for that thise year also) got a new stove and fridge, cause mine were just too old.. and i do mean very old...
Put Micah in daycare! This was very hard for me to do, but he needed to be around other children i found a very nice one with only 6 kids, i at least now will get some of this money back in my taxes this year... cause i couldn't claim private care..

[HALEY]

Originally Posted by DianaB

JC Penney's is starting a reward program too. I'm not sure exactly what it involves but here's the site for it. It's a free membership.

www.jcprewards.com

Diana be careful, jc penney's just put a charge on my credit card for some kind of reward program - the only reason i caught it cause the card was paid off and there was this charge on it... i made them take it off... read the fine print...

[Tiramisu]

THANKS for all the good ideas.

Check your power provider. Mine (www.reliantenergy.com) has several helpful hints and even a place to key in to see what each appliance costs you. My rate is at $.14/kWh.

Hubby and I agreed that we can not go to the grocery store without a list and we must try to shop only from the list. We have a bad habit of stopping on the way home from work to grab a few things and ending up getting extras. We need to get better about thawing something out for supper. We literally have 4 freezers (1 on the side-by-side in the house, 2 big ones in the garage, and 1 on the extra refrigerator in the garage). I figured that it costs $25/month for each, so we are going to consolidate and hopefully sell one of the freezers. We re-inherited the extra refrigerator and a compact refrigerator from kids college days. Since the storm, we haven't plugged the compact in and will try to sell it. With such a big family, the extra frig comes in handy, so we'll probably keep it.

[HALEY]

Originally Posted by HALEY

Diana be careful, jc penney's just put a charge on my credit card for some kind of reward program - the only reason i caught it cause the card was paid off and there was this charge on it... i made them take it off... read the fine print...

ps. i ordered something from jc penneys online and when i went to check out that's when they signed me up for something, and that's where this charge came from, so be careful when you buy something from them online... it was around 10.00 if i remember right.. i was pissed.....