making it work on one income

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-2003
making it work on one income
5
Thu, 01-13-2005 - 1:56pm

any tips or advice on making it work on one income? My DH and I have cut back quit a bit since I quit working. I clip coupons and only buy groceries when on sale. We cut our dining out to about 2 times a week (Sunday after church with friends and family and the occassional lunch date). I thought about having a garage sale this coming summer to help. Just wondering what everyone else has done to make it work.

Thanks,
Jamie Leigh and Landon Michael 5-3-04

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-06-2003
Thu, 01-13-2005 - 4:33pm

I don't spend a lot of $$ on stuff for one thing... my kids' clothes are either gifts from family & friends (b-day & christmas), hand-me-downs, or sale & clearance from Target or WalMart. They just grow too fast to spend that much on clothes.


I open the windows when the weather is nice to save on the utility bill... also, we borrow movies from the library to save on rental fees. We only go out to eat twice a month (after DH gets paid). I try to plan out menus every week so that I know exactly what to buy and how much it will cost, and I don't buy junk food.


We live a very frugal & humble lifestyle, but because of it we were able to purchase a brand new home last May so that the kids would have a back yard to play in and a safe neighborhood to grow up in.


I think yard sales are a great idea BTW. I'm planning on having one myself when spring comes.


 

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2004
Thu, 01-13-2005 - 5:07pm
I don't think we had to do much for me to stay home. It seems when we have a life change, my husband's job does the same to help it out.
I do think the coupons is a good start. Just get rid of things not needed and you will do fine. It is possible to be a sahm and make it with just one income.





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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-08-2004
Thu, 01-13-2005 - 7:07pm

We just took an honest look at our life style and figured out what we could live without. We do not have cable, we drive a mini van, we only have the basic phone service at 15 dollars....the call waiting and other services really add up. At the grocery store I bring a list and can only add two things that I did not have on there. I do not buy any junk food. Snacks are fruit and veggies. I have a rule that the lights in the house do not come on until 5pm. I open the curtians instead for natural light. I also try to keep a few frozen meals in the freezer so that we have "fast" food and cannot make an excuse to go to fast food resturants.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-2003
Thu, 01-13-2005 - 10:03pm

Wow! What great tips. Thanks everyone.....

Jamie Leigh

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-23-2004
Fri, 01-14-2005 - 7:37am
Coupons, buy generic foods, thrift stores, hand me downs. EBAY! lol Sorry, but you can get some nice stuff cheap on ebay, and I love it. I've bought nintendo games, babrbies and other toys for my kids from there and it is so much cheaper!
One of my friends and I are both scrapbookers, each of us subscribes to one of the magazines, once we read it, we trade. that way we each pay for one and get to read 2.
I'm in a yahoo group and when our kids outgrow clothes we list the sizes and whoever let's us know, gets them.