How To Live Well In Lean Times

Although they don't like it, many people have become so used to living in debt that it has become a way of life. What happens when credit dries up or the interest rate becomes ridiculously high? Do you make enough money to cover your lifestyle? If you get out of debt, can you stay out?

It takes a real commitment to refuse credit even if it means doing without for a while longer.

These are tough questions but we are living in turbulent times where we need to start looking for alternatives. It came to me that many of the things we can do to stretch our budgets are very 'green' and help the planet at the same time. For instance, my daughter comes to my house to wash her laundry (including diapers). To the joy of her 18 month old, we just put up a clothesline. It is saving us money and giving him extra playtime in the backyard. Now that's a budget saving win/win situation.

When oil prices rise again, groceries won't be far behind. If you can lock in tomorrow's food prices today, you will be better off. So how can you do that? The easiest way is to buy something extra each week and save it for the time that prices rise again. We should all have a pantry to draw on.

• Dig out your gift cards Gift cards are a good idea when you have to buy for someone but don't know what they really want. Unfortunately many of them end up in a drawer somewhere or the back of your wallet. If this sounds like you, dig out those unused cards and put them to work. You can either use them or sell them at a discount. Either way it's like finding money in a coat pocket and you don't have to clean out the closet to do it!
  
  
  


• Join a co-op. Depending on where you live, you might have to search it out but there are farms that presell their produce. For a set fee a month (or year), you get a percentage of what they produce during that year. There is a farm near me that does this. The people who participate in it say they like the freshness of the produce and that the variety is better than they were getting at the grocery store. The latter was partly because they had to find a way to use vegetables that they didn't normally buy but it seems they liked it.


• Call your local heath food stores and ask if they sell in bulk. My husband and I have done this and bought rice and oats in 50 lb. bags. Warning, if you are going to buy bulk grains, they have to be stored securely. We use food grade buckets with resealable lids. Last year I froze each bucket of grain for three days and then stored them in a cool place. They didn't turn rancid or get buggy but you need to find a system that works for you.


• Buy seeds. Even if you live in a place where you can't garden, you can sprout seeds. They are highly nutritious and can be started on your countertop. Some companies treat their seeds to keep them from spoiling so be sure you buy clean organic seeds. Contrary to popular use, alfalfa is one of the worst sprouts that you can eat. In it's immature form, it contains an amino acid called canavine which can be toxic in large quantities and contributes to inflammatory arthritis and lupus. It has also been known to inhibit your immune system. The mature plants metabolize it during growth and so are harmless.


• Find Free Stuff My husband is king of dragging stuff home. Often it ends up by the curb where it belongs but this weekend, he found a nice side table for my dining room. Yeah! Sometimes people are simply tired of their stuff and there is nothing wrong with it. Keep your eyes open for deals. In the meantime, here's a site that lists free stuff that you can order.

  

• Join Ebates. If you buy anything online, you should check for Ebates discounts first. It is FREE to join so why throw away money? Even if it only helps pay your shipping, it is worth the effort. Ebates covers a long list of providers. It's a pretty sure bet that you have bought something from one of them sometime in your online career. You could have saved money by joining Ebates first.


• Consider Your Phone Bill. My husband and I have been using a VOIP service (voice over the internet protocol) for over a year. Except for the few times our internet was down, we have had excellent service for a minimal flat fee per month. (We are currently using Vonage.) Also, if you need to cut back on your mobile phone service, you have different options. If you are stuck in a service contract, talk to your provider. You can ask them if there is a buyout cost on your plan. If so and it is more than you will pay for just keeping the phone, tell them that you are thinking about selling your contract to someone because you are in trouble and can't afford it. (They would rather not have you do that because they want the other person to buy a full contract from them.) We had a problem and ended up going on a bare minimum emergency plan until our contract was done. Paul and I don't use our phones very much. (We call people back on the internet phone which is much cheaper.) We currently use Virgin Mobile with phones that we purchased at WalMart. I think they use Sprint towers so you still have consistent service. This way we have decent phones with no contracts for the minimum fee of $20 every three months. It works for us.


• Buy yourself a good cookbook that uses basic ingredients to make nutritious food. You will be surprised what you can make with a little help.

Even if money is tight, you have to take care of your house. Have you ever needed a repairman and wondered who would do a good job? When your finances are tight, the last thing you want to do is waste money on a job that is poorly done. Every year, someone is in the news because they hired someone to reroof their house or fix their car or bought something that was never delivered.

How can you keep from being a victim?

Angie's List was created to help you find a good person to hire. It provides members with access to 1,000s of reviews on local contractors and service providers - everything from electricians to physicians. Home improvement and health are two of the most searched categories on the net which means people are looking for good information.

• Contractors don't pay to be on Angie's list


• They receive over 5,000 reviews a month from people like you who have actually used and rated the services you are looking for.


• There are over 250 types of services on Angie's List

It's like talking to your neighbor over the fence and finding out if the plumber did a good job or made a mess. Was he on time or did he keep them waiting or never call or show up. When he was working, did he work steadily or were they charged for a lot of coffee breaks? These are all things we want to know when we need help. When every penny counts, you can't afford to waste it on bad service.

Why not check out Angie's List. It might make the difference between a headache or a job well done. Oh, and by the way, there really is an Angie. You can find her picture in the FAQs on the site. :0)

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