Thursday, October 20, 2011

Extreme Couponing?

As I may have mentioned, my family is broke as a joke, and that was before the Hubs had his work accident and has been home for 2 weeks. I have been obsessed with the TLC show Extreme Couponing for a while now, but have been too overwhelmed to really get a start at it. Now I am so overwhelmed by the fact my slowly growing grooming business is our sole source of income that I feel like I HAVE TO start NOW so I can make sure I can feed us all and pay the bills. 
I really feel that each year we get a little more frugal, a little more self sufficient, but the reality is we kill ourselves to break even every month, which most people do, I know. I'm pretty sure we are all in the 99% around here. The bottom line is, I want to be working out of my home, homeschooling my kids, with the Hubs right there with me. I put in an application to go back to Petco in a moment of desperation this morning after learning we will, in fact, have to get a lawyer and fight for the Hubs workman comp claim. Not that Petco isn't a great place, I sure loved all the people I worked with, but it would kill me a little to go back to working for someone else again.
So, after 5 hours of lying in bed and crying (as I mentioned a few days ago, I am not exactly on firm mental and emotional ground) I got up, showered, dressed, and helped the Hubs on the several ideas we have in the works for work at home income and to get more business in the shop. We figure if we get enough little trickles of money coming in from places, it will fill the bucket as fast as a soul sucking job outside the house. 
Enter Extreme Couponing. I must figure it out. Now. Today. The freezer will be empty next week and I need to fill it up as cheaply as possible. So if anyone reading this has suggestions, tips, sites...anything PLEASE comment. I need all the help I can get.

1 comment:

RetroKali said...

The best thing to do is buy bone-in chicken in bulk ( it is cheap), boil it, and make soup, shred it for tacos, etc, and freeze it. Make ahead meals that you freeze can really be a great way to eat cheap.
Also, black beans sell for about $1.50 a pack, and you can do a great latin meal in the crockpot ( eaten over rice), and eat on that for a day or two . ( burritos the next day, etc.)
The problem with extreme couponing, is that it tends to be a lot of wierd, and/or unhealthy items. Toothpaste, etc, that a LOT of the time you can get for a lot cheaper if you buy one tube of the off-brand.
We live in a small town, and have one income and several children, and we have been very low income for some time now. Cut corners with food by buying bulk, and freezing. Good luck!

Merry Meet, Merry Part, and Merry Meet Again...

free web page counter
Get a free hit counter here.