Living with Less...A Lot Less

Since we're still jobless and no longer receiving weekly unemployment benefits, my focus as home manager is all about saving money. I thought I'd share with you a few ways we've cut back our spending. It's amazing how life doesn't seem so horrible even without the "luxuries" one is accustomed to.
Laundry: I'm still unable to find the ingredients for homemade laundry detergent here locally, so Era remains on the shopping list each month. However, I still do one thing differently: the last time we purchased a gigantic-sized bottle of fabric softener, I emptied it into a 5-gallon bucket, added 2 parts water and tossed in a couple of brand-new sponges. When I run a load of wash I add the detergent and the clothes to the washer, then I take one of the sponges from the bucket, squeeze it out slightly and add to the load. It uses less fabric softener but the clothes still smell great. My guess is that it has lasted twice as long this way.
Shopping: It's all about coupons, baby. I spend $2 each week on the Sunday paper and usually get about $12-worth of usable coupons. As well, I print coupons from Coupons.com, the only free site I've found that doesn't bombard me with spam. I then take all of my coupons and match them with the weekly store fliers. Walgreen's and CVS also offer "register rewards" which occasionally give me a coupon for $$ off my next purchase. For example, a few weeks ago CVS had Huggies Diapers on sale for 19.99 for the big box. They offered a $10 register rewards with its purchase, and I also had a $3 coupon for Huggies. After redeeming my coupons and rewards, I purchased a 102-count box of Huggies diapers for a grand total of $6.99.
Utilities: We try to cut our electricity usage any way possible. It means not using the heat cycle to dry dishes in the dishwasher; instead we let them remain for 30 minutes or so after the cycle finishes and most of the water drops evaporate. The drops that remain are simply towel-dried. As well, we stock up on paper plates when they're on sale and use those instead of regular plates to cut down on water usage -- and time! We often turn off the A/C, open the windows and use fans until the heat of the day dictates otherwise. We avoid opening the overhead garage door if we can use the front door instead.
Food: We've cut down drastically on our snackage. This is also in part because of our choice to eat healthier as well. Our kids want snacks all the time, so each morning I post the day's menu with snacks included. It is usually peanut butter crackers, applesauce or watermelon. We love Doritos but we don't buy them anymore because they are expensive and don't last long in this house. Nowadays, if we want a salty snack or if I make a Mexican meal, I use a pizza cutter to cut a stack of whole-wheat tortillas into wedge-shaped pieces; lay them out on a baking sheet and spray them with non-stick spray. I season them with sea salt, wheat germ, chili powder and garlic salt and bake them at 425 degrees for 7-9 minutes. For a smaller batch I'll heat them in a skillet on the stove. For a sweet snack I use cinnamon-sugar instead of the salty seasonings. Ok, so they're not even close to the savory taste of Doritos, but they really are yummy! And, at about .35 cents a batch they will do. (I pay .98 cents for a package of ten tortillas; each batch uses 2-4 tortillas, so we get several batches per pkg.)
Entertainment and Activities: This is the area of that has taken the biggest hit. We do very few activities outside of the home, but we have a trampoline, bikes, scooters and such to keep busy outside before the day gets too hot. On the occasions that we have a house-showing in the afternoon and have to leave home for a while, we take advantage of Sonic's Happy-Hour and get cold drinks for half-price. Furthermore, occasionally we will treat the family to "Monday Madness" at Little Caesar's Pizza, when pizzas are $3.98 each. We can feed the whole family dinner for about $18, including breadsticks and soda. We have an open house this Sunday and will have to stay away for 2-/2 hours, so it will be interesting trying to fill that time frame without spending money.
I realize I'm just rambling now. I think I'm just trying to make sense of all of this in my head. Life really stinks this summer, but we're trying to make the most of what we have. I'm so proud of our kids -- they roll with the punches and don't often complain about having to do without. They work so hard for each house showing (this Sunday will be our 35th showing) and they get so excited when Matt gets a lead on a job. I wish for their sake God would move His Hand already and open the door for us to get some income. I don't know what it is that's preventing it from happening, but we'll continue to take one day at a time and do what we can. Meanwhile, Disney World and Doritos will have to wait.