The hard times thread/Beat the Recession

[Kiwi]

So the economy is in the stinker right now many of us are being laid off, or have had our hours cut. Many of us can not find jobs, or get enough hours to pay our bills.

Why don't we pool resources for ideas on how to lower our living costs and find employment.

To start with I'm finding right now that networking is more important than every before, K is using all of his fathers contacts to get the inside job on the industry he wants to get into. I'm not legally allowed to work yet but I plan on finding a job through temping.
Less employers are willing to take a chance so if they can see your work you have your foot in the door.

Also sites like Craisgslist (worldwide) or www.Kijiji.com (USA and Canada only) there is Gumtree for the UK,these had jobs that are casual or maybe a little out of the ordinary along with many employers who like the low cost or free advertising.


For cutting down expenses there are hundreds of websites with tips and hints. I am a coupon and free sample hound, I have a basket in my bathroom filled with samples of moisturizer, shampoo, face packs you name it (especially baby products... free nappies anyone? I give them to my friends with babies) I have a separate email address for the freebies so my own mailbox isnt clogged.

There is also msn money boards, they have hundreds of threads on saving money on food, making your own laundry detergent, how to stretch your food or get onto those hard to find jobs..product tester (Ive personally done coffee and fast food surveys).

I'm personally not about to spend hours a day to save $5, but I am willing to spend 10-15 minutes in order to cut down some of our costs.
I also subscribe to a couple of newsletters that offer up tips that people are talking about.
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/ is a good one, its written by a nice regular guy who has a family and wants to live as economically as possible without hurting the lives of his family by being cheap. He is very good at finding ways to cut down costs without cutting down on quality of life (I think thats very important, we have enough stress right now without feeling deprived)

http://www.destitutegourmet.com/ is one cook who is dedicated to quick easy cost effective meals so you don't have to live off 2 minute noodles (unless you like them)

If there's enough interest we could even start up a group on CS... what do you all think?

[SengaKitty]

Just a thought for the sixteen - twentyfour crowd here. I am about to go back to Job Corps. I know a lot of people here are in college, but I can't afford to go to college [no job at all, plus no copy of my hsd], so if you're in the states, are between the above mentioned ages, and want some career training, Job Corps is a good idea.

http://jobcorps.dol.gov/about.htm It's a free education, with no bills, they pay you to be there, and will help you find a job when you're done.

[digilight]

There's always a creative way to bring in a few more bucks, or to reduce overhead (whether its at home or your business). Well the hard part is figuring it out (LOL). But I was reminded of this when I was reading the business section of sundays paper and they were doing a writeup on a new local business that does Kimchee (Korean Fermented Vegies) and their estimated gross revinue was only at 5 grand. Well I got to thinking, thats a at least a extra thousand bucks in their pocket at the end of the year. They only operate a web store and most likely operate out of their home so expenses are minimal. so thats one way to bring in some extra scratch.

I plan on reducing what I spend by not being able to eat real food for the next month or so (the gastric bypass next week). But honestly, clipping coupons and timing your purchases around sale times. I use a site called slickdeals.net. I know it probably goes against everything that this site stands for in some ways (you have some people there who tend to promote rather SC attitudes). But you can also find some great deals and save alot of money. I use the site to by paper for my shop, CD's and DVD's for the shop and all kinds of other things.

But I think a Group on here would be great we all need help to stretch our dollar as far as it will go these days.

[NightAngel]

Heh.

1. Do not buy name brand anything- you are paying extra for the name.
2. Do not buy "junk food"- as much fun as it is- it's still junk.
3. Only buy for one week- eat the leftovers completely before shopping for the next week. Yes, even if you are sick and tired of it- eat it anyway.
4. Write on both sides of the paper.
5. Shop at places like Aldi's and bent-n-dent shops for food.
6. Shop at the Salvation Army (or similar) for clothes and household items.
7. Watch Craigs List for the "curb alerts" and free drops in your area.
8. Turn down the heat a degree or two- it makes a difference. I have a blanket that I wear as a wrap all the time.
9. Turn off the lights when you leave the room- turn off your computer at night.
During the day- use natural lighting as much as possible.
10. You probably don't actually need that- put it back- resist the urge.

[Rapscallion]

Why don't we pool resources for ideas on how to lower our living costs and find employment.

Excellent idea for a thread. May consider stickying this until the economy improves.

Rapscallion

[Kiwi]

Ive also started a Hard Times social group if anyone wants to join!

[BarbieGirl]

A couple things I do now. I make all my own bread, its really not that hard and a 5lb bag of flour costs about as much as 1-2 loafs of store bread and it tastes better =-).
I follow a savings blog. www. thebargainjargon. blogspot. com Most of her stuff is washington, but a lot of the stores are nationwide and the deals can be taken part of.

I buy all my kids clothing at the end of season sales- the childrens place always has a bunch of racks for just 1.99.
Target puts kids clothing on clearance on tuesdays. And it seems that every threee months they put toys on 75% off, So I have started buying toys then and saving them in a box to give as b-day, and christmas gifts throughout the year.

There are a lot of websites that help you plan your meal so you can use cross over ingredients throughout the week.

I think a group would be great. Saving money is fun! (as my talking 'professional' barbie says)

[draggar]

I have a blog set up (myrealname).com that I can use to promote myself. My resume is on there along with posts about what to do, basic support things, what I've done professionally.

Keep it 100% professional (no political, unless that is your profession).

DirectNic.com has a deal where it is $15 a year for the domain and that also includes hosting. Most hosts include at least one database and Wordpress is free along with many themes are free, too.

Pop some tastefully placed adsense ads on there and if your blog is good enough, it might even pay for itself.

Get some posts up on the site and slap it on your resume (I'd recommend to .com your real name, if that isn't available, get it in another TLD (.org, .net, .info) or a country based one (.co.uk, .us, etc..).

Get going on professional social networking sites like Facebook (well, that isn't too professional) and LinkedIn (I'm on there too, PM me your username to link up). Network!

Also, if you don't have a job, don't sulk around the house - get out. Even volunteer doing things you like, who knows who you'll meet out there.

[tacohuman]

1. unless dealing with heavy soil, use short wash cycles for laundry and dishes
2. plug remote-operated electronics into a power strip. when you go to bed at night or leave the house, cut the power to the strip; remote-operated devices continue to use low levels of power even when turned "off".
3. turn off heated drying on your dishwasher.
4. replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent.
5. when cooking (especially with gas; it's harder with electric ranges), match the flame to the size of your dish; any larger and you're just wasting energy.
6. if using a laptop, operate on battery power as much as possible. only use outlet power when you need to charge.

[draggar]

1. unless dealing with heavy soil, use short wash cycles for laundry and dishes

..and unless bleaching or need a heavy clean - use cold water.

Lower the temperature on your hot water heater (unless you really need it). 130 degrees is warm enough for a good hot shower.

[SengaKitty]

Also, join up on yahoo groups, such a Freecycle and Cheapcycle in your area. People are always giving things away, or selling them cheap, and you can usually find pretty good deals that way.

[Kiwi]

I do all my washes in cold water

For towels and sheets I add 1/4 cup bleach to the load to kill any germs that might be lurking. I also do a second rinse on them to make sure the soap is rinsed out completely.
We have a clothes hanger in the apartment (we pay to heat it to 22 degrees so why pay more for a dyer)

Again I only use the dryer for sheets and to soften towels (air dry then 20 minutes in on the lowest heat setting.
I make my own cleaner to, 4 parts water, 4-5 drops sunlight soap and 2 parts bleach

I use it to wipe down counters, clean floors, you name it. To clean windows I only add 1-2 drops sunlight and add in 2 parts white vinegar. I make the solution up once a week in small batches so that the bleach is still active.

Growing up we couldnt use commerical cleaners because my brother and I couldnt take the chemicals. My mum cleaned the house with baking soda, vinegar, lemons, sunglight soap and bleach thats it.

She also watered down our laundry degergent by half, the same with dishwashing liquid.

[Rapscallion]

Hints for surviving the recession

Things are generally reckoned to be tight financially right now. Do you have an idea for saving money?

Cheap and nutritious meals. Money saving tips in all areas of life. Special offers you've seen and think other CSers may be able to benefit from. I'm talking about advice for life, not just work.

Go for it, and don't be afraid to ask if you're curious.

Rapscallion

[draggar]

We cut our landline and DSL (internet) - cut out an "extra" package with cable TV and picked up a cable modem - saves us about $80 a month now.

Local grocerey store (Publix) has a lot of buy one, get one free sales. If it's not perishable and we use it, I stock up on it, a lot. (I have about a dozen large Tombstone pizzas in my freezer now).

Lunches (while at work):
24 pack of Ramen soup (in the cups) - $7 at Sams
30 pack of baked chips - $12 at Sams

There's a month's worth of lunches for under $20.

Repetitive and boring - hell yeah but it's cheap.


Cook in bulk and portion out meals ahead of time. I'll cook a while bag of ravioli at once and portion it into 3-4 meals before I eat any of it - put all but one in the fridge and eat the other. I'll also do the same with a box of mac&cheese and a pound of ground beef or turkey.

[Aethian]

Dropping landline and moving other services to the bare minimum.

COUPONS!! I have a reciept somewhere of over 200 where I only paid about 70. I know some people have done better...but that was good for me.

Ordering out less...making more things at home.