When my husband lost his job

Last summer was hectic at our house. I had returned to work the last couple of weeks at school after a glorious maternity leave and my husband was busy as well. He is in construction so that was his busy time of year. Then we got the news that the school I work for had some how made a mistake with my paychecks and I would not be getting paid thru June. To make matters worse, by the end of June, my husband was laid off. We were financially in a ton of trouble. We had two kids, had just bought our tiny house and wanted to fix it up, and we had no money to pay our bills. I had to come up with a plan. I became obsessed with trying to get our family stuff for free and finding possible ways of making extra money. I looked into everything and applied for a ton of diffrerent positions. This was the beginning of my new adventure in the world of frugality. Although I am no where near where others have gone, I am on my way to making the most of a dollar and not settling for just any old sale or any old price. So it has now been about 9 months into mu adventure. I am still making mistakes in the world of frugal living, but I am getting better at it. And I'd like to share some of the steps I have taken....

2/27 Trip to Rite Aid

Well this wasn't the most successful trip in terms of getting things for free, but sometimes I need to pick up certain items and Rite Aid has them at a good price but not free.

So here is what I got:
12 snickers bars (88cents and second for 1 cent)... I am a teacher and I need prizes
2 Johnson and Johnson baby bath washes (4.69 and 1 cent for second)
2 Dixie Paper Plates ($1.99 each)
1 Soft Soap Apricot Body Wash ($2.99)
2 boxes of Apple Jacks ($4.49 and 1 cent for second)
2 NYC Nail Polishes ($1.99 and 1 cent for second)
2 Sally Hansen Lip Polishes (75% off clearance $1.57 each)

Then I used
$5 off of $25
4 of the $1/3 Snickers
2 $1 off Johnson & Johnson and 2 $1 off J&J Rite Aid Video Values
1 $2/2 Rite Aid VV and $1/2 Dixie
1 $1 off Soft Soap from All You and $.25 Rite Aid coupon from Game ticket
1 $1.50 off two boxes of Kellogs cereal
1 $1.00 off NYC item from All You
2 $1.00 off Sally Hansen Lip Product

I ended up spending just under $5 to get all this stuff!!!!!
It wasn't the best trip ever, but I consider it a success.

My Very First Post

Hurray! I finally did it. I started a blog. I am sick of searching for deals and then finding out that the prices aren't the same in the Rochester area. So I will be posting all the great finds at Rite Aid, Wal*Mart, Wegmans, Target, and where ever else they might pop up. I am so excited. Plus, I love all the other blogs I read, but I don't know how some of them get by on the way they eat. So I will be sharing some of the cheap things that we do but in a realistic way from a working mom.



In addition, I am going to share with you all the new ways I can find to save money for the summer. I am a teacher and I don't get paid from July thru August. It is just about March and I only have $40 saved towards summer. This is not how I planned it, but life got us to this point. So I will be sharing any ways I can pinch pennies to build my savings for the hot months to come.



Welcome all. I hope that you find something helpful here.