What do you do in crisis mode?

[MoneySavinDiva]

My husband and I do a lot of things on a regular basis to save money, such as keeping things unplugged when not in use, keep the thermostat down (65), etc., etc.

We haven't had to move into crisis mode, yet (knock on wood). Hopefully it stays that way. But, I have put some thought into what I would do if need be, especially since we are focusing all of our moneytary efforts into finishing off paying our debt off right now, and have a very small emergency savings built (would only last 1 month, maybe).

Things I would do in a fincancial emergency...

~ Cancel cable (we have the most basic package now)
~ Cancel internet, and sign up for a free trial internet (I can't get rid of it completely, it is how I get a heads up on deals and frugal ideas!)
~ Lower thermostat even more...to 62 or so.
~ Live off of stockpile as much as possible. I am currently budgeting about $30 extra a week for stockpile deals, and that part of the budget could be cut and I could live off of my stockpile for quite a while. Especially my HBA stockpile.
~ Try and keep one car parked. Wouldn't sell as where we are moving is 1/2 hour away from where we will be working, and we will carpool when possible, but we need to keep the two cars for days when we need to be going opposite directions. But if it were a really hard financial time, we would try to work it so one car can stay in the garage for a bit.
~ Stop our weekly date night. This wouldn't be a very good idea for the long run, because it's good for us to get out for a bit each week with one another...but for short term, it could save us some money for dates.

I'm sure there's more that I could do to save some money in a crisis situation, but this is what I've brainstormed so far. I hope I never have to get this drastic, but with today's economy, you just never know. So in the meantime, I'll keep saving up and stockpiling

[Mothernature]

We are a single income family. My husband lost his job suddenly last August.

These are some of the things we did.

- Had a very large stockpile pre layoff. This was a huge help in the long run.
- Went to grand openings and fests where we scored free merchandise and free gift cards
- Used gift cards when we wanted to go out and eat (yes, I stock pile gift cards)
- Took DS out to playground and water fountains where he could play
- Took the extra Sunday papers from a local hotel
- Used gift cards for gas (we paid $0 oop for gas during Dh's unemployment)
- Friends sent coupons for free food and earned enough points for free gift cards
- Cut the laundry down since DH was not employed
- Went to the mall but did not purchase

The things we've changed since his layoff:

- We moved our phone from Vonage to Magic Jack (no contract). Our cable is no contract; our internet is contracted for one year at $13.95/month. We have PAYG cell phones (again no contract). If he were laid off again, we are not forced by contract in most instances.

- Stock piled gifts. If Dh were laid off, we'd have to pay nothing out of savings or unemployment to pay for gifts.

- Made sure our laptops have full insurance. Our laptops are constanty damaged; we'd easily pay $500 per repair.

- Make sure our car is in full repair. Who wants to pay $100 for a blown out tire while unemployed?

- Make sure we have a good supply of cloths (especially for inteviewing).

[doulas3babes]

We have been in "crisis mode" since dh and I met yrs ago. And honestly, we stay in crisis mode every day. It's just become a way of life for us. Dh is the only one that works and I sah to raise our kids. We figured it out and between babysitting costs, gas, etc. I wouldn't make a dime if I went to work. How sad is that? And I think if everyone had been acting like they were in crisis mode (including our government & big corps) at least a little, then maybe we wouldn't be in the pickle that we are in right now financially as a society.

Anywho, we are a family of 5 and live off of under $27,000 a year (and that's before taxes, ins., union dues, city fees, etc) and that was with overtime every week. Now that dh's overtime is completely gone, I'm having to tighten my budget even more..... and it's getting harder and harder to do b/c it was already at rock bottom. But I must say, we didn't base our living and lifestyle based on income w/overtime. Just straight 40's is what we base our living off of.

- We garden in the spring/summer. Can't WAIT for this!

- I'm going to learn to can this yr too.

- I've always stockpiled, so there's food, diapers/wipes, hba, cleaners, OTC meds, first aid stuff, etc. on-hand.

- I ask our peds office (regularly) for samples of the meds that the kids are on. They know our situation and gladly help. Also, if you have a baby on formula, don't forget to ask your peds for that too. They helped us soooo much when our ds was born and his formula ($30/can) wasn't covered by WIC. :shrug7:

- I just lowered our monthly budget for the above mentioned items from $250/mos to $200/mos and have met it so far the past 2 mos. AND I'm continuing stockpiling along the way.

- We also lower our temp. to 65 degrees. And we use lots and lots of blankets.

- We also unplug everything, turn off lights and let in the daylight, etc.

- I line-dry clothes in the summertime.

- We gradually made the switch to energy efficient lightbulbs. And hung heavy drapes (bought on clearance) to hang on the windows to help regulate temps.

- We NEVER eat out, when we do it's b/c of an anniversary, bday for family and I use gc and cpns.

- We don't vacation or go to fairs, etc. unless it's dirt cheap or free.

- We borrow books, dvds and cds from the library all the time. Dh picks them up and drops them off on his way home.

- NO:
lessons of any kind for the kids (dh is teaching them guitar)
manicures/pedicures (dh does this for me)
eyebrow tweazing (do it myself)
fake tans (blah!)
hair dyes/etc. (don't do this)

- I cut everyone's hair including my own. Have for yrs.

- We haven't had cable, satellite, etc. by choice for years, just rabbit ears that work great!

- We do have netflix. $8.99/mos and LOVE it. We watch movies all the time!! This is a blessing in the summertime when it's too hot or rainy to go outside.

- When we have family fun night every wk, we play board games or the Wii w/our 3 kids. We have movie night every other wk too. We rent from netflix, pop (free) popcorn and chill on the couch. Also, we have dance night too once a mos and we crank up the music and dance in the living room. (Dh doesn't do this as much, but the kids have a BLAST!)

- We recycle aluminum for a little cash, although now, not sure if it's gonna be worth much.

- We just got dsl, but the cost was $5 more per mos. than the dialup we had and it is what saves money, so we don't cut that expense.

- We have 1 cellphone that's a bare minimum plan ($35/mos w/tax). We don't text, use it for the internet, etc. But is a necessity b/c of where we live. We also have a prepaid one for dh to carry for emergencies. I got it for free at RA through SCR and gc.

- Dh packs his lunch every day to work. Takes along snacks for himself as well throughout the day to stave off hunger.

- Dh has an older car that's paid for and it gets about 40mpg.

- I buy all gifts, clothes, etc. when it's at least 75% off.

- I play the "credit card game". We don't have any credit card debt, but we have cards and I use those cards to my advantage. Like my old navy visa sent me a thing that if I used my card at 4 other places than ON by 2/28 they would send me a $10 bucks back. So I used it at CVS for less than $1 transaction and got my $10 bucks back the other day!!!

- I pay as many bills as I can online.

- We have a bank that rewards us for using our debit card as a credit card. It accumulates pts and I cash those in for gas cards or target/wm gc.

- I do mypoints, inboxdollars, pinecone, etc. And LOVE it!!! It's so easy to accumulate the points and take the surveys.

- If I don't have cpn for it, it's on sale, etc. then I don't buy it, unless it's something that there isn't a cpn for. Like around here, we don't get winetags and so produce, etc. is bought w/out one.

- I price-match whenever possible to WM to save on gas and time.

- Whenever I do go out, I make 1 trip do it. I will hit RA, CVS, WM, gas station, recycle, p.o., pay loans at the bank, etc. And I map out my trip so there's no back and forth all over town.

- I pack snacks, drinks, and pb&j whenever I go out to run errands so there's no stopping for fast food junk and wasting money.

- I buy all our bread at the bread outlet. Super cheap, still w/a good date, at least 6 days or more and can typically get 2 loaves of bread, buns, etc. for the cost of 1 loaf of bread from wm!!! I also buy bread when it's on sale at the outlet for 2/$1 and freeze it.


*phew* Now I know there's TONS more that I'm forgetting, but I hope this helps some. And I know that it's a little more towards a long-term thing, but maybe it will help your family over time as well. Many blessings!!