According to the banks Canada is on the cusp of going through another recession, according to the government we aren't. I have to say right now I agree with the banks, it's not hard to see that our economy could be doing much better and that good well paying jobs are hard to come by, families are struggling with low paying jobs and higher prices at the grocery store. Corporations and government are pushing us to buy to get the economy going, but our pennies here and there are nothing compared to the reckless government spending that needs to stop to really make the difference.
Oops I've gone off on a bit of a tangent, this post isn't about the government, it's about surviving and thriving during a possible recession. My husband and I use to be poor, so poor that we couldn't afford to buy cheese for the first two years of our marriage and had to be really creative when planning a date. Those were hard times, and I honestly think we suffered way more financially then we really had to, although there are more ways to save money now than ever before. I could talk all day about how to save money and live a better life, but for the sake of putting my thoughts into one entry I'll just list off a few things.
1) Use Coupons! These things are everywhere (especially for you Americans). You can find coupons in newspapers, order them online and have them mailed to your door, print them out from your computer, call up your favourite company rave about their products and see if they will send you coupons....etc. Coupons are no longer just for food and deodorant, you can get coupons for museums, attractions, oil changes and the list goes on. Using coupons was our first step in saving money, over time it really makes a difference.
2) Getting Cheap Clothing - For our children there are a few different things we do to save money on clothing. We go to thrift stores, kids swap meets which for us seems to give us more for a lot less than the thrift store, and also garage sales for used clothing. If we need something that we weren't able to find second hand or just want to buy a few new items for the kids we go to Gymboree when they are having one of their many sales (their quality is amazing, almost guaranteeing it will be passed down from oldest to youngest), Old Navy and GAP clearance sections and every other store on boxing day. My husband and I don't go through clothes nearly as fast as two toddlers, but we have the same shopping habits when it comes to buying clothes (generally), we just do it less frequently.
3) Saving Money at the Grocery Store - Besides using coupons there are other ways to get a deal at the grocery store. Many times food that is about to expire either that day or the next has a 30-50% off sticker on it. If you have a freezer (which I highly recommend and many times can be obtained free from craigslist) you can throw so many things in it. Milk freezes well, so does cheese, butter, bread.....etc, there is no reason to pay full price for these things all the time. Ask the manager or supervisor when your grocery store does their markdowns so you can be there to catch the good stuff (assuming you're like me and don't have a paying job).
4) Vacations - I love vacations, although who doesn't?! Since we are not rolling in cash we have to be very careful with what we do on our vacations. As it stands now, if we want to go on a vacation every year it means no flying. Plane tickets, airport tax and little things like taxis and buses from spot to spot is just beyond our budget right now, so we do road trips. We save for each vacation starting a year in advance, we may not know where we will be going or for how long, but getting away from it all is incentive enough. All of our coins, well I should be saying my coins since my husband only uses his credit card go in a "vacation" jar, so does the money from bottle returns, any mail in rebates or things we sell on craigslist or at a swap meet. When our kids get a little older I'd like to take them to Disney Land, I don't know if our financial situation will improve or God forbid get worse so I'm saving now, not in the way of money, but in airmiles. Airmiles is a great rewards program, it's free to join and lately more and more stores are apart of the airmiles program including Toys r Us and Michaels.
Oops I've gone off on a bit of a tangent, this post isn't about the government, it's about surviving and thriving during a possible recession. My husband and I use to be poor, so poor that we couldn't afford to buy cheese for the first two years of our marriage and had to be really creative when planning a date. Those were hard times, and I honestly think we suffered way more financially then we really had to, although there are more ways to save money now than ever before. I could talk all day about how to save money and live a better life, but for the sake of putting my thoughts into one entry I'll just list off a few things.
1) Use Coupons! These things are everywhere (especially for you Americans). You can find coupons in newspapers, order them online and have them mailed to your door, print them out from your computer, call up your favourite company rave about their products and see if they will send you coupons....etc. Coupons are no longer just for food and deodorant, you can get coupons for museums, attractions, oil changes and the list goes on. Using coupons was our first step in saving money, over time it really makes a difference.
2) Getting Cheap Clothing - For our children there are a few different things we do to save money on clothing. We go to thrift stores, kids swap meets which for us seems to give us more for a lot less than the thrift store, and also garage sales for used clothing. If we need something that we weren't able to find second hand or just want to buy a few new items for the kids we go to Gymboree when they are having one of their many sales (their quality is amazing, almost guaranteeing it will be passed down from oldest to youngest), Old Navy and GAP clearance sections and every other store on boxing day. My husband and I don't go through clothes nearly as fast as two toddlers, but we have the same shopping habits when it comes to buying clothes (generally), we just do it less frequently.
3) Saving Money at the Grocery Store - Besides using coupons there are other ways to get a deal at the grocery store. Many times food that is about to expire either that day or the next has a 30-50% off sticker on it. If you have a freezer (which I highly recommend and many times can be obtained free from craigslist) you can throw so many things in it. Milk freezes well, so does cheese, butter, bread.....etc, there is no reason to pay full price for these things all the time. Ask the manager or supervisor when your grocery store does their markdowns so you can be there to catch the good stuff (assuming you're like me and don't have a paying job).
4) Vacations - I love vacations, although who doesn't?! Since we are not rolling in cash we have to be very careful with what we do on our vacations. As it stands now, if we want to go on a vacation every year it means no flying. Plane tickets, airport tax and little things like taxis and buses from spot to spot is just beyond our budget right now, so we do road trips. We save for each vacation starting a year in advance, we may not know where we will be going or for how long, but getting away from it all is incentive enough. All of our coins, well I should be saying my coins since my husband only uses his credit card go in a "vacation" jar, so does the money from bottle returns, any mail in rebates or things we sell on craigslist or at a swap meet. When our kids get a little older I'd like to take them to Disney Land, I don't know if our financial situation will improve or God forbid get worse so I'm saving now, not in the way of money, but in airmiles. Airmiles is a great rewards program, it's free to join and lately more and more stores are apart of the airmiles program including Toys r Us and Michaels.
I have a lot more to talk about when it comes to saving money, so stay tuned :-).
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