SS late this month, 1st time ever for us :-( :-(
 

Patty, I don't live in the US but we are feeling the pinch here as well. Prices of everything are going up- in a matter of weeks at the grocery store! But i"ve really noticed that "good" food prices are going up more than not-good-for-you-food. For example we only drink 100% juice- right now we are big into V8 Fusion but they cost a fortune now! And all i can think of is the major obesity problem our countries are facing- how is raising the cost of GOOD food helping this??? some people now have no choice but to buy what is cheap- and this is causing health problems which is putting more strain on your health care system (ours is different from yours- free health care- but definitely not without its problems!) We just try to catch things on sale- buy what we can at the low cost grocery stores....

Maybe it's time to raise a large garden, freeze what we can and can what we can't freeze. Nothing healthier than fresh veggies. ;)

That is a good idea. I was surprised too when I went to the Dollar Store and they up the prices. some of the items in Dollar Store now cost $1.25 and some $2 and they were sold at $1 before. Its just crazy how the economy is getting worse and the prices are going up!

I have heard canning is still pretty expensive though. What do you think?

I am planting a garden again this year but its bigger. It is kind of expensive to make a garden at first, especially with the kind of soil we have here in AZ. Got to buy alot of soil and mulch, etc to get started. I did have a good crop of oranges and grapefruits this year, but irregation is getting expensive too. I keep thinking that veggies are cheaper in the store than it is for me to grow them.(I work in a grocery store) I am just now planting corn. Next year, I hope to sell vegies from my home as I live in an agricultual area. I have added fig trees and tangerines too! Next year I want to plant some pecan and peach trees. I want to put up a cute little shed and sell my veggies and crafts.:)

Everything is going up . I really worry about my children's future ( and ours) ! I can't imagine what they will be left with as a result of all this ! I have cut back as much as I can in every area.... I haven't cut any of the boys schooling or activities out and I hate the thought of having to do that ... but really don't know what will happen if business doesn't pick up . :(

My family ( the Southern part) canned food all the time...I think I will be asking my mom how it's done :) The price of food is crazy . I cut back as much as I could and still spend atleast 300 a week on groceries for the four of us ! That's ridiculous! I'm planting a garden this year and hope that helps atleast a bit !

It seems there is no relief in sight and that's what scares me most.

Yorkiedaze thanks for the input. After reading your post, I phoned a couple of our friends, since we are on our own well they said they would be willing to put in gardens for themselves here and work them and help us to keep one going for ourselves. How about that :) We have plenty of fruit trees but I had to give up doing a garden last year since I couldn't physically work it, sooooooooo thanks to your post encouraging me to make those calls,looks like we will get to have one now and them too :) Our friends said this is a great idea, they live in the city and are on water rationing :( they are delighted to come out and put one in.

Jack read in our local paper today that the school district in the city near us is laying off over 100 teachers and personel :( I know so well the need of volunteering as I did so when our daughters and son were in school, there are many ways to help, so I think we will call and check to see about that. Even a little time volunteering would help the kids, am sure they would be happy to have us even at our schedule of availability, there is always a need to have someone listen to children read and also help with their class subjects, this is what I did years ago, I saw kids grades go up and it was so rewarding to help the youth. The status is now that the classes will be made larger due to having less teachers :eek:

hviola having the canning jars it really isnt if one grows their own. I use to can all the fruit but with the large freezer did that instead, since it was just the two of us. I always canned when the kids were home.


[B]Yorkiekista friend of ours used wood shavings years ago into the soil they said beings it gets so hot here that helps to hold in the moisture, they had the best garden and really produced large amounts of veggies,have you ever tried that?
Sounds great what you are planning on doing,a veggie stand is a great idea and the crafts too.

One thing I noticed was vitamins really jumped in price, last week I got Jack's liquid vitamin supply for 12 months, (checking the date on the bottom of the bottle to verify the expiration period) I so want to make sure to have them for him just in case the manufacturer goes down. These days we never know.

Im with Donna whatever you can do to help yourself save $ why not?

I think everyone has cut something back in these times.. I know I have..

I live in Central New York sooooooooooo, we are being taxed to death, gas is rising again, food is rising again, it cost more to buy healthy food than junk food, but I'm thankful I have a job at a local school. Hopefully people won't stop having kids.

I have noticed everything going up, and it scares me. All winter, we kept our heat only at 65, and conserved as much energy as possible, but our electric/gas bill combo was still 475 this month. Thats almost as much as my mortgage payment! And I sit in the dark and cold to pay that much? I actually cried when I got that bill, since our family sacrificed so much to try and save money.

At least there is always gardening to look forward to this spring. I have to scale back this year since I am pregnant but I am still growing tomatoes, herbs, and maybe spinach this year. I feel lucky too because my mother in law grows blueberries and raspberrys, so we get tons in the summer. And my brother in law raises free range chickens, so we get free eggs and some chicken meat. Those little things help out so much.

I have been EXTREMELY lucky so far in this economy! It has not affected me too much, but I am ONE person. That makes a big difference. I do not have kids. I only have one mouth to feed, clothe, heat, etc. I drive a Honda Civic that gets good gas mileage. Its not paid off though, actually its not even a year old, so Ive got a long ways to go before it's paid off.

Today my company announced a mandatory unpaid 5 days off next quarter. Its approximately a 2% pay cut for the quarter. However the extra money in our paychecks from the government starting next month and being able to collect unemployment for the week means that I am still coming out ahead. However they may do this for 2 quarters though, which could put me back.

There is one major bummer of a change I have to make. I was going to personally pay for 2 classes this summer and finish my BSBA in Dec. Now with this uncertainty I cannot take $2,000 cash to pay for classes. Which means that I will have to finance the rest of my classes in the fall and next spring terms which means I will not graduate until May 2010 instead of Dec 2009. I am bummed!

I do know that more changes will be coming and I will need to really tighten my budget. I am going on a cruise tomorrow for 5 days. I am going to enjoy it since its already booked, but once I get back I will need to start budgeting and cutting back so I can afford this pay cut.

I do own my own house alone and have a mortgage so that makes me nervous. I don't want to lose my house or my car. Oh I also have started grooming my own dogs which saves me about $400 a year since I did both of them every 3 months for $100 a pop! uummm I wish I had more ideas but I haven't had to get creative yet. Now I will though.

You'll get through this! I know its scary. I am only 32 and have been laid off about 4x in my short working life (10years) so I do know how scary the working world can be. I do hope that things start to improve quickly but I don't think 2009 is going to be a year that many will be splurging.

We will be planting our garden also. I've been thinking of writing an e-mail to the President to ask him where he's finding the money trees, because I'm not having any luck around my area:D

I heard June 1st before we get our little pay increase

I didn't know it changed! That would stink a bit! :( Last I heard employers were told to add it to paychecks no later than April 1st and some people have already started it. I get paid tomorrow so we'll see what that check looks like.

I heard that the other day. But, you know how they change things. Remember, the digital stuff with the tvs was supposed to be done by Feb 17th(I think that was the date) and we've heard that for over a year, and now that was changed until June. I can't keep up with all that stuff. My hubby only gets paid once a month, so we'll just start looking on the first staring this next month. Don't think it's going to do a lot of good for us. I'm sure they'll make sure they take a good hefty part of it back out for taxes.:(

The increase already started within in my company. I received $20.00 extra
in last week's check, however, I had to take a 5% cutback in salary until
June. At that time the agency will review it's status financially and see
if cuts will be needed. The cutback kept people from losing their jobs so
it was worth it. These are very scary times. I hope SS is still there
next year when I retire. I will need it to live on along with my pention.
Our children I think will suffer even more than we are if this country
dosen't get it Arse in the right direction.
Maybe families will once again have to start living together helping
support themselves easier like in years gone by. That thought
makes me break out into a cold sweat:(

Baby Blessing, I wouldn't worry about SS since you already have it but I think the people who are about to go on it in a yr. or two may have to wait.

I'm on SS and have been doing lots to save on things but food, clothes gas etc. and everything has been going down (which is not good for the country) it's in desperation to sell an item) I think our age will be getting LOTS of help and I am so thankful for medicare. The new effords on health care will try to get rid of some of the HMO's that are all about companies making money for themselves (managed care) and not caring for the patient.

I worry more about the young people with families who if they lose a job are sunk and have no health care but I understand unemployment has been extended and an additional $100 a mo. or $25 a week.

Also us retired people and others on SS get our $250 in June or sometime in the summer. Keep saying "we will get through this"

The only drawback with the unemployment, is that the states are running out of money. SC waited until the last minute back in December, then our governor got a loan, something he didn't want to do. But, they only had enough money left for 1 or 2 more weeks of unemployment. Also, ours was upped here, instead of $250 or $275/week, it's now a little over $300(think $325), but, if my hubby loses his job, that won't even come close to what he makes a week

I'm so glad you are getting more. The state of California is flat broke and I suppose this will help them some.

for anyone interested, you can get GOOD food, no income limits at www.angelfoodminstries. com , You can feed two for about a month (it says0 or a family of four for a week or two. can't remember the exact numberss but a nice size box of food is thirty dollars. they have all kinds of stuff on their menus. I don't order it yet but my son and some of my friends do. My hubby and I are both on SS. We can barely pay our bills and the past couple of months I have fallen behind. Everything is going up and groceries are to the point of sometimes being unaffordable. We certainly are not eating as well as we used to. if anything extra comes up, we are doomed. Fortunately, when the big ice storm hit, we had a little money. if it happened today, I honestly don't know what we would do.

I tried the link, but, it didn't work

Try this one. I misspelled it. Welcome*- Angel Food Ministries

If you type it in, it will work. If that doesn't work for you, google angelfood ministries. Good Luck. Our church mentioned it once and their food is all restaurant quality, no day olds or seconds.

sorry we both posted at the same time and thanks for posting the link, i had forgotten all about them.

LOL I typed it in when the link didn't work. The food sounds great that they have. We have 2 of them in this area(not in town, but, within about 10 miles). I don't need to use them yet, but, it's great to know there are places like that out there. I know we do have a soup kitchen in town, and this year, I'm going to take some home grown vegetables down to them. Last year, I just gave away tomatoes to our neighbors. It costs so much to buy those. I figured I gave away over $100 worth of tomatoes

How nice of you, I'm sure it was appreciated. A lady offered to help me put my groceries in the cart while I was shopping a few weeks back and I was buy for 2 weeks , it was not a clerk but a customer. I thanked her. I had enough money for all the groceries and asked the cashier to put the Marie Callenders sp? apple cobbler back if she would. Anyway as I am waiting for my ride, the lady that put my groceries in the cart came up to me and said did you see your Marie Callenders A.Cobbler and I said OMG did I take it but I gave it to the clerk.....she goes on to tell me that she had paid for it and stuck it in my cart and the acme clerk wanted her to tell me so I wouldn't be back to the store with it. I told her I wanted to pay her but in a minute I knew that is not what she wanted. I gave her a big hug and told her that is what I would do some day. I did the next week and it was the most wonderful rush of good will during these hard times.

I think they appreciated it. They always said thank you, but, never would say they were really tasty, etc. like I would have done. This year, I'm going to give them all fresh green beans also. Seemed like those things grew overnight. I would pick bags full every day.

I am on a small pension (forced early retirement a few years ago) and any I don't think any of the tax breaks will help pensions. I am gratful I have that but it is so much less than the salary I lost. So I have really cut back on impulse buying and try not to use credit cards. I need to really cut back on eating out too. I drive a 10 year old car. We also have been luckier than a lot. I feel so bad for people losing their homes. It is so sad. The shelter where I work said they hav had such an increase in the number of people surrendering their pets due to losing homes, jobs etc.