My husband and I have faced many lay-offs in the past twenty years; each time we hoped to learn something new so that we could help others in the future. Now is that time. As my we worked to “stay afloat” (the opposite of “going under”!) during lean times, I read every money-saving book and magazine on our library’s shelf--some things I’ve worked out for myself. Now that my husband has a steady job, we’ve continued many of these practices as a part of responsible living. In my posts, I’ll include ideas for different levels of need—stretching dollars when you still have some income and stretching even further (when you think you can’t) when the income is gone in hope of helping you hang on until you get some income. I’ll also address things we learned about attitudes—ours and those around us.

I invite you to comment with your money-saving ideas and accounts of what has worked for you, since community is one of our greatest resources. While I’m writing as an American in the framework of the American economy, I also invite those of you from other nations/peoples to share what you’ve learned about stretching resources since many things can be applied anywhere. (Do know that I will delete any comment that’s derogatory or has foul language.) Please share this blog with others who are stretching and help them keep from “breaking”.


Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Calling Home

If you still have a “land line”, a pre-paid phone card can make costly monthly charges for a long distance service unnecessary. Stores such as Walgreens and Wal-Mart sell the cards in increments of $10, $20 and up, with more minutes—and a better per minute rate for more money (i.e. a $30 card will have more and cheaper minutes than a $10 card). You buy what you need (within those amounts) and use it when you need it (though they often expire in a year but can be added to). Unlike monthly rate services, they’re portable so you can use them at someone else’s house or on the road (the rate per minute is higher on pay phone calls, which means your minutes are used faster).

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