Using up preps...no money to replenish...getting concerned

HAHA! Golden, my father in-law was in prison () and they use to make "slammers". I've been very unfortunate to try them. Tuna, peppers, ramen, and crackers. Who knows what else he put in there!

I 2nd the scrapping idea. Lots of ppl do not recycle aluminum cans. Ask neighbors/family to save theirs (including foil). At home they sell for 55 cents a lb. Sure it takes a lot to make much money but it is free money if all you have to do is pick them up.
My husband and I made over $100 by cleaning up the farm from old T-posts, scap metal, car parts etc. We picked up old batteries that his parents had too. It all adds up.
Keep the water heater turned down too. "Warm" produces water hot enough to do what is needed.
Check into being a substitute teacher too. I was a few yrs ago. I have a BA, not in education, but it didn't matter. See what your state requires.
Good Luck to you!

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Shannon L. Darby
"Nature is cruel, we don't have to be." Temple Grandine

I've been there for a couple of years. Every time we start to dig out, we seem to fall again. All I can say is don't lose hope, everything always works out ok in the long run.

I know it's the wrong time of year to grow a garden, but it's amazing how many salad veggies you can grow in a bucket of dirt in the kitchen. I've harvested lettuce, tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, carrots, and other things from buckets. You'll have to have a grow light on them, but the good news is that grow lights use less power than a normal light so it's really a savings to use them.

Do you own your home? Have you applied for homestead exemption on your property taxes? That can cut a tax bill dramatically.

I've discovered some soup mixes by Bear Creek. They are only $3.50 each and some of them make a full gallon of soup. Everything is in the pouch so you only have to add water. $3.50 is a great price for a family meal.

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The people you mention who spend their money on vanity and brand name clothes and shoes are always the first to scream that the government is not bailing them out. Its hard to maintain perspective sometimes, but you will feel better about yourself for doing it.

I see you are in PA. I used to live in NJ, near the PA border. In January the local Shoprite stores always had their "Can-Can" sales, very good prices on lots of canned goods.

Do you have an Aldi's nearby? Many of their canned items are much cheaper than the regular grocery store. If you do have one nearby, get on their email list to find out what the big sale items are each week.

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"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world" - Thorin Oakenshield to Bilbo Baggins, in JRR Tolkien's "The Hobbit"

HAHAHA! No thermostat here! I AM the thermostat.."Hmmmmm....feels a little chilly, better add a little wood to that fire.

Don't need Aldi's here, we shop at the Amish Salvage grocery store. Cheaper and brand name too.

As distressing as it is to use up preps that you cannot replace do try to keep in mind this is exactly what your preps are for. They are buying you time. Time to figure out something else to do, time for a job to come along, time for ideas to be posted to this thread that you might be able to use.

For all that we talk a lot about "end of the world" scenarios it is stuff just like what you are experiencing now that are far more likely to happen. And those EOTW preps mostly work just as well for job loss as for anything else. Your preps are buying you time to learn how to cope. Time that a person who had not prepped would not have.

You seem to be a person who is willing to roll up their shirt sleeves. Those kinds of folks seldom lose their shirts.

Good luck.

Really appreciate all the encouragment here! So today I got a great boon to my prepping! When I went to the salvage grocery store they had REALLY good prep stuff, super cheap.
It can be expensive for us to prep because we have to live gluten/milk free, some of that stuff is costly. Noodles is a big prep item for some and at our store a box of spaghetti is only .69 . BUT gluten free noodles at the health food store can be $3.99...Whoa! But today scored the same gluten free noodles for .69 cents~~! Organic Olive oil.....$3.25 a quart~
Got Quinoa...also expensive, very cheaply. I love these type stores as it really has the thrill of the hunt in them. You never know what your going to find on a given day.

If anyone lives near central PA and wants to know the whereabouts of this store, PM me and I'll give you directions. We live 5 minutes from it. People drive from VA to come here!

Darn Lorain, sorry to hear you are struggling but it sounds like you have prepped well and I am sure you will be just fine. Pack up some coolers and come down to visit one weekend, we will harvest some deer for your freezer. I may get that store address sometime. We have been lucky, the garden went well and the fox stayed out of the chickens. We have also been fortunate with work holding up, I am in construction too. Hang in there!

Keith

Reminds me of the gal in the soup kitchen line, taking a picture of Michelle Obama with her Blackberry.

We need to be careful about the assumptions that we make. People wearing fancy clothes can well have gotten them at Goodwill, the person with the fancy car could be on the verge of losing it for not making payments when they might well have lost a very well paying job and have never been poor before. It is easy to pass judgement but what we see is not necessarily all of the story.

I think there a reffering to the Ghetto Queens. 10 babies by all different daddies and pregnant with another one who"s ulimate goal is too look like a rap star"s girlfriend while living in public housing.

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http://thegreatfallarizona.blogspot.com/

http://argentallc.wordpress.com/

Yup, there are those too---I have seen them many times.

And we need to be careful about what we post as being thought of as the Politically Correct police.

This forum is NOT PC and does not try to be.

You can post your opinions on how someone may have something, but don't worry about other persons and how they see things. We've been discussing things quite well without PCism.

That's how we're losing this country.

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"Live your life, and forget your age." Norman Vincent Peale

PC?? I guess, Angie, that I am pretty dense but I don't understand what you are saying at all. One person observes that people are overdressed and still getting food stamps insuitating they are scaming the system--another views it as possibly hungry people that bought good clothes when they worked---what is the proper way to post around here? I understand that there is a reprimand here but for the life of me I don't know what you are saying. No opposing views? Just take it for what is said and don't respond? Okay. Sorry if I was unintentially creating problems for you.

Not PC, it's Survival and Emergency Prep

my answer.

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"Live your life, and forget your age." Norman Vincent Peale

About people spending food stamps.

I took care of my paraplegic brother for almost a year. I bought and cooked all his regular meals from MY pantry. He got 17.00 in food stamps every month. I would use his food stamps to buy his snacks with. I have gotten some dirty looks from people who saw me pay for those snacks with his FS. He couldn't drive and I could not load him and his electric chair into my car to take him shopping so I did it for him from a list he gave me.

So when people automatically assume what they think people abusing the system is not always so. I know there are people that do, but not everyone. It is embarrassing when you have to pay with them with out people giving dirty looks.

There are alot of care givers around here that go to the gro. store for people they care for. The care givers may have brand new cars and dress nice. That still don't mean they are abusing the system.

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A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you're in deep water.

when many people who get food stamps have more to spend on groceries than those who pay the taxes then they have every right to have an opinion about how those food stamps are spent.

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squashnut & bassketcher

Champagne D Argent, White New Zealand & Californian Cross Rabbits

Yeah I've ran into those types myself and they don't all live in the ghetto either My bro's ex girlfriend used 400 dollars of her 700 dollar foodstamp allowance to buy steaks from a travelling meat salesman. It is that sort of stuff that irks me about food stamps.

I see a lot of people on the stamps smoking it up. I've often thought that a separate ID should be issued for tobacco and alcohol sales. If your on assistance you can't buy either. Although I suppose that wouldn't work either because folks would start buying their vices on the black market.

Thank you for giving a different perspective. I wouldn't have thought about other people buying with FS for their invalid relatives. The saying don't judge a book by its cover comes to mind.

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http://www.xanga.com/shackman A blog about whatever

I do that up here in New England, but with layered clothing and some heavy blankets.