Advice Needed

Call some of the drug companies...they send samples, coupons, rebates, etc. Some even have programs for free or reduced drugs.

Sign up for a lot of freebies too.

I shop at the Goodwill store. I am amazed at the items I find there. Many of the clothes I buy still have the price tags still on them.

Thrift stores are the most wonderful things in the world! Be sure to check your local area for these great stores.

One way we save alot of money, we shop at Aldis or Save a Lot. We save alot doing it that way.

Thrift SHops ARE great. Although some of them I think are kind of expensive these days.

Do you belong to any survey sites? I make pretty good money doing them each month.

And Gathering of course. The more you write and post, the more you make!

I admire you courage to ask for help Cortney. Set aside 20 to 30 dollars a check. It may be hard but you can do it. Even if it means giving up stuff your used to having. Anything that isn't in the med department or bill department can be thought over. Even food items that don't seem expensive when buying groceries, however when you make a budget and really look at what you need to survive it helps to give up the "goodies". Set this money aside in an envelope and don't spend it no matter what. Build a small reserve and save it for a rainy day. Wear sweaters and layers to cut down on the heat bill. Keep your heat at an even temp all the time. Make sure you weather proof your windows. 70 degrees evenly with out adjustment is a good example. We keep ours at 69. I am amazed at how warm it still feels. We are in a loft and loose a lot of heat through the windows but it still works at 69. Budget, sit down with your husband and figure out exactly what your budget is. We use our excel program. We stick to it and don't stray. Even when we want to buy something we talk ourselves out of it. We had to look at the bigger picture. I am not sure if this helps, but being on a fixed income can work to your advantage with a proper budget.

I agree with Pam on Aldi's and Save-A-Lot! I shop at Aldi and save a bundle on everyday items. The Save-A-Lot store would be a good place to shop if only we had one in our area!

There is a yahoo group called freecycle here. You can post ads for what you want to get for free, and people will actually respond. My friend has gotten car parts, baby furniture, baby clothes. She's going to be looking for a queen size bed frame for my guest room over the next few days. Craig's List can also be helpful.

I'm also going to be making crafts from home (there are actual places who DO pay you). I've known people who can make some money on disability. You may be able to do that and get some extra money?

Just some options...

Sometimes there is a food pantry where you can get things...call up a church or catholic charities...

Find a friend with a wholesale club membership...you can see if they would get you a bulk staple when they go... you can buy a Krustaz 10 pound bag of pancake mix for $6-$7 for example and keep it in the refrigerator...it lasts for ever. Other things like flour or sugar can be put in containers like even used spaghetti sauce jars. Even just one item a month can over a years time save you a bundle. Or maybe you can split the purchases with a neighbor... I often will buy bananas at Costco and give half away...and it is still cheaper than the grocery store. One of my friends has a Sams Club card so we can go both places and save.

You can also cook at one time, like making meatballs and sauce and freezing meal size portions. Let them defrost in the frig and zap em...less. You can buy more meat family size at a better price.

I also used to buy a few chickens, take the backs and wings and make chicken soup. I'd make chicken cutlets and put the bones in the soup with the meat that was left behind. I'd wrap up and freeze the other pieced to cook later. I would buy the chickens and cut them up as they were cheaper that way. and what would be scrap really became a meal..taking the bones out later and adding in some celery carrots other veggies and noodles or rice.

My parents would buy powdered milk and make milk to save money. Personally I can't stand the stuff. My mother also made a lot of casseroles...again I can't stand casseroles, but when you have a small amount of food, a casserole stretches it.

Some stores mark down meat at night. If you can find out when, you can pick up some deals.

There are entertainment books you can buy for $25 for your area. As much as they are advertised for saving money on restaurants they have deals on fast food and mine had coupons for $5 off a $50 purchase 6 different times of the year for Publix. With Publix alone it will pay for the book even if I never use it for anything else.

I have thrifted but it helps if you know prices. Some people over price things and some under price things. I know people who shop there and at yard sales and put the stuff on e bay. Again you have to know what a good bargain is..and you take a risk that it will sell. Look a e bay to see prices and what sells.

A lot depends on your disabilities. Paper routes when shared can be good. One drives and the other throws the paper.

You may want to get a 2008 copy of the Writers Market or take it out of the library. It lists where to submit articles or poems and to whom. For a few stamps a month it might be worth a shot.

I do netwinner, for gift certificates... here is a link

http://www.netwinner.com/signupCode/chirplady

I do this while watching tv and if I put time in and average 1,000 points a day in 25 days I can get a $25 gift card, there are cash prizes too and that makes it exciting.

Good luck!

Also see if Walmart can get you your prescriptions cheaper. I heard sometimes it can be cheaper

Hmmm, I know of ways online to make some money each month. Sign up for ehow.com, write about 5-10 how-to's in a couple of hours (they're very easy to write and can be on anything), and then promote them all over online. These will make you money each month based on the pageviews you get! This is an awesome way to make extra money.

You can also join www.surveyspot.com I make about 50 bucks a month with surveys from this site, and the minimum to cash out is five dollars. You can also join www.surveysavvy.com , they pay about 2 dollars per person that you refer who fills out a survey.

Besides that, I get at least one 10 dollar gift card from www.mypoints.com each month just by clicking on the free 5-10 points emails that they send me on a regular basis, they have gas cards so that's what i get.

If you like writing, you can also try writing some articles for associatedcontent.com, they pay upfront for a lot of articles, and they pay for pageviews each month too. Note that if you're good at writing news articles, those get offers usually the same day, within hours.

You can also try making some web designs and opening your own cafepress.com store, and then promoting t-shirts, and other things like that. With CafePress, you can also let teams, organizations, or companies who are looking for gear with their logo buy from your store. You can even start your own fundraiser, make a catalog of the best stuff on cafepress and go out into your neighborhood, workplace, and familie's houses and make some sells.

If you would like to fundraise by yourself, and you have 20 dollars to invest, go to your local CostCo, or Sams Club and buy a box of hot cheetos, and start selling to your neighbors for a little more than you spent per bag. Then invest what you make and sell more. YOu can then even try selling other things.

If you have no money to invest, but you're good at selling, try joining an affiliate network like www.cj.com or linkshare.com; these sites let you promote other companies' products for a comission. You wont need a website to promote the stuff though, just start a blog or a small page on sites like www.wordpress.com, www.blogger.com, or www.freewebs.com and place the ads there, then drive traffic.

If you would like to potentially start your own business online, start a blog, write 10 pillar articles in a day and post them on there, then write 3-5 times a week and place ads all around the site. YOu can try adsense.com by Google for extra cash if it works for you.

If none of this works though, and you're need money right away, try going to a blood bank and donate some blood, or try pawning things.

Other things you can do also are, selling other people's stuff for a commission on craigslist.com or on ebay.com or selling a service around your town. You can also go to thrift stores, load up on junk and then have a garage sale outside your house to sell stuff fast, and sell whatever's left over online. Cleaningout your garage is usually a good idea too.

I hope this helps!

Don't throw away leftovers. Save them and freeze, if at all possible. If we have an extra pork chop, or some leftover steak. I cut them up in bite size pieces, then make them into a stir fry at a later time.
When we make sauces for spaghetti, we do not put the spaghetti in the sauce, we add the sauce to the noodles, the left over sauce we freeze. If there is left over noodles, the next day, we turn that into a spaghetti salad.
If someone gives me vegetables or fruits from their gardens. I freeze them. This last summer , I really got lucky. I had fresh cherries, which I pitted and froze. Fresh peaches, fresh apples, squash( you can freeze this too), green beans, corn on the cob. green peppers( I chopped some up, made some into peppers for stuffed peppers), and froze some into pepper rings. Some of the vegetables, I blanched and some I just washed and cut up. My husband showed me how to make tomatoes into sauce, we clean them and cut stems out, cook them, add green peppers, onions, whatever to the sauce, boil it down some and freeze. When we want fresh tomato sauce for chili or spaghetti, we just pull it out of the freezer.
We also, do hot or mild peppers. He has a recipe to can these, so that we have spicy chili or spaghetti sauce at our choosing. These are easy to grow in a garden.
We use cheap shampoos and cream rinses. I bargain shop as much as I can. I get all of my prescriptions filled at Wal Mart, where the most of them are only $5.00. Some clinics will give you free prescriptions too, if they carry them in their own pharmacies.
We try to do most of our running at one time, instead of doing some of it today and some another day, this cuts down on wasting gas. Don't do any unnecessary driving.

I am going to send you an email with the sites that I get paid from every month.

If you have a CVS close to you, you can save a lot of money. Suggestions are on my group called CVS,RiteAid and more

Survey sites are great. They usually do take very long to do and you get paid for taking them.

Cooking from scratch is a great way to save money. Use coupons on items you purchase.

If you aren't already doing it, pay your bills online. Since payments are almost instantaneous, not only do you save the cost of envelopes and postage, but you can earn interest on your money for a longer period of time.

That said, one of the best ways to earn some extra interest on your money that can spend time in a bank is to open an account with ING. You can have your paycheck direct deposited to an ING checking account and immediately start earning interest on your funds (currently a little over 3%). It is an online bank, but you can do everything with them that you do with a regular bank. Additionally, if you can manage to open either an ING checking or savings account with at least $250, they give you $25. Between an ING checking and ING savings account, opening both with $250 each, you would receive a total of $50 from ING. (They also pay $10 for referrals that open accounts with $250.) I have to say that its been one of the smartest banking moves I've made in years. Don't take my word for it, feel free to research for yourself at http://home.ingdirect.com/.

BTW, the ING savings rate is at a little over 4% right now. My old bank (Citizens) is paying around 1%.

I used the money saved for car insurance to open each account at a different time. Collectively, I've made the $50 for opening accounts, $60 for referring friends who have opened accounts (with $250 or more) and extra interest above and beyond the 1% of my old bank on my entire paycheck which is direct deposited. Additionally, on the ING Orange checking, they have a Debit card that works like a credit card and occassionally they pay you back 1% of what you used the card to pay for.

How old are you? If one of you is over 50 you can get an AARP membership and they will help you save on prescriptions. Most drug companies have a program for free meds for people who are limited in income. Is the disability permanent? You are elegable for medicare part D.

I get more from inboxdollars.com than anybody. anywhere from 35-60 a month. Join every survey site you can find. If they want you to select various offers after you take their survey dump them quick they are a sales outfit not a survey. greenfield.com is another good one.

How well do you get around? My wife sells Avon and does well. It does not take long to build up a customer base. You said you live in a trailer park? Lots of customers there. Long onto myavon.com.. If you are mobile that is the best advice you will get.

Hi Cortney, If you contact the Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA), it's a national program sponsored by America's pharmaceutical research companies to help patients in need access prescription medicines this would be helpful to you both- it's based on your income.

You could receive free, or low cost, or reduced medication. The number is (1-888-477-2669) or you can go to their website at www.pparx.org and fill out the application. Accordingly more than 1,300 national and local organizations assist and over 2,500 medicines, which include a wide range of generic's as well.

I hope that is helpful.

I used to work for the conservation corp., in Washington state and things like Hot Water Heater blankets reduce energy cost. If your electric bill is high- try reducing your heat costs if your on natural gas by using an electric blanket. Also- if you have the option a new fridge reduces your bill quite a bit. Plastic on your windows helps with heat loss.

If your watering your lawn and you take showers- plug the tug and by using a bucket you can water your planets with the excess water.

Apply for heat assistance and if your on a fixed income there are options for application for low income people to reduce your home phone rates.

If your needing employment but can't work a lot- take a home study course over the net or do it on your own- medical technology- is an up and coming home career.

Delivering News Papers can help- but very little. If you have credit cards and are on a fixed income talk to your credit card company and explain that you need a lower fee- that only applies if you have an open account.

Using coupons- is also a great money saver when coming to purchasing items in the store.

If your needing work- try Rehabilitation Services offered threw the State Agency's - if your a displaced or out of work- sometimes you can get a grant through those organizations that can pay your way to a new job opportunity or training skills centers.

Don't by name brand items- find quality for quantity for a lessor cost. Don't drive unless you have planned routes and are doing multi tasking on any given day. By reducing your driving you can save a lot on gas.

I hope some or one of these is helpful to you.

Thanks for all the great ideas. As far as food my husband and I receive food stamps, so that helps and 99% of the food we buy is off brand. I like the idea of plasma donation, but I am not able to do that anymore because the last time I went to do that I got very sick (and came close to passing out). Plus the medicines my husband and I are on, you aren't allowed to give plasma while you are taking these. Not to mention the fact that my husband is on Coumadin. We are both way to young to be able to get anything AARP related (I am 26 and he is 25). We don't have a Save a Lot around here that I know of, but I will have to check out some similar stores around here. All your suggestions have been very helpful and I really can't thank everyone enough.

Hi Cortney, The PPA, has no bounds for age- and even if you were on medicare or medicaid- they will still help you. Again it is based on your income. You'd be surprised as far as I know the only ones that really get turned down are self-employed businesses that make more than 34,000 a year. With that being said I think you'd be ok. Also check with your doctors and tell them how bad off you are- some doctors have a heart and will give you monthly samples for free.

Check out Angel Food Ministries- they sell low cost food.

The comments tell me lots of people care for you. On the meds I believe your doctor does the application for drugs from the drug companies. Sounds like you qualify for the medicine from the drug companies.

I was going to mention survey sites as well. A lot of good ideas up there.

I supplement what BF makes with surveys and other stuff like that. I am usually able to buy all of our groceries and some cool treats with what I make. Pm me if you would like a list of the survey sites that I use and have good results from.

I also blog. That started slow, but I found a niche and it is starting to pay off. You could write about your conditions, the ways that you are learning to save money, etc.

I live on disability too so I understand your situation. I have a part time job working on the internet you should check out. It is totally legit. You want get rich but it is good money according to how many hours you want to invest in it. Go to workathomeagent.net and check it out.

look for internet opportunties, look into a career in Freelance writing, thats a gamble yet it is an opportunity. I ll try to rad and comment on all your post so can get obtain gift cards.

Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions. I will have to try and check into all this stuff.

Hi Cortney, seriously consider the advice of my sister Maryce W. Her comments are about PPA above. I don't think my other two sisters whom she took care of almost all of their late years would have made it without her knowledege of how the systems in place can really work to your advantage. PPA is a wonderful rescource and cut down on medication costs. My partner is also on Coumadin and it can be very expensive. Fortunately we have a good insurance plan. I will keep you in my thoughts and if any other ideas arise I will post. Take care.

The only thing is my husband does have medicaid. So, coumadin isn't but $6. I know that isn't a lot for most people, it over drafted his bank account this month. I will have to check out the PPA though. It couldn't hurt.

Courtney, you have been given some excellent advice!! Shows that others really do care and I know exactly how you feel!!!!! I am raising a 9 yr old daughter while on disability and it gets pretty tough sometimes ~ emotionally, physically, mentally and monetarily!!! It's nice to meet you Cortney and thanks for the comments to my article. E-mail me anytime!!! Good luck my friend!

There are several sights that pay money for your opinions.

Have you ever thought about collecting cans to recycle? You can make extra cash and help the enviornment at the same time. There is a family in my neighborhood that passed out flyers, and they collect from us once a week. Most of the people here participate.

Sounds like you've got a good landlord.

At the moment, I can't think of anything creative for you. (I'm on disability, too, and have to figure out the bill-stretching techniques, too.) You've gotten some good advice above, though.

Some great advice!

Try chanting "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" - it couldn't hurt!!!
See: www.sgi-usa.org

Hi Cortney! Just dropping by to say hello. Hope you are doing well!

have a great gather day:)

Have you had a look at the recommendation that Dan H sent out for www.yuwie.com?

Do you have an Angel Food ministry near you? You buy a box of food for $25 and there is a lot in a box. There are no requirements to purchase- you just need to sign up and pay and then bring a box to collect your food. I'll get the link for you in a minute- doing too many things at once!

Here you go: http://www.angelfoodministries.com/hosts.asp

You can try joining mylot. It is another social gathering site, they pay you to ask and answer questions.

http://www.mylot.com/?ref=ladym33

As far as your prescriptions, you might check into on of those doc-in a-box places like physicians care. My wife goes to one where we live for high blood pressure and her prescription was 100 a month before her visit. She hasnt paid for a prescription in about a year since going there. They give her a 3 to 5 month supply for free which is nice considering we arent eligible for insurance due to my piddly unemployment check.

Courtney - I've spent the time reading thru all these ideas that everyone else gave & have nothing more to add, if anything I got some ideas for myself. lol

Coupons, coupons, coupons. That is my advice.

See if you can find a pinecone banner and try to get into their survey program. They pay three dollars per survey and they pay directly to your paypal acct which you can then transfer to your bank acct. I love them.

Are there any local soup kitchens? Since you like posting on the internet, have you tried SQUIDOO.com? You can earn money, provided your pages/lenses generate traffic. It's free to sign-up. --Joe