Living off the military paycheck isn't the easiest. Contrary to popular believe the Army pay kind of sucks for the amount of work my husband actually does. It truly wouldn't be that bad if my husband worked 40 hours a week, but he averages anywhere from 80-100 hours a week. If he got paid hourly, he would only make $1.74 an hour! Yes, they pay for our housing, which is nice, but we still don't make a lot. I make a little bit of money for our family too. I go to school full-time, and by doing that, my GI Bill pays me to go. I make about $38 a day for going to school. I only get paid for the days I am enrolled, so when we end a term and have a break, I don't get paid for that time. I'm looking for a job, but it's hard overseas because I can only work on base, and they won't hire you if you are over qualified for the position, or under qualified. I find myself stuck in between those two. I can't wait to get back to the states so that I can get hired somewhere, and not be so limited. I am hard working, and I have always worked, so the last 19 months that I have been unemployed, is killing me.
I have tried clipping coupons to use at the commissary (grocery store) but since the commissary is so small, they don't really carry the brands that I have coupons for. So occasionally I will find a coupon and save a dollar or two here and there, but nothing that is truly dramatic. Living overseas has forced me to shop online a lot, and I save the most money there, since I can't really save much grocery shopping. Have a 9 year old and a 17 month old that I am constantly having to replace clothes because my son either ruins them when he is playing (he has separate play clothes) or my 17 month old daughter, grows out of them! I like to shop at Kohls.com because they have nice things that a decent brand, and because they have stuff for the whole family, and another bonus is that they ship to overseas really quickly. So, I went online the other day and they were having a 55% off spring clothes sale for kids. Makenna needs summer clothes soon, so I started building my basket. I got shirts, shorts, skirts, dresses, and capris that are normally anywhere from 15.99-42.00 each for the 55% off. Then, because I shop there often I get emails for coupons and deals, I had a free shipping coupon. That saved me 18.99 for shipping and handling. Then, I like to go to www.retailmenot.com and they generally have coupon codes that people post on there and 9/10 times they work. Sometimes the deal has expired. But I found one that was a 30% off if you spend over $50, so I used it. Here's the break down of what I got, and how much I actually paid!
Item: Original $: What I paid:
cupcake shirt 15.99 4.19
Giraffe skirt 15.99 4.19
Jumping shirt 15.99 4.19
tiered Tank 15.99 4.19
snit shorts 15.99 4.19
solid polo 15.99 4.19
capris 15.99 4.19
solid polo 15.99 4.19
usa tank 15.99 4.19
terry shorts 18.99 8.00
hat 9.99 7.99
hat 9.99 7.99
nike hat 12.99 9.99
demin skirt 26.99 13.00
sundress 29.99 13.00
sundress 29.99 13.00
snit skirt and shirt set 39.99 15.20
carter's sandels 21.99 16.00
swimsuit with cover 38.99 16.00
nautical dress 59.99 15.00
So with adding everything up, I could of spent the entire $443.80, but instead I only spent $172! I got most of her summer clothes (she has a few already here) and they'll fit her for a while, since I got them a little big. SHOP AHEAD OF TIME, AND SHOP THE SAME PLACE OFTEN TO GET THE BEST DEALS!!
We don't just save money when it comes to clothes. We also save money by doing the little things like turning off lights, reusing. We don't use paper plates either. We also make a grocery list according to the meals I plan on cooking, and once we get to the grocery store if we see something else on sale, we will replace one of the meals on the list, and get that one. We also try to be creative about what we buy for the house. We have found in the past that we bought way to much decoration and furniture for the house, and now we have a spare bedroom full of extra furniture. So, come spring time, we will get everything together and host a yard sale of everything we do not need in the house. I try to be cheap and we wait for things to go on sale about 75% of the time, but I have to admit, that we could save more money if we cut back on eating out. My husband works a lot, so we find ourselves eating out for lunch a few days a week, and that isn't necessary, and we are starting to stop that. We need to come home and eat what is in the fridge. We bought bikes to save money on gas too. Now when it gets warmer out, we'll ride our bikes a mile to post, to do small errands, and for Brandon to go back and forth to work. We own a Jeep Commander, and it only gets 13 m/g city, and 19 m/g highway. We are not complaining, we are just finding ways for us to keep the car we love, without paying out the butt for gas to enjoy it!
No comments:
Post a Comment