Child support check two weeks late and ex won't give any money
- Thread starter Californiablonde
- Start date
Californiablonde
Well-Known Member
Because he doesn't get paid for two more weeks, so it will be next month before I see another payment.
Californiablonde
Well-Known Member
Yes I should have gotten paid two weeks ago but his boss didn't send anything to court when he got paid.
Hopeless
....Hopeful Now
So sorry you are having to deal with the child support and money issue. When you get the child support I would do as Lisa said and look for good deals on canned/staples foods to stock up on in case you don't see another child support check for another month. Hugs to you.
Californiablonde
Well-Known Member
That's a great idea and I plan on doing that. We definitely need to stock up just in case.
Californiablonde
Well-Known Member
Oh, and his reasoning for not taking the kids this weekend on his scheduled visit? He's so broke he has no gas money to make it to my house. He makes WAY more money than I do, plus he skipped out on paying child support for a whole month. How the hell is he broke all of a sudden?
B
bigbear11
Guest
Since we are talking about making money stretch for food... I coupon. It has saved me a ton of money, we always have good stuff in the house and it has become something of a challenge! I always used to think... big deal 50 cents off of a Ragu pasta sauce but WOW. By educating myself and timing my purchases to coincide with sales and having coupons, I always save at least 50% off my purchases (excluding fresh produce and meat). I would be happy to share some of the sites I use if your interested.
Californiablonde
Well-Known Member
Bigbear I would love it if you would share the sites. I need to save money any way I can. Coupons are usually such a hassle for me, but I really do need to use them.
Hound dog
Nana's are Beautiful
krazycouponlady.com is a great place to learn because she has actual videos on how she shops ect. 
She also posts weekly deals for most of the major stores (with which coupons are available) under "Find My Store" that I find really helpful.
coupons.com is a good source for printable coupons, but krazycoupon lady has links to other sources and I'm too lazy to go through my bookmarks this morning. lol There are several. I don't invest in more than 2 newspapers per week. As far as I'm concerned if I'm going to put out too much to save money then I've killed my purpose. I often print the same coupons that can be found in the paper.....so not much need for additional papers, at least for me. easy child limits herself to 4. Nichole has found that by subscribing to the local paper for sunday only, somehow she gets more coupon inserts......now I don't understand how or why, this is just what she tells me. She has subscribe to 2 sunday papers per wk. The 3 of us often swap coupons, easy child doesn't have a dog, but I have 3 and Nichole has one. I have no use for diaper or baby coupons, but Nichole needs them and easy child likes the pull up ones. Know what I mean??
It takes a while to catch on and really get the hang of it. Like anything, it takes practice. Once you do, you'll never stop, trust me. You just can't see paying full price for something that if you wait you can get for half the price or less if not for free. Set aside storage space, you're going to need it. To really make it work for you, you'll be buying per sales in bulk to wait for the next sale/coupons on that item or items and buy in bulk again.
I have enough person hygiene items to last more than 2 yrs. Most were under a dollar and many many of them were just plain freebies. Now I don't actively buy them unless they're free, I don't need to. I'll pass those coupons on to Nichole who is just getting her own stockpile started as she finally has room to do so. I have enough food.........well, I could (and have) eat off it for a year, even while still adding to it. I rotate the stock. It is good food. I haven't paid more than 2 bucks (and I hate to pay that much) for boxed cereal in more than a year......it rarely goes over 1.50 and this is name brand. My stockpile is such now that I can be super picky and pick up even food at next to nothing.
If you don't have a deep freeze, you might consider investing in one, even if it's a small one. Meat prices are going to soar due to the drought, right now there are good sales due to farmers reducing livestock they can't feed. I picked up 5 (yes 5) whole chickens at kroger last week. They were .98 cents a lb. They are tucked away in my freezer.
It took a few months to really get the hang of it, so try not to get frustrated and give up. You'll make mistakes on deals or miss deals, it happens. You'll learn from it and do better next time.
These are some items I no longer pay for: tooth brushes, dental floss, toothpaste, deodorant, sometimes razors (although this is changing due to price hikes), often shampoo & conditioner, body soap......these are just a few actually. I couldn't name them all. I've given stuff away too when the stock pile gets just too full and I need storage space, especially the freebies.....and I get a LOT of freebies now. Those food pantries we mention can really use any overstock you happen to pick up for free or even food that will expire soon and you just can't eat if fast enough. This takes much practice though, and it's taken a year for me to get to this point........with a stockpile that let's me wait for the deals I want.
I live on less than 600.00 per month income with bills that total more than twice that. I have a teeny nest egg that is dwindling away while I search my rear off for a better job. Without this knowledge on how to shop this way......without my stockpile.......I could NOT, would NOT have survived. It lets me put every dime coming in onto bills, with very little going out to restock what I've used out of the stockpile.
Not only is it great to have all that extra in case of emergency, whatever that emergency is, it saves you a TON of cash to put somewhere else. Win/win. It's hard work and it can be time consuming until you get the hang of it, let the kids help too. It's worth it. Now my grandkids.........are little couponers. lol Darrin even bought his own newspaper last week so he can have his very own coupons. The kid is NINE. lmao He was proud to tell easy child he was going to go buy himself some Wolf brand chilli at krogers for .20 cents a can. It catches on........lol
She also posts weekly deals for most of the major stores (with which coupons are available) under "Find My Store" that I find really helpful. coupons.com is a good source for printable coupons, but krazycoupon lady has links to other sources and I'm too lazy to go through my bookmarks this morning. lol There are several. I don't invest in more than 2 newspapers per week. As far as I'm concerned if I'm going to put out too much to save money then I've killed my purpose. I often print the same coupons that can be found in the paper.....so not much need for additional papers, at least for me. easy child limits herself to 4. Nichole has found that by subscribing to the local paper for sunday only, somehow she gets more coupon inserts......now I don't understand how or why, this is just what she tells me. She has subscribe to 2 sunday papers per wk. The 3 of us often swap coupons, easy child doesn't have a dog, but I have 3 and Nichole has one. I have no use for diaper or baby coupons, but Nichole needs them and easy child likes the pull up ones. Know what I mean??
It takes a while to catch on and really get the hang of it. Like anything, it takes practice. Once you do, you'll never stop, trust me. You just can't see paying full price for something that if you wait you can get for half the price or less if not for free. Set aside storage space, you're going to need it. To really make it work for you, you'll be buying per sales in bulk to wait for the next sale/coupons on that item or items and buy in bulk again.
I have enough person hygiene items to last more than 2 yrs. Most were under a dollar and many many of them were just plain freebies. Now I don't actively buy them unless they're free, I don't need to. I'll pass those coupons on to Nichole who is just getting her own stockpile started as she finally has room to do so. I have enough food.........well, I could (and have) eat off it for a year, even while still adding to it. I rotate the stock. It is good food. I haven't paid more than 2 bucks (and I hate to pay that much) for boxed cereal in more than a year......it rarely goes over 1.50 and this is name brand. My stockpile is such now that I can be super picky and pick up even food at next to nothing.
If you don't have a deep freeze, you might consider investing in one, even if it's a small one. Meat prices are going to soar due to the drought, right now there are good sales due to farmers reducing livestock they can't feed. I picked up 5 (yes 5) whole chickens at kroger last week. They were .98 cents a lb. They are tucked away in my freezer.
It took a few months to really get the hang of it, so try not to get frustrated and give up. You'll make mistakes on deals or miss deals, it happens. You'll learn from it and do better next time.
These are some items I no longer pay for: tooth brushes, dental floss, toothpaste, deodorant, sometimes razors (although this is changing due to price hikes), often shampoo & conditioner, body soap......these are just a few actually. I couldn't name them all. I've given stuff away too when the stock pile gets just too full and I need storage space, especially the freebies.....and I get a LOT of freebies now. Those food pantries we mention can really use any overstock you happen to pick up for free or even food that will expire soon and you just can't eat if fast enough. This takes much practice though, and it's taken a year for me to get to this point........with a stockpile that let's me wait for the deals I want.
I live on less than 600.00 per month income with bills that total more than twice that. I have a teeny nest egg that is dwindling away while I search my rear off for a better job. Without this knowledge on how to shop this way......without my stockpile.......I could NOT, would NOT have survived. It lets me put every dime coming in onto bills, with very little going out to restock what I've used out of the stockpile.
Not only is it great to have all that extra in case of emergency, whatever that emergency is, it saves you a TON of cash to put somewhere else. Win/win. It's hard work and it can be time consuming until you get the hang of it, let the kids help too. It's worth it. Now my grandkids.........are little couponers. lol Darrin even bought his own newspaper last week so he can have his very own coupons. The kid is NINE. lmao He was proud to tell easy child he was going to go buy himself some Wolf brand chilli at krogers for .20 cents a can. It catches on........lol
Hopeless
....Hopeful Now
Ditto everything Lisa said. I was going to give my pointers but she already did.... I do the same thing here and my stockpile is there if needed when money is tight, which is right now because I have a senior in high school with school fees, senior photos, cap/gown, college application fees etc all due in Sept . Very glad I have the food and household items stockpiled to use.
. Very glad I have the food and household items stockpiled to use.
Californiablonde
Well-Known Member
Thank you all for your suggestions. I am going to see about printing out coupons from websites since we don't get the paper. Good news is my check was deposited today! Just in time. I was down to my last 8 bucks and we're out of toilet paper and laundry money. Now I can go grocery shopping later today after work. What a relief!
Californiablonde
Well-Known Member
I checked some online coupon sites but they all say you have to buy at least two or three packages at once and you're only saving 50 cents to a dollar. Houndog, where are you getting your stuff for free?
Californiablonde
Well-Known Member
I don't think I can get the hang of it either. I've watched that show Extreme Couponing (is that the right name?) and I've seen what they do on there but I'm still clueless.
It takes time to build your stock of coupons.
AND time to get the hang of the planning of the sales.
And the two go together.
I do the stacking thing all the time - but in Canada, we don't get close to "free".
So, I can tell you the theory, the "how to maximize your coupons" theory - because I use it.
Get organized. I use envelopes by category... dental, paper products, personal hygene, canned goods, etc.
Every coupon you can find, goes in there.
Every time you add a coupon, you check for other coupons for that same product... and put them together. AND check expiry dates.
Every time you go past a store-coupon (on the shelf) you take some... and add to your collection.
This is as good as I get for savings, but it's worth it...
Toothpaste. Reg price 4.95 per tube. Sale price 3.95. Coupon from inside the previous box of toothpaste for 50 cents - have four of those. Flyer coupon "two for one", with coupon. And a store-shelf coupon for 75 cents off one, max two per coupon.
(lost you yet?)
So... I buy four.
First two are 3.95 - 50 cents - 75 cents = 2.70 each.
Next two are free.
So, I just got four tubes of toothpaste for a total of 5.40.
Two free, and one for 45 cents (based on full retail cost, or 1.45 based on normal sale price)
You only buy what is on sale, and then add on multiple coupons.
AND time to get the hang of the planning of the sales.
And the two go together.
I do the stacking thing all the time - but in Canada, we don't get close to "free".
So, I can tell you the theory, the "how to maximize your coupons" theory - because I use it.
Get organized. I use envelopes by category... dental, paper products, personal hygene, canned goods, etc.
Every coupon you can find, goes in there.
Every time you add a coupon, you check for other coupons for that same product... and put them together. AND check expiry dates.
Every time you go past a store-coupon (on the shelf) you take some... and add to your collection.
This is as good as I get for savings, but it's worth it...
Toothpaste. Reg price 4.95 per tube. Sale price 3.95. Coupon from inside the previous box of toothpaste for 50 cents - have four of those. Flyer coupon "two for one", with coupon. And a store-shelf coupon for 75 cents off one, max two per coupon.
(lost you yet?)
So... I buy four.
First two are 3.95 - 50 cents - 75 cents = 2.70 each.
Next two are free.
So, I just got four tubes of toothpaste for a total of 5.40.
Two free, and one for 45 cents (based on full retail cost, or 1.45 based on normal sale price)
You only buy what is on sale, and then add on multiple coupons.
Hound dog
Nana's are Beautiful
Watch the videos you find on krazycoupon lady. If you look around the site a bit, she also goes into detail on explaining how exactly it's done.
It's not necessarily coupon stacking...........it's combining your coupons with sale ads and learning sale cycles (because they do have cycles and usually they somewhat coincide with the coupons). Depending on what I'm picking up...........I might use 2 coupons tops for that item.........or it might be like the Wolf chilli deal...........and I might use more. I didn't even buy the wolf chilli yet and when I do it will be just 2.
If you learn the sale cycles and how to use the coupons with them, that is where the biggest savings is, but you don't always have to coupon stack to do so. Most stores are coming up with a 4 coupon for the same item limit anyway. Our kroger doubles coupons up to 1.00, our local market triples them one day a week. I check out the ads.....I check my coupons, do the matching thing, who has what at the cheapest price when I use the coupon (often you're going to see that stores tend to run sales on the same items at the same time too). easy child and I also keep Price books for stores we shop........so we know what the reg item prices are on things we buy often. It lets us know for certain we're getting the best price.
We messed up quite a bit at first........it's a learning process. We did learn that most of the time you're not going to have to buy in huge amounts........just when krogers has veggies on sale for like .49 cents a can (without coupon!)
We don't use anywhere near every single coupon we get. Often we get to the store and the "deal" is really not that great of a "deal" so we'll leave the coupons there and become Coupon Fairies......a gift for someone else who might make use of it. We've gotten some nice coupons that way ourselves too.
But an example of a Freebie. Say krogers has Suave shampoo on sale for 1.00 ea. I have in my wallet a coupon for .50 off Suave shampoo. My kroger doubles, so that .50 coupon just turned into 1.00 off coupon, which just made the Suave shampoo FREE. This can happen with just about anything, just depends on how the sale is at any given time.
It's not necessarily coupon stacking...........it's combining your coupons with sale ads and learning sale cycles (because they do have cycles and usually they somewhat coincide with the coupons). Depending on what I'm picking up...........I might use 2 coupons tops for that item.........or it might be like the Wolf chilli deal...........and I might use more. I didn't even buy the wolf chilli yet and when I do it will be just 2.
If you learn the sale cycles and how to use the coupons with them, that is where the biggest savings is, but you don't always have to coupon stack to do so. Most stores are coming up with a 4 coupon for the same item limit anyway. Our kroger doubles coupons up to 1.00, our local market triples them one day a week. I check out the ads.....I check my coupons, do the matching thing, who has what at the cheapest price when I use the coupon (often you're going to see that stores tend to run sales on the same items at the same time too). easy child and I also keep Price books for stores we shop........so we know what the reg item prices are on things we buy often. It lets us know for certain we're getting the best price.
We messed up quite a bit at first........it's a learning process. We did learn that most of the time you're not going to have to buy in huge amounts........just when krogers has veggies on sale for like .49 cents a can (without coupon!)
We don't use anywhere near every single coupon we get. Often we get to the store and the "deal" is really not that great of a "deal" so we'll leave the coupons there and become Coupon Fairies......a gift for someone else who might make use of it. We've gotten some nice coupons that way ourselves too.
But an example of a Freebie. Say krogers has Suave shampoo on sale for 1.00 ea. I have in my wallet a coupon for .50 off Suave shampoo. My kroger doubles, so that .50 coupon just turned into 1.00 off coupon, which just made the Suave shampoo FREE. This can happen with just about anything, just depends on how the sale is at any given time.
B
bigbear11
Guest
Hound Dog beat me to all the details but it is addictive and can be very significant.
I don't know if you have Publix in CA but they are great too. They routinely have buy one get one deals where each item rings up for half price. Most stores will accept a manufacturer coupon and a store coupon (called stacking). So for example... this week Pubs has Oscar Mayer Deli fresh lunch meat on sale for 3 for $10. So roughly $3.33 per package. But there are $1/1 manufacturer qs and a $1.50/2 Publix q. So if you use 3 mqs and the 1 Pubs q then you can save 4.50 which brings the price down to 3 for $5.50 or roughly $1.80 per package (a great price). Publix also will take competitor qs (each store differs on who they consider a competitor... ask at customer service). So makes for an even better deal.
I also haven't paid for toothpast in about a year. Kroger sometimes have the 10 for $10 sales and generally a toothpast is on that. A .50 cent q doubles and whalaa a freebie.
Like others have said, it does take a while to get going. You have to watch the websites, gather the qs you think you will use, and watch the sales. But by doing this and making it part of your way of shopping you will over a few months have quite an impressive stockpile of food and other items. You know what you and your family like. The sites I have listed below have coupon databases where you can search for coupons for a particular product. So look and see if there are qs for those, print and keep, watch for a sale.
The sites I use are kinda regional to the southeast (or at least east) so they may not match exactly what is happening in CA but they have great educational videos:
iheartpublix.com
iheartkroger.com
totallytarget.com
southernsavers.com (not specific to any one store. has most grocery stores and major drug stores)
You can also buy coupons on Ebay. They are very cheap unless really high value or highly sought after (people go crazy for Goldfish cracker qs). For example, TRex loves Carnation Instant Breakfst mix... it is pretty expensive but pretty healthy so we buy it. Earlier this year I found some $1.50 of 1 package qs that don't expire to the end of the year. I bought 20 qs for only $3 or so. Publix later had a sale where I was able to get them at half off but even if I hadn't I was still saving on something we would buy anyway
On a side note... personally I don't like the Extreme Coupon show. Its not reality. You can print qs and perhaps pick up a Sunday paper and buy a reasonable amount of something to get you through a few months and then when that item is on sale again buy some more. You don't have to buy 40 deoderants and 60 Ragu to make this work for you. I went crazy early on and bought more of things that I needed becuase it was "such an incredible deal" but I've learned along the way.
Spend some time on the websites I listed and read and learn. It is not that hard. You just have to be organized. You can get the hang of this and it is sooooo great to go to the store and have your receipt show saving 50%+.
I don't know if you have Publix in CA but they are great too. They routinely have buy one get one deals where each item rings up for half price. Most stores will accept a manufacturer coupon and a store coupon (called stacking). So for example... this week Pubs has Oscar Mayer Deli fresh lunch meat on sale for 3 for $10. So roughly $3.33 per package. But there are $1/1 manufacturer qs and a $1.50/2 Publix q. So if you use 3 mqs and the 1 Pubs q then you can save 4.50 which brings the price down to 3 for $5.50 or roughly $1.80 per package (a great price). Publix also will take competitor qs (each store differs on who they consider a competitor... ask at customer service). So makes for an even better deal.
I also haven't paid for toothpast in about a year. Kroger sometimes have the 10 for $10 sales and generally a toothpast is on that. A .50 cent q doubles and whalaa a freebie.
Like others have said, it does take a while to get going. You have to watch the websites, gather the qs you think you will use, and watch the sales. But by doing this and making it part of your way of shopping you will over a few months have quite an impressive stockpile of food and other items. You know what you and your family like. The sites I have listed below have coupon databases where you can search for coupons for a particular product. So look and see if there are qs for those, print and keep, watch for a sale.
The sites I use are kinda regional to the southeast (or at least east) so they may not match exactly what is happening in CA but they have great educational videos:
iheartpublix.com
iheartkroger.com
totallytarget.com
southernsavers.com (not specific to any one store. has most grocery stores and major drug stores)
You can also buy coupons on Ebay. They are very cheap unless really high value or highly sought after (people go crazy for Goldfish cracker qs). For example, TRex loves Carnation Instant Breakfst mix... it is pretty expensive but pretty healthy so we buy it. Earlier this year I found some $1.50 of 1 package qs that don't expire to the end of the year. I bought 20 qs for only $3 or so. Publix later had a sale where I was able to get them at half off but even if I hadn't I was still saving on something we would buy anyway
On a side note... personally I don't like the Extreme Coupon show. Its not reality. You can print qs and perhaps pick up a Sunday paper and buy a reasonable amount of something to get you through a few months and then when that item is on sale again buy some more. You don't have to buy 40 deoderants and 60 Ragu to make this work for you. I went crazy early on and bought more of things that I needed becuase it was "such an incredible deal" but I've learned along the way.
Spend some time on the websites I listed and read and learn. It is not that hard. You just have to be organized. You can get the hang of this and it is sooooo great to go to the store and have your receipt show saving 50%+.
