Some Tips on Living on a Shoestring Budget

There are many families and individuals living paycheck to paycheck in Shrewsbury and in surrouding towns. This is due to a wide variety of factors such as paying for high health insurance costs, the rise in gasoline, food, and in taxes, and increased costs for water and sewer rates for homeowners. Here are some tips that people and myself are using to live within our means:

1) Save a $1. Rent a DVD from the . They have hundreds of different DVDs for families and individuals to choose from for media entertainment. You can also borrow books from the library to save money on buying expensive books in the bookstores as well.

2) Buy store brands such as Stop & Shop dairy products and other items that are just as tasty and practical to use on a daily basis. I used to buy name brands for cheeses and for milk products. I found that Stop & Shop cheeses are just as delicious and tasty as the brand products I used to buy. The milks are also tasty as brand name dairy milk products as well.

3) Buy cheap clothing at Walmart, Target, Burlington Coat Factory and local consignment boutique stores for your children. I buy my son his clothes at Walmart and Target due to him growing out of them every six months. Why spend lots of money on  your young children's clothes when they will grow out of them in a few months? If I have a coupon at JC Penneys, I will also buy him clothes as well.

4) Attend free or low cost events that take place in your local parks and in your communities. There is a group of local moms who meet on Wednesdays at Dean Park at 10 a.m. for their children to play together for free.

5) Look for coupons and deals on buying diapers and wipes at reasonable costs. I now buy bulk diapers and wipes from the local supermarket when they are on sale and I have a coupon to save at least $2 to $4 total for both products. The diapers last my son for two weeks at a time. I am aware that Target and BJ's also sell bulk diapers that are much biggger in quantity than sold in the local supermarkets.

6) Ask your local telephone company if they are offering a discount on your telephone services. I called my carrier and received a $10 a month discount for two years.