When my sister was in high school my mom always insisted on waiting to buy "qualtiy" clothes on sale. My sister hated it. She would rather go to the thrift store and get five creative outfits for the same money. That way she could change with the styles, and not worry about donating the clothes back to the thrift store when she was done with them. By that time she wasn't likely to outgrow clothes, but she never wore them enough to actually wear them out. With my mom's "good" clothes you had to wear them forever to justify the cost. That made her stick out like a sore thumb faster than wearing used clothes, but more clothes.

If Jonathan didnt wear hand-me-downs to school, he would have been ridiculed more for being naked! But most of what he wore was originally from walmart and just like everyone else wore anyway.

My coworkers daughters would not go to school unless their jeans cost x amount of dollars and had someones name stamped on the butt. They had to have the best of everything, all the things mom never had as a child. So mom and dad worked 2 jobs, to give them the "best". They were spoiled brats and bullies, because no one was good enough or pretty enough for them to play with.

Being a single parent was not my plan. There were times I rolled off toilet paper from the gas station on the corner into my purse. After 7pm at that same gas station, the hotdogs were half price. And when the attendant realized we ate a lot of hotdogs (he was very insightful) he gave us a lot of extras, saying he was just about to throw them all away. I also would buy a gallon of whole milk and divide it into 4 half gallon jugs and fill with water and freeze it. We ate a lot of 10cent can bisquits.

We also went to a dollar theater every 2 weeks as our treat. And we always took our own popcorn, not microwave, and koolaid in his school thermos. It was an adventure and a fun time just like the hotdogs at a roadside park.

So I with all my heart believe that it is not what you provide for them, but how you teach them to accept what you provide for them. And that we teach them tolerance and love and acceptance for others. And not only how to treat others, but how to teach people to treat them also.

My sons girlfriend had a baby yesterday (not his baby, they have only dated for about 4 months) and he was concerned about her last night. We had a long talk and one thing he said will always be with me. "Mom, you were a single mom, and we had a great life, and you did a great job". So I dont think it hurt him much.

I now step down from my box.

A doctor here at the hosp told me that in order to restart my metabolism, I should be eating every 2 hours instead of the normal 3 meals a day. He suggested I buy those new boxes of 100 calories snacks they have out now and have one of those every 2 hours. Have you seen what they charge for those things! So I scoured the snack isles and bought boxes of low cal and low fat snacks and a 100 ct box of snack bags, and MADE MY OWN! For 1/4th the price. I got wheat thins, baked cheetoes, caramel rice cakes, cheese rice cakes, cheese nips, and a couple others. I have a HUGE box of snacks to choose from now. Every morning to pack for work, I grab 6 assorted bags and am out the door. I also vary it with fruit and carrots and celery done the same way. And I just found out I am allergic to bananas and strawberries!

Almost every package of meat in my freezer has a half-price sticker on it. (Or if not half price then at least 30% off.) I look for extra discounts at the meat counter every time I shop. I watch the ads, and see what the specials are for the week, then I shop the day after the ad goes off. The stores tend to stock up on sale items, and sometimes they don't sell as much as they thought they would. The day after the sale ends, the rest of yesterday's ad specials become your discount meat for the freezer. The meat has a shorter "sell by" date, but if it's going into the freezer, or into the pot for tonight's dinner it really doesn't matter, does it.

I would do the same thing with the produce department. The Ralph's market (Kroger's here on the east coast) would get their big shipment of fresh produce on Tuesday. Early Tuesday morning the produce manager would go through the bins and cull the produce that, while still good, wasn't good enough to put out with the new shipment. He would fill a large plastic bag with a mix of produce – you might find a bag with 6 potatoes, 2 onions, an orange, and 10 apples. Whatever came up went into the next bag – without sorting. Each bag sold for $1, no matter what it contained. I would fill a shopping cart full and take it home and wash, peel, chop and store the produce and then make a game of designing a menu to use what I found. My biggest find was three huge bags of mushrooms for a total of $3 – when mushrooms were selling for $2.75 per pound. I got 11 pounds of mushrooms, and after sorting through them only a handful were really no good. The rest were comparable to the full-price mushrooms in the bins. See if your store does the same thing, and get to know the produce manager and ask when they get a shipment, and what they do with the slightly wilted produce. Then make sure you get first pick.

Jayne said:

When I know I want bananas for banana bread and not to just eat,  I always ask the produce people for the “rotten” ones in the back.  They always bring out a nice size bag full for 25 cents.  Some of them are still edible as regular bananas.  Once she wanted to sell me a case of them for a dollar!  I didn't have room in my freezer or I would have!

That's the only way I like bananas…I have friends that will only eat them GREEN – the greener, the better.  So I guess we're on opposite ends of the monkey meter…

It's how women think, in circles, everything ties together some how!

So I save money by………..

ummmmm……….

oh I know,………….

keeping my tires on my car filled, changing my air filter regularly and driving the speed limit.  Okay the last one not so much, but I try!

Jayne said:

Okay I think we are allergy free here!

Thank you Jayne – and Pete (for getting us back on topic!)