Anonymous wrote:Dollar tree! I will never spend tons of money for school supplies, cleaner, sponges, hair clips, toothbrushes, etc ever again. Make this place your BF

If you can find 30 minutes a week to coupon you can buy name-brand household items much cheaper than the dollar store. Shop Harris Teeter, CVS, and sometimes Target with coupons for these items.

If your situation is really dire, call the Salvation Army. www.salarmy.org

Are you the same poster of "best thrift shop" and "buying house was a mistake"?

Anonymous wrote:Single parent. Got mortgage, car payment, credit card debt. Used to have an 800 credit score but due to some recent circumstances I'm now facing financial difficulty. Have basic cable, eat mostly at home, drive old car. What are your best tips for me? Thx.

How much of a car payment do you have for an old car?

So what does your cc billing statement look like? Where is the output - grocery store, clothes, nails, hair, what? The obvious - cut it out. There are tons of posts about saving at a grocery store (or start a new post) if you need tips.
Is your mortgage high? Consider refinancing? Did you buy at too high of a price that you are now having trouble paying for it.

What is your "recent circumstances" that are you are facing that is giving you trouble - medical bills? a divorce? Need more info. to help out.

OP, where are you, in general? I know of some food resources that are completely anonymous and you don't even have to show id...just show up and it is yours.

PP here about babysitting. Thought of something I do regularly when money's tight: gather, collect, search for all of the change you have in your house and car. Look everywhere if you don't routinely save your change. Drop it all into a lidded jar. When you have a decent amount, go to Coinstar at Giant and turn all that change in for a Giant gift card.

I do this about three times year and I've been thrilled and relieved to come away with at least $100 of "found money" and groceries for a week. My end of year haul will be a Giant gift card that I'll donate to our local food pantry in gratitude for having enough money throughout the year.

Would you consider doing some babysitting gigs?

You might be able to do overnight jobs for parents on travel or who want to go away for a long weekend.

I rather hire a mom than a teenager as a babysitter.

I've posted a bunch here, but also I buy value size packs of chicken at giant and freeze what I don't use in 1 or 2 days and boil to defrost. And trader joes has lean ground beef for about $3.00. I know meat is expensive.

Check out the forums here: www.mytotalmoneymakeover.com. They have tons of tips and good advice.

Check medical and drug trials. I did these when I was out of work. Once I had to play video games for 2 hours to get $60. Another time I had to pick up makeup at a nearby hotel, use it for 2 weeks and fill out a form before returning the leftover makeup and picking up a check.

I found these on Craigslist.

Do a no-spend month, try September. Buy only essentials for that month. We try to do this each February (shortest month) and find we save a fair amount.

23:53 there are several thrift-stores/consignment shops just down 123 towards Falls Church. The first one is on the right just after the costume store, then the del taco. Plug in "consignment stores tysons" into yelp. Or better yet, "thrift stores". Also check for nearest Salvation Army store. Falls Church is an older city so has more of the old established thrift stores affiliated with charities, Goodwill, Salvation Army

Dollar tree! I will never spend tons of money for school supplies, cleaner, sponges, hair clips, toothbrushes, etc ever again. Make this place your BF

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shop h&m and old navy for yourself. No more Macy's etc

Thrift store is better, Americans buy way too many clothes anyway.

And coupons! Love Bed Bath & Beyond. Love Old Navy. I've got coupons trailing out of my purse.

Also, you could sell some stuff on Craigslist....so many of us have stuff we don't use laying around....

There are a lot of local yardsale groups on Facebook too and I see people selling all sorts of stuff for $