Escaping Poverty

 I was on Tik Tok and came across multiple videos about a new website called www.costplusdrugs.com. They do not take insurance but you can get your medication SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than using insurance in some cases. I have a medication that would only cost me $6.90 for a 30 day supply. If I pay cash price at my pharmacy I pay $18. My other medication, that I'm having to stop because of my license, would be $4.80 for a 30 day supply. That's so affordable it's insane.  It will show you the cash price at a pharmacy and what you will pay with them. A 30 day supply of off brand Prevacid for heartburn is $154.50 at the pharmacy and $5.70 through them. You can search any medication you are on and see if you can order it through them. They are not selling insulin currently but I heard that that's a federal issue. If you are paying anything more than $5 per prescription this site is worth checking out. You might recognize the name Marc Cuban and not know where you've heard ...

 If you're anything like me you downsize your stuff before you move and then once you move you decide that you will never have that much clutter again. Then little by little things make their way into your home. Almost like fairies are doing it during the night. Well, that happened to me. As in, when we moved from one end of the state to this end we downsized a lot. And I swore that I wouldn't have that much stuff again. Now? Now, I have 6 storage tubs of yarn. 2 of which you could hide a 5'2" adult in. Full of yarn. More yarn than I can use in a year. Not enough yarn to start and complete a project in one color. Nope, will have to buy more yarn to complete projects. I have decided to start getting rid of some of my clutter. I sell things on Facebook. Some stuff I list on Marketplace and others I list in my local Dollar Auction page. I started getting serious about getting rid of the clutter 2 days ago. I realized that I needed gas money and no way to get gas money. So...

 I got a new job! I've been cleaning homes as my business and supplementing with Doordash, Uber Eats, and Grub Hub delivery apps. Then it turned into delivering and supplementing with cleaning. My gas budget was over $1,500.00 a month. Which is insane. So I started looking for jobs that are remote or local jobs that I wouldn't be spending so much money in gas on. Driving into town I saw a billboard for a concrete company looking for drivers. I walked in with my resume in hand and asked for a job. 2 hours later I had a job. This is a life changing job for us. I am making $21.70 an hour and we work 40-55 hours a week. Which means on a slow month I will make $3,472 to $5,425 on a busy month. I wasn't even making that much when I used to work 2 full time jobs. I know that some of that is going to go to taxes but I can still pay all of our bills on that amount. I am going to only run my monthly budget on the $3,472 and all the rest I will put in sinking funds starting with my em...

 I decided to post my monthly budget. Maybe someone seeing this will decide now is the time to start their financial journey as well. I always see people post about having a budget, talking about their budget, how much they need, cutting their budget down, etc. I never actually see someone posting what their budget looks like. I finally did see someone post theirs and it was the kick I needed to get going on my financial journey. So, in hopes that this helps someone, here is my monthly budget categories and cost. These are not in order. Rent- $875 5 CCs- $500 Savings- $250 Debt Payoff- $200          Emergency Fund- $167 Car Replace- $150 Pedicure- $150 Utilities- $150       Car Insurance- $136 Storage/Clothing- $100 Internet- $100 Me Spending- $100       Car Repair- $100 Family Fun- $100 Garbage- $50 Verizon- $50 Household- $50        Tires- $40 Car Gas- $1,530 For those of you who are interested t...

 I have a money saving tip that I have been using for years. Lunchmeat ham in my area ranges from $6 a pound to over $8 a pound for the ready to use kind. You can get a Farmland ham that kind of looks like a football loaf for $3.24 per pound for a 4 pound ham. Get a ham and take it over to the deli counter and have them slice it up for sandwiches for you. You are going to get the same lunchmeat size but save $3-$5 per pound. Doing it this way you pay $12.94 instead of $19.92-$32.16 which is a savings of $6.98 to $19.22 depending on the brand you're buying. “Whatever you are, be all there.” -Jim Elliot- Total debt $26,339 , Total Paid $0.00, Payoff Date July 2033 Current Net Worth -$27,106 Work until your bank account looks like a phone number.

 These are the apps I currently use to help stretch my dollar. Some of these won't work for you but maybe you'll find a new one you don't know about. Fetch Rewards - scan your receipts and earn points. I scan every receipt and I cash out for Amazon gift cards. I've cashed out $80 gift cards so far. As long as this app is around I will not stop using it. CVS - I use this to clip store coupons. When I get to the register I just enter my phone number and the coupons come off my total. You can earn rewards cash that you can use towards your total. Walgreens - I use this mainly to track sales because they don't usually have coupons for what I use. This is another one where you enter your phone number at the register and the discounts come off. You also build up reward cash which you can use whole dollars of towards your purchases. Dollar General - You can clip store coupons and at the register you enter your phone number and the coupons come off. I save a ton of money wi...

 One of the ways that I save money is by buying in bulk at Sam's Club. Here is an item that I buy at Sam's Club in bulk to save money. Dish Soap. I can save money some weeks by couponing but for those weeks that I am not able to coupon I have a gallon (128oz) jug that I can refill my kitchen bottle from. I pay $5.98/gal and that is equal to $0.046 per ounce. Let's call it $0.05 per ounce. Dish Soap at Walmart. I can get Ajax 14oz for $1.24 or $0.088 per oz that we'll just call $0.09 per ounce. This is the cheapest option for Walmart. I suggest you buy a bottle of soap at the store and then buy the gallon from Sam's Club and refill. By doing it this way, with these prices this is what you'll pay if you buy both bottles and then just refill vs buying just the Walmart bottle every time. Refilling is $1.24 for the Ajax plus $5.98 for the gallon. That equals out to $7.22 for 142 oz. In order to get the same amount of dish soap you'd have to buy 11 bottles of the ...