Hello everyone - I'll be joining in. We're doing what we can to make it in a very high cost-of-living area on one income. Hubby makes about $12/hr driving a truck picking up donations for a non profit here, and also gets some VA disability. He's also going to be pulling in his GI BIll soon, so that should help supplement. I recently had to quit my job after having our third baby. It just isn't practical for me to work. I was a social worker, so spent way too much time out of the house with my clients (who I loved and hated to leave).
We are going to apply for discounted kids insurance for my youngest two with the state. My oldest has insurance from medicaid with her disability (SPD, Autism, Development Delays, Epilepsy, and Cerebral Palsy). Hubby is covered through the VA. I don't have insurance, but that's ok for now. We'll do what we can when we're able.
We are going to be working on starting our first savings plan ever. I know it won't be much, but I have a goal of having at least one month's income saved up by the end of 2013 for an emergency fund. We're also going to start saving for each of the kids, and have a holiday-savings so we won't be so crunched next year like we were this year (Kids still had gifts this year, but it was tough, and hubby and I had nothing - neither did our friends/family).
We are going to seriously stock up on food and household items when we get our income tax refund. I am going to pre-pay for activities for the kids for the year (girlscouts, etc), and we are going to do some improvements on our car. I'm going to invest in some things that will hopefully help me bring in some money from home as well with a few skills I have. I am also hoping to get chickens this year... we're thinking about it anyway. We use a lot of eggs, and this would be great for the kids to experience, and also a wonderful way for us to know where our food is coming from.
I make most of what we have. I refurbish used furniture for our home. I make a lot of our clothing, or thrift it. I cook a lot from scratch, and go to our local food bank for food help. We go to the library for books and movies. We share a Netflix account with our friends, and watch that on hubby's X-Box that he got from our brother in law free, when he got a new one. They also gave us a year subscription to Xbox live so we don't have to pay for that either. We use reusable items whenever we can (rags instead of paper towels, cloth diapers, mama cloth, etc). We do everything we can to save money and make things stretch. We try to look at it like we're being responsible with what we have and giving our kids a better life with less.
Here's to a wonderful 2013!