At 08:23 PM 2003-07-11 -0400, Sharon Gordon wrote to LessIsMore, title: "Accurate story on Wal-Mart and another investigation" {at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LessIsMore/message/10756 }:- Transportation: Salina has no public transportation. ***Here is where being able to walk to work would help, though shoe costs would go up some. The four miles each way might be doable if the child care were near the residence, and the road sides/sidewalks were safe, and the person only worked in daylight. We assumed that the family owned an older car outright and made no payments. ***Though here the family would need to be saving for their next used car to maintain this strategy. Childcare:$22 per month. ***With the subsidy, this is really low. This though is where the lack of living in extended family hurts and also where not being able to work at home causes trouble. Of course some places counteract this some with on premises day care which in all the ones I know also costs money. This would be worse if the child were younger and in diapers as most every daycare requires disposables. Medical: At approximately $167 per month ***Having this seems a wise choice. Wonder if they make a lot of profit off of it? Miscellaneous: ***It's hard to know how to save here, though using all the applicable strategies from Amy Dacyczyn's The Complete Tightwad Gazette would help. Some likely candidates: Clothing from friends and yardsales (though someone somewhere has got to buy or make new clothes for this to work) Cloth napkins etc rather than disposable School supplies from low income children's supply fund (though we are back to assistance and not living wage) Laundry--line dry to save electricity money and to help clothes last longer, but this only works if ironing doesn't drastically increase Cleaning supplies--homemade frugal ones such as vinegar and baking soda. Basic homemade unscented bar soap if person has kitchen items that are suitable for soapmaking. The Flinthills Coalition allows $376 for this category, including additional features of everyday life such as replacement and repair of appliances, children's holiday and birthday gifts, a newspaper subscription, renter's insurance, and parent recreation/free time. In an attempt to keep within the budget dictated by a Wal-Mart paycheck, we omitted all of these items, which are normally considered part of a living-wage requirement. ***These seem like another collection of basic quality of life issues. Main helps here might be: Gifts--get used items from yard sales where possible and use Amy Dacyczyn strategies at other times Newspaper--read at library or breakroom at work Parent rec/free time--do free things and swap childcare with another parent Hammer, paint brush-borrow Paint--get from paint donated to hazardous waste collection days Batteries--ask for solar recharger and rechargable batteries for gifts Canning jars--check yard sales and ask recycle center to save for you (still need to buy lids though) Kids Lunch box--yardsale and refurbish, see info in CTWG Umbrella--check at lost and found places and ask for one that has been there for 3 or more months Clothes,Swim suit--used from friends Undies/socks--wait for sales Towels--get beach or regular towels from Goodwill, yardsales Cookie sheet--yardsales, Goodwill Pectin--use fruits with high natural pectin; make fruit butters, make dried fruit Notebook paper--wait for back to school sales Shaving cream--use bar soap Food ***Ways to get the food costs down compared to their shopping list: Gardening Use Wal-mart's price matching to get prices down to other stores loss leader prices Homemade bread (cheapest with sourdough to avoid yeast expense) more whole grain to increase nutrition Homemade pasta noodles Homemade crackers and cookies All fresh, no frozen potatoes Get in season on sale vegetables and fruits each week if not gardening Homemade yogurt Homemade icecream using two coffeecan technique if no icecream freezer Chicken instead of turkey and bologna Chicken salad, egg salad, or hummus instead of lunchmeat/bologna Tea instead of canned soda Homemade salad dressing if no good sales on premade but not homemade mayo due to salmonella potential Evening out: In our only deviation from strict subsistence, we followed the lead of many living wage campaigns and allow for one meal out per month for the family. Of course, we went to the McDonald's located conveniently inside the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Two Big Macs, a McNugget Happy Meal, two Cokes, and two large orders of french fries came to $13.80. ***Better food and more fun could be had by having a potluck/potluck-picnic and the family contributing homemade food at around $4-5 worth of food. For example by getting things on sale, you can make 5 to 10 homemade large pizzas for $5 depending on what toppings you use. ***Other free fun. Keep eyes open to any opportunities for free fun. Plan free fun (or things that are not free, but you'd spend the money anyway like a picnic lunch instead of eating it inside) things with others such as Hunting for wildflowers Make up a new dance to some current music Attend free concerts and movie nights Get game, how to, and fiction books from the library Do origami with scrap paper Get a free community garden plot and a set of free seeds. Use free seeds from bought food. Get some foreign language tapes from the library and practice speaking the language with each other and any friends who'd like to join in Try out the fun things in Klutz books Turn a large box into a puppet theater and no longer usable socks into puppets Walk somewhere interesting Play word games Ask someone to play their guitar while everyone else joins in singing and/or dancing Sharon gordonse@one.net