we cut out everything that was not essential.
we have very limited "social" funds - we have people here where we can cook a meal for 8 for less than we can eat out.
we pay everything we can on a fortnightly basis rather than waiting on bills to arrive
we buy bulk where we can - rice, meat etc, grow our own vegies


at the moment, things are pretty tight due to additional medical bills from me being sick, so we're living (food etc) on $50-$70 a week. it sucks to have to do it, but we don't have much choice. i could increase hours at work to FT, BUT, i'm still not well enough, and it could actually make things worse for me long term, so we're not pushing that until i'm back on my feet properly...

it sucks not being able to go to some things because we can't afford to just splurge. things like going to the movies means a few weeks of pulling in the purse strings so that we know that we can afford it without leaving ourselves short. but we do it.

i guess when you have no choice, you have no choice. there is no way i would ask DH to go to work now given the fact he is going blind, any job he could get would be minimum wage, damn hard work, and significant travel - not to mention expenses (tax, travel etc and loss of ftb) would mean he'd be working his ass off for nothing. we will get by as we are for now