I also get this. My fiance lost his job, but decided to resign instead of being fired -- we both decided that would be better in the long run. But because of that, we can't get unemployment. I'm currently working two jobs and looking for a third, especially since even with two, I barely work 15 hours a week. We're looking into getting food stamps, but we're double checking to make sure that won't affect me going back to college (hopefully next semester), or follow us around. I already get free "family planning services" through planned parenthood which helps a LOT. The state website said I might even be able to get help with heating and electricity, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

We also plan meals, usually a week at a time. We do buy frozen pizzas; usually there's a deal where we can get four for $10, or 5 for $10 if we're lucky. We eat a lot of pasta, and try to watch sales and coupons (I really hate how extreme couponing is all about stock piling -- I just want to have enough food for the week, not for the next year and a half). We also buy a lot of store brand stuff. We actually go to two different grocery stores. One is cheap, but doesn't always have everything we need. The other is more expensive, but has everything. We also make sure we don't go to the grocery store hungry.

We also canceled our cable. We looked into lowering the phone bill, but if we did, we would lose our "locked in" internet price, so we decided to keep the phone bill as is so not to risk paying more for internet. We're also trying to figure out how to lower cell phone bills.

Lynn, if you have any other tips (especially cooking tips, but keep in mind, I'm not good in the kitchen by any stretch of the imagination...), I'd love to hear them.

Anyways, we're off to go get some job applications. Take care everyone, and good luck through this difficult time... It's like that new song by the Script, "For the First Time"....