We’re still on a really tight budget here. There’s just so much to recover from after my husband was out of work for so long. I don’t exactly trust to the stability of his new job either, as it’s in the travel industry. Not exactly prime for this kind of economy.

One thing I do right now is to buy whole chicken, rather than just boneless or bone-in parts. The initial cooking can take a bit of extra effort, but the savings makes it well worthwhile. Sale prices on the whole chickens are less than sale prices on the various parts.

Thank goodness whole doesn’t include head or feet, though! Not quite ready to deal with that much.

One chicken means several meals. The first one is your basic roasted chicken. My favorite is a slow roasted variety that takes about 5 hours in the oven. Not something to do on a really hot day, even though the temperature is low. The chicken is rubbed all over with seasonings, stuffed with garlic and/or onions, and cooked at 250 degrees F. Comes out very tender.

The leftovers are currently sufficient for dinner a second night, although I don’t expect that trend to last much longer, as the kids are getting bigger. But they can also be used for lunches. Leftover chicken goes great in salads, for example.

Next comes the homemade chicken soup. I don’t necessarily make this right away; the leftovers go just fine in the freezer so I can save them for when the weather is right for chicken soup.

These meals come out to be very inexpensive. They also taste really great. The amount of chicken soup I make in each batch lasts for several meals, and my daughter has often enjoyed it in a Thermos at school. Sometimes I even freeze excess.

Halloween is less than two weeks away. It’s time to hurry up and get the costumes and candy the rest of the way ready.

Are you doing anything for your home business with the holiday? Some people do.

Halloween can be a great time to meet the other parents in your area. It’s quick, and the kids won’t let them stay and talk for long when they have candy on their minds, but you can prepare for that.

One idea is to attach a business card to the candy you give out. You can use a bit of tape or staple it, being careful not to puncture the part of the wrapper where the candy actually is.

Another is to put business card and candy into little baggies. These can look cute and are a great way to control how many pieces go to each kid if you’re offering more than one piece per child.

You could also have something ready just for the parents. They probably won’t be interested in just a business card, but you could take any of the above ideas and have a special bowl for parents, keeping the plain treats for the kids.

Key, in my opinion, is to not overdo it. Don’t do adverting that takes away from the fun of the holiday. Everyone’s focus should be on having fun. But if you can get something to go home with them you may be able to pick up some new clients.

Playing with shadows is easy. You don’t have to get out any equipment, although you can.

Kids can make letters with their bodies, learn how to make animal shapes with their fingers or try to make it look as though they’re doing something they normally can’t do. All you need is some sunlight making a long enough shadow to see.

If you want to get fancy, you can hang up a sheet for the kids’ shadows, with an audience on the other side. Add in some dressup clothes and props, and they really can put on a play with their shadows.

This can be a spontaneous game anywhere, not just at home. You can make a game of calling out to the kids to make letters with their shadow just about any time.

I came across an article today on CNN on living paycheck to paycheck. So far as I can see, the tips it gives are pretty typical. Give up the luxuries such as eating out or cutting back on transportation costs. Great ideas if you have those expenses, but what if you don’t?

I’ve written in the past on cutting back further yet when you’ve already cut your budget way back. Sometimes you face tough decisions when you’re trying to get by financially.

There are even more painful cuts you can make that sometimes come up necessary. I know how close my husband and I came to having to move in with his parents when he lost his job, for example. Moving in with someone else or taking on a roommate is a terrible cut to have to make, but sometimes it’s what you have to do. Thank goodness we scraped by.

I am of course a fan of finding ways to earn more money. That’s why I work from home, after all. It’s something you can do without giving up your current job. The start is tough but if you can stick it out, it may turn out to be very worthwhile.

If not, you’ve at least given it a try rather than insisting on being stuck in the same old rut.

There’s no one tip that will work for every situation. You may not be able to move in with family for one reason or another, for example. Or you may not have the space to rent to a roommate. You might even be unable to move to a more affordable place. That’s just reality.

But that doesn’t mean give up. “I can’t do it” isn’t a good enough excuse. Better is to try, even if you fail, even if you risk making things slightly worse. Don’t take so much risk working at home that you make things extremely much worse if you fail, but if you’ve only made things slightly worse by losing some time and money, you’ve still gained in experience. You might just succeed the next time.

At least nothing’s dangerously close so far this year. But the scent of smoke is in the air, and plenty of fires burning in the county, so a bit of awareness is a good thing.

It’s kind of interesting that my husband says there were far fewer kids than usual at school today when he dropped our daughter off this morning. Since it is also cold and flu season, I’m wondering if a bug is going around. Nothing to evacuate for around here, at least not in elementary school range. Only nearby fire I know about is off on the other side of town, and it hadn’t started that early.