Boxes of crackers and cereal that will be very similar to name brand items can be purchased for a little more than half off at a discount store. In most cases these off brand items are made at the same plant as the name brand items, just packaged differently. They will taste exactly the same as the name brand, they just have different packaging. Experiment a little to see what items that your family will find to be the same.
Shop your local thrift shop - you can find some great bargains. One in my town follows a colored tag philosophy - putting certain tag colors on "special sale" certain days of the week - I have personally bought no less than 4 very nice suits (for work) for 99 cents! I have found Abercromby Fitch and Aeropostale hoodies for my girls for $1.99! Give you local shop a chance to show you what they have.
Check to see if your local Yahoo Groups has a freecycle group. You join the group to be able to post to either ASK FOR or OFFER items you no longer want or can use (outgrown children's toys or clothing; adult clothes too large or too small; large and small appliances, etc.). All for FREE!
SPEAKING OF FREE!!!
Free Education – not a degree
In 2000, the faculty at MIT made a simple yet profound and revolutionary decision. They would put all of the course materials from the 1,800 classes offered by MIT online, and offer them free of charge to everyone. The courseware includes: syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, and exams. Their open courseware site also includes 1,000 hours of classroom instruction on video. The program is not a substitute for attending MIT, nor does the open courseware program offer degrees, or access to professors. But it does afford you the opportunity to follow and study classes from 33 academic disciplines at MIT.
So far the open courseware program at MIT has been a resounding success. The program has received over 48 million visitors from virtually every country on earth; and logs over 1 million visits per month. Professor Lewin’s lectures have made him an online celebrity, his online lectures garnering millions of views. He’s received over 1,000 letters from people all around the world telling him how his lectures have impacted their lives. He says he receives lots of letters from retirees who say his lectures put new energy into their lives.
Other universities such as Berkeley, Arizona State, John Hopkins, and Notre Dame have followed MIT’s lead and joined the open courseware movement and published their courses online. Today over 50 institutions worldwide are publishing their course materials for free online, with 30 more projects underway. Student newspaper editorials at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Duke, and Penn have all called for Open Courseware to be offered at their schools.
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm
Also, it's a good as place as any to mention http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/ A source of free registered software some may find usable. I recommend reading the comments section for the offer of the day, often, free at any time alternatives are mentioned.
