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This reader story is from Kelly Crawford. Kelly is a “mompreneur” and contributing author for five blogs, including her own, Generation Cedar. Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income. Want to submit your own reader story? Here’s how.

I had left my job to raise my two children and was now expecting my third; we had no idea that my husband would be laid off work shortly after that. But with an entrepreneurial spirit, he charged ahead and started the landscaping company he had always talked about. It just wasn’t enough.

“We’ll charge it this time and then pay it off when I get paid for the next job” became a familiar, but foolish, solution. We charged our groceries, our power bill and our gas. Each time we got paid, we needed the money to live and the credit cards stacked up — to almost $40,000. But we couldn’t keep up with the payments; day after day I dreaded the phone calls threatening us if we didn’t “pay the balance in full” by a ridiculous date.

Enough is enough

My husband came home one day to find me in a puddle of tears refusing to answer another phone call. Something changed that day. Several different events played a part, but our resolve to break the bond of financial slavery began, and we finally moved from self-pity to anger— a good kind of anger that empowers people to change things.

My husband got two more part-time jobs, a difficult and demanding decision, but a necessary one, and then I got busy at home. Going back to work wasn’t a feasible option, so I began to do my part from home to help dig us out of debt.

Saving money

I began looking for every possible way to save a dollar; it’s amazing how much can be saved with the right motivation. I scoured our utility bills to make sure we weren’t over-paying — we were, so I got some of those lowered. We already didn’t have cable or satellite television, and we scaled our one cell phone plan back as much as we could, but didn’t cut it out as it was a necessary part of my husband’s self-employment. I stopped buying anything that wasn’t a necessity: paper plates, paper towels, fabric softener, even ready-made cleaners were all considered a luxury. We made our own cleaners and used cloth napkins. I began to study ways to cut the grocery bill and we incorporated far more homemade mixes, soups and staple foods into our diet.

One Christmas, we made all our gifts and I vowed to not buy any wrapping paper. I started requesting brown paper bags at the grocery store. I cut them up, wrapped our gifts, and then let the kids decorate the packages. We used leaves, stamps, paint, ribbon and fabric. We used old maps, old wallpaper and anything else that seemed creative. That was one of our most memorable Christmases.

This one might brand me as a fanatic, but we still laugh about the time I woke up to find our yard had been toilet papered. As I went out to clean up, I noticed how bright and clean the toilet paper was while it draped across our shrubs. “I’m not throwing this away!” I collected it in a basket, put it in the bathroom, and we made good use of someone else’s wastefulness.

It was just a new way of thinking — using resourcefulness and creativity that once was a much more common habit, but has escaped most Americans now amid our comfortable lifestyles.

Earning money

I also got busy seeing how much money I could make from home. My first project was eBay. I didn’t even have a camera, and I remember my first listing: a 50-cent book of Shakespeare I bought at a yard sale. I listed it without a picture and it sold for $25. You would have thought I made a thousand! After that, it was “nail it or sell it” in our house. The most interesting thing that I sold was probably the free formula coupons new mothers get through the mail. I was nursing my baby, so I listed the coupons just to see what would happen. They sold for almost their face value!

One year a relative gave us a heap of sweet potatoes. It was near Thanksgiving, so my older kids and I decided to bake sweet potato pies and sell them door to door to the neighbors. We sold every one and even received phone orders for more.

I looked at everything for its money-making potential. And then things got exciting. The skimpy Christmas when we used no wrapping paper, we were set on making homemade gifts, and I made some homemade skin products. Already prone to an entrepreneurial mind-set, I decided to package a few and try to sell them. People seemed interested, but I didn’t really have a great market. I am a writer, though I hadn’t done much professionally, so my brother suggested I had a great combination for starting a blog: things to say, a great way of saying them, and products to market.

So in 2007, I started a blog, something I hadn’t known existed a month before. It grew — and continues to grow — and now it is a considerable part of our income. I sold the skin products until this year (we decided to close that part down recently), but I’ve also added a book, several ebooks, a CD, as well as advertising, affiliate products and a membership website to help other mothers who want to learn to make money blogging. It has been a joy in so many ways. Necessity truly is the mother of invention. Now, as a mother of 10, I do what I love, from home, on my own schedule — a business/ministry born out of adversity and a desperation to make ends meet. We are, by the way, now debt-free, including our house.

Looking back, I’m thankful for our financial crisis in so many ways. Our struggle taught us the importance of contentment, it greatly improved our faith, and it sparked a creativity and resourcefulness in our family that has become a part of our life-blood.

GRS is committed to helping our readers save and achieve your financial goals.Savings interest rates may be low, but that’s all the more reason to shop for the best rate.Find the highest savings interest rate from Ally Bank, Capital One 360, Everbank, and more.

Reader Jennifer Gwennifer raises a timely question:

When I can, I try to support small, family-operated businesses instead of “big box” stores like Walmart. However, I live in a coastal area of New England that is overrun with tourists in the summer, which means I end up paying slightly higher “tourist” prices for some things in the summer months. Some hotels and businesses shut down completely from November to April, so my range of choices also varies throughout the year.

But, like many people, I’m on a budget, and there are lean times when I don’t have a choice – I have to go with the lowest price. I was always taught that supporting local businesses helps your community stay vibrant and attract commerce, and you help other people support their families.

But when aspiring to be frugal, the general advice is usually to do that project yourself, or stay at home instead of going out. Where does this leave the carpenters, hairdressers, and ice-cream scoopers? Do you try to support local businesses even if the prices are higher? How much more would you spend before you can’t justify the cost? Ten percent? Twenty? Are you more likely to pay extra for goods or for services?

Like most things in personal finance, the decision is not limited to the strict cost comparison between two sellers. Every individual will assign a different value to small, local businesses — making it impossible to draw the same line in the sand for everyone.

Given that the economy is still in recovery mode, everyone is begging for your business, and the decision of who gets your hard-earned dollars can be a difficult one. Yes, Walmart may have an item $2 cheaper than your local mom-and-pop mart, but that’s not the only thing to consider. Do you have to drive across town to score the cheapest price? If so, then factor in gas and your time as well.

On the other hand, many local stores simply don’t have the variety of products to accommodate an efficient shopping trip. Many people find themselves having to run to various locations for the same inventory one could find at a box store.

But while there is a dollars-and-cents comparison to be made, that’s not the only reason you might willingly pay a higher price for an item or service. I’m willing to pay the higher price for better service, better knowledge and/or a better experience.

I could get some cheaper groceries at the megamart, but I hate fighting the crowds, disorganized aisles and the lengthy checkout lines. Here in Florida, we are lucky to be able to shop at Publix, an employee-owned grocery store that consistently lands on “Best Places to Work” lists. Even though it is the fourth-largest grocery chain in the U.S., the employers are friendly and helpful and they still have baggers who walk your bags out to your card. Their prices may be slightly higher than Walmart’s, but the experience is worth it.

But this is not always the case. A colleague related that she recently needed to buy a baby shower gift and went to the trendy boutique where the parents had registered. The store was adorable, and the woman behind the counter was pleasant and offered her help if she needed it. But when she started checking prices, she suffered some sticker shock. She just couldn’t justify spending over 20 percent more for the same items she’d seen at box stores and online. She went home, ordered the same item online (cheaper and with free shipping) and called the store to have the item marked off the registry.

As she told me, “I made the decision to support my budget instead of the boutique. And if others follow suit, that boutique may not be there next time I drive by.”

It does go beyond finance, though. Consider how would you feel if you drove by that independent book store, that home-grown boutique, or the artisan coffee shop and saw that it was closed? Are you sad — angry that nothing in the neighborhood makes it? Apathetic because you never went there? Or are you glad to see it go and replaced by a Papa John’s?

So tell us if and where you draw the line between being a local supporter and a budget minder.

This post is from staff writer Holly Johnson.

Before my husband and I got our financial act together, we didn’t have a budget. Since we didn’t have and sort of plan, we spent all of our discretionary income on “wants” and financed anything that cost more money than we had. And the scariest part is that we never really thought much of it. Our income always lasted until the next payday, so we never worried about making ends meet.

But, after years of frivolous spending, we finally snapped out of it. Becoming pregnant with our second child made us start thinking seriously about our financial future, and the impending impact of another mouth to feed actually made us afraid. All of a sudden, we realized that we weren’t kids anymore. Our twenties were spent chasing adventures and spending cash like it was going out of style. And here we were, in our thirties now and on the verge of having two children to take care of. And although we were completely clueless how things had gotten so out of control, we decided that we had to take control of our financial destiny.

An unfortunate truth

We started by combing over several months of bank statements, and what we uncovered was almost unbelievable. We quickly realized that we were spending over $1000 per month on groceries for two adults and a baby. We were also going out to dinner a lot. The truth is, we were actually eating most of our expendable income. We aren’t fancy folks, but we do happen to enjoy some expensive meals and ingredients. And we weren’t enjoying them in moderation; we were eating like a king and queen on a daily basis, and our pocketbooks showed it.

We took action

After seeing our pathetic results in black and white, we sat down and created a budget. Since our food budget was the main culprit of our spending, we decided to make drastic changes. After some number crunching, we agreed that we should be able to feed our family for about $500 per month. We also decided that all restaurant spending would have to come out of our grocery category. So if we decided to go out to dinner, that meant that we would have to spend less at the grocery store. I wasn’t particularly happy about it, but our new plan made us much more thoughtful about our food spending. And since we still wanted to eat out occasionally, we made room in our budget by eating cheap meals and using up all of the items we already had in our pantry. It worked.

We also cut out all other non-essentials. I’m pretty sure I cried when my husband called and cancelled our satellite television package. I was a hopeless reality television junkie, and I was convinced I would be miserable without all of my favorite shows. But life went on. And more importantly, we started saving a ton of money. Using the debt snowball method, we allocated all of our new-found cash toward the various debts that we had saddled ourselves with. And after 18 months of rapid debt repayment, only our mortgage was left standing.

Budgets can and do work

I didn’t know it at the time, but creating and sticking to a budget was probably the best thing we have ever done for ourselves. It wasn’t always easy. And quite truthfully, the process made us take a hard look at ourselves and our shortcomings. On the other hand, we’re now more confident in our choices and building wealth like never before. We’re also on the same pen and paper budget that we started with, and there’s a reason why we haven’t changed anything. It works.

Sticking to a budget can feel cumbersome and restrictive. It might make you feel vulnerable or deprived. On the other hand, creating a budget can completely change your financial destiny. Have you ever tracked your spending and created a budget? Did it work? If you’ve tried and failed, there are a variety of reasons why your budget might not be working. Here are some possible explanations:

• You’re underestimating your expenses. It can be difficult to estimate irregular expenses like utility bills. However, it’s important to be realistic about your estimated monthly costs. Overestimate your expenses if you have to. That way, you won’t always come up short.
• You aren’t budgeting for everything. Are you forgetting to budget for gifts? Expenses for your children’s school? Did you forget your bi-annual car insurance bill? Make sure to think of everything that needs to be included in your monthly budget. Other expenses that are often overlooked can include home and auto maintenance and bills that are paid on an irregular basis. It’s more challenging to budget for these items, but it can be done. For example, if your car insurance needs to be paid every six months, you may want to budget 1/6 of your premium on a monthly basis.
• You don’t have an emergency fund. Whenever unplanned expenses come up, an emergency fund can fill in the gaps without knocking your budget off track. It’s also important to only use your emergency fund for emergencies, and to not see it as an extension of your monthly budget.
• Your expenses are too high. If your income is barely meeting your expenses, it is probably time to cut some things out. Do you really need the NFL Sunday Ticket? How about your smart phone? Is it necessary to get your nails professionally done? These are just an example of some of the expenses that can be cut out of your budget if needed. It may hurt at first, but you will survive.
• You aren’t keeping track of your spending. Certain budget categories can be trickier than others. Grocery spending, for instance, has a tendency to sneak up on me if I don’t track it closely. You can avoid going over budget by keeping an ongoing list of your spending in whatever category you find budget-busting. That way, you can check in at any time to see where you’re at.
• You’re not saying “no” to yourself. If you are constantly spending more than you have budgeted, it might be time to take a serious look at your choices. If you want your budget to work, it’s crucial to learn to tell yourself “no.” Always telling yourself “yes” can guarantee budget failure.

Of course, not everyone needs a budget. For some reason, certain people can successfully execute their financial plans without writing them down. My parents, for instance, have always been the epitome of frugality and financial prudence despite the fact that they never really had a written budget. There’s definitely nothing wrong with forgoing a written budget if you really don’t need one.

However, many of us do need a written plan for the money we earn, and there’s no shame in admitting it. I’ve definitely learned that I’m hopeless without one. And if you’ve tried to budget and failed, I have great news: it’s never too late to try again. Don’t be afraid to start from scratch. If you give your new budget a chance to work, you could quickly become a financial force to be reckoned with.

Do you have a budget? What system works best for you?