Andrea also speaks proudly about what she and her husband are able to do to save money, "My husband does a lot on his own…Like my washer or dryer breaks down, we don't have to call a repairman. He fixes it himself…Like he doesn't have a license for it. We save $35!" When talking about her own attempts at saving money, she states, "Well I can buy them [romance novels]. There is a place in [the city] you can get them three for a quarter…and some of the books are worth $2.99 and $3.99…So usually what I do is when I get two or three dollars, I'll go up and buy them and put them away." Lynne also marvels over her ability to get her partner his coveted Readers Digest books from a neighbour, "She gets them. When she's done with them, she passes it on to me. He saves them. He collects them."

Beth is careful in her grocery spending. She describes how she and a friend with a car make a day of grocery shopping when she gets her government cheque:

Oh we get the flyers. Like I get the newspaper too. So what we'll do is she'll check her flyers and then I'll look at mine and I'll say…well jeez they've got this on sale at [Grocery store 1], I wonder if that's a good buy? Well wait, we'll go to the [Grocery Store 2] cause sometimes they might have it a little bit cheaper…

Doug admits that finances have an effect on his family's activities. He wants desperately to be able to go on a vacation with his wife and children. As he says, "summer's so beautiful - stuck around here. There - there is times that I'd like to take the kids and go…but different spots, but…I'd like to go away. I really do. The only thing that's stopping me from going away is money."

Although finances also limit what these families can do, some mention the simple activities in which their families engage. Julie reports "I enjoy doing things…exploring things with my children. Like during the March Break, we went um…outdoors and we made a snowman…tried to make a snowman. It took us almost an hour because the snow was soft…" Jill admits that she finds it hard to bring her son to public places: