I didn’t think gas prices would have such an impact. I work part-time and don’t have a long commute. My husband doesn’t have a commute at all, but he (we) have errands, and it’s a 20-mile round trip to the nearest town for groceries, to see friends and family, etc.
I just added it up, and we’ve spent $200 on gas this month! That’s probably nothing compared to some of you, but it’s a lot for us.
So I cancelled HBO and Showtime, which we weren’t getting any enjoyment out of anyway, now that The Wire is finished. I also cancelled Netflix, my quarterly Gevalia order (love their Pumpkin Spice coffee), and my Cosmetique (cool make-up stuff that comes in the mail once a month).
I’m resolved to read the books I have before buying more, and I’ll make do with last summer’s clothes and shoes. I have plenty of fabric for quilting and can make scrap quilts for awhile rather than buying new fabric.
I’m not sure about staying with the Schwan’s delivery – it’s food, after all, and even though it’s a bit pricey, they have some things that suit us well, since it’s just the two of us – no waste.
I’m also switching the insurance on the pick-up to liability only – we hardly ever drive it and it’s only worth $3,000. No need for full coverage on it.
Are you doing anything to economize? I’ll bet there are things I haven’t thought of.
And I switched to a Tracfone awhile back, which saved about $40 a month. No photos or texting, but I didn’t use those features anyway. I’m paying about $80 a year for my cell phone service.
I don’t drive, and am in the process of buying a house. I’ve stopped spending as much money on books, DVDs and CDs as I used to; I have a 2DVD at a time Netflix subscription which satisfies my interest in catching up on movies and TV shows I’ve missed. I’ve already decided that when my cell phone contract expires next year I’m going to switch to a Tracphone.
My cable service is already just the basic digital service with a DVR bundled with online service. I’m considering adding my phone service to the bundle when I move because it will be cheaper than my current landline, despite the fact that a friend keeps reminding me that if I do that and my power goes out so does my phone connection; I figure I can use my cell phone if the power goes out.
I shop food sales as much as possible, use coupons, and try to take advantage of stores that double coupons; Kroger has a discount for shoppers over 55 on Tuesdays, so if I want anything Kroger has on sale I shop there that day.
We haven’t started cutting down on anything - Hubby has a work vehicle (they pay for fuel too) and my commute is short. He is provided work uniforms and I probably only add one or two outfits per year to my wardrobe. We don’t eat out or go to the movies much either.
I have noticed that grocery prices are rising. I’d have to look sharp to see what we could cut down on - we don’t subscribe to HBO, Netflix, etc., nor do we have monthly things like magazine subscriptions (or Gevalia, though that sounds cool).
Taking a broad overview of our expenses … hmmm…
Taxes? Can’t do much about that.
Insurance? Can’t do much about that either.
Misc? Geez, wonder what all I lumped in there! Probably warrants a closer look.
Utilities - I probably should make these kids pay for their phone bills. That’d be some savings. We already keep our thermostat set on cost-saving temperatures. This is a good time of year because we don’t have to run either heat or a/c for about 6 weeks. We could cut cable TV in a pinch - only get the basic now. We get cable internet, but it’s paid for by my business.
Gas for me a month is about $220-240ish. Depending on how much I drive, which is pretty much the same 10 mile line. ( 5 miles to my job to the east on backroads. 7 miles to the kids school. All back roads.)
I work at a grocery store, so I only buy dinner for that night or what we need.
I might have to resort to the library. The last few times I tried, they didn’t have anything I wanted, and the librarian didn’t offer to get the books on inter-library loan, so maybe that’s not available here.
Another thing I miss about Seattle. I was a regular at a little branch and always found something, and if I didn’t, Jean or Carol would order it for me.
I’ve thought about insurance, but all we have is a supplemental policy with AFLAC ($400 a year) and an accidental death/dismemberment policy through my credit union ($160 a year for $100K coverage).
I’ve cancelled all the credit cards except one, and I try not to use it at all. But I just looked at the last bill and the APR is 18.08%. Maybe I can get that lowered. My credit score is 760. Is that good enough to get it lowered? I’ve never maxed it out or been late with a payment, and I always pay more than the minimum.
I’m trying to cook more. I’m not cutting down on Netflix but I am starting to refuse to go to Blockbuster when we NEED IT NOW, because we pay for Netflix. (We’re finishing BSG season 3 before implementing that one.)
Currently doing nothing, but have been thinking about having my staff come in only on M-W-F and letting them work from home on T-TH. That would save us 40% on gas.
I have used almost all of these suggestions in the last couple of years since my pay dropped.
As far as books, if you can’t or don’t want to use the standard library system, they often have sales on books. My teensy library has a shelf that has $.50 paperbacks and $1 hardcovers. I don’t use a library because my reading habit isn’t consistent. Also, garage sales are treasure troves for books.
My son works at a grocery store that I don’t frequent as I am disciplining myself to use a larger, warehouse-type store in Madison. But he will come home and tell me about unadvertised sales, such as 10 boxes for 10 of Quaker cereal, .99 a pound for pork roast, $4.99 for a 10-pound bag of chicken hind quarters. My freezer is now full!
Cooking more is the big one for me, our food bill is crazybad. And, we spent over $200 for gas last month, too! So, less driving (sorry, relatives) plus doing Supper Swap with my 4 girlfriends.
The way Supper Swap works is, I buy in bulk and fix five dinners – all the same – and we meet on Sunday and trade 4 of them. THAT is going to make a HUGE difference, I think - it’s SO much easier and cheaper to make a LOT of one meal. And it’s convenient to have something ready to pull out of the freezer for dinner each night, saves eating out or eating convenience food.
Last night I had three huge pots of Southwestern Vegetable Harvest soup going on the stove. It made enough to give each family 8 cups’ worth, plus put 4 more bags of soup in my own freezer.
I’m also getting serious about our vegetable garden this year. Tomatoes and zucchini are already underway. Our strawberry patch out front is flowering – nothing better than watching my kids pick & eat strawberries in their own front yard!
I’m cooking more, switching all my drugs from retail to mail order and trying to walk to the grocery when we don’t need a huge load of stuff. I’ve stopped my Saturday morning breakfast out with my 2 year old and now make a special breakfast for the two of us (and dad, but he usually sleeps in until noon when it’s my weekend morning to get up with our little one) before we walk instead of drive to the park. Purchased fru-fru coffee is out - while I regularly take my travel mug of coffee to work, sometimes I’d splurge on a mocha after I got there. I don’t do that anymore. I’ve also purchased some seeds so we can have home-grown peppers, herbs, green beans and lettuce instead of buying them at the market.
I’ve also started collecting my receipts so I can see where I’m spending money and find ways to cut back more. I’m also shopping consignment for my son a lot more. I used to just run out to Target during my lunch break from work, but daycare prices just went up, along with gas and food prices. I got a nice bonus, but in the long term, that’s not going to cover the rising cost of everything else.
Oh, I hate it also! But that’s what big strong 17- and 21-year-old sons are for! Plus our Cub store is pushing their own cloth grocery bags. Last week they had a coupon in the paper, get one free with a $25 or 50 purchase, forget which. And even if you have to shell out, they are only .99 I believe. This bag obviously has very sturdy handles and holds an AMAZING amount of groceries, so fewer and easier trips from the trunk to the kitchen.
We’re considering moving back to the US as the cost of living in Eastern Europe is soaring. Things here cost roughly double the US price and as our income is in US Dollars, we’ve also seen the USD lose more than half its value in recent years, making it 4 times more expensive than when we arrived.
We don’t own a car or a TV, but even public transport is soaring. Two years ago it was 30 cents to ride the metro anywhere in the city, now it is $1.75 so we walk most places now.
When my husband went back to school two years ago, we cut way back on our frills. Now that we’re both employed full time again, our cheapskate ways have stood us in good stead.
A few things we do that come to mind:
We both brownbag our lunches every day.
We eat a mostly vegetarian diet. Lot of beans and other legumes.
Store brand all the way, baby.
We hardly ever go to the “real” movie theatre. When we see movies in actual theatre, it’s usually the second-run theatre, where a ticket is $2.
We don’t have cable or cell phones.
Thankfully, we don’t mind cheap wine.
We could cut back further if we had to–no booze, no dinners out (we usually go for pizza or pub grub one night a week), no high speed Internet, but fortunately, it hasn’t gotten to that point yet.
Yes, I’m economizing by doing stuff mentioned —buying food on sale and freezing it for later, saving all my errands for a single run in to town to save gas, considering dropping Netflix. But the one I really hate is bumping the thermostat a couple of degrees in whichever direction makes it a tad less comfortable.
Also sadly, I’m having a hard time getting my husband on board. He pays $80 a month for his cell phone. That’s three Harley payments, over a year. He doesn’t seem to mind not having any savings. He was raised poor, and I think he feels deprived if he has to watch what he spends.
He’s good about food though. He has no problem with soup for supper, or breakfast without meat, and he’ll snack on toast or cereal. My first husband, if he didn’t have three squares (meat, starch, salad, a veggie) a day, he thought the world was coming to an end.
I’m unemployed so I already went down the savings road. In fact, I streamlined everything years ago. Paid the house off, dropped cable, optimized insurance, drive used economy cars, and changed all my lights to CFL’s. The usual stuff. The only luxury items I have are a cell phone and DSL. I still eat out occassionally but I get my money’s worth comparable to what I would spend cooking.
Currently I’ve cut out flying ($45/hr) and most any other hobby related expenses. I buy used paperbacks and have a stack of them to read. Never been a huge movie fan simply because most of them suck. When I go to the doctor I bring a list of $4 drugs available and he has no problem finding a drug on the list.
Basically I just use common sense. If I can’t buy it with cash, I don’t buy it.
The Seattle library system was amazing - I used the heck out of the King County library system while I was up there. I’m in San Diego now and while the library system isn’t as good, I still make it work. I hit the big bookstores with a pad/pen and write down any book/author that looks good to me. Then, I go to the library online and look up the books. They are rarely immediately available (but that’s okay) and I put them on “reserve.” Once a week, I go to the library to return my read books and pick up whatever “reserve” books for me have come in, there’s usually at least 1.
The online library catalog is pretty easy to use and I can check my account (what I have checked out, due dates and my current status on my various holds - I’m currently fifth in line for the new Augusten Burroughs!). Only one minor drawback - I have 1 week to pick up a hold book and if I don’t pick it up on time, I am charged a 1.00 “restock” fee, it’s only happened once so far!
There is NO WAY I could afford my book habit.
As far as general economizing for me - less eating out, less movies out, fewer new clothes purchases, trying to plan meals around what is on sale (before, I would always plan a week’s worth of meals and then go get the stuff, now I kinda see what’s cheap, then plan the meals - a little different for me).
Probably warrants a closer look.
