<p>Thanks Sally. I did not really know whether admissions truly had no idea, or whether they thought the answer might scare us away. Frankly, we thought about it, and we can find similar schools closer to home. Additionally, they let us know that our son might qualify for a merit award, but this also means that he would be invited to attend a competition at this school for additional money. We realized that this would mean a flight for him and a couple of school days missed. I don’t think that jumping through those hoops is worth it before knowing that he definitely wants to attend. It is just too time consuming and expensive for a tier 3 school. If we lived within a couple of hours of the school, we would have been delighted for our son to compete on their campus.</p>
<p>My family has always been cheap. We’re doing fine. It does pay to have a saving and be conservative about money.</p>
<p>fuel prices have hit our county hard.
son ready to start driving - but w/ town 25 miles away he won’t be going anywhere. kinda sad. at least i’ll know he can’t be far when it gets late.
running start students have to go 45 miles one way - many are rethinking their educational plans/paths.</p>
<p>It’s not just about being conservative. It’s about income and necessary expenses. We’ve always been “conservative” financially… to put it mildly.</p>
<p>The problem for many is that costs are going high, high, high, and income is flat. Where there’s nothing left to be conservative about, because you have been all along, then you get hit.</p>
<p>We have debt for the first time in years because I went to the doctor last year and the car broke down. It just takes one thing.</p>
<p>Retirement accounts? Investments? Never had a single one, so in a way we are saved that anxiety; no statements arriving showing a drop in value. Whew! :-/</p>
<p>I used to drive 90 miles roundtrip to work everyday…bumper to bumper heading towards Philadelphia. It would take anywhere from 1 hr 25 mins to almost 2 hrs, one-way!
Fortunately for me, my company just allowed my group to work from home. For that I am so grateful. If I had to continue to pay for all that gas, without any increase in income, I don’t know what I would do.
EVERYTHING is increasing in price. Electric, oil, gas, upkeep on the vehicles, food, clothing…
S2 has started grad school and at least they are paying him now - one less expense for us to worry about.
I worry about when winter comes…I already keep my heat at 60.</p>
<p>I am the cheapest person I know. I generally spend about $8-10 per week on incidentals like lunch at work. We don’t eat out and I haven’t purchased sneakers for myself in almost three years, which is one luxury I miss a lot. I do need to get some dental work done, but hubby is working extra days at his second job and I’m going to be working about 20 hours overtime for the next few weeks. I no longer drive to the express bus, but walk up there which is about 15 minutes in each direction. We were going to look at colleges too, but that’s not going to happen and I worry how ZS will ever find a college if we don’t look. The economy (and her health) had a huge impact on ZG’s decision to come home to a CUNY. She doesn’t want to risk having debt and no job upon graduation. On the plus side, she went to register yesterday with a wish list of classes – expecting to get none, but she got them all and is so excited. At the private school she didn’t get a single class she wanted and would have had to change her major. So sometimes things do work out.</p>
<p>has finally made it to my state, city, and subsidized refill station. Lower power, about 5% less miles per tank. I figure that the lessen proformance will cost me another 10% on top of the current pricing. Thankyou W for thinking about energy independence and redistribution of wealth.</p>
<p>I used to work at Gibbs Oil in Revere, MA back in the late 70s or early 80s and that’s the first time I used Gasahol. The nearby gas station carried it. Back then, there were some warnings against using it as it could damage seals (or something like that). Yes, there’s less power in the corn stuff. Ethanol has to be trucked in and then locally mixed - can’t send it through the pipelines.</p>
<p>An environmental consultant friend of mine believes that ethanol will be a political orphan.</p>
<p>We’ve been hit hard economically because of the mortgage meltdown. DH is in the carpet and flooring industry, and no new homes translates to no new carpet, tile or hardwood. Pay raises (if you get one) are lower than the cost of living increase. One of the people working under him told him recently he was just grateful to have a job, as others in his family don’t. Some of his employees commute long distances, and one of them recently calculated that at current gas prices he is spending about $10,000 a year to commute.</p>
<p>Even the prices at the grocery store seem to be rising at an alarming rate.</p>
<p>We’ve cut down on our driving, eating out, etc. No family vacation this summer. Canceled gym, newspaper, etc. With first child going off to school, money is tighter. And while I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for years, I’m probably looking at getting back in the workforce.</p>
<p>I still think a lot of our financial woes are because of the downturn in my husband’s industry. A few years ago he was getting nice pay raises and big annual bonuses…but not anymore. We just have to find a way to ride out the cycle.</p>
<p>Not so much fortunately, it helps when the family has oil stock! However,we consciously conserve when we can.</p>
<p>When I think of recession, I think of unemployment/layoffs and crossing the line from not being able to buy what you want, to not being able to buy what you need. So we’re not there yet, but we’re REALLY moving closer.</p>
<p>What we feel limiting us most is its harder and harder to get out of debt because the day to day living expenses - gas, food, utilities, etc. are taking up more and more of the income.</p>
<p>It takes sacrifices like those listed above (not eating out, no cable, etc) just to make the EFC. D can’t go to school unless she gets really close to 100% of need met. There isn’t anyplace anymore for us to get the extra money to put towards “the gap”, and already being in debt, excludes the PLUS and Private loans!</p>
<p>Recession - no, $tranglingly tight and limiting our choices and options - yes !</p>
<p>AAARGHG. how can you think that by filling your tank up when it is half empty will save you money vs. letting the tank go below half??? This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. “The Half-Tank Method”???</p>
<p>As you know I pmd you trying to get an explanation… but it did not ever materialize. I just hope you don’t plan to go into a field that is finance or economics related. Good luck.</p>
<p>My family was hit hard. Just as my parents had been opening a new business the gas prices and construction costs literally killed us to the point that business fell too low to pay off the start up costs. </p>
<p>We are all working to try to save the house and get back up on our feet. I just hope colleges take notice of my situation when I apply.</p>
<p>Also, the less fuel in you have in the car, then the lighter the car is. Therefore it needs to burn less gas to move.</p>
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<p>I’m not sure about this, but the last time I flew on Korean Airlines, it was completely filled up. Even people had to wait for 20 minutes just to get to the bathroom (not so good experience). Why are Asian carriers doing so well while the American ones aren’t?</p>
<p>Definitely! I ride my bike to work- we are 1 hour north of LA and have poor public transportation. My H drives a 20 year old car. We see movies rarely and only at our 2nd run $3 theater. I buy few clothes for myself and only on sale. Our vacations are local camping. Fortunately the beach is only 15-20 minutes away so we use it for entertainment a lot! If we use a credit card we always pay it in full each month. Our kids all work and pay for a lot of their own things. We have gotten our 1st 2 thru college with no loans by using local CC’s and state schools, and by saving since birth. Both worked a lot to help w/ costs. The next is going to the east coast w/ a sizeable scholarship, but will only come home at winter break- we will not be able to visit her. We did not do college visits because of cost.</p>
<p>We have always been frugal but it seems like we never get ahead. The average cost of a house here is $500,000 which buys a small 3 bedroom, older tract home. It is sad that our children will probably never be able to buy a home in southern calif.</p>
<p>DO NOT CANCEL YOUR MEDICAL INSURANCE!!! We are also a fairly healthy family, but our youngest son was recently diagnosed w/ juvenile arthritis. He sees a pedatric rheumatologist once a month at Children’s Hospital LA, has monthly blood tests, numerous x-rays, and is on meds that would cost about $2,000 per month w/o our insurance. He was a very active, healthy kid and we would never have anticipated this!!! You never know what might happen, and if a long term illness comes up while you are off insurance, it is very difficult to get covered again!</p>
<p>I own a retail store in Fairfield County Connecticut. I am seeing my costs for goods and deliveries rise what seems like continuously. I’m having to raise prices every week on <em>something</em> – last week it was dog toys and rawhide chews up 10-15% on some things. </p>
<p>Thankfully, my rent is locked in for another two years – but minimum wage is going up in January. No one working for me currently makes minimum – but they will be with the increases coming.</p>
<p>But – the good news is that I am seeing strong sales on pet supplies and even pets. I think people are shopping closer to home. And as I have staff comparison shop, I can tell you that the big box pet supply stores don’t have a lot of bargains. My sales figures are going up – some of that would be the price inflation of course – but bottom line things are strong.</p>
<p>We’re doing fine, but we’ve always lived beneath our means. We drive 10-year-old cars. Whenever my kids are away at school, I drive their old wrecked junker because it gets better fuel economy than my car. If one of our cars or an appliance breaks down, I research how to repair it and my husband does the repair. We buy new clothes only if we need them. We don’t have the newest gadgets, like a flat-panel TV. We eat whatever is on sale, and we don’t eat out more than once a week. We do all our own house painting. I clip coupons and use them. In the winter, we set the thermostat on 60 during the day and 55 at night and use space heaters. In summer, we set the thermostat on 82 and use ceiling fans. (Our power and gas bills are less than half what our neighbors’ are.)</p>
<p>Over the past couple of weeks, my husband and I have been preparing for increased energy costs next winter. He’s adding extra insulation in the house, while I’ve been weatherstripping our windows and doors and adding insulation to power outlets.</p>
<p>By living this way, we’ve been able to afford private college tuition for our three kids. We’re able to travel extensively. Best of all, we have ample savings to weather this downturn, as well as for retirement.</p>
<p>@ RatedPG</p>
<p>I have seen savings in refueling my tank back to full when the meter reaches a half tank of gas. I am commuting 90 miles a day! Once gasoline in a tank drops below a half, fuel MPG tends to worsen. </p>
<p>The next time you curse at me or make fun of my education in a private message, I will report you to the moderators.</p>
<p>Have definitely cut down on the driving. Since I’m a teacher (no summer work/no summer paycheck), I don’t have a pressing need to drive in the summer. There are many days of the week when I don’t even start the car. When gas was cheaper, I would have been going places (the mall, etc) just for fun but no more. </p>
<p>Gas prices have really hit S2, a rising college senior (who has a gas guzzling truck but can’t afford to trade it)working and attending summer school in his college town. His work hours (grocery store) have been shortened due to the economy making it it all the more difficult. He has always been able to get by on his own pretty well but called last week asking for some financial help to get all the bills paid this month.</p>
<p>When we eat out now, we are very conscious of distance and try to stay in an area very close to home and cheap. </p>
<p>I find great deals on clothes at our Goodwill.</p>
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I have not read nor heard of this. How can it be that greater weight driven 90 miles would increase your MPG? Could you please quote some factual source for your statement? I must have had a faulty physics course.</p>