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I don’t know - as long as you can easily afford it, your eating out helps prevent restaurant workers from potentially losing their jobs. I think it might be your duty to still eat out. Make sure you tell that to your H.</p>
<p>So, for ‘cutting back’, have any of you thought about getting rid of your land line phone? I think more and more people starting out now will use only their cell phone (considered a necessity by most anymore) and not get a land line but many of us somewhat beyond that starting out stage have both. I’m fairly certain that if I were to move I wouldn’t bother with a land line and save the $25/mo. or so. I might still do it someday even if I don’t move.</p>
<p>We are hanging in there, both DH and I are pretty secure in our careers but the cost of energy is a killer. Our home heating oil bill has gone from $200 per month to $600 per month! Son #1 is in a private LAC and S#2 is starting prep school. It is tight</p>
<p>We bring our lunches to work now, do not go out to eat regularly. Walking the dog has become one major source of entertainment as is watching our boys play their sports. </p>
<p>This is not a whine, I am continually grateful that with a few “sacrifices” I can pay my heating bill and fill the tank with gas. I worry so much about those on fixed incomes or those with less secure jobs</p>
<p>I suppose for the benefit of the economy and those workers who are employed in the food, clothing and entertainment industries–I must sacrifice and continue to spend…</p>
<p>^Since members of my family is in the related industries, spend on ellemenope.</p>
<p>yes, I have to pick and choose what I do now because It’s just too expensive for my family</p>
<p>and I have relatives that are almost on the streets because they are so far behind on bills</p>
<p>we couldn’t have our normal 4th of July cookout with all the famliy because the realtives couldn’t afford to bring extra food for everyone</p>
<p>Well, some banker friend just told me, a big bank is rumored to be in trouble, she wouldn’t say who, just said to limit bank balances to $100,000 with any bank. I have a feeling it may be Citi. If it is, there goes a Cartier watch. Again. Last time was Nasdaq 5000. Bleh. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Yes. Yes, it has. Things cost more, and my salary isn’t keeping up with the increases. We have no cable TV or cable internet access (never have), eat beans, and I bake our bread, but then, none of this is new. Bills are paid online; we cut out the cost of stamps several years ago, even.</p>
<p>Given the ever-increasing cost of gas, rice, etc. etc. etc., we need to undertake new cost-saving strategies, and here are some of them:</p>
<p>[ul]
[<em>]Vacuum less frequently. In addition to saving on electricity, this allows us to pick up the great wads of hair the Himalayan cat sheds rather than vacuum them up so that we can…
[</em>]Spin our own yarn, which is used to…
[<em>]Knit our own sweaters, because in the winter, we will…
[</em>]Keep our thermostat five degrees cooler than we usually had, plus we should have enough cat fur to spin into yarn so that we can…
[li]Knit scarves to give as Christmas presents.[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>It has occurred to me that we can further reduce our expenses by:
[ul]
[<em>]Not feeding the stray cats outside
[</em>]Baking the stray cats into pies for dinner
[/ul]</p>
<p>Internet access from home is expensive, so soon we will be slashing that bill, and the electric bill further, by:
[ul]
[<em>]Keeping the lights off at night, and take whatever reading we need to do to the end of the driveway to read by the (free!) light of the streetlamp
[</em>]Walking around the neighborhood to determine who has an open wireless network we can use
[li]Taking the laptop to work or a friend’s house and recharging it there, rather than at home[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>Due to the alarming increase in our water bill, we have decided that:</p>
<p>[ul][<em>]Showers will be allowed only once every three days
[</em>]Clothing that can be worn inside out will be, thus doubling the time between wash times for those items
[li]Dishes will be licked clean and reused. One dish/person/day. Ditto cups and utensils.[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>owlice : darn, coke on keyboard. Wait, I don’t drink coke, water on keyboard.</p>
<p>Here’s how it has affected us. We are pretty high income, but nervous people. About a year ago, we took our daughters’ education 529’s out of the stock market and put it into just basic CD’s. They aren’t making much because the rate is low, but I am glad we did it given how the stock market tanked. My daughter just got her license, and is now driving my Honda. But we have foregone replacing one of our two other older cars and are taking our time buying another car… really deciding what to get. I need good mileage because I drive 22 miles each way to work. But at the same time, since we pay cash for our cars, I want to make sure we really get the best deal. We decided not to put air conditioning in our house this year like we planned initially. (That would have cost us $10,000.) We live pretty close to the beach, so most of the time we don’t need A/C. It really is a luxury and we can handle a few weeks of heat. I got rid of my maid and we are cleaning the house by ourselves (that sounds so spoiled… but I work full time, as does my husband, and my girls are often in school till 6:00 p.m. at night, so having one every other week was kinda necessary. Now I just deal with the house being a little less clean until the girls and I can deal with it.) </p>
<p>My daughters are shopping more at second hand and stores like Marshalls and Ross, which they like. They can find things no one else has. I make my own coffee in the a.m. (no joke… that saves.) We switched one of our doctors to one on our plan because we didn’t want to pay the extra to have a doctor not on the plan (didn’t want to be balance billed anymore.)</p>
<p>Oh, Owlice, I am loving your strategies for coping with hard times. I admit I was certain you were going to suggest having the family cats lick the plates in place of feeding them cat food.</p>
<p>Yes, its hitting us, too. Way less eating out, vacation is a big question mark (of course, with all of my preferred destinations burning this summer…) Starting to seriously question that housecleaning service. Like chrissyblu work, school & sports keep us away so much! But, then, it shouldn’t get too dirty, should it?</p>
<p>owlice: A literal Laughing Out Loud here.</p>
<p>What I mean to say is, can I have your recipe for Stray Cat Pie?</p>
<p>chrissyblu–we have done some of the same things! Thank goodness husband took our student’s 529 fund out of market as well. We have two more years to go!! We have always driven our cars for 10 years, and when student turned 16–we opted NOT to buy a car. He has not owned his own auto and since he chose to attend college 11 hours away, he does not have a car at campus, either. Sure, he has to fly home or we drive to pick him up, but we have planned accordingly and begin searching for the cheapest flights months in advance. I am thankful now, that we did not purchase a car for him–as we are now wondering if newer more fuel efficient autos will be available when the time comes for him to purchase a car. In addition, we have always planned our trips–esp if I’m on the way home and we need additional groceries. No more running back out for eggs! I have always cleaned my own house and the vacations have pretty much ended as we look at the time we spend returning our student to college as a “vacation”. (It is kind of fun to return to a college campus after all of these years!) I hope and pray that our country does not indeed get even worse before things can turn around. I am trying to think positively!!</p>
<p>Before you cancel health insurance altogether, consider finding a policy with a larger deductible. My son’s policy costs $49/month–but has a $2500/year deductible. That’s okay: if he gets appendicitis, he won’t end up in terrible debt.</p>
<p>As for how this economic mess has affected us: I’ve rearranged a lot of things to make them cheaper. I’ve changed my weekly private dog training lesson to a group lesson that’s 20 miles closer–which saves money, time, and gas. My husband and I go out to dinner only once a week. He sold his old film cameras and his second motorcycle (leaving him with only one!). For the last two years I’ve gotten my dental cleanings at 8-month intervals instead of 6 (our health insurance doesn’t include dental).</p>
<p>I’ve gone into “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” mode for clothes. (I’ve also started using up all the silly half-containers of shampoo and soap that have accumulated in the corner of the bathroom. I ran out of “my” shampoo two months ago and still haven’t gotten to where I can justify a new bottle.)</p>
<p>I’m going to start pressuring my senators, incumbent/future congressperson/ and future President that they had better pay attention to the People rather than just their Party Leadership and Lobbyist. They led us into this mess and They better find a way out.</p>
<p>They did. Both parties and the public supported the War and the continuing hostile, aggressive occupation, without any commitment to pay for it. Dollar devalued 40%. Three trillion dollar cost. Debt for the next several generations. Putting aside physical injuries. 620,000 servicemen with traumatic brain injuries or post-traumatic stress disorder Health care systems overloaded. And we are MUCH safer.</p>
<p>Oil companies and Halliburton making out great! What’s not to like?</p>
<p>I’d live totally on beans and rice before giving up my health insurance. Between my wife and I, had we had to pay our health bills over the past 18 months, it would amount to more than my salary for the past 20 years. Prior to that, we were totally healthy.</p>
<p>Thank heavens I’ve got single payor!</p>
<p>i feel it has hit my family…albeit my mom is trying to reassure us that we are financially stable. i want to believe her, but i know my parents’ business isn’t doing as well as it used to. she doesn’t know the conversations that i overhear when she and my dad are alone together. i guess mom doesn’t want me to worry about money the way she used to when she was growing up.</p>
<p>i had to drop my internship just so that i can work at a paying-job. i know an internship is valuable, but a job that pays seems to be more important to me at this moment.</p>
<p>as for insurance, my parents’ insurance kicked me out because i’m over 18. sucks for me. i just found a cheaper insurance than my family’s…unfortunately it doesn’t include dental & vision…only emergency coverage. so i guess i’ll have ugly teeth and poor vision for awhile. haha.</p>
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<p>I can do this, too.</p>
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<p>If I locate the computer to the east side of the house, I can suck at the teat of my neighbor’s wireless. It does a fast job with email and CC, but downloads big files too slowly. Will have to stay with our cable.</p>
<p>I have resisted buying the latest “can’t be found” electronic fun devices–example, wii or kindle. And I haven’t been pushing my teenager to learn how to drive, what with the extra gas and insurance that entails.</p>