What are you doing to adjust to the higher cost of living?

How is the rising cost of living affecting your life?

Does your current budget no longer work?

Is your paycheck lasting until the next?

What are you giving up?  Meals out?  Presents? Gym member ships?  Clothes?  Shoes?

What won't you give up?

Let's have a serious dicussion about this.  Please no judging other member's lifestyles.  This thread is about what you personally have to do to survive when everything seems to be going up in price.

!. Rising Cost of living... is concerning me to no end. I moved out a few months back and am learning how much it actually costs to live. Now, I am looking for a second job (or five).

2. I don't have  a lot to compare to, but I have noticed prices going up and up... 2 literes of milk is now 4.29$ at the local grocery store. Actually, If anyone knows any cheap milk alternatives to put in coffee and the occasional bowl of cereal, I am all ears.

3. My paychecks are lasting, but its tight and this is the summer... I am a student again in the fall. At this rate, not sure I will be able to return to school.

4. I have given up pretty much all non-essentials. No more eating out, no more bar hopping, no more clothes or shoes (unless its a supersale on something I actually need). I have also learned to live almost exclusively off veggies from the farmers market, oatmeal, canned tuna and shredded cheese (on sale!). Also, it has been remarkably cold here... a few weeks ago the temperature in the house was 45 degrees (our thermostat uses farenhite, I don't know how that translates except that it was very cold). But I refuse to turn on the heat in MAY!

5. Um... ya, can't really think of anything I won't give up. Wait, hot chocolate! Its actually expensive, but I need it to stay sane.

I am lucky to be pretty well off and for now am not in any sort of pinch. I did sell a pickup to get a cavalier but that's about it. I will still see 1-2 movies a week as they come out and go to dinner once a week.

Hockeygirl - milk is $4.29 for two litres in Toronto?

Wow!  I pay that for four litres here.

Original Post by moonikins:

For all of you who are not using your AC in your car:

Driving with your windows down creates more resistance and causes your engine to work harder; therefore it uses more gas. Your gas mileage is lower with the windows down and the AC off. This is especially true on the highway.

I would think the savings from turning off the AC in the car would be negligible. There is frugal, then there's just CHEAP. I will not compromise on the AC (unless the electricity goes up a lot). I need it to fall asleep in summer. I don't think I could earn a decent living if I was up all night in a pool of sweat...

Original Post by cstefan:

I am lucky to be pretty well off and for now am not in any sort of pinch. I did sell a pickup to get a cavalier but that's about it. I will still see 1-2 movies a week as they come out and go to dinner once a week.

You mean DVD's right? I can't imagine going to the movies twice a week. It's not just the ticket price, most of the movies are just not good enough to make the effort to go there worthwhile.

Original Post by glinda:

Hockeygirl - milk is $4.29 for two litres in Toronto?

Wow! I pay that for four litres here.

DAMN...

I only pay about $6-6.50 USD for 2 gallons (7.5-8 litres?) and that's buying Alta Dena...

Nah I mean films. But only when the weeks warrant the trip. I am not going to see  sex and the city even if you paid me but there are enough to justify going almost every week through august and some weeks twice.

Ha yes, 4.29 for 2 liters of milk at Fortinos... It used to be 3 something. I just about hit the deck when I saw that. Of course, shopping at No Frills or something might be cheaper, but I don't have a car and the only store even close to walking distance (even then, 25 minute walk) is Fortinos. I think I should have been a dairy Farmer.

Original Post by hockeygirl44:

Ha yes, 4.29 for 2 liters of milk at Fortinos... It used to be 3 something. I just about hit the deck when I saw that. Of course, shopping at No Frills or something might be cheaper, but I don't have a car and the only store even close to walking distance (even then, 25 minute walk) is Fortinos. I think I should have been a dairy Farmer.

Milk is about $2/liter here in Japan, but I only get the nicer lowfat milk. I suppose I could get whole el cheapo milk for $1.40 or $1.50, but I don't like it.

I don't know if I should feel good or bad about this, but I haven't changed anything.

I'm already very thrifty, so many of the things mentioned above I already do as a normal part of living.  If anything, I've spent more lately on services (kiteboarding lessons, pilates instruction).  Also, I spend a lot of money at the farmer's market.  I feel I'm doing my part to stimulate my local economy, since the money I'm spending on services and food is going right back into it.

I need to be donating more to charity right now, and I will probably step up my support of local organizations.

That being said, I have always taken the bus to work (my husband drives 1 mile to work, or skateboards when he doesn't have his laptop).  We never installed air conditioning, I don't belong to a gym, we don't subscribe to Netflix.  My services are already bundled to get maximum value.  I don't drink coffee, I HATE spending money on eating out.  I pack my lunch every day.  We always follow a strict budget that I track daily in Quicken.  I re-evaluate our spending monthly.  My husband and I max out our 401K's to the fed limit, and save aprox 50% of our take home pay.

I've been very worried about inflation (and stagflation!) for the past several years, and I find it surprising that people are only freaking out now.  The writing has been on the wall for a while.  I dont think most people realize how ugly stagflation could be.

You are a bad american. BAD!!!

Stand there while I squirt you with a water bottle and hit you with a rolled up newspaper until you learn to start living on credit.

Milk is about $2/liter here in Japan, but I only get the nicer lowfat milk.

Same here. I'm amazed by the cost of milk back in the States and Canada and such...

It really hasn't affected us so much as the stock market has - our investments took a major dive at the beginning of the year.  But they're supposed to be long term, so we're holding out.  We don't live paycheck to paycheck, we have a very sound budget, no credit card debt, and manage to put something into savings each month.  But in order to offset our investment loss, and to save a little more so we can afford certain therapies for my youngest son, we're doing some reasonable things:

Stopped eating out as much (not that we did it all that often to begin with...)

Reduce the amount of meals we eat as prepackaged and started cooking more (which is better healthwise anyway)

Cutting back on some luxuries (not buying Vitamuffins as much...sigh)

Coupons coupons coupons

Getting generic or store brands - for most items there's no difference in quality

Started a container garden

Carpooling

Only wash clothes a full load at a time (no half loads or just a single item).

Try to keep the fridge and freezer full (more efficient use of energy)

Haven't turned on the AC yet, and when we do, thermostat will be set at 70.

Skim, 1%, 2%, and whole milk is on sale at my local grocer for $2.28/gallon this week ... but I have no idea what it usually is, because I hardly ever buy milk!

I recently called my  credit card (AMEX) and got them to seriously cut the interest (almost in half.) I wasn't paying that much since I don't have too much on it, but even 10 bucks a month is a savings and I cancelled payment protection on it as well (another $25 a month.) I didn't even know I was being charged it (only for the last 6 months for some reason.) They ended up reimbursing me all 6 monthly payments of payment protection!!!

The funny part is, I asked them what payment protection was suppose to do and they said they waive payments when you are unemployed. Well, I was unemployed 6 months ago for three months and they didn't help me one lick when I called in and asked for an extension or lower payment!! (I guess that's why they started tackling that on.) So I think that's why they credited my card with the payments back. Money grubbers.

But I have to say with my new job, I am pretty comfortable for now. However, if any of you out there are paying down student loans and are feeling the pinch, don't be afraid to go into forbearance or deferment. Those are one of the best loans to have anyway and when I was unemployed for 3 months, all of my loans had no issue deferring them (and mine have no interest anyway, so I was lucky there.)

We are also holding off using the A/C  and only used it once so far (but the power went out anyway so we only got like one good hour in, arg SoCal.)

Good luck everyone and hang in there!

There are some great tips in this thread!!!!

Original Post by glinda:

Hockeygirl - milk is $4.29 for two litres in Toronto?

Wow! I pay that for four litres here.

Shopper's Drug Mart has 2L for $3.99, that's where we always get our milk now.

I take the bus to work, so my total transportation cost is $2.50 per week (my bus fare is subsidized by my job, so I only pay 25 cents per trip).

We don't drive much at all. When we moved to the LA, we cut back to one car (big savings!) and learned to use the bus system. We also picked a neighborhood where we have services within walking distance.

Lately, I've cracked down on our meal budget, as have previous posters. I check the ads on Wednesday and then make up a meal plan for the next week based on what meat and veggies are on sale. We get one meat meal per week, and if there is meat left over, then I re-use it in meals later in the week. I cook from scratch as much as possible (whole chicken instead of boneless skinless, dried beans instead of canned, etc). We eat leftovers for lunch every day.

My SO and I allow ourselves to eat out once per week, and if we blow it on a cheap fast food meal (like we did this week, because we needed a quick meal) that counts.

I buy discount movie tickets from my work (check to see if your work has them - lots of places do!), which can save almost half on ticket prices at the box office. Although we don't make it out to the movies very often.

I can't bring myself to give up our cable/internet package, even though it's pricey. We frequently have friends over to eat dinner and watch our favorite shows, so I kind of rationalize it as being cheaper than going out.

I haven't changed my lifestyle at all - I am willing to incur a slightly higher debt load to do it. (Calorie counting already reduced our restaurant expenses a whole lot!) I have decided, however, to maintain my current quasi-studentish lifestyle (or darn close to it) for at least the next 10 years (I had previously figured that I would want to upgrade right after residency). This will give me at least a few years at the higher salary to pay off all non-mortgage debt, save for a down payment for a new home, etc.

Since our combined salary (me and BF) will be nearly doubling in 2 years, and doubling again six years after that, this will be adequate, I think. This means I will be living very differently from my colleagues, but that's OK. My close friends and my family are middle- or working-class anyway. The nurses will like me better, because I'll be their next-door neighbour. :)

We are pretty frugal on a regular basis, not just since prices have hit the roof, so some of these aren't "new".  (But our paychecks most definitely DO NOT make it till the next payday!  Most months we have to dip into our savings to the tune of $200-300 just to "make ends meet".)  Granted, we could cut out our son's cell phone and our DishNetwork account, but things haven't reached that level.  Yet.  Anyway, here's my list:

1.  I drive a '92 Honda Accord w/188K miles.  My husband drives a '94 Dodge Dakota pickup with over 300K miles on it!  We have a "family vehicle" (an '02 GMC Sierra pickup with 4 doors), but it takes approx. $100 to fill the tank, so we all cram into the Honda! (we have 3 children)

2.  We grow a garden each summer and can/freeze/preserve the surplus veggies to eat throughout the year.

3.  My in-laws own/run a small dairy farm so we get our milk for free.  (They also have chickens, so free eggs, too!)

4.  We have farmland and raise our own "free-range, organic, non-steroid/antibiotic-free" beef.  Can't beat it for taste!

5.  I buy most of my clothes at the local second hand store.  If I do buy something new, it comes off the clearance rack!

6.  My husband and I pack our lunch everyday.  My daughter packs her lunch to school as well.  The two older kids eat hot lunch at school, so we could have additional savings there if we really had to.

7.  We dine out as a family only rarely.  With 5 of us it is simply cost prohibitive.

8.  I clip coupons and buy "store brands". 

9.  We buy in bulk and make our own "individual servings" of most snack foods or chicken or whatever.

10.  I cook from scratch.

11.  We paid off our Visa card with our tax refund!

12.  We paid our auto insurance with our "economic stimulus" check!

13.  We raise livestock (yes, we are rednecks!) to sell to pad our savings.

14.  Probably more things I could add but they are such a routine part of our household that I don't even think about them anymore!

Our largest expenditure is our mortgage.  Already has a good interest rate, so not much we can do there.  Same thing with our one vehicle loan (on the GMC that we don't drive; go figure!).

Just as a side note: my husband and I have what I would call "decent" salaries and are probably best described as "lower middle-class" (heave on the "lower"! lol).  We are just getting by.  I honestly don't know how a family with two minimum wage jobs makes it at all.  Bless them!

Note:  after reading through this I realize that I use a lot of quotation marks and parenthesis!  Sorry!