What are you doing to adjust to the higher cost of living?
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.
Go grocery shopping during the week. The cashier at WalMart told me that they raise the prices slightly on the weekend due to the higher demand.
I started most of my cost savings a few years ago when I bought my townhouse. Dealing with a mortgage (yikes it's a lot) was a huge shock even though I knew I could do it it is still a lot of money.
1. Don't eat out a lot. If you do eat out, make sure that you're not paying a ton just for the restaurant's name. Tips at a fancy restaurant cost more than a meal at an inexpensive restaurant. If you can sign up to be a secret shopper (don't pay fees for this), even better. Your meal will be completely covered and you'll be paid a small fee for filling out a report.
2. Don't pay fees on credit cards or banks or any other expense that you can avoid. If you're paying a fee for your checking account, shop around for a bank that will give you free checking. Credit cards, if you do incur fees, will often waive the fee if you call and ask them to do so shortly after the billing statement. I got a friend reimbursed over $300 by calling and asking for late fees and over the limit fees to be waived. If you see an offer for a cash incentive for signing up for an account, consider doing it if you can afford not to have the cash handy for that period of time. I just bought two $25 American Express cards (plus $8 in handling fees) but I'll get a $25 gift certificate in a few weeks that I will use at borders.
3. If you have the discipline to do it, then use credit cards that you pay off every month. I am not good with cash so this works well for me. Cash simply dribbles away a few dollars at a time. Credit cards I at least get a bit of an incentive either cash back or a gift card and I can track my expenses without having to write them down. Also it gives me a 30 day float on the money so I get a few pennies more in interest.
4. Buy off of ebay. Most things that you want to buy are cheaper and even new from ebay (New, NWT, NWOT are all good things). I just bought 6 sports bras for $90 including shipping (combined shipping from one seller made it about $20 cheaper). If I bought the bras I don't like from costco it would come out to about the same. If I bought the same bras brand new without a sale it would cost me around $30-40 per bra. I know that I like these because I bought all the local Victoria's Secret store had in my size when they were $10 on a super discounted sale. As the seller if they can send it via regular shipping instead of priority mail and it will save you a few more dollars here and there.
5. Sell your old stuff on ebay. I haven't done this yet, but I'm intending to. Just as soon as I get a couple of days of free time to list and take pictures of everything I need to sell. I want to do it all at once so I'm not running to the post office every few days.
6. Buy stuff in bulk, if it will save you money, and you can afford to spend a bit more now in order to spend less later. I buy the fiber one nuts and chocolate bars, vanilla protein powder, almonds, pecans, chocolate chips at Costco, they're much cheaper in bulk than they are in the grocery store. I don't buy most of my produce at Costco (except cherry tomatoes, mango juice and roasted chickens) because for the most part it will go to waste if I do that and wasting it is not cheaper than buying in small quantities.
7. Flourescent bulbs...sure, the lighting is not usually as pretty, but the energy savings is tremendous and sometimes you can find the bulbs with an energy rebate which makes them almost as cheap as regular bulbs.
8. Don't be afraid to return stuff that you don't like or that doesn't fit you. I recently returned a box of Crystal Light because I don't like the flavor. I don't mind a store credit as I'll just use it to buy the flavor that I do like, but keeping the one I don't like doesn't give the manufacturer feedback and leaves me with junk in my house.
9. Make your own...vitamuffins are about the same as Black Bean Brownies or my new Pumpkin Muffins.
10. Don't order pizza from delivery places. Buy a few frozen pizzas (personal size if you're single) to keep in the freezer and when you are in the mood for pizza, make one of those. It'll save you a ton of calories and money.
11. Whenever you do go shopping, reconsider all of the items in your cart. Will you actually use them, do you really want them, are they worth the $.
1. Walking or riding a bicycle whenever possible. We have a mileage allowance on the car, enough to get Alex back and forth six days a week plus an additional 50 miles to drive around if we need to. If he stays within his allowance, it'll only cost him 25 dollars (average gas of $4.00) to fill up his tank every week.
2. Abusing the hell out of sales. When it's time to go grocery shopping every week, if something's on sale, buy it like hell. Most recently we got a bunch of bags of lentils for half off, and they're already cheap as it is. We also have a lot of rice in stock, as well as beans.
3. Giving up sodas and alcohol. Occassionally Alex likes to have a beer (between 5 and 10 per week) and it does add up, and could be going in his gas tank. Instead of getting beer or sodas when we eat out, we bring food home and drink water. If he's sick of water, we've got a whole bunch of lemonade (thanks Mom!)
4. Clothing is currently being made and repaired. If it's beyond repair, it's used for practice projects, pattern draftings, or as patches. We may not be wearing jeans (though WalMart did have denim on sale for two dollars a yard and you can make a pair of shorts out of one yard), but we've got plenty of entertainment that'll be explained in #5 and we've got clothes.
5. Giving up CABLE. It was such a delight and a luxury at my mom's house, but we're here now and don't feel the need to spend $50 a month on something we don't absolutely need and can't really afford. We figured we'll have plenty to keep us busy for the next few months with getting our new house in order, working my new job, and exploring our new neighborhood. Maybe in a few months, if I'm working full time and we really, really want it we'll get cable but for now, we can handle watching old DVDs, playing video games, playing on the computer, or finding other projects to do. We're keeping the internet because we get paperless statements.
6. Go for the free food! Alex works at a pizza joint. This pizza joint throws away pizza from the buffet that's been out too long but is still perfectly edible, or if they make a fresh one of that pizza and don't want two of the same out. I don't mind eating pizza, they've got enough variety, and he also brings home salads from work.
When you look at it all, we're not doing a whole lot, but for where we are in life and what we have, we're definitely making the most of every last bit of it. Rather than buying all new furniture we collected whatever family was throwing away that Alex will repair and refinish (kills time, saves money, personalised to our taste!). We've got enough entertainment to live without luxuries like cable TV, big TVs (we have a 13 inch), fancy computers and video game systems, dishes that all match, a gorgeous house, brand-name clothing, pricey food. We buy what we absolutely need and keep the rest in savings. And thanks to getting married, we've got enough in savings to last us a while so if we want the occassional double cheeseburger, it won't kill us.
Oh. And we won't be using an air conditioner this summer. This house is long and if you open the front window and the back door, the air blows right through the house. We're also at waterfront so we've got cool breezes coming from Lake Erie.
Hubby used to go out for lunch daily now he brings his lunch - I always have at least since starting on a new food lifestyle. I only drive to store when absolutely necessary and usually only while I am out running other errands or coming home from work.
I don't turn the porch lights on unless I'm expecting company. Keep my lights off as much as possible. Keep the computer off unless I plan oon being on it for more than an hour
unplug all appliances that aren't being used. I read on our local power company website that even though you don't have your cell phone connected to the charger if its plugged in it will use some power I also switched all light bulbs as they go out with the CFC's or whatever they are called.
If I'm not going to be home I don't keep the swamp cooler running. The dogs are fine and don't need "air conditioning. " and I gave my hairier dog a short hair cut and thin out.
If our HOA allowed clotheslines I'd hang out my clothes - kinda ticks me off that in this state where the sun shines year round they don't allow clotheslines.
What I won't give up -- my diet sodas and coffee. I make my own coffee hate flavored stuff so Starbucks never did appeal to me - I also buy the soda that's on sale so if Coke products are on sale I'll get the Dr pepper if Pepsi is on sale I get diet pepsi.
Hmmm well we are cutting where we can.
First I don't run the AC in the house unless we can not stand it anymore. usually thats an hour or 2 at night after 7pm. I have 2 stand up fans and 2 window fans that do good on keeping the house somewhat cool.
I have not ran the AC in my car in over a year. I roll the window down about 1/2 way or higher and the same for the back passenger window. Creates a nice breeze. And I have noticed a decrease in gas consumption.
I no longer run the dryer unless it looks like it will ran within an hour or 2. Instead I line dry everything I can. And that pretty much means everything. I also have all my clothes washed before 8am.
I get a lot of my veggies fresh and free now. I help a lot of the local farmers for some pay and free veggies. So that helps.
I have cut back on what I buy at the store but because the prices has gone up it does little good.
I quit buying snacks for the boys. Instead I make things from scratch.
Oh and I cut back on my driving. I only make trips for grocery shopping, going to work in the fields, and or putting money in my bank.
Oh and I smoke so now I roll my own and now a pack costs me about 1.00.
This is what I'm doing:
1) Getting a roommate. My rent is expensive, but I love where I live, and the house is more than big enough. Interviewing someone tomorrow.
2) Thinking about riding my bike to work. Still in the contemplation phase, because I'm not in very good shape. But it's only 5 miles each way and pretty flat. The cost of gas is killing me, and cycling is great exercise.
3) Water my yard early in the morning. I have sprinklers set to go at 5 am. Little evaporation that way.
4) Plan my meals, pack my lunches. If I'm strict about this, I spend $30 or less on food weekly, and I eat delicious, healthy food.
5) Ditch the cable. I did this at the beginning of the year, and I rarely miss it. Instead, I do Netflix for $8.99/month and watch my favorite shows that way. Plus, no commercials!
6) Got rid of phone line and DSL for $115 monthly. Instead, I'm using my cell phone as my main phone- it only costs $5 per month more for the additional minutes I need. I switched to ClearWire for high-speed internet- $34.99 per month, including modem rental.
7) Keep my 95 Toyota van. It doesn't get fabulous mileage, but it's not bad either- about 20 mpg in the city- it's cheap to maintain and insure, and I don't have a payment.
8) Weatherproof my house for winter. It's astonishingly cheap to cool with central air, but heating is a bitch. I'll replace old screen doors with heavy storm doors, make sure there are storm windows over all of my old windows, and plastic over ones where storm windows don't fit. I'll use a space heater in my chilly bedroom, and wrap myself in fluffy blankets while watching tv.
1) We almost never go out to eat, and if we do, try to go on nights when 'kids eat free.' Kids meals can be expensive, and they don't eat much.
2) I've pretty much stopped driving unless I have to, and I try to do all my errands on one day rather than driving back and forth all week.
3) I live in Texas, and the heat index is already over 100 degrees. I keep my AC set on 78-80, keep the blinds and curtains closed, and use ceiling fans. I also want to buy some of those screens that block out sunlight and window tint for the living room windows. Our entire living room and kitchen seem to be windows. It gets really hot in those rooms!
4) I make a grocery list before shopping and stick to it. I rarely buy any 'extras.'
5) I make my grocery list and plan a weeks worth of meals based on what's on sale. I'm also an avid coupon clipper/user. I save about $10 a week using coupons, sometimes more, sometimes less. It's not much, but it helps!
6) My husband wears uniforms to work, and I'm at home all day, so we rarely buy new clothes. I got to a point where I had to buy maternity clothes, but I only bought about a weeks worth, and I also wear hand-me-downs from a friend. I also only shop sales.
7) Same goes for kids clothes. My son needed summer clothes, and I have to buy clothes for the new baby, so I've been shopping at JC Penney's a lot. They've had tons of sales with up to 75% off, and if I use my Penney's card, I get an extra 15% off. The other day I spent $22 on over $50 worth of merchandise. Then I pay off my credit card (sometimes before I even get the statement) in one payment as to not rack up finance charges.
8) I love flowers, so in past years I planted native plants. They use less water once established, so my yard looks nice, and I rarely water.
9) We planted several trees in the back yard. They're small now, but eventually they'll provide shade and help keep the house cooler, too. We planted an Oak tree that requires little water. We also planted a lemon and a mandarin tree. We use lots of lemons, and we also eat lots of citrus, so hopefully they'll be fruitful and we won't spend as much on lemons/citrus at the store.
Great tips everyone! Dbackerfan, you're not allowed clotheslines???? WTF??? That's appalling!
I have been broke for most of my life (until a bit earlier this year when I got a new job) so I have very thrifty habits. Basically, for a long time, if I had to pay for something, I probably would have said no thank you (ie, why pay to go to a movie when the university is playing something free in the student centre? why buy a book when there's a library around the corner? why buy a magazine when you can stand in the bookstore for half an hour and read it? cheap yes, but I just didn't have any money so I didn't have a choice) I'm also very concerned about the environment so I will not buy things that take up the earth's resources if I don't really need them. That also saves a lot of money.
Some other things I've found that save are: basic cooperation, and sharing things with your neighbours. I live in a duplex (with roommates) and we don't have a vacuum. Our next door neighbours were going to buy one and we dceided to split the price of it between 6 people. It's not like we ever all need to use it at the same time. Same goes for the electric mixer - one of my roommates has one, we all share it. They just knock on the door if they want to borrow it. We also have one wireless internet router and 8 people pitch in for the monthly bill.
People in my neighbourhood also carpool a lot. There's a cheaper supermarket on the other side of town, so if one person is going they will usually phone and see if anyone else wants to come. Maybe not at the most convenient time of day, but just relax, be a bit more willing to change your schedule. If someone wants to buy something in bulk that's too big, usually someone else will share.
At my office, we all pitched in for an electric kettle and we bring our own mugs and tea/coffee from home rather than paying $2 a cup from the cafeteria.
The one thing that I am noticing a really big difference on is airfares. My family lives on the other side of the country and I had wanted to go home this summer, but it's almost $300 more than the last time I went.
From an electrician I learned to shut off the circuit breakers when going on vacation......except the one for the fridge.
yesterday and today I was washing blankets and heavier items and just put a couple lawn chairs aways apart and draped the blankets and such over them -- they were dry in less time than it would have taken in the dryer!!
I think the home owners assoc bylaws were back when energy concerns weren't a big concern. Hope they update their thinking soon.
I remember when I lived in Tucson I had to do laundry at a laundromat but I would bring the clothes home and hang them outside to dry - and when I did get a washer by the time I hung up one load of laundry they were dry by the time the next load was done - some times befre I even finished hanging up that load- the first clothes hung were dry.
Original Post by cecilyb03:
3) I live in Texas, and the heat index is already over 100 degrees. I keep my AC set on 78-80, keep the blinds and curtains closed, and use ceiling fans. I also want to buy some of those screens that block out sunlight and window tint for the living room windows. Our entire living room and kitchen seem to be windows. It gets really hot in those rooms!
9) We planted several trees in the back yard. They're small now, but eventually they'll provide shade and help keep the house cooler, too. We planted an Oak tree that requires little water. We also planted a lemon and a mandarin tree. We use lots of lemons, and we also eat lots of citrus, so hopefully they'll be fruitful and we won't spend as much on lemons/citrus at the store.
I'm originally from Texas too. If you don't already have them, making your windows into double-paned windows, in addition to the tinting, can make a huge difference. The trees are a good idea too. Oaks are very slow-growing, though, so it might be wise to look into a couple faster-growing shade trees as well...
You must be very far south to be thinking about growing citrus. When I was a kid, even the citrus down in the Rio Grande Valley was all destroyed by freezes (1980). Make sure to protect them from the cold on exceptionally cold nights!
Checking your profile I see you're near Houston. Citrus will definitely need protection on nights when the temps go down below about 25 deg. Your garden center should be able to give you the best advice - blankets, spraying them with water or smoke pots are common techniques, I think.
Dbacker, I really hope your association does relax those rules, sooner than later. Maybe if you can circulate some information about the energy savings, and some more discreet options, they'll move faster. It's actually really interesting to hear about these associations, as I'm not sure if they exist in Canada ( at least not in my area, although there are lots of condos with rules about what colour curtains you are allowed to hang!) Is it something you opt into moving into a newly-built subdivision or something?
How is the rising cost of living affecting your life? it makes me more aware of the current economic state and makes me think twice before spending on frivilous things
Does your current budget no longer work? if anything i've actually started to form a better budget because i have to get gas on a weekly basis and having no money for gas and that is NOT an option for me
Is your paycheck lasting until the next? it does when i eliminate the unecessary spending - eating out, snacks from the snack fund, designs on my toes, etc...
What are you giving up? Meals out? Presents? Gym member ships? Clothes? Shoes? i've stopped getting acrylic nails and have downgraded to manicures and pedicures and i've cut down on clothes shopping
What won't you give up? mani/pedicures, eyebrow waxing, getting my hair done
Saw this article today, especially pertinent to this discussion:
http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/money happy/86082
Basically ways to cut down on your grocery bill.
Another link -
As many of my fellow Californians out there might already know, we have a bit of a smug attitude towards what we "need" and expect. I challenged my sense of superiority by moving to upstate New York (for several reasons that I won't go into here) for 1.5 years in November 2006. BAD timing.
Rochester, NY was already a blue collar town before the economy started to drop off, but shortly after getting there, I saw that I had underestimated the challenge and was drowning in debt each month, in spite of my seemingly low $370 rent (including heat). I just moved back to California in May after practically suffocating financially, and decided the best way (only way?) to be a full-time college student in this economy is to live at home.
I moved back in with my mom (a bit of a win-win since she now lives in a very progressive/green-minded community, with a house three blocks from beachside walking trails). That saves me $1000+/month in rent & utilities, but increases my mom's expenses. So, these are the ways our household is cutting down on costs:
- We don't run the a/c EVER, and turned the furnace and radiant floor heating systems off for all but the very coldest days.
- I take a 5 minute shower daily (and even set a timer).
- I've cut down the amount I shave my legs, etc. to once per week, or special occasions (whichever is longest), and turn the water off in the shower while doing so.
- I stopped eating beef for environmental reasons, and my sister is a vegetarian, so we eat veggie dinners. You'd be amazed how much cutting out meat of a diet brings the grocery bill down!
- Most meals are prepared at home, and I only buy ingredients that I can pair with other ingredients. Leftovers get "reinvented" and served another night in a new way. (veg-style tacos become tamale pie, etc.)
- Instead of getting an office job (with a 15+ mile commute and an inflexible work schedule), I market myself as a freelance Virtual Office Assistant and work from home. I also work throughout the SF Bay Area at client locations, but charge for both my time and mileage while commuting (there's notoriously bad traffic around here). I'll also be able to fit in more work hours with school, since I can work at whatever time of day I want instead of adhering to an office schedule!
- I have a set laundry day, Friday, where I do one load of laundry (clothing) and one load every other week of towels, sheets, etc. (Our front load washer helps us cram more clothes in per load, and saves money on water bills, too.) If any stains don't come out in that first wash, they are handwashed or just have to wait until next week for another try.
- I try to line-dry most clothing, and all sheets & towels. If the towels get too stiff, I'll just put them in on "fluff" for five minutes and they end up plenty soft.
- We walk to the Farmer's Market each Saturday and stock up on cheaper produce, and my mom buys the rest of the groceries near work (bigger city=lower prices, guh) whenever possible.
- We bought a treadmill for $225 on Craig's List and cancelled the gym memberships.
- I installed CFLs in place of all the incandescent ones, and we try to "sit in the dark" more instead of leaving lights blazing.
Trying to be "green" and to conserve energy has always been a part of my personal culture, and it's much easier to do now that everyone else has become so conscious of it, and it's so "fashionable". We're about to start a compost bin, and I'm nearly there on getting my mom to plant a herb garden (those suckers are expensive!) and a bigger garden next year.
Original Post by vegetariangeek:
Dbacker, I really hope your association does relax those rules, sooner than later. Maybe if you can circulate some information about the energy savings, and some more discreet options, they'll move faster. It's actually really interesting to hear about these associations, as I'm not sure if they exist in Canada ( at least not in my area, although there are lots of condos with rules about what colour curtains you are allowed to hang!) Is it something you opt into moving into a newly-built subdivision or something?
Actually this home owner association was put together in the 60's or 70's and the covenants were put in place to protect the "view" and everyone knows how distracting and ugly clothes lines are!! We can't even put up a shed or fence without prior approval of the HOA. Personally I think now its just a bunch of elderly people wanting to tell everyone how to live their lives and power trip
Original Post by pacifikate:
- We don't run the a/c EVER, and turned the furnace and radiant floor heating systems off for all but the very coldest days.
Okay, but in the SF Bay area, you don't need AC unless you live way inland. Hell, I lived in the Richmond district of SF for several years, and it never even got hot enough to run the fan, much less an AC. Even inland, it's a dry heat and much more bearable than the sauna-like weather in the south and east coast summers.
I run my AC here in Japan, and would do so even if the electric bill was much higher. I cannot function in 90 degree heat and 70% humidity.
Also, the gas savings from not using the AC in the car is negligible.
My tv/phone/broadband company has me down as a 'staff account' by accident so I pay a lot less then my sis who has the same. I told them twice, they've had their chance.
I swopped all the lightbulbs in the house for the new type - they are so low on energy consumption that there really isn't any point in being fanatical about turning lights on and off. The bulbs themselves can cost a bit but I got most mine free from the electricity supplier whom I then dumped for a cheaper one.
I never use the dryer - that thing costs about £3/$6 a go - eek! Emergencies only and I haven't had one yet this year.
I am a total card tart. I switch into a better deal if it comes along so now they cost minimal forever and as I am not adding any more I am knocking them down rather nicely.
I wash the car and my two toddlers have great fun helping.
I have a season ticket for an animal farm down the road - so I make huge savings this way when it comes to entertaining the kids and they never tire of it!
I will cook a bigger dish - say a chilli, and feed us for two nights. No energy use the second night including my own.
I get bogof offers all the time at the supermarkets. I catch them more now cos I go 2 or 3 times a week instead of once and because I carry less I can walk too. I am growing veg but my hopes are not high as plants do not thrive with me but I'll do my best. The boys love this too!
What's helped me a LOT was ditching Amazon for a library card. Our library is really up to date. Now I just must remember to take the books back!
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