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No outside coffee purchases, no going out to eat, go crazy on clipping coupons, making more meals and avoid ready to eat stuff, no extras at the grocery store, get rid of the dog and cat (along with their food and vet bills)... after that then can cut my land-line phone and only use the cell... if that's not enough, cut my internet out and use the public library...
No outside coffee purchases, no going out to eat, go crazy on clipping coupons, making more meals and avoid ready to eat stuff, no extras at the grocery store, get rid of the dog and cat (along with their food and vet bills)... after that then can cut my land-line phone and only use the cell... if that's not enough, cut my internet out and use the public library...
No outside coffee purchases, no going out to eat, go crazy on clipping coupons, making more meals and avoid ready to eat stuff, no extras at the grocery store, get rid of the dog and cat (along with their food and vet bills)... after that then can cut my land-line phone and only use the cell... if that's not enough, cut my internet out and use the public library...
I agree with all but the pet part and perhaps the internet. My wife would get rid of me before she would her two dogs. They are referred by her as "her kids." And she means it
I have nothing to really cut...I don't go out very often and I don't eat out much. I usually make my own food and some beverages.
Have no cable (not like theres anything interesting on anyway) and I don't even watch television all that much except for movies and such. As for traveling I usually save up for those events so those trips won't follow me back home money-wise.
Internet nowadays is pretty useful to me as I don't like public libraries that much, and I can do as much research as I like. Don't have a land-line so I only have my cell.
I no longer have a cell phone, that saves me about $60 a month, I am about to cut out some of the extras on my home phone like caller ID, its an entire package and that will cut out like $30 from my phone bill.
For the summer which is our rainy season, my sprinker system won't have to be on so I will save some on my water bill.
Other then that I am not sure what else to cut back.
$500/mo? pfft. We did that and then some last year. Eliminated mortgage payments, dropped home insurance costs by $125/mo, dropped property taxes by $180/mo, dropped health insurance costs by $100/mo, dropped the water bill by $90/mo, dropped satellite tv taxes by $5/mo, and so on. How? Moved from south Florida to rural north Alabama. $500+ savings per month BEFORE eliminating the mortgage payment, which was even more substantial.
Our goal was to get us to a situation where we could live comfortably on $10K per year. We haven't reached that goal yet, but if push came to shove, the bottom dropped out entirely, and we wanted to eliminate some frills, we could... AND provide a place for extended family to do the same. With perserverance and a bit of luck, I think we can also make our land earn the $10K to support us. Our current modest goals are to drop power costs under the $120/mo level, and eliminate our produce and meat and eggs costs. In case you haven't guessed, we saw a lot of this period coming, and moved before moving became impossible.
FWIW, the early 1970s had an inflation rate of up to 17%. My guess is that once the LONG TERM increases in the costs of gas and food are factored in to make a good comparison, we'll be looking at 20% to 22% for this and next year. Rough, and something to differentiate the grasshoppers from the ants, but do-able.
A key factor in survival is, if Dodge is charging outrageous taxes, and insurance companies want to charge you a premium for living in Dodge, GET OUT OF DODGE!
Vote with your feet against excessive government and punitive fees like a tax on reception of your satellite signals. Tell the local pigs feeding at your property tax trough to find another milch cow.
Is it worth $6000 per year for you to live with restrictions on what color you can paint your house and what days and hours of the week you can water to keep your personal land from dying? Is it worth $500 a month to enjoy a traffic jam and watch the municipal sprinklers water the median while you can't? Is it worth $17/day to listen to the comfort of police choppers overhead trying to help apprehend the latest robber/rapist/shooter? If it isn't, get off the dime. Let the chips fall where they may with bloated local governments.
When I became disabled and my savings ran out, I had to cut -- big time. Smartest move was paying cash for a manufactured home on its own land. It was in super condition inside and out so I didn't have to do any repairs. That means I have no mortgage or rent payment and, since my state has homestead and disability exemptions, my property tax is just $220 per year. Yay!
So, all of my bills add up to about $600 per month in the summer, less in the other months. I'm still paying for my kiddo's car insurance (plus my own) since he's in college but my car is paid-off, too. After that, the electric bill is the biggy in the summer because of the heat here. I use as little as possible but you've GOT to run the AC when the temps are in the mid and high 90s! Besides that, I just pay for water and sewer, home insurance, cable, internet, phone, and supplemental health insurance. I got rid of my landline and just use my cell phone now. That alone saved me $60 per month!
I won't get rid of cable and Internet. They're my primary sources of entertainment and it's worth it. Anything that takes gasoline, as in driving to rent videos, is something I do very sparingly. I have one primary shopping day to get all of my groceries for the month. I rarely eat in restaurants -- just treat myself to an inexpensive meal once per month.
This may sound silly but I'm really big on clearance sales -- I buy a few things from the previous season when they're WAY marked down and then put them away, still in their bags, until the following year. Then, it feels like I went shopping for new clothes! When you can get tops for $4 or $5 and skirts for $7 or $8 brand new, it doesn't make sense to buy used clothes at thrift stores.
The experts tell us our costs are going up but wages will not match the increase. It would be to our advantage to cut $500 from our monthly family budget. This could go to pay increasing energy bills and save for upcoming deep economic recession in 2009.
Please tell us how your family is going to cut out $500 a month in spending.
How would I cut $500 from our monthly budget?
hmm, that would leave us a bit over $700 / month to live on.
We have no house payment. We do have one car payment though $150 is not going to help much. I do not see us handing that car back.
We could:
1- shut-off our cellphones;
2- stop netflix;
3- shift from wine every night back to beer [store bought wine has been costing us $20/week, whereas one pint of beer, for each of us, each night costs about $20/month].
4- My Dw was making a batch of mayonnaise this afternoon, she wants me to plant mustard so we do not have to buy anymore mustard. Every few months we do manage to lower our food budget for condiments.
hmm, that would leave us a bit over $700 / month to live on.
We have no house payment. We do have one car payment though $150 is not going to help much. I do not see us handing that car back.
We could:
1- shut-off our cellphones;
2- stop netflix;
3- shift from wine every night back to beer [store bought wine has been costing us $20/week, whereas one pint of beer, for each of us, each night costs about $20/month].
4- My Dw was making a batch of mayonnaise this afternoon, she wants me to plant mustard so we do not have to buy anymore mustard. Every few months we do manage to lower our food budget for condiments.
These things would save about $110/month.
Damn, you plant and grow your own mustard? Now that is dedication, lol. Last time I bought mustard, I think it cost about $3 for a 1/2 gallon at Costco and lasted like 3 years. Threw it out in fact as it was stale. I would say buy the mustard and use that energy on something that can save you even more. If you're that resourceful, brew your own beer and wine. Would be fun and real cheap.
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