Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
1. cable bill - call the cable company and tell them you want to cancel because it's too expensive. price drop.
2. gas - yes, it's more expensive, but people can bring down their costs if they are smart (unless they were always smart, which statistics say most people in this category are not):
- inflate tires to the max you can inflate them for your car.
- drive like grandma - people don't realize how much $ they waste saving 30 seconds off of their commute time. leave 5 minutes earlier, cut down on the accelerating and braking, and pocket the savings.
- get a cash/back card. You should easily be able to get 3-5% off all of your gas purchases. doesn't sound like much, but that's a nickel for every $1/gallon price. tese days in NJ, that means saving over 15/cents per gallon!
3. shop your homeowner's and car insurance around for a better deal.
4. utility - gas went up? most places, gas has been dropping because of the glut of supply.
take charge of what you can.
the gas thing has been right in my face, because mint.com emails me when i go over budget on a category. i keep noticing i get that email earlier and earlier in the month as gas prices rose. quite annoying.
1. cable bill - call the cable company and tell them you want to cancel because it's too expensive. price drop. Did that...they knocked it down $10. Still an increase of $35 from what I was paying 2 years ago.
2. gas - yes, it's more expensive, but people can bring down their costs if they are smart (unless they were always smart, which statistics say most people in this category are not):
- inflate tires to the max you can inflate them for your car.
- drive like grandma - people don't realize how much $ they waste saving 30 seconds off of their commute time. leave 5 minutes earlier, cut down on the accelerating and braking, and pocket the savings.
-Brand new tires
-I never go more than 5 miles over the speed limit, and never over 65, period, no matter what the speed limit is.
-Drive only when I have to. Grocery store, bank, etc., is on my way home from work right off the exit.
- get a cash/back card. You should easily be able to get 3-5% off all of your gas purchases. doesn't sound like much, but that's a nickel for every $1/gallon price. tese days in NJ, that means saving over 15/cents per gallon!
-I have a shoppers reward card at the grocery store that gives me 20 cents off per gallon for every $50 spent in the store or on giftcards. I've price checked everything I buy at 3 grocery stores, and if it's cheaper here, I buy it here, if not, I buy it at Walmart.
3. shop your homeowner's and car insurance around for a better deal.
-Did that. Even with the $10 per month increase this year, it's still the lowest I've found.
4. utility - gas went up? most places, gas has been dropping because of the glut of supply. Yeah, there was an article in the paper not long ago about our providers and how much their increases were. Can't remember the percentages, though.
take charge of what you can.
the gas thing has been right in my face, because mint.com emails me when i go over budget on a category. i keep noticing i get that email earlier and earlier in the month as gas prices rose. quite annoying.
I wish getting a better job was the answer. I'm actually at the top of the food chain and earning potential for my job. As of my raise this month, I'm making about $1 more/hr than this job typically pays in this area, and most companies don't pay for uniforms. And unfortunately, for my skill set, this is the highest I'm ever going to make, as I'm even topped out at this company now.
I tossed around the idea last year of going back to school, and then realized that the jobs I'd be looking for when I graduated actually were paying less than what I'm making now :-(
Ultimately the "solution" to your problem is to get a job where your wages outpace inflation, or at the very least, meet inflation levels. Cutting expenses is a temporary band-aid - it will buy you more time but the solution, easy or not, is to increase your income. You can only cut so far, the core problem here is an income one.
If you can't increase your earnings in that company and you can't make more money in your current field, now is the time to start transitioning to another field or something that can solve this problem....and doing it before the problem gets worse. Getting a second part time job is another temporary band-aid unless it will lead to something more longer term, or buy you time for the first career to start paying dividends. The key is to increase your hourly rate. That is how you "get out of this."
For you I think what's important is to figure out what you like to do, what you can do, and what you want to do. There are varying means to reach a future job depending what it is you are doing, and want to be doing in the future. It's important to accept that any solution that involves further education or a career change will require short term sacrifice. Obviously it's your choice as to whether or not you are willing to accept that, but if you ask me, you don't want to stay in a job that will lead to a progressively declining standard of living.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
