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I've been sticking with the necessities. Food, paying bills and gas. Eating more tofu and less meat, more yogurt. Thrilled that I could fill up the car for under $30 today.
Since I'm semi-retired on disability I'm used to pinching pennies. My clothes needs are minimal. Jeans and t-necks get me through the day and the work I am able to do.
I'm leaving the heat off as much as possible and dressing warm in fuzzy fleece I bought on sale a couple of years ago at Eddie Bauer. Fortunately, it's been mild so far. I do have a new, high efficiency heat pump so I'm not too worried about the winter.
I was talking to a friend of mine who is the most frugal person I know and he's spending money at a rate I've never seen. He's got the cash and is picking up some great bargains on used high end, big ticket items like cars, RV, boat, etc. Sellers are desparate for cash and he's got it. They're all things he needed to replace soon anyway.
For those that enjoy books/dvds, etc. check your libraries! Our library will allow us to reserve things online and deliver to our branch and then notify us via e-mail. They also allow you to request new books/movies that they don't carry. We've had great luck using this service in the past few months. We haven't missed our cable at all. And we don't waste a library trip, we know we always have what we want/requested being held up front for us.
For those that enjoy books/dvds, etc. check your libraries! Our library will allow us to reserve things online and deliver to our branch and then notify us via e-mail. They also allow you to request new books/movies that they don't carry. We've had great luck using this service in the past few months. We haven't missed our cable at all. And we don't waste a library trip, we know we always have what we want/requested being held up front for us.
I love my library. I never buy books, Dvd's, or CD's. My library can usually order things from other libraries if they don't have it.
Haven't done anything different. But it doesn't seem bad here, like they said. Life is just going on...
Plus, we're not routine big spenders. Recent exceptions: paid $1200 for TX-OU tickets...bought an AR-15 for $1100...paid dog's vet bills. Other than that, just normal living.
We have just stopped eating out as much. We used to eat out almost every night, now we eat out maybe 1-2 times a week. It's been a HUGE savings which we have been using to pay down our mortgage.
- My mortgage was 80/10/10 down at a fixed rate and my plan has been to pay down the '10' mortgage. I'm well on my way towards that goal (not sure if that counts as spending or saving).
- Bought furniture for a room that's completely empty
- Plan on installing wood flooring in 3 areas at home (been saving up for the last two items on the list for a while)
- Misc. small projects to make the place more energy-efficient
I don't live too large as/is though. Monthly gas+food+everything which gets put on the card is usually about 500/month and it gets paid off every month. I did sell a second car because I rarely drove it anymore. Except for working on the house it's really been about par for the course. Very grateful for the job and roomates that I have.
Well, supposedly this holiday season will bring a lot of deals due to the projected lower consumer spending. If there's anything I've been interested in at a good deal then I'm going to consider it. Wal-Mart actually started their holiday sales this Saturday morning.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Spending carefully (It's all coming out of savings), as I cashed out all but 2 of my investment RE holdings last 2 yrs. Will reinvest, later... I expect a 7-10 yr Real Estate cycle. (Been wrong before)
Only buy 1 Jr Bacon Cheese per week ($.99); distressing to pay $40 to fill my $35 diesel car when I can't find free grease. Still live on $40 spending money / month, same as 1980.
Had to spend $9 for a DTV converter box, as DS watches ~2 hrsTV / week.
ugh... I just wrote a check for having my LP siding replaced (Scheduled BEFORE -Sept crash). That will be my contribution to to the economic recovery. I painted it myself to save $3500 labor.
Siding had to be done, but it was very painful to pay today...Gotta get prepared to sell 'Casa Grande' ($33/day property taxes) + our 4.125% 7/1 ARM rolls in March. OUCH will go to 6%, Have ~15% LTV ratio, so could "write a check" to pay it off, but.... to preserve capital may just pay the 6% till we can unload this beast. I will probably not have another 'primary residence', more of a liability than an 'investment'. (Unless OB keeps the $500k capital gains exclusion on homes (Unlikely), that may be one of the only ways to make 'non-taxable' income going forward)
I might have to get a job !!! yikes ! (Ugh #2... school tuition will be due in Jan for final semester of grad program... time to get a student loan, and then join the Peace Corp)
We've been spending normally (not a lot). Got a new tv and a PS3 which we planned to get for the past two years. I started planning for Christmas a while back and we have all the presents (mainly for our son and thats it, the tv was for us)..
Yes, we haven't cut back at all. In fact, we may take some extra trips to the OR coast soon because we anticipate it not being as crowded as usual.
However, our normal level of spending is pretty conservative by many people's definitions. We have a LOT of money saved up, I have a good,stable job, and we have no debt, so this nationwide financial crisis does not impact us nearly as much as some other folks. We consider ourselves lucky.
Even in "good times" we are spendthrifts: We only eat out once a week. We don't have cable/satellite, we only have one basic cell phone, I do almost all home repairs/renovations myself. I ride my bike to work. My wife gives me haircuts. Etc. Etc.
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Yes.
