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Because I'm bored: If you had to make lifestyle changes
I'm sure this doesn't apply to everyone, but I've been giving it some thought lately. If the economy becomes such a problem that it effects your monthly income, what would you do to save money? I can't see this affecting me right now, but maybe down the road. I have tried to imagine how we would get by if one of us lost our job (though hopefully at least my teacher husband will be safe!). This is more critical for us as our mortgage payment is pretty dependent on two incomes. The things I can think of that I could change:
Really, really penny pinching as it relates to groceries. Cutting out extras such as wine.
Becoming a 1 car household (my husband walks to work so we could do it, though it wouldn't be much fun).
Getting rid of cable and internet.
Eliminating our once a week dinner out.
That's all that comes to mind for now. Anyone else have any creative ideas?
Re: Because I'm bored: If you had to make lifestyle changes
I cut out Starbucks a few years ago as well. I bet this economic downturn will have a big impact on their revenues.
Stop eating out. Like really.
Cut gym membership.
We could cut cable if it got really tight, but that's a last resort.
Food would be really really tough. Spending more for local sustainably produced stuff has become such a core value for us. I would probably do a serious cost analysis on different meals and cut down/out meat before purchasing less expensive equivalents of what we eat now. Heck I should be doing this anyways.
I'm already feeling guilty for how much my recent lifestyle choice is costing us. So, I'd drop out of school, move back in with H, stop drinking wine. I keep a pretty tight budget in general (minus that whole being in school full time, not working, maintaining 2 households, yikes!), so beyond the big things, I don't know what I'd do.
Thankfully, we're in a position where we won't really have to face those decisions. What we do face is H staying in the military longer than he wants because of the job security and pay and benefits. If the economy were different, he'd very likely be making different career decisions.
It would be really, really tough; like you, our mortgage requires both incomes, and there isn't much we could cut out (we already get free cable/internet/cell phones because of our jobs) and we already carpool because our offices are so near each other. Really the only things left are what you mentioned--buckling down on grocery and restaurant expenses. No clothes, no trips.
I have started doing most of my shopping at deep-discount stores like Winco and BiMart instead of Safeway and/or Target. I loathe Winco, but the prices can't be beat.
Stop eating out for real.
Sell DH's car.
Stop going to movies.
Only buy absolute necessities.
We already only live on one of our incomes so we could deal if one of us lost our jobs.
But we could get rid of internet and stop all traveling. Thats really it. We honestly don't do anything else!
we've thought about this a lot, since our industry is less than stable these days. i think it would simply come down to not buying anything we don't absolutely need.
no travel. no home renovations. no clothes shopping. no movies or dinners out. and probably putting off TTC. so yeah, in a nutshell, no fun whatsoever.
seriously tho, it may ultimately mean that H and/or i consider more secure careers that make more money. and we're both torn about that, since we got into this profession -- journalism -- for the love of the work, not for the paycheck, the fantastic hours or, of course, the glamour
We could become a one-car household. We already take the bus to work, but we do it from the park and ride. My bus ride would just be longer.
We could cut out cable (the H would freak, though), but I'm not sure about Internet. He does a decent amount of work from home.
Our grocery budget is $100/week, so I think that's already pretty modest. And we work really hard to stretch that to buy healthy food.
We could cut out our fun money completely, but our discretionary budget is already very low.
The worst case scenario would involve the H finding a job and dropping out of school, or at least delaying the completion of his dissertation. The problem with that would be that he has kickass health insurance. I wouldn't be surprised if the value of our health insurance is greater than his salary. Not worrying about having enough money if one of us gets sick is really valuable because it lets us focus on getting out of debt and building a savings.
I'd say make some cutbacks in the bar - maybe 1 or 2 different types/bottles of whisk(e)y instead of the current roster, for the rest, move a tier or two down on what we keep stocked. Reduce the wine and beer budget.
Wow, that makes it sound like I/we drink a lot
cheers!
We have really cut out most of our spending already, but there are a few things we could cut.
We could get rid of cable
We could get rid of internet
We could get rid of our home phone and just stick with the cell phones
Other than that, we really dont have much to get rid of. Both of our cars are paid off, we carpool to work every day, we dont go out to eat at all. We dont go out and do things that cost money hardly at all, and when we do go to movies its becuase we have a gift card or we go to the $6 shows at AMC.
So I think in general we are pretty good with our budget.
sigh. I never buy clothes. I'm so depressed right now because my favorite (and most comfortable) pair of work shoes officially died today. I've worn them about 250 days in the two years I've had them (yes I realize thats sad) and they only cost 50 bucks. So i've definitely gotten a lot from them. But now i have to go buy shoes!
DH however, is happy, because it drives him crazy that I won't ever buy myself new clothes. haha.
I have also recently rediscovered happy hour. There are some screaming deals to be had out there on drinks and bar food.
I also saw a post on another board recently about restaurant.com. You can actually buy coupons on there which will save you quite a bit if eating out is a luxury you don't want to sacrifice. Of course the choices are somewhat limited.
ok, the happy hour mention reminded me -- dude, there are sooooooo many deals to be had right now. i know, this is bad, this is a post about cutting back, not buying, but really the dismal economy is a bargain huntress' dream.
yesterday restaurant.com was offering gift certificates for 80 percent off. 80 percent! i just bought a pair of gorgeous suede boots online for $65 and a full set of king-sized sateen sheets for $30.
sorry, this is bad. i'll stop now.
Me too. There is no where left to cut. The only thing we could even possibly do is finish the basement and rent it out to someone to help pay the mortgage. We have an insane mortgage payment right now, and we can't just up and sell it or refinance it right now. My mortgage is killing me a little more everyday. I wish I could rewind time and NOT sign those papers. We just installed a woodstove to help out with the oil bill. Hopefully that will work. I am so scared to use it now. We buy meals for Mikayla only and we live off ramen and cereal so groceries can't be cut down. There is no discretionary income. None. That is our biggest source of fighting because if one of us gets even an oil change it kills the budget. I am starting to ramble and get depressed. Basically, my lifestyle change would be sucking it up and applying for welfare benefits...again....and then feeling like shit for doing it. That would be my lifestyle change if things get worse.
I'm sorry that you guys are having a rough time of it Kristinrae! Zombie hugs to you.
I find many of your cutbacks interesting. I think for us, if we were to cut out much of our "funtime" spending, ie: dinners out, movies, concerts, sporting events, we'd need our cable and internet even more to keep from going crazy. There's a "quality of life" issue at hand as well.
If the economy really got to us, we'd probably cut our Starbucks trips to once a week, stop buying games/movies on Xbox, no more dinners out or movies, and I'd get a lot more serious about coupon-shopping.
I would also probably get a pt job. I have my own business, and my livelihood depends on other peoples' discretionary income (weddings) so if wedding spending takes a nosedive next year, I'll be working nights. Hell, maybe I should start now, just in case.
Luckily we have no kids to worry about, and no mortgage or car payments. And DH makes a great salary that keeps us comfy. But if he lost his job, we'd be boned for sure.
I honestly can't see giving up the internet, but I would if I had to.
Both DH & I would get a second job before we cut back on our lifestyle. Actually I already have 2 jobs, so I guess just he would ; )
DH and I are ramping up for a loss of income in Jan/Feb. I am almost 100% sure there is no hope for me at the beginning of the year. We have a mortgage here in NY, but we will rent it out to try and at least get half or more covered by a renter. I will move to FL and hunt around for something, anything, to help cover our NY expenses.
We are very fortunate in that DH makes the bigger base salary. We can technically float the place in NY on his salary alone, but that would mean zero savings every month. I would cut out cleaning lady, data plans on our cell phones, and gym memberships. Cable will be our last resort. Any eating out/social activities will be mixed in with DH's work functions. We would cook at home much more and bring it back to the days where we just got out of college. I have no car here in NY, so we would have to get one for me once I do start working in FL. I loathe driving, but I have no choice down there.
We could:
Theoretically, we could ditch one car and carpool or both take the bus to work, but they're both paid for, and one is driven so rarely it probably wouldn't save us that much.
We could eliminate our takeout for dinner/weekend lunches and eliminate most of our week-day lunches out except the important business/office ones. We do it rarely, anyway, so it wouldn't be a huge sacrifice.
We could get rid of cable. I really don't think we could get rid of internet because we both work from home a decent amount.
I could stop getting our organics at Whole Foods. I'm actually going to start a new "save on groceries" plan for a week or two after we get back from vacation - not because we need to but because we want to.
We could switch to generic diet coke. I don't think it tastes the same, but I could deal.