Consumers

[Miss Mary]

Local article:

"What Consumers Will And Won't Cut In Tough Times"

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.as ... 671b494575

What have you eliminated from your budget/spending?

1. We are not eating out or carrying out food (of any type, not even pizza).

2. We're paying cash for gas and no longer swiping the credit card. We are trying to get that balance down to 0.

3. I'm no longer picking up random items for dinner or treats - from the bakery, or produce store, or health food store. I try to buy our groceries once a week now.

4. Instead of buying cookies I'm back to making them myself. Just one example.

5. I'm no longer buying magazines or romance novels from the grocery. I try to read them at the library or check out books. Or finally, I buy books at the used book store. You save at least 50% this way.....

My former home ec teacher, going way back to the early 1970s......would be so proud I'm being this thrifty but she would say I could do more to save $, no doubt, spoken from the woman who used to say if you kept a list of 10 baking items on hand, you could make almost any dessert from them.....for years I felt like a failure when I bought a box cake or a mix. LOL Now I'm back to making food from scratch, if I can.....

Next........

It's actually, a challenge to find ways to eliminate extra expenses.

[CajunMama]

I plan menus for the week. I cook 2 meals on monday that we will eat the rest of the week. There's usually some leftover that i'll freeze and i'll eat that for lunch in the future. Cooking the 2 meals means only 1 trip to the grocery store.

I changed my lightbulbs to flourescents.

I bought a washer & dryer that has cut down my water usage in 1/2.

I've turned my a/c up so it doesn't run nearly as much and when it's cool i open my window, even leaving them open during the night.

[angelwing]

1-We haven't eaten out since March
2-all errands done in one trip
3-changed lightbulbs to CFL
4-do wash once a week
5-get gas in NJ instead of PA when I can
6-do the envelope system; prior to doing this I was lucky to save $10 a month, now I can save up to a grand if I manage the food bill right since we don't buy canned or frozen foods anymore due to diet
7-doing a healthier diet, which took my hubby off expensive cholesterol & diabetes medications
8-moving out of the city next month which lowered my renter's insurance $200.00/year and my auto insurance is dropping $350.00/year. Also my phone bill is dropping $20.00/month.

What I wish I could do is get rid of cable, but can't since hubby is home 24/7 but moving to a new place next month which includes the cable bill with HBO in the rent, so really not a seperate bill.

[Stephanie]

Angelwing - GET VERIZON for your cable. We switched over a month ago when Our bill jumped to $160 for cable and internet. We now have the phone, internet and FIOS for about $120 per month. The only thing different is the channel setup.

Comcast sucks and now are raising their rates again for the second time this year.

I usually do my errands on the way home or in one outing. I've been paying cash for my gas and will continue to do so now that the prices have dropped. I've been paying down one credit card balance for a while - I'm glad that I did the balance transfers a few years ago and have been focusing on paying it down for a while. I budget what I can spend weekly and what I can afford to pay on the credit cards monthly so I don't leave a balance. We've always had our windows open whenever it was comfortably possible and have had our thermostat set at 74 for the A/C and 69 for the heat. We automatically turn the heat down to 65 at night. I think that we could even stand the house set at 68, even in the middle of winter. I haven't gone shopping for non-essentials in a while and if I did, I used a gift card. However, I did "splurge" and buy a Phillies NLC t-shirt this past week. I also bought just one mum for the front of my house and not several for the front and back.

[angelwing]

Steph, the new townhome that I am going to rent next month, the cable is included in the rent so I won't have a seperate cable bill coming in. I would love to get DSL again as I have Crapcast, but verizon DSL is not available where I am going so I'm stuck with the cable they are offering me. FIOS is out also until we can get a home.

All this might be pointless come early next year if my trasfer comes thru to Arizona, lol!

[gtalum]

Our income hasn't been negatively affected in any way, and likely won't so we haven't made any changes in the way we live. In fact we just bought a house this summer that doubles (talk about sticker shock!) our mortgage payment.

I'll be putting a large amount of our savings into the stock market when we feel it's at or near the bottom, though. Because of the condition of the markets we put down as absolutely little on the home as we could, to keep funds free to invest when the irrational fear is gone form the stock market. Irrational fear in the stock market hurts people retiring soon, but ultimately it's a boon to young people with cash to spare.

[Miss Mary]

We drove 2.5 hours to visit our daughter away at college (Athens, OH). She wanted to shop at a mall, just 30 minutes away but in W Virginia. It was a nice Fall day so we agreed.

This mall was packed!

I was shocked, to tell you the truth. Then I began noticing if shoppers had purchases in their hands. They did!

There was absolutely no sign of hard economic times in this part of the country (Parkersburg, WV)!

Of course I haven't been to any of our local Cincinnati malls recently because I am not shopping these days. For all I know they too could busy.

Anyway, just wanted to share.......you would have thought Dec. 25 was around the corner, judging how full the parking lot was and the actual mall was as well.

There must not have been many laid off workers in that area. We also stumbled upon a drop dead gorgeous, just beautiful historic area called the Julie-Ann Historic district in Parkersburg. I could have spent hours just driving on those streets - one after another, mini-mansions, with carriages houses, a truly by-gone era, preserved. It was nice to see it preserved and protected, while 2 blocks away was busy traffic and the mall we visited!

Okay, back to being thrifty.....

Anymore ideas on how to cut back?

We've yet to turn on our furnace. It was 41 outside this am and 61 inside. I do think we'll set the furnace thermostat on 65 and if it gets low tonight, at least it will kick on. We had it set on 65 for several winters but last year I upped it to 67. We'll see if we can brave 65 again....he he

Mary

[Stephanie]

Steph, the new townhome that I am going to rent next month, the cable is included in the rent so I won't have a seperate cable bill coming in. I would love to get DSL again as I have Crapcast, but verizon DSL is not available where I am going so I'm stuck with the cable they are offering me. FIOS is out also until we can get a home.

All this might be pointless come early next year if my trasfer comes thru to Arizona, lol!

Verizon is still installing their lines in different towns. My mother's town, Turnersville, is getting it this year. We had them install the lines last year. I'm glad that the cable is already in your rent.

You're transferring??

[angelwing]

Steph, the new townhome that I am going to rent next month, the cable is included in the rent so I won't have a seperate cable bill coming in. I would love to get DSL again as I have Crapcast, but verizon DSL is not available where I am going so I'm stuck with the cable they are offering me. FIOS is out also until we can get a home.

All this might be pointless come early next year if my trasfer comes thru to Arizona, lol!

Verizon is still installing their lines in different towns. My mother's town, Turnersville, is getting it this year. We had them install the lines last year. I'm glad that the cable is already in your rent.

You're transferring??

My second job at night, the hospital-they are building a new one in Goodyear Arizona and if the pay is right, I'm moving west-I won't know more until March.