What are you cutting back on to save money,

since everything is getting so expensive? i.e. food, gas, elec, eating out, etc.

I was discussing this at work and thought I would post it here.

Eta: I forgot to put what I do (sorry)

I bring lunch everyday, instead of eating out 2-3x a week we go out 1 night and call it date night. We stopped using our credit cards and if it cant be paid by cash it doesnt get bought.

Message edited 10/24/2007 2:14:24 PM.

Message edited 8/13/2009 11:40:57 AM.

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

I'm trying to cut back on my addiction to Shopping!!

And I've decreased my weekly allowance.

I find slowly decreasing your weekly allowance is a great way to live/adjust to a stricter budget. I used to give myself $100 a week (that includes gas money for the week) for miscellaneous spending. Now I am at $75 a week and doing well so I will probably cut it back to $50 and see how that goes.

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

We are moving to NC which is a huge cutback.

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

-bring lunch to work
-cooking more at home
-hanging out at home more often.

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

Can I cut back on taxes? If I could just eliminate that, I'd be set!

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

Posted by GoldenRod

Can I cut back on taxes? If I could just eliminate that, I'd be set!

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

Starbucks

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

DH bought a faggy scooter but it is hysterical to see him on it!!!!
I make fun of him all the time because he thinks it's going to sve sooooo much $$$$.
He also walks to the train station now.

I make lunch for him everyday, so essentially I am saving HIM money, but bceause I can't eat coldcuts everyday, I buy lunch!

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

Trying to eat out less. Not only saves $$$ but better for my diet! Also while I'm losing weight still I am not buying clothes. I'm waiting until I stabilize. DH and I always bring lunch to work, but we have done this forever, so it's not saving us extra money.

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

Message edited 11/13/2011 1:56:01 PM.

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

I ride the subway to the bronx for work each day, about an 80 minute trip each way - instead of driving. Saves us a ton of money on gas/tolls.

We make our own baby food rather than buy the jars of it. I can't believe how little you actually have to spend to get weeks of nutritious food for my child.

We cook a lot more. I get food from costco and we cook up a lot of fish and veggies rather than eat out.

Since having a baby, most weekends are just the three of us going for walks and playing in the park - a wonderful time that costs nothing!

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

nothing its mostly DHs fault... he likes living "the life". he likes his $5 starbucks every day after dinner, and he bought a $500 espresso machine so he can make one in the morning, too he tells me that if he didn't care about having money to spend to do things, he would've just worked at walmart instead of going to school for engineering. it's tough getting him to see when hes wasting money.... but at least hes got a good amount in his retirement account.
BUT, we are starting to say no more when people ask us to go out for dinner, and we bought a house thats within 6 miles of both our jobs, so we are saving a lot of money on gas now. we also keep the heat low in the winter and use a down comforter on our bed and a blanket on the couch to keep us warm. we also just have window AC units, and keep them on the "Energy saver" setting all the time in teh summer, which saves money too... i 've also cut down on shopping for clothes and only go when i really need something...

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

FREE TIME!!

dh and i are both getting second jobs


things have gotten out of control.

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

We try to be very preemptive with our budget. I take money out immediately when we get paid and put it towards savings and our investments and then we both spend out of our checking account. I don't care if that goes down to 0 between pay periods because we leave very little in there. I've got a lot of different savings accounts set up for us, that I put money in automatically like retirement, general savings, furniture / household, car expenses, household bills, IRA's, etc.

We don't use any credit cards, we only use cash or debit cards to pay for things so that we aren't in debt.

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

I bring my lunch everyday and also stopped going to get my hair highlighted. I color my own hair now and save on spending over $100 every 2-3 months

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

I stopped using credit cards...I either save up for something or budget it in, or I don't buy it....no more interest payments...

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

Bring lunch to work, try to do my own nails (at one point, I was going once a week), cutting back on miscellaneous stuff I don't need (newest lotions, etc. -trying to use what's at home).

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

going out to eat so much.

playing poker less often.

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

I am trying to cut down buying lunch to twice a week instead of everyday. We both stopped going to Starbucks everyday and we're cooking at home alot more.

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

Not enough

We're eating out less - we used to eat out every night and usually afternoon on the weekends, plus lunch once or twice a week. Now we're eating at home more and brown bagging it more.

The movie theater we like is expensive, so we've been going to less awesome, but less expensive theaters and going to the movies less in general.

We're also going to call our car insurance company and try to get a better rate, since we're driving less (which also saves $$). (ETA: I carpool to work, so instead of driving 40 minutes each way 5 days a week, I only drive 1-2 times a week.)

Thanks for posting this, I need more ideas!!

ETA:

I'm on a shopping hiatus. I bought a bunch of new pieces and now I'm done until AT LEAST spring.

We use a cash back rewards credit card for everything, but keep track of what we spend and pay it off in full every month. We get rewards checks for every $25 we earn, which goes into our ING account.

Message edited 10/24/2007 2:38:41 PM.

Re: What are you cutting back on to save money,

Posted by imthekevinofcindyandkevin

Posted by GoldenRod

Can I cut back on taxes? If I could just eliminate that, I'd be set!

Declare yourself a sovereign nation and that should do it.