What are people doing to save money in this insane economy?

[Anonymous]

Would love to get ideas for what else we could be doing as everything just gets more and more unaffordable. I really didn’t used to think about it this much for the last two years have been brutal. I’ll start:

- Used to eat out twice a week, now we eat out twice a month (take out only). Cook 7 nights a week but meals have gotten less complicated because who can realistically cook that much?

- started buying frozen afterschool snacks (tater tots, chicken tenders) and don’t let the kids stop at Starbucks or Boba place or whatever more than 2-3x per month

- Decided to drive our car until the wheels fall off. New cars are insane. When did that happen?

- started buying all basics (socks, underwear, basic tees) on Amazon.

- only shop for clothes off season and on sale. Have bought some basics from Target and Uniqlo. Saw a fairly basic sweater at J.Crew for $350 and almost laughed out loud.

- only reading books from the library

- no more sporting events for entertainment (we used to enjoy basketball games)


I would not have considered us to be in a difficult financial situation even two years ago. Our jobs are thankfully stable. But neither of us got pay increases this year because of cost cutting. It just doesn’t feel sustainable.

[Anonymous]

No vacation this year, thrift stores/TJ Maxx/target for any new clothes (not doing a ton of clothes shopping anyway). Scaled way back on any activities that cost money, I’ve started maintaining some of my own grooming, but still get hair coloring and nails - sorry!

I cook every meal. We eat out (takeout) every week or two.

More parks, libraries, free events. We stay home a lot more.

I was laid off in the fall which made us tighten our belts and cut costs anyway. Started working again and want to stay conservative in our spending.

[Anonymous]

Most of this we already do/did.

We have literally never used food delivery or grocery delivery. If we get takeout we pick it up.

No home renovations (required repairs only and no mission creep.)

No new clothes for adults

[Anonymous]

We never lived lavishly so no changes.

[Anonymous]

Basically just minimized eating out since this is an area where I tend to spend the most money $$ since I do not like to cook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Basically just minimized eating out since this is an area where I tend to spend the most money $$ since I do not like to cook.

+1 we moved away from DC and don’t have convenient, delicious, expensive restaurants close by, so it’s been easy to eat at home! We have 1 car that’s a paid off hybrid; I take the bus and walk a lot. We still take short trips occasionally but they aren’t extravagant. Our overhead is thankfully low.

[Anonymous]

Mostly cook at home
Coffee and tea at home
Send kids to public schools
No extravagant travel (visiting friends and family in driving distance, for example, no travel requiring airplanes).
One car - hybrid- we mostly charge it from home.
No frivolous purchases
Use kindle to read and buy books with special deals. Also signed up for Netgalley where I get access to free books before they are released in exchange for reviews.
There’s more, just can’t think of it now

[Anonymous]

Eating at home

[Anonymous]

None of us have door dash or anything like that so we don’t spend money on food delivery. We never ate out twice a week—that’s a lot for our family. We get takeout every other week, restaurants are for special occasions (20+% tip adds so much to the already large bill). My teens surprisingly don’t care about brand name clothes so we get away with a lot less there. I dye my own hair and do my own nails, but I’ve always done that. We do use the library but I also love supporting authors and local book stores by buying books. Going out for ice cream/boba is more like once every 3 weeks. We pack our own lunches and brew our own coffee. Again we have pretty much always done this. Spouse and I didn’t come from a wealthy childhood so this type of thing is ingrained in us.

It still feels like spending a ton all the time between $300/week for groceries and all the activities for the kids that we pay for but we have a nice cushion as well thanks to decades of being balanced. Try to find a balance that works for you. Pick your priorities and reduce in other places.

[Anonymous]

Eat at home.
Cut way back on alcohol consumption.
Lidl
Costco (buying in bulk)
Switch services looking for better deals (cable, streaming, trash, phone, insurance, etc.)
Reduced vacation budget

[Anonymous]

Mostly eat at home.
Pack food to take to work
We eat mostly vegetarian which is cheaper than eating meat for those of you interested in saving and animal welfare at the same time.
No manicure/pedicures.
Most ( not all) clothing bought at thrift store. Especially for sports and seasonal items for DD.

[Anonymous]

I'm early retired and not a big shopper, but I have had to find hobbies that aren't expensive:
--I'm doing all my own lawn and yard care myself. That saves less than you'd think but diverts me from more expensive activities,
--I cook from scratch most of the time and try not to waste food.
--I pay attention to every charge on my credit card. Not letting $30 a month for something I don't use slip through anymore.
-- Spending time on the phone to reduce Verizon FIOS and At&T cell phone monthly charges. It is so frustrating but I am saving $200 a month total now.
--I try to utilize Buy Nothing. Not so much to take the place of shopping, but honestly as a way to try new things out.

[Anonymous]

Always pack lunch - there are people at my office that go put to lunch every day, and it makes me crazy how much money they waste
Costco once a month
Store brand for most grocery items

[Anonymous]

Stopped taking my AP out to lavish dinners and trips.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would love to get ideas for what else we could be doing as everything just gets more and more unaffordable. I really didn’t used to think about it this much for the last two years have been brutal. I’ll start:

- Used to eat out twice a week, now we eat out twice a month (take out only). Cook 7 nights a week but meals have gotten less complicated because who can realistically cook that much?

- started buying frozen afterschool snacks (tater tots, chicken tenders) and don’t let the kids stop at Starbucks or Boba place or whatever more than 2-3x per month

- Decided to drive our car until the wheels fall off. New cars are insane. When did that happen?

- started buying all basics (socks, underwear, basic tees) on Amazon.

- only shop for clothes off season and on sale. Have bought some basics from Target and Uniqlo. Saw a fairly basic sweater at J.Crew for $350 and almost laughed out loud.

- only reading books from the library

- no more sporting events for entertainment (we used to enjoy basketball games)


I would not have considered us to be in a difficult financial situation even two years ago. Our jobs are thankfully stable. But neither of us got pay increases this year because of cost cutting. It just doesn’t feel sustainable.

OP:

How much do you spend each month on alcohol/beer/wine? That’s a good place to save money.

How much do you spend on haircuts and related products? Extend the number of weeks/months between trips to the salon.

Everyone should be thinking about cutting gas usage. I’m trying to find legit excuses to avoid my brutal commute downtown (plus parking costs). I also try to avoid going anywhere by car over the weekend.

Scale back on subscriptions.

Turn down the thermostat…a lot.

We scaled back on paper towel use dramatically by using hand towels.

We are eating a lot of basic meals. And I’m baking instead of purchasing some things.

PS - We mostly live simply so we have more money for travel and fun things. We haven’t scaled back on that stuff at all. YOLO