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

[Anonymous]

Darn socks and sweaters
Wash and reuse ziplocks
Pickle fruits and vegetables when they are cheap
Water glassing eggs when price is low
Built addition ourselves
Use home remedies rather than cvs/modern medicine
Set up events in our neighborhood like cock fighting/wrestling rather than HBO subscription.

[Anonymous]

Had my wife quit her job so that she could focus fully on home/cooking/cleaning. She wasn’t earning enough to justify all the meals out, impulse purchases, door dashing, etc.

[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.

It happened under Biden, I had to pay $12,000 over the manufacturer price to get the vehicle and had to wait for it for 4.5 months.

[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.

We have done all of these things since becoming parents. HHI is 450K.

Honestly your lifestyle sounds ridiculous for several reasons. Weekly trips for kids boba? I love boba. But that is nuts.

[Anonymous]

Side hustles bring in a bit and mine is low key and fun. Gives my kid spending money.

Vacations are day trips. It’s much more affordable but still a few hundred. The local amusement park, local attractions. Theres plenty to do near you!

[Anonymous]

No new clothes for adults. I buy a lot used. We don't go out for drinks or Starbucks and do takeout once every 2 weeks. We never DoorDash anything including groceries. My haircuts are 6 months apart now.
But we still go on vacations, use points for airplanes.

[Anonymous]

We always cooked at home and very rarely eat out (maybe 3-4 times a year in US) because majority of american restaurants are junk and those who cook good quality food is very expensive. We do buy high quality meat, eggs, dairy and produce from farmers, event though it is very expensive, it is still cheaper than eating out. We only eat out when we travel.
We always kept cars for at least 18-20 years, so no changes.
We always buy clothing on sale (coats at the end of winter season, bathing suits at the end of each summer). I never bought anything from new collection.
Books are still purchased in our household regularly, but mostly these are used books and those that we want to keep for years, the rest of the books we get from library.
I have never being to any sporting events, so that is not something to cut for us, but we reduce the amount of concerts we see and focus more on less expensive or free concerts, which are plenty in this area.

OP, I think you previously lived the life freely spending on all the wants. Just focus on what needed for your family and you will be fine.

[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? I CAN. IT JUST TAKES MEAL PLANNING. WHAT I MAKE AT HOME IS BETTER TASTING AND LESS EXPENSIVE. EATING OUT HAS ALWAYS SUCKED BUT LATELY IT'S BECOME SUPER DISAPPOINTING. THE ONLY THING I'LL SAY FOR RESTAURANT FOOD IS THE PORTIONS ARE SO BIG THAT THEY USUALLY AMOUNT TO TWO MEALS.

- 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 THIS IS A GOOD ONE. WE BOUGHT A DEEP FREEZER FOR THIS REASON. LOVE ME THE TATER TOTS AND CHICKEN TENDERS AND FROZEN FOODS. TRADER JOES ALSO HAS SOME DECENT OPTIONS.

- Decided to drive our car until the wheels fall off. New cars are insane. When did that happen? COVID DISRUPTED SUPPLY CHAINS SO YOU CAN TRACE THE JUMP TO THERE. TRUMP'S TARIFFS EXACERBATED IT. BUT I HAVE ALWAYS DRIVEN CARS INTO THE GROUND. BUYING NEW CARS EVERY FEW YEARS HAS ALWAYS BEEN ECONOMICALLY STUPID. ESPECIALLY IN VIRGINIA, WHERE THE PROPERTY TAX IS BASED ON THE VALUE OF YOUR CAR.

- started buying all basics (socks, underwear, basic tees) on Amazon. YOU CAN ALSO GET THESE AT PLACES LIKE ROSS, ETC.

- 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. AGAIN, NOT A NEW STRATEGY FOR ME. BUT I'M NOT SOMEONE WHO FRETS ABOUT FASHION OR WHAT IS 'IN.' I HAVE MY STYLE AND I BUY CLOTHING THAT REFLECTS IT. COULD NOT CARE LESS IF I MATCH OTHER BASIC TWATS OR NOT. I LIKE TO STAND OUT

- only reading books from the library I REDISCOVERD THE LIBRARY TOO. IT ALSO HAS STREAMING (KANOPY) AND DIGITAL NEWSPAPERS/MAGAZINE (LIBBY) SO YOU CAN REPLACE NETFLIX AND MAGAZINE/NEWSPAPER SUBSCRIPTIONS

- no more sporting events for entertainment (we used to enjoy basketball games) NOT SURE ABOUT BASKETBALL BUT WE LOVE MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL!


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.

I'm also growing my own food, selling pictures of my feet on Only Fans (considering selling my soiled panties, too -- huge market for that) and forcing my kids into part-time jobs and charging them for rent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It happened under Biden, I had to pay $12,000 over the manufacturer price to get the vehicle and had to wait for it for 4.5 months.

You're insinuating it was Biden's fault. I'm sure you didn't mean to do that. Right? Because if that was your intention, it would make you a goddamn idiot.

COVID disrupted supply chains. Higher prices were the effect. Trump made things exponentially worse with his stupid unconstitutional tariffs. But then again, Trump hates America and everything it stands for, as does anyone who voted for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Similar here, we've always been more frugal than most of our peers so we are just keeping up our secondhand shopping, cooking at home, and home maintenance trims to extend time between professional haircuts. Mostly shop at Aldi. Have one car. There just isn't much fat to cut.

But we are spending on travel this year. Last year we just shoveled money into savings and drove to my parents' house and a state park for camping due to worry about RIFs. We are still shoveling money into savings, but we're also going to take a big trip this summer because we have less than a decade left with my oldest at home. I've also given up on the idea of moving to the bigger house we were saving for, which means we have a lot more room in the budget. So agreed, YOLO.

[Anonymous]

My big expenses are all related to my job going in person after years of being remote: gas, tolls, parking, clothes for the office, after school care. I drive an old paid-off car (and I carpool) and always pack my lunch. We already eat simply at home, don't drink, and only have one streaming service at a time. One kid, no sports.

Spiraling cost of living + new costs of commuting are mostly going to affect our ability to travel or make home improvements. That will be a multi-year effect, by which I mean that years from now we will still be limiting our activities/ financially hurting because of events this year.

[Anonymous]

The biggest challenge right now is the food. Hoping to get it under $500 a month for two people. I fail every month. I like the challenge though.
My new car was not expensive ($30k all in,0%) and clothes for us are cheap. School requires uniform and I buy same clothes DC already likes but size up. Plenty of time to wait for the sales.
I love threads like yours, because cutting costs is what I do as a hobby. It's both nature and nurture.
I'd like to cut more, but that would mean cutting into enjoying life. I know exactly where the line runs for us.
Spending less my whole life has lead to so many good things like being able to retire very early, no wear on my new car, time for health, family, and friends.
Most of the things you mention are not useful for me unfortunately. Never did them or have already cut them.

[Anonymous]

I increased my income by 50%

[Anonymous]

Don’t defer car or house maintenance
Programmable thermostat- set to a lower temperature in winter and higher in summer
Mow your own lawn, trim your own bushes
Brown bag lunches
Go vegetarian 2-3 times a week beans and eggs are cheaper proteins
Only buy fruit when it is in season. No berries in the winter. Frozen veggies and fruits can be economical too.
Clean your own house. Make it a daily/weekly family activity
Use municipal summer camps
Downsize your house
Visit family/friends and have them visit you instead of vacations

[Anonymous]

Buckle up, it’s about to get worse. Energy costs will continue to rise for some time due to war.
This will raise the price of gas, groceries, clothing, shipping, everything.
It is a global concern, not just USA.