What are the first "everyday" things you will cut down on if you lost your income?

[Anonymous]

We would immediately sell our second car.

[Anonymous]

I'd give my kids up for adoption.

[Anonymous]

when my income went away, we cut most of our savings and our daycare. We could be better about food spending and maybe figure out how to trim cable, but those are really the only places we splurge. We just had a second child on just my husband's income (found out I was pregnant right before my income got cut to zero) - it's tight as it is.

[Anonymous]

In order...??!

Eating out/Fast food runs, etc.

Magazine subscriptions

Professional hair coloring services to cover graying hair

Cable T.V.

[Anonymous]

Eating out/takeout/Whole Foods food

Wine

Buying clothes

[Anonymous]

Sell second car
eat out less
cut grocery and Costco spending
cut cable or go to basic
reduce cellular charges
cut out manis and pedis

I'm sure there are other areas we could cut but this is a good start off the top of my head.

[Anonymous]

We skipped COBRA and went straight to Medicaid.
Stopped eating out.
Fewer organic foods, less meat.
No travel, no day trips to the beach.
Zeroed out retirement and college savings.
Dropped most of the sports and music activities.

[Anonymous]

Cleaning service
Data plan for iPad and phones
Eating out
New clothes...and shoes (love buying shoes)
Expensive groceries
Vacations

[Anonymous]

My sperms for sale

[Anonymous]

I would cut out organic food and would stop buying prepackaged/convenience food. I would turn my heat down. I would reduce the amount of expensive/grain-free cat food I give my cats (so they would get more of the junky dry cat food).

[Anonymous]

Many of the same things others say.

Eating out and coffees at work would be eliminated since there is no job. That adds up quickly since DH and I aren't good about packing lunches.
Gas consumption would also decrease.
We only eat out 1x/wk but would likely eliminate that.
Definitely less organic, less meat.
Definitely less alcohol. We often have wine with dinner, for example.
Random purchases - magazines, little odds and ends. Really focus on coupons and store brands for things like soap, shampoo and so on.

DH feels strongly that we should not fire the housecleaner as part of the first round of savings. He thinks that trickling that economic challenge downhill to someone already less economically fortunate than we are doesn't help the bigger picture.

Last year when we thought the government shutdown would happen for a few months we stopped putting in the kids' college fund and in one of our non-retirement investments in order to build up a cash reserve. In the long run, it wasn't enough to significantly impact negatively but in the short-term it gave us more liquidity in case we needed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many of the same things others say.

Eating out and coffees at work would be eliminated since there is no job. That adds up quickly since DH and I aren't good about packing lunches.
Gas consumption would also decrease.
We only eat out 1x/wk but would likely eliminate that.
Definitely less organic, less meat.
Definitely less alcohol. We often have wine with dinner, for example.
Random purchases - magazines, little odds and ends. Really focus on coupons and store brands for things like soap, shampoo and so on.

DH feels strongly that we should not fire the housecleaner as part of the first round of savings. He thinks that trickling that economic challenge downhill to someone already less economically fortunate than we are doesn't help the bigger picture.

Last year when we thought the government shutdown would happen for a few months we stopped putting in the kids' college fund and in one of our non-retirement investments in order to build up a cash reserve. In the long run, it wasn't enough to significantly impact negatively but in the short-term it gave us more liquidity in case we needed it.

+1

[Anonymous]

I came on here to say that my house cleaner said people are dropping cleaning services. It's actually sad because her husband works in construction and everyone's hours are being cut back. They already had a hard time paying for expenses(one kid and house and two very old cars with repairs needed) she used to have a house a day to clean and now she does 3 a week and some clients are haggling for discounts. Or canceling the same day after she's already about to arrive. All while buying new cars or adding additions to their homes.

[Anonymous]

A friend is a dog groomer and she said people are cutting that and coming less often a expecting the same price for twice as much work. They complain and then get it for free or very reduced cost. She made 40k-45k in 2003 and now she barely makes 24k and says she works more now. Got a second job at starbucks to pay the bills and decided to not have kids. And still they keep getting new luxury cars or new expensive purses. Said this is her last year as a dog groomer.