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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As immigrants and somewhat informed people, we had realized that USA cannot sustain being the land of plenty for all decades ago. These things were being discussed even then. So over the years, we had lived as if the economy was bad and we prepared for the future -

- Cooked healthy meals at home. Good for wallet. Good for health.
- Bought a nice, large home at the bottom of the market in an average but convenient neighborhood. Have a great mortgage rate too.
- Send kids to public schools, and public in-state universities for in-demand STEM degrees. They are in good jobs and even with AI, they should be employable for next 15-20 years.
- Extensive solar panels and EVs. We have not had electric bills for years now. In fact, Pepco sends us $5 or $7 dollars sometimes.
- Bought Toyotas mainly and very less repair and maintenance.
- Make our own coffee.
- We continue to eat organic foods.
- Do all spa treatments (except my haircut) at home.

This is a statement that someone can make only in hindsight. If you live in the close-in DMV, it also means you bought a home in 1995 which was the bottom of the market since like 1983, as close-in areas didn't even go down during the 2007/08 financial crisis, but simply maintained at levels much higher than 1995.

Agreed. I made the mistake of buying a small home that won't meet our needs forever in 2020 (kids share a room, bedrooms and bathrooms are upstairs so bad for aging, among other things), thinking we'd start with the lowest possible mortgage and eventually upgrade like my coworkers who were 5-15 years older. We had NO idea home prices would spike the way they did and make the "property ladder" approach impossible. So pat yourself on the back if you want but hindsight and timing matter as much or more than how smart you are.

Stairs are good. They keep your knees active. IME, one level living hastens issues. You can always install a chair lift if you need it at the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As immigrants and somewhat informed people, we had realized that USA cannot sustain being the land of plenty for all decades ago. These things were being discussed even then. So over the years, we had lived as if the economy was bad and we prepared for the future -

- Cooked healthy meals at home. Good for wallet. Good for health.
- Bought a nice, large home at the bottom of the market in an average but convenient neighborhood. Have a great mortgage rate too.
- Send kids to public schools, and public in-state universities for in-demand STEM degrees. They are in good jobs and even with AI, they should be employable for next 15-20 years.
- Extensive solar panels and EVs. We have not had electric bills for years now. In fact, Pepco sends us $5 or $7 dollars sometimes.
- Bought Toyotas mainly and very less repair and maintenance.
- Make our own coffee.
- We continue to eat organic foods.
- Do all spa treatments (except my haircut) at home.

We are similar, except not immigrants. Interesting to see how we made such similar choices right down to the car brand.

[Anonymous]

Don't drive, take metro. We haven't had a car payment in decades not to mention what we save in insurance and gas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As immigrants and somewhat informed people, we had realized that USA cannot sustain being the land of plenty for all decades ago. These things were being discussed even then. So over the years, we had lived as if the economy was bad and we prepared for the future -

- Cooked healthy meals at home. Good for wallet. Good for health.
- Bought a nice, large home at the bottom of the market in an average but convenient neighborhood. Have a great mortgage rate too.
- Send kids to public schools, and public in-state universities for in-demand STEM degrees. They are in good jobs and even with AI, they should be employable for next 15-20 years.
- Extensive solar panels and EVs. We have not had electric bills for years now. In fact, Pepco sends us $5 or $7 dollars sometimes.
- Bought Toyotas mainly and very less repair and maintenance.
- Make our own coffee.
- We continue to eat organic foods.
- Do all spa treatments (except my haircut) at home.

We are similar, except not immigrants. Interesting to see how we made such similar choices right down to the car brand.

Why is everyone sending their kids to get STEM degrees? Aren't any of your kids interested in anything else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The massive stimulus spending under Biden, which was far more than needed, definitely fueled inflation big time. Because the Democrats had the trifecta majority they went big time on spending in the name of covid recovery, but it was insanely excessive.

-- not a MAGA.

Actually, the spending was under Trump, whose policies caused the inflation. Biden and Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which brought inflation down.

Please don’t be a lying liar who lies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As immigrants and somewhat informed people, we had realized that USA cannot sustain being the land of plenty for all decades ago. These things were being discussed even then. So over the years, we had lived as if the economy was bad and we prepared for the future -

- Cooked healthy meals at home. Good for wallet. Good for health.
- Bought a nice, large home at the bottom of the market in an average but convenient neighborhood. Have a great mortgage rate too.
- Send kids to public schools, and public in-state universities for in-demand STEM degrees. They are in good jobs and even with AI, they should be employable for next 15-20 years.
- Extensive solar panels and EVs. We have not had electric bills for years now. In fact, Pepco sends us $5 or $7 dollars sometimes.
- Bought Toyotas mainly and very less repair and maintenance.
- Make our own coffee.
- We continue to eat organic foods.
- Do all spa treatments (except my haircut) at home.

We are similar, except not immigrants. Interesting to see how we made such similar choices right down to the car brand.

Why is everyone sending their kids to get STEM degrees? Aren't any of your kids interested in anything else?

What they are interested in is irrelevant. Its what pays the bills that matters.

[Anonymous]

We did many of the things mentioned above, but here is where we spent money to save money long term:

We bought a battery powered lawnmower for $500 and safety goggles for $10. But mowing our lawn saves $110/month from April- Oct.

Cancelled the housecleaner twice a month. Saves $850. Bought a robot vacuum for $500 it does a decent job- maybe 80% as good as a good human (not my kids, who do a 50% as well as the robot, lol).

Bought solar panels just under the wire for the tax credit last year. Payback given current utility rates is 6 years, NPV is something like 38k, depending on assumptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The massive stimulus spending under Biden, which was far more than needed, definitely fueled inflation big time. Because the Democrats had the trifecta majority they went big time on spending in the name of covid recovery, but it was insanely excessive.

-- not a MAGA.

Actually, the spending was under Trump, whose policies caused the inflation. Biden and Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which brought inflation down.

Please don’t be a lying liar who lies.

Eh? There were multiple COVID relief packages. The first was under Trump. After Biden took office additional massive spending packages were released. IJIA alone was $1.2 trillion and passed by the Dems and signed by Biden. And that was just one package. Then you also had things like student loan debt forgiveness.

Calling others liars when the information is available to anyone with a decent memory and google doesn't look so well, does it? Here's google's basic AI return: Spending Growth: Between 2021 and 2024, Biden-Harris policies increased federal outlays by $4.745 trillion, while revenues rose by $2.249 trillion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As immigrants and somewhat informed people, we had realized that USA cannot sustain being the land of plenty for all decades ago. These things were being discussed even then. So over the years, we had lived as if the economy was bad and we prepared for the future -

- Cooked healthy meals at home. Good for wallet. Good for health.
- Bought a nice, large home at the bottom of the market in an average but convenient neighborhood. Have a great mortgage rate too.
- Send kids to public schools, and public in-state universities for in-demand STEM degrees. They are in good jobs and even with AI, they should be employable for next 15-20 years.
- Extensive solar panels and EVs. We have not had electric bills for years now. In fact, Pepco sends us $5 or $7 dollars sometimes.
- Bought Toyotas mainly and very less repair and maintenance.
- Make our own coffee.
- We continue to eat organic foods.
- Do all spa treatments (except my haircut) at home.

We are similar, except not immigrants. Interesting to see how we made such similar choices right down to the car brand.

Why is everyone sending their kids to get STEM degrees? Aren't any of your kids interested in anything else?

Good question. I doubled major in Math and Philosophy. After 20 years my degree in Philosophy is still relevant. My son is a Senior double majoring in Archeology and physics and my daughter is a freshman double majoring in Math/Pre-med and History. Interestingly they both always talk about things they learned in their social science courses.

I made sure that my kids took interest in other fields. IMO, better citizens come from the humanities and social sciences as opposed to STEM.

We have a STEM Obsession in this country. Parents should let kids pick and choose what they love.

[Anonymous]

Store brand (Giant) breakfast cereals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did many of the things mentioned above, but here is where we spent money to save money long term:

We bought a battery powered lawnmower for $500 and safety goggles for $10. But mowing our lawn saves $110/month from April- Oct.

Cancelled the housecleaner twice a month. Saves $850. Bought a robot vacuum for $500 it does a decent job- maybe 80% as good as a good human (not my kids, who do a 50% as well as the robot, lol).

Bought solar panels just under the wire for the tax credit last year. Payback given current utility rates is 6 years, NPV is something like 38k, depending on assumptions.

How long does it take you to mow the lawn? I do things like that because I enjoy the yard work but the ROI is higher by just working a little harder at work to make my bonus larger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As immigrants and somewhat informed people, we had realized that USA cannot sustain being the land of plenty for all decades ago. These things were being discussed even then. So over the years, we had lived as if the economy was bad and we prepared for the future -

- Cooked healthy meals at home. Good for wallet. Good for health.
- Bought a nice, large home at the bottom of the market in an average but convenient neighborhood. Have a great mortgage rate too.
- Send kids to public schools, and public in-state universities for in-demand STEM degrees. They are in good jobs and even with AI, they should be employable for next 15-20 years.
- Extensive solar panels and EVs. We have not had electric bills for years now. In fact, Pepco sends us $5 or $7 dollars sometimes.
- Bought Toyotas mainly and very less repair and maintenance.
- Make our own coffee.
- We continue to eat organic foods.
- Do all spa treatments (except my haircut) at home.

We are similar, except not immigrants. Interesting to see how we made such similar choices right down to the car brand.

Why is everyone sending their kids to get STEM degrees? Aren't any of your kids interested in anything else?

What they are interested in is irrelevant. Its what pays the bills that matters.

ah! i guess this is why my college engineering student sees half the class he started with has dropped out because they can’t hack it. If you don’t have the natural talent and drive you’re gonna fail. this world is so competitive many of you are putting your mediocre kids in tight spots thry have no business in. Intelligence for engineering is like being a natural athlete. if you don’t have it, you don’t have it and never will.

[Anonymous]

Old car
Get gas in suburbs
Thrift everything
Do not eat out
Eliminate apps subscriptions and services
Plan meals
Turn lights off
Sweater and socks in winter - 67
Shades, windows open at night and until 8 am, temp at 79 in summer
Walk a lot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it really an “insane” economy?

No. But it might be getting there, and people are anxious about it for good reason.

It is insane if you don’t own a house and rent instead and can’t afford to buy.

If you own a house at a reasonable mortgage, the economy is not “insane.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have really changed how I cook. Buying more frozen than fresh for foods where that's possible (veggies, fish). My weekly baked potato "bar" dinner has been a hit and that's super cheap.

I switched to drugstore brands for makeup and skincare. Nice things in that vein were my "affordable luxuries," but they were surprisingly easy to let go when I found some threads about good drugstore products in the Beauty forum here.

Echoing the others who have said they're using the library. I got the Libby and Hoopla apps set up with my library card can get ebooks and audiobooks for free when my local branch doesn't have a book. That's been a huge savings.

This is such a cheap, comforting meal. We do baked potatoes at least once or twice a week too.