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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I keep my house much hotter in the summer than I would like and much colder in the winter than seems normal. It sounds vaguely Soviet, but the truth is, doing this saves me $200 to $300 every month.

(I set the air conditioning to 80° in the summer and the heat is 60 or 59 in the winter)

"saves me $200 to $300 every month."
Your mansion must be huge.

Not necessarily. My house is just under 2k sq feet and managing our thermostat saves hundreds each month.

My house is 2500 sq. feet, and we rarely have an electric bill of more than $250 - most often, considerably less. What would your bill be if you didn't "manage" your thermostat to ridiculous temps?

Where are you? Are you in the DMV? Perhaps you are not as data center adjacent as I am.

[Anonymous]

Best thing we did was get solar right before Biden left office so we got all the tax credits. Our electricity bills for a 4k sq ft house is typically $20 in the summer (peak AC time). Most of the winter we get money for excess power. I don’t know how people are stomaching these high electric bills.

[Anonymous]

Running the washing machine on shorter cycles, fewer "heavy soil" and "extra rinse" cycles.

[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.

+100,000

I would take Biden's economy (which brought inflation down by his last year) over Trump's where my laid off spouse cannot find a job. Have you seen the jobs data under Trump? Horrible. Trade deficit actually worse and inflation reversing course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You really have to focus on finances before expenditures. For example:

*Make sure you have the best mortgage rate if you own a home;
*If you rent, try to negotiate A better rent
*Pay your credit cards off in time
*Get the best interest rates on savings
*Strategize credit card use to get cash back or points
* Maximize 401 k matches + other employer contributions
*Check to get the best health care coverage/rates ( if married, check to see if you should use your health care spouses, or both
*I am sure there are many other ideas....

*To save $ on shopping OP, we buy very little meat
*We make our own food
*We have clothes swaps with friends + family
*We rarely drink alcohol
*We buy boxes of holiday + greeting cards on sale
*We have one car
*We live in a small house
*Overall we live like we're poor except for our several trips a year...we won't give them up

What’s your household income and what kinds of trips do you take? All this sounds so extreme to me.

[Anonymous]

GREAT topic.

Eating out so little child has yelled in public "We never go to restaurants anymore!"

So there's that.

Crying into my at-home coffee vs. out in the world. Buying less expensive groceries/in bulk. Just for fun - gaining a few pounds because my body can't eat the healthy stuff. No babysitter, ever (to those that have family that have offered to watch your child or family that's close - you are lucky.) Not traveling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I keep my house much hotter in the summer than I would like and much colder in the winter than seems normal. It sounds vaguely Soviet, but the truth is, doing this saves me $200 to $300 every month.

(I set the air conditioning to 80° in the summer and the heat is 60 or 59 in the winter)

"saves me $200 to $300 every month."
Your mansion must be huge.

Not necessarily. My house is just under 2k sq feet and managing our thermostat saves hundreds each month.

My house is 2500 sq. feet, and we rarely have an electric bill of more than $250 - most often, considerably less. What would your bill be if you didn't "manage" your thermostat to ridiculous temps?

DP. I have a 3k sqft house, all electric, and we have partial solar to offset the bill. But it's an older house with high ceilings and a ton of windows (all old). We keep the temps just barely uncomfortable and the power bill is routinely $200/mo, was $500 in the freezing cold February we just had. May and September are admittedly almost nothing.

Some houses are just like that and there's no real way to fix it, except to build new with a better design.

[Anonymous]

For women: echo the dye hair less frequently in salon (and use power/spray for a few weeks between visits.) For anyone not covering gray, I wouldn't dye hair at all if watching money. (And awesome if you want to go all gray, just not ready yet here.) Better to go to the good, more expensive place irregularly then get it poorly done more frequently. I will say hair salons are starting to close in the DMV so urge people to not entirely cut/dye hair at home, though.

[Anonymous]

Minimized eating out (now do takeout 3 or so times a month)

Minimized unnecessary groceries (cutting things like jerky, fruit cups and built protein bars)

For unnecessary purchases, I sell a few things that nobody uses on marketplace, and use that money to exchange for new things. Same with clothes. I sell a few pieces prior to buying more.

[Anonymous]

We’ve retired early because we have lived frugally since we married.
- we drink black coffee at home
- we have never borrowed money to purchase a car
- we pay cash for any Homes purchase the last 20 years.
- we only go out to eat for our birthdays and our anniversary.
- I buy half a beef and that lasts us two years.
- I either a pension job that aligned w our kids’ schedules so no daycare.
- FB marketplace a lot of furniture or other needs like golf clubs, etc.
- I color my own hair and get it cut twice a year
- I’m a big clothes horse and got myself a side gig so that would fit in our budget.
- we never purchase checked luggage when traveling but carry only backpacks.

[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.

BS. It started under the first Trump administration when Covid hit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GREAT topic.

Eating out so little child has yelled in public "We never go to restaurants anymore!"

So there's that.

Crying into my at-home coffee vs. out in the world. Buying less expensive groceries/in bulk. Just for fun - gaining a few pounds because my body can't eat the healthy stuff. No babysitter, ever (to those that have family that have offered to watch your child or family that's close - you are lucky.) Not traveling.

Yikes. Your life sounds really sad, actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I keep my house much hotter in the summer than I would like and much colder in the winter than seems normal. It sounds vaguely Soviet, but the truth is, doing this saves me $200 to $300 every month.

(I set the air conditioning to 80° in the summer and the heat is 60 or 59 in the winter)

"saves me $200 to $300 every month."
Your mansion must be huge.

Not necessarily. My house is just under 2k sq feet and managing our thermostat saves hundreds each month.

My house is 2500 sq. feet, and we rarely have an electric bill of more than $250 - most often, considerably less. What would your bill be if you didn't "manage" your thermostat to ridiculous temps?

DP. I have a 3k sqft house, all electric, and we have partial solar to offset the bill. But it's an older house with high ceilings and a ton of windows (all old). We keep the temps just barely uncomfortable and the power bill is routinely $200/mo, was $500 in the freezing cold February we just had. May and September are admittedly almost nothing.

Some houses are just like that and there's no real way to fix it, except to build new with a better design.

Ours is 1000 square feet and it’s a few hundred for heat or ac.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GREAT topic.

Eating out so little child has yelled in public "We never go to restaurants anymore!"

So there's that.

Crying into my at-home coffee vs. out in the world. Buying less expensive groceries/in bulk. Just for fun - gaining a few pounds because my body can't eat the healthy stuff. No babysitter, ever (to those that have family that have offered to watch your child or family that's close - you are lucky.) Not traveling.

Yikes. Your life sounds really sad, actually.

Well, aren't you a well mannered, gracious PP.

What the hell kind of pathetic comment is that anyway? Sheesh.

[Anonymous]

Yes, not very kind to that person. If nothing nice to say...