Reply to If you are gradually downgrading your lifestyle...what do you miss?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Have generally been low-spending for a while - at least spending well under means - but now that we need to cut back even more quite seriously, what I miss most is being ABLE to buy something if I want it.  I used to bypass a lot of expenditures knowing "I could buy it if I really wanted to".

Needing to be careful with money vs. choosing to be careful is a very different, and exhausting psychological mindset.  I've been on both sides. [/quote]

This is so very true. We have always lived on tight budgets - grad student stipends, then day care costs and saving for a (tiny old row)home when we were in our first salaried jobs, then trying to catch up on retirement savings.

But we have gradually gotten used to being *able* to buy things, even if we try hard to delay and spend minimally. I was furloughed this fall and we tried to live on my spouse's much lower salary - it really sucked. Immediately having to draw from savings for unexpected car and home repairs, deleting pantry items from the grocery cart that we'd usually restock after using but they weren't in the meal plan *this* week, resenting how bad my wardrobe is after weight loss and wishing I could justify going to Old Navy for just one new pair of jeans. Nickle and diming like that gets depressing.

Fortunately the shutdown ended and I got paid. The car is repaired, the pantry is restocked, I'm still wearing yoga pants and delaying buying jeans. But I hope I can keep my job.

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