Anonymous wrote:Buy used tires, wash my dress shirts and iron them, do my own small auto repairs, do my own home repairs, Shovel own snow. Drive a 14 year old car. No vacations, sew clothes, make my own jam,

pretty much what everyone under $300K a year does.

I don't think that's true. A lot of people making much less use a dry cleaner, have a yard service, lease cars... Now I don't do those things either but a lot of people outsource everything. And sewing clothes and making jam are hobbies!

I have been using YNAB since April 2023 and it has been great to see where our money is going, etc. I cannot recommend it highly enough, and I heard about it from YNAB too.

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

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

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

No but these are good practices anyway.

Anonymous wrote:Buy used tires, wash my dress shirts and iron them, do my own small auto repairs, do my own home repairs, Shovel own snow. Drive a 14 year old car. No vacations, sew clothes, make my own jam,

pretty much what everyone under $300K a year does.

Agree with all the rest, and I drive even older cars. But used tires are a false economy, my friend. I was brought up doing this, but have found that with proper inflation and rotation I get very good economy from new tires.

Is it really an “insane” economy?

Buy used tires, wash my dress shirts and iron them, do my own small auto repairs, do my own home repairs, Shovel own snow. Drive a 14 year old car. No vacations, sew clothes, make my own jam,

pretty much what everyone under $300K a year does.

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.

+1
Prevents food waste.

Also - shop your freezer and pantry before going to grocery stores.

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.

Yeah. Some of this stuff is really just how I was raised when compared to others...

I never really thought about it because I was surrounded by folks all like us - that is decidedly middle class and not one to freely toss money around:

-Cook at home pretty much all meals
-Coffee at home in the morning and it's free at work!
-Pack lunches for work
-Shop at discount stores like Aldi/Lidl and bulk at Costco
-Take advantage of programable thermostat and keep at reasonable levels in summer/winter.
-Buy and keep cars - we are driving Hondas and Hyundai's right now, nothing more expensive than an Accord. Last cars we kept for over 15 years and still sold them used for a couple of grand each.
-Kids education - lucked out there. DS is at community college and working PT. Plans to get associates and then go to trade school. DD hit the athletic jackpot and she is going on scholarship to a highly regarded public. Of course, we've shelled out $$ for all the sporting seasons and training, but it's a net win on our part.
-Lowered mortgage rate during COVID.
-Cut alcohol consumption both from a health and $$ standpoint.
-Cut soda unless there's some sort of extreme sale like buy 2 get 3 free. Pop prices have soared.

I mean, some of it is common sense, right?

Anonymous wrote:Put hedges in when COVID hit and doubled down when Biden turned on the financial spigot. So many more people on the planet, so much debt, so little wiggle room, inflation will be on the hunt for your money for years to come (absent calamity). Plan people!

What? I don't understand what you're trying but failing to say.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly since 2020, things are actually cheaper. Our household is not struggling? We are firmly UMC. Maybe it has to do with job sectors?

Sort of the same here. Despite the rampant inflation under Biden, I also make significantly more money compared to 2019-2020. So I can swallow the higher prices more easily. I am also naturally frugal, cook everything as I love cooking, and it goes a long way at keeping costs under control. Also haven't really seen major price increases at supermarkets in the last two years, nothing like under covid. It also helped I bought the house in 2020 when rates were record low and just before prices exploded, there was a magical window of about five months when this was happening. I now complain about the golden handcuffs of a super low mortgage rate, but in retrospect it's going a huge way towards to feeling financially secure and not living paycheck to paycheck and easily affording trips.

You have A LOT more to worry about than golden handcuffs, LOL.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly since 2020, things are actually cheaper. Our household is not struggling? We are firmly UMC. Maybe it has to do with job sectors?

Sort of the same here. Despite the rampant inflation under Biden, I also make significantly more money compared to 2019-2020. So I can swallow the higher prices more easily. I am also naturally frugal, cook everything as I love cooking, and it goes a long way at keeping costs under control. Also haven't really seen major price increases at supermarkets in the last two years, nothing like under covid. It also helped I bought the house in 2020 when rates were record low and just before prices exploded, there was a magical window of about five months when this was happening. I now complain about the golden handcuffs of a super low mortgage rate, but in retrospect it's going a huge way towards to feeling financially secure and not living paycheck to paycheck and easily affording trips.

We’re also going to be stuck in our house for a long time. Can’t complain about it because it’s a nice house in a good location. But our kids are teens and it’s going to be too big for us when they leave. With our low mortgage rate, I can’t see us making a good financial case for downsizing for a while.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DCUMers are famously proud of extreme $$ hoarding.