Gonna sound like a grinch, but I cut back on volunteering. It was with a group that was nowhere near metro — so I had to pay to park, and the volunteers were tasked with bringing XYZ supplies, and we would often grab coffee or drinks afterwards… and on and on. Volunteering was worth it but staying home and saving gas, parking, and the “social” fee is making a difference.

Also cut way back on eating out. We still go out for big occasions or when we're traveling, but we used to have casual dinners out at neighborhood restaurants once a week or so. We've stopped doing that. Sorry, neighborhood restaurant owners.

I stopped drinking this year ... the decision wasn't based on finances, but a nice side benefit is saving the cost of 2-3 bottles of wine a week plus drinks when we do go out to dinner. I do kinda miss it, but i don't miss the the headaches the next morning!

-Greatly cut back on travel
-Greatly cut back on restaurants
-Got rid of house cleaners

I miss all of the above!

I’ve stopped shopping for fun and am not going to buy DH a Christmas gift. We’re only buying for the kids. It’s depressing but unfortunately our new reality.

Cancelled youtubetv

Cancelled gym membership

Walk everyday !!

Anonymous wrote:I’ve cut out luxury hotel stays. The prices have increased too much and I don’t think the value is there. A luxury hotel is now $2k per night. Five years ago it was $1k and our HHI was 500k. Now our HHI is 650k but it’s $2k.

To pay luxury hotel prices I think I’d need to earn closer to $2-3 mm a year.

Luxury in the US is almost never worth it unless money isn’t a factor. Working class are better saving up for trips abroad.

Anonymous wrote:Here are all the things I do as a poor person.

Never eat out. Make all food from scratch. Eat mostly vegetables and beans and eggs and such.
Walk, run, hike as exercise. No gym memberships.
Throw out TV. Read for pleasure
Camp with other poor friends for vacations (hint this is just as much fun as expensive trips abroad).
Don’t buy stuff for kids beyond very basic necessities. Encourage them to work for their own spending money
Never buy new clothes. Most of my clothes are several decades old and going strong.
Never buy jewelry. I have one necklace and one pair of earrings.
Look for free entertainment. High school musicals, church recitals, etc.

You can use a TV and just watch the channels over the air for free. Tons of people give away old flat screens on Buy Nothing and equivalent groups.

Anonymous wrote:private jet , now we are stuck in business class

Hilarious

We used to go bowling frequently as a family but no longer do. The independent locations and original chains are gone and private equity has taken it over. Now it’s way too expensive to justify the cost.

I gave up stuff like facials and hair coloring during covid and found I didn't miss them. That's a few thousand a year saved.

Way less eating out. We were never big delivery people but we do that even less now, too. I've gone back to shopping sales only.

Anonymous wrote:I hate to think of it as downgrading. It's really about getting more strategic.

But, we've eliminated gym memberships.
Kept donations at the same level instead of increasing.
Only grocery shop in person at ALDI, LIDL or Trader Joe's, with ALDI being the most frequent. No grocery delivery.

Things I should do: stop buying things on Amazon so frequently.

Things we already did:
buy as much as we can from the thrift shop.
buy wrapping paper instead of gift bags.

Buy pretty Xmas boxes and use again year after year. We also reuse those amazon gift bags.

I boycotted amazon for a while and it really helped me spend less overall!!

I downgraded before needed.

Don’t drink and spouse drinks a little and rarely drinks away from home.

No botox, house cleaners, landscapers.

Kept old cars for a looooooong time.

Buy a few new pieces of clothing but mostly buy good quality used clothes or vintage items.

Have not traveled abroad in several years. Hope to next year if we are still allowed to leave.

Rarely eat at restaurants. When we do, it’s a family run type of place.

Find free stuff to do when possible. Hiking, art shows, creating art (does cost a little), free movies, etc. Do some events at parent’s assisted living since it’s paid for already.

We don’t buy a lot of decorations for holidays.

We love to cook and do spend on good food, and we enjoy grocery shopping.

We grow a garden so we have fresh herbs. Amazing.

Anonymous wrote:I too am more pinched compared to 7 years ago. To stretch, I have given up: housecleaning. Yard cleanup. ALL eating out. Some organic groceries. Eyebrow threading. Botox.

The thing that’s made the biggest impact though is the cleaning in the yardwork because now I do it all and work full-time it is hard

It’s definitely hard. I’ve always done all the cleaning and yard work on top of working full time. It’s exhausting.

Never could justify a cleaning service and the messy spouse was against it too.

I’ve cut out luxury hotel stays. The prices have increased too much and I don’t think the value is there. A luxury hotel is now $2k per night. Five years ago it was $1k and our HHI was 500k. Now our HHI is 650k but it’s $2k.

To pay luxury hotel prices I think I’d need to earn closer to $2-3 mm a year.