Comments on: Friday Question #27

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:12:04 +0000

Haha! Me? I’m the opposite of cutting back, what with moving and all. But that’s ok. We do need to stimulate the economy as best we can. I’m doing my part, even though Uncle Sam didn’t give me the full $600 (BOOO!)

By: Quinn and Susan

Quinn and Susan — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:04:22 +0000

oops I meant the $145.00 a WEEK not a month!

By: Quinn and Susan

Quinn and Susan — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:03:58 +0000

We have changed everything. -We only eat out about once a month -We car pool to work, keep my dodge durango parked in the drive way. The $145.00 a month in gas just wasn’t working -We don’t go to the movies any more – and instead of family get together’s where we grill steak and ribs we have burger and hotdogs lol. It’s all good though, we do still splurg once in a while. But the biggest thing is is the gas. Everything else we have cut down is just to save money for bigger things we want!

By: diane

diane — Sat, 31 May 2008 15:22:01 +0000

As E. mentioned, we are trying to go out to eat far less, but that’s for a variety of reasons, including healthier eating habits.
As you know, I don’t have a car so the gas prices don’t really affect me except for the associated price increases on groceries. I shop Peapod and sort everything by what’s on sale so I’ve been keeping my grocery costs down for awhile now…
Our CEO released a press statement that our brands have not been impacted by the economic slowdown at all and my boss is already talking about positions she’d like me to work on next summer, so I’m not fretting too much…Heh.

By: E

Sat, 31 May 2008 15:04:30 +0000

I, like 3 friends of mine in as many recent months, have, uh, found a new and (we hope) better job… Recession? What recession?

OK, I recognize that we are probably in one right now. Vacation aside, D & I have started trying to cut back on eating-out, and until I put my 2 weeks’ notice in on Wednesday, I had begun making more of an effort to come in a few minutes earlier to work… And because I drive a car with a manual transmission, I can get away with putting it in neutral and idling as I slow down whenever I have to come to a stop (this probably doesn’t save as much fuel as I like to imagine it does). And I’ve been making slightly-slower off-the-line acceleration too, to save on gas (in recent months, I’ve been getting the feeling other people are doing this too).

But other than those small things – meh, not much; except on the things that are critical to my health, core interests (e.g. computers), and friends, I’m generally pretty frugal… Although, I’m hoping to move into a probably more expensive apartment this year (one where I no longer can count bugs as pets or run the A/C when it’s only 75F outside or put duct tape on my bathroom window in winter b/c it leaks cold air into the shower), the increased cost of which will easily outweigh all the things mentioned above.

By: Kyra

Kyra — Sat, 31 May 2008 11:32:04 +0000

We’re cutting things all over the place. Our state, which already out-taxes almost every other state, is starting to suggest they’re going to raise taxes even higher because of THEIR cost increases and how we’re all bad for not shopping more and supporting our economy. That just infuriates me, considering it costs so much more to live here in the first place.

So, big garden – not buying veggies at the store if we can help it. We do a lot of trading with neighbors (applesauce for asparagus, eggs for corn, etc) I buy big when something is seriously on sale or we go without it unless it’s a staple. I only buy milk from the local dairy, so a gallon costs me $3 instead of $6.29 at the store. We had already pared down a whole lot of things (like satellite – all the way to basic. Without it we have NO tv signal at all – or radio, so we have to have something.) No long distance, cell only with 9-1-1 capability, that sort of thing. We don’t have debt, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll be returning to work now that I have graduated and hopefully that will help…but I think the biggest change is that we’re now dead serious about possibly moving states (hence me bugging everyone asking if they like where they live.)

But then, I’m paranoid about money.

By: Dave2

Dave2 — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:05:59 +0000

Travel is something I do often for work. But personal trips… especially abroad… are being pushed aside because the expense of taking them have gotten out of hand.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:49:25 +0000

I don’t have a car, so that big expense isn’t really showing up for me (except in a fuel surcharge for taxis). I’m in a weird transitional point right now for my job, where my finances are all crazy anyway.

By: kapgar

kapgar — Fri, 30 May 2008 19:26:47 +0000

Well, I’ve given up on my Ford Escape idea for this coming fall and am now pricing out smaller, much more fuel efficient cars. We’ve cut back on groceries and buy what we need when we need it instead of storehousing stuff. And we don’t go out as much as we used to. Oh yeah, we sneak food into the theater now, too. Shhhh….

By: Jess

Jess — Fri, 30 May 2008 19:03:54 +0000

We don’t have a car, so fuel prices don’t really affect us. And we are lucky in that we don’t have many expenses and so we are able to put away some money into savings. So for now we haven’t changed our habits much. We’ll see if anything changes with our situation.