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How are you saving money during this depression?


Colin

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All of us have had to cut back during this global economic

depression (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depression_%28economics%29).

I gave up

on my plans for a 7.2 Khorn home theater and LaScalas in my pick-up! I even bought

a bathing suit at Wal-Mart. I save money by driving the same pick-up for

another year (216K miles), letting my miniature coral reef aquariums go, eating

more rice and charging my girlfriends a dinner for doing odd miscellaneous favors.

How are you saving money?

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to be completely, honest...my lifestyle hasn't changed a single bit. i know many people are having hard times; but, whatever is happening in the ecomony hasn't affected me very much at all. with the exception of MORE money being taken out of my paycheck--which is a paradox because i make less than $250K so i thought my taxes were supposed to go down? But, life is basically the same for me.

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Well I recently quite smoking after 15 years....man thats tough its only been a couple of months but I notice I have more money in my wallet.

For the first time in my marriage Ive put myself on a budget, $150 a week for entertainment, gas, coffee etc. What ever I have left at the end of the week goes to my amp fund.

Last but not least never using my credit cards....ever. its been almost three years since I used one and not having the 20% interest is great.

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I have almost a month on the wagon..... going forward I will continue to drink less alcohol....

Also, buying speakers used saves me money....

Also.... still driving my Mustang GT from 1986; 20mpg with a feather foot and no car note......

I have learned to like ramen noodles and generic cocoa pebbles.... :)

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I've been laid off since December 31st 2009. Since then, we have saved money in many ways:

  • Try to do compress more errands into each trip away from the house. Fewer trips equals less fuel used.
  • When on long trips, we take the Verna's Mustang instead of my big Freestyle crossover because the Mustang gets 28 MPG Hwy vs 22 with the other.
  • Cut way back on all consumption of alcohol.
  • We only buy store brand soda pop such as Meijer, Spartan, WalMart in 2-liter bottles (about $.88) instead of name brand pop like Pepsi in 16 or 20 oz bottles.
  • We buy no-name brand breakfast cereal and green tea beverages when possible.
  • Lowered our home's thermostat for heating in the winter 2 degrees from where it used to be.
  • During the summer, we wait out the heat and humidty until we ablsolutely can't stand it any more before we turn on our A/C. We have to at some point because Ms. Rose lives with us and at 91, the heat's not good for her. We use ceiling and box fans to help improve the A/C's cooling effiency.
  • During hot, sunny days we open our large power awning over our deck on the south side of our home to block the sun from shining in our south windows for most of the day.
  • We water our flowers but not our lawn this season. We didn't even charge up our underground sprinkler system with water for the first time in 20 years since installing it.
  • Because we're not watering, our lawn is growing more slowly than usual and so we only need to mow it once a week instead of twice a week as usual. Hence, we burn half the gas in our power mower as compared with any other year.
  • We did not take our annual, week-long trip to the lake this year to the cottage we usually rent up north. Saves the fuel for the 3-hour trip (each way) the $750 weekly rental fee and the food and supplies, not to mention all of the side-entertainment costs.
  • We don't eat at restaurants nearly as often and look for bargains when we do.
  • We use lots of coupons every time we shop for groceries. They saved us nearly $12 just today.
  • I do a lot more car repairs and oil changes myself, rather than taking them to the garage.
  • We stopped leasing our cars and now own both free and clear; no more car payments. We raised our insurance deductable.
  • We stopped using our credit card, and if we do, we pay the balance right away.
  • We pay cash for nearly everything, or use our debit card, which takes the money from our checking.
  • Our friends have been an enormous help to us. They invite us over often for dinner and tell us not to bring anything, even though we always do. People like Dr. Who made it possible for us to travel. If it wasn't for him, we would have not made the trip to Hope this year. He gave us a ride down to Arkansas and back and gave us the extra bed in his hotel room and house. All we had to do was drive from the Detroit area to his home near Chicago and back. We still insisted in giving him some gas money, but what a guy! And Caroline and Customsteve01 let us stay at their home in Virginia and they did all of the driving while we were there, so that made our trip to Virginia to see them possible. What great folks!
  • We don't buy nearly as many DVDs or CDs as we used to. Instead, friends bring theirs over for us all to watch together.
  • We eliminated texting and internet service on our cell phone contract.
  • We cut our cable services down to a minimum: Got rid of all of our movie channels but still have one DVR and HD, lowered the bandwidth of our internet broadband service, made certain there were no extra phone service charges on our land line.

And, I could go on, but Verna and I have almost made it a game to save money and get what we need and do things for much less money. We may not be living in the lap of luxary and I do wish I could replace things like our broken camera and things like that but hey, life is good, we're together, safe and happy and we aren't wanting for anything. What more do you really need than that? -Glenn :)

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cook my own food in batches, use leftovers.

refill water bottles from 5 gallon container

jump in shower when it's still cold to avoid wasting water

cut the ends off tubes of toothpaste and shampoo bottles to extract last bits

laundry in cold water, only full loads

A/C at 78 degrees, use fan in the room I'm in for more comfort

open shop windows on cool nights to chill the building off. Insulated doors and walls keep the night cool in most of the day

installed efficient radiant floor heat in shop building. cost to heat to 55 in winter is minimal compared to the house

make careful shopping lists and consolidate trips

coast (with manual transmission) when possible and safe

installed Goodyear Assurance FuelMax tires on Accord- looks to be an extra 2 mpg on highway

no payments or interest on anything. it's all paid for.

don't go out much anymore, watch old movies or check out from library instead of buying or renting. NO catv - I get 5 local channels via rabbit ears.

NO fast food or alcohol - period, zero, nada, zilch.

get shoes repaired, in past year I've had two sets of hiking boots resoled, one pair dress shoes, and repairs to some tennis shoes and sandals.

Geepers, I sound like an old fuddy-duddy.

Yer buddy,

Michael

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no credit cards- cash for everything. no land lines only cell phones. look for closeouts and group buys on wine started buying clothes on e- bay rather than dept stores. Lots of bartering. buy suff out of state or from individuals whenever possible. Buy bulk foods at sams club instead of gro stores. Local Sales tax is 8.5 %. talking about tasing it another 1/4% and maybe a 1/2% after that. Don't know where it will end. Not to mention the income tax increase coming in 2011.

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no cable TV, rip Cds from library, no new CDs or DVDs (oops, just bought ripped copy of "Fishtank" for five dollars), nothing new for aging truck, like seat covers, turn off AC in winter, seriously? Not too much else. Guess I was kinda frugal when I was trying to save money for retirement stocks...

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"I have stopped burning 100 dollar bills on a daily basis and switched to burning 50 dollar bills"

I have stopped giving away 50 billon dollar bills, and started giving away 10 trillion dollar bills.

The 100 trillion dollar bils that were worth USD$320 only a year and a half ago now sell for $0.20 on eBay (in quantity).

The (privately owned) Federal Reserve is distroying the USD and it won't be long before it is as worthless as the Zimbabwe dollars I have been handing out.

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  • Moderators

Saving money, depression.....what y'all talking about ?

I am fine, a new friend in Zimbabwe who has a business over here and he says I just need to help him with a few hundred dollars to set up an account over here and he will give me 10K per month for helping with his banking, it's real, he even sent me an email with an address on where to send the money and all my personal information so he can be sure to include me in his business ! [:P]

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We're not saving money by economizing just to increase short-term capital. We're putting a higher % of our paychecks into the 401Ks and small passbook savings for liquidity.

All depends on how close you think you are to retirement. I'm almost 55. At some point I just want to stop working, although I think that may not be until early 70s. Our viewpoint is that every indulgence now takes away a proportionately higher amount of retirement income later. That said, we are still doing things we enjoy, just accepting that we are already on our plateau for housing, cars and AV gear. I was wondering today how long I can make my 2001 Grand Marquis last. I would be happy to drive it for the rest of my life. My mom is almost 91 and although physically somewhat frail, still has a sharp mind. My dad made it to 83. So I may be around to annoy the world a good deal longer.

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When this recession began my wife and I came up with a new motto: "If we can't buy it at Costco, we don't need it." We do some bulk cooking, soups, stews and make my own tomato sauce, chuck it in the chest freezer and use it as needed. Rarely waste food, leftovers taste fine to me. I use credit cards that have cash back features and pay off the balances every month, haven't carried a balance in ages. Both cars paid off, my "new" car has 62,000 on it and my 17 year old van has 108,000. Buy used or cheap cds on Ebay or in the discount bins at J&R here in the city.

Great post Picky, I hope some good luck comes your way in the form of a new job.

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