I thought of more: We don't have long distance on our phone, we haven't for years. We buy a calling card. You can get one for like $23.00 at Walmart and it has alot of minutes on it. My hubby hates dialing all the #'s, but he knows how much we save. Cellphones: We aren't big users of them, so we have old ones and only do minute refills (no monthly bill), just fill 'em up when we get close to running out. Sometimes one refill lasts a whole year because we just use them when necessary. Umm.. yes, the "Bread Outlet", jencar98 answered that one. Um... what else. See? I was a scrimper to begin with. Probably because we lived on next to nothing for 4 years while my husband went to school so we were used to doing without much. Also I was raised by Depression-Era parents, and they thought I was a spendthrift....cuz I used too much toilet paper, etc. things like that! Really, ... I got yelled at alot for things I take for granted now, like using enough TP!
Oh I also just re-use as much as I can.. (no not the TP!) but things that can be reused. Husband rolls his eyes at me when he sees me washing out Freezer bags to reuse, but thats just how I was raised.

Glad to hear that you aren't re-using the tp!! :eek: :D

......... and YES!! I will also re-use our ziplock bags..... especially if they are just holding drygoods. (wash out and dry). My hubby's grandmother used to do this and I thought it was a bit silly........ but she went thru the depression also............... we can learn alot from those that went thru those hard times!

LOL! ;)

Yeah, my parents did the bag washing. Also they kept bowls from margarine,etc (but alot of people do that) to reuse. My GRANDMOTHER, wow... man, that was pioneers-ville, she chopped wood and heated her home with it and also cooked over a wood stove. I'm not going that far! :D (either I'm really old (but not really?!).. but mainly my parents were older when they had me, hence... my grandmothers were Really Old School! from the wood chopping days). We can indeed learn so much from them. :) fond memories. :dreaming: growing their own food, raising their own animals, baking own bread. Wow... it's amazing. I at least want to try my hand at growing my own vegetables next spring.

Yes, you can definitely do that. You can freeze them right in the marinade. I have used a service that combines dinner ingredients and then you freeze it and thaw it out when you need it. The other night we had rosemary pork chops. The chops were frozen in a large bag with the seasoned breading in a separate bag. All I had to do was thaw, dredge chops and fry or bake them. Tomorrow I'm having pepper steak. It is all frozen together and I've thawed it in the fridge and will put it in the crockpot and let it cook tomorrow. There's a separate bag of rice and I'll cook that when I get home. We've also had marinated chicken thighs that were frozen in the marinade and then we thawed them and cooked them on the grill. Of course, buying dinners like this is not necessarily cost effective, but my point is that you can make things up ahead, freeze it all, and then thaw and cook as needed and they taste like you just made them up fresh.

How about cooking them and THEN freezing....... kinda like "tv dinners"? (but hopefully much better)

Hubby lost his job a week ago. Gas prices are killing us. It costs over $60 to fill up my CAR... my '99 Honda Accord.

Yes, you can do that too. I don't think everything freezes well, e.g. spaghetti or pasta - but it can be frozen and then popped into the micro - just like TV dinners! I think it's very economical to do this - especially if you have a hubby like mine who doesn't like to eat leftovers (or so he thinks). So, I freeze them and he gets them again in a week or two and he doesn't even know.

Shhhhhh.... don't tell him. LOL!!!

Actually, he does know - it's not that he doesn't "like" leftovers - he just prefers to not eat the same thing two nights in a row - so if I freeze leftovers and warm them the next week or so, he's just fine with that.

MY husband/Boyfriend does our budget. And we are extremely tight...we moved to rochester in hopes and dreams of making it here because he had a postion which would give ups the income we needed. When we arrived here there was no job and only one would be in the spring and we were in ROchester by 3rd of January! 3 months of no work and just skimping by...were still in debt because of the rent 1700..but his budget really helps us along... i do coupons time to time ...and we work about 3 blocks away from eachother so I just go into work early everyday...Hopefully we will become full time soon. but what has saved us in the food department is ALDI's a $130 Shopping will fill up a cart and will have us eating for about a few weeks. We dont by junk food... all we buy is food that I can cook and i can prepare him lunches.

Well we've always had to scrimp and watch every dime.
Every time hubby gets a real good raise, gas prices and grocery prices go up. So we never get ahead.

So the only thing differently i'm doing is one day a week trips into town to do everything at once. But I don't really notice any big difference yet at all. Guess I'm used to being poor so I can't miss what I never had:p

If things get significantly worse though, i dont' know what we'll do. I've been offered my old full time job back at a great income but figuring in gas, and huge cost of day care, etc I won't be making more than I already make working my two businesses at home. So I've turned it down so far.

I have a mini cooper and it is awesome!! Very good on gas too! I have a 2008 Cooper S and it is avg 30mph!!!

I have cut out just about everything that we don't need and hadn't already cut out. We don't go to movies, but we do have the large cable package, due to my husband's disability, it's really all he does.

AC is set at 80 heat is set at 66

I also plan my meals around what is on sale.

What I really hate the most is that I can't afford to visit my daughters/grandkids as often as I used to.

But I'm still going to get my golden yorkies even if I have to eat cheap hot dogs for an entire year.

Every girl deserves a little gold in her life.

Wow...great thread. There are some great ideas on here.

I am still looking for a job, not sure what I want to do. I have been laid off my Mortgage job since April.. It was nice to have a last summer spending time with my 18 & 20 year old. They were both planning on moving out but have decided to stay at home a bit longer. :)

We go to Costco at least once a month and stock up on essentials, milk is much less expensive there. I make just about everything from scratch, it is really much less expensive to do & is better for you.
We don't buy sodas anymore or alot of junk food. I don't go to our bread store anymore because they raised their prices.
I make extra food and freeze it for later in the month.

We don't have health Insurance right, now but Costco will give you a discounted price on prescriptions. We have went back to using Grandma's home remedies for colds and coughs.

I try to combine all my errands to save gas. We are also using a Britta Pitcher for water instead of bottled.

Kroger sometimes puts chicken breast on sale for $1.99/pound. I usually stock up then and it lasts us for 1-2 months. I also buy the family size meat which lasts us 1-2 months too. I have a freezer just for meat and it taste fine. Just one tip. Don't defrost the meat in the microwave. Either let the meat sit in a pot with hot water for about 30 mins - 1 hour or put the meat in the fridge the night before.

I don't know how to cut back. I already keep my spending to a minimum. I'm doing fine right now, but I will have to come up with something to cutback if things get worse. I wish I had more time to search for deals on groceries.

i dont buy extras anymore
i drive differtently to save gas
im not going to turn my furnace up past 50
and i will be using space heaters..
getting some kerosene too
going to stock water for the possible power outages
stop charging
no christmas gifts this year
very little baking
no eating out
turning off lights not in use
not buying a new car
just fixing the old one
learning to live differently without shopping
skimping on groceries.. this is the best way to save money...
shopping at aldis
i need to get into coupons i guess.. any good sites?:)

My mom's starting the grocery game, I've heard a lot of good stuff about it and that hotcouponworld.com. :rolleyes:

I also subscribe to a couple of sites for ideas to save money.
Here is a link for one of them: Living On A Dime - Free Recipes, Money Saving Tips, Debt Free Living

cutting back
 

I'm doing all of those things, too. Making a list of things I need to do and only making necessary trips to town. I don't drive to town to walk at a track, I walk around my neighborhood with my dogs. Carrying water to my plants in a watering can (exercise doesn't hurt me at all) rather than using the hose and more water. Being sure I turn out lights I don't need to have on, warming things in the microwave rather than turning on the stove. I don't go out much at night anyway, so that's the same. I only do laundry once a week instead of tossing things in to wash them more often. I'm paying more attention to coupons and what I buy at the grocery store. Buying smaller amounts to be sure I use it all and don't waste any. It's tempting to buy more on sale, but since I live alone, some might get wasted. I'm retired and don't need to be buying clothes or shoes much and I keep busy with my dogs and hobbies. One of my hobbies is making greeting cards, which isn't very expensive. I like to read, which isn't very expensive either since we have a used book store here. I like to work in my yard, which is good exercise and not expensive and my dogs can keep me company. I don't turn the TV on unless I'm going to actually watch it. I'm bad to turn the TV on and then get interested in something else. I watch my thermostat and don't keep the air conditioning or heat on when it isn't needed. Some of those things can get ignored, so I'm just generally paying more attention!

I work for a heating and cooling place...be careful using the space heaters and kerosene. Some people think they can save by using the space heaters, when actually they takes up soooo much electricity. (unless you buy the new ones that are energy efficient) Kerosene can cause a lot of breathing problems too. It has a lot of bad effect on the lungs. If you've ever used it before (kerosene) it can make your walls have a black film on them. and it does the same thing to your lungs...just be careful:)

greeting cards
 

:)
i would love to make my own cards.. how do you do it?

i have an embosser...:)

I know the gas prices are really killing us. We are running constantly with a teenage daughter, work, etc. We have a place at the lakes and just using our jetski's for the weekend is a good $100.00 ++++ just in gas for those. I know we need to stop eating out. I think me and my hubby both eat out for breakfast in the morning. It can really ad up then you start think about it. I know its time for us to start really paying attention to spending.

At Christmas time he always gets a huge bonus and that is what we buy Christmas with, well a different company took over and did away with the Christmas bonuses. We just found this out last month, so we are trying to put back for that too. I know I told my sisters instead of buying for all the kids and all the adults, the kids need to draw names and the adults too and just buy for one. (I could care less to even have the adults in it, but my sister is very selfish and throws a fit if we dont buy for the adults. - to me Christmas is for the kids)

Me and Hubby usually spend alot on each other, but not this year.

I'm just thankful that hubby has a great job, I had a good job but doesnt pay near what hubby makes, but it helps.

The gas prices is what is really killing us. I bet we spend $150.00 - $200+ a week in gas alone! (that is if we don't go to the lakes)

Kristi, thanks for doing this thread . . .a lot of wonderful ideas that everyone can benfit from.

For me, I have always been conscientious about spending . . .so the economy currently does not affect me at all. At least for now :) . . .

I use portable heaters in certain rooms of my house and keep the furnace only at 63 degrees . . . wear a lot of clothing to warm me up.
I am a big time walmart shopper and you know there's tremendous savings there.
I also go to outlet stores, big lots, discount stores for something that I can buy at a much cheaper price without sacrificing on quality (meaning I don't buy expired stuff :eek:).
I use my hubby's car during the summer to save on gas as I have an SUV that just loves to suck on it.
I always cook enough for left overs so I don't have to be cooking all the time.
I don't mind buying generic brands especially if they are comparable to the brand names.
I used to freeze some meals (but not anymore due to my hectic schedule).
I rarely shop for myself (oh that's because I don't have time) :eek:
With such a busy schedule, we don't eat out every weekend anymore (hubby is not too pleased about this :rolleyes:)
I try to avoid going grocery shopping if at all possible because then I get carried away and buy too much.
We have A/C but this summer I rarely turned it on as we are okay with just the fan . . .unless it is superhot, I try to make a bit of sacrifice as I know it will get cool late in the evenings :)
We only do a weekly washing to reduce cost . . .

Oh and lastly, I have reconsidered quitting my job and holding off until the economy gets better :) . . .

of course, all the savings goes to pampering my 2 furbabies :) and they are hella EPENSIVE :eek:

I was so happy that we didn't have to use a/c except once or twice this summer and it has still been warm here so we didn't have to use heat yet..until today..we got our first snow fall...it was 80 on Wed....hopefully it won't last too long and warm up again until next month...

You got SNOW? ALREADY?! Geesh!

my biggest problem right now are the horses, their feed has gone up from $9.00 a bag to $15.00 they eat 4 bags a week in the summer and twice that in the winter, I did try the lower price food but 2 of them lost weight so now I am back with purina, I have not even price hay yet, we are hoping the 4 pastures will hold out until spring if we have a mild winter. I am really at a lost with this issue.
our house is heated by a wood stove which does a great job, even when it does get really cold, this was well worth the money, the back bedrooms stay a little cooler then we were use to but the central unit kicks in when it gets below 68 degrees in the back of the house, our power bill last year never went over $100.00 we have a ranch style home with 3 bedrooms , 2 baths, and a large family room, dining room and kitchen and laundry/ mud room. on the negative side of this it's a little messie with brining in the wood and cleaning the ashes out.

Gas prices are another story we go as little as possible we are way out in the country so wherever we go is a long way, the tractor has been used 3 times this summer at the most we use to get off road fuel for it but that station has gone under, so now we have to buy the reg diesel which costs more.


food keeps going so up I try to fixed things that will last more then one meal, going out to eat is a thing of the past.

I prayed ever night for things to get better for everyone and for all of this to end, everyone to get their jobs back or better ones and just to have peace of mind again.

Where in the southeast are you at?? I'm in the southeast, and gas prices are coming down really fast..cheaper now then since before Ike hit..and we heard lastnight on the news, barrels of oil could fall to $20/barrel

Where the money goes
 

WE started getting out of debt a couple of years ago when my next door neighbor introduced me to Dave Ramsey by loaning me his book "Total Money Makeover." I love to read so I cracked it open and didn't stop until I finished it. I was surprised because I thought I was a good money manager until I read this book.

This slowdown has hit us like everyone else but we have no monthly payments (consumer debt) so we just don't eat out, drive less, and we're OK. The company I work for has been bought out and my pay was cut by 25%. My wifes job depends on the building trade and it's almost non-existent right now so our income has been slashed. The tuition for our daughter is paid up through this semester (again no debt) and I have about half of next semester in an envelope. We save money for things in separate envelopes and we don't buy anything until the money is there. Freakish huh?

We live in flyover country and the wages here are notoriously low, but gas, groceries, and housing is not equally low so we're constantly pressed to be efficient. I felt like we got a raise when we did our first budget, where we sat down and spent every dime...on paper...on purpose, before the month began. Thank God my neighbor loaned me the book two years ago.

Times are tough right now, but learning how to survive in tough times will be a blessing in the end because you can learn how to thrive when things improve. Your income is your best wealth building tool, anything you purchase and pay interest on is like inviting a parasite to attach itself to your paycheck. Even though our income has declined during this time we have managed to lay back three months of expenses in a savings account and pay off everything but our house. We're not special, and it wasn't easy, but we did it.

If the average American carried little or no consumer debt, like thirty years ago when you had to actually qualify for a loan, this slowdown...recession...depression...whatever it is, would not be happening. It's time for us as Americans to COWBOY UP BABY!! Share ideas, encourage each other, expect more from ourselves.....you know....all the things that made us the greatest nation ever in the history of the planet. Let's put our houses in order and then demand the same from our leaders. Let's shrug off the thinking that got us here and look to tried and true, self reliant, personal responsibility to guide our lives. Let's stop whining for the government to give us things and just get them for ourselves. Our grandparents were right, waste not want not, save for a rainy day, if you don't have the money...don't buy it. So be of good cheer, your circumstances don't determine who you are, your decisions do.:D

Gas is finally at 2.99, but i am carpooling to class with someone who lives close. It helps us both save gas! I also traded in my jeep liberty for a G6 2 door that gets 10 more miles to a gallon more!

Yes...... Gas prices ARE coming down!!! Thank-goodness!!!.:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:........ (but when I started this thread they were up there quite a bit)

I think it is about $2.99 a gallon here.... give or take a little, depending if we go to a neighboring city (within 25 miles).

I am hoping that the rest of the ecomomy will follow soon...... and allow us to all take a breath. No one needs the added stress nowadays. But until then...and probably even if it does get better.... I am going to continue to try to be "thrifty" (and it really makes a difference...even the little stuff).

Keep us those ideas YT'ers!!! It really helps........ OH, and instead of going shopping..... how about having coffee (or tea) with your neighbor or friends!!! It seems as if I have a little more time for that now...... and it really feels great!! ...... I have neglected so many friendships because "I was always too busy" (and it usually contributed to me SPENDING more money) ;)