How are you cutting back?
 

Since the economy sucks...how are you cutting back?

I eat $5 Subway subs everyday.

sounds yummy

LOL... nice.

I have not cut back on shit for the most part on a personal level. I have cut back on the ambitious timelines, and launching of new projects. However, with the sales becoming very erratic this month. I may consider some cut backs just to keep ahead of the curve.

Plus with new house, and some repairs and remodeling. I may have to cut back on how many shows I attend, and some travel until I get these projects finished.

I am buying cheap smokes and drinking coke parallel imported from Poland

We've cut back a lot.

- The landscaper comes every other week. All he does is cut the damn grass anyhow.
- No more pest control. NO problems yet.
- We've stopped buying food at grocery stores. Way too expensive there.
- Completely cut out fast food. Why spend $17 for a meal for the three of us when we can cook at home for 1/3 the cost....
- Changed our insurance. Turns out we are driving a lot less than what our insurance thought, so that saved us a ton of money.

A few other things I'm sure....

So where exactly are you buying your food from?

Less massages :)

Gas costs less now, so I drive more.

Drinking two bottles of cheap Vodka a week instead of four better-brand bottles
Drinking 24 beers a week instead of 48-60
No more fast food

Instead of a weekly haircut at the nearby military base, I'm letting it go for 10 days now---all three pieces.

lol.....

No changes for me... :thumbsup

im not really

No drastic changes here

$5 footlongs FTW!!! :thumbsup

Got rid of one car saving $45/month on ins.
Take the bus (work pays for it), saving $40/month
No more Starbucks, drink the exotic Folgers at work, saving $50/month
Bring lunch to work, saving $150/month
Consolidated bills, saved $200/month
Much more....

No more paying Starbucks 7-8 bucks everday for coffee and muffin when i could make better coffee at home.

Cheap beer. Working harder to make the same.

xmas isn't gonna be the big blowout it usually is. no biggie.

eating at home alot more. cutting back on starbucks. Was going to do a big camera upgrade but im holding off.

Pftt..let me count the ways!

Electric Bill:
-----------
Our last bill was only $109, for our 3 story house, and that was with running the hot tub 6 times last month (otherwise I keep the temp at 55 degrees).

I keep the house temp at 66/67 degrees and wear lounge pants, slippers, and a hoody to keep extra warm.

*Unplug Microwave, Coffee Pot, Toaster, TV's (unless we're using them at the moment).
*Changed light bulbs in the house to energy efficient bulbs
*Everything is on power strips and we turn them off at night before bed

A key thing to remember is "If it's plugged in, it's using power..even if it's on Standby."

Groceries:
I clip coupons and match'em up with things that are on sale. I then make a 7 day dinner list and get only what I need. This has saved us at least 50% per trip on groceries (you wouldn't believe the stuff you will buy when you're hungry and shopping for food! lol)

Cell Phone:
We changed our cell plans (and got new phones for free another 2 yr contract).
Our cell phone bill went from $120, to $63 (for both my phone & the husbands phone combined).

Cable:
We downgraded our cable, but we of course kept the high-speed cable internet.
Our bill was $150'ish, now it's $99/month (cable & net combined) AND we signed a contract for 1 yr that locked us in at that rate because the cable was 1 week away from raising prices, so that's why we signed a contract.

Freecycle.org
I now ask for things on Freecycle that I want/need. I have recieved a brand new treadmill totally free, a desk brand new, and all kinds of misc. new or like-new items.

I also look on Craigslist and Ebay for anything that we want to buy. If we can't get it for at least 50% off the original price, we don't buy it.

Also, we cleaned out our basement and sold about 20 or so items on Craigslist that we didn't need anymore.
That brought us in about $400 in extra cash last month.

(Ladies, you'll like this next one..)

Instead of buying all kinds of cleaning products, I just use a 50/50 mixture of rubbing alchohol and water in a spray bottle to clean just about any surface (mirrors, chrome, countertops, door knobs, etc). It also kills germs which is a nice bonus for the flu season. ;)

I've also learned that the Dollar Store can be your best friend for little items like foil and whatnot.

It's amazing how much you can save by making a few changes in your life. :thumbsup:2 cents:

I drink 11 beers instead of a dozen

I haven't made any changes. Infact sales are up 20.6% over 2007.

Finally stopped driving back to ATL for my haircuts/color/etc. I will save an average of $150+ a month right off the bat and the girl up here in the hills used to work at a better place in ATL than I went to :)

Started cooking/baking more at home.

Don't drive as much - started doing that when we were literally out of gas for 2 weeks up here and I realized I was doing WAY too much driving.

IMITREX FINALLY HAS A GENERIC - that will save another $75+ a month.

I have a car lease that's up in May and I'm going to let it go and just drive the paid for car until I can't stand not having all the bells and whistles ;) That will save over $650 in car payments and insurance. Plus if I decide to buy another bells and whistles car I can get a new one for damn near the same price.

I got cable instead of DirecTV just because Direct couldn't pick up their HDTV satellite from my house. Bundled with the phone/LD/etc. I'm saving over $100 a month AND getting a better picture AND being able to dial LD on my landline instead of having constant dropped calls on the cell. There are some channels missing but I'm dealing.....

I've saved money cutting down on traveling but that's because of being tied to a brick and mortar business, not by choice. I am planning a skiing trip in a few months and hopefully a trip to Italy but that's still a shitload less than I was traveling.

I'm making a whole lot less money in the brick and mortar biz so I'm saving a fortune in taxes ;)

I think that's about it!

I take the short bus.

I dont buy useless shit that I dont need.

my mother is cutting my back

http://justinsomnia.org/images/justi...hanies-mom.jpg

haven't cut back at all, spend more up and down just having fun gambling that daily living expenses are only a fraction of that, it's just money :2 cents:

I'm smoking 100 gms of weed a month instead of 250 like before.

I'm using my reward points for everything now, lol.
WG

I quit online gambling. I haven't been to Vegas in awhile. I don't go to bars or buy as much liquor (cuz most of my friends are staying home). I play less golf. I cut back on my servers and advertising. I haven't bought a new car. No lavish Christmas presents this year. Most of my money is going towards new projects or paying off credit cards.

its the mother fucking shit

Nothing at all.

I've run into the thickly wooded forest, ranting, raving, and sporting only a leopard-skin loincloth to live amongst my animal brethren. When you're eating tree bark steaks and drinking tree bark tea, you save quite a bit. :2 cents:

my sig is for sale...

i stopped buying porn dvds

just paying more attention to whats on sale when shopping for groceries mostly.

I tip a lesser amount than I used to. I think that's an age thing though :(

I'm not sure how old you are... but maybe this will help

My mom had at least 2 migraines a week for years that went away as soon as she started bio identical estrogen / progesterone replacement therapy.

Since it's not a pharmaceutical drug & can't be patented its cheap, full price she pays about $35 a month for her estrogen creams. She was able to drop evista, lipitor & imitrex.

If your sig isn't a joke, it helped her with most of that as well :)

The first thing she spoke of was having MUCH better sleep - starting the very first week of treatment (deeper, not waking up 4-5 times a night, etc) and a significant drop in the overwhelming "oh my god not another thing on my plate i can't take it anymore" anxiety issues as well.

112 020 756 if you want more info

not much really, if I had to cut back then I'm doing something wrong

sounds tastier than the dollar a day diet project blog: http://wp.demonchurch.com/?p=70

The whole family is driving to Miami for the Holiday season instead of flying!! Flying usually cost us 1600.00 all together. Now with gas as cheap as it is it will cost $120 each way! Yeahhhhhh and UGGGHHH at the same time! It's a 24 hour drive! 3 hour flight!

Well, im not paying 300$ whores no more!!!:winkwink:

I cut back my adult memberships and now just have a membership to MandyBlakes sites. FAP! FAP! FAP! FAP!

For the most part we live in LA shit was expensive before. It's still expensive now, not a whole lot has changed for us. I still edit, I still get paid, I still run sites and I still get joins.

I guess we've cut back on eating out so much, but that just sort of happened naturally I guess since winter came along. Too fucking cold to leave the house.

My income trends are not dependent so much on global economy, rather on other things inside this (and the domain) industry.

But I always spend less than I earn so I don't really need to cut down on anything... well.. perhaps on food, but only for diet-reasons :glugglug

that great grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I'm 47 and have had them since I was 13. Every single female on my mother's side has had them and even my brother has them every so often.

I have tried estrogen creams and pills - nothing. Heck, in 34 years I think I've tried EVERYTHING, lol.

Thanks for the info though - we migraine folks stick together so tell your Mom congrats for me!!

And yes, I copied my sig so it's a joke - except that I suck at math :thumbsup

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

I put my gf's kids up for adoption
with the economy in the tank the chinese sweat shops wouldn't take em