Poor Economy: What have you given up?
This week was rough on the American stock market and world economy. I have been reading numerous articles about people giving up things they once thought of as necessities. In the past two months, I have been forced to give up a few things, as well:
- MY CAR: I have had my own car since I was 16-years-old. Giving it up, even if only temporarily until I can get a financial cushion again, was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in recent years. It was a symbol of my independence. However, I am shocked at how much money I’m saving every month without it. I’m saving $366 every month not having the extra car payment. I’m also saving approximately $320 on gas, $90 on car insurance, and $41.66 on normal vehicle wear and tear. (I was paying about $500 a year on things like oil changes, tire rotation, new tires, brakes, unexpected problems, etc.). I currently carpool with Anna to work and I pay her $25 a week for half of the cost of gas to and from work. We still have my husband’s car so I do grocery shopping and other errands after work or on the weekends.
TOTAL SAVINGS: $717 per month - CABLE & LAND LINE PHONE: I finally gave up my favorite downtime activity: television. Yes, I admit it…I love TV. Interestingly though, I haven’t had to completely give up some of my favorite shows. Canceling high speed internet isn’t an option for our household. We need it for our livelihood working in the tech field. Most prime time shows are now available online through the applicable television network’s website (e.g. we’ve been watching the new show “Fringe” on http://fox.com.) Additionally, we never used our land line telephone. We always use our cell phones. So it wasn’t a problem for us to cancel it. Our bill for cable, phone and internet used to be $170 a month. It is now only $50 a month for just high speed internet. We have always had http://netflix.com accounts. So now we just get new movies in the mail more often.
TOTAL SAVINGS: $120 per month - XM RADIO: This wasn’t expensive - $10 per month per radio and we had two. But, it is frivolous. And when you don’t have a car to play it in, it is a moot point. My husband canceled his in solidarity. The only channel I really miss is Oprah & Friends XM 156. I especially enjoyed listening to the financial advice from Jean Chatzky, family advice from Rabbi Shmuley, and Gayle King’s miscellaneous ramblings.
TOTAL SAVINGS: $20 a month - GOING OUT TO LUNCH: Okay, I have to admit this one is huge. I fought this one tooth and nail because going out to lunch with workmates is sometimes my only social time. But, it turns out there are other people who don’t go out to lunch all the time. And some of my friends join me in the lunchroom at work with a “bagged lunch”. I usually bring leftovers from dinner the night before or a frozen meal along with a small bag of chips, some yogurt, and some type of fruit. I used to spend $10 a day (on average…sometimes more and sometimes less) going out to lunch. Now I spend approximately $4 bringing my lunch. This is a savings of approximately $6 a day, 5 days a week ($120 per month). My husband is also bringing his lunch to work so our savings on this is now doubled.
TOTAL SAVINGS: $240 per month - GOING OUT TO DINNER: Let’s face it, it’s hard to work all day and then come home and cook…everyday. Sometimes I’m successful with this one and sometimes we drive through somewhere cheap. But, going out to restaurants doesn’t happen very often anymore. We used to go out to a restaurant once a week or more for dinner and spend between $30 and $50 each time. Having a toddler has helped us stop this trend. It’s not very fun to go out to dinner with a one-year-old. It’s often more stressful than just making dinner. Based on an average of $40 per week, we are saving quite a bit per month on this expense. However, I have also noticed our grocery bill as gone up about this same amount. So this savings seems to have evened out to a savings of $0. However, if I work on my grocery shopping and purchase less expensive meats and snack items, this will probably begin to improve.
TOTAL SAVINGS: $160 per month
TOTAL COST FOR ADDITIONAL GROCERIES: $160 per month
ACTUAL SAVINGS: $0
All of these changes have really added up in savings per month:
TOTAL SAVINGS: $1097 per month
It’s kind of shocking when you actually see it in writing like that. In fact, just seeing that number strengthens my resolve to continue along this path for as long as possible.
What sort of things have you given up recently to try and make ends meet? Please share in the comments below.
Sincerely,
Sophia
Midwest Mom responds:
Posted: September 23rd, 2008 at 1:53 pm →
We are struggling to cut as well. For us, we have given up our family membership to the YMCA ($60 plus class fees/month) and we switched our phone service from landline to Skype ($75 savings/month). At home, we’ve made small changes in the menu: beer and wine are minimal, no ice cream or steak. All are good for my waistline, so I guess I’m not complaining.
In terms of transportation, we try to bike in good weather. This summer, I was actually able to keep my car parked in the drive for a week at a time! Not so anymore now that school has begun again. Oh, well… at least it’s paid off.
-MM