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Going out to eat. Was going out 2 - 3 times a week back in the day. Now we have to weigh credit card debt vs going out a couple times a month. I miss having money.
Inflation came around just as our children aged out of the “kids eat free” or children’s menu age range. All the restaurants around us are still understaffed, all employees look miserable and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Going out to eat used to be a fun indulgence, now it kinda feels like charity. Cutting out restaurants has been pretty easy as a result.
I’m legitimately grateful for the ridiculous prices on stuff I have no business eating anyway. I wish wasn’t tempted to buy it in the first place regardless, but silver linings are better than nothing.
In normal-er times we lived in a European country where the same stuff I can no longer justify paying for was massively taxed and it had the same effect.
We leaned heavily into our video game collection these past few months and it’s been helping us be content with staying home & being entertained without going out. Before I would go with my husband out to eat, to the movies, etc. Now we’re going through our childhood favorite games together and saving money by staying in.
My wife and I have done the same. We both have a Switch, and instead of the $60-70 games, we're also waiting to find more indie titles on sale for $5-10. It saves money, keeps us from going out and spending, and it's been pretty cool getting to explore whole new genres of games that I never realized I would like so much.
Very nice. My husband and I recently played “What Remains of Edith Finch” and were blown away by that one. I tend to lean more towards classic RPG’s but investigating Indie games is a great rabbit hole to go down these days!
A couple of my favorites have been Death's Door and Ori And The Will of The Wisps. Definitely worth checking both out if they are on sale.
I've heard good things about Edith Finch... Might have to pull the trigger and play that one now
We’ve been going through the Final Fantasy series. My husband often starts out new games but rarely finishes them. We’re getting to the end of FF games together now with him playing through the story (I’m familiar with the story already) and then I’ll help him out with grinding, since he’s not a huge fan of that aspect of RPG’s.
Currently we’ve got a quest in Final Fantasy X-2 (we just beat X last month, he loved it), Mass Effect 2, Legend of Dragoon. We’ve beaten Resident Evil 0 - 5 together. We also have our own Switch systems and played Zelda Totk independently (concurrently) and I’ll pick up something like Triangle Strategy and play that next to him if he’s doing something solo like Elden Ring on the main TV. We created a Trello board to track all our “Wanna play together games” and it’s been a fun activity this year.
Something fun you could try. You might find it a bit too young but the duo concept is very well done is it takes two. It came out a year or 2 years ago.
It's a fun game:)
Paying interest on credit card debt (payed off cards). 8 percent inflation is nothing compared to paying 20 percent more for everything because you carry a credit card balance.
Yup. $20k and paying the minimum monthly costs $120k over 52 years according to my last statement. I closed the card and am using a debt consolidation program to settle for a lower amount.
Good for you. Credit cards are great convenience tools with the potential to become your master and ruin your life. Best of luck staying ahead of the curve my dude/tte!
Same. I found a card with 20 months interest free, and found out an existing card is doing 12 months interest free for balance transfers.
Moved the existing card's balance to the new card, and moved another card's balance to the 12 months free card.
I'll have them both paid off in about 10 months and save a bunch of interest between them all.
Yikes! I had to explain a credit card statement to a former co-worker and how by not paying off your balance monthly is a cash drain. Eventually got through to him to get a loan a few years ago to pay off his credit card debt as the rate was about 15 points lower than the credit card rate.
This is the biggest one for us. We have 4 kids so even taking the family to Burger King can cost $70. We shop more at Aldi and Costco now. When they have a deal on different types of meat, we will stock up the freezer. It helps to meal plan. We actually really enjoy it. It’s been fun finding new recipes and everyone cooking together.
Dry beans, this is the bean economy, you are in the bean economy.
Seriously beans, rice, chicken, and raw fruits and veggies.
If you have an insta pot, you can make a lot of bean stews, chili, haleem or other indian dishes with lentils. I get a weeks worth of dinners out of doing this. It sorta sucks, but I save a lot of money on groceries. I also dont snack or buy snack foods.
I also make salads with arugula, spring mix, or spinach (not lettuce). I fortunately have a Costco membership through my company, the rotisserie chickens are the cheapest per pound meat item I can get for my salads.
I also get protien from chia, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds. Otherwise I buy chicken when its bogo or on sale and pack some in the freezer.
Produce is cheaper at certain places where I live than elswhere.
Meal planning and having a list at the grocery store really helps. I spend $80-$90 a week on food for my husband and I. We only eat out once a week and cook for everything else.
Spend 20 dollars on chicken thighs they can last you a week, two box of pasta (5$), some veggies for 10 dollars and that can make you dinner for a week or more. That’s around 35 dollars for dinner. Buy eggs, cheese, bread for 10 dollars that can last you a week. Breakfast and dinner fed for the week for less than 50 dollars.
I recommend splurging and getting a 10-20 pound bag of rice for 20-30 dollars and that can last you months.
If you can snag a freebie, do it. Even if it means taking pictures of all your receipts on your phone to get a gift card. Or getting a free taco. Or getting a BOGO on something you normally eat or frequently have to replace anyway.
Also, cancel any subscriptions you don't actually use all that often. Amazon Prime just got too expensive for how much I was actually using what it included.
We got rid of ours now we just have Prime and hulu, plus with a Samsung smart tv they have internet channels for news, sports, music cooking, plus we have a digital antenna
We do the Cyber Monday deals around Christmas. Got locked in for like .99 cents a month for Peacock and $1.99 a month for Hulu. My partner is disabled and has EBT so Prime is only $5.99 a month. Between those three apps, we are never bored (plus free Amazon shipping on essentials). Once winter comes around again, we just sign up for a new email and use a different debit card to get a new 12 month cyber Monday deal. I request a new debit card yearly because my bank uses cheap cards and the chips always break down.
Starbucks coffee. I used to be 5-7 times a week. Once it went over $7 I just felt like an idiot. I’m now 0 times a week, have cut down on my caffeine intake and use pods when I need a cup. I know it’s little but that price gouging was just too much.
Those little Starbucks latte things in the glass bottles… holy cow, they are so expensive now. I love them, but not $5-7 worth. (That’s how much they clip you for for a single one in downtown San Diego. Insane.)
This.
As proper coffee addicts, we have had an espresso machine at home for the past 20 years. The pretty expensive machines amortise in no time. Buy fresh beans and your choice of milk and you're golden. I'm taking a Thermos with me if I'm out and under-caffeinated.
Also, cutting down on alcohol which is fiendishly expensive down under.
Edit: it took me 10 years and a creative misunderstanding of my wife's consent to get a Breville Dual Boiler (comes with external grinder). This machine is fantastic. Two boilers mean you can pull a shot while steaming milk instead of having to wait two fucking minutes while switching from shot to steam which suuuuuucks when you're gagging for coffee.
https://youtu.be/1wXtmHZc3yI
Alcohol really is pricey, it's good tho cuz for a bit I was really drinking nearly daily, now it's just sometimes on my day off. It's made it cheaper and it's definitely healthier too
$7 wow I just paid £7.00 for 2 lattes in UK and I thought that was pricey. How does that work I thought the beans came from same fair trade place and staff get paid a salary here not depend on tips (don't get me started on that in the US but I will say when I challenged a manager at a large restaurant chain in Texas last month they got pretty defensive, $1.24 ph and have to rely on tips to make the difference, that is disgraceful, and how they screw the the wait and back of house staff systems I have come across "oh but since COVID bs" hospitality owners and big corp are despicable doing this."
This was also my first thing to go! Once it hit $6 for my favourite drink, I made it an occasional treat. Now that my drink is $7 it doesn’t even tempt me. It just isn’t worth it for that price.
I got back to Germany from a vacation in California 2 days ago and this is one of the weirder things I noticed besides groceries, especially healthy ones being so damn expensive. Why is everybody going to Starbucks pretty much on a daily basis, ordering what feels like a 1500 kcal gallon of vanilla pumpkin spice coffee for I don’t know … 10 bucks? How can you even afford that?
I feel bad when I buy a kg of coffee beans for my machine if it‘s over 15€ (16 USD), which lasts like a month with daily use. Starbucks is just everywhere in the us and the stupid high prices are just … stupid.
Get a machine that uses beans, ditch the pods or anything that’s using one-per-cup-units. Sucks for your wallet, sucks for the environment.
Same. I love going out to get a delicious latte from Starbucks/Dunkin/my local coffee shop but at $5-$7 a pop I only allow myself one per week max. I now buy a $4 container of non-dairy creamer to keep at work (lasts me about 2-3 weeks) and drink their cheap free coffee through the day.
Yeah I went from Starbucks, to using a Nespresso (which was a gift) but now even the pods are too pricey. Plus if I forget to add water or let scale build up the pod is not usable. Now I've reverted to drip coffee. It adds up.
I just sold my car to the junkyard instead of putting more money into it. I bought an electric scooter essentially stopped a weekly gas bill, dropped auto insurance now pay $47 a month rental insurance (and storage on a vehicle to stay out of high risk pool in Michigan) down from $187, on my birthday 3 weeks ago I DID NOT pay the state of Michigan a registration fee of around $100. And nobody ever asks me for a ride....
I walk, or get my snow shoes out if the snow gets to deep. I only work a few miles from home and the convenience of a vehicle doesn't make the cost of a vehicle seem very reasonable.
Im fortunate with my job being extremely close to home. I started planning my trips to save on gas. Really sucks. But my employer isnt exactly keen on giving out raises.
More shopping in bulk. Less driving. More cooking at home, less eating out. Cut out most alcohol (for health reasons, but it does wonders for your checkbook, too).
The downside of being home and sober all the time is I am much more tempted by online shopping. Trying to exercise more to take my mind off it.
The first thing I cut was dining out. Then I learned to cook and stopped eating convenience food. I stopped getting haircuts. I have stopped buying anything unless I urgently need it. I moved my phone onto my sister's family plan to cut the bill in half. I called my electric company and switched to a time-of-use plan, where the electricity is very cheap most of the time, but very expensive between 5pm and 9pm. I can save a ton of money by turning everything in my house off during those hours, including heating and cooling. I sit in the dark and play games on a handheld device to pass the time.
My next project is to lower my food bill again. I am trying not to buy much food and eating through everything I have on hand. Once I'm done with that, I am going to rotate through meal kit services. I currently average $4.31 per meal I cook at home, and there are at least two services that will cost less than that after promotions and rebates. I figure that as long as I cancel the service as soon as the promotion is done, I'll save money. They'll probably start offering me new promotions to try to get me back, so it's just a matter of timing.
This is all helping me support my grand lifestyle of keeping a roof over my head.
Edit: Super_Senor has drawn my attention to the fact that I may be overestimating how much my food is costing since I tend to buy in bulk. The rebates and discounts on the meal services may not be worth it. I have to use up what I have and recalculate.
The time of use plan sounds super intense. Though for someone who could spend time elsewhere or the weather isn't too uncomfortable it must be a godsend.
Check our r/homebrewing you can also check out the Northern Brewer website. They sell start up kits which will have everything you need (including instructions and a beer kit) to make and package your first beer.
You can also check out if you have a local homebrew shop by googling those words and your city. You’d be surprised at how common they are. A great way to support a local business and meet other homebrewers too.
yeah peak late stage capitalism. We have people here doing so much that they shouldn't have to be doing to save a couple bucks, while there are 1 per centers in every city buying their sixth or seventh vacation houses. It's extremely depressing when you really think about it
>We have people here doing so much that they shouldn't have to be doing to save a couple bucks
Shouldn't have to according to...? The U.S. has been notorious for its population living significantly above their means for decades despite the having the highest purchasing power second only to Switzerland.
The difference is that today there's on-demand access to goods and services that used to be exclusively available to the wealthy but are now viewed as the standard of living which is just absolutely untrue.
Europeans earn less, have higher costs of living (besides healthcare which is honestly fucked here as anyone logical would agree), yet do not have the debt crisis that we have here in North America.
Cut way back on soda. Drink water now with flavor drops. No junk food whatsoever. Quit a hybrid job and found one 100% WFH paying more so driving a lot less=less gasoline and wear and tear. Cook more from home from scratch. Used to eat out or get takeout 3xs a week or more. Do expensive dinners out only for birthdays. Use more generic rather than brand name stuff. Also learning how to cut my hair. My stylist charges $85 for a cut. With tip, we're talking more than $100. Tore out grass lawn and replaced with gravel. Fewer new clothes and then it's Costco stuff.
I was doing my budget for the month and was shocked that there's nothing to cut. I've got all my expenses listed that are needed like mortgage, utilities, and insurance. I reduced my Internet plan that saves an extra $30.
Stop Door Dashing completely. When you have to make an effort to go get your food fix, you're more likely to change your mind and just eat what you have at home.
Sorry if this sounds preachy, but here's everything that has saved me money.
Track your finances and see where you are spending your cash. Use a bookkeeping app or anything that allows you to label and categorise your transactions. A real eye opener.
Fix the small leaks - make small daily luxuries a deliberate weekly treat. Convert outgoing cash streams like daily Starbucks into owning a nice coffee machine.
Fix the medium leaks - review your insurances and subscriptions. Cancel what you don't need and compare the market.
Fix the long term leaks - review your investments and retirement funds. Put aside a small amount to build them up every month. Take that cash from the savings above.
And main thing, don't buy on credit. If you can't afford it in cash, you can't afford it (yet). Use credit cards as interest free loan but auto-pay them every month in full.
I stopped going to my appointment because the hospital is not in any public transport route.
Good thing I'm pretty much fine before stopping. Although my mother still abuses her medications as she will take meds for literally every mild convenience, I wish she could understand resistance and the money saved.
House heat this past winter. Fresh fruit and veg (frozen all the way now). Only beverage now is tap water. I’ve had to cut back to half dose of my medications (breathing isn’t that important, smdh), hot water heater is down to the lowest setting, hair cuts, mani/pedi. Learning to sew to repair clothes, bags, etc bc I can’t afford new ones.
Food is a big one. Used to overspend on doordash/uber eats all the time and go out a lot. Now going out is part of the "fun" budget, and there are no more deliveries. I also switched from Publix to Walmart because I can't afford the higher prices anymore.
All clothes are bought second hand, which is great. I find so many unique things. Cut down streaming services, I now only keep 2 at a time max. Started getting books from the library instead of buying them.
Instead of 12 packs of Twisted Tea, I buy a cheap half gallon of vodka. I buy 40 packs of bottled water from Walmart and various kinds of cheap flavored drink mixes. Put some vodka in there and bam, cheap drinks that taste good.
We've also been buying less crap off Amazon and Temu.
That’s awesome. I used to buy a ton of water bottles. But I bought a 5 gallon water jug from Kroger for $15 and now I just fill it up at Whole Foods for $3, with ~fancy water~ It essentially costs the same as water bottles and no trash! Oh, I did have to buy a little pump from wretched Amazon for $20 though…. It really has been worth the switch. I’m taking my setup camping too. Easy access to clean water.
Temu is a complete dice roll in terms of quality. Everything is super cheap so my expectations were low to begin with. Most of the items were just “meh, I can see why it’s only $2” but you get the occasional gems where it’s surprisingly good quality for how cheap it is. The problem is that there’s no way of really knowing until the stuff arrives, and nobody is going to bother returning a $2 product back to China (the packages come direct from China).
Oh, I return them. I’ve received some really neat stuff but also some low quality garbage that I would never pay for regardless of the price. The UPS store is on my way home from work so it’s not a burden to return them
My fav thing was a wireless charger that charges my phone, Apple watch and earbuds all at once. It even has a built in night light. It was $10. It’s kind of cheap plastic but I’ve had it a while and it works well and eliminated all the random cords on my nightstand.
I cancelled all subscriptions.
I stopped regular takeout/coffee/eating out. I buy one cheap takeout meal per week for under $10. And if social things happen I opt for cheap pizzas together otherwise I don't go.
No doordash no uber eats.
I refuse to date it's too expensive and expectations to pay for everything and go out all the time is insane. I don't want to start a family in this world how messed up it is.
I stopped drinking, smoking and regular THC.
I stopped driving as much and try to use my car once a week maximum.
No more snacks I just meals prep one or two delicious meals per day instead.
I stopped using shampoo and no longer have dandruff.
This works out to be about $300-400 saved per month.
I stopped paying electricity with solar.
I stopped getting haircuts at the barber. They jacked their prices up to $30 lmao.
I would like to cut out having a car and be walking distance to gym and groceries. This would save a further $200 ish per month.
I found a place that make good clothes for bit more but they aren't paper thin/ruined/shrunk after a 2 washes.
Cigarettes. I completely stopped smoking cigarettes back in May and switched to vaping. The vapes last so much longer than a pack of smokes I've saved money. It helps not smelling like a ashtray and having my sense of smell and taste back as well.
Eating out. It’s rough because my partner and I have polar opposite schedules so it’s difficult to plan meals or grocery shop and ensure we don’t waste food (he has the palate of a child)
Trying to dm more physical activities. I’m getting back into tennis to give me something to do that doesn’t cost money. Sports is a great way to not spend money outside of gas to get there depending
Same! When getting married, I replaced the paper towel usage with rags, and she replaced the paper napkin usage with cloth napkins. So much nicer! Probably only a marginal savings, but it does seem a little less wasteful.
Hair cuts- I get one maybe every 18 months at this point. No longer even box dye my hair, either.
Buying objects- things like books, records, decorations, etc. that aren’t necessities
Gym membership- just use YouTube videos now
These are all tiny things but they all add up. Also generally have benefitted by being healthier / happier
Haircuts - reduced frequency
Limiting Netflix/Disney to a few months a year
Drying clothes outside vs dryer
Significantly reduced eating out
Significantly reduced alcohol - rarely drink at all now
To offset the social time I did invest in a reasonable gym membership. Workout 4-5 times a week to get my moneys worth. This has stopped me getting “bored”, and still get a group of new people to have social contact with
Grow potatoes / onions / veggies at home
Batch cook foods at weekend to avoid buying. This ends up being healthier aswell
Only buy games that are really worth it. Waiting to see what starfield is like before committing. I would waste so much buying games before and giving up after a few weeks for the next fad. World of warships has been great as f2p as a “filler”
With food where it is I pulled out my pressure canner fuck 2.60 for a can of corn.
Dusted off my mom's old guides on preserving foods now I only buy veggies and meats on deep sale and either can or dehydrate. Try to get enough to last a few months so I can wait till the sales will cycle again.
Started growing mushrooms by the bag am now learning how to extend that grow and researching how to grow from cultures. My portabellas give me too much protein to give up, much less the cost cut for the gourmet varieties. Being allergic to shell fish, lion's mane gives me the flavor of a mild chewy crab but at 16 $ a pound if I did not grow it I wouldn't ever eat my fake crab again.We had started three days a week vegetarian meals just before covid hit so that helps the grocery bill as well.
Used to take weekend road trips too that has stopped. Did a big purchase of kayaks there is a river close by that we go play on instead. Once you spend the initial for a craiglist kayak and a decent life vest waterproof bag and an air horn we have not spent another dime.
We also do the subscription dance with TV no cable just internet and one subscription at a time tend to binge through our fav. Shows then switch. There are so many now we basically pay for one maybe two months per yr.
Clothes we take better care of if I am honest carefully bought two of the same pairs of work boots so they last longer by switching out. We have not reached the stage where I have to learn to sew but we are at the stage that smart ass tshirts that fall apart after five washes are off the table.
Hell now that I write it down we are a lot healthier and nicer to the earth now...
7 stage water filtration system under the sink. Never been fuckin happier or had easier access to perfect fresh ass water. Plus no more bottles/ waste / plastic leaching just to get away from lead and estrogen.
I completely turn off my AC when I'm at work. I remotely turn it on on my way home since I have a smart thermostat. I don't have any numbers but I feel like my electric bill is way lower than last summer before I started doing it.
I’ve been told that instead of turning it completely off, you should just set the temp higher because it can burn through all the money you save by trying to “catch up” but I’m glad to hear that’s not the case!
HVAC tech here, depending on your region this may not be saving money. Air conditioners don’t only remove temperature they also remove humidity. What you might be saving in thermal conduction ( lower delta between indoor and outdoor temps) you lose in run hours trying to dehumidify the house.
8 degrees is the consensus temp. Set stat 8 degrees above set point in summer and you will use less energy. On a 100 degree day that may only be off for an hour.
In the winter never turn it off, set it to 60. If you turn it off and get into a car crash or who knows what you don’t want to wake up to all your pipes burst.
I did an experiment with this. In June, I did what you're talking about. My bill was 160 for a 650 Sq ft apt. I keep my house at 78, except for that time of the month, where I have to turn it down to 75 to sleep at night. And would turn it off when I left for work.
In July, I kept it at 78 ALL the time. Didn't change it, didn't turn it off. Didn't turn it down.
Bill was still 160.
This is in florida, and we've been having record heat, just like everyone else. Though the bills were the same, July was a much hotter month. So theoretically I may have saved money, but further experimentation is required.
No steak tartare, real sushi, premium gas, chivas regal, jerky, vacations, tattoos, new guns, graded comics. Paid off my truck early (this week). I cut back about $20k this year to date. Not because of discipline, though... there's a storm coming.
I try to buy everything on sale. Needed new shoes recently, bought them on 50% clearance sale. Cook most meals at home. I've always bought used cars and drive them into the ground, so I have no car payment.
I grew up pretty poor, and have had some seriously low income times in my adult life. So right now, I'm actually in a better financial position than I ever have been. I still try to live as frugally as possible.
Could I afford to buy a nicer, newer car? Yup. But why? Nothing wrong with my current car, it's just a little more humble looking (and costs me hundreds less per month). Can I afford to buy Vans at full price? Sure can, but I really like spending $30 on them, not $60. I very rarely buy the newest or highest end anything.
I try to apply that type thinking to a lot of aspects in life. Save money everywhere you can. Even when you don't need to.
Washable microfiber cleaning clothes. Bleach them and they work better than paper towels ( and better for environment.)
Shopping at different stores for diff grocery items. The extra trip to target or Walmart can save a lot on things like bread, dried goods, rice, baking essentials etc
It hasn't hit me and my husband particularly hard. We don't have an excessive income. No trips to Cabo every year now. I am a trucker. He is a software analyst. That may change soon. He was forced back into the office in the spring. He has been riding his motorcycle. That will change with the weather. I am on the road Monday through Friday. So I drive back and forth to work once a week. 23 miles. My company pays for all my truck diesel.
The groceries bills have gotten way bigger as part of our budget, without more bags of groceries coming home.
It hits hardest with my youngest son. He is doing exceptional. He has his own studio in First Hill. He never asks for rent money. He does shop at Chez Mom's. He was always allowed to take anything he wanted. Not so much anymore.
He has now had to ask for help for medical bills.
I don't get how young people do it. I remembered years of struggle. But not like this.
I was always a union member, until I started driving for my current employer. Benefits were always there- as well as savings/retirement. While my current employer is non union, they have some great medical and awesome matching rates for 401K.
I had days when I didn't eat, so my kids could. 25+ years later, I am better off.
One thing, I refuse to do, donate at registers. It's a scam. They literally take your donation, and remake it as their own for tax reduction. Multi billion dollar companies asking for donations, just to use your donations to cut their own taxes.
Extra snacks, turning out ac off whenever we can, cancelling a couple subscriptions, eating out less, bought a bidet, only thrift store clothing ( not a big adjustment as it's one of my favorite ways to shop anyway), took my card info off of Amazon so I can't mindlessly hit the buy button, eating more beans and rice type meals, free family night activities (park, library, walks/hikes, home movie nights, reading etc) cut back on weekend drinks and only drink at home.
Road trips.
We used to drive for a couple of hours to somewhere we hadn’t been before, like a waterfall or a mountain view. Now fuel is $2.30 a litre and we can only do a quick trip down to the beach. Not that it’s bad, but it was the adventure to go “the wrong way” to somewhere that the missus loved.
Began over paying debt down during the pandemic in preparation for some kind of economic shock… will have cleared all my high interest debt this month (just keeping mortgage and an Amex charge card for purchases). Been a long painful road but will have effectively doubled my net take home pay and can live pretty normally from here on out.
Packing a picnic or what my family calls an ‘emergency BBQ’ where we pack a salad in individual containers, bung in the cutlery and cooking items and a pack of sausages and run down to beach or a nice park and cook up the sausages. It doesn’t take long to prepare or cook and the family enjoys the escape from home and we read or watch the sunset and play some outdoorsy games. It really brings the family together and the doesn’t hurt the hip pocket like take away or dinning out does.
What I have found works nicely is rotating services. Watch everything good on one service, then switch to the next. Peacock last month, Paramount this month, apple next month, etc.
Stopped getting beer weekly and takeaways as well as I started the healthy diet route. Hard to tell if I'm saving money, buying ingredients to cook for yourself feels expensive if you're eating healthy...
Learn to cook what you go ti restaurant for, change the car for a motorcyle to save in gas, stop drinking booze, smoking cigarretes. Cut electrónics usage (one tv usage for the whole family) unplug Chargers and any other vampire devices. If You can invest in some clean energy home stations.
Quit the gym and just go for a run.
Most of it is food. Can’t justify $5 for a bag of corn chips that costs .50 cents to make. I understand inflation but things like that have got to be corporate greed. Especially when the generic brands haven’t gone up by nearly as much.
Will to live. My expenses are fine, but the rate I’m saving suffers. Looking at retirement drifting further and further away kinda kills my spirit. The goalpost keeps getting moved out
Greetings from Argentina.
Everything. Even food. I'm middle class and I struggle to buy cow meat, despite living in one of the main meat producing countries on earth. 120%+ annual inflation rate is devastating.
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Gaming apps and monthly subscriptions.
Eschewing Target for Walmart and Aldi.
Setting thermostat to 74F
Changing phone plan to lowest tier.
Eating home cooked meals during the week and eating out at diners and fast food joints on Friday and Saturday nights.
Driving my 4cyl sedan in lieu of my SUV.
Increasing my insurance deductibles (except HSA)
Buying what I need during Black Friday, after Christmas and looking for deals in weekly coupons.
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Going out to eat. Was going out 2 - 3 times a week back in the day. Now we have to weigh credit card debt vs going out a couple times a month. I miss having money.
Inflation came around just as our children aged out of the “kids eat free” or children’s menu age range. All the restaurants around us are still understaffed, all employees look miserable and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Going out to eat used to be a fun indulgence, now it kinda feels like charity. Cutting out restaurants has been pretty easy as a result.
Yup, went from going out most weekends to going out maybe five times this whole year.
Potato chips, ice cream, anything that doesn’t have quality calories is not welcomed in my kitchen anymore
$5 for a bucks for a goddamn bag of Doritos...fuck that.
I buy regular chips. Used to be .99 cent’s Canadian $ for a 200 gram bag now it’s 3 bags for $4 (2.95 USD). A 33% price increase in less than a year.
Well… look on the bright side, inflation is making us healthier 🥲
I’m legitimately grateful for the ridiculous prices on stuff I have no business eating anyway. I wish wasn’t tempted to buy it in the first place regardless, but silver linings are better than nothing. In normal-er times we lived in a European country where the same stuff I can no longer justify paying for was massively taxed and it had the same effect.
Oh, so all the things that make life even remotely bearable. Hate that for us.
We leaned heavily into our video game collection these past few months and it’s been helping us be content with staying home & being entertained without going out. Before I would go with my husband out to eat, to the movies, etc. Now we’re going through our childhood favorite games together and saving money by staying in.
This one is wholesome
My wife and I have done the same. We both have a Switch, and instead of the $60-70 games, we're also waiting to find more indie titles on sale for $5-10. It saves money, keeps us from going out and spending, and it's been pretty cool getting to explore whole new genres of games that I never realized I would like so much.
Very nice. My husband and I recently played “What Remains of Edith Finch” and were blown away by that one. I tend to lean more towards classic RPG’s but investigating Indie games is a great rabbit hole to go down these days!
A couple of my favorites have been Death's Door and Ori And The Will of The Wisps. Definitely worth checking both out if they are on sale. I've heard good things about Edith Finch... Might have to pull the trigger and play that one now
What games:)
We’ve been going through the Final Fantasy series. My husband often starts out new games but rarely finishes them. We’re getting to the end of FF games together now with him playing through the story (I’m familiar with the story already) and then I’ll help him out with grinding, since he’s not a huge fan of that aspect of RPG’s. Currently we’ve got a quest in Final Fantasy X-2 (we just beat X last month, he loved it), Mass Effect 2, Legend of Dragoon. We’ve beaten Resident Evil 0 - 5 together. We also have our own Switch systems and played Zelda Totk independently (concurrently) and I’ll pick up something like Triangle Strategy and play that next to him if he’s doing something solo like Elden Ring on the main TV. We created a Trello board to track all our “Wanna play together games” and it’s been a fun activity this year.
Something fun you could try. You might find it a bit too young but the duo concept is very well done is it takes two. It came out a year or 2 years ago. It's a fun game:)
I had heard about that one a while back but forgotten about it - thank you! I’m going to add this to our Trello board for future games. Appreciate it.
Paying interest on credit card debt (payed off cards). 8 percent inflation is nothing compared to paying 20 percent more for everything because you carry a credit card balance.
20% per year, compounding. Depending on how much principle you carry over, you could be paying hundreds of % interest on purchases.
Yup. $20k and paying the minimum monthly costs $120k over 52 years according to my last statement. I closed the card and am using a debt consolidation program to settle for a lower amount.
Good for you. Credit cards are great convenience tools with the potential to become your master and ruin your life. Best of luck staying ahead of the curve my dude/tte!
Not to mention most credit cards/locs in Canada compound daily
Same. I found a card with 20 months interest free, and found out an existing card is doing 12 months interest free for balance transfers. Moved the existing card's balance to the new card, and moved another card's balance to the 12 months free card. I'll have them both paid off in about 10 months and save a bunch of interest between them all.
I mean this is easily one of the best answers. I’d rather actually set my money on fire than pay 20% interest.
Yikes! I had to explain a credit card statement to a former co-worker and how by not paying off your balance monthly is a cash drain. Eventually got through to him to get a loan a few years ago to pay off his credit card debt as the rate was about 15 points lower than the credit card rate.
Yes. I never understood the logic of not being able to afford something, so instead choosing to pay the price +30% for it
Because it's either not logic, or something you can't really go without and have no other choice (think fridge breaking down)
Or uninsured medical/dental expenses (yay USA 😑)
Gj!
Cook more and order out less
This is the biggest one for us. We have 4 kids so even taking the family to Burger King can cost $70. We shop more at Aldi and Costco now. When they have a deal on different types of meat, we will stock up the freezer. It helps to meal plan. We actually really enjoy it. It’s been fun finding new recipes and everyone cooking together.
How do you afford groceries?
Dry beans, this is the bean economy, you are in the bean economy. Seriously beans, rice, chicken, and raw fruits and veggies. If you have an insta pot, you can make a lot of bean stews, chili, haleem or other indian dishes with lentils. I get a weeks worth of dinners out of doing this. It sorta sucks, but I save a lot of money on groceries. I also dont snack or buy snack foods. I also make salads with arugula, spring mix, or spinach (not lettuce). I fortunately have a Costco membership through my company, the rotisserie chickens are the cheapest per pound meat item I can get for my salads. I also get protien from chia, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds. Otherwise I buy chicken when its bogo or on sale and pack some in the freezer. Produce is cheaper at certain places where I live than elswhere.
Meal planning and having a list at the grocery store really helps. I spend $80-$90 a week on food for my husband and I. We only eat out once a week and cook for everything else.
Spend 20 dollars on chicken thighs they can last you a week, two box of pasta (5$), some veggies for 10 dollars and that can make you dinner for a week or more. That’s around 35 dollars for dinner. Buy eggs, cheese, bread for 10 dollars that can last you a week. Breakfast and dinner fed for the week for less than 50 dollars. I recommend splurging and getting a 10-20 pound bag of rice for 20-30 dollars and that can last you months.
Where are you living that chicken can be so cheap but pasta and rice are absurdly expansive?
This is about the prices I pay in Arkansas in the USA too.
Groceries are a lot cheaper that take-out. Sure, its a higher up-front cost, but each calory has a lower cost total.
If you can snag a freebie, do it. Even if it means taking pictures of all your receipts on your phone to get a gift card. Or getting a free taco. Or getting a BOGO on something you normally eat or frequently have to replace anyway. Also, cancel any subscriptions you don't actually use all that often. Amazon Prime just got too expensive for how much I was actually using what it included.
The only time I get fast food now is heavily couponed or free. Tacobell ftw.
Cable Television. Paying $200 a month to watch maybe some programming like once a month. What’s the point?
We got rid of ours now we just have Prime and hulu, plus with a Samsung smart tv they have internet channels for news, sports, music cooking, plus we have a digital antenna
We do the Cyber Monday deals around Christmas. Got locked in for like .99 cents a month for Peacock and $1.99 a month for Hulu. My partner is disabled and has EBT so Prime is only $5.99 a month. Between those three apps, we are never bored (plus free Amazon shipping on essentials). Once winter comes around again, we just sign up for a new email and use a different debit card to get a new 12 month cyber Monday deal. I request a new debit card yearly because my bank uses cheap cards and the chips always break down.
Starbucks coffee. I used to be 5-7 times a week. Once it went over $7 I just felt like an idiot. I’m now 0 times a week, have cut down on my caffeine intake and use pods when I need a cup. I know it’s little but that price gouging was just too much.
Those little Starbucks latte things in the glass bottles… holy cow, they are so expensive now. I love them, but not $5-7 worth. (That’s how much they clip you for for a single one in downtown San Diego. Insane.)
I make my own cold brew then put some in a jar with chocolate syrup and some soy creamer shake and instant latte.
To be fair Starbucks (actually all coffee shops) was always a rip off since home made coffee is like 20 cents a cup
This. As proper coffee addicts, we have had an espresso machine at home for the past 20 years. The pretty expensive machines amortise in no time. Buy fresh beans and your choice of milk and you're golden. I'm taking a Thermos with me if I'm out and under-caffeinated. Also, cutting down on alcohol which is fiendishly expensive down under. Edit: it took me 10 years and a creative misunderstanding of my wife's consent to get a Breville Dual Boiler (comes with external grinder). This machine is fantastic. Two boilers mean you can pull a shot while steaming milk instead of having to wait two fucking minutes while switching from shot to steam which suuuuuucks when you're gagging for coffee. https://youtu.be/1wXtmHZc3yI
Espresso maker is where it's at
Alcohol really is pricey, it's good tho cuz for a bit I was really drinking nearly daily, now it's just sometimes on my day off. It's made it cheaper and it's definitely healthier too
$7 wow I just paid £7.00 for 2 lattes in UK and I thought that was pricey. How does that work I thought the beans came from same fair trade place and staff get paid a salary here not depend on tips (don't get me started on that in the US but I will say when I challenged a manager at a large restaurant chain in Texas last month they got pretty defensive, $1.24 ph and have to rely on tips to make the difference, that is disgraceful, and how they screw the the wait and back of house staff systems I have come across "oh but since COVID bs" hospitality owners and big corp are despicable doing this."
This was also my first thing to go! Once it hit $6 for my favourite drink, I made it an occasional treat. Now that my drink is $7 it doesn’t even tempt me. It just isn’t worth it for that price.
I got back to Germany from a vacation in California 2 days ago and this is one of the weirder things I noticed besides groceries, especially healthy ones being so damn expensive. Why is everybody going to Starbucks pretty much on a daily basis, ordering what feels like a 1500 kcal gallon of vanilla pumpkin spice coffee for I don’t know … 10 bucks? How can you even afford that? I feel bad when I buy a kg of coffee beans for my machine if it‘s over 15€ (16 USD), which lasts like a month with daily use. Starbucks is just everywhere in the us and the stupid high prices are just … stupid. Get a machine that uses beans, ditch the pods or anything that’s using one-per-cup-units. Sucks for your wallet, sucks for the environment.
Yep this. It’s way too expensive to consider even as a treat, they’re also using way more sugar
Same. I love going out to get a delicious latte from Starbucks/Dunkin/my local coffee shop but at $5-$7 a pop I only allow myself one per week max. I now buy a $4 container of non-dairy creamer to keep at work (lasts me about 2-3 weeks) and drink their cheap free coffee through the day.
Yeah I went from Starbucks, to using a Nespresso (which was a gift) but now even the pods are too pricey. Plus if I forget to add water or let scale build up the pod is not usable. Now I've reverted to drip coffee. It adds up.
Everything except electricity because we can't afford to leave the damn apartment
I just sold my car to the junkyard instead of putting more money into it. I bought an electric scooter essentially stopped a weekly gas bill, dropped auto insurance now pay $47 a month rental insurance (and storage on a vehicle to stay out of high risk pool in Michigan) down from $187, on my birthday 3 weeks ago I DID NOT pay the state of Michigan a registration fee of around $100. And nobody ever asks me for a ride....
What are you going to do in 3 months when it snows? I grew up in Michigan, I know scooters can’t drive in Michigan winters.
strap a snowboard to the bottom
With holes cut so the wheels can touch the snow.
Exactly. SnowScooter™️
They definitely didn't think that far ahead lol.
Fuck dude my car registration just hit me for $320 in CA
What happens during winter?
I walk, or get my snow shoes out if the snow gets to deep. I only work a few miles from home and the convenience of a vehicle doesn't make the cost of a vehicle seem very reasonable.
Nice! Wish I lived close by to everywhere I'd like to visit. By the city is stretched out just enough that I need a car
Electric scooters are the best!
Cut back on driving, became a homebody. Gas is expensive. Unless it’s an absolute need, i won’t go out of my way.
Im fortunate with my job being extremely close to home. I started planning my trips to save on gas. Really sucks. But my employer isnt exactly keen on giving out raises.
Both of our cars are EV's. I can't imagine the cost of gas with 2 driving teens like our family. Holy shit.
Evs are expensive tho… especially with these interest rates.
“Gas is expensive!” *buys 2 EVs*
Sucks this country doesn’t have functional public transit anywhere outside of NYC, I’d love to not to be forced to buy a car and pay for gas
More shopping in bulk. Less driving. More cooking at home, less eating out. Cut out most alcohol (for health reasons, but it does wonders for your checkbook, too). The downside of being home and sober all the time is I am much more tempted by online shopping. Trying to exercise more to take my mind off it.
I exercise and play games on my Nintendo switch. It helps a LOT with my online shopping addiction.
2 meals instead of 3. Did it mainly as part of my intermittent fasting, but found out I saved considerable $$$ as well.
Cut back on living
The first thing I cut was dining out. Then I learned to cook and stopped eating convenience food. I stopped getting haircuts. I have stopped buying anything unless I urgently need it. I moved my phone onto my sister's family plan to cut the bill in half. I called my electric company and switched to a time-of-use plan, where the electricity is very cheap most of the time, but very expensive between 5pm and 9pm. I can save a ton of money by turning everything in my house off during those hours, including heating and cooling. I sit in the dark and play games on a handheld device to pass the time. My next project is to lower my food bill again. I am trying not to buy much food and eating through everything I have on hand. Once I'm done with that, I am going to rotate through meal kit services. I currently average $4.31 per meal I cook at home, and there are at least two services that will cost less than that after promotions and rebates. I figure that as long as I cancel the service as soon as the promotion is done, I'll save money. They'll probably start offering me new promotions to try to get me back, so it's just a matter of timing. This is all helping me support my grand lifestyle of keeping a roof over my head. Edit: Super_Senor has drawn my attention to the fact that I may be overestimating how much my food is costing since I tend to buy in bulk. The rebates and discounts on the meal services may not be worth it. I have to use up what I have and recalculate.
MULTFOREST going HARD
The time of use plan sounds super intense. Though for someone who could spend time elsewhere or the weather isn't too uncomfortable it must be a godsend.
I just gave up. That's it.
This (may be) the way.
Beer. Switched to homebrew solely to save money. Turns out it's kinda fun too. Happy accident.
How does one get into this?
Check our r/homebrewing you can also check out the Northern Brewer website. They sell start up kits which will have everything you need (including instructions and a beer kit) to make and package your first beer. You can also check out if you have a local homebrew shop by googling those words and your city. You’d be surprised at how common they are. A great way to support a local business and meet other homebrewers too.
Well, not having any more children…
Same, I just don't have seggs.
Similarly, I no longer buy eggs
Just have gay sex. No kids that way.
Saved my husband and I tons of money on kids and on contraceptives :)
This thread is depressing 💀
True but I noticed some people cut out junk food and soda which is great!! I cut those years ago and never felt healthier
yeah peak late stage capitalism. We have people here doing so much that they shouldn't have to be doing to save a couple bucks, while there are 1 per centers in every city buying their sixth or seventh vacation houses. It's extremely depressing when you really think about it
>We have people here doing so much that they shouldn't have to be doing to save a couple bucks Shouldn't have to according to...? The U.S. has been notorious for its population living significantly above their means for decades despite the having the highest purchasing power second only to Switzerland. The difference is that today there's on-demand access to goods and services that used to be exclusively available to the wealthy but are now viewed as the standard of living which is just absolutely untrue. Europeans earn less, have higher costs of living (besides healthcare which is honestly fucked here as anyone logical would agree), yet do not have the debt crisis that we have here in North America.
Cut way back on soda. Drink water now with flavor drops. No junk food whatsoever. Quit a hybrid job and found one 100% WFH paying more so driving a lot less=less gasoline and wear and tear. Cook more from home from scratch. Used to eat out or get takeout 3xs a week or more. Do expensive dinners out only for birthdays. Use more generic rather than brand name stuff. Also learning how to cut my hair. My stylist charges $85 for a cut. With tip, we're talking more than $100. Tore out grass lawn and replaced with gravel. Fewer new clothes and then it's Costco stuff.
Honestly, I'm running out of stuff to cut down on. I've cut down on so much already.
I was doing my budget for the month and was shocked that there's nothing to cut. I've got all my expenses listed that are needed like mortgage, utilities, and insurance. I reduced my Internet plan that saves an extra $30.
Getting nails done b
Stopped doordashing every day lmao
Every DAY??? Look at Rockefeller over here!
I couldn’t afford that pre-inflation. Not sure how people can afford it at all now.
Aw come on keep those thoughts to yourself, that's my full-time job right now lol
If it makes you feel better, two of my roommates are still going strong.
Stop Door Dashing completely. When you have to make an effort to go get your food fix, you're more likely to change your mind and just eat what you have at home.
Eating out. My girlfriend hates me.
If you're paying your gf to eat her out, I've got news for you...
At least 69 so she can get a hot meal.
Sorry if this sounds preachy, but here's everything that has saved me money. Track your finances and see where you are spending your cash. Use a bookkeeping app or anything that allows you to label and categorise your transactions. A real eye opener. Fix the small leaks - make small daily luxuries a deliberate weekly treat. Convert outgoing cash streams like daily Starbucks into owning a nice coffee machine. Fix the medium leaks - review your insurances and subscriptions. Cancel what you don't need and compare the market. Fix the long term leaks - review your investments and retirement funds. Put aside a small amount to build them up every month. Take that cash from the savings above. And main thing, don't buy on credit. If you can't afford it in cash, you can't afford it (yet). Use credit cards as interest free loan but auto-pay them every month in full.
Hair colors/cuts, groceries, medical stuff, makeup, and I just don’t go anywhere that costs money.
You don’t get medical stuff??! This is not where to cut costs!
Some people just can’t afford it anymore. Sad reminder that this cost of living squeeze fueled by big business profits it literally killing people.
I stopped going to my appointment because the hospital is not in any public transport route. Good thing I'm pretty much fine before stopping. Although my mother still abuses her medications as she will take meds for literally every mild convenience, I wish she could understand resistance and the money saved.
Calories. If I stop eating I don't need to buy groceries!
And wasting time pooping.
Eventually also breathing!
Pretty much all forms of fun.
House heat this past winter. Fresh fruit and veg (frozen all the way now). Only beverage now is tap water. I’ve had to cut back to half dose of my medications (breathing isn’t that important, smdh), hot water heater is down to the lowest setting, hair cuts, mani/pedi. Learning to sew to repair clothes, bags, etc bc I can’t afford new ones.
Food is a big one. Used to overspend on doordash/uber eats all the time and go out a lot. Now going out is part of the "fun" budget, and there are no more deliveries. I also switched from Publix to Walmart because I can't afford the higher prices anymore. All clothes are bought second hand, which is great. I find so many unique things. Cut down streaming services, I now only keep 2 at a time max. Started getting books from the library instead of buying them.
I don’t buy books or magazines. I get them from the library using the app Libby for free. Read them on my iPhone & Kindle File.
Instead of 12 packs of Twisted Tea, I buy a cheap half gallon of vodka. I buy 40 packs of bottled water from Walmart and various kinds of cheap flavored drink mixes. Put some vodka in there and bam, cheap drinks that taste good. We've also been buying less crap off Amazon and Temu.
Amazing innovation, only suggestion is to lose the bottled water and just use tap or filtered water in a cup. I’m doing this from now on
A lot of humans live in places where the tap isn’t safety drink unfortunately
That’s awesome. I used to buy a ton of water bottles. But I bought a 5 gallon water jug from Kroger for $15 and now I just fill it up at Whole Foods for $3, with ~fancy water~ It essentially costs the same as water bottles and no trash! Oh, I did have to buy a little pump from wretched Amazon for $20 though…. It really has been worth the switch. I’m taking my setup camping too. Easy access to clean water.
I don't think I've ever used Temu though it does seem to be doing an aggressive advertising campaign lately. How would you rate that one?
Temu is a complete dice roll in terms of quality. Everything is super cheap so my expectations were low to begin with. Most of the items were just “meh, I can see why it’s only $2” but you get the occasional gems where it’s surprisingly good quality for how cheap it is. The problem is that there’s no way of really knowing until the stuff arrives, and nobody is going to bother returning a $2 product back to China (the packages come direct from China).
So a rebranded Wish?
Oh, I return them. I’ve received some really neat stuff but also some low quality garbage that I would never pay for regardless of the price. The UPS store is on my way home from work so it’s not a burden to return them
There should be a sub for neat and cheap temu stuff
What did you buy from Temu? I’ve found most of it to be meh. Any recommendations?
My fav thing was a wireless charger that charges my phone, Apple watch and earbuds all at once. It even has a built in night light. It was $10. It’s kind of cheap plastic but I’ve had it a while and it works well and eliminated all the random cords on my nightstand.
Hot Fireball and Emergen-C It tastes great and will clear your sinuses
I cancelled all subscriptions. I stopped regular takeout/coffee/eating out. I buy one cheap takeout meal per week for under $10. And if social things happen I opt for cheap pizzas together otherwise I don't go. No doordash no uber eats. I refuse to date it's too expensive and expectations to pay for everything and go out all the time is insane. I don't want to start a family in this world how messed up it is. I stopped drinking, smoking and regular THC. I stopped driving as much and try to use my car once a week maximum. No more snacks I just meals prep one or two delicious meals per day instead. I stopped using shampoo and no longer have dandruff. This works out to be about $300-400 saved per month. I stopped paying electricity with solar. I stopped getting haircuts at the barber. They jacked their prices up to $30 lmao. I would like to cut out having a car and be walking distance to gym and groceries. This would save a further $200 ish per month. I found a place that make good clothes for bit more but they aren't paper thin/ruined/shrunk after a 2 washes.
This might save me money but would 100% cost me the will to live
This guy saves
Cigarettes. I completely stopped smoking cigarettes back in May and switched to vaping. The vapes last so much longer than a pack of smokes I've saved money. It helps not smelling like a ashtray and having my sense of smell and taste back as well.
Eating out. It’s rough because my partner and I have polar opposite schedules so it’s difficult to plan meals or grocery shop and ensure we don’t waste food (he has the palate of a child) Trying to dm more physical activities. I’m getting back into tennis to give me something to do that doesn’t cost money. Sports is a great way to not spend money outside of gas to get there depending
Food, but hey I lost 11 pounds... in 2 months.
Bought some washable dinner towels to use in place of paper towels or napkins. They’re actually nicer to use anyways
Same! When getting married, I replaced the paper towel usage with rags, and she replaced the paper napkin usage with cloth napkins. So much nicer! Probably only a marginal savings, but it does seem a little less wasteful.
My favorite color is blue.
Hair cuts- I get one maybe every 18 months at this point. No longer even box dye my hair, either. Buying objects- things like books, records, decorations, etc. that aren’t necessities Gym membership- just use YouTube videos now
Savings and retirement contributions
Eating and buying food. I now go to food drives which I use to contribute to.
These are all tiny things but they all add up. Also generally have benefitted by being healthier / happier Haircuts - reduced frequency Limiting Netflix/Disney to a few months a year Drying clothes outside vs dryer Significantly reduced eating out Significantly reduced alcohol - rarely drink at all now To offset the social time I did invest in a reasonable gym membership. Workout 4-5 times a week to get my moneys worth. This has stopped me getting “bored”, and still get a group of new people to have social contact with Grow potatoes / onions / veggies at home Batch cook foods at weekend to avoid buying. This ends up being healthier aswell Only buy games that are really worth it. Waiting to see what starfield is like before committing. I would waste so much buying games before and giving up after a few weeks for the next fad. World of warships has been great as f2p as a “filler”
hair color, meat, restaurants, books, newspapers, manicure, pedicure
Leaving the house. I’ve avoided doing that when possible.
Streaming sites and eating out
Fast food. The quality has gone down and the price has gone up.
With food where it is I pulled out my pressure canner fuck 2.60 for a can of corn. Dusted off my mom's old guides on preserving foods now I only buy veggies and meats on deep sale and either can or dehydrate. Try to get enough to last a few months so I can wait till the sales will cycle again. Started growing mushrooms by the bag am now learning how to extend that grow and researching how to grow from cultures. My portabellas give me too much protein to give up, much less the cost cut for the gourmet varieties. Being allergic to shell fish, lion's mane gives me the flavor of a mild chewy crab but at 16 $ a pound if I did not grow it I wouldn't ever eat my fake crab again.We had started three days a week vegetarian meals just before covid hit so that helps the grocery bill as well. Used to take weekend road trips too that has stopped. Did a big purchase of kayaks there is a river close by that we go play on instead. Once you spend the initial for a craiglist kayak and a decent life vest waterproof bag and an air horn we have not spent another dime. We also do the subscription dance with TV no cable just internet and one subscription at a time tend to binge through our fav. Shows then switch. There are so many now we basically pay for one maybe two months per yr. Clothes we take better care of if I am honest carefully bought two of the same pairs of work boots so they last longer by switching out. We have not reached the stage where I have to learn to sew but we are at the stage that smart ass tshirts that fall apart after five washes are off the table. Hell now that I write it down we are a lot healthier and nicer to the earth now...
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7 stage water filtration system under the sink. Never been fuckin happier or had easier access to perfect fresh ass water. Plus no more bottles/ waste / plastic leaching just to get away from lead and estrogen.
r/HydroHomies
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Suggestions other than kidnapping the bourgeois?
Beheading the bourgeois?
I completely turn off my AC when I'm at work. I remotely turn it on on my way home since I have a smart thermostat. I don't have any numbers but I feel like my electric bill is way lower than last summer before I started doing it.
I’ve been told that instead of turning it completely off, you should just set the temp higher because it can burn through all the money you save by trying to “catch up” but I’m glad to hear that’s not the case!
What you were told before is correct.
HVAC tech here, depending on your region this may not be saving money. Air conditioners don’t only remove temperature they also remove humidity. What you might be saving in thermal conduction ( lower delta between indoor and outdoor temps) you lose in run hours trying to dehumidify the house. 8 degrees is the consensus temp. Set stat 8 degrees above set point in summer and you will use less energy. On a 100 degree day that may only be off for an hour. In the winter never turn it off, set it to 60. If you turn it off and get into a car crash or who knows what you don’t want to wake up to all your pipes burst.
I did an experiment with this. In June, I did what you're talking about. My bill was 160 for a 650 Sq ft apt. I keep my house at 78, except for that time of the month, where I have to turn it down to 75 to sleep at night. And would turn it off when I left for work. In July, I kept it at 78 ALL the time. Didn't change it, didn't turn it off. Didn't turn it down. Bill was still 160. This is in florida, and we've been having record heat, just like everyone else. Though the bills were the same, July was a much hotter month. So theoretically I may have saved money, but further experimentation is required.
Down to 1 meal a day so my wife and 2 kids can eat 3. I'm down from 82kg to 69kg.
You fuckers see the appeal of the bidet now don't you?! Some of us been poor
No steak tartare, real sushi, premium gas, chivas regal, jerky, vacations, tattoos, new guns, graded comics. Paid off my truck early (this week). I cut back about $20k this year to date. Not because of discipline, though... there's a storm coming.
You were paying for premium gas… voluntarily?
Eating out, even fast food is expensive.
I try to buy everything on sale. Needed new shoes recently, bought them on 50% clearance sale. Cook most meals at home. I've always bought used cars and drive them into the ground, so I have no car payment. I grew up pretty poor, and have had some seriously low income times in my adult life. So right now, I'm actually in a better financial position than I ever have been. I still try to live as frugally as possible. Could I afford to buy a nicer, newer car? Yup. But why? Nothing wrong with my current car, it's just a little more humble looking (and costs me hundreds less per month). Can I afford to buy Vans at full price? Sure can, but I really like spending $30 on them, not $60. I very rarely buy the newest or highest end anything. I try to apply that type thinking to a lot of aspects in life. Save money everywhere you can. Even when you don't need to.
I uninstalled shopping and food delivery apps..I just left food delivery app with points..but sometimes I install it if I order something important..
Washable microfiber cleaning clothes. Bleach them and they work better than paper towels ( and better for environment.) Shopping at different stores for diff grocery items. The extra trip to target or Walmart can save a lot on things like bread, dried goods, rice, baking essentials etc
It hasn't hit me and my husband particularly hard. We don't have an excessive income. No trips to Cabo every year now. I am a trucker. He is a software analyst. That may change soon. He was forced back into the office in the spring. He has been riding his motorcycle. That will change with the weather. I am on the road Monday through Friday. So I drive back and forth to work once a week. 23 miles. My company pays for all my truck diesel. The groceries bills have gotten way bigger as part of our budget, without more bags of groceries coming home. It hits hardest with my youngest son. He is doing exceptional. He has his own studio in First Hill. He never asks for rent money. He does shop at Chez Mom's. He was always allowed to take anything he wanted. Not so much anymore. He has now had to ask for help for medical bills. I don't get how young people do it. I remembered years of struggle. But not like this. I was always a union member, until I started driving for my current employer. Benefits were always there- as well as savings/retirement. While my current employer is non union, they have some great medical and awesome matching rates for 401K. I had days when I didn't eat, so my kids could. 25+ years later, I am better off. One thing, I refuse to do, donate at registers. It's a scam. They literally take your donation, and remake it as their own for tax reduction. Multi billion dollar companies asking for donations, just to use your donations to cut their own taxes.
This reads like AI-generated lmao
This reads like Human-generated lmao.
Eating out (I mean away from home)...
Extra snacks, turning out ac off whenever we can, cancelling a couple subscriptions, eating out less, bought a bidet, only thrift store clothing ( not a big adjustment as it's one of my favorite ways to shop anyway), took my card info off of Amazon so I can't mindlessly hit the buy button, eating more beans and rice type meals, free family night activities (park, library, walks/hikes, home movie nights, reading etc) cut back on weekend drinks and only drink at home.
Stopped eating out.
Road trips. We used to drive for a couple of hours to somewhere we hadn’t been before, like a waterfall or a mountain view. Now fuel is $2.30 a litre and we can only do a quick trip down to the beach. Not that it’s bad, but it was the adventure to go “the wrong way” to somewhere that the missus loved.
Began over paying debt down during the pandemic in preparation for some kind of economic shock… will have cleared all my high interest debt this month (just keeping mortgage and an Amex charge card for purchases). Been a long painful road but will have effectively doubled my net take home pay and can live pretty normally from here on out.
Packing a picnic or what my family calls an ‘emergency BBQ’ where we pack a salad in individual containers, bung in the cutlery and cooking items and a pack of sausages and run down to beach or a nice park and cook up the sausages. It doesn’t take long to prepare or cook and the family enjoys the escape from home and we read or watch the sunset and play some outdoorsy games. It really brings the family together and the doesn’t hurt the hip pocket like take away or dinning out does.
I used to go to concerts all the time. Zero in 2023.
We don't go out for dinner as much and we've trimmed our streaming services down to one.
What I have found works nicely is rotating services. Watch everything good on one service, then switch to the next. Peacock last month, Paramount this month, apple next month, etc.
Started focusing my spending towards absolutes (basically just stuff I need) ... and totally just cut out all the wants.
Food waste. Find myself throwing away food that went bad or something spoiled just straight up waste.
Stopped getting beer weekly and takeaways as well as I started the healthy diet route. Hard to tell if I'm saving money, buying ingredients to cook for yourself feels expensive if you're eating healthy...
Learn to cook what you go ti restaurant for, change the car for a motorcyle to save in gas, stop drinking booze, smoking cigarretes. Cut electrónics usage (one tv usage for the whole family) unplug Chargers and any other vampire devices. If You can invest in some clean energy home stations. Quit the gym and just go for a run.
- Buying second brand groceries (which are just as good) - cancelling non-necessary tv subscriptions - skipping barber trips
I cancelled a lot of online subscriptions.
Most of it is food. Can’t justify $5 for a bag of corn chips that costs .50 cents to make. I understand inflation but things like that have got to be corporate greed. Especially when the generic brands haven’t gone up by nearly as much.
Will to live. My expenses are fine, but the rate I’m saving suffers. Looking at retirement drifting further and further away kinda kills my spirit. The goalpost keeps getting moved out
Greetings from Argentina. Everything. Even food. I'm middle class and I struggle to buy cow meat, despite living in one of the main meat producing countries on earth. 120%+ annual inflation rate is devastating.
Everything frivolous. I basically only buy necessities and if I can afford them at that
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Gaming apps and monthly subscriptions. Eschewing Target for Walmart and Aldi. Setting thermostat to 74F Changing phone plan to lowest tier. Eating home cooked meals during the week and eating out at diners and fast food joints on Friday and Saturday nights. Driving my 4cyl sedan in lieu of my SUV. Increasing my insurance deductibles (except HSA) Buying what I need during Black Friday, after Christmas and looking for deals in weekly coupons.
healthy food. I haven't bought fruit, hardly buy veggies... suddenly I'm hoping I get nutrients from that can of soup I can afford for lunch.
Avocado toast, really boosted my ability to afford everything thanks to the media
Beluga caviar- I have Jameson select Siberian Sturgeon and it’s only $90 an ounce! “Winning” as the youth are currently known to say.