Financial Crisis belt tightening tips

[Drazzil]

So, with the economy everyone seems to be in, what have you done to tighten the belt?

Personally I lost a sales job I had in March of 09. Since then I have dedicated myself to going to school full time at Cal Poly Pomona. I am six months away (knock on wood) from graduating with an International Business Management/Marketing dual major degree. These last three months have been extremely hard for me as I lost seven thousand dollars in aid for the upcoming year due to a Financial Aid screwup. They fixed it but by that time all the money had been given out. I will have to take some loans to make ends meet.

Since I discovered this I have done the following:

1. I have quit buying cigars. I am smoking stuff that I would have sold or given away and or doesn't appeal to me as much. Sure they're yard-gars, and I would rather be smoking something else, but meh! Needs always proceed wants. I am now much more careful about my cigar buying habits. I buy almost no new cigars.

2. I have cut my Netflix subscription from six disks at a time to three. This has taken my bill from sixty dollars a month to 35.

3. I have quit eating out almost entirely. I now make my own lunches for an 80% savings. A 150-200 dollar a month bill has shrunk to 25-50 a month.

4. I have suspended Direct TV. I don't miss it.

5. I do a lot more of my grocery shopping at Costco. I have a Costco business credit card in which I get 1% cash back, or 4% on gasoline. I have an executive card which pays an ADDITIONAL 2% at the end of the year. I can buy in bulk and plan my meals weeks ahead.

6. I have cut my "discretionary" spending by around 90%. I ask myself "do I REALLY need this?" I wait two weeks before I pull the trigger.

With these tips I have cut my total spending by almost 50%. I am suffering a bit, but I simply don't have a choice.

The one area I have not reduced much spending in is my local cigar shop. Because of familial issues involved in taking care of a mentally and physically ill mother (mainly stress and relationship issues) I drive around 40 miles round trip each day to go spend time at my shop. This is the closest shop to me.

This, I am thinking is going to be the next thing drastically reduced, meaning this is probably the next thing to go, or be significantly reduced.

I have done calculations and I can save around 250 dollars a month in gasoline and cigar costs if I just stay at home or go to the library instead.

So, what have you done?

[icehog3]

Buying less cigars.

Cancelled at least one travel herf this year.

Researching less expensive cell phone options.

Eating out less.

[Ratters]

Yep, stopped buying cigars. Was still buying a couple locally but now that has to stop. No more events for me for awhile.

Really trying to cut back the food budget, buying just staples. As well, trying not to eat out.

I used to spend a lot of my money on my students, I'm stopping that. Sorry kids.

Cut out a lot of extra stuff. No more motorcycle trackdays for awhile. I had one last weekend soley because it was a wedding gift.

Got the cell phones on a family plan.

Thinking about cutting cable, save about $100 a month, but I'd really miss it.

Selling off some more guns.

Worse comes to worse, sell the truck, though I REALLY don't want to do that.

Ugh.

[awsmith4]

When we cut our cable to the basic 13 channels we were surprised to learn that because we had a HDTV we actually got all the network channels in HD. Between network TV and Netflix we never run out of stuff to watch.

Something else we did was started shopping fr different car insurance. While this is not typical we are now saving about $1,000 a year after we left Allstate and went to State Farm.

[KidRock]

I had to really tight my budget because Im back in school

1) No 711
2) No more cigars
3) I do not go to the store unless I need something
4) Use the computer alot less
5) I wait untill I need a haircut
6) I buy the cheapest Chit possible
7) Herf only once a year in Cinnci

[wayner123]

To those of you going back to school, is this a fully paid/funded for education? Or have there been loans, grants, etc?

[TripleF]

Only eat out once a year....

Don't rent any movies.....

Have the cheapo cell phone plane.....

Don't have to pay for trash or water (included in rent)

Willing to smoke "deals"

[jaymz]

1) less cigar purchases
2) less eating out for lunch @ work
3) cut the cable and internet bill .. from $120/mo to $60/mo
4) switched to vonage phone
5) I have no debt, other than mortgage, so making extra payments on my mortgage has saved interest.
6) cut my air conditioning, put a couple fans in windows instead. i just received a $250 credit from the electric company when they read my meter, because they estimated my usage to high
7) netflix is on my list to cut
8) i've been cooking meals myself to cut down on going out to eat for dinner.

[bobarian]

Dropped Starbucks for Trader Joe's beans.

[J0eybb]

Canceled my cable,
no phone,
I'd have prepaid phone if my wife didn't "need" her phone.
I try to bring lunch to work.
My wants, only get bought if they are needed.

[maverickdrinker]

starting to cut down on cigar spending
eating out a lot less; playing sports or going to the gym to relieve stress
gonna quit smoking cigarettes on Sept 7th
not buying any casual or business clothes; have enough to last me a long time
dining in with friends vs going out for dinner
adapting a 'do I really need it?' when making purchases

This is more self imposed vs due to the economy. After looking at what I can save in insurance premiums and losses in the portfolio, I figured this is a good time to pare down the lifestyle in case something happens.

[darkleeroy]

If you're a cig smoker, cutting those out is one of the best things you can do financially. If you're a pack every two day smoker you save yourself about $90 a month, ($6*15 times a month). Which is about $1080 a year, and may be priceless in the future.

If you enjoy daily cigar smoking, try the pipe. A $12 tin in a $5 dollar cob pipe will last you half a month.

Likewise, pb and j goes a long way compares to a daily fast food lunch.

Finally, if you can walk to it, don't think about taking the car.