What could you do without if you had to cut spending?

Cable television.

But I'd slice my wrists if I hadda give up my Internet....

Prostitutes.

cable would be the first to go
the thing I have the hardest time curtailing when the budget is tight is eating out-but it could be a significant chunk.
and wine, I could trim my grocery budget a tad by eliminating alcohol.
already do my own yardwork, skip the manicures, rarely have lattes. guess I could cut Netflix too-yikes.

Since moving, I no longer get my hair professionally cut or colored, we didn't have television for a year (we recently got a satellite), we don't go out to eat, I don't buy new clothes... you find ways to adapt.

I used to get coffee+breakfast on the way to work and eat lunch out most days--now I'm raisin bran + brown bagging it. I'm doing a lot more library and a lot less amazon. I pretty much stopped buying DVDs altogether.

Also I'm pimping out my beagle.

Upbeat said:

Based on the basic necessities of food, water, clothing, and shelter,

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I'd argue that, while necessities, food and clothing are two areas in which most people can save money without going without.

I won't go into the food thing, since there's an entire thread dedicated to it in the Food forum. But for clothing, the prices people pay for a label just boggles my mind. Sixty bucks for a pair of jeans? Hit the thrift stores and you can find the same jeans for five dollars. Rummage sales and thrift stores are great places to find cheap, name brand clothes, and often in like-new condition. Clearance racks in factory outlets are also good sources.

Personally, I just don't splurge on luxuries. I don't have an iPod, a plasma TV, an awesome new cell phone, or eat out every week.

I'd cut video rentals completely and limit buying DVD's or boxed sets to blow-out sales only. As it is, I can go to the flea market and buy VHS copies of movies I've never seen for a buck, rather than rent the DVD for $4. And then I can resell it, so no money lost.

Television. Actually, we don't have one in our place right now, though that's a probably going to be a temporary, summer thing, so we're not buying DVDs or renting movies either.

We haven't turned on our air yet this summer, and if I want my toenails painted, I do it myself.

But eating out, going to an occasional movie, vacations, frappucinos... these things are all still part of our life and could go.

I'm saving a lot on groceries these days since the area we recently moved to doesn't have a handy Whole Foods (a weakness of mine), but I could cut even further since we eat a lot of fresh produce (which I try to do cheaply, but not always) and manage to go through things like olive oil and balsamic vinegar at an alarming rate (not to mention yummy cheeses). Wine could go too I suppose.

When we moved last month, I tried two weeks without internet and nearly lost my mind. But I got a ton accomplished on my WIP.

I'm out of stuff to do without.

But I'm so very glad that "the experts", whomever in hell they are, think that I have a flatscreen tv, cable, and spend my days having others cut my hair and attend to my feet while I drink grande lattes from Starbuck's. Yeah.

Don't get me started on this topic! I'm one of those who feels that Americans are spoiled and have the "I'm owed something" mentality. The new phrase, "We've become a nation of whiners," is true. People complain about having to cut back and think they're being deprived. There are lots of ways people can cut back on expenses if they think about it and are honest with themselves. I created a list of over 50 ways people can save money. Most of them are ways you don't read in your typical magazine article because I don't think many people really want to do what it takes to save money.

I'd post the list here, but the last time I posted specific and substantial information like that, several people took the information and used it in articles they wrote for magazines and got paid for it. All I got was ripped-off.

Take my word for it, the list of ways you can save money is almost endless... it's more a matter of asking, "Am I willing to do what it takes to save money?"

I'm not a cheapskate but I'm in a time of saving money by cutting back expenses. My friends can't believe how much I've cut back. They think it's past the point of deprivation but that's because they have a consumer mentality. Even in all of my frugality, there are still ways I could save even more money. If the economy gets any worse, I'll be taking those extra steps.

If I had to, I could cut everything. I could get food from the food bank, live in a shelter, wear the clothes that were donated to me...if I had to.

Do I win? Is this a contest?

I could live in a smaller house, in an area where the temps didn't go too high or too low. (No need to have a heater or AC) I could grow most of my own food, have chickens for eggs, and drive a small car. (Electric maybe?) I could have my own compost pile to put trash that decomposes, and have solar panels to offset the energy I use. I would actually LOVE to live like that.

I wouldn't need television, but I would still need my computer and internet access. (I'd miss you guys if I didn't have the intertube!)

I could give up watermelon Jelly Belly jelly beans if I had to but..

Richard

robeiae said:

Prostitutes.

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Robeiae's prostitutes. I hear they're very expensive

robeiae said:

Prostitutes.

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Really? You willing to spend those lonely evenings with the wifey, eh?

I could also do without Spooky.

robeiae said:

I could also do without Spooky.

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That's not what you said during the last oil crisis.

I'm one of those who has pretty much cut what I can. I've colored my own hair for years. Only get it cut every 4-6 months. Do my own nails. I've always tried to conserve gas by doing all my errands at once instead of going out 4 or 5 different times and things like that. We've only had 2 real vacations in 17 years. We only really buy new clothes when ours have pretty much worn out or if there's a special occasion.Geez...

So when we had financial problems a couple a years ago, we got the $12 basic cable service just to get better reception than rabbit ears, we dropped all our extra features on the phone so when people call they might actually get a busy signal.

There's more I could cut out if I had to. But I think that by doing all these things on my own for all these years helps save up for when times are really tough. I'm a person who knows I can live sparsely if I have to. I'm not one who really cares about keeping up with the Joneses, etc... I don't have to have the biggest house or the biggest car to make me feel important

We do eat out occasionally which I could totally cut out. I could stop buying books (gasp)

I will not, however, go without internet. No way man.

soleary said:

Robeiae's prostitutes. I hear they're very expensive

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Maybe he should switch to cheap whores and save a few dollars?

I'm trying to cut back, but all I seem to be doing is spending more and getting less. Everything has gone up so much in the past year or so that if I could spend what I did only twelve months ago, I'd save plenty of dough and have far more bang for my buck than I do now.

The grocery stores alone are killing me. Meat and fish are up more than fifty percent from last year. Sure, I could save a few dollars here and there and buy more Hamburger Helper and crap like that, but I don't skimp when it comes to feeding my family. They eat well and will continue to do so until I go broke...

Silver King said:

Maybe he should switch to cheap whores and save a few dollars?

I'm trying to cut back, but all I seem to be doing is spending more and getting less. Everything has gone up so much in the past year or so that if I could spend what I did only twelve months ago, I'd save plenty of dough and have far more bang for my buck than I do now.

The grocery stores alone are killing me. Meat and fish are up more than fifty percent from last year. Sure, I could save a few dollars here and there and buy more Hamburger Helper and crap like that, but I don't skimp when it comes to feeding my family. They eat well and will continue to do so until I go broke...

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Or buy less expensive condoms?

I'm not feeling the effects too badly since I live alone and have a decent income. But I do cut back on the expensive booze when a lesser brand has a good sale. Oh, and I started importing contraband smokes because they're way too expensive here.

Silver King said:

. Meat and fish are up more than fifty percent from last year.

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You need to switch from catching tarpon to snook.

Give a man a fish--feed him for a day
Teach a man to fish and he has to buy a $1200 rod and reel, a $60000 boat, $50 worth of bait, $300 in fuel, $200 in beer...

Richard

SpookyWriter said:

Oh, and I started importing contraband smokes because they're way too expensive here.

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We tried that here too but the DEA didn't think to kindly about it.

Richard

Seaclusion said:

We tried that here too but the DEA didn't think to kindly about it.

Richard

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The DEA is in on the cut. Just saying...

Siddow said:

If I had to, I could cut everything. I could get food from the food bank, live in a shelter, wear the clothes that were donated to me...if I had to.

Do I win? Is this a contest?

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Yep! You win!

Seaclusion said:

You need to switch from catching tarpon to snook...

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Hell, I can barely afford to fish these days, and when I do, I stay close to port to save on fuel. I've gone out less this year than at any other time I can remember since owning a boat. Lucky for the fish, eh?

I love the sweet taste of snook, but I stopped keeping them long ago, along with reds and trout and the rest of 'em. Well, except for grouper and snapper, which I have no qualms taking for table fare. (Fresh grouper is close to twenty dollars per pound in my area, more expensive than filet mignon. Never thought I'd see that in my lifetime.)