By zedkitty
on Mar 06, 2008  

i am beginning to use freecycle a lot more, instead of purchasing everything...i prefer brand new, but my husband's hours were just cut back by 20%

By w_cathy97327
on Mar 07, 2008  

My spending was low before due to financial circumstances, and now we're doing even more to try and keep to the budget.

By marylizusa
on Mar 07, 2008  

With all going up and up (insurance,taxes,gas,commodities) NO-ONE can really afford to retire these days unless you are plain rich. I feel so sorry for the people who are going into forclosure. Most of them got led down the path of destruction by greedy builders and mortgage brokers. (not to mention their own egos. ) what makes people think that they have to have such big homes and such?

By idamomma622
on Mar 07, 2008  

With the price of things rising (except for housing and we all know about that) i.e. gas, food, clothing...pepole should be getting comperable c.o.l.a. raises. how is .10 or .14 an hour extra going to help pay the rising cost of living, eating, staying warm/cool or driving anywhere? p.s. i think SAHM's should be getting paid as well. :)

By idamomma622
on Mar 07, 2008  

What really gets wasted is food. The news did a story the other day about this guy who goes to grocery stores in the area and gets the food they are going to throw away (like dents in cans or day old bread stuff like that) and then gives it to people who really need it. Anyway they said that like 98 billion pounds of useable food are thrown out every year (at least i think it was year)

By jackntip
on Mar 07, 2008  

My husband is retired and we live on his income. He has stock and we are concerned if our income will continue with stock going down every day. If it keeps going down we will really watch what we spend!

By grandmom9
on Mar 07, 2008  

I do not consider myself a "spendy" person to begin with as I try to shop the sales, but I will probably need to see if there are corners to cut if the economy worsens.

By Vanners
on Mar 07, 2008  

I think whether you have a stable job or not, everyone should curb their spending habits. I understand the concept of "work hard, play hard" but nothing nowadays is a guarantee. Even if the job is stable, you will definitely be spending more on the everyday necessities. Consider it smart shopping, not being a cheapie. Why pay $40 for the shirt that will end up on the sales rack for $15 (sometimes much less) two weeks later! (and this example is shopping at Ann Taylor, not some kiddie store like Forever 21) It's not a bad idea to curb spending habits. :) but if you have the money - hey, more power to you - I'm jealous :)

By uhmyasmin
on Mar 07, 2008  

I haved curbed my spending habits by choosing more store brands, I have also started "Meatless Mondays" for dinner, (we can all eat less meat) and 6 and 7 yr old didnt complain. I have also made the switch to 1% milke as it is cheaper, again nobody noticed. So you can also make a gain out of something that not so good!!

By minpin3G
on Mar 07, 2008  

When the leaders of our country dont even know how much a gallon of gasoline costs, we are in big trouble. I travel 80 miles one way to work. Luckily my husband works at the same place so we only have one vehicle expense per week and we work four ten hour days, so that helps. But since the cost of fuel keeps escalating, we have to keep cutting elsewhere. The cost of food is also causing cutbacks elsewhere in the budget. I dont know how many more cuts we can stand. I use a lot of coupons, and search the net for freebies and extra savings when I can get them. If our leaders would balance their budgets, and try being a little thriftier like the rest of the nation, maybe some of our friends and loved ones could keep their jobs and their homes, because there would be more help available for them.