1. High-end clothing and accessories 2. Subscription boxes 3. Cable TV 4. Netflix / Hulu / VOD 5. Going out to eat 6. Leisure travel
This is my top six. The others things I wouldn't cut until I was desperate. Then I'd get rid of our third car. Since it's paid off, it doesn't cost us that much each year. And I'd keep Amazon Prime so we could try to order things cheaper and have some source of streaming entertainment after cutting netflix and cable
Housekeeper High-speed internet More cars than meets your household's minimum requirement for necessity Disposable toilet paper (lol) College savings Emergency savings Other savings 401(K) contributions Amazon Prime membership
Have - would cut in the following order: Subscription boxes Going out to eat Doggy daycare High-end makeup (dept. store vs. drugstore, say) Amazon Prime membership Cable TV Netflix / Hulu / VOD High-speed internet (DH needs to WFH) Other savings Disposable toilet paper (lol) Emergency savings 401(K) contributions
Easy to cut, don't do much, if ever: Leisure travel Manicure/pedicure Hairdresser - blowouts
Don't have: Housekeeper Nanny/around the clock and/or live in childcare Private school Organic groceries High-end clothing and accessories College savings
Recently got rid of, partially due to cost: More cars than meets your household's minimum requirement for necessity
Doggy Daycare- I don't have a dog so that's easy! Travel Housekeeper Nanny Cars Sub Boxes Private School- I'm a public school teacher- easy choice Organic Groceries Make Up Clothes Hairdresser Mani/Pedi Cable Netflix Internet Amazon Prime Going out to Eat College Savings Other Savings 401(k) E Savings Toilet Paper
Have - would cut in the following order: High-end makeup (dept. store vs. drugstore, say) Going out to eat Cable TV Leisure travel Organic/expensive groceries High-speed internet Other savings 401(K) contributions Emergency savings Disposable toilet paper
Easy to cut, don't do much, if ever: Doggy daycare Manicure/pedicure Hairdresser - I go to a higher end salon, so if I had to cut, I could go someplace cheaper High-end clothing and accessories - I have fairly nice clothes and shoes, but not super high end or anything, but I could cut back here easily if I needed to.
Housekeeper (I only use occasionally anyway) Amazon Prime membership Netflix / Hulu / VOD Organic groceries High-speed internet (I can live with just my phone) Other savings Going out to eat Leisure Travel More cars than meets your household's minimum requirement for necessity (We honestly could live quite well on no cars but I don't want to) 401(K) contributions Disposable toilet paper (lol) Private school (YES ITS THAT IMPORTANT FOR MY KIDS).
STUFF I DO NOT HAVE/WANT/NEED:
Cable TV (I'm boycotting Comcast) Nanny/around the clock and/or live in childcare (I SAH) Subscription boxes (Not interested in these at all) High-end makeup (dept. store vs. drugstore, say) (Not my thing) High-end clothing and accessories (I SAH, I can live indefinitely on what I already own) Hairdresser - blowouts (I have a salon phobia anyway) Manicure/pedicure (I bite my nails & don't care about feet) Doggy daycare (I SAH with my pets too) College savings (Taken care of) Emergency savings (Taken care of)
Netflix / Hulu / VOD Cable TV Amazon Prime membership Leisure travel Organic groceries Other savings More cars than meets your household's minimum requirement for necessity Going out to eat High-speed internet College savings Emergency savings Private school 401(K) contributions Disposable toilet paper (lol)
Don't have/use/buy: Subscription boxes High-end makeup (dept. store vs. drugstore, say) High-end clothing and accessories Hairdresser - blowouts Manicure/pedicure Doggy daycare Housekeeper Nanny/around the clock and/or live in childcare
Things I have and that I would cut if push came to shove (in the order I would cut them): Amazon Prime membership Going out to eat College savings Leisure travel Other savings Emergency savings
Things I wouldn't cut: High-speed internet (hahaahhahahaha NO. This is my sanity) More cars than meets your household's minimum requirement for necessity (two are paid off, so it's not really necessary) Disposable toilet paper (once again... hahaha) 401(K) contributions (I'm not stupid)
Things I do not have: Housekeeper Cable TV Netflix / Hulu / VOD Nanny/around the clock and/or live in childcare Private school Organic groceries Subscription boxes High-end makeup (dept. store vs. drugstore, say) High-end clothing and accessories Hairdresser - blowouts Manicure/pedicure Doggy daycare
We don't even own a single car because we're city dwellers. I don't care about organic groceries (although you can pry fancy cheese from my cold, dead hands) and I've never used a subscription box. The first thing of the things I use that I'd cut would be cable. I just lived without internet for a few weeks and I was dying. I had internet on my phone still but working from home was extremely difficult let alone checking email, etc. Leisure travel would be the last thing to go (besides savings).
subscription boxes High-end makeup high-end clothing and accessories private school (because we have good public schools) Netflix/Hulu/VOD mani/pedi hairdresser-blowouts more cars than needed doggy daycare nanny housekeeper organic groceries cable internet college savings (because we have a different situation for this) Amazon Prime going out to eat leisure travel other savings emergency savings 401 K disposable toilet paper:)
The first half was easy because we don't have those things anyway. Then, it got a little more difficult!
I, uh, already don't have a lot of these. I'm not sure if that makes me better or worse of from the get go.
Manicure/pedicure Organic groceries Netflix Amazon Prime membership High-end makeup (dept. store vs. drugstore, say) High-end clothing and accessories Other savings Going out to eat Leisure travel Hairdresser Cable TV High-speed internet Emergency savings 401(K) contributions Disposable toilet paper
Amazon Prime membership #2 High-end makeup (dept. store vs. drugstore, say
Housekeeper
Doggy daycare
Netflix / Hulu / VOD
KEEP
College savings Emergency savings Other savings 401(K) contributions Disposable toilet paper
SCALE BACK Cable TV High-speed internet Nanny/around the clock and/or live in childcare
Going out to eat
Normally I'd say get rid of, but all work and no play makes people CRAZY. If you have cable, dial it back to basic and if you have cable, no need for Netflix. Watch what ever they are showing!
WHY DO YOU HAVE?
Private school Organic groceries # - High-end clothing and accessories
Sorry, but as I look at this list, I see people I know who are snobs . THATS JUST PEOPLE I KNOW..I AM NOT CALLING YOU A SNOB. Personally, If I had to save money, they would go in the first category, get rid of right now.
You buy high end cosmetics, pay someone to clean your home, travel for fun and put your dog in daycare, but you think it's snobbish to eat organic? Stop. Seriously? For real?
I didn't say I had all of those...I just listed the order I'd cut them. Plus I stated in CAPITAL letters that it is just the people I know and I wasn't calling the poster a snob.
High-end clothing and accessories Leisure travel Manicure/pedicure Emergency savings Other savings Amazon Prime membership 401(K) contributions Hairdresser - blowouts Netflix / Hulu / VOD High-speed internet Going out to eat Disposable toilet paper (lol)
Lawn Service -- not on the original list, but a monthly fixed cost we've had for quite some time.
More cars than meets your household's minimum requirement for necessity Hairdresser - blowouts -- I don't actually know what a blowout is... I'll push my haircuts pretty far out, but I wouldn't cut them entirely Disposable toilet paper (lol) Emergency savings Other savings 401(K) contributions
Already Don't Have/Use/Buy:
Manicure/pedicure -- This is a rare treat as it is (like maybe once or twice a year) Nanny/around the clock and/or live in childcare Private school
Organic groceries Subscription boxes High-end makeup (dept. store vs. drugstore, say) High-end clothing and accessories
Doggy daycare
College savings
/ Hulu / VOD
Amazon Prime membership (we sort of have this, but a friend pays for it, and if he dropped it we wouldn't replace)
*NOTE:
My H lost his job just over two weeks ago, more than cutting our income in half, so this is hitting home right now. Although really this is a tricky calculation, because he got a very generous severance package, we expect he'll get a job quickly (he already has a bunch of leads, including an interview and a tech screening next week) and we can cover our expenses on my salary. But we're choosing to approach this with a doomsday-worst-case-scenario outlook, to make sure we don't screw ourselves in the long run.
We fired our housekeepers immediately, and my H reduced our cable package, but I need high speed internet for my job and we are both TV junkies (and I use it for my job) so it's not going away. We've also reduced how much we eat out, but haven't cut it entirely because it's our primary form of socialization, but we are trying to steer our friends to cheaper options. He's also looking to switch our cellphone plans to a cheaper option.
Currently we are wrestling over what to do about our lawn service. We both hate lawn work, we are paid up through August, and technically we can still afford it, but we're waffling on if we should cut them too. We plan to re-evaluate closer to the end of the month.
I have IBS, and honestly the idea of some fluffy flannel to wipe my ass seems rather appealing. But my H is (understandably) horrified at the concept, so I'm not going to push it.
Post by quickstepstar on Aug 4, 2014 10:30:17 GMT -5
I don't have the following: Doggy daycare High-end clothing and accessories More cars than meets your household's minimum requirement for necessity Subscription boxes Cable TV Netflix / Hulu / VOD
Order in which I'd cut: Manicure/pedicure Going out to eat Nanny/around the clock and/or live in childcare (We have more hours than we 100% need, but not arround the clock or live in) High-end makeup (dept. store vs. drugstore, say) Hairdresser - blowouts Leisure travel Housekeeper Private school Organic groceries Amazon Prime membership High-speed internet College savings Other savings 401(K) contributions Emergency savings Disposable toilet paper (lol)