wildrice my H is gearing up to job hunt. He has to be very picky to stay closer to his current pay. We moved from the Seattle area to central WA state in 2020. Whatever job gets will most likely involve a pay cut. It all comes down to how much. That's partially why he waited to start job hunting until I was working full time.
These didn't start because of inflation specifically, but some of the habits we developed during covid are making a meaningful difference. We eat out once a week or less, and often we'll just get takeout instead of actually going to a sit-down place -- which means we don't order alcohol and that cuts the bill quite a bit. Now granted, takeout with no alcohol now still ends up basically being a wash with the pre-inflation prices for food + alcohol ... but at least we're holding the line.
I'm drinking way, WAY less, both because it makes me feel bad and because I'm watching calories more closely. So we don't go through multiple bottles of wine a week. Same for fast food--I don't just run out for a quick drive-through lunch any more. I'm drinking more tap water and that means less buying beverages from the store in general -- soda, juice, sparkling water, etc.
Some of the things we've done for awhile, we are buckling down on. Like meal planning around sale items and actually making sure that leftovers get eaten, and freezing meat before it goes bad if we don't use it as fast as I thought we would.
I'm doing more shopping at Costco because the grocery store prices on things mean that it makes even more sense to buy in bulk.
Post by midwestmama on Oct 7, 2023 18:38:37 GMT -5
-Be more intentional about meal planning so we don't eat out as much anymore. Shop at Aldi more often.
-I found a local farm that I can buy quality ground hamburger for $5/lb., so that helps save on grocery costs. I usually buy in bulk (like 10-20 lbs. at a time) and put it in our chest freezer.
-Buy more generic and what is on sale, use coupons.
-I used to get coffee and a bagel on my way to work 1-2x a week (pre-COVID). I'm going to office 2 days a week, but have cut back to getting coffee and a bagel on the way to work 1-2x a month.
ETA: We bought a house when the market was low in 2011. We refinanced at 3% interest in 2020, and even though it's a 15-year mortgage, we wouldn't be able to beat our current monthly payment if we were to sell and buy a similar house now. DH and I also each have 6-figure incomes (gross) in an MCOL area, so we feel very fortunate that our incomes have helped with the inflation impact. Essentially we are putting less in savings now.
macmars45, good luck to him! It's so hard job searching, especially when you can't find much that would be at the right level.
My H wasn't actually looking, but was contacted by a former colleague which felt really nice. It's an area he is really interested in, but I don't think their pay is competitive at all - their target salary is more than 30% less than what he makes now, plus he currently gets a bonus. Plus he is 100% WFH now and the new job might be up to 4 days in the office! I just don't see the math mathing on that, but I also understand the desire to work in an area that genuinely interests him. I'm hoping they might be able to meet him in the middle on salary, which would be more reasonable, but who knows.
Post by Doggy Mommy on Oct 7, 2023 19:20:59 GMT -5
We avoid sit down restaurants, but will go to fast casual places. We do a lot more meal planning. We're cool with making cheap dinners a lot of the time, like a pot of soup that will last 3 meals. We've both lost a lot of weight in the last year and now we eat less and often split meals.
Mostly, we've just been lucky. We bought our house in 2008 when houses were cheap, cars are paid off, and the remainder of my student loan was forgiven with PSLF. We were saving up for 12 windows and paint, and then had a massive hail storm so insurance is covering 5 of the windows and 3/4 of the paint. Also we don't have kids.
Badly. I mean we are surviving, but it’s rough. We are going to Disneyland in a couple of weeks for a makeup trip that was canceled because of Covid. It’s mostly paid for, but I’m nervous about food costs that haven’t been pre-paid and I don’t want to spend the entire trip saying no. It’s a big celebration trip for us and I don’t want the kids to feel my financial anxiety.
I’ve been working as many extra nursing shifts as I can and we have cut our budget significantly over the last 9 months to keep up with rising living costs. Every time I think I’ve got it figured out we get hit with something.
share.memebox.com/x/uKhKaZmemebox referal code for 20% off! DD1 "J" born 3/2003 DD2 "G" born 4/2011 DS is here! "H" born 2/2014 m/c#3 1-13-13 @ 9 weeks m/c#2 11-11-12 @ 5w2d I am an extended breastfeeding, cloth diapering, baby wearing, pro marriage equality, birth control lovin', Catholic mama.
Post by SusanBAnthony on Oct 7, 2023 20:42:42 GMT -5
The main thing we are doing right now is H is not replacing his car. His car is a 2004 Sienna with 245k miles and it is rough. He paid to get the AC fixed because he wants to try to get another year or three out of it. I'm worried it will break at an extremely inconvenient time but so far so good. We really don't want another car payment right now, or to take money out of savings.
Our food costs are insane with one teenage boy and one teenage girl athlete. Both of them eat shockingly large quantities of food. This will sound stupid probably but I switched from individual yogurt and applesauce cups to the big containers and given how much they eat of it that has actually been noticable. They would both sit down and eat 4 applesauce cups in a sitting for example. Might as well buy one big jar for half the price of one pack of the individual cups.
The main thing we are doing right now is H is not replacing his car. His car is a 2004 Sienna with 245k miles and it is rough. He paid to get the AC fixed because he wants to try to get another year or three out of it. I'm worried it will break at an extremely inconvenient time but so far so good. We really don't want another car payment right now, or to take money out of savings.
Our food costs are insane with one teenage boy and one teenage girl athlete. Both of them eat shockingly large quantities of food. This will sound stupid probably but I switched from individual yogurt and applesauce cups to the big containers and given how much they eat of it that has actually been noticable. They would both sit down and eat 4 applesauce cups in a sitting for example. Might as well buy one big jar for half the price of one pack of the individual cups.
I stopped buying individual servings as much as possible. Yogurt, pudding, chips, goldfish, juice. It’s way cheaper, and is slightly better for the environment, so I feel good about that.
We’ve been lucky on timing that both cars and 90% of student loans have been paid off in the past 1.5 years but that means we are barely making ends meet instead of getting ahead with inflation. My 401k % was pretty high so I dropped it down to the match amount for the last 3 months of the year, although we also have some money routed to other investments and college savings (which we are behind on). I try to avoid paying interest so any big payment we have I try to put on a 0% interest card or low interest financing (example - kids braces, medical bills, a big car expense). I have a banana republic and Nordstrom card and the rewards are good and I get most of our clothes for the family from the rewards (BR includes old navy and gap). I’m diligent about paying off store cards every month because they have high interest rates.
Our HCOL rental is everything we need and 30% of our income, but they rarely raise our rent so we are staying put until it doesn’t make financial sense.
I feel like we were already doing a lot to keep in budget but I’ll mention things for ideas for others.
For a family in our area, it makes sense to shop at Costco but we try to keep it to things that make sense financially. A lot of fruit, veggies and meat are not much more for a large quantity than at the grocery store for a smaller quantity. An exception might be apples because I can get more smaller apples for less at the grocery store. I try my best to use it all or freeze it (like steaming carrots if they are starting to get dry raw). We’ve done a CSA box delivery which was very affordable but I found it harder to use everything and it was better in summer. The business Costco has a lot of meat in larger quantities so it’s a good deal if you have lots of freezer space. I don’t eat much meat. I eat a lot of salad and will use a little grilled chicken or sliced deli meat on it. The trick is to not buy things we don’t need or things we could live without for a while, so I usually send DH with a list and he only gets those things. I infill with a lot of smaller quantity groceries you can’t get at Costco at Target, but I order it online for drive up pick up and use the Circle coupons online to the best deals and will skip non-necessities if they aren’t on sale. We are getting an Aldi soon! Costco gives rewards back and Target gives 5% off all purchases with their credit cards. We buy most gas at Costco but I WFH so I don’t drive much. I try to always have simple meal stuff on hand so I’ll be less tempted to eat out (example rice and potstickers from Costco instead of ordering $30 takeout). Convenience food from there is cheaper than fast food and if we run through a drive through after sports practice, it seems like the good deals are on the restaurant apps, like buy one get one free or not buying meals with drinks. Some things I have on Amazon subscribe and save for the discount but I alternate 5 things every month.
We rarely go out to eat or on dates. We maybe only get a babysitter 1-2x/ year. Occasionally we’ll go on a daytime date while kids are at school. I go longer between haircuts, etc. and spend less on clothes WFH.
We took a big family vacation this year but it was delayed from covid and we had a window of time that worked (which is as rare). The year leading up to it and this year we are trying to do less in terms of other travel, weekend getaways or other entertainment expenses because they add up. DH gets a huge hotel discount or we stay with family but we spend more when we are in vaca mode.
DH’s work was abnormally slow in spring and summer and I got to a point where I was like, you need a side gig or you need to work your job more (he’s paid hourly). It’s rumored a different company is creating a new position in the spring and wants to hire him, which would be amazing with union pay and benefits so we are hoping that will happen. Luckily his work is busier now which is a relief to our bank account. I’m consulting and working part time but it’s done a flip flop where I’m working nearly full time at the part time job and barely consulting. I’m probably to go full time with benefits and consult as a side gig on top of 40 hours.
I feel like I should be saving so much more. Two of my kids went away to college, so it's only 3 in the household full time (4 eating dinner as my adult daughter eats with us 3/4 times a week). I just spent $164 at aldi for veggies, cheese, snacks, and items for tailgating. No meat except hot dogs. So freaking expensive. I do meal plan - I made over 15 family meals (about 75 servings) last week for $200 so there is that.
I need to go back through all of our subscription services. I already went through our Patreon.
We are cutting way back in our grocery shopping and getting as much as we can at the farmers market. I find myself at Trader Joe’s more. I nearly lost my mind when I bought bars for the girls and the box was $20. What?!?!?
It seems like everyone (myself included) has moved money from savings into checking.
It’s a privilege for sure to get this far and just start really feeling the pinch.
I'm trying to be better about eating out. It's just about as expensive to eat out as it is to feed myself at home unless I'm making something really simple like soup + grilled cheese. Still, I'm dialing it back.
Nov. starts savings for me big time. I've had a spendy year so far, and it's time to reverse course. (If you aren't on MM, you don't know I've had to replace my w/d, major HVAC repair, major plumbing repairs + a new toilet, and having to get trees taken down--this month's planned drama. Nov. is stump grinding, but that's in the tree budget).
I haven't been "fun" shopping or buying things I don't need. I will be WFH again for the next year, so I don't need new clothes for work. Sweats and shorts I have plenty of. I've been concentrating on not going shopping to Target, Walmart, or wherever if I don't need something.
I haven't been out to a "nice" restaurant since Christmas last year. I stick to fast casual places or the occasional sit down restaurant with friends (think Mexican, Italian/pizza, BBQ, nothing fancy).
Groceries aren't too much of an issue for one although I've always shopped at Costco & Aldi. Publix is my primary grocery store, but I shop the sales and BOGOs. I don't stock up on things anymore and try to buy only what I'll eat in about the next 3 weeks. I do NOT need 6 boxes of BOGO my favorite brand of pasta sitting in the pantry. I shop Trader Joes when I can (nearest is 25 min. away all the way across my county) and will buy specific things at Whole Paycheck I can't get anywhere else about every other month.
If a business gives a discount for cash, I try to use it. Some but not many gas stations around here will give a 4-5 cent/gallon cash discount. Costco isn't convenient for me to get gas at unless I am over that way or near a different one I happen to be by.
In addition to daily expenses, bigger expenses have been going up astronomically for us.
We just got our annual health insurance renewals through my H’s work. When he started 10 years ago, our plan was free. It’s gone up slowly over time, but is up 250% from last year.
We’re also having so many issues with property insurance in Ca. I got a non renewal on one policy because they’re no longer renewing in state. I wasn’t able to get insurance through any major insurers and had to have a broker find something, at 50% higher than I paid last year!
I spent $300 today at Costco and didn’t buy any meat beyond one $5 rotisserie chicken.
I’ve started cancelling various subscriptions and kid memberships. I trying to avoid single serve and ready made foods. We never eat at sit down restaurants, and try to stick to $30ish or less takeout, once a week. We are being much more careful about driving my H’s car as a family, because it’s a plug in hybrid vs my big SUV. In general though, I just can’t make small cuts close the gap of the bigger expenses that have increased so dramatically. We were lucky to save decently in the past and just aren’t saving now. And just keep crossing our fingers that my H’s COLAs catch up a bit.
We have never been big on eating out but we always did take out Fridays. We’ve pretty much stopped and now do a lot of Friday pizza instead. It’s sad. But yeah the extra fees restaurants are charging have made it totally unaffordable for us so pizza Fridays it is. Usually from Costco.
And while it’s really expensive here (DC) I travelled to CA last month and hold shit. I don’t know how ya’ll do it. It was very expensive over there.
Post by wanderlustmom on Oct 8, 2023 7:08:45 GMT -5
We have a son who just started college and a daughter who is junior. Our son’s dream school is in state so that helped a lot! Our daughter knows she will need to get some loans if she goes out of state so I’ll think she will choose in state. We have a good lottery program here so that money is tucked away and our expenses go down since they use their meal plan for food or their own money.
Our cars are both old and we’d like to replace but we won’t. Hopefully we can get another five years.
We have found good deals on rentals so we still travel to the beach and mountains we just make most of our own food and only go out a little. That’s been fine and healthier anyway.
I stopped drinking during the week and we eat less meat. That was for health but it gave us a financial boost too.
My hobby/sport is tennis. It takes us so much time and it hardly costs anything.
We need to be more intentional about less eating out—we all love it so we just need to do it less and pick the really good places.
I spent $240 on 8 items at Old Navy last night. That’s crazy right?? It appears I could have bought all the same stuff online for $190 and can’t decide if it’s worth going in there and asking them to refund the difference.
Anyway. There are several things at the grocery store that I have simply stopped buying because the price is so ridiculous. Chips are one of those. I get them for the kids every so often, but at full price they’re like $5 a bag now. We’re also eating less meat and I stopped buying higher quality meat and organic milk.
This really frustrates me about old navy. I’ve stated going to the store to try things on, taking a picture and then ordering online. The online sales are always better.
We are both high-ish earners who live well below our means with housing, so part of it is that we don’t have as much cushion. My DH also got a temporary 30% pay cut (he works at a startup), so that hasn’t been great timing, but they landed a huge client so pay should come back.
We have cut back dining out. We go out once per week and order in once per week. Honestly our past habits were so bad for our waistline but it used to be more like 4-5x/wk including weekend lunches.
Drinks on the patio instead of happy hours, for dates. Some places here it’s almost $20/drink now!
I order groceries online for pickup because it’s less markup than delivery/Instacart but I can be in my kitchen and only order what I need, and pull up recipes online and order every ingredient, and make no impulse purchases. It cuts the bill down.
I do a strict meal plan for the 5 days I commit to cooking.
I’ve gone back to keeping a frozen pizza around at all times, so I’m still not ordering in if I’m sick or delayed by work or what have you. I cooked every night I had covid 2 weeks ago except for what was planned.
I was supposed to buy a new car, but I don’t see that happening any time soon. My car is fine but I planned to move to electric.
I’ve canceled some subscriptions and we downgraded our gym membership.
……I am still buying new couches though. I hate my couch. But I wanted to replace my buffet and instead I’m painting it, with a paint sample I got for a different project but declined to use. So, $0.
Post by emilyinchile on Oct 8, 2023 7:34:58 GMT -5
We sold our car, which we loooooved, because the insurance had almost doubled, and we're currently looking for a more basic car that will cost us about half.
I tracked every single thing I spent last month for the first time in forever and was kind of traumatized. Sadly it turns out that my feeling that with groceries beings so expensive it's almost the same to get takeout as to cook was totally off, so the goal is to cut back on takeout/eating out. I'll have a week where I'm totally on my shit and then a week like last week where I got sick and just cannot with shopping or cooking, and the wheels fall off again. But progress, not perfection, right?
I’m slowly cutting back. Every single month our expenses are getting higher and I’ve decided this is the month we get back on track. My first goal is to actually check in weekly on spending vs just waiting for the bills at the end of the month.
I’m starting to shop the sales at the grocery store instead of just getting whatever. Snacks have been the biggest cutback area but that’s good for all of us so not much of a sacrifice.
I probably need to let go planning a spring break trip but I don’t want to. I know I will be green with envy sitting in the snow while watching tropical vacation pictures flood in. I hate being a grown up.
I’ve been doing more grocery pick up to stick to the list and we’re all doing more meal planning as a family.
Not shopping much and doing a lot of second hand. I consign E’s old stuff, which gives credit when she shops at the store. Also supports a local business.
DH needs shoes and jeans, so I’m keeping an eye on sales.
ETA: we have a cruise in December for our anniversary, so I’ve been buying gift cards at Kroger for on board spending and then get fuel points. Princess let’s you use gift cards on board, not all lines do.
I will do the same with target gc’s for teachers for the holidays. I’ll grab them varying weeks to spread out the money and the fuel benefits.
Eating less meat and not buying everything we want - so if the kids want strawberries and blueberries they pick one, only buying certain things on sale, cooking more from scratch,etc.
Very little self care stuff, I cut my own hair, do my own nails, etc. I am starting to get some grays and I would love to get it colored but the upkeep would be too much, so I am thinking about just doing a box color.
Very little shopping for clothes/accessories. Our kids have everything they need but we wfh so no need for anything fancy.
We cut cable a long time ago but for anyone who hasn't it's a no-brainer.
ETA - something I have noticed is at our school (private school with uniforms) there is a rack of used uniforms for the taking. We have gotten up to 5th grade without buying anything new because of this. Last year and this year the rack has been almost wiped out, so I think families are buying less new stuff and holding on to their old uniforms longer. It's a small thing but really shows how a lot of families are changing their habits.
Chef Lovely has a great series on instagram called The Cheat Code with Trader Joe’s food. It is a way to make more “gourmet” meals for less, which can help reduce the urge to eat out.
I also have really enjoyed doing ice coffee at home and playing around with different creamers, chai, and syrup each week to resist the urge to get fancy coffee or Starbucks. I just make drip coffee and refrigerate it 🤷🏻♀️
We have always been frugal and haven’t really adjusted too much but in the few times we have had to eat out ($20 nachos at a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant 😳😳) or had to buy food for a group of people while we gathered at Hospice I was absolutely floooored. I don’t know how people do this on the daily.
After a big personal accomplishment last month my H got 3 tacos, 2 margaritas and a queso dip to go so we could celebrate and it was $67. Holy CRAP.
I guess my saving grace has been my local free group (formerly Buy Nothing). I have got so ma y clothes, Kids costumes, housewares, and random things from it and have given away SOOO much stuff that we don’t need anymore.
Post by fancynewbeesly on Oct 8, 2023 9:31:55 GMT -5
Ugh.
Not well.
We are in a super unique situation though.
@@@dd1 who is 12, just had a bone marrow transplant in June. We live 2 hours from the treating hospital and even though we are back home we have to go every two weeks to appointments. Plus for the month of August we were living in two separate places with two separate food bills (DD1 and I in Philly and DD2 and DH at home).
Now, her food restrictions add $$$$$$ to our food bill. Anything we make or open (minus dry goods) has to be eaten within 48 hours. So a bag of cheese she can't eat after 48 hours, yogurt, milk, anything we cook, deli meat, etc. So we literally have to buy individual things of yogurt or just toss a ton of food. Also, she is losing weight so pretty much ANY food request we honor. If she wants Wendy's at 10pm, we will make it happen. We buy both regular high fat food for her, and then healthier food for us. (So whole milk, half and half for her and 2% for us). We are heading to the food store today because she wants DH's meatballs and sauce so I am anticipating a high food bill.
It is just a LOT.
We did luck out that we bought our new house right before inflation went crazy. It is smaller than our old house (which we definitely would not be able to afford heating and cooling costs or maintenance on it) .
jobae1234 we've been doing drinks on the patio too. We had started leaving our son home alone for a while and going to a fancy place I love for happy hour. It's right near our house so we would go if my husband got home early enough. But even that is $100+ dollars for drinks and a couple of apps. We started just sitting outside together with a drink and it's been nice to still have a conversation alone together.
Before I started working part time a few years ago we never had any streaming services. With my salary and a good raise for my husband we've been splurging, but it's time to go through what we currently have and just pick a couple we really want and cancel the others. Back to library DVDs for us!