Paying down debts and hoping to pick up a discounted foreclosure property within the next 6 months so I can watch my mortgage (effectively) shrink as inflation starts hitting harder.
Christmas has grown steadily smaller for the last few years and Two Kids’ Mom always takes advantage of the Black Friday deals after Thanksgiving.
We are in a paradigm shift in our household.
The ONLY new items we have bought in the last year is computer parts and guitar strings and tires for the SUV.
Clothes, Furniture, DVDs, CDs, shoes, etc. All bought 2nd hand. We've started bartering heavily for services with our flooring business and we are starting new CASH business ventures that require no employees. (E-scraping, swap shop, etc.)
Our customer base has changed buying habits those who do buy our goods and services are using cash AND they are stretching their dollars as far as they will go. We always ask if they have anything to trade that we can use.
We are now putting up signage in the flooring store listing items we need. Its starting to work very well. We still need cash to pay utilities and taxes and for most of our stock but even our suppliers are starting to do some barter.
Our main supplier for adhesives and tack strip etc. has been taking our extra Season tickets we have to the Browns games. I am getting sometimes 500% more than we paid for them in trade value. (which is a shock being the Browns suck stump water this year!)
The wife and I own a small business (well, two if you count my daughter’s music career). Our business is way down, especially the last two months. I’d like to invest in our business to increase traffic but really can’t. We eat in, stay home and are only buying necessities. We’ve cut expenses to the bone. Both our vehicles are paid for (and old). Just had our 20th wedding anniversary and we stayed home. Christmas? The kids will get a little something but we’ll skip gifts for each other.
Zero debt. Zero new purchases for Christmas (all used or homemade ... and nicer than ever thanks to the time invested). Zero transactions with the thieves at TARP/Bailout companies. Savings way up. Taxes owed WAY down due to reduced work hours. I’m on strike as a consumer until we get a real American in our White House.
No Christmas presents this year, saving every possible dime for coming collapse.
BTTT for later
Despite a great deal of skill and experience, there are no jobs for those of us 62 years of age or older.
As such....I am cutting back on everything...as to Thanksgiving...I like ham and potatoes (or is that potatos??) with frozen veggies. I'm not big on pumpkin pie.
Christmas...cards only. My kids understand, and I don't much care whether or not anyone else does.
As to debt...I've got my primary residence on the market; and the house I own in another state that I was going to be using as a retirement residence on the market as well.
Once they sell...I'll be renting. I'll also be able to pay off all of my other debt.
So....there it is. How about the rest of you??
We have lived frugally all of our lives and are now reaping the benefits of our choices. House is paid for, bills almost non existent and we have the skills and experience to maintain the lifestyle we chose.
Are you cutting back?
No need to here. We have gotten by on a small income for a long while. In fact, we have noticed that some prices have started to drop. We get more for our money now and hope the trend continues.
Will Christmas and Thanksgiving be any different?
No, we've always been reasonable about holiday spending. The holidays are always something we look forward to and we never come out of them owing on credit cards.
Are you spending, saving, paying down?
Other than investing in a piece of equipment that allows me to avoid a lease payment and lowers the overall costs, no new spending. Investment in tools and learning necessary skills over time allows us to maintain our vehicles ourselves, grow and preserve food and provide our own utilities.
One thing I'd like to mention is that even though we are pretty much unaffected by the poor economic conditions, we realize that many people are hurting badly. My hope is that others will observe that living a frugal lifestyle is a way to take control of your own life and deny an insatiable government the ability to enslave them.
Smaller Christmas/Hanukkah this year but for different reasons than most: my husband just got a huge, massive promotion, we’re moving and buying a new house in December, so all money will be dumped into a down payment since we’re taking a hit on our current house. I feel guilty - so many I know are losing their jobs, having their hours cut, etc., and here we are doing incredibly well. Sigh.
Well, considering that we started paying down debt over 18 months ago (because having a bunch of debt is stupid no matter what the economic conditions are), and that we are almost done with it except for the house, I don’t know if what we’re doing is called shrugging or not. With 4 kids (3 in Catholic school), living on credit and buying stuff we can’t afford has not been a part of our vocabulary for a long time.
We have been socking money away for those 18 months—because don’t you know it, Christmas happens every December, and the animals need vet visits every so often, and the cars (paid for, mind you) need fixing once in a while, and so on and so forth.
So no, our Christmas is not really changing much, even though my husband received no raise this year and we had to put another kid in Catholic school. We’re trying not to participate in this recession as much as humanly possible...because good times or bad, being financially responsible is something that should be done whatever the economic climate.
(My thanks to Dave Ramsey for helping to set us on the right path!)
I do not leave the house...unless it’s for business or supplies...
We have cut way back on purchases, mostly just for food these days. Our mortgage was paid off in December and we paid off most of our other debt. Hubby got pay cut to about 50% so its a little slower getting our last CC paid off. Trying to save and pay down debt. Christmas will probably be smaller gifts or home made. We just enjoy spending time together, its never been about big, expensive gifts.
For close to two years, I've stuck to intentionally keeping myself out of the workforce and living off some savings. I'm spending more time gardening and fishing and watching for sales on food so I've cut my grocery bill roughly in half. Pretty much only eat out on special occasions now too.
I've cut my electricity usage by more than half without any significant change in my lifestyle, primarily through cutting standby power usage and just having TV's, lights, and stereos turned off in the rooms I'm not in.
Eliminated most subscriptions and just reading the content online. Replaced a two and a half pack a day cigarette habit with e-cigs. Replaced a twentyfour pack of pop every three or four days habit with tea or water.
Will Christmas and Thanksgiving be any different?
I don't expect much change from previous years. I figure I'll spend as much as and do as much as other years. I'll be asking for canning supplies as a Christmas gift this year. That will be a new venture for me and a bit more practical than astronomy equipment.
I’m spending money like a drunken sailor. Everything’s on sale.
paying down, cutting back.
Also changed withholding so we get interest on that money and not Obama.
Don’t owe anything, no debt, house and car paid off but I am watching spending and saving as much as possible.
I am completely out of the market as of today and am just parking my savings in insured accts and increasing my mattress stash as well (actually safety deposit vault)I don’t trust banks and I don’t trust government either. I put a little chunk of cash away that no one but my kids know about. That chunk will get larger and larger as this administration gets more radical and threatens all private accounts.
The way things are going I think we’ll see the day when all private accounts will be threatened by government confiscation.
Yes, I’ve been repairing and reusing more and more.
Thanksgiving is coming from our the garden and a bird taken in the spring. And Christmas is baked goods and homemade gifts.
Starving the beast every way possible.
Shrugging would be an understatement. I’m in full Galt mode now.
Went semi-Galt years ago.
Expected to be full-Galt by now, but familial duties have interfered.
No debt since 1991.
Spending LOTS of money, but pretty much only for setting up my little ‘gulch’ as a self sufficient refuge, horribly expensive medication to maintain an invalid parent’s comfort, food and utilities.