What have you given up in this economy to stay afloat?

[Digit]

I have been on DU for years now, and know there are people without jobs who have expired their unemployment benefits. I was unemployed at least two times since I have been a member here....

I am currently employed, but my hours have been cut, and my pay (commission) has drastically been reduced forcing me to cut spending. Luckily, I saw the writing on the wall beforehand, and cut things off early.

I have forgone cable tv/satillite tv
No more shopping for clothing
Store brands for foods
No more haircuts, letting my hair grow out, can't afford haircut
No more highlights in my hair
Never had a pedicure or manicure anyway, but they would be out
Of course no going out for dinner
No movies, renting or otherwise
Suave shampoo only (cheapest by far)
Buy in bulk at Costco (toilet paper and paper towels)
No cellphone
No vacations, of course
Wrapped up all coins, spent them on bills

[RandomKoolzip]

1. Every cent goes to rent and bills. Republicans only want the already affluent to be affluent.

So much for all that "bootstrap" bullshit.

[gateley]

2. My unemployment expired a year ago. Still don't have a job.

My list is almost identical to yours, with the addition of No Books (I used to buy about two a week)

[tabatha]

3. mine

I have forgone cable tv/satillite tv - none since 2002, only cable internet
No more shopping for clothing - only essentials
Store brands for foods - mostly unpackaged food at TJs
No more haircuts, letting my hair grow out, can't afford haircut - ditto for several years
No more highlights in my hair - never did
Never had a pedicure or manicure anyway, but they would be out - never did
Of course no going out for dinner - very infrequent for several years; now hardly ever
No movies, renting or otherwise - very few for 20 years
Suave shampoo only (cheapest by far) - only Aussie
Buy in bulk at Costco (toilet paper and paper towels) - bulk elsewhere
No cellphone - never had one
No vacations, of course - not this year
Wrapped up all coins, spent them on bills

No more bottled water, although had not bought much previously
No more treat foods
Efficient light bulbs
Very little/no air-conditioning
Drought-resistant plants

[Digit]

6. I replaced all my light bulbs a few years ago with cff

Added extra insulation to my attic about 5 years ago
Replaced all my windows about 10 yrs ago (insurance after mother died)

[dkf]

4. I don't go drive unless I need to.

Filling up my tank bothers me a lot and I refuse to fill up if the station I am at has the highest price I've seen to date. I might wait a bit to see if I come across cheaper gas along my driving route. And I no longer buy strictly Chevron and 76. Lately I've been buying @ Tesoro.

And I don't go through the car wash as often as I used to.

Lastly, I've been going down to the convenience store and buying Chimichangas that the owner gets from Costco. Actually I really like them and everything around my work place costs 6-8 bucks for lunch.

[Digit]

7. I brownbag pbj's for lunch at work

All our meals at home are homemade.

I eat more soup for lunch when I am off.

[dkf]

8. I'm also trying ELF cosmetics. I'm trying to kick my Sephora habit.

I don't use half the stuff I buy from Sephora anyway.

I hear ELFs customer service is awful though...it takes really long and if they are out of stock, you simply don't get your order.

But I used two coupon codes: half off the first $15 and free shipping and at $1 for most items that goes a long way. For some reason, my latest trip is getting cheap stuff. Its not that I'm hurting yet but I just can't bring myself to pay these crazy prices.

[roody]

5. Never have had cable.

Never have had cell phone.
Don't eat meat.
I live 3 miles from my job.
I've taken up bicycling around town for errands and visits.
I am cooking more, eating out less.
I borrowed a solar oven from my school for the summer. So far I have made bread, yummy, and baked potatoes and heated up beans.

[readmoreoften]

9. Took in boarder with 4 pets. Limited driving.

So far that's about it.

[Zhade]

10. Water, and I'm mixing in more nitrogen with my air.

Okay, I'm kidding.

For now.

[Vickers]

11. Ballroom dancing. Single malt Scotch. Golf. Debutante balls. Filet mignon.

I'm doing my part.

:patriot:

[Zhade]

12. DUzy.

NT!

[Solly Mack]

19. I see you're staying with the champagne brunches though

Some things are just too important

[Cleita]

13. Just about everything but the basics although I still have my satellite TV

and broadband internet. It's the only way I'm connected to the outside world as I only go out once a week to shop for the things I need.

[JDPriestly]

14. Great topic

I'm happy to see that others are cutting back also.

My income is way, way down. My husband and I are in the retirement age bracket, so getting a decent paying job is unlikely. Interest rates are down. The stock market is a total gamble. Our house has lost value. The banks and investment companies to which we have entrusted our small savings and 401(K) accounts are in big trouble. Social Security is next to nothing.

So --

No restaurants -- not even on birthdays and anniversaries
Travel only to visit family and very rarely
Drive old cars -- 16 and 12 years old
Changed all light bulbs
Eat far less meat
Planted a garden (although our soil is horrible)
Composting
Eat food that is in season
Eat very simply
Buy sale food including food that is on sale because vegetable that are not as fresh as the regular vegetables when available
Use public transportation when feasible
Don't use our cars unless we have to
Working from homes part-time as much as we can
No cable (since maybe 2002)
Entertainment is mostly Netflix. We go to movie theaters very, very rarely
Buying as few clothes as possible
Repairing clothes
Using our library privileges as much as possible
Canceled subscriptions to all but a couple of magazines
Can't be as generous to charities as we were
Shopping at discount stores as much as possible (and close to home)
Turning off light very carefully
Studying our gas use
Showers instead of baths
Staying home more

Generally, we are living on standby right now. We still have our DSL. That is probably why I am on DU more.

[Speck Tater]

15. Nothing. I practice voluntary simplicity. I gave it all up years ago. NT

[Forkboy]

16. I'm so poor to start with I haven't had to give up anything.

:banghead:

[Sherman A1]

17. We've made some changes

Both the wife and I are employed full time, but we have made some moves

spent the Spring Vacation at home painting rather than a road trip
cut back on dinners out.
shopping down, more trips to Aldi & Dollar General
Planted a couple of tomatoes, cucumber & squash plants, replacing some flowers.
cut back on the annuals and planted perennials
bought a Toyota Yaris for my commute replacing a 98 Ford Ranger (The gas offset pays 1/3 to 1/2 of the new car payment)
planning trips for errands, we try for 4 stops on each trip
cut out trash service - replacing it with heavy recycling and a deal with the neighbor for the little bit left
cut out lawn fertilizer service
cut back heavily on clothes shopping courtesy of a serious look at the clothes we had in the closets that were not being used
replaced dsl & satellite TV with U-Verse combo pack for a couple of dollars saving (will probably cut that back next year)
more coupons, shopping ads for food
added the DU frugal board to my list of groups
Using my credit cards to maximize rebates on gas & other purchases (Discovers cash back program provided some book store gift certificates for graduation gifts this year) my M/C gives me 3% back on gas purchases and Discover has a rotating 5% program that changes quarterly (the next quarter is 5% on gasoline).
Pay bills on-line and have utilities taken out of my checking account saving checks & postage. I have as many recurring bills charged to credit cards to maximize the rebates and I pay the credit cards off each month. I now write about 4 checks per month as opposed to 15 +/- .
Deferred a new computer buy until at least next year.
Working on my hobby of being a very poor photographer, which costs nothing (and Walgreen's has pretty good deals on prints when I do choose to have a few printed).
Working with the Wife to use some of my photos to decorate around the house rather than the decorative do-dads that had been the previous norm. It's pretty easy to catch frames on sale at places such as Michaels and alike.
Replaced all the bulbs with CFL's a year ago.
Trying to cut back on water usage around the house.
Looking at rain barrels and composting
Investigating a reel type lawn-mower, but haven't taken the plunge yet.

[SoCalDem]

18. Not much (luckily for us)..but there are some things that we never DID in the first place

we never buy beer or liquor
we eat out usually once a week (used to be 3 or 4 before the smoking ban...so that's not economics...just pique :evilgrin:... and 3 of the places we USED to go regularly are now out of business anyway)

we only clothes-shop when we HAVE to

we DO drive less now, but I have always combined errands and shopped in a "circle"

our DVD player (a gift in 2003) has never been hooked up

no cell phones

I pitch a fit if a phone bill is EVER over $40 a month

I cut my own hair (because I hate the way salons cut my hair)

we've ALWAYS loved Costco, but rarely go there, because we cannot get out of that place for under $300, so I have started shopping at Smart & Final..

we never go to the movies, but it's because it's always TOO FREAKING LOUD..and usually too cold in the theatre and the popcorn is not as good as it used to be..and is overpriced.. and our theatres seem to only have Pespi (loathe pepsi).in fact we have 4 free movie passes around here somewhere..from Xmas..

We've always lived like fuddy-duddys, so it's hard to cut back when we don't do much anyway:)

I do cook from scratch, and save a lot there..but I cook because I am a good cook and I enjoy cooking, too..

May was a cruel month for us..our son got married and we hosted the rehearsal dinner.. at a pretty nice restaurant..for FORTY FIVE people.. (off the menu :grr:..) I was sweating bullets praying that I had enough money with me, but ity actually was not that bad ...$688.00

and we paid for two hotel rooms for a week for our out-of-town sons & their wife/fiancee..so that was about $900.. and we all ate out, as a family a few times..about $200 a pop there..

and a week after the wedding we went to Vegas with my group I take every year.. but that was comped (except for the slot machine donations)

June has been much kinder to us :)