*In what order would you "give up stuff", if you lost your job tomorrow?

[SoCalDem]

I took a quick peek at the latest cheese-sandwich v vacation pic thread, and it occurred to me that we all have our favorite "must-haves", and they could all identify ourselves a "poor", while using/having/buying things that others would consider profligate spending.

My mother used to cry poverty all the time, but that woman could NOT pass up a garage sale or a bargain, and consequently had a HOUSE FULL of other-people's-junk.. she even had a suit of armor in her downstairs family room.. She would spend hundreds of dollars on sheets & towels (on sale) and yet she lived alone in a 5 bedroom house, and always used the "old ones" because they were softer.

Mr friend's son is married with 2 little kids, and his little family has spent their entire 6 yr marriage in the (former) family-room of his in-laws, separated from the father-in-law's family by a few sheets hung in the entryway.. He's had jobs, his wife's had jobs, they pay NO rent (never have), and yet they have never amassed enough money to make a down payment on an apartment of their own.. They are always flat broke, BUT they each have cell phones, he has an XBox, they buy toys & stuff for the kids (even though there's NO room for any of it).



So my question is this..

In what order do you eliminate things, as the income goes down?

Do you move to a cheaper place FIRST?? or last?

Do you give up cell phone package first or last?

Internet connection?

cable tv?

prepared foods & restaurants?

sweating through the summer, in lieu of running the AC?

kids' paid activities (soccer, peewee football, dance classes etc)

[Jackpine Radical]

1. My tractor goes last.

Well, maybe before the wife & the dog.

[leftstreet]

2. The Muddle Class pares down

:rofl:

Sorry, but there are tons of people in the US who don't have any of the things on your list.

[SoCalDem]

4. I know, but there are millions more who DO

and as they "unwind", there will be sacrifices..and in each family there will be DIFFERENT ones.. that was my point.. there is no "one right way" to downsize:)

[leftstreet]

8. no doubt

It just struck me funny

:P

[hobbit709]

3. Our house payment is $516/mo

We couldn't rent a place with our dogs for that. and we have about 5½ years left to pay. Our cell phones cost us $10/mo each. Eating out would be the first cut. Direct TV and DSL would be close to last-and of the two I'd keep the DSL since I repair computers out of my garage.

[SoCalDem]

5. Wow.. your phone package sounds divine.. what do you have?

We don;t have cell phones, BUT if I could find a deal like yours, we might be tempted to give up the landline:)

[hobbit709]

12. Neither of use our cell phones much

so we have the basic Tracfone 50 min/mo plan. I have a landline phone with DSL for $55/mo and a VOIP phone as a second line for $28/mo. We used to pay about $120/mo for one line, DSL and long distance. So now we have two lines,internet and unlimited long distance for under $85/mo. Both of our relatives live out of town and we have friends all over the country so we save a bundle on long distance that way

[Thickasabrick]

6. Already given up TV, don't eat out, kid moved out, cell phone paid

by work, house payment is pretty cheap. I would like to sweat through the summer but it would make my hairy dogs miserable so I can't do that to them.

[Donnachaidh]

7. Never much on prepackaged foods -- they are CRAP in a box

Went to pre-load cells for emergencies a long time ago.

A/C gotta have, it's the south and asthma problems make it important.

Kid is into being in a band, so don't have lessons anymore (YAY!)

Cable -- we're shopping around now, but not much choice where we live.

Restaurants are and always have been treats for special occasions only.

Looking into a cheaper place, because lease is running down on this. We're limited in that as well, because we want to stay in the same school district.

Internet connection -- CAN'T give that up. Besides, people really need net access because most of the employers hiring right now ONLY take apps on the net. Forget taking resumes from place to place. That's OVER.

Looking for VALUE over *let's buy some more plastic crap* these days.

[dipsydoodle]

9. Stop going out dancing four times a week

and say in to learn to play my banjos and parlor guitars etc. :)

[dustbunnie]

10. Here was my list, in order:

Splurging on needless clothing items like cute, expensive socks and jammie things, all kinds of skin products. (My bad habit, and often bought some little thing almost every day but think I only did it to alleviate work stress which no longer exists.)
Books. :cry:
Eating out.
Redoing the grocery list a little. Ate well to begin with, but don't have cans of Hearts of Palm or tins of anchovies hanging around anymore.
Driving all over the place, whenever. Pick a day to go in town and do everything.
Turn down the thermostat. (Can be romantic :))

[SoCalDem]

13. We do the "circle trip errand thing".. It's kind of fun to plan out

our "mission":).and we only fill the "town" car once a month:)

[dustbunnie]

16. Lol at "town car."

I'm really am enjoying this part of it. Aside from the part-time contracts that are a must to go to, I like not sitting and fuming in traffic, rushing around doing endless errands that, if planned properly, you can do in one fell swoop. The "weekly outing" is fun these days.

[SoCalDem]

18. It's a Kia..not a Lincoln:)

the "other" one is a 91 Accord EX that is the commuter car.. The poor old dear has some miles left in it and hubby's going to drive it until the repairs get too horrendous (just spent $644.61 last week for drive-shaft owrk:(..)

Our Kia Amanti is our "nice" car, so we treat it more gently:)

[eridani]

27. Yes. Books would be hard

I'd just try to get used to the library wait lists.

[Yavin4]

11. I've Already Done This

I've downsized my life a ton since 2002. I don't have much else. So, I'm already down to my last two items:


-- Gym
-- Cable

I can try to get a cheaper cell phone and a cheaper internet connection.

Fortunately, I planned for this crash as best as I could, so I am okay for a year or more.

[elleng]

28. Same here; been there, done that.

Due to circumstances, I'm actually thinking about re-acquiring, sort-of.

[ConcernedCanuk]

14. Smoking was my first - last December

.
.
.

Then it would be beer

Then it would be insurance/repairs for my vehicle

I've "parked" it 3 or 4 times in the last 20 years until I could afford to fix or insure it

yup - it IS the same vehicle - bought it in June 1990

so ok - 19 years . . . .

Then it would be food items like potato chips and whole wheat bread

Real meat and fresh veggies would fall to canned no-name stuff

somewhere in there is birdseed - Last winter I was better off financially, and spent about 40 bucks a month on my birdies - outdoor wild guys, not pets

this year less than 10 bucks a month

Internet and phone line are my connection with my family and friends - we rarely to the long distance phone call thing, (less than once a year) but can chat now and then for nothing for hours if we choose to

I haven't watched Television on a steady basis for over 5 years, NONE for the last three - so the Internet is also my main source of visual entertainment and news

I read about 30 - 40 books a month at no cost from our local library -

I get magazines an newspapers from my neighbors, food from friends and the food bank

yeah

I've been dealing with poverty for over two decades - I have my support/discipline thing figured out

Small-Town Canada - it DOES have it's advantages . . .

[Saphire]

15. Well, I've already moved to a less expensive place, given up my

cell phone, given up eating out and prepared food. Can't live without some a/c since I live in South Texas (BTW, it's already hit the 90's here, and I've already had to use it.)

cable/phone/internet.....the last to go, since I don't go anywhere but work and home. Although, I'm getting ready to go to just basic cable.

I've done all of this in preparation for my lay-off.....I'm convinced it's going to happen soon (I work in new home construction. {{sigh}})

[Manifestor_of_Light]

26. A/C is a necessity in Texas, NOT a luxury.

In spite of what some people think.

[NNN0LHI]

17. I'd cancel my discount bungee jumping membership first

Don't use it much anyway.

Don

[Fearless]

19. Everything but the smaller place, immediately...

As I'm not a parent and not living in a dwelling beyond my means.

[notesdev]

20. Think of it more as "what gets paid first if there's not enough money"

I've been through it before... if you have any doubt as to what is 'luxury' and what is 'necessity' you will be disabused of your confusion in a hurry. The difference between 'you cannot have all of it' and 'you cannot have any of it' cannot be adequately described without first hand experience.

Basically... if your necessity list contains more than basic food, basic phone, basic net connection, a roof over your head, tools for basic hygiene and the means to get back and forth to a job (and/or to seek one, depending on your situation), you have some rude awakenings coming.

And when I say 'basic'... I mean the minimum that can be purchased and still fit the definition of the product.

[blues90]

21. Already lost my job

We have never really had much .

Got rid of cable TV except for basic because my wife watches TV..

Cut the cell phones down to one with less minutes

Use no more than one lamp at night , it's amazing what you can see in the dark or use a candle or flashlight.

The car sits in the garage with the min insurance required and don't dive much but walk to the store.

Don't turn on the heat or A/C . Never eat out or go to movies . read books.

Buy cat food on sale and litter on sale store flyers save a lot, you know two for the price of one.

We don;t buy anything at all other than food and what we have as far as clothes are thirft store items as well as furnature but this was old well before I lost my job.

hand wash clothes and hang to dry.

Sold everything worth selling . The only thing we bought in 4 years was a used computer to replace the dead 10 year old tower and have a cheap internet provider and we make no long distance calls on the phone

guess that about covers it. the rent is the big expense at $890 a month water included .
Next on the list is for us to quit smoking and we have cut back by half and buy the cheapo brand , quitting will be the big one both doing it, and saving money.

[proud patriot]

22. I've been downsizing out of nessesity for the last eight years

I've even gone back to work in that period .

Just this last month I was w/o cable,internet and phone
for a week . Chose PG and E over those , so at least the lights
stayed on and the food didn't spoil .

[wellstone dem]

23. Interesting

#1 car I just keep for when my daughter is home from college
1(a) no more buying books (see below)
#1(b) I quit the graduate program I'm in. (I'm just in for myself. I have one advanced degree already.)
#2 internet (library is two blocks away)
#3 cook for myself more (but do this alot already)
#4 hang clothes outside in summer
#5 bike further (I did almost all grocery shopping last summer from the bike.)
#5(a)goodbye netflix
#6 goodbye cable

I walk to work already. I grow some of my own food. I don't eat out much. I don't go to movies much. The biggest thing would be not buying clothes, which tends to be a weakness of mine.

[MadHound]

24. Your mom had a suit of armor?

I real live honest to God, made in the Middle Ages suit of armor? Does she still have it? Does she want to get rid of it?

[SoCalDem]

25. not an "authentic" set, but it was about 6 ft tall, and scared the crap out of my boys

they were afraid to be downstairs with the "metal man".. no doubt she got it at some garage sale.. don;t know what ever happened to him..