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My spending way down. DH keeps getting layed off on Thursdays & Fridays. last month he was off for 2 weeks. They just don't have the work. Last year at this time he was on overtime working 10 hour days plus Saturdays.
I'd like to say I'm spending less, but I just bought a bunch of the white storage cubes at Michaels. I do think I'm being more frugal, they were running 50% coupons this week so I made each an individual purchase by visiting multiple times. But, I did start a new job this week, so I figure I deserve it. Next week, I'm not stepping foot in any stores.
__________________ Anjou My Gallery * My Blog - Dreaming in Color "Don't be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so." - Belva Davis
I'd say I'm being a bit more cautious. One of our biggest expenses is food (mainly because DH likes to channel Julia Child and doesn't know $20 for a chicken is outrageous...it's a miracle I don't weigh 400 pounds and we're not in debt) so I'm trying to rein in those costs first by planning cheaper meals during the week and not letting him anywhere near the gourmet grocery store. I'm also trying to cut back on driving, planning trips with an eye to minimizing fuel use. When I got the twinkling H2Os you made me buy Friday, Joan, I was already driving past Marco's to take my son to therapy. So really, how could I not stop in and get those cute little jars?
My heart aches for the people who are losing their jobs or getting less work, though. You can do everything right and still get the shaft in this market.
My spending is down some right now. The main reason is that DH and I are going on vacation on Friday and I don't want any packages arriving while I'm away. On the other hand, we had a yard sale yesterday and I'm taking my portion of the proceeds with me to spend on vacation at the 4 or 5 stores we'll be near on our trip (they're already programmed into the GPS).
__________________ Mary Ann GALLERY Fan Club member since 4/08
My spending has been down for quite a while. I do splurge here & there....I also bought the white storage cubes a few months ago when they had the 50% off coupons, & I also went every day & used one. I do go to Michael's about once a week, but rarely spend over $10 & only if I have the cash ~~~ I'm tryin really hard to cut out ALL CC spending!
My spending is down - I'm supposed to be on a stash diet, but I did an ebay sale last week and made �100 so it is calling to me to be spent on goodies!
My job means I deal with the building industry, which is REALLY slow in the UK at the moment. It means I have very little work which is very worrying. I wonder how long my company will wait before laying people off.
My love and thoughts to all those who are suffering at the moment. Let's hope all these politicians and bankers get themselves sorted out soon!
LOL - I'm spending more because I'm hopeful the government will bail me out of trouble for poor financial decisions just as they are the banks and lending instituations who created this mess.
This is a sore subject in our household, expecially since it appears every taxpayer will be contributing at least $2,500 to resolve it - so much for no tax increase.
My DH is a realtor and he has routinely over the last several years seen clients moved up to bigger houses than they can't really afford because of the lower initial interest rates of ARMS. If people can't afford the bigger house; then they should buy one they could pay for without everything having to go the mortgage and then when the mortgage rate rose (what a surprise...) they could no longer afford it. I'd love a big, new expensive house too, but our family lives in a modest, smaller home we can afford and still get to eat!!!
__________________ Donna Love my puppies! Thor 5 years; Maddee 5 years
LOL - I'm spending more because I'm hopeful the government will bail me out of trouble for poor financial decisions just as they are the banks and lending instituations who created this mess.
This is a sore subject in our household, expecially since it appears every taxpayer will be contributing at least $2,500 to resolve it - so much for no tax increase.
My DH is a realtor and he has routinely over the last several years seen clients moved up to bigger houses than they can't really afford because of the lower initial interest rates of ARMS. If people can't afford the bigger house; then they should buy one they could pay for without everything having to go the mortgage and then when the mortgage rate rose (what a surprise...) they could no longer afford it. I'd love a big, new expensive house too, but our family lives in a modest, smaller home we can afford and still get to eat!!!
Same here, Donna. We've been in our house for 23 years in Oct. and would LOVE to move, but have tried to be realistic. I have a hard time swallowing that I may have to help bail out those who knew they wouldn't be able to afford that bigger house if interest rates shifted the slightest bit north. The same goes for those mortgage companies/banks that made those loans on such insane terms (while their brokers made handsome commissions).
Julie
P.S. To answer your original question, Joan, I have definitely cut back in the last couple of months, not just this past week.
I say "Life is too short" so I'm still treating myself if there's something I want...it may be something smaller and less expensive but why not...you have to enjoy yourself while you're here.
I have no spending money any more. My husband has been out of work for over two months. Our savings is 0 now since unemployement doesn't even cover the food bills. The only time I spend any "extra" is when I sell something on ebay. The IT business in our area is NOT hiring. They take lots of resume's but no jobs. I just wonder how many holiday cards I'll be selling this year. In past years I've done very well, but who knows now.
Sorry to go on. It just hits right at my front door!
i just spent over a thousand dollars on wine..so I would have to say that my spending habits have NOT been tightened at all. still buying all the necessities of life..and also buying luxuries such as fermented grape juice and stamping supplies.
Location: Somewhere in the middle...closer to there, nearer to here...
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I've been on a spending diet for awhile although I have routinely cheated on said diet. For me, my spending freeze isn't related to the bad economic times although it still ticks me off when I go to the grocery store every week and see the prices nudge up and up on everyday items. I wonder when it will stop! We have good jobs that are not yet impacted by the bad times rather I realized that I was spending more time buying than I was crafting so I decided to try and reverse that trend. I've got so many stamps and so much paper and so many alterables, there really is no need for me to spend anymore money. I try to plan my spending now rather than just splurge because I want to.
My heart goes out to those of you who are struggling right now!
I am so right there with you on this. It's just absurd how the government works, especially in an election year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdmeeks
LOL - I'm spending more because I'm hopeful the government will bail me out of trouble for poor financial decisions just as they are the banks and lending instituations who created this mess.
This is a sore subject in our household, expecially since it appears every taxpayer will be contributing at least $2,500 to resolve it - so much for no tax increase.
My DH is a realtor and he has routinely over the last several years seen clients moved up to bigger houses than they can't really afford because of the lower initial interest rates of ARMS. If people can't afford the bigger house; then they should buy one they could pay for without everything having to go the mortgage and then when the mortgage rate rose (what a surprise...) they could no longer afford it. I'd love a big, new expensive house too, but our family lives in a modest, smaller home we can afford and still get to eat!!!
__________________ Dee
"Some succeed because they are destined to, but most succeed because they are determined to."
To answer your question concisely -- Yes --What has prompted my curb on hobby spending is the awful real estate market. We recently moved and haven't sold our other home as yet (7 months and counting), thus we're having to concentrate on necessities rather than luxuries.
Right now I'm doing okay. I still have a job, although I will be working longer than I had intended, as my 401(k) has dropped quite a bit since December. Right now my job seems secure, but anything can happen. At least I have no bills, other than my car payment - I don't use credit cards - so the only other payments I owe are utility, cable, etc.
The thing that bothers me is that my friends and I could see this coming several years ago, so why couldn't these "economic geniuses" see it, also? I think we all know the answer to that - pure GREED!!!! Although I wasn't around during the 1920s, that was a roller coaster ride the same as this. We are all going to have to pay for this, and it will take YEARS!!! Our kids and grandkids will pay through the nose.
My heart goes out to all of you who are suffering because of greed. I was absolutely appalled when I read that the CEOs of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac were going to get "golden parachutes" when leaving their present positions. If it had been one of us, we would have just been fired, with maybe a week or two of severance pay. I certainly hope the next administration can put a halt to all this, but I am not optimistic, sad to say.
I have noticed that I don't spend as much on stamps. I look at the B/S/T forum here alot more (looking for deals). I cut out coupons and I make my own coffee in the morning instead of going to Starbucks.
__________________ People will forget what you said,
People will forget what you did.
But people will never forget how
you made them feel!
My spending has been about the same. But, I was born a miser. If the house decision had been up to me alone, instead of up to me AND the husband, I would've bought a teensy tiny house with a teensy tiny mortgage. But we live in a medium house. (DH wanted a huge house) My job is protected from the economy but DH's is directly impacted by it.
Well, in the last week, not really at all--it's not made me spend less. In general, I have been trying to not acquire as many material goods and to increase our contributions to long-term retirement/savings goals. We just applied to refinance our house over 15 years instead of the current 30 year term we have, and that will actually lower our payment by a few dollars, oddly enough.
In the last two or three weeks, I've been on a selling spree--I sold about 40 SU sets and then promptly sank the $$ I made into a good-sized SU order. I generally try to keep those to 1-2 a year or so. Sometimes less, sometimes more, but 1-2 seems to do the trick for me. I suppose in the past I might just have placed the order and then sold the stamps when I got around to it, but this time I was pretty strict about not getting new stuff until I'd sold the old. I also received a Papertreyink order. Generally speaking, I suppose I have been trying to spend less over the last year or two.
Now regarding this new 700 billion dollar bailout proposal. I read something this morning, I think from the NYT, and the undertone of it seems to be that Paulson and Bernanke consider the situation so dire that they feel this bailout is necessary to avoid a stock market crash. The piece didn't outright say that, but the closed-door meetings with congressional leaders seems to strongly suggest to me that they fear something pretty bad (I'm honestly thinking something akin to 1929, maybe not that bad since they have failsafes in place but honestly--that's what I was reading between the lines) and they are so convinced of it that they are freaking out and are trying to make congress not turn this into a political thing. That is pretty darn scary. It wasn't so much what was reported as it was what I was gathering from the unusual nature of what's going on. If I'm right and that is the case, I am going to try to be optimistic that everyone in Congress (or enough of them to create a majority) will put politics aside and do the RIGHT thing and not what helps them and/or their party the most. That's not a criticism of either party but just what I am going to be hopeful for as an outcome of this situation.
While it does sort of enrage me that the housing crisis has created this big freaking mess and it still floors me that people couldn't see the gravy train had to come to an end, I don't think even I realized that the gravy train was going to freaking derail right in the middle of a nuclear missile silo--and I had been pretty sure the spectacular housing price runup was going to end badly for quite some time before it did. I was glooming-and-dooming it back in 2005 on my daily walks with my neighbor, and she was confident that things were going to continue going up, up, up indefinitely (as were so many zillions of others). I was on fire to get my house in Central Florida sold so we could maximize our profit and leave the state for Tennessee, and we did manage to do that at the end of 2005, right before it all fell apart in Florida. I was also very cognizant that we needed to be smart in our Tennessee home purchase and hopefully we have done that, having bought a house at more than $25K less than it appraised for at the time, then putting down a substantial amount of $$ on it. This part of TN never really experienced a bubble so I'm hopeful that it won't experience a drastic home value decline either, but if it does I think we are well positioned to ride it out. I HOPE.
OK, that was maybe more than you asked. But I love your blog, so I guess I felt like I wanted to put forth a bit of extra effort!
i just spent over a thousand dollars on wine..so I would have to say that my spending habits have NOT been tightened at all. still buying all the necessities of life..and also buying luxuries such as fermented grape juice and stamping supplies.
WOW - you are my kind of gal! DH and I buy wine now when we travel rather than other souvenrs. We love to take long weekend trips up to the NY Finger Lakes region and usually come home with 2 - 3 cases. On Friday we're headed down to VA and NC. We will most likely hit the wine festival at Smith Mountain Lake (near Roanoke) with my brother and SIL on Sat and pick up more wine on our way home when we stop near Raleigh to visit the stepsons. They both live not too far from the Yadkin Valley. Gotta love the vino! (and stamping too)
__________________ Mary Ann GALLERY Fan Club member since 4/08
WOW - you are my kind of gal! DH and I buy wine now when we travel rather than other souvenrs. We love to take long weekend trips up to the NY Finger Lakes region and usually come home with 2 - 3 cases. On Friday we're headed down to VA and NC. We will most likely hit the wine festival at Smith Mountain Lake (near Roanoke) with my brother and SIL on Sat and pick up more wine on our way home when we stop near Raleigh to visit the stepsons. They both live not too far from the Yadkin Valley. Gotta love the vino! (and stamping too)
Yeah, we thought about cutting back on wine, but decided we're not that desperate yet, LOL!
Hugs to those of you who are hurting. Let's hope that all of you who need a job get one soon.
I am being much more selective. Here is what I would have bought this week and did not:
-did not drop by the local art store for my 2 - 3 copics/cocaine weekly habit
-did not drop by AC Moore or Michaels to use my 50% off coupons.
-did not go to my LSS to pick up the stamp I ordered because I know I will be there next weekend for a class (Karen Lockhart's!!!!).
So, by my way of thinking, I've saved at least $75 this week.
__________________ Dear Paperlicious is my blog...with a series on how I'm learning to improve my cardmaking by studying others.
We love to take long weekend trips up to the NY Finger Lakes region and usually come home with 2 - 3 cases. On Friday we're headed down to VA and NC.
I am from Upstate NY, so am well acquainted with the Finger Lakes region. this weekend was all about Louden county VA( Leesburg). 13 wineries in 2 days....38 bottles worth! we started off with a plan.. no more than 3 bottles per winery..and was doing really well..until we found a new one..and had to..literally HAD to get one of each. Luckily they only have five vintages so far....but we never spent more than $100 at each winery.
since I pay the credit card off in full every month( its a great source of pride to me that we have not paid interest at all this year) I will most likely have to back down a little on extraneous spending next month....
I am selling my older underused stamps to buy new ones. This is something new for me but it wasn't just a manner of money, it was changing tastes and room to store them that also helped me decide to sell. I am trying to be more particular now with my choices. I used some of the "stamp" money to buy copics this last week. My dil and granddaughter were over yesterday and I let them "shop" in my craft room for free and they got some great stuff and I got some much needed space freed up. Think I'm going to do that periodically. It was really fun!
Well, both my DH and I are gainfully employed although since he retired from teaching (40 years) last May, his current job is as a hired hand on a farm owned by a friend of ours. We are trying to wait to draw his SS until after january 2009 because he turns 65 in 09 and because he won't have any other income in 09 from teaching( its a reduced benefits because you earn too much thing)----he is drawing from our state employee retirement system but------that is less than half of his teaching salary and the farming paycheck is less than half of that. We still have one son in college and one in graduate school so the rising prices are worrisome. We are fortunate that we have no mortgage payment currently, and only one very low car payment. Our utilities are extremely low and due to dieting, we eat out infrequently.
I have cut back on "stash" stuff but am gamely trying to use up supplies I bought "just because" . So far I am still able to spend around $50.00 per month on stamps,ink supplies without wrecking the budget. that is way down from the past 3 years when we were both drawing teaching salary, and his state retirement. But,,,,,,,I can make it work. Like others, I am mad clear through that CEO's of financial institutions who fail are given huge settlements and of course they have been drawing fantastic salary all along but the little guy takes it in the rear. My older children who are buying homes and raising my darling grandchildren are feeling the pinch big time. both spouses are hourly workers and the downtimes and so forth can put big dents in a budget that has to pay child care.
I fully expect neither candidate to be able to "fix" things...and you know they will draw their salary and perks. maybe Palin can sell Air Force one and they can experience what Joe Normal has to put up with for air travel.
I know it is going to cost a small fortune to bring our youngest home from New York to Ks for the holidays-------but we haven't seen him since January 08 so it will be worth it ( I keep saying as I look for cheap flights).
I feel for those in need of jobs---and I could say relocate as the unemployment rate here is less than 2% and there are jobs (professional, technical and blue collar) advertised in every issue of thepaper---but I know that is not a possibility for all either.
Just keep "keeping on" and we will weather the storm and hopefully, a rainbow at the end will help all.
__________________ c-mouse-If you can't say nuttin nice--don't say nuttin at all. Thumper. Pansy
Card Sketch Challenge 1-227 done only 396+ to go to be caught up!!!!!
My spending mantra these days is pretty simple: if it isn't on sale, gas or food, I don't buy it. (Coupons are included when I say "sale.") Still buying, but it must be a value.
Everything goes on sale (or coupon-able) these days anyway, so it's usually just a matter of waiting a week or two.
We just finished furnishing our home - everything was high quality AND on sale. This is a good question; I'm glad someone thought to ask it.
I am very fortunate to have a job and there's no imminent danger of it going away since in a bad economy my work tends to increase. However, DH is a SAHD now and so we're down to one income and these uncertain times still make me nervous.
I am definitely more conscious of the spending and have been all this year but I haven't gone to zero spend yet. I do feel I need to cut down more because (1) I already have enough stamps to stamp something new every day for years and (2) I don't have the time to stamp as much as I'd like and (3) you never know about this economy and I should be saving the money for something more useful.
I have cut way down on internet orders in general but was compelled to buy several sets from PaperTrey the last 2 months. I have a hard time resisting holiday sets. I joined a StampClub with my SU demo and have to spend $25 per month but in my first order I spent well over that. I plan to hit right at the $25 from now on to keep my spending down. I also am vowing not to go to Michael's and JoAnns for a while. It's too tempting.
I'm going to try and incorporate more homemade items into my gift-giving this year.
I have cut way down on internet orders in general but was compelled to buy several sets from PaperTrey the last 2 months. I have a hard time resisting holiday sets.
I'm going to try and incorporate more homemade items into my gift-giving this year.[/quote]
Same here - I love the holiday stamps and tend to spend too much during these next few months. However, my Christmas gifts are mostly handmade this year with supplies I had so maybe that will help the budget!
So far the only changes I have made are watching for sales, and as far as my online ordering, I think about it more before I submit and it is for lower amounts. I am sick and tired of the prices going up what seems like daily. My DH has been kind of wanting a new car and I have been holding that purchase off as I do not think it is necessary right now. (He only puts about 2500 miles a year on it.) Our credit cards are almost paid off(We both have one that we had before we got married, and one together), and our house will be paid off in about 4 years. We are both very lucky to have good jobs. Mine would be more touch and go since I work on retail, but right now things are okay there, so no worries as of yet. I feel for those that are feeling the pinch and unfortunately I think it will get much worse. I know a friend of mine is really worried about winter coming. They are already behind a bit on the heat bill and once the cold weather comes we will be looking at huge heat bills. The other thing I am doing is stocking up on the things I can like laudry detergent, paper towels, toilet paper, canned goods. We also have cut down on ordering in or eating out. We only go out occasionally locally or when we go to the city.
I work in the title insurance industry in Florida - need I really say more? Our company mandated a 10% wage decrease across the board on Tuesday of this week but at least I still have a job, which is more than can be said for a lot of people in this industry.
I spent this weekend clearing out my stamp room and getting a bunch of stamps ready for the BST listings. I've been meaning to do this for a while (as someone posted previously, a combination of changing tastes and diminishing room) but this was the kick in the pants I needed to get started. I have vowed to cut back on my craft spending too, especially since my job really isn't that secure. This means I will probably have to cut back on SCS time, because it's here that I find out about all the things I "need"
The whole housing market/subprime lending situation makes me madder than I want to bore all of you with, and sadly, I don't think we have reached the bottom yet.
On the plus side, I probably have enough "stuff" to swear off buying for a year at least without running out of things - and I haven't had to give up the wine yet.
We're in spending mode right now - we're moving into a new house next Monday and writing checks seems to be all we do :rolleyes: But other than house stuff, we've been scaling back for a while now.
__________________ If one is going to tell a lie, make it a big lie, tell it loudly and tell it often and eventually people will come to believe it. ~Josef Goebbels
i just spent over a thousand dollars on wine..so I would have to say that my spending habits have NOT been tightened at all. still buying all the necessities of life..and also buying luxuries such as fermented grape juice and stamping supplies.
So, when is the wine tasting party? Count me in! LOL!
No, the economic news hasn't affected my spending, but DH changing jobs HAS! LOL! Scared to spend much of anything, not for sure when that first paycheck will be, haha!
My stamping budget is at $0 right now. DH's company closed, so he's been out of work for several weeks. We had to put a new roof on our house just two weeks ago (which cost thousands), and our fridge died on Friday and we had to buy a brand new one. So, I will not be getting any goodies for a while.
How is the Economic News Affecting Your Spending?
