Cutting Back in This Crazy Economy

For sometime now, Dave and I have been cutting back on certain things in order to try and stay ahead of this crazy economy. In 2008, we decided it was time to make a change in the vehicles we were driving. I commute 140 miles round trip daily and the truck I was driving got about 18-20 miles to the gallon...not really the best vehicle for me, but I was involved in a really bad car accident years ago in which I had to be cut out of my SUV and I had a fear of driving anything smaller (if I had my choice I'd been driving a jacked up F-250 diesel 4x4)! Gas and tolls (not too mention having the oil changed every 6 weeks) was really hitting us where it hurt, so we made the decision to buy a much more fuel efficient car. Yes, a car. I was a little apprehensive at first, but realized it really was the best thing to do. Dave and I never argue about money, and I wasn't going to let one of my fears get in the way of that. So, we went car shopping and it was much easier than I expected. See, Dave and I have always been pretty practical and incredibly sensible when it comes to money. A vehicle is not something we've ever looked at as a status symbol and we definitely don't try to keep up with the Joneses. A vehicle just needs to be reliable and practical. So, we decided on a 5-speed, 4 cylinder Honda Civic 2-door that gets 35-39 miles per gallon. Dave taught me how to drive a 5-speed eons ago so it was a no brainer. Plus, since it is a 4 cylinder, the 5-speed adds a little extra pep and is much more fun to drive. We also splurged on the sunroof figuring that this was going to be a car I would be driving for a long time, so it needed to be fun and kind of sporty. It's also a very safe car...lots of reinforced sidebars and airbags so that helped to relieve my fears! I always tell Dave that when I'm driving it, I'm on the inside and don't see the outside, so as far as I'm concerned it's an Infiniti G-35! Also, we decided not to trade in my truck since it was only a few years old. Instead, Dave retired his older truck, which didn't get very good gas mileage because of the oversized tires and was starting to develop some "gremlins" and started driving the newer truck. He has a relatively short drive to work, but the newer truck does save him a little bit in gas and is more reliable.

We also decided to have our home phone turned off. Our bills were running anywhere from $40-$60 per month and we rarely used it. Most incoming calls were people calling for Applebees or Macaroni Grill (our phone number was very similar to both of the restaurant numbers...off by just one digit) and we were always using our cell phones anyway. So, it just made sense and we haven't missed it at all. What's funny is we haven't actually unplugged the phones in each room or the answering machine!

We've also started doing our food shopping at Walmart. There is a lot of money to be saved there. For instance, a bag of Tyson's Buffalo Wyngs are $8.99 at Publix, but only $6.99 at Walmart. That's a big deal when you buy a bag a week in addition to all the other items we save on. The only drawback is that they don't always have the specific brands we use so we do occasionally still make a trip to Publix.

As we reviewed other areas we could make changes in, I brought up the Lotto tickets. Dave and I have been playing the lottery for as long as I can remember. We started off playing $5 a week on Saturday (which for the Florida lottery is 5 sets of 6 numbers, each set or play costing $1). Then somehow, we wound up with another 5 sets of numbers so we were playing $10 a week. Neither of us can remember how we wound up with another 5 sets of numbers, but the rationalization was we had to keep playing all of them...what if we stopped playing one of the sets and those numbers were drawn...we'd never forgive ourselves! Some time ago, Florida added an additional drawing for the same lottery game on Wednesday, so...we're now playing $10 on Wednesday and Saturday. In 2009, the Florida lottery also became part of PowerBall in which the jackpots are HUGE! Well, we had to play at least a couple of dollars there! Now here we are spending approximately $85-$90 a month on the lottery! We went back and forth on this for the longest time until one Saturday when we happened to be flipping through the channels on the TV and by chance stopped on Jim Cramer's (the money guru guy)show. What he said changed everything! He said statistics show you are 12 times more likely to get hit by lightning on the way to buy your lottery tickets, than you are to win the lottery! Everyone knows your chances of being hit by lightning are slim, even here in the lightning capitol of the world! WOW! Funny how that was all it took...we stopped buying lotto tickets that weekend and have never questioned our decision. However, we do still occasionally buy Powerball quick pick tickets if the jackpot is really big...just in case!

What changes have you made to deal with this uncertain economy?