Have You Changed Any of Your Habits to Save Money in This Economy?

I've been a saver for years. I don't go without anything I want. I only have the mortgage to pay - no other debts to worry about. I eat well. I have a nice house that I love to bits. I own my car. My daughter has toys and nice clothes - but I'm just careful to shop for good prices with everything I do. I grow a lot of my own food in my yard. I went to community cooking classes so I didn't have to eat out or buy takeaway. I work at home so fuel costs are very low. I walk my dogs every day, so no gym memberships. I play with my daughter and spend time doing things with her, so no cable TV costs. I figure my money is better spent paying off my mortgage than buying consumer things. I also wanted to set a good example for my daughter so she can learn good spending habits later in life.

Our whole lifestyle has changed, to tell you the truth. We use coupons like you would not believe. No more eating out. I don't get to go out with my friends. That gets kind of lonely at times, but what do you do? We do more fun things at home and have cut down on or completely cut out all extra expenses that are not necessary. Of course, the amount of debt we are in does not help the budget. We're trying to get out of it and that's part of the reason why we are so frugal now.

not really. we have been frugal with our money for a very long time due to job cuts and me staying home with our kids when they were young. we have always made lots of soups and home made breads for meals during the winter, shopped at thrift stores and whatnot. i guess we were frugal before frugal became cool.

Not really, I only eat out less because I gained a few pounds.

We have done a few things to save some money. I canceled our cable subscription to Cinemax. We never used it. It was such a waste. That saved me $24 a month. I also cut back the minutes on our cellphone bill. We never even got close to using all of the minutes we had available. This saved us about $10 a month. We are supposed to be eating out less, but I love to go out to eat, so this is my vice. I really need to work on this one! It would probably help us all lose weight too.

My husband and I have quit smoking as well. Of course for our health, but a big part of it was the economy. We couldn't afford to smoke anymore. We are struggling financially right now so it would be great to still smoke. It helps calm the nerves.

We have more money, thanks to my job change, but we are doing what we can to pay down bills faster, saving interest. We also eat out less often. I am going to be more serious about gardening this year as well. With my job change I have less of a commute, same for hubby. Neither of us drives more than three miles. That is a relief. I wish I could get him to consider whether or not certain trips are really necessary, though.

I am using coupons more, doing less trips to the store and wakling when I can. We changed the light bulbs in the house to be energy efficent, and we are not using the air conditioner. We barely eat out at all now. We are trying to stay ahead of things so we dont get short later.

I am a person who always conserves no matter what, why spend more than I have to. I am always careful about my spending and my use of any utilities that I have to use. The only one I don't have much control over is the Cable Company. Plus now with gas going up again I will not be going out and about as much, darn just when the weather is getting so nice..

We hardly ever eat out anymore. We make sure the lights are off. we use coupons more. His son carpools to school with our neighbor. We go shopping once a month instead of once a week. We try to to all of our errands at one time instead of multiple trips. We keep the air conditioning at the highest bearable setting. We keep the heat at the lowest bearable setting. We wash clothes in cold water. We run appliances early in the morning or late at night. We eat more fruits and vegetables and other cold foods so we don't have to use the stove or microwave as often.

I take the bus and walk more, I don't eat out nearly as much as I use to. I wash and reuse anything I can (foil, plastic bags, pill bottles, jars, etc). I think twice before throwing anything away. I haven't done as well buying local produce but I am working on it. I have also drastically cut back on meat.