What are people cutting back on?

[Montecfo]

We lived in Scottsdale from 1996-99 when i was working for my first startup. 122 degrees? We assumed that was normal. Never felt that bad, but we had a pool which was nice.

We probably still keep out
R house warmer than some. But not changing it now to cut back.

I do not think we have been hit very hard by personal inflation except when we travel. Packaged goods have gotten more expensive as has beef. But pork and chicken which we eat more of I can still find at about the same prices as a year ago. Fresh veggies are a similar story.

And our housing value is additive. Vehicles appreciating.

Now anything transportation related is up a lot but we buy little gas since we have no need to go far.

 

[NW-Bound]

It sounds like you have everything under control. When I moved to Tucson, I almost passed out several times walking out to my car from my house which was very cold (had an evaporated cooler). I had to lower my head to prevent myself from passing out. This was back in the 80s, so I was young, and I imagine I could probably tolerate heat better than I could now, but still, coming from a much milder climate, it was a huge shock to my body.

I think the temp went up to around 100F then, maybe a little higher, but I was told the heat was much worse in Phoenix, especially in the congested area of the city with more A/Cs being used. I don't know if that is a true statement or not.

If you put your hand in the exhaust stream of an outdoor AC condenser you will feel the heat that it expels. It's easily 20F hotter than the ambient. However, I don't think it's enough to affect the outdoor temperature that much, because that exhaust quickly dissipates in the outdoor air. That amount of heat is nothing compared to what the sun ray delivers. I wonder if there's a study on this.

 

[Sunset]

.....
Only got a cellphone plan when I retired 3 years ago and never use it for investment activities, found I never used much data even when on road trips and had two GPS units beyond the cellphone. At a personal level I do not make many calls or text often so going to cancel my plan and we'll just keep my wife's phone and save $70 a month. Just have basic cable, and home phone is free with Internet package so that will remain.


Still keeping the lawn guy. To purchase a mower, trimmer and blower would pay for 7 years of mowing.

You could go with one of the incredible cheap plans ex: tello at $10/mo and keep your phone for mostly talk and text.

Your lawn guy must be really cheap as mine is $30/mow each week, and 25 weeks of yearly mowing is $750, so for me 2 yrs paying him is more than a lawnmower, trimmer and blower. Which I still have.

 

[DrRoy]

We just got back from 12 days in Italy with a rental car. Diesel there was over $8/gal. For the whole trip we spent $122 on gas. That was a small part of the overall expense and we did not obsess over it.

 

[Romer]

Well put!

My spending has always been determined by the value proposition and not by an external budget. Now given that, the value proposition may change over time.

Now that I have been FI/RE for coming up on 10 years, I am actually loosening up the spending in order to trade it for other things currently of value (ie my time).

-gauss

I bought a code reader/programmer for my BMW so I could disable that

 

[audreyh1]

We haven’t cut back on anything. Our spending over the last two years was held down significantly by Covid and handling DF’s estate plus waiting on our new car.

Our just delivered new car is electric. Our 3 year electricity contract expired last month and the new one is 42% higher! But we don’t plan to cut back on electricity usage.

 

[Badger]

We followed the advice on this forum about saving and investing and planned for things like this before we retired so we have made no changes.

Cheers!

 

[Boose]

I've defaulted to the non-organic version of fresh produce unless the difference in price/lb. is less than 30 cents. Also started walking to Aldi to buy produce - it's over 2.5 mi. for a round trip, and the vegetables are cheaper, so I figure it's extra-healthy for me.

DH now cooks his own boneless chicken in the Instant Pot instead of buying the precooked chicken at Trader Joe's. He usually eats vegetarian with me, but wanted more protein.

Biggest change: we are planning to give up our apartment next spring and go full-nomad, traveling inside and outside of the U.S. This will save about $1500/mo. (average rent on a 1br. where we live). We are still figuring in the cost of storing a few possessions and parking the car for extended periods of time.

 

[wrigley]

Not cutting back much. We're eating more of the food hoardings from last year though.

I've found a few new things that are good for lunch on the cheap that are quite tasty. We probably aren't wasting as much too. I've re-introduced spare ribs and country style too on the smoker. I forgot how good they are.

Not by design, but I just filled up after a month from the last time.

I have joined DW on biz trips. Can't stand the free room overlooking Manhattan...

Country style bone-in pork ribs on the grill have always been one of my favorites!

Mike

 

[wrigley]

Got to run the AC here in Florida. In the mid 90s now. Not much has changed in the way we eat or socialize. The biggest change for us over the past 2 years is that both of us now permanently WFH. That saves a lot on gas which helps tremendously. My commute was about 90 miles round trip daily to the office.

Mike

 

[MichaelL]

I cut back on mortage and property tax and state income tax by moving to a different state in 2019. That was good for about $5,000 a month or so in savings. Recently I've cut back on dining out given the poor value. I got rid to cable too for the same reason. I don't drive too much. I'm considering cutting back on my bar bill and wine bottle purchasing if things keep getting worse.

 

[Koolau]

I cut back on mortage and property tax and state income tax by moving to a different state in 2019. That was good for about $5,000 a month or so in savings. Recently I've cut back on dining out given the poor value. I got rid to cable too for the same reason. I don't drive too much. I'm considering cutting back on my bar bill and wine bottle purchasing if things keep getting worse.

Wow. $5K savings on property and state tax per MONTH. Is that correct? I don't pay that much state/property tax in a year. YMMV

 

[ddoorn]

Speed Kills Mileage

I’m cutting back on speed to improve my Prius’ mileage:

At 70 mph I average 35-40 mpg
At 50-55 mph I average 55-60 mpg

VERY noticeable savings!

Don

 

[Out_the_Door]

I haven't cut back on anything... but then I'm the kinda guy that drives with the air conditioner on with the windows rolled down. I did not buy my usual season tickets to live theater but not to save money but because they are still requiring masks and personally that is not my idea of fun.

 

[Koolau]

I’m cutting back on speed to improve my Prius’ mileage:

At 70 mph I average 35-40 mpg
At 50-55 mph I average 55-60 mpg

VERY noticeable savings!

Don

I've been surprised how little difference my speed seems to make in the old Buick. I've mentioned that I have one of those OBD fed mileage calculators. It's off by 8% (high) but it is very consistent and "accurate" once I correct it. Between about 45 and 75 I see very little difference in mileage. On flat ground, I get over 30 mpg even up to 75. It's amazing that a big old, heavy (comfortable) car like that can get decent mileage. Now, in town, I'm lucky to get 20.

 

[N02L84ER]

Wow. $5K savings on property and state tax per MONTH. Is that correct? I don't pay that much state/property tax in a year. YMMV

He also included mortgage payments.

 

[Koolau]

He also included mortgage payments.

Ahhh! Guess I skipped over that. But, but, but... How does changing states lower mortgage payments?

 

[Dawg52]

I’m going a little deeper into cord cutting. Dropped cable and went to YouTube TV not long ago but found I really don’t watch it a lot other than sports. And I’m really losing interest in that so going to eliminate YT tv. I have Prime and will probably sign up for Paramount and AMC plus for awhile. Will save going this route and probably be just as happy. Tons of free stuff out there too. Plus my antenna picks up all the major networks. So that is one way I’m cutting back. Not planning on cutting much else.

 

[corn18]

I've been surprised how little difference my speed seems to make in the old Buick. I've mentioned that I have one of those OBD fed mileage calculators. It's off by 8% (high) but it is very consistent and "accurate" once I correct it. Between about 45 and 75 I see very little difference in mileage. On flat ground, I get over 30 mpg even up to 75. It's amazing that a big old, heavy (comfortable) car like that can get decent mileage. Now, in town, I'm lucky to get 20.

I tried to hyper mile my 2015 Chevy 2500 with the 6.0L gas engine. I think I went from 11.7 to 12.2 mpg.

 

[wannabefire]

...

FYI, AFAIK running the AC at highway speeds is more efficient that windows open.

...

Yeah, I recall seeing one of those Myth Busters shows that de-bunked the windows down vs. running AC in the car.

 

[SecondCor521]

Ahhh! Guess I skipped over that. But, but, but... How does changing states lower mortgage payments?

I take everything too seriously, so apologies in advance if necessary, but moving from a place near the ocean (HI, CA, NJ, NY, CT, etc) to a place away from the ocean (ND, NE, OK, TN, etc.) can cut a house price in half or more and thus eliminate an entire mortgage if the person has >50% equity (not hard if you bought in a costal state more than 10 years ago).

 

[Car-Guy]

I dropped XM radio on one of my vehicles.... Not to save money but I got tired of the BS dance every 6 months...Local radio stations and a USB music stick work just fine. I will probably drop it on the other vehicle too once the free subscription expires.

 

[MichaelL]

Ahhh! Guess I skipped over that. But, but, but... How does changing states lower mortgage payments?

I sold a condo for $700,000, paid off a $250,000 mortage and bought another similar one for $300,000 outright and took $100,000 cash out.

 

[MichaelL]

I take everything too seriously, so apologies in advance if necessary, but moving from a place near the ocean (HI, CA, NJ, NY, CT, etc) to a place away from the ocean (ND, NE, OK, TN, etc.) can cut a house price in half or more and thus eliminate an entire mortgage if the person has >50% equity (not hard if you bought in a costal state more than 10 years ago).

That's right. I bought in the Bay Area about 10 years ago and then moved to Reno and bought a similar condo for 40% of what I sold for.

 

[Pellice]

I am driving less. But as a retiree and in an area where everything is reasonably close (except nature locations, and right now is a slow time for those), I don't have to drive that much anyway. But, partly, I feel that we are in an emergency due to covid disruptions, war in Ukraine, etc., and, since I am in a position to drive less, I am doing so. I feel for people who are not paid high wages but must drive to work.

But one danger of this for me is that I tend towards reclusiveness anyway, and it becomes perhaps too easy to just stay home.