What are people cutting back on?

Not much tbh

We already live below our means in retirement so when times like this come we don't need to cut back. We want to in some areas and might go for fewer desserts, etc, but nothing significant.

Not sure how you "know" that people are using less A/C in their cars unless you are extrapolating your own habits to others. Since we are 90 degrees with a real feel of 100 on the Plateau here in TN, I doubt that too many are following your lead. Off the Plateau in places like Nashville the real feel is 110 or more. Again, doubt that people are cutting back in that area.
 
Everything. Less meals out with our groups. Less attendance at live venues and events that require $. Less driving which we hardly do anyway. Still no travel since the pandemic because of the restrictions which is a shame since travel restrictions are gone now, but now the airfare, car rentals, gas and accommodations and meals are outrageous. Not to mention lack of employees and pilots and just all of it. Wanted to attend a live outdoor music concert ( like James Taylor, for ex) but very expensive. And we have one of the best pavilions right down the road from us!

Yeah- it messed up a bunch of our retirement plans since we moved Feb 2020 after retiring and down sizing. And now I have a back issue on top of it. We are 66 and 68.

One treat is we go to the movies occasionally on Tuesday’s when it’s $8 per person. Only if something we really want to see on a big screen is playing.

A lot of people around here must be pretty rich because they don’t seem to be cutting back on anything and it makes it awkward when it comes time for socializing. But so far we have been able to make it work. I took note that most of them have federal or state or city or corporate pensions and many - if they are entitled- also collecting SS. And that goes for both spouses. And many have been retired since 50 or even a little younger and living it up all this time. God bless them. We’re not in that category.

But all in all have to accept it and be thankful. I’m now for the first time tracking every misc expense we have to get a handle on it. We are living off cash. No pensions and trying to hold out until 70 for SS.

I also worry about our single adult son who is working two jobs and commuting with a big gas bill and wear and tear on his car and high rent for a crappy studio apartment with not a single closet in it or refresh by the landlord. I want to be able to help him IF he runs into any trouble.
 
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We're cutting back but this was an overall strategy which preceded the current economy woes. Also, we live in Mongolia so things are quite different here.

We used to be renters since we moved around Asia a lot. After taking early retirement 2 years ago, I decided I could settle in one spot. So, we bought some virgin land in the mountains about 20 miles from the capital, Ulaanbaatar. My wife is Mongolian so it made sense to live here. We're building a yurt compound right now. The total costs will be about US$30-40k for the land and 3 yurts. Our living space will be about 1300 sq ft plus a couple of shipping containers for storage, garage, workshop.

Property taxes are practically non-existent. Electricity is on-grid but our use is very low, also electricity rates are some of the lowest in the world. We used 90kW in the first month which costs US$4. We can provide most of our heating and cooking from the land with fallen wood and cow dung. We let the neighbours herds graze our land and we get free fuel. In the extreme cold of the winter, as low as -30 to -40C/F we'll use more electricity to heat with underfloor heating. Night time electricity is often free so it may not cost more to heat than the rest of the year.

We've traveled a lot less since the pandemic. Actually, our last holiday was to Nha Trang in Vietnam. The plan was a 2-month holiday in January 2020 but the pandemic hit and we were stranded in Vietnam for 1.7 years. So we had our fill of holidays although it was a great place to be stranded. We were able to work online so it didn't hurt us at all.

We can't really cut back on food much more since there aren't a lot of discounters in Mongolia. Everybody sells for the same price. We might experiment with growing some summer vegetables and fruit in the future.

We've certainly cut back on restaurants because it's a 40 mile round trip to go to any. My Ssangyong diesel truck gets about 26mpg so it's not very economical and diesel prices went through the roof - a 50% price hike since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So I avoid using the truck except for hauling stuff which happens a lot. For better economy I have a couple of electric vehicles (a bicycle and a motorcycle). They are tremendously cheap to run but have limited utility. I've also got an ICE motorcycle which gets about 50mpg.

One of our biggest bills after food is internet. We are just about on the edge of 4g coverage but it's flaky. I'm adding a 4g booster but the cost of data is high. So I'm on the waiting list for a Starlink system which would actually cut our costs down and give us unlimited data. It might be available here next year. We can't really cut back on internet use as it's our lifeline to the world.
 
Picking up thrifty hobbies

We have picked up a few hobbies during Covid that save us money. DH makes some pretty tasty dry cider so we have cut back on alcohol purchases. Recently we started growing various salad greens under LED grow lights which is remarkably easy. Have been making sourdough bread at home since Covid started and now have it down to a routine that takes probably 15 minutes total over a day.

We are thinking twice about trips in the car, trying to group errands together to limit mileage, and car pooling with neighbors or friends for various events.
 
meleana said:
Lower property taxes. Duh…?
Click to expand...

We got the lower property taxes for of the equation. That was easy. Byt he was saying on mortgage and taxes, a whopping $5000 a month! Most of that had to be a mortgage...And mathematically, I am thinking he has no mortgage wherever he is living. (I am from a city that has HIGH property taxes...but $5000 a month would be astrological...wouldn't it?)
 
SecondCor521 said:
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).
Click to expand...

All true. I guess I think of it as HCOL vs LCOL areas - sometimes that matches up with states - HI is the classic example of that. Almost everything is expensive. YMMV
 
ERObjd said:
I have noticed that with the price of gas going up nearly every day that people seem to not use the AC in their cars and trucks nearly as much. I suppose the real rich don't care, but it seems many people who might have run the car with AC blasting back when gas was $3.15 a gallon are not doing so with gas that is now well over $4.00 per gallon.
Click to expand...
My theory has long been that the air conditioners in many cars over 10-12 years old have simply failed and are too expensive to fix.
 
Out of Steam said:
My theory has long been that the air conditioners in many cars over 10-12 years old have simply failed and are too expensive to fix.
Click to expand...

A lot of them have leaks that can be fixed with a $40 kit - do it yourself. Well, "fixed" is the wrong word. My 22 year old car needs a "transfusion" about every other year. One Can/hose kit is good for 2 or 3 refills unless you have a serious leak. YMMV
 
UKadventurer said:
We're cutting back but this was an overall strategy which preceded the current economy woes. Also, we live in Mongolia so things are quite different here.

We used to be renters since we moved around Asia a lot. After taking early retirement 2 years ago, I decided I could settle in one spot. So, we bought some virgin land in the mountains about 20 miles from the capital, Ulaanbaatar. My wife is Mongolian so it made sense to live here. We're building a yurt compound right now. The total costs will be about US$30-40k for the land and 3 yurts. Our living space will be about 1300 sq ft plus a couple of shipping containers for storage, garage, workshop.

Property taxes are practically non-existent. Electricity is on-grid but our use is very low, also electricity rates are some of the lowest in the world. We used 90kW in the first month which costs US$4. We can provide most of our heating and cooking from the land with fallen wood and cow dung. We let the neighbours herds graze our land and we get free fuel. In the extreme cold of the winter, as low as -30 to -40C/F we'll use more electricity to heat with underfloor heating. Night time electricity is often free so it may not cost more to heat than the rest of the year.

We've traveled a lot less since the pandemic. Actually, our last holiday was to Nha Trang in Vietnam. The plan was a 2-month holiday in January 2020 but the pandemic hit and we were stranded in Vietnam for 1.7 years. So we had our fill of holidays although it was a great place to be stranded. We were able to work online so it didn't hurt us at all.

We can't really cut back on food much more since there aren't a lot of discounters in Mongolia. Everybody sells for the same price. We might experiment with growing some summer vegetables and fruit in the future.

We've certainly cut back on restaurants because it's a 40 mile round trip to go to any. My Ssangyong diesel truck gets about 26mpg so it's not very economical and diesel prices went through the roof - a 50% price hike since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So I avoid using the truck except for hauling stuff which happens a lot. For better economy I have a couple of electric vehicles (a bicycle and a motorcycle). They are tremendously cheap to run but have limited utility. I've also got an ICE motorcycle which gets about 50mpg.

One of our biggest bills after food is internet. We are just about on the edge of 4g coverage but it's flaky. I'm adding a 4g booster but the cost of data is high. So I'm on the waiting list for a Starlink system which would actually cut our costs down and give us unlimited data. It might be available here next year. We can't really cut back on internet use as it's our lifeline to the world.
Click to expand...

Great to read about living conditions in some other place so different.
I'll admit, with the lowest electricity costs in the world I'd skip heating/cooking with cow dung :LOL:

I cook at my cabin with a wood burning stove, but will also be tempted to take the easy way and cook many meals on a propane BBQ or a propane stove.
Saving the wood stove cooking for when I want hot water to wash the dishes, via heating up 4 large kettles of water while I cook on the big stove.
 
UKadventurer said:
We're cutting back but this was an overall strategy which preceded the current economy woes. Also, we live in Mongolia so things are quite different here.

We used to be renters since we moved around Asia a lot. After taking early retirement 2 years ago, I decided I could settle in one spot. So, we bought some virgin land in the mountains about 20 miles from the capital, Ulaanbaatar. My wife is Mongolian so it made sense to live here. We're building a yurt compound right now. The total costs will be about US$30-40k for the land and 3 yurts. Our living space will be about 1300 sq ft plus a couple of shipping containers for storage, garage, workshop.

Property taxes are practically non-existent. Electricity is on-grid but our use is very low, also electricity rates are some of the lowest in the world. We used 90kW in the first month which costs US$4. We can provide most of our heating and cooking from the land with fallen wood and cow dung. We let the neighbours herds graze our land and we get free fuel. In the extreme cold of the winter, as low as -30 to -40C/F we'll use more electricity to heat with underfloor heating. Night time electricity is often free so it may not cost more to heat than the rest of the year.

We've traveled a lot less since the pandemic. Actually, our last holiday was to Nha Trang in Vietnam. The plan was a 2-month holiday in January 2020 but the pandemic hit and we were stranded in Vietnam for 1.7 years. So we had our fill of holidays although it was a great place to be stranded. We were able to work online so it didn't hurt us at all.

We can't really cut back on food much more since there aren't a lot of discounters in Mongolia. Everybody sells for the same price. We might experiment with growing some summer vegetables and fruit in the future.

We've certainly cut back on restaurants because it's a 40 mile round trip to go to any. My Ssangyong diesel truck gets about 26mpg so it's not very economical and diesel prices went through the roof - a 50% price hike since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So I avoid using the truck except for hauling stuff which happens a lot. For better economy I have a couple of electric vehicles (a bicycle and a motorcycle). They are tremendously cheap to run but have limited utility. I've also got an ICE motorcycle which gets about 50mpg.

One of our biggest bills after food is internet. We are just about on the edge of 4g coverage but it's flaky. I'm adding a 4g booster but the cost of data is high. So I'm on the waiting list for a Starlink system which would actually cut our costs down and give us unlimited data. It might be available here next year. We can't really cut back on internet use as it's our lifeline to the world.
Click to expand...

You have a fascinating story. What's most amazing is to hear you describe how you are cutting back! (Heh, heh, I'm trying to think how one could cut back from using sticks and cow dung for cooking fuel!) I have prided myself on reducing my electricity use to 5KWh/day. But my hat is off to you!

Would love to hear more about your daily life: Hobbies, activities, local friendships, in short: "what do you do all day." Aloha.
 
We have more than 10 years (less if inflation takes off bigger time) in yearly spend earning far less than inflation. So we're burning dough that way. We aren't cutting back on spending...

If I save $10k/ year cutting back on groceries or gas it won't make a difference. Now, if I could earn a few more points on my fixed income....

Inflation is spending my savings far faster than I could. More than $10k mo. We are diversified - so other investments will hopefully balance things out
 
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2retireearly said:
We got the lower property taxes for of the equation. That was easy. Byt he was saying on mortgage and taxes, a whopping $5000 a month! Most of that had to be a mortgage...And mathematically, I am thinking he has no mortgage wherever he is living. (I am from a city that has HIGH property taxes...but $5000 a month would be astrological...wouldn't it?)
Click to expand...

I was in California with 9% state income tax and moved to Reno, Nevada with no state income tax. That is worth about $2000 a month. I got rid of my mortgage by buying in Reno for 40% of what I sold for in California and bought outright, no mortgage. Property tax in California was $525 a month and in Nevada it is $163. Other things are about the same like gas and food and dining out.
 
I think the bigger question is are people on SNAP or assistance cutting back? Or are they still buying lobster and steak?
 
Cayman said:
We have more than 10 years (less if inflation takes off bigger time) in yearly spend earning far less than inflation. So we're burning dough that way. We aren't cutting back on spending...

If I save $10k/ year cutting back on groceries or gas it won't make a difference. Now, if I could earn a few more points on my fixed income....

Inflation is spending my savings far faster than I could. More than $10k mo. We are diversified - so other investments will hopefully balance things out
Click to expand...

Yeah, I try to suppress thoughts of the inflation losses in my fixed/cash investments. In theory, bonds and equities can come back - inflation ravaged fixed/cash is NOT coming back. It's gone for good. YMMV
 
We have been cutting back on meat, but every once in a while, I feel like a good Beef stew.
Went to our local store--not one package of stew meat! and much of their beef section was very skimpy. Not sure why.
Found a nice roast, so beef pot roast it is.
Cooking in the slow cooker as I type.
 
pacergal said:
We have been cutting back on meat, but every once in a while, I feel like a good Beef stew.
Went to our local store--not one package of stew meat! and much of their beef section was very skimpy. Not sure why.
Found a nice roast, so beef pot roast it is.
Cooking in the slow cooker as I type.
Click to expand...

I like pot roast as much as most steak. Just smelling the slow cooker in the morning reminds me of days gone by with family around the dinner table. Those days are long gone (as are the low prices) but the taste is still the same and it's very evocative.

If you look around, it's still possible to find meat suitable for pot roast at a half decent price. I've already given up on steak. YMMV
 
It's so hot here that we have been eating mostly salads, not much meat. Boiled shrimp and the occasional boiled egg or two for protein.

F just called from a nearby sports bar while I was writing this post, and he's going to pick up some seafood soup there for me for a take-out lunch (I think he said it's a crab bisque with other seafood in it too).

New Orleans is just too hot for stew or steak this week! :LOL:
 
I normally drink four cups of coffee a day. Thinking about cutting it down to two a day, although I've been thinking that since long before inflation took off. I love the stuff, and I have no willpower, although I completely eliminated my daily 1-2 glass wine habit which I also enjoyed. For some reason, I found kicking the wine habit easier than the coffee habit.
 
pacergal said:
We have been cutting back on meat, but every once in a while, I feel like a good Beef stew.
Went to our local store--not one package of stew meat! and much of their beef section was very skimpy. Not sure why.
Found a nice roast, so beef pot roast it is.
Cooking in the slow cooker as I type.
Click to expand...

Where we are, beef may be up in price slightly, but nothing to complain about. Same with chicken and pork.

My wife just bought some pork cuts at $0.97/lb, which she deboned and I will help her make ground pork and freeze for later use.
 
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