Are you looking at cut backs?

[daughteroftruth]

As the doom and gloom of possibly higher prices and higher taxes, have you started to think about how you will adjust your budget, or are you just going to wait and adjust as you go?

I'm to worried about waiting to wait.  I'm going through and looking at what can be eliminated now.  Like phones... I'm a sahm, I have Internet, I have a land line, and I"m usually home, I want to go to just a plan where I can talk and text.. I dont' need data.. but I'm not sure if I can do that. Same with dh, when he is at work, he doesn't take his phone with him, he leaves it in the car, and all he really does is text and call.  So I want to go back to old phones, but I don't want a contract, so I'm going to look into prepaid.  

I'm going to invest in a bike trailer for my bike so once it is warm enough me and the kids can bike or just walk where we need to go in town instead of using gas.  

Not sure where else we could cut, need dh to sit down with me and help dwindle down expenses. I'd rather have a plan of action in place then wait. 

[daughteroftruth]

Thats good for you guys! Whats his business?

Quoting marysmithy:

No, my DH's business actually makes more money in a down economy.

[marysmithy]

Banks hire him to audit business that want/need to borrow money from them for their pay roll, inventory, etc. When the economy is down, more business' need loans to stay afloat. He's been so busy lately he's had to turn down jobs.

Quoting daughteroftruth:

Thats good for you guys! Whats his business?

Quoting marysmithy:

No, my DH's business actually makes more money in a down economy.

[masonmomma]

Weve been looking at it. We have already cut home cable and internet to save but upside is we are fine how we are right now with me working part time. Im fixing to go fulltime with almost double my pay so if prices start going crazy that will hopefully off set it enough to remain living how we are.

[bmw29]

We're good. We have a super low mortgage, our cars are paid off, we are safe drivers so our insurance is low and I cook at home a good bit. We usually garden in every season but winter and I make most of our cleaning/hygiene supplies. Our cell phones are high and we have home phone and wifi but they don't hurt us. We have one credit card bit the monthly bill is only Netflix. Our power bill is the only thing that kills us. Our house was built in 1940 and has almost no insulation. We try to redo a room every year when we can and we rip down paneling and add insulation and drywall when we do. We also got a metal roof last year and that's helped some.

[beadingmom17]

We'll be taking a really hard look at our budget this year. There are a lot of things I used to do that I don't anymore and I need to get back to it (like making our bread). I've started making our own laundry soap (though if I can get a killer deal, I will buy Purex or something), I make my own cleaners, I coupon like crazy when possible, we shop the farmers market, I make my own fruit cups and lunchables for my DD's lunch, we cook at home and don't really eat out unless it's a super special occasion, etc.

The big thing we need to look at now is whether or not to drop cable. We hardly watch anything on there that we can't watch on Netflix, so.....yeah. I am also determined to get our electric bill down. DH is HORRIBLE about leaving lights on, the TV on, game systems on, turning on a light rather than opening up the blinds...he's an energy suck! Lol!

[jarjim]

Not yet. We do need a better budget and to save more.. 

[veganistic]

We use a budget provider like metro pcs and my family pays 25 per month for each phone. I have an android smart phone and i pay 50 and skip the land line.

Quoting daughteroftruth:

I want to cut the cell phones all together.  But at the same time, it is nice a nice conveniance, but we pay 140 a month for our phones, and I hate it.  If we were paying just 40 a month like were were when we first got phones, then I wouldn't care so much, but.. 140... As it is they are lines off of my moms plan and we haven't cancelled because if we do she gets hit with cancellation fees... we took over the lines from lines that she had on her contract, but the previous uses kind bailed on her. 

Other then that we do live simply, but I'm still convinced that we can cut things here and ther.. I just need to evaluate everything.  

Quoting christina0607:

No not really.

however we live quite simply as it is. We don't use cell phones, they're a waste of money. I just can't give someone that kind of money for not only a non necessity... but what I look at as a cancer in our society.

I live in a metropolitan area, so I don't use that much gas. We make sure to be energy efficient because we love our planet.

We do what we can to keep our money in our pockets as it is. I'm a big fan of seeing the money I work hard for.

[nysa76]

We live really close to the bottom line here as it is.  I can cut our cell phone bill by simply getting rid of them, maybe going prepaid, maybe just getting a land line.  I could cancel netflix.  Doing both of those is less than $100/mth though.  In all reality, my expenses will be going up since I need a better car.  I have no idea what we'll do if our budget gets even tighter.

[kansasmom1978]

Not really we will lose about 100 dollars a pay period. We can manage that just by not eating out.

[december911]

we switched to boost mobile almost 18 months ago. for just talk and text, it is 50 a month, after 6 months of on time payments, it goes down to 45 etc until 35 is the lowest it will go. that is for just talk and text. with data the lowest it goes is 40...still a great deal though!  we don't do cable anymore. just hulu and netflix. we are cutting out eating out, maybe doing it once a month or something.. just little things like that..