Has the economy changed your habits?
 

Are you smoking/drinking less or more?
Eating out or eating in?
Going on vacations or staying home for Staycations?

My family and I try to cut costs whenever and wherever we can. Fortunatley, I am in a business that does good in good times and great in bad times.But we are a single income household with two kids and my wife attends Harvard University which is not exactly the cheapest place to learn. We still are budget - minded (wait till she sees the amount of smokes I bought this month) but we still like to enjoy an occasional meal out or a weekend away. What affects has the economic situation had on you?

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

I bought a bigger truck, I drive twice as much. We eat out more often, I smoke more expensive cigars, drink more expensive bourbon. The wife says I'm a jackass but the truth is business is just thriving right now. :D

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

It will affect me in about 2 months. We are moving and losing my wife's income. So we'll be down to 1 income and it will have a pretty serious change in lifestyle. In addition, we're trying to sell our GA house and it's not moving at all. Very aggravating.

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

Almost impossible to sell a house right now.

Our lifestyle hasn't changed at all. Job security is pretty good both on my side and the wife's. We are blessed.

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

I went from having decent job security to very little. The economy has collapsed the company I work for. They announced company-wide layoffs. At the same time, my wife is giving up her job to stay at home with our newborn baby.

Needless to say, we're on expense lock down. No dinners, movies, gifts, and sadly, cigars. :bh

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

The crappy economy has effected me so far. As a recent college grad trying to find a job is proving difficult. Finding a job as a history major is bad enough but when nobody has any money to hire its really difficult. For the mean time I had take a job at a sporting goods store and try and save as much money as possible while living with my parents. It pretty much sucks

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

What is this more you speak of?


Man, I feel your pain. It's hard to get a job with a history degree in a good economy. Hang in there and keep looking.

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

I walk much more often. Gas here is over $6.50/gallon(!), so....I have to :)

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

Wife is back out of work again (fulltime anyways). She is substitute teaching part time, but doesn't pay to great. Not making many purchases right now. Too close to Christmas. After Christmas shopping is done, if we have any extras, then I'll be back to purchasing smokes for myself again.

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

I now drive the speed limit on the expressway and started getting 50 more miles to the tankful!
I also started reloading my own ammunition!

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

Thats good to hear...care to share spread the butter this way :r:r

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

Eating out less...:(
Becoming snobby and buying better quality sticks...:tu
Bombing less....:c

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

No, if anything finance people like myself are doing better.

People don't worry about money until they don't have any it seems.

Hoping to buy a house *more likely a condo* in a year. :ss

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

Had to get a part time job.
Really, really looking for deals on cigars.
Bombing a whole lot less, unfortunately.

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

Locking down expenses as well. Job seems secure, but am in grad school, and if the job goes, so does my tuition reimbursement, so need to be smart.

Trying to put every last dime into the stock market at this point.

Vino is full, so I'm lucky there. It was the spaces that was causing me issues....lol.

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

Me too. Just had a "surprise" layoff Friday. I got canned along with at least 40 others. About 1/3 of the company gone.

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

good, so I won't have to fear retaliation :ss

So far the economy hasn't changed for me personaly, so I didn't have to change my habits. We'll see what the future brings.

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

I'm still in college so I'm used to the living in the grind. I'm still doing everything about the same. However, I got gas in NC last night for 2.38. Southern by the grace of God I reckon.

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

I'm doing fine. Not planning to sell or buy a house any time soon, gas prices are down, job is pretty secure (hoping for a promotion soon), retirement is 30 yrs away, no credit issues to worry about.

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

I have job security (AFAIK) but that said, we're still cutting back on unnecessary expenses. I still buy cigars but tend to buy them in singles rather than 5 packs or anything. I'm also cutting back on how many I buy.

We tend to make our own meals and splurge once a week with sushi. :)

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

Been taking sodas to the fast food place.

Jane and I filled up at the office a couple and each ordered 2 double stack cheeseburgers at Wendys for lunch.

$ 3.96 for 2 for lunch = Satisfyingly fulfulling to my sense of eating frugal. Maybe time to celebrate with a good cigar.

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

The freefall the stock market went into took my trust fund with it and wiped out my income for 2009, so we're down to one income as Marie's the only one working so we're really trying to figure out what we have to cut and it doesn't look like it's gonna be a very good year...eating out less...not going to the movies cause we can get them from Netflix...gonna be buying less cigars and smoking the pipe more I guess...we haven't really even been able to figure out quite what to do yet as we lost a hefty bit of yearly cash inflow, and due to health problems it's gonna be hard for me to find something to add back to said cash flow...no happy new year for us...:(

Re: Has the economy changed your habits?
 

The economy hasn't affected me personally at all. I started a new job a year ago after a long drought of not working full time. The new job seems relatively secure but that can change at anytime as we all know. I think the thing is to keep debt manageable and SAVE at least the FIRST 10% of your income at all times, like they say "Pay yourself FIRST." Those two simple things can make things much easier for ya in the long run. Oh, and don't pi$$ away unexpected cash windfalls like too many people do, bank it and/or safely invest it.;)

I'm not very extravagant, I've never bought a new car in my life which is fine, I actually enjoy the challenge of trying to keep my cars running as long as possible, LOL! I'm also lucky in that my dad encouraged my brother and I to learn how to fix things around the house (and our cars) ever since we were kids.