[Win $250 giftcard] Are you cutting your budget?

[cafegurl]

Me and my family haven't been paid in two weeks because of the economic crisis and i haven't seen a roll of paper towels for that entire time... Last time we went shopping we bought a bottle of milk and a loaf of bread. We even bought a fishing permit in the hopes of catching something "no luck so far". But, were managing it, thanks to my mom stocking up on noodles and pancake mix :-( but the toilet paper is running low.
We just got word today that they are sending us an emergency check but i'm not sure it's going to be enough for our bills and food expenses. So, if i got the $250 dollar gift card i would so totally use it for groceries!! :-)

[Treea2Go]

We've always been frugal, but now I'm making a more focused effort to have more liquid assets available. We're using items on hand, and have deferred the purchase of rental property or funding our retirement accounts until we're a little more confident about which way the wind is blowing.

[aravis]

Yup. Definitely trying to cut back on eating out which seems to be one of my biggest spending areas. Shifting more money to my emergency fund too...

[musubi]

hell. yes. i'm reducing our food spending and this year our christmas spending. i'm also trying to build up our savings. its just not a good time to spend money right now.

[mabinogi]

DH and I have always been pretty frugal, so now that we'd like to cut back on spending even more, we're having a hard time of it. Groceries are our biggest flexible expense, and we're struggling to lower our monthly grocery bill. We're also doing our best to keep heating costs low this winter. We've invested in a couple of space heaters which we plan on using instead of heating the whole house, we're working on putting extra insulation in the attic, and plan on putting plastic sheeting over the windows.

[Carolyn]

Yes we are cutting back as much as possible. My husband is facing yet another layoff and we want to be as prepared as we can.
We probably won't even do Christmas this year.

[chgillespie]

I'm cutting spending every way I possibly can. I use coupons, shop loss leader sales, and do the deals at CVS and Walgreens. It takes time to do it, but every little bit helps right now.

[mpcutt08]

I'm forcing myself to walk more so I can cut down on spending money for public transportation. I don't drive much at all. I actually just busted my bike yesterday that I had been riding for awhile, so that was a setback. My girlfriend would claim that I've turned into a recluse since I essentially refuse to go out for drinks except for exceptional circumstances. This way I can set aside some serious moolah every month to invest while everything is cheap. I also get paid next to nothing so I wouldn't exactly be living the high life in the event that I were not cutting back anyway.

[DetBarGal]

Yes, we've been cutting back. We buy store brand soda, clip coupons, only buy what's on sale, has a coupon or is really a necessity. We have cut back on eating out. We have been eating more hot dogs, mac & cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches.

My husband and I are also planning to scale back on Christmas this year and not buy anything for each other.

[Christilin]

Ways that we are cutting back:

Date night for DH and me is more likely to be iced coffee at McDonald's instead of dinner and a movie.

I cook from scratch more- and we are expanding our vegetable garden.

Christmas gifts this year will be mostly homemade- even for the kids!

Less shopping= less spending!

Driving less when possible- combining errands instead of making special trips for things.

My grown daughters are living with us instead of moving into their own places-a little inconvenient at times, but financially easier on all of us. It's a big reason why we NEED date night!!!

More brown bag lunches- we weren't really committed to this until recently.

The biggest thing is that I just stop and think twice before spending those $$!