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

[joy]

We just went from a 4 car family to a 2 car family (two old cars died within 1 month of each other). So far that is okay til we save enough to buy a very cheap used car. At least saving on car insurance.

At grocery, shop carefully, only buy what is on sale, use coupons, and use up leftovers. One store in our area has meat marked down quite often. Just last week I bought 14 chickens for $40.46 (shared with other family members).

Try to do free things - went to an excellent play at our community college today which was free.

Here's a good, cheap recipe. When I see ham hocks, nonsmoked, in the meat department, I buy them and freeze them. Whenever you have a little bit of different veggies leftover, freeze them in a big ziploc bag and mark it "soup."
When the ziploc is full, defrost 1 or 2 ham hocks and the veggies. Put in a big pot and add some tomato juice (I use approximately 30 ounces - can do more or less).
You can also add any kind of canned veggies such as canned beans, rinsed, or maybe a can of stewed tomatoes. Whatever you have.

Let this cook on low for a few hours. Take ham hocks out and take meat off the bones and put meat in the soup. Sometimes I boil some elbow macaroni separately and add to the soup when it's time to eat.

This is really good with cornbread.

[veryberry]

After losing job after job, I've been essentially homeless. I'm currently living with a friend and doing what I can to pitch in. I've been on countless interviews and have taken temp job after temp job but to no avail. To answer your question: Are you cutting back on spending?

I don't go shopping, I don't go out to see movies, I don't do any of the things I used to enjoy doing except reading. I very much want to finish school and stop living this miserable existance I'm living but it doesn't seem possible to do this at this time. My father passed away last year and I didn't even have enough time to mourn because I had to go right back to work. One trait I'm blessed to say I got from my father is his work ethic. I have been fighting hard to find a perm. position and I know one is out there for me.

So why should you pick me and how would I use this money? I would take my friend out to eat. Nowhere fancy, but just to be able to say that I was able to do it for him. I would buy some new clothes since most of my clothes are ripped and lastly, I would pitch in on groceries.

[FamilyOfSix]

As a family of 5 and 1/2, we are always looking for ways to save money. When the new baby comes, we will have 3 in daycare, so finding creative savings is top priority. I just finished reading The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. It is packed full of ideas. Of course, some are very radical (like reusing envelopes by turning them inside out), and we probably won't use those. Some, on the other hand, are terrific - like creating a price book from various stores for groceries that you generally purchase. I think that we will still be able to live well within our means when the baby arrives, as long as we buckle down, set our priorities, and keep our financial goals in mind.

[rkudasik]

First I cancelled my XM radio for free FM. Then started riding my bike everywhere. Then starting selling things: camcorder, home theater projector, books, etc. Then I went as far as selling my car all in an attempt to cut my expenses and pay my debt!

[misterlee]

going forward, will be cutting more from the budget. just received news of an additional temporary pay cut during the next three months.

[melissachi]

my family of 5 is cutting back every place you can think of. no more eating out except special occasion, my husband is now driving a old 4 cylinder to save on gas, and we have no vacation plans for the future, until the plane fares go down.

[MSMomsmoney]

Yes I am. My oldest daughter is in community college, and I have been getting her textbooks, using bigwords.com It has been a big cost savings...and can rent books too!

[laurak]

We are definitely cutting back. Recently married (husband's in medical school) and having a mortgage for the first time, my expenses have gone up a lot. Though it's still manageable, we are working to reduce a lot of our "wants" so that our savings rate doesn't suffer in return. This includes reducing our eating out, less shopping for clothing and other household items that aren't really needed, and cutting back on Christmas spending. I'm also just starting to get into couponing more.

[hermione]

Yes.

We were always frugal, but seriously started cutting back the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008. I used to shop for used books as little surprise gifts for my sister (I enjoyed sneaking around and hiding them around her room for her to discover), but stopped doing that when business slowed down.

We pretty much don't spend money except on food and necessities; we still treat ourselves when it comes to food, especially when we get really busy like in October when we have a lot of costume orders for Halloween, but other than that, we only spend when we have to.

[woessner420]

The winner is selected at random, right?

Of course I've been cutting my budget. There have been a number of layoffs at my place of employment over the past week. Sites like Wisebread are helping me to prepare for the worst. OR BEST!

-Blake