Cutting back...

[Dan1089]

It's no doubt that the world markets arent rosy and it's affecting everybody the world over.Fuel is up,food is up,cost of living is up and yet our salaries remain the same.My friends and I have taken it upon us to cut back and save money.Some gave up pay TV (which I just might too),some gave up cinema,one gave up an overseas holiday and I've limited my going out.Yesterday,I bought white bread for R8.95 so I'm switching to brown bread and plan to make it last for about 4 days.Are you still leading the same life or are there any changes you've made?

[Smurlos]

Well at the moment I'm budgeting all my wages on a spreadsheet.
Before I just used to play it by ear but I'm actually working out what I can spend now.

I've also got a credit card at 0% APR for the first 6 months. So I'm putting my recreational stuff on to that and then paying off £150 a month on that for the time being so the balance is coming down a lot before interest is acrued.

We're not going out long distance driving as much anymore to save on petrol, we only go out for dinner once a week maximum now and I've upped what's going into my savings account mile:

[Star Twister]

My partner is very clever, just before all this credit crunchy thing came along he set our mortgage at a fixed rate so were not affected with that......


I truly believe people still have money but are just tightening their reigns at the moment and not spending as much as they used to, although I was in the bank the other day and I saw this guy draw out a rather large amount of cash to buy a car.

Yes it's going to be a hard for a year or two at the most but I do get annoyed at people especially the press who scare monger others into thinking that were all heading into a world of doom and gloom.


Just take it easy and I agree with Daniel, watch those pennies or in Daniels case rand..mile:

I think that people should be greatfull that they are healthy, have food on their table and they have a roof over their head


There are alot more worse people off out there than us

[andy]

I was lucky enough to fix a new mortgage at the end of 2007 for 3 years at quite a low interest rate too! Hopefully by 2010 things will start to even off a bit and get back to normal!

[Star Twister]

I was lucky enough to fix a new mortgage at the end of 2007 for 3 years at quite a low interest rate too! Hopefully by 2010 things will start to even off a bit and get back to normal!

Agreed

[sox-and-the-city]

Far as cutting back goes i tried to stop drinking and quit smoking and failed. Miserably. Though i HAVE cut down by drinking wine instead of vodka, and buying twenty packs cos they're more economical.

I've also started taking packed lunches into work and bringing my own coffee, which saves nearly £20 a week surprisingly.

I've also started juggling bank accounts and erased any overdraft charges (by putting all my costs into my INETREST FREE student overdraft) and get paid into my other bank account which has a higher rate of interest.

Starting to think i could maybe live a frugal life, once i get over the whole alcoholic student lifestyle thing...

[Star Twister]

Starting to think i could maybe live a frugal life, once i get over the whole alcoholic student lifestyle thing...

[andy]

Yeah, doesn't the student life last for like 2-3 years?

[sox-and-the-city]

For most, yes, but my course is 5 years long.

Thats an extra two maybe three years to rack up some serious debt and store up alcohol-related illnesses. I've been at uni a year and iv alrady got nearly three grand of debt.

And i wouldn't have it any other waymile:mile:

[andy]

architect or accuntant? :biggrin: