|
#1
19th April 2020, 09:39 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
How are you frugalizing during the pandemic?
Keeping my utility bill super low has been an ongoing project of mine for many years, but this year I am going to extra lengths to not use any climate control until absolutely necessary.
Regarding food, I'm doing all the same things I usually do, which is to say that I am guilty of fast food a lot. Cooking for one person without having things go bad is hard. I tried meal prep, but a lot of my favorite foods don't freeze that well. Pet stuff is about the same. I've cut down to cheaper cat litter, but I don't really like to compromise on food quality. The main thing I've done is to buy in bulk (50lbs vs. 20lbs.) to avoid going to the store any more often than required. I am considering starting a garden. It's a little late in the year to start things indoors, but I planted some lavender and catnip yesterday and was thinking about some stuff that would be harvestable in late summer and fall. Maybe some pumpkins, squash, melons, potatoes in a bucket, etc. I do not have a green thumb and all my previous attempts have been failures, but it's not exactly an expensive hobby so I might just do it. Planning to do my own car maintenance this quarter, and I tuned up the lawnmower yesterday. I normally get my oil changed by professionals because it's gross, but for the rest of this year probably I'm just going to suck it up and do it. Anybody else making any changes specifically due to COVID-19? Even if you're not doing it, post any ideas you might have that might help any geebers out there. 
|
|
#2
19th April 2020, 09:43 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
cooking for one shouldn't be SUPER hard (and yet it is*). I try to make soup in cold weather and salads often in warm weather. I eat eggs often/daily and that's easy. what do you like to eat that doesn't freeze well? I know if I put potato in soup and freeze it, they are mushy. *a big part of the hard is shopping for one, so many things go bad before you an use them unless you are cooking a big batch of something.
|
|
#3
19th April 2020, 09:53 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
We're overall saving money working from home. My wife spends over $300 per month on coffee & lunch at work. Mine would be closer to $150, (I bring left overs often). Our electric & water use is a little higher but not a whole lot.
Saving on gasoline. Saving on going out and do things that are fun and meeting friends at bars. Hoping I can nurse my piece of crap lawn tractor one more season. So far, so good with just completing the 2nd mowing. We're going to have a big expense though of a new roof as soon as social distancing is done. Extra expensive as we have solar panels that need to be taken down and put back up. Should run maybe $5k extra and $15k for the damn roof. The house is a 100' long ranch, so a lot of roof. The house is going on the market once the roof is done. Hopefully 2nd time is the charm.
|
|
#4
19th April 2020, 10:05 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
My biggest discretionary expense is live music. Between tickets, gas, hotels and occasionally airfare, I spent a ton of money. That's all gone away.
After that, it was probably restaurants. No more expensive sushi nights and other fine dining, no more premade food at Whole Foods, no more being lazy and getting grubhub deliveries. I now go to the market every couple of weeks, spend $120 and am actually enjoying planning meals and cooking for myself. I am eating healthier than I ever have in my life. I'm already frugal by nature so it hasn't been hard. My utilities are already pretty cheap. It never really gets too hot or cold here. No one in the area has air conditioning and the heat is natural gas. I cut out the cable/satellite a few years ago because I hardly used it. I'm not sure what else I can do.
|
|
#5
19th April 2020, 12:39 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Since I'm self employed at a home based business this hasn't really changed things a whole lot for me--I'm definitely saving on fast food and store prepped food and restaurant meals and my gas consumption, already pretty low, has dropped significantly. Also, when I do fill up it's cheap AF, we're seeing gas prices not spotted in about ten years so that's kinda cool.
My daughter, ASIL and I are going in on an electric rototiller and are planning three big garden spaces this year, two are new ones, one existing. We're gardening as intensively as possible to maximize food production and I have a chest freezer, dehydrator and vacuum sealer all as planned expenditures that they're going to chip in for. If things go shitty in fall as they very well might, we'll have a bunch of backup food to supplement whatever shortages might occur. I figure a planned set of expenditures now is a worthwhile investment in an uncertain future. 
|
|
#6
19th April 2020, 01:15 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
We're not spending on gas. In fact, I need to go move the truck to make sure the tires aren't too long in the same position.
We are eating at home, which is different. Now I always have an option at hand, and I can always answer the question "what's for dinner". I am planning a garden, and I will buy a separate chest freezer. My mom, raised by depression era parents, is full of thoughts about what we should do. We are also planning to can.
|
|
#7
19th April 2020, 02:13 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I figure I'm saving less than $25 a week. My commute is 2 miles, so I don't burn much gas. I pack my lunch nearly every day but Wednesday - that's chicken salad day in the cafeteria. When I had to drive to school one or more days a week, I'd run through McD's for dinner one night a week.
We're not paying for the girls' school lunches, but we have to buy more lunch food at home. I'm running the space heater in my home office to keep from freezing to death when it's <50F out, but I run it as little as possible. We're deliberately eating out once a week to patronize local restaurants and to have something to look forward to, but MD's lacrosse fees were mostly reimbursed since she doesn't get to have a season. We would usually dine out or get take out once or twice a month. All told, we already live pretty frugally. We're used to living on just my income, so now even with both of us partially furloughed, we're still doing alright. Fingers crossed it stays that way.
|
|
#8
19th April 2020, 03:25 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
solfy, your daughter's school doesn't provide lunches? Iowa schools are delivering sack lunches -- breakfast and lunch -- Monday through Friday. They deliver to parks and playgrounds, parking lots, any place where they can park the van and leave space for people to pick up the lunches.
The virus is saving us money.* UncleRon doesn't go to town for coffee twice a day and we're not doing any take-out or drive-thru either. We would if there were more options though. *Or it would be if I hadn't had to quit my part-time job. It wasn't a lot of money but it covered the propane, internet, car and house insurance, and the cable. So I'm giving up Frappucinos. :-)
|
|
#11
19th April 2020, 05:11 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
The percentage of students relying on free or reduced lunch in our district is very small. Districts where larger percentages of students depend on school meals have really prioritized getting food out to the kids throughout the shutdown. In some cases, they're using the busing system to deliver them, which I thought was clever. No good having food available if your students can't get to the distribution point.
|
|
#13
19th April 2020, 06:07 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
One thing I am about to have to spend money on is new scrubs. I've been badly in need of them for a while, and with all this going on I've put it off even more. But two of my favorite pairs of scrub pants have got Fat Thigh Holes (TM). On the bright side one of those pairs I bought in 2015, so holy shit, those were some damn good pants.
Have seen hide nor hair of a stimulus payment. I am currently operating on the assumption that I won't get one, so if I do that'll be good. I'm always the one where this kind of stuff is fucked up. Everybody at work already got theirs. When I log in to the IRS's website it tells me it's not sure I'm eligible. Blarg.
|
|
#14
19th April 2020, 06:22 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Do you get your refund direct deposited?
It's folks who don't that are getting delayed, in my limited experience.
|
|
#16
20th April 2020, 11:15 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I'm not sure if we're actually saving much money. On one hand, we're not going out to eat at all, but we're still doing take-out occasionally, and we're also doing some mild hoarding. Not "a grocery cart full of toilet paper" hoarding, but buying 4 packs of ground beef and 4 packs of pork chops instead of 1-2 each. So we're probably just spending the same amount of money, just differently.
On the plus side, we haven't had to run the air much, so our power bill dropped by something like 73%, from $165 in February to $46 in March (as reflected in our Nest stats).
|
|
#17
20th April 2020, 04:36 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#18
20th April 2020, 07:04 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I'm still going to work, so not much has changed for me.
Quote:
Jackie, try asking single co-workers, (or book club members, or people in your church) if they would want to split some stuff with you! Maybe make a post on your Next Door forum asking if someone would split costs and groceries. Someone nearby feels like you do! My mother loved celery with peanut butter. After Dad died, she decided that half the stalk went bad before she could eat it, so she just quit buying it. About a year after he was gone, we were talking about "shopping for singles," and it broke my heart when she said she missed celery.  (Celery, of all things!)There ought to be a way for singles to split the things that go bad. 
|
|
#19
21st April 2020, 08:46 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
I'm asking because my mom lives in Marion County and she's been shopping and inviting people over to dinner. I can't seem to convince her to slow down, even though both she and my dad are high-risk.
|
|
#20
21st April 2020, 09:44 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
Actually bi-yearly vacations are probably my biggest expense - which is also out of the question obviously. But several times a year I'd also get a hotel for a show which could get expensive especially the several times I've flown or driven long distances for a show. And restaurants are right out as well.
|
|
#21
21st April 2020, 10:22 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
Gov. Reynolds is concerned about the hog producers and meat packers. She won't issue a stay-at-home. The plants with outbreaks sanitize and stay open. Iowans are sort of insulated. We don't have any large cities so we don't see the impact. Many stores are still open -- grocery, convenience stores, the dollar stores. Restaurants are closed, as are salons and barber shops. The area's largest medical clinic is furloughing workers and cutting hours. It's not like there was every a lot to do around here anyway. I had to drive 30 miles to a movie theater, and 50 miles to a bookstore. The closest mall is mostly being demolished, with a hotel complex going up in its place. Your mom probably can't be convinced to stay in, not until someone she knows gets sick.
|
|
#22
23rd April 2020, 03:02 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Poop.
Thanks AuntiePam. That wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I suspect it was what I needed to hear. I'll try to adjust my expectations.
|
|
#23
23rd April 2020, 03:08 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
what thread am I in, anyway?
Quote:
your post is so practical and yet some times - often- just the simplest social interaction feels overwhelming. make this call, arrange something with that person, ask a question - the smallest thing can just feel like TOO MUCH.  this is why I want to figure out a way to make money without having to work with people. too many people! 
|
|
#24
23rd April 2020, 03:09 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#29
25th April 2020, 02:04 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I found a food pantry that lets people pick out their own food and another group that will pick it up and deliver it for me! This is good as 1) it is free, 2) I don't have to be around people as some of them are not following any guidelines, 2a) I don't have to take a but or cab, 3) I am allergic to so many foods if I get a delivery or bag I end up giving most of it away, 4) all the stores I can walk to come under item 2, and the ones I can't come under item 2a.
Imma put it in action next week.
|
|
#30
1st May 2020, 03:41 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
And since I filed by paper in 2018, I haven't seen hide nor hair of it. I started a new eating regimen just before the world blew up. I'm not eating out, not getting fast food (I do get Jimmy Johns once in a while, buy I don't consider that "fast food.") I am probably spending more on groceries, but less on crap food. I also stay away as much as possible so buy more at a time rather than multiple smaller trips. I've lost 19 lbs, so I've got that going for me. Which is good.
|
|
#31
1st May 2020, 06:17 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
We had cooked most of our meals at home, with going out being a treat. So no major change there.
We got good at living frugal when we were both laid off for almost a year with 2 kids around 2000. So more of that. More discipline on grocery shopping is the biggie I'd have to say. Make that list, stick to it. Go once a week, that's it.
|
|
#32
5th May 2020, 08:32 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
-Got news on my stimulus payment, it's being deposited tomorrow. I plan to pay my phone and insurance through the rest of the summer and use the rest to open a savings account and sit on it. That'll just leave utilities and internet to pay monthly.
-Searching for the best place for a new savings account. I have one at a local credit union, but the interest rate isn't that great. Ally Bank's is all online, and the interest rate is 1.5%. -We've had nice weather, so I've avoided turning on the air conditioner at all. Success. -I've also quit my yarn habit, it's not like I don't have plenty. And anyway the craft stores are all closed. ;_; I made a few dollahs selling masks I had made, but then I turned around and used it to buy.... more fabric for masks. So that was super useful I guess. -I have an employer matching IRA account, and I was thinking about reducing my contributions and putting the difference in savings each week just as an easier to access buffer. I can always increase my contribution again later in the year. I'm not super familiar with how IRA's work, so I'm not sure if that would be a good financial move or a stupid one. If anyone has any insight here that would be hot. - Did some other Adulty Finance Things this week, like checking on my credit score / activity, checking on the value of my house and car, and looking at my student loans. Everything seems to be in order as far as I can see. -Planted a couple of herbs: catnip, lavender, peppermint, and a citronella plant. - Switched birth control from Depo Provera to Nexplanon. This may have been a mistake, but I have no illusions that The Rona is going away anytime soon and it's becoming increasingly difficult to get a timely doctor's appointment. Nexplanon lasts 3 years, so I won't have to worry about trying to get in for my Depo shot if they are all booked up when it's due. No financial concern here, insurance covered it 100%. I have a wicked black and green bruise on my arm. Whether it will control the delicious endometriosis as well as Depo remains to be seen.
|
|
#33
5th May 2020, 09:51 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I've spent $300 yesterday and today. But I should be set for two months. Except for next month's phone bill. I refilled my inhaler prescription even though I only just started my current one. Because my script expires end of the month. Two inhalers should last me about six months.
|
|
#34
6th May 2020, 03:42 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
Check into checking accounts, too. I opened a new checking account rather than savings, because it paid higher interest. I didn't order checks, and I refused the debit card, it is my savings account, they just call it checking. Whatever. Also, some checking accounts will give you money, if you can deposit a certain amount in a set amount of time. I shuffled some savings around, and they gave me $200! Little warning, you may have to be quite adamant about refusing the debit card. I had to tell him 5 times that I did not want one.You learn to live on less by having less. Out of sight, out of mind. When I opened that account, I set up my direct deposit to put 5% of my paycheck into that account. I told myself that I would look at my finances one month later, and readjust if necessary. You know what? A 5% loss didn't hurt me a bit! After only two checks, I laughed, and bumped it up to 10%. I just don't get fast food as often. Do you get paid weekly? If so, you learn to budget on 4 checks a month. And, there are a few months that you get an "extra" paycheck. For instance, I get paid on Fridays. There are 5 Fridays this month. That extra check can be saved, or used to pay down a bill. July and October have 5 Fridays, also. (I usually just bump up the percent that gets put in that account for that month, then switch it back when the month is over.) You have an employer matched IRA? I have never heard of that. (Are you sure it is not a 401K?) I have an IRA and a 401K, but the IRA I had to open myself at a bank. Doesn't matter, really, the advice I have is the same. Always contribute the greatest percent they will match you on. That's free money, take it. If things are tight right now, reduce it a bit, but never below their match!
|
|
#35
6th May 2020, 05:47 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I'm already pretty frugal. This has been a cold and wet April, and May is bipolar with 70 one day and 40 the next. I'm keeping the thermostat at 63, regardless. Usually by Mother's Day, I can turn the furnace off and I delay putting on the AC as long as possible.
Of course, now I'm paying for 2 houses, so there's that. I have saved the cost of my commuter train ticket ($193/month) and the EL train ($80/month), and I've filled my gas tank once since the plague started. I managed, except for dairy and perishables to live off my coffin freezer (is it me or is that slightly creepy?) for the first month of this. I was pleasantly surprised. I miss takeaway food, and I should look into getting some to support the local pizzerias (I don't like most fast food so eat it rarely) soonest. Hmm.. maybe as a treat this Friday. I haven't cut back on my contribution to my 403(b). I'm only 7 years from retirement and want to pour as much as I can into that black hole. My expenses have been paint and a new storm door for the new house. I didn't ask for this, but am grateful: I closed on the mortgage and house in early April, but the mortgage company made my first payment to start June 1. That has been very nice indeed. Of course, since I still file jointly with TH, we do not qualify for the $1200. While I am happy for it go to those who need it much more than I, it would have been helpful. Other approaches to frugality: I make sure to pay off my credit card balance every month. This keeps me "honest" and really damps down on discretionary spending. There will come a time when I cannot (new furnace is in my future), but for now, I refuse to pay that crazy interest. Other bits: I wash out most ziploc bags for reuse; buy generic TP (when it can be found) and tissue, I buy meat on sale and divvy it up into single servings and freeze. Beef is insanely expensive right now and it's only going to get worse, so I stocked up last week. I can't afford and do not have the freezer space for a 6 month supply of beef, but I'm good for the next 2 months now. I walk most places; it doubles as exercise and is better for the environment my wallet. The new house is closer to the train station so I can walk to it once work reopens. Ever since I hit 55+, I've noticed a distinct lack of interest on my part on being "fashionable" or "on trend". I'd rather wear what's in my closet and now have stuff I've had for 10 years or more that is still serviceable. Since I don't buy fast fashion, my clothes are fairly anonymous. I may not look sleek and sharp, but it works. I do have to buy shoes and that's $$ due to my foot problems. Like so many here, I have always been aware and careful, but now I'm vigilant about any spend. Not sure if this will extend beyond the current situation; it'd be good if it did.
|
|
#36
6th May 2020, 02:46 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#37
7th May 2020, 04:53 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
We've been eating a lot more vegetarian and vegan food, not specifically to be frugal but more as a reaction to only shopping once per week; meat is expensive and buying it in relative bulk underscores that (we used to go to the grocery store at least 3-4 times per week). It's helped our food budget and added a few more recipes to our mainstays, plus once our garden kicks into gear (last frost date is a week away!) we'll be able to be more self-reliant.
One of my friends is a freelance baker (that sounds weird but it's kind of the best way to describe what she does), and recently she's been hooking us up with sourdough bread/muffins/whatever once a week or so. I'm thinking of formalizing that arrangement by providing something in kind so then we can stop buying as much bread at the store.
|
|
#38
21st May 2020, 08:42 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I eat semi-vegetarian a lot, meat tends to go bad before I finish it all. It is also less expensive. PS fresh bread sounds awesome.
I opened that savings account and have a plan for putting any other windfalls and excess weekly in there. I closed my accounts at the credit union. When I have a fair chunk saved up, I may move to a bank with better rates but for now it'll be good to have somewhere to just store my bits and pieces. Still haven't turned on the air conditioner. The weather's been fair, although my herb garden pretty much failed. All that's still alive is the peppermint. WTF. I think birds got into my spot and took my seeds. A big expense coming up is The Ancient Meesie, who needs a dental cleaning. She got a tooth abcess and is doing a couple weeks of antibiotics first, but it'll be a few hundred dollars. Anyone looking to cut their utility bill check out this guy's site, he's got tons of tips, maintenance and purchasing advice, as well as calculators you can use to see what difference this or that will make. Looks like everyone's student loans went into an automatic forbearance or something, which unfortunately looks like it dropped my credit score by about 20 points. I didn't ask them to do that shit, so I'm kind of pissed about it. My credit score wasn't the greatest, but it wasn't shit either and now it looks worse due to something that I had no control over. Son of a bitch.
|
|
#39
21st May 2020, 10:46 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
 |
|
|
Linear Mode
