You vs. the Economy

We've been in severe dollar-saving mode at my house for a number of months. The stock market's slide isn't making me feel confident we'll be able to change operational modes any time soon.

I confess, this is not my strong area. So I have to ask: What are your tricks? Wearing your underwear inside out to delay washing, thereby saving water and detergent? Sending the kids to your neighbors at dinner time? Mandatory lights out after 8 p.m.?

Here's what we've done so far. I'd love to know what you're doing.

We analyzed our spending over the last year and came up with a very clear idea of where the money goes. We cut the easy stuff. First, Joey bought a scooter, and that's meant his fill-ups are down to $7 or $8 every two weeks or so. I was opposed to the purchased, but I'm impressed with the gas savings. My big surprise was insurance for the scooter. It wasn't as high as I feared, fairly nominal in fact. But I made my husband promise: No freeways. So far, so good. It helps that he's almost as frightened as I am. I'm trying not to figure out how long it will take in saved gasoline expenses to pay off the scooter.

Second, we cut dining out to a bare minimum -- something I absolutely hated to do but it had to be done. I used to go out to lunch daily. Wouldn't dream of it now. If I forget to bring a lunch, I agonize over what to do.

Third, we made a list of the regular items on our grocery list. Each shopping day, we visit a different store, and record the prices of these items. It helps us know who regularly offers the best deals. Actually, Joey's been doing the grocery shopping lately, and this was his invention. He loves this kind of stuff. Give the man a list-making task and he's happy for hours.

Wasn't a lot we could do about the cost of medical insurance, but I bought a plan that is focused mainly on routine maintenance, while Joey paid a little more for one that would cover his prescriptions. Health care was a real shock to the budget. Until a month ago, we always had employers pick up this tab. Ouch!

Finally, when those 401K statements come in, I glance at them and file them away. No use panicking. This is a bad ride, but I think the outcome would be worse if we indulged in panic selling.

Clearly, I need your guidance. I'd love to hear from you expert savers out there.

I paid $2.28 per gallon of gasoline the other day when I was on the road. It made me feel positively frugal. See how we get habituated to high prices? I've completely forgotten -- emotionally, anyway -- that $2.28 was ever a high price.

A couple of months ago I was out of town, checking out some chic boutiques, trying not to show my complete lack of sophistication at the $250 price tags on stained and ripped blue jeans. When I found a sale rack with a nice blouse for $80, it seemed like a real deal.

When we travel, we always "house hunt." After a week in California, $400,000 for a bungalow seemed like such a good deal.

For some reason, when we habituate to high prices, the number we forget is the one written on our pay check. Probably the ability to visualize that number creatively spells the difference between a successful budget-keeper and a spender.

I was dong some research for another story and ran across this article, "Using the Web to Weather Tough Times," by Irene McDermott.

You might want to take a look at it. There are advice blogs, financial management tools such as Mint.com, which is sort of a poor woman's Quicken (and while it's not listed in the above referenced article, Quicken has a free financial tool too.)

The article covers the range of options, from sites reviewing credit card options (Side rant: Why aren't credit card interest rates falling below the usurious in an economy where interest is sliding everywhere else? And don't even get me started on these check cashing places.) to blogs with all kinds of energy saving advice.

There are also a couple coupon and bargain-hunting websites. Here's a great piece of advice from the column: "When I come across one of those 'promotion code' fields, I just Google the store and 'promotion code' or 'coupon.' Usually one of the first two or three links has the useful code." It always drives me nuts when I'm buying something online to realize that somewhere, somehow, this company is offering a discount, but not to me. You can bet I'm going to try this trick next time I buy online.

Anyway, the article is a real gold mine. Check it out.