What are some weird things you're cutting back on/bargain hunting for if your money is low?

With this bad economy and many of us without jobs or barely making ends meet, have you tried to cut financial corners in weird places? Are you relying on any obscure or interesting savings discounts?

Here are my weird economic moves: I haven't bought any magazines at the counter in months. Back when I had more money I would buy ESPN and MOJO regularly but in the last few months MOJO has not been bought at a register for the first time in years. I'll know I'm back in black when I can buy magazines, and especially $10 MOJO, without any Oh-crap-how-will-I-be-eating post-purchase guilt.

I have also become an expert on fast food deals. For instance, if I'm driving around town and want some grub I know what fast food chains that I enjoy are running deals and which stores have the best dollar menus e.g. Quiznos $4 12'' sandwiches, Popeyes' chicken 2 chicken pieces for $1 on Thursday and Fridays, McDonalds' 42oz. drink for a dollar drink.

What are some recent eccentric "penny wise" moves you've made?

- started buying cleanskin wines

I sold all my CDs.

I stopped drinking Orange Juice with breakfast (good for the calories savings as well) and soda with lunch.

May drop Showtime.

no more soda, minimal beer.

just liquor.

and cheap wine.

Yah cheaper/in bulk booze (cartons, boxed wine etc)

Online sites to replace magazines (sorry, publishing industry)

Secondhand shoes (hard to find in my size though but I've had success! $20 for genuine Dr Martens, you cant beat that)

Learning how to bake bread, grow vegetables.

i walked 25 blocks carrying two well-loaded bags of groceries the other night to save the $2 bus fare. basically trying to limit myself to one $20 metro card a week. (my hands hurt by the end. i think i need some of those weightlifting gloves just for bag-carrying.)

and yeah, anything over a $6 bottle of wine has started to scare me off. fortunately i've got a good source of drinkable $4-a-bottle stuff.

are these really weird things to cut back on? like alcohol, magazines, soda or anything kind of junk food-y arent those like totally reasonable things to cut back on? maybe if your cutting back on your faberge egg purchases thats weird but really its more like why are you buying those in the 1st place

i cant really think of what a weird thing ive cut back on would be like everyone else im eating out less and buying less crap

Tipsy: get a granma trolley! So handy for heavy groceries. I have a funky red one with tough wheels on it. I dont drive so I'm always having to lug heavy grociers everywhere. Stupid heavy cat litter.

lots of young hipsters have those in Brisbane i've noticed

i can't drink bargain brand booze, recession be damned
tbh i can't think of a single thing but that may change in a few months when current income source dries up

are these really weird things to cut back on? like alcohol, magazines, soda or anything kind of junk food-y arent those like totally reasonable things to cut back on?

Yeah for sure. But i guess like a year ago, i def wouldn't have thought about buying cleanskin or supercheap wine.

riding bike to cut down on public transport expenditure. but frankly i'm ramping up spending in other areas to compensate!!

i've stopped buying egg substitute and buy the real thing now

I thought buying 2ndhand shoes was pretty weird, har!

But yeah ok booze/mags not so much.

Everyone should learn to grow veg/knit/sew/fix shit, I reckon.

Shit's gon' hit the fan eventually.

Srsly tho Trayce are those granma bags trendy now or something? Coz I'm always seeing ppl with them

theyre not trendy theyre just useful for anyone w/o a car that has to buy food. i have one too its just necessary

No more impulse purchases of novelty dildos, puff paint unicorn art, rare VHS cult classics and pet rocks.

Really though, I was living kinda bare bones anyway, so the only thing I've really cut back on is records.

yeah i guess i can't think of anything weird we're cutting down on. maybe we just don't really spend money on weird things to start with. it's all pretty much, food, rent, babysitting, clothes. the occasional night out.

a granma trolley's not a bad idea. we just recently started going to this grocery store a mile-plus away, because it's better and cheaper than the ones closer to us. but there is the issue of getting the stuff home.

yall know you can buy 24 cans of pepsi for $5 right? ok

Or you can just drink big diluted jugs of home made pepsi! /margesimpson

I've been avoiding eating out, cooking lots of beans and pasta, buying clothes from Goodwill, and getting books from the library for YEARS, I'm way ahead of this recession! Really the only thing I could do would be to skip any and all social activities that involved spending money - so no alcohol, non-homemade food, or performances of any kind - but then my life would be a lot sadder.

i haven't been cutting back on anything, really - i figure if we don't spend our money then no one else is making money, and so the recession continues

that's the spirit!

the good times are coming

yeah, if you're losing your job or don't have one, then sure it's probably good to cut back, but if you're reasonably secure then go spend that money! how else is the economy gonna recover?

well yeah, the only real reason I'm saving is for a deposit on a house. after that the economy will have all my $$s

the sad thing is that apart from my 401(k) contribution, i pretty much am spending all my money. i just have less of it.... (5% pay cut hurt, but what's really killing me is the loss of overtime. working an extra day a week added something like 25 percent to my salary.)

might cut back on rent (but spend the difference on vacations, probly)

House buying is so far off my radar I just want to shoot myself. ;_;

Maria also otm though apart from aforementioned booze I dont rly spend a lot of money on fancies as it is.

DNW to own

are these really weird things to cut back on? like alcohol, magazines, soda or anything kind of junk food-y arent those like totally reasonable things to cut back on?

The point is that the things that get the axe are sometimes really arbitrary e.g. "No more $2 magazines for me, but I'll be damned if I can't buy a $60 videogame I'm anticipating."

i dont think thats arbitrary tho i mean obv are both are discretionary but u just want one more. unless you are throwing a dart at your monthly budget and choosing what to cut based on what you hit?

I will eat chickpeas with beluga caviar and DAMN the expense.

stopped going to the doctor. eat only bread and drink only coffee.

i dont think thats arbitrary tho i mean obv are both are discretionary but u just want one more. unless you are throwing a dart at your monthly budget and choosing what to cut based on what you hit?

Fine, rephrase it to mean: So what are some personal things you're cutting back on or now buying out of financial restriction?

This always happens! The first ten people get the thread, then someone says something technically doesn't make sense and then no one gets it any longer.

Srsly tho Trayce are those granma bags trendy now or something? Coz I'm always seeing ppl with them

I think its just the stigma of granny trolleys has disappeared, somewhere along the line. And yeah I guess everyone wants to be seen to be enviro-aware, and rollin' a trolley says "hey look at me! I dont drive a car!".

Well, not that I would think anyone would carry one for that reason, cuz that'd be ridiculous.

I've bought 100% fewer cars than last year.

Nothing weird, though. More fresh food, fruit for blender instead of branded fruit juice

I'm cooking at home more and trying not to date.

I'm cooking at home more too, with food from the farmer's market where I work on summer Saturdays. The farmer I work for lets me take as many vegetables (salad, tomatoes, fresh herbs, seasonal stuff) as I can carry, and I get discounts on eggs, bread and organic meat. I'm set for champagne lifestyle on beer budget until November.

oh man

cook everything at home anyway, but no purchases of dvd's/cd's/box sets lately. other than that, the car is my biggest expense and i need that for work. disposable income is negligible but if broadband only worked then i'd have no complaints.

that's amazing suzy! i am so envious :)

i've been cooking a bit. pasta and tomato sauce is much cheaper than my average meal, but copper river salmon is not.

sometimes you need to eat something wonderful though. if i were really worried about money i wouldn't eat avocadoes every day.

(okay that is not a NEED. i am exposed now. but you know what i mean)

i am trying to think of more things i can cut back on because i need to. i already only eat out like once a week or less, don't have car, haven't bought a cd in forever, eat beans all the time??? i'm trying to sell a bunch of books on amazon.

i think at some point you can't cut back much, apart from moving somewhere cheaper, which is usually not possible, or getting another part time job :/

buying used books and rereading things i already own. thrifting for clothes and housewares.

not buying things for appearance's sake. o wait i didn't do that before either.

I've made a habit of the two litre bottles of Tesco value lemonade for 36p.