"But I won't do that...." (budget related)

[SparklyUnicorn]

Once we paid off our car loan, our car insurance drop by a lot due to not needing to maintain tippy top coverage. We actually didn’t factor in the reduction in car insurance cost when we opt for a 3 year versus a 5 year car loan offered by the dealer since we paid $350 per month maximum for the 3 year loan. When the car insurance agent explained that we can’t reduce coverage because of the car loan, we ended up downpaying the car loan as fast as we can.

 

We aren't required to maintain tip top coverage, but we don't buy low coverage either.  But when the other cars were worth nothing, we didn't have collision on them. 

 

But, again, we are driving relatively inexpensive cars. Some people spend more for one vehicle than we do for two.

[Murphy101]

Yeah. I’m not giving up TP. There’s 13 of us. That’s a lot of crap to clean. No thanks. There’s so many other things I’d rather do with my life if at all possible.

 

Same goes for my washer and dryer.

 

My coffee too. If I ever can’t squeeze $5 for a month to make black coffee in my French press I don’t know what I’ll do in sure sure circumstances. That’s right up there with doing without TP for me. Just. Nope. Not happening. Not even going to contemplate that dystopia.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Not here. Is easily hit $5k within a couple months if I had to use a taxi. It’s $25-30 just to go 5miles.

 

The only reason I have a second vehicle now is because I inherited my dad’s truck with 498000 miles on it this year. I’m not parting with that truck for any amount of money. The insurance addition to our policy was $20 a month. We spend about $30 a week in gas. Oil and misc monthly care is averages about $3k a year.

 

Yeah I've never priced using a Taxi, but I assume it's not cheap.  And while we do have some buses, they don't go very many places.  There is no way, for example, for my DH to get to work taking buses. There are none that go anywhere near there.

 

I could manage getting to stores and some other major places using only the bus.  But then I'd have to go often because I couldn't do a full shopping.  I also would have to give up doing some other things to have the time to get where I needed to go using public transportation.  My kids would not be able to do their extras without us having the extra car because the extras aren't on the bus line.  And given my kids don't go to school, I do feel like the extras are extra important. 

[Tsuga]

Are you positive? Have you actually done the math. My account has and he has 2 PhDs. I believe him. 

 

And even if it's $5000/year, you can ride the taxi quite a bit before you get to $5000 in fares.

 

I work in analytics and I tallied up all my oil changes and tire rebalancing and insurance costs and interest and I still came in under $150/mo for my cars (I buy cash).

 

$5000 in fares here with an average commute would be approximately 1/3rd of a year. I also did the math on this one. Even in our relatively close suburb, it's still too expensive. It was between $12,000 and $20,000 for Uber/Lyft/Car sharing.

 

The bus was a good deal once you don't pay for daycare during transit (2 extra hours commute per day = $20 per day minimum).

 

If you use an inexpensive cash commuter car, it is hard anywhere outside of a central metro to save on transport. My partner could equalize using Uber under these conditions:

 

* Pays for a lease on a new large car ($500/mo)

* Pays full tippy top insurance

* Pays $15/day in parking

 

In that event, he came out almost even with taxi/Uber/car sharing. So I believe your account (sic?) but most people know how to save a lot more on cars.

 

Edit: I saw the point on depreciation. You don't pay a lot on depreciation if you have a 15 year old Toyota Corolla! HAH! When it was wrecked, I got $1k less than I had paid for it 6 years prior. When my last car was wrecked (neither of these by me by the way), I got 85% of the value I paid for it after another 5 years of driving. Buy reliable ugly cars and watch your depreciation flatline.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Tsuga

[dsmith]

AC is a must here due to health issues with me and my father-in-law. For dh it would be coffee, and he spends a lot on coffee!! Internet is another, but we need it for our business. I could easily get rid of cable, but ds and I are the only ones who could live without it. My in-laws would never live without their favorite tv shows. We just bought a used car but we could easily live without it, even sharing one car with 3 drivers. We've been doing that for about 2 months.

[Rosika]

Family cloth doesn't bother me. We've done it for ages, including when I was a kid. (Exception: we use paper for poop, then and now. So as the laundress, I'd be loathe to go to family cloth full time, but I could do it if I "had" to. And I'd do it if it meant having an extra $5 a week for a coffee, movie, or anything for 1-2 hours involving me, myself, and no one I'm married to, was married, was born to, or gave birth to.)

 

But the one thing where I draw the line is hot water on demand. I get cold easily, and my husband likes to keep the house like a meat locker. I'm guessing one day this will be nice for me (menopause), but for the time being, I take about 4 hot showers a day. If my bones get cold, I honestly can't function. A 20 minute hot shower will keep me good for 2-3 hours. It'd be cheaper for him to turn the damn temperature up LOL but he thinks he's saving money by keeping the thermostat where it is. Okay, Love.

 

But this fall he tried to mess with the hot water heater. He turned it off during the day, and planned for laundry, dishes, and showers in the evenings.First of all, I'm not convinced that really even saves anything. I grew up without a hot water heater. When I discovered hot water on demand, I knew there was a God and that He loved me. DH's "cost-saving measure" lasted a week. I became cranky from the cold and impossible to live with. 

[OneStepAtATime]

What I wouldn't give up (unless truly dire situation) or would rather not...

 

1. Give up AC.  Why?  Because the house we live in is not designed for no AC.  There is no cross ventilation.  No AC in 100+ degree weather means life-threatening temperatures inside the house.  Couple that with the fact that since chemo and radiation I run into health issues when I get too hot (including everything from horribly itchy hives to extreme, near crippling fatigue and days long insomnia) and yeah, I'm not giving up the AC.  It is mid-February and 95F outside.  House cooled off during the night but AC will need to kick in soon.  I am grateful.
2. Would I give up the second car?  Yeah if we needed the cash I absolutely would.  Although I'd rather not.  DH is always messing with his car, rewiring it, whatever.  I like having my own vehicle that I can rely on to be ready to drive when I need to.  Plus my vehicle can haul a ton of things and we can carry quite a few passengers in mine.  DH needs his smaller vehicle since he drives long distances and it gets really good gas mileage.  It also is his little man cave away from home.  Psychologically he does better having that.  I like being in control of my own vehicle, though.  I get tired of DH messing with and rewiring everything under the sun.  Since the vehicle is mine I can say back off buddy and he does, LOL.  But yeah, I could live without the second vehicle if we needed the money.
3. Toilet paper.  Nope.  Do not want to give up TP.  Although at one point we were so strapped for cash that I had rags we could wash off with periodically and only use the TP when absolutely necessary.  We made it.  I just don't want to do that again.
4. Hair cuts for the boys. I rarely get my hair cut anymore.  Neither does DD.  But DS and DH like getting their hair cut by a professional and need to get haircuts fairly often since their hair grows FAST.  I trim as needed but they do better with professionals.  DS, in fact, has really gotten an emotional boost from getting hair cuts with a professional.  Since he has at times dealt with depression I consider this part of his mental health care and important.  We could always go to a relative for cheepy ones if we needed to, though.

 

 

 

[DawnM]

There are a whole lot of things I won't give up.

 

Cars (we live 10 miles from the nearest bus stop)

Heat

A/C

Washer/Dryer

Dishwasher

Internet

Computer

Soap/Toilet Paper/Shampoo/Conditioner

Hot water

Food/decent coffee/half and half

 

Things I can give up:

 

1. we could move to a smaller house if necessary

2. Pricier foods (I can eat chicken over salmon or steak if necessary)

3. Eating out

4. Pricier Cell phone plan

5. Cable TV

6. Pricey vacations

7. Shopping at real stores (go back to thrift stores and yard sales)

8. Satellite radio

9.  I am sure there are a few more luxuries we could do without

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Washer is a big one for me too.  It's the first thing I bought when I moved out.  I had a washer before I had a couch, kitchen table, or TV!

 

 

[athena1277]

Indoor plumbing. I need hit showers and flushing toilets. Every time I see one of those HGTV shows about Alaskan dry cabins, I am shocked by how some people live in a non-third world country.

[wintermom]

I think by far our family's greatest expense is our kids. That's something in life we didn't want to miss out on, but it costs big $ in so many ways. Other than that, I could give up pretty much anything. It would be a big bummer to go down from our 1 vehicle to no vehicle, but not driving around would save a ton of money completely aside from the cost of the vehicle.  :laugh:

Edited February 21, 2018 by wintermom

[Murphy101]

I understand how coffee outside of the house can get expensive. Those Starbucks frapps are $$. But drinking coffee at home?? That’s really inexpensive for me imo. $15 from Costco lasts a very long time. But now I have a son that works at Starbucks and my coffee is FREE. Heck, I give it away in gifts I get so much from him.

[emzhengjiu]

My first thought was tea - I don't want to give up my jasmine tea or my Earn Gray tea. But I wouldn't want to give up my washer & dryer, internet, or AC either. I can't sleep in the summer if it's hot. I could get by without AC during the day - maybe. Part of my work is online, so internet is a must. My washer and dryer is a luxury I suppose. I could get by without them, but I don't want to that either. If I had to give up something, it would be the dryer. I can't hang out clothes outside, but I could do what a friend does and hang them all over the house. Don't want to give up my car either. Public transportation in our area is limited. Spoiled aren't I!

[Ravin]

Honestly, A/C is always optional. Even in hot and humid. It's not pleasant or something one WANTS to do. But it was lived without for centuries before it was invented and people lived in these areas and even now, there are people living without it.

 

I grew up in Houston, TX and we did not turn on our A/C.  it was more important to my mom to have money for a two week vacation in the summer so we dealt without the A/C.  She strategically opened and closed windows at different times of the day to cool the house down in the morning. We spent a LOT of time at the pool, even starting the day out there as part of the swim team in the summer. And we sweated some, and drank a lot.

 

It is not optional in modern stick-built, insulated houses in the Valley of the Sun. People die without it. It's a heck of a lot hotter than Houston. Our house would probably get up to 120F inside within a few days without A/C in August. With highs in the teens and lows in the high 90's to triple digits? A/C is a necessity unless you have a home designed for passive solar cooling, which most homes here are NOT.

[barnwife]

That is the definition of an average. ;) It incorporates a range...

 

I'm also pretty sure few people on this board have calculated the exact cost of their vehicle every year over the past 20 years. But my accountant does that for lots of people every year, year after year. 

 

That's like a wedding planning trade group claiming that the "average" wedding costs $$$xx,xxx.  MAYBE the average cost for the weddings THEY PLAN is $$$xx,xxx. but I don't need to calculate to know that no wedding I have ever been to has cost anywhere near that much.  Furthermore the wording "average wedding" implies just that, an "average wedding" which would be the median wedding price.  Difference between mean and median, Bill Gates and I and my dog have a mean (average) net worth of ten billion dollars each, but a medium net worth closer to zero. 

 

The way to save on AC or heat is not to delay turning it on, but to ramp up the temp as the season progresses (or down for heat).  When you're used to spring, the first hot days are uncomfortable, but by August your heat tolerance has gone up, and that's when you spend the most money any way, in the middle of the season.  Then turn it off when it's drier and less extreme heat later in the season, and you're used to it. 

 

That's assuming you rent or don't plan to stay.  Obviously improving energy efficiency is a good way to save money if you are willing to learn to do it yourself, or upgrade energy efficiency instead of getting granite countertops.  I'm in the upper midwest so I won't preach on AC, but cutting heat bills is easy, just slightly different technical details than for AC.

Edited February 21, 2018 by barnwife

[Murphy101]

I don’t care about averages. I want to know median. Median gives a far more accurate picture of things imnsho.

[FaithManor]

Well, I have a baby grand piano, a petrof, that went far too long without the care of a tuner/technican when our budget took a hit. This resulted in some very expensive issues, re-regulating the action, re-setting some tuning links, etc. So guess who has a line in the sand about that now!

[Georgiana Daniels]

Wait, what?? How is giving up TP even a thing? What's the option??

 

:svengo:

 

Cloth. Many families do this and seem perfectly content. That's just not my thing! 

[eternalsummer]

When we were very poor, we gave up everything non-essential.  I can't think of any lines in the sand we had - we were just happy to eat (rice and beans).

 

But as soon as we had $, the very first thing we did was buy a washing machine.  Line drying is no big deal, but washing your clothes in the bathtub (because laundromats were super expensive where we lived at the time) is a massive pain.  The day we hooked up the (very used, made an extremely disturbing loud clanking sound, but spun like a dream) washing machine, I was transformatively grateful for the guy who invented the washing machine.  I think it's the number one amazing technological advance in domestic life.  I cannot say enough good things about washing machines.

 

The rest of it, I can compromise on.  I do like living in a separate dwelling (as opposed to an apartment or duplex) because we have 6 loud children.  And I do not like carpeted living areas.  But I've compromised on those before and could again in extremity.

[Garga]

There's not much I say I WONT give up.....I lived without AC all the time I was growing up....it does seem unbearable to me now and I don't remember it being that bad as a kid....but I think I could manage it. Less cooking, line drying....some things like that would make no Ac less horrible.

I don't want to have to give up wine. But it is an expense for sure.

My vehicle would be the thing I would hang on to the end. I live very rural though.....so there is that.

 

I had no a/c as a kid and it was pure misery, yet we survived. Finally, my parents got an a/c unit in their bedroom and on the unbearable nights, they’d let me sleep on the floor in their room, but it was rare that they allowed that. During the daytime, the a/c was off.

 

Later, when they had a little more money, we got an a/c unit in the living room and we’d hang sheets in the doorway to the livingroom and live it up in there. But cooking dinner was brutal.

 

I could go back to that if I had to. My house was built in ‘49 when central a/c wasn’t common, so there are cross windows. It would be awful though, and we’d have to be in perilous times. Then again, my DH gets heat exhaustion easily, so it probably wouldn’t really be an option. Maybe we’d do like my parents and only cool off a room or two and my DH would just have to avoid the rest of the house.

 

Family cloth doesn't bother me. We've done it for ages, including when I was a kid. (Exception: we use paper for poop, then and now. So as the laundress, I'd be loathe to go to family cloth full time, but I could do it if I "had" to. And I'd do it if it meant having an extra $5 a week for a coffee, movie, or anything for 1-2 hours involving me, myself, and no one I'm married to, was married, was born to, or gave birth to.)

 

But the one thing where I draw the line is hot water on demand. I get cold easily, and my husband likes to keep the house like a meat locker. I'm guessing one day this will be nice for me (menopause), but for the time being, I take about 4 hot showers a day. If my bones get cold, I honestly can't function. A 20 minute hot shower will keep me good for 2-3 hours. It'd be cheaper for him to turn the damn temperature up LOL but he thinks he's saving money by keeping the thermostat where it is. Okay, Love.

 

But this fall he tried to mess with the hot water heater. He turned it off during the day, and planned for laundry, dishes, and showers in the evenings.First of all, I'm not convinced that really even saves anything. I grew up without a hot water heater. When I discovered hot water on demand, I knew there was a God and that He loved me. DH's "cost-saving measure" lasted a week. I became cranky from the cold and impossible to live with.

 

I get cold amazingly fast, but you sound worse than me. However, if you’re not worse than me, I finally have had two winters where I’m not freezing or running a space heater all the time. I bought this robe (http://m.womanwithin.com/clothing/Plush-hooded-long-robe-by-Dreams-and-Coandreg.aspx?PfId=509376&DeptId=9607&ProductTypeId=1&PurchaseType=G&pref=ps&ppos=10&Splt=0&StyleNo=2170). It’s in a plus size catalog and I’m not plus size, so I got the smallest they had. I put on my jammies or I put on the clothes I’m going to wear for the day, and then I put this robe on over them. All winter long, I’m in this robe and I am super-warm. If I feel an extra chill coming on, I pop up the hood and the chill goes away in about 5 minutes or so. I wear socks and slippers as well. This robe goes to the tops of my feet so there is no part of me not covered. The important part is the zipper. Normal robes will gape open, even if you tie them tightly. Movement eventually makes them gape. Zippers never gape.

 

In fact, they used to have a bunch more colors, so I’m nervous they’re getting rid of this robe soon. I might buy a second one for the future. They have other robes in other materials, but they’re not as thick as this one. Actually, it’s not that it’s thick, but it almost has a plasticky layer to it. I don’t know how to describe it. But whatever it’s made out if, the heat stays IN.

 

And it actually works out for me that it’s plus size, because it fits over everything—sweaters or jackets, etc.

 

My first thought was tea - I don't want to give up my jasmine tea or my Earn Gray tea. But I wouldn't want to give up my washer & dryer, internet, or AC either. I can't sleep in the summer if it's hot. I could get by without AC during the day - maybe. Part of my work is online, so internet is a must. My washer and dryer is a luxury I suppose. I could get by without them, but I don't want to that either. If I had to give up something, it would be the dryer. I can't hang out clothes outside, but I could do what a friend does and hang them all over the house. Don't want to give up my car either. Public transportation in our area is limited. Spoiled aren't I!

 

I have extra shower rods in my shower stall and bathtub. I hang the clothes on hangers and dry them on those shower rods. However the clothes get very wrinkly. My dh loves to iron. It calms him. So, you could not use a dryer, but then you’ll be using an iron. If my dh didn’t choose to iron as a relaxing activity, I’d be using the dryer, too.

 

That's like a wedding planning trade group claiming that the "average" wedding costs $$$xx,xxx. MAYBE the average cost for the weddings THEY PLAN is $$$xx,xxx. but I don't need to calculate to know that no wedding I have ever been to has cost anywhere near that much. Furthermore the wording "average wedding" implies just that, an "average wedding" which would be the median wedding price. Difference between mean and median, Bill Gates and I and my dog have a mean (average) net worth of ten billion dollars each, but a medium net worth closer to zero.

 

The way to save on AC or heat is not to delay turning it on, but to ramp up the temp as the season progresses (or down for heat). When you're used to spring, the first hot days are uncomfortable, but by August your heat tolerance has gone up, and that's when you spend the most money any way, in the middle of the season. Then turn it off when it's drier and less extreme heat later in the season, and you're used to it.

 

That's assuming you rent or don't plan to stay. Obviously improving energy efficiency is a good way to save money if you are willing to learn to do it yourself, or upgrade energy efficiency instead of getting granite countertops. I'm in the upper midwest so I won't preach on AC, but cutting heat bills is easy, just slightly different technical details than for AC.

 

Thank you for the Bill Gates example! My son was learning about median and mode today and wanted an example of why anyone would need to know the median vs an average and my brain went blank. I just told him about averaging our salary with Bill Gates’ and it all made sense to him. Thanks!

 

When we were very poor, we gave up everything non-essential. I can't think of any lines in the sand we had - we were just happy to eat (rice and beans).

 

But as soon as we had $, the very first thing we did was buy a washing machine. Line drying is no big deal, but washing your clothes in the bathtub (because laundromats were super expensive where we lived at the time) is a massive pain. The day we hooked up the (very used, made an extremely disturbing loud clanking sound, but spun like a dream) washing machine, I was transformatively grateful for the guy who invented the washing machine. I think it's the number one amazing technological advance in domestic life. I cannot say enough good things about washing machines.

 

The rest of it, I can compromise on. I do like living in a separate dwelling (as opposed to an apartment or duplex) because we have 6 loud children. And I do not like carpeted living areas. But I've compromised on those before and could again in extremity.

In my first apartment we shared a washer with 12 units.

 

In my second apartment we had a teeny tiny washing machine that stood in the middle of the kitchen on wheels and you’d hook its hoses up to your kitchen sink. When it would spin, it would shake the entire house and the washer would walk around the room, because it was small and on wheels. The people in the apartment below us hated it. And I hated it. It fit about 2 pair of jeans and that was it. We were constantly washing our clothes. When we got a house and had a full-sized washer all to ourselves, it was like heaven. We gave our old washer to a friend who was washing her clothes by hands in a bucket. I had hated that little washer until I saw her with her bucket and then realized I was pretty lucky. But I still sort of hated that washer, even though I realized it could be worse, and I knew that a full-sized washer was best of all. My washer right now is over 15 years old and is a workhorse. I dread the day it dies. We’ll be able to get a new one, but I hear so many stories of bad washers. Washing machines are pretty important.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Garga

[emzhengjiu]

In my second apartment we had a teeny tiny washing machine that stood in the middle of the kitchen on wheels and you’d hook its hoses up to your kitchen sink. When it would spin, it would shake the entire house and the washer would walk around the room, because it was small and on wheels. The people in the apartment below us hated it. And I hated it. It fit about 2 pair of jeans and that was it. We were constantly washing our clothes. When we got a house and had a full-sized washer all to ourselves, it was like heaven. We gave our old washer to a friend who was washing her clothes by hands in a bucket. I had hated that little washer until I saw her with her bucket and then realized I was pretty lucky. But I still sort of hated that washer, even though I realized it could be worse, and I knew that a full-sized washer was best of all. My washer right now is over 15 years old and is a workhorse. I dread the day it dies. We’ll be able to get a new one, but I hear so many stories of bad washers. Washing machines are pretty important.

 

Until you  mentioned this I had forgotten we had one of those portable washers when I was a teen. Laundromats were expensive and far enough away that getting there was a pain. We would hook it up to the faucet in the kitchen. It did make a racket, but so much better than washing in the tub!

[Meriwether]

Are you positive? Have you actually done the math. My account has and he has 2 PhDs. I believe him. 

 

And even if it's $5000/year, you can ride the taxi quite a bit before you get to $5000 in fares.

I'm pretty sure we spend $8000/year on my vehicle, if I depreciate the cost out at about $5000 per year. But I wonder how much I'd pay Uber to carry me 25,000+ miles/year? I'm guessing it would be significant.

[Petrichor]

For me, I think it's quality food, which includes having some sort of meat. If I don't feel well nourished, it affects my mental health. I'm going to add my winter vitamin D supplements into that, because they also help my mental and physical health.

 

It's humid where we live, and I'm ok with going without a/c for a bit in the summer, just don't get on my bad side (that's every side in the case of hot humidity). I do better with a dry heat, to the point of it being heat-hive inducing, as long as I can run fans and take lots of cold showers!

 

 

[FaithManor]

I'm pretty sure we spend $8000/year on my vehicle, if I depreciate the cost out at about $5000 per year. But I wonder how much I'd pay Uber to carry me 25,000+ miles/year? I'm guessing it would be significant.

I could see it working if one wasn't going to a job everyday and saving up errands so maybe only going out once or twice per week. Especially so if everything is within ten miles.

 

I live rural and the bulk food supermarket is twenty miles away. Uber would have to be paid to wait while I shopped. Everything is 13 to 20 miles away, and any kind of decent shopping is 50 minutes away. My mom's medical specialists are 85 miles away, two hour commute each away due to traffic. So despite the insurance and maintenance cost, keeping the vehicle is cheaper than uber even if I were really trying to pare down trips.

[FaithManor]

I understand how coffee outside of the house can get expensive. Those Starbucks frapps are $$. But drinking coffee at home?? That’s really inexpensive for me imo. $15 from Costco lasts a very long time. But now I have a son that works at Starbucks and my coffee is FREE. Heck, I give it away in gifts I get so much from him.

Free Starbucks?? Oh my, heaven.....

[Tanaqui]

Wait, what?? How is giving up TP even a thing? What's the option??

 

Cloth and/or a bidet.

 

The families I know of who do this, though, do it for environmental reasons - not budget ones. And I don't know any of them who uses cloth for poop or expects their guests to use cloth.

[sassenach]

Are you positive? Have you actually done the math. My account has and he has 2 PhDs. I believe him.

 

And even if it's $5000/year, you can ride the taxi quite a bit before you get to $5000 in fares.

3k tops on cars w no payment. Yes, we’ve calculated it. 8k is nuts.

[foxbridgeacademy]

Things I won't budge on....

temp being at least 69-70 in the winter and nothing above 73 in the Summer.

Fresh fruit and veggies. Quality food ingredients (like good whole wheat flour)

Charmin extra strong TP and either Brawny or better paper towels.

Tetley Tea (IMO, everything else is gross).

 

 

For the OP, instead of sandwiches how about soup?Some of them can be made ahead for a reasonable cost.

[sassenach]

Internet, washer and dryer.

 

Heat is my dh’s can’t live without, largely for medical reasons. We don’t even have AC, but we live in a place that we can get away with that and only regret it a handful of days a year.

[eternalsummer]

Sandwiches were a luxury when we were poor :)  Then again,  I'm sure regular nutritionally balanced food is a luxury for poor people in third world countries, so it is all relative.

[EMS83]

idk, y'all.  There's not much I wouldn't do, but some things I couldn't give up without alternatives.  Heat in winter, for example.  I can give up central heat if I have a space heater or wood stove or something.  I don't think we could do without any vehicles at all, unless we lived in a less vehicle-dependent location.  Things like that.  DH is much more the "won't do that" person than me.

 

[Zinnia]

and nothing above 73 in the Summer.

 

Living the dream!

 

(Does this really work? Is that old wives tale about a house being unable to get more than 20 degrees cooler than outside just not true?)

[Sk8ermaiden]

Living the dream!

 

(Does this really work? Is that old wives tale about a house being unable to get more than 20 degrees cooler than outside just not true?)

 

It's *harder* to cool the house when it's super hot, but it's not impossible. I guarantee my house is not 90 when it's 110 outside. 

 

But here, it is VERY common in new houses or ones that have been redone recently to have an a/c unit for your upstairs and one for your downstairs. You can keep it as cold as you want with that! My mom's electric bill is 3x mine because she keeps her house so cold!! I need blankets there even in summer.

[Arcadia]

(Does this really work? Is that old wives tale about a house being unable to get more than 20 degrees cooler than outside just not true?)

My condo unit is more than 20 degrees cooler than outside during summer but the whole complex was built to be as sound proof as possible from the nearby freeway and Amtrak noise. The sound proofing indirectly helps in keeping the house interior from being too hot or too cold.

 

It’s 8 deg Celsius/ 44 deg Fahrenheit now and I am feeling cold.

[J-rap]

I had no idea anyone gave up TP!  We gave up every other paper product from time to time:  kleenex, napkins, paper towels, because TP can work for all of those if necessary.  

 

Coffee, vegetables.  (I could give up fruit.)  TP.  :)  Some heat.  

 

I guess I can't think of a lot of things I couldn't give up if absolutely necessary.  I could live without AC.  

 

To the OP:  I get tired of sandwiches too.  You can make big batches of cheap soup with legumes that is so good, and that could be lunch.  Or quesadillas, bean burritos, pasta. 

 

[Ausmumof3]

My car ... we're rural and high fire risk area so having a vehicle is pretty essential.

 

I'd struggle pretty bad without coffee as I tend to get headaches without it but I guess eventually my body would adjust.

[Ausmumof3]

I had no idea anyone gave up TP! We gave up every other paper product from time to time: kleenex, napkins, paper towels, because TP can work for all of those if necessary.

 

Coffee, vegetables. (I could give up fruit.) TP. :) Some heat.

 

I guess I can't think of a lot of things I couldn't give up if absolutely necessary. I could live without AC.

 

To the OP: I get tired of sandwiches too. You can make big batches of cheap soup with legumes that is so good, and that could be lunch. Or quesadillas, bean burritos, pasta.

I never get this? Don't you just end up having to buy more toilet paper? It's just as expensive as tissues isn't it.

[appyonthebeach]

I could live without AC.  I don't live in the South though...

 

Two things I wouldn't want to live without are TP and a washer.

[nixpix5]

Good coffee and internet service.

 

We already have just one car, no AC, keep the heat low, no cable, low cost phone plans, etc. But we buy expensive locally roasted coffee and internet service costs a decent amount. I wouldn't give up either of those unless things were pretty dire.

Pretty sure I must have wrote this and have no memory doing so. This is absolutely me.

[elegantlion]

I never get this? Don't you just end up having to buy more toilet paper? It's just as expensive as tissues isn't it.

 

We used to do this, only buying tissues if someone had a cold. Even when ds was little, he rarely had a runny nose, so we really didn't use that many tissues. Now that we live with my mom, she buys them. 

 

For paper towels, we would either use a dish towel or a sponge. 

[J-rap]

I never get this? Don't you just end up having to buy more toilet paper? It's just as expensive as tissues isn't it.

 

Ha, I know!  It probably doesn't really make sense.  :)  Except that napkins, pt, and kleenex don't seem as necessary and you sometimes use them when maybe you don't really need to.  It's probably more psychological!

[vonfirmath]

Sandwiches were a luxury when we were poor :)  Then again,  I'm sure regular nutritionally balanced food is a luxury for poor people in third world countries, so it is all relative.

 

Agreed. This was posted in one of my sponsorship forums. "I visited another Central American country, they explained to us that families choose to purchase and eat tortillas not just because they're less expensive, but also because you can eat several of them then and it'll makes your stomach feel full, even though they have no real nutritional value. Whereas something like beans won't stretch as far and make as much, so while it has protein, they just want the hunger pangs to go away, and tortillas will accomplish that for a very low price."

 

It was in a discussion about "The problem we face is chronic malnutrition--bellies filled with foods that don't provide the nutrients or calories necessary to thrive"

Edited February 22, 2018 by vonfirmath

[DawnM]

I never get this? Don't you just end up having to buy more toilet paper? It's just as expensive as tissues isn't it.

 

Tissues are definitely more expensive.  

 

http://www.moneyahoy.com/toilet-paper-vs-kleenex-cheaper-blow-nose/

 

YMMV

[Ausmumof3]

Tissues are definitely more expensive.

 

http://www.moneyahoy.com/toilet-paper-vs-kleenex-cheaper-blow-nose/

 

YMMV

Interesting... although we would typically use two to three toilet sheets for a nose blow otherwise it wouldn't do the job. Toilet paper would still come out in front but marginally.

[vonfirmath]

Interesting... although we would typically use two to three toilet sheets for a nose blow otherwise it wouldn't do the job. Toilet paper would still come out in front but marginally.

 

That's what I thought -- I use more than 1 toilet sheet when I use it as tissues (probably at least 3)

 

AND there are cheaper tissues than Kleenex brand!

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

I use way more than three.  And with allergies I'm using it a lot period.  I'll use toilet paper in a pinch, but I think tissue does a better job.

 

 

 

[scbusf]

Things I won't give up or cut back on:

 

A/C

Internet - I teach online, so it's necessary and my job doesn't reimburse for it.

Brand name Toilet Paper

[Cosmos]

I understand how coffee outside of the house can get expensive. Those Starbucks frapps are $$. But drinking coffee at home?? That’s really inexpensive for me imo. $15 from Costco lasts a very long time. But now I have a son that works at Starbucks and my coffee is FREE. Heck, I give it away in gifts I get so much from him.

 

As I said, we buy locally roasted coffee. It's more expensive than what you buy at Costco. Ours costs $12 a pound and we probably buy at least two pounds a month. So say $30 a month. That's more than 5% of our grocery budget, which seems pretty high to me for something that gives no nutritive value. It's a pure luxury. But that's what this thread is about, right? What are the luxuries that you personally would hang onto the longest? For me, good coffee is one. I would (and do) choose that over lots of other luxuries. 

[TechWife]

My car is paid for, so isn’t my husband’s. We pay about $1400 per year in insurance. I spend about & $125 per month on gas. DH spends about $20 on gas every three months (he drives a Volt). It’s about 50 cents each night to charge the car. So that’s about $3600 per year. Maintenance hasn’t been an issue for us - I’m sitting at 60K right now and it’s a Honda, so I have a long, long way to go. Routine maintenance is probably around $500 per year, on the high side. Routine maintenance on a Volt is nominal. All told, we spend about $4100 per year for two cars. I can’t what kind of car the accountant has used to calculate that $8000 per year. He must be counting car payments, but he should be clear about that and as an accountant, I’d hope he’s discouraging that in his clients to the extent possible.

[MedicMom]

Rounding up to $550 a month x 12 = $6600

insurance is $90 a month x 12 = $1080

 

So yeah we are nearing 8K with that. Gas...I don't know what we spend, but DH put 3000 miles on his car last year. I put in a similar amount.

 

But this really is not even close to 8000 a year for one car. We had our last two cars for 15 years. Car payments were similar. Insurance was similar. Gas consumption similar.

We probably are close to $5000 a year for two vehicles. Only mine has a payment, but since we live far from everywhere we go, we spend a lot in gas. Plus we have a truck and an SUV.

 

On the other hand, a round trip Uber to work would be $58. Round trip to the mall, the closest reasonable place to shop other than Walmart, would be $42. Taxis, if you can get one(since there are none in my county), are more because they drive a long ways to pick you up. There is bus service here now, but it’s pretty worthless because they don’t leave the county so all that’s here is Walmart.

 

Giving up a car would cost us more than keeping it; gas, insurance and all.