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How To Cut Back and Survive the Depression

The major news has been the economy for quite a while now. There’s been a $700 Billion approved to bail out the greedy, elite bankers that caused this whole problem (So they can party hard, right AIG?)

A lot of people are getting very worried over the economy. People are worried about losing their home and going from comfortable middle class life to homelessness.

I am not panicked like it seems the majority of Americans are, for one reason because everywhere I go, everyone is talking and texting on their cell phones, the majority of Americans have satellite or cable (around $39-100+ a month) and restaurants are still very crowded on weekend afternoons. I can’t see people starving to death while they are texting on their phones and watching MTV.

On the other hand, some people, including finance guru Suze Orman are saying that the current financial state is worse than the Great Depression of 1929.

Regardless of how serious the economy crisis (caused by the elite bankers) is, here are some tips for you to cut back to keep more money from going out of your pockets:

1) STOP TEXTING- Different phones have different plans, and I’m not a texter, but as far as I know, texting costs money. Someone recently showed me a $600+ phone bill run up by teenagers who got carried away with text messaging. They were even charged everytime someone sent them a text message.

If you want to say something to someone CALL THEM UP and forget about texting them.

2) Cut Back on Winter heating and Summer cooling- learn how to cut back on your utilities. There is advice right here on this website.

3) Pull the plug on satellite or cable- If your finances are so bad that your stomach is in knots, it’s a very unwise decision to throw $50+ away every month for TV channels. Some people are so addicted to TV they would rather die than not have their hundreds of channels. Some people don’t think they can survive without their satellite/cable.

Well guess what? People have survived thousands of years with no TV at all, muchless hundreds of channels. Second of all, it’s not healthy to be a couch potato addicted to TV. You’ll get fat and unhealthy. Thirdly it turns your mind to mush and besides if you have an internet connection which is much cheaper than cable, you can watch tons of movies and TV shows online for no extra charge. So, if things are that bad for you financially, you have no business even having cable until you can actually afford it.

4) Frugal Gifts- You want to get your family and friends nice gifts for holidays and birthdays. Well, that’s hard if money is tight. Bills can add up super fast if you get carried away buying everyone the Christmas gifts you think they want.

You can still get your loved ones gifts without spending a fortune. Remember, it’s not about how much $$$ you spend (although it may be to spoiled teenagers). You are buying gifts for your loved ones, not buying their love.

So learn how to give wonderful gifts for less. (There will be a post on this in the future.) For example, if you are accustomed to spending $50 on a gift for Tina, start spending $25. If you have 3 kids and you spend $100 each for Christmas toys (that you know they will tire of quickly) spend $50 instead and spend it smarter. That would be $150 savings right there.

5) Check out the second hand shops for clothes. Clothes can be very expensive. Especially if you have growing kids, you have to buy a new wardrobe every time the season changes. Before you go to the mall or Wal-Mart or any other store, check the second hand stores.

Recently I went to a Salvation Army Thrift Store to look for baby girl clothes for fall and winter. The infant/toddler clothes there are only 99 cents each. I ended up buying around $50 worth of clothes. Some of them were brands like Old Navy, Gymboree, Children’s Place and The Disney Store. Some of the outfits were so adorable. After folding the clothes at home, I realized if I bought this stuff at a mall, $50 would have only gotten me around 3 pieces of clothes. But I got about 50 pieces of clothes.

Savings like this really adds up.

6) Drink more water- Cut back on sodas, juices, sports drinks, coffees, and drink more water instead. The (almost) free kind of water, that is.

7) Make your own cards- There are cute cards out there for every holiday and birthday and some even play music and there are some you can record your own greeting on. Yeah, they are cute, but these cards cost around $5 each and let’s be honest-most people end up throwing away their cards shortly after they read them. So instead of buying a card for everyone for Christmas or their birthday, make your own cards. People actually appreciate when someone takes the time to make a card for them.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 4:12 am and is filed under Cutting Back, General Saving Money Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

How To Cut Back and Survive the Depression

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Buy Living On A Dime Run Car On Water And Gas-Save Big Gas Money Meal Plans 101

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Buy Living On A Dime
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Meal Plans 101