Comments on: What could you give up when you’re in financial trouble? – Part One

By: David

David — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:35:31 +0000

In terms of the home phone issue, I changed our home phone to a cell phone. I had my home phone number ported to the cell phone and by activating a new line I was able to get a free phone. The cost was $10.00 a month. Granted there was an activation fee of $35.00, that I was able to get waived for customer loyalty. In addition, I had all my numbers from my cell phone and wife’s cell phone loaded into the home phones contact list.

By: Mrs. Micah: Finance for a Freelance Life / What Do You Really Need?

Mrs. Micah: Finance for a Freelance Life / What Do You Really Need? — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:31:03 +0000

[...] cleverdude (parts one, two, and three) and Fabulously Broke in the City have been talking about what they could give up [...]

By: fathersez

fathersez — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 02:17:41 +0000

I just went through this exercise, of checking where I could cut my costs if I lost my job, or just decided “what the heck” and walked.

Reading your posts and the comments has made it clear that I have not cut deep enough. The biggest thing we have decided to do is selling off our rental property and making us debt free. (well, almost)

I’ll have another look.

Thank you for this lesson on financial surgery.

By: TGIF Link Roundup for 11-30-2007 ~ Smart. Healthy. Rich.

TGIF Link Roundup for 11-30-2007 ~ Smart. Healthy. Rich. — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:53:09 +0000

[...] What could you give up when you’re in financial trouble? – It’s scary to think about having a financial emergency, but also something important to consider. In this article, Clever Dude does a great job of examining what’s important in his life, and what would be the first to go if money got tight. [...]

By: A whopping pile of links — On Financial Success

A whopping pile of links — On Financial Success — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:01:16 +0000

[...] Dude asks “what could you give up when you’re in financial trouble” here, here, and [...]

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:44:24 +0000

Much as I hate this, because I love food, our grocery budget is one area we could save a ton of money…it just means I (we) would have to get really creative about planning every meal in advance and cooking everything from scratch. Those are not my favorite things as they are time consuming and I’m not a good cook.

However, realistically we could spend $50 a week to feed our family of 3, instead of $125-150 if we really clipped coupons, bought in bulk, cooked every meal from scratch, then ate or froze the leftovers. I foresee lots of rice, potatoes, and peanut butter in this scenario.

It does not sound fun.

I would get rid of cable, ($30/mo), and drive less to save on gas money.

By: Harrison

Harrison — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 00:34:29 +0000

I think I will sacrifice my vacation budget. I like traveling but if my finance is under the hot water, I think I will give it up. Then I will reduce the money I spend in grocery and foods. This is another category that I spend most money in.

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:14:08 +0000

My luxuries are spoiling my girlfriend. December through April are the worst months on my wallet.
December = Christmas, February = Valentine’s Day, March = Anniversary, and April = Birthday.

Good lord, those next 5 months are scary!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:58:04 +0000

I can’t believe I forgot about phone. I’d cut off my home phone for a savings of $80 per month (wife overseas long distance calling, I’d tell her all email and internet chat from now on if need be). So now I’m up to $684 per month savings.

By: Clever Dude

Clever Dude — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:47:37 +0000

Paidtwice: I didn’t say I’d cut the internet (that’ll be posted tomorrow). However, I do have a number of options for internet (including at work if I had to, but it’s not my employer’s connection).

Ryan: That’s a good list. Isn’t it amazing when you go through your expenses and add the number up and see how much you’re spending on “things you can do without”? You’ll see what my total “luxury” number is tomorrow. It’s probably more than a few readers take home per paycheck, and maybe even in a month!