How are you dealing with the economy?

[CF DolFan]

The last two times I put diesel in my truck I spent $150 and neither time filled it up. My boat has spent a lot of time on idle seeing as how it now takes about $550 to fill up. Groceries are out of the roof and building supplies go up every week so I quit doing projects around the house. Subway now has subs over $14 for a footlong! It's crazy. Power bill is over $100 more than last year.  Hard to have any kind of disposbale income these days let alone put anything into savings. We had to severely reduce our 401K deposits. Our 401K is dropping like crazy and retirement isn't that far out from this point. We make really good money as a household althought my wife's income just got cut like 40K until the economy turns around. I don't know how others are doing it.

 

[SlothVomit]

I feel like I have had this conversation so many times in the last few months. Filling up my truck cost me $114 yesterday, so we take my better half's small crossover everywhere we go. We both drive nice vehicles and they aren't by most standards cheap, but we worked our asses off for them so we don't want to give either up just yet. I'm very fortunate to work from home so that helps, but my electric bill has gone up significantly. . I live in a 2 bedroom condo and we are paying a decent price for our area (south Florida) but come October (new lease) I fear we are going to get hit with the same $500+ rent increase as everyone around us and everyone I know personally.  At that point we have discussed moving out of state for lower rent, moving to a less desirable area in south Florida or the unthinkable, moving in with the in-laws to save for a home. Can we support the extra hike in rent? yes (barely), but at a cost of literally having very little income to do anything outside of our home. Groceries are what they are. Luckily there are only two of us so we are able to make it on small dinners and left overs. We also do a ton of ocean fishing so we always have a full freezer. We are on a bowling team and it used to be $80/month per person and now its $120/month. Little stuff like that adds up. I'm currently putting the smallest amount I can in my 401K as well. Like CF stated, I don't understand how some folks are making it.

[Tenshot13]

I'm fortunate enough to have a good paying job that pays for my gas.  My wife is great at finding deals at the grocery store and gets to work from home.  My biggest concern is baby formula right now.  We were lucky enough to stock up right when the shortages were occurring, but shelves are still empty and we will run out by this time next month.  

[Dave Gray]

I'm just in a fortunate spot.

Investments are down, but that doesn't really matter, since they're retirement and they're meant to fluctuate in the short term but come back in the long run.  I'm not touching it either way.

Gas, I don't really see -- I work from home and I have a car that doesn't use a lot of gas anyway.  My wife teaches and has to drive, but it's summer, so we're home most of the time anyway.
Groceries are expensive, but it's not like it's a deal breaker and you can pick and choose and find deals to help ease it.

We don't really eat out a ton anyway, but I have noticed that quick pick-up type food, like fast food and pizza are expensive.  This is probably the area where I notice it the most.  I'm hesitant to pick up something quick for the family, because getting something for 4 people is gonna be like $50.

Most of my life is free.  I work in the day, watch a movie at night.  Most of the movies I watch are old and can be found for free.  Then I play video games at night which are free to play.  And then I work around the house on plants and fixing up things.

My kids have family and a next door neighbor that they play with, so we aren't doing a lot of buying.

I think that I got into a rhythm during COVID of just being happy doing small things at home and that hasn't stopped.

Also, I just got lucky.  When everyone's cost of rent/housing is crazy, my house basically doubled in value and I was able to lower my mortgage payment a lot by refinancing for a better rate and removing PMI.  My timing on buying a house wasn't the best like some people, but I certainly got in before this insane pricing wave.  To me, that's the scariest part of all of this.

[Spider-Dan]

I bought my first plug-in car in 2013, so gas prices aren't really a big deal to me.  I still have a 25-year-old convertible that I drive on the weekends during nice weather, but overall I probably buy ~10 tanks of gas over the whole year.  So it's whatever.

I eat take out for lunch every day at work, but since last year I have started teleworking 1 day a week and I also switched to a schedule where I get an extra day off every other week, so my dining out costs have actually went down.

Probably the biggest increase in my costs is that the discount grocery store that I had been shopping at since it opened in '98 closed a couple months ago.  It was down the street from my old apartment, and it honestly was not in the greatest neighborhood, but even though I moved to a different city back in 2010, I wanted to keep going there and keep supporting them; there was also an element of "I'm not too good to keep shopping at the same place I've always shopped at."  The company (Food Maxx) purchased a competing store on the opposite side of town about 10 years ago, and according to the employees, the ownership decided that they didn't want to keep both stores and that the other store had a better lease.  So now I just shop at a grocery store in the city I live in... but my grocery costs are up because this store is much nicer (and they bag my groceries for me).  Ultimately, I make a lot more money now than I did as a teenager in '98, so the difference in cost doesn't impact me.

I have natural gas service for my furnace, and that has definitely went up, but my utility costs are still well below what they were before I got solar panels in 2017.  I had no utility bill at all for May.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Living in NYC.......not great. You have to be smart and prepared, thankfully I am. I buy in bulk, buy directly from farms and keep my meals simple. Meat, rice and veggies.

As far as apartments and home buying goes, you have a house or you won't for several years at the earliest. Prices will go down but it won't crash like in 2008.

Gas is $5.20 here as of today and I drive a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Got my lease during the lockdown at $450 a month. Similar car now would be $650 minimum so I am grateful for that and I'm very likely keeping it once the lease is up if the car prices are still ridiculous.

MOST people will be fine if they live within their means and prepare, even though it sucks to have less money through no fault of your own. The lower class people are getting hurt badly though, they don't have much margin for error. If their gas and electric bill goes up 50% despite similar usage, not much they can do about that.

[ArtieChokePhin]

I've had to raise prices on my business... something I haven't done in years.  Not that it matters much as people will pay whatever it takes to have their A/C fixed.  But I hate to do it.

Additionally, my managers have come down harder on using the company vans for personal use.   We used to look the other way when my field techs would use the vans to go eat lunch before or after a job.  No more. 

As for my family, we aren't going to take a summer trip this year but we will be spending more time with extended family. 

[Tenshot13]

I'm just in a fortunate spot.

Investments are down, but that doesn't really matter, since they're retirement and they're meant to fluctuate in the short term but come back in the long run.  I'm not touching it either way.

Gas, I don't really see -- I work from home and I have a car that doesn't use a lot of gas anyway.  My wife teaches and has to drive, but it's summer, so we're home most of the time anyway.
Groceries are expensive, but it's not like it's a deal breaker and you can pick and choose and find deals to help ease it.

We don't really eat out a ton anyway, but I have noticed that quick pick-up type food, like fast food and pizza are expensive.  This is probably the area where I notice it the most.  I'm hesitant to pick up something quick for the family, because getting something for 4 people is gonna be like $50.

Most of my life is free.  I work in the day, watch a movie at night.  Most of the movies I watch are old and can be found for free.  Then I play video games at night which are free to play.  And then I work around the house on plants and fixing up things.

My kids have family and a next door neighbor that they play with, so we aren't doing a lot of buying.

I think that I got into a rhythm during COVID of just being happy doing small things at home and that hasn't stopped.

Also, I just got lucky.  When everyone's cost of rent/housing is crazy, my house basically doubled in value and I was able to lower my mortgage payment a lot by refinancing for a better rate and removing PMI.  My timing on buying a house wasn't the best like some people, but I certainly got in before this insane pricing wave.  To me, that's the scariest part of all of this.

Out of everything you posted, the one that I have to comment on is pizza lol.  Dominos is cheap af right now and good enough.  I tried their pan pizza the other day and it was a lot better than I was expecting.  Also, every place has their own app.  Dominos, Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, McDonalds especially...you get better deals through the app then just ordering over the phone or going through the drive thru

[Dave Gray]

Dominos is cheap af right now and good enough.  I tried their pan pizza the other day and it was a lot better than I was expecting. 

I know this is probably blasphemy but I really like Dominos.  I get Brooklyn style, which is less bready (or sometimes thin crust) and I think it's bangin'.

But for me, it's not all that cheap.  I probably should follow the app for deals more than I do.  Usually I just order exactly what I want.

[EDGECRUSHER]

I know this is probably blasphemy but I really like Dominos.  I get Brooklyn style, which is less bready (or sometimes thin crust) and I think it's bangin'.

But for me, it's not all that cheap.  I probably should follow the app for deals more than I do.  Usually I just order exactly what I want.

It is blasphemy but it's also a personal choice so do what makes you happy. If you choose to pickup opposed to deliver with all the fees, you'll probably save $10 every time once tip is also removed. Just on principle, I would do that.

[Dave Gray]

I always pick up.  My wife always delivers.

I prefer to pick up.  It's cheaper and faster.

[Phishfan]

I always pick up.  My wife always delivers.

I prefer to pick up.  It's cheaper and faster.

And you get the first slice before anyone else.

I eat out and go out less. I have gone out for drinks and dinner several nights a week for years. I'm barely doing it now and  I  bring lunch to work mostly. I haven't noticed the electric bill yet. I'm itching to take a simple vacation but I'm waiting for the weather to break and hopefully things even out some.

[masterfins]

Literally two days before gas prices started rising I purchased a low MPG vehicle, I knew I would pay a bit more per year on gas and factored that in when I purchased the vehicle.  Two days later gas jumped $.20 a gallon, now it's up more than $1.20 a gallon from February, not good for having a vehicle that gets 13 MPG.  Utilities are also high, it was a long cold winter so I spent more on heat due to the length and higher price of natural gas, and I'm not looking forward to next winter's expense.  Food is high, but I am good about stocking up on things when they are on sale, and buying in bulk and freezing meats, etc.  I had several big projects on my house I was planning to do this summer (new gutters, new driveway, re-paint the outside, take down some very large trees) but feel I'm going to have to put some on hold because there is less cash in the bank than normal.  But I do feel fortunate that I am not in the position that many people are.