If you were to hit serious financial hard times

I couldn't give up travel or internet, but TV could go.

I already drive a 13-year-old car, live in a modest house, don't buy jewelry or expensive perfume or get mani/pedis/facials/beauty treatment. I don't wear makeup except for cheap lipstick. My clothes spending is pretty utilitarian. We don't eat in fancy restaurants. I have a "dumb phone" that I paid about $20 for and very low-priced service. I don't smoke and my drinking is confined to one $3.99 margarita at my favorite Mexican restaurant on "margarita night" about once a month.

I would have to spend less money on my mom and other relatives. I enjoy helping them out when they need help, but if I didn't have it, they'd have to do without it.

I'm not sure what else I could give up.
 
Shalimar said:
Lon this thread specifically addresses people's actions should they be hit by severe financial hard times. I think your comment is insensitive, and disrespects the purpose of the OP thread.
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How do you figure??? I simply answered a question with a honest reply.
 

GeorgiaXplant said:
what would you give up? Would it be cable/satellite TV? Starbucks? A weekly or monthly lunch or dinner out with friends? Movies? A hobby that you enjoy? Vacations? Toys such as electronics, collector cars?
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We live a pretty simple life to begin with, I'd easily give up cable TV if I had to, but we have a simple plan, not basic, but not with all the bells and whistles that can cost big bucks every month. I can count the times I've been to Starbucks on one hand, never for coffee, just a few times for the sweet Frappuccino drinks, the ones with all the calories.

Rarely eat out anymore, after watching some of those Kitchen Nightmare shows and hearing negative reports on restaurant cleanliness, we don't have the desire anymore. Don't go to movies much, just watch them at home. Our vacations anymore are low cost, driving and camping in the woods, fishing, etc. We like to do that so we can take our furkids and don't have to leave them with any strangers. Don't spend too much on toys, and have a prepaid flip phone, for emergencies.

So besides the cable, guess we'd just eat cheaper foods at home, maybe cut out the crab legs, shrimp, rib eye steaks, etc. Go to spaghetti and hot dogs. My pets get good quality food, so I might cut back to the healthiest cheap food available for them. :)

Lon said:
i have never ever hit serious financial hard times since age 25 and to have a problem now I would have to no longer have a pension, Social Security and all my investment accounts wiped out.
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You're lucky Lon, you sound like you don't have anything to worry about. We will probably be fine with our retirement savings until we die. The only thing I can think of that would put us in a bind is if one of us (or both of us) became so seriously sick and disabled that we needed a lot of medical care, home nursing care, and expenses like that. With the prices they charge for all those types of services these days, you can go broke pretty quick I think. Probably would visit a Dr. Kevorkian and call it a day if things got too bad with the health.
 
Have been very poor in the past.
If it were to happen again, I would hurry up and get in the queue at St. Peter's Gate, and if pressed, I would even try to jump the queue.
 
I grew up in poverty, I'd be totally ok if I ever found myself there again. Today I live rather modestly but quite happily. The only thing I would not want to give up is my independence. If I had to do that, I would feel like I was struggling.
 
I would give up my tv but not the internet. I would and should cut down on groceries. I would try to be more frugal with my utilities and gas. I would definitely cut down on Christmas and Birthdays.
 
I think there is a huge gap of course. For some people a financial pummeling might mean fewer vacations or not buying a new car. Then there's some of us who can almost imagine the cardboard box and stealing cat food. The older you get the scarier the possibilities.
 
May I join you if push comes to shove? I can work up a soft-shoe routine (shuffle step, shuffle step, shuffle ball change!). Piano, hoofer, artist. We could do small-town festivals and stuff. Whaddaya think? I can cook old-style, too, and even make coffee in a speckled enamel coffee pot over the fire.
 
Awww Georgia and Shalimar <<<big hugs>>>> all around...who knows maybe I'll find my secret gift...that I really can play like Jeff Beck? Then I can keep us all comfy, even the assorted pups.
 
Don't hold your breath, Fur. You're a good bit younger than I am, and I'm still trying to find my secret gift. Hey! Maybe we could be like the golden girls. Wanna? I get to be Sophia, k?
 
There are a few different ways (some have been mentioned) that mama and I could cut back if we really actually had to.......let's just hope that from now till it's time for all of us to go that none of us here has to do with out anything we enjoy.
 
IKE said:
There are a few different ways (some have been mentioned) that mama and I could cut back if we really actually had to.......let's just hope that from now till it's time for all of us to go that none of us here has to do with out anything we enjoy.
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:iagree:
 
Shalimar...tacky? What was tacky about her? Maybe a little too, um, flamboyant, but tacky would have been just standing on a street corner looking for her next, er, dinner date. She waited until somebody called and asked her out or until she was able to wangle an invitation. She had a lot of class. Sort of.

Okay. So we have Sophia, Dorothy and Blanche. Anybody wanna be Rose?
 
I'd give up whatever I had to in order to keep a home, my pets and myself fed.

I'd probably give up internet before TV. TV is a lot of company for me.
 
Ack! Not my car. Public transpo in my area is sparse and the closest bus run is more than two miles away. For me, car is spelled i-n-d-e-p-e-n-d-e-n-c-e.
 

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