Tightening Your Budget in a Tight Economy

[wolram]

Are price increases creeping into your budget yet? I have had to put a couple of extra holes in my belt ,but that may be because of the excessive amount of physical work i have to do rather than eating less, on the other hand i do tend to look at prices now instead of just putting an item in the shopping trolley.`

 

[DaveC426913]

instead of just putting an item in the shopping trolley.`

You carry your groceries in a streetcar?? Maybe getting something smaller would help with the budget.

 

[Andre]

Be sure to look at the lowest shelfs, Wolram, the goodies are usually about 50% of the price compared to those at eye level. But better have a healthy back for that.

 

[Moonbear]

Be sure to look at the lowest shelfs, Wolram, the goodies are usually about 50% of the price compared to those at eye level. But better have a healthy back for that.

Sometimes the good bargains are on the tippy top shelf too. I have to climb the shelves to reach those. :grumpy:

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I don't pay as much attention as I used to.

 

[lisab]

I don't pay as much attention as I used to.

I pay way, way more attention than I used to, due to attention hyperinflation. I have to carry wheelbarrows full of it and I still get distracted.

 

[chroot]

I've certainly noticed the increasing cost of food, but I'm lucky to have a comfortable job and enough income to not need to actually worry about it.

- Warren

 

[hypatia]

I'm cooking more from scratch, and buying more bulk items. I've switched from baggies to wax paper for sammiches. It seems to save me a little. I'm still up about 15 dollars a week from last year at this time.

 

[BoomBoom]

I have had to put a couple of extra holes in my belt

My belt is tightening on it's own it seems...and I'm running out of room for any extra holes. :)

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I pay way, way more attention than I used to, due to attention hyperinflation. I have to carry wheelbarrows full of it and I still get distracted.

:rofl: I'm going to steal this first chance I get.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

So far the only noticable price increases I have seen are at the gas pump. Since I need to drive to various locations for work I just fill my tank and try not to think about it. It needs to be done one way or another and I can much more easily find ways of saving money in the grocery store or what have you.

 

[Andre]

Sometimes the good bargains are on the tippy top shelf too. I have to climb the shelves to reach those. :grumpy:

Why not try this?

http://www.123evenementenverhuur.nl/images/smaller/steltlopen.jpg

 

[mgb_phys]

It doesn't matter how much you earn, if both of you were grad students for 5years you always buy the reduced stuff / make your own sandwiches etc for the rest of your life!

 

[G01]

I have begun to cook from scratch more often as well. While grocery store prices have gone up, it is still cheaper than eating out.

 

[Moonbear]

I don't have too many corners to cut when it comes to groceries. I've always cooked from scratch most of my meals, and bargain shopped. So, at this point, I just don't really pay any more attention than I always did. Food is one of those things I need to have, so there's really not much choice there. I've noticed some prices of things creeping up, but nothing so horrendous yet that I'd be worried.

 

[Borek]

So far far from being forced to look at prices, but when Junior moved out last year our weekly shopping was lower for some time, it is getting back to the same numbers as before.

 

[wolram]

Sometimes the good bargains are on the tippy top shelf too. I have to climb the shelves to reach those. :grumpy:

Supermarkets do seem to discriminate against height challenged people, i bet it gives the shelf stacker's a laugh seeing little people climbing all over the place.

 

[BryanP]

Gas prices are killing me since I commute a lot.

 

[turbo]

My wife and I cook everything from scratch, but we are feeling the price increases, too because the increases are extending to staples like flour, rice, dried beans, pasta, etc. Gas is the worst, and about 10% of my wife's take-home pay is required to buy gas for the commute. She has a very fuel-efficient compact car, but at >$4/gallon, a commute that seemed quite reasonable when we moved out here is starting to pinch.

 

[Moonbear]

My wife and I cook everything from scratch, but we are feeling the price increases, too because the increases are extending to staples like flour, rice, dried beans, pasta, etc. Gas is the worst, and about 10% of my wife's take-home pay is required to buy gas for the commute. She has a very fuel-efficient compact car, but at >$4/gallon, a commute that seemed quite reasonable when we moved out here is starting to pinch.

That's the biggest change I need to consider. I'm glad I haven't bought a house yet, because until this summer, I've been thinking about rural properties that are less expensive than the ones close to town for more land (not necessarily more house). But, with the rising gas prices, I have to seriously rethink that plan. For that sort of commute, I'd need to factor in a lot more added expense for gas in the car every time I drive to work or drive to a grocery store. Now I'm thinking I might be better off paying the higher prices for houses much closer to work, maybe even consider the direction I'd be coming from and find ones where I can get in along bikeable roads (the university has finally woken up and is starting to put in more bike racks as people are complaining about the expense of commuting to work...it is hitting the maintenance/custodial crews first, partly because they're on a fairly low payscale, and partly because they all seem to insist on driving pick-up trucks).

I saw someone driving a little Smart Car around yesterday. I can't see how that little thing could ever handle snowy mountains, but it sure is cute. Looks like a viable option for a second car, where you can use it to commute in good weather, but still have the second car to use sparingly for things like snow days and the monthly grocery shopping trip for all the large and non-perishable items, or packing up luggage to go to the airport, etc. On the other hand, if that Smart Car couldn't get up the snowy roads itself, it looks small enough to push. :rofl: (I am curious as to how stable they are...the wheel base looked considerably narrower than the height of the car...looks like a rollover waiting to happen, unless something else about the way it's weighted prevents that).

 

[Andre]

So how are the 55+ MPG HDi diesels coming along in the USA?

 

[Moonbear]

So how are the 55+ MPG HDi diesels coming along in the USA?

Haven't even heard of those, but considering how much more expensive diesel is at the pump than regular gas (it used to be cheaper), that's going to be a tough sell.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

On the other hand, if that Smart Car couldn't get up the snowy roads itself, it looks small enough to push.

Here I go on a shameless hijack. I don't know how a Smart Car handles snowy roads. But I do know how the old Volkswagen beetle does. I carpooled with two other guys in such a car. One snowy evening coming home from work, it was slow progress. Every couple of miles we had to get out of the car, push someone's car off the road and continue on. We carried two people off the highway to motels.

As for what I do know about the Smart Car, it could use a few more smarts. It is a two-seater designed for puttering about town. It gets much worse mileage than my 4 (5 really) seat Honda Civic hybrid while costing more (well that's not entirely fair, I'm comparing the cost of a new Smart to a used Civic, but that's what they cost and that's what I bought). (edit: the gray text is incorrect, Smart is cheaper than Civic). On the good side, you can park them anywhere. I see them from time to time on the highway doing 70 mph easily. I wonder if the American Smart is souped up.

 

[Andre]

Diesels have been improved dramatically the last decade. Right here it needs about 7000 miles per year to drive cheaper, considering excess costs of the car, fuel prices and taxes. I uploaded the first pic of mine before the plates were put on. Below it you can see the liters per 100 km (4.6) or the km/l (21.3). That's about 50.1 mpg. The smallest HDI diesel can achieve 55 MPG+

Edit, these numbers are based on certain DIN profiles. Driving steady 100 km/h shows about 4.4 l/100km or ~60 mpg

 

[mgb_phys]

As for what I do know about the Smart Car, it could use a few more smarts. It is a two-seater designed for puttering about town. It gets much worse mileage than my 4 (5 really) seat Honda Civic hybrid while costing more... I wonder if the American Smart is souped up.

They are better than they look, the engine is all under the floor and the suspension is good so they are very stable.
The automatic gets surprisingly bad mileage, the ones in europe are diesel which helps.
They are expensive because they are built by merc - when ia start building them they will be cheaper.
They are light so with chains they might be ok on snow/ice, in Ontario they come with a winter kit!
Driving around town is great, you sit higher up so have good visibility and can park them for free in a lot of european cities!

 

[cristo]

Gas prices are killing me since I commute a lot.

Think gas is expensive in the US? Try living in Europe!

 

[Moonbear]

Here I go on a shameless hijack. I don't know how a Smart Car handles snowy roads. But I do know how the old Volkswagen beetle does. I carpooled with two other guys in such a car. One snowy evening coming home from work, it was slow progress. Every couple of miles we had to get out of the car, push someone's car off the road and continue on. We carried two people off the highway to motels.

Big difference between snowy roads in NJ and snowy roads in WV. I never had trouble navigating any roads in NJ in any car I drove as long as you were aware of how that particular car handled and drove appropriately for it. Here, the only things that get up the roads (and I mean UP) are the Subarus with all-wheel-drive and the trucks with 4WD. In NJ, the only hills I ever had to navigate were pretty straight, so you could take a running start at them and make it all the way up. Here, there are lots of S-curves, so you have to take them slow. I actually think rear wheel drive might have a better chance up the mountains than the front wheel drive cars...when you're going up a steep hill, the weight is shifting back further (or so it feels to me). I've seen people with old rear wheel drive cars, and they'll fishtail some, but still make it to the top (downhill is another story).

But, since people already have the non-Smart Cars and they can't give away SUVs free right now, just hanging onto those less fuel-efficient vehicles for the occasional snowy day while using something small and fuel efficient for the every day commuting and running around would be the most like starting point for those.

I didn't know they were expensive cars though. That would be a downside. If it's still cheaper to keep feeding the gas guzzler than to have another car payment, there's no incentive to buy one of those. For something that small, it should be very inexpensive.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I didn't know they were expensive cars though.

Sorry, I misspoke and have edited that post. The smart is much cheaper than the Civic. I had looked at a mini cooper at the same time and confused the two.

I have been in WV, specifically, I was on a camping trip on Skyline Drive. My wife was humming 'Country Roads' the entire week. I have to admit, the People's Republic ain't got nothing on that. But the point was that the beetle got through where other cars couldn't. Even on those relatively small grades. Actually, the VW affair took place in the Western suburbs of Philadelphia where the grades are still small, but much greater than the PDRNSJ.

 

[Borek]

Beetle had engine on the back and was rear wheel drive, that helped a lot. I used to drive Fiat 126p (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_126) for several years - while it was really small and tight, it had engine on the back, rear wheel drive and it was much better on the snow than many large, full-sized cars. First winter after I sold 126p and bought Polonez (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FSO_Polonez) I was swearing whenewer it was snowing.

 

[turbo]

Diablo Smart Car? What's in that thing for an engine? A: Suzuki Hayabusa 1300cc with 14000rpm red-line.

 

[glondor]

We have had the smart cars in Canada for about 5 years now. I see more and more of them on the roads every month. They do seem to be alright in the snow as well, as i see them all over in the winter. I looked at a display of one cut apart a few years ago at the auto show, and they are no doubt one of the strongest designed cars ever built for road use. I have some pics somewhere i can link if anyone is interested. There is a youtube video of a smart car crashed into a jersey barrier at 60 mph. The passenger compartment was not impacted at all. Quite the little car.

 

[wildman]

Think gas is expensive in the US? Try living in Europe!

The difference is that you in Europe are already adjusted to expensive fuel with nice subways and small cars. In the US many people have huge gas guzzlers with no available public transportation.

 

[Borek]

What always makes me wonder is that we are all buying cars that are much stronger then we need. I have a car with 1.6L 100 HP engine; in my earlier experience 50 HP will be absolutely enough. That means substantially more mpg, this is simply energy conservation. Smarts are small, light, and sold (at least in Poland) with engines up to 98 HP. In a way it is an internal contradiction of the small, fuel effective car idea.

Problem is not in cars and their fuel efficiency, problem is in our heads.

 

[wolram]

What always makes me wonder is that we are all buying cars that are much stronger then we need. I have a car with 1.6L 100 HP engine; in my earlier experience 50 HP will be absolutely enough. That means substantially more mpg, this is simply energy conservation. Smarts are small, light, and sold (at least in Poland) with engines up to 98 HP. In a way it is an internal contradiction of the small, fuel effective car idea.

Problem is not in cars and their fuel efficiency, problem is in our heads.

I am a petrol head, i love going fast, but it is time to come down to Earth, i would happily drive an electric car, (just so long as i can keep my bikes for the occasional thrill), but they aint available at a reasonable price, manufacturers are going to scam us on what is basically a dressed up go cart.

 

[Andre]

What always makes me wonder is that we are all buying cars that are much stronger then we need. I have a car with 1.6L 100 HP engine; in my earlier experience 50 HP will be absolutely enough. That means substantially more mpg, this is simply energy conservation. Smarts are small, light, and sold (at least in Poland) with engines up to 98 HP. In a way it is an internal contradiction of the small, fuel effective car idea.

Problem is not in cars and their fuel efficiency, problem is in our heads.

Your 50 HP small cars also went with 700-800kg total weights. Nowadays that's 1000-1200kg, Now, remember Newton, force, mass and accelleration. Most of the additional weight is in safety features, a huge difference in survival chance nowadays. And whenever I climb that 20% slope, I know perfectly well why I need those 110HP.