Our story goes back to 2002, when my husband was laid off in the last downturn. We were living in a house that was at the top of what we were comfortable paying (though the banks thought we could afford oh so much more!). Fortunately, my husband was able to replace his income within a year by starting his own business, but it was a wake up call and we changed some things. The big things: -we live in a house that is about half of what we can afford and now have no mortage (we sold our more expensive house when we were at the top of our earnings) -we buy gently used cars with cash and drive them forever -we have catastrophic heath insurance and try to keep ourselves as healthy as possible through diet and exercise -we never spent money on preschool or private schools - we homeschool (though not for financial reasons, that's just a bonus) -we enjoy eating out, but we have potlucks with close friends more often. You can have an awesome potluck for what six families would spend eating at a restaurant! -no cable tv, just Netflix. You can watch television shows over the internet or get the DVDs from Netflix. -I purposefully cook to create leftovers. For example, my pot roast on Friday night became pot roast pasta on Saturday, so that stretched our meal over two days and saved us money. -No Starbucks or anything like that. Though like many here, we do spend some of our budget on wine ;). -I make a menu plan and a grocery list and I stick to the list when I shop. No impulse shopping! That'll get you every time. Things we haven't cut back on: -the housekeeper. They come once a week, and that will be one of the last budget items to go. It is a huge help to me as a homeschooler with a toddler, and I also don't want to hurt their business if I don't have to. -quality groceries/ organic. There are somethings I buy that are important to me and I don't mind spending extra on it. For example I prefer to buy Organic Valley dairy products because I prefer their business model to other organic producers that are available to me. -home maintenance. It's more expensive to replace an AC prematurely than to maintain it regularly. -giving. The people who need charity need it even moreso now. We also keep money in the budget for my husband to go on international mission trips, and I'll be doing that again after the baby is a bit older. Good thread!

Hi Kath, Congrats on getting your nursing degree! I'm sure you worked VERY hard for it! Use the DOLLAR STORES, esp. for laundry/cleaning items, Deoderant, toothpaste, misc. cutlery, glassware, plastic storage containers, etc. Get that crockpot out and use it! I work 2 jobs and I am so thankful for my crockpot! Plan ahead for meals, especially with you working. Get a FOODSAVER and make ahead meals and freeze them. Get the mixed salads at the lower cost grocery stores, roast some chicken...you've got dinner for that evening and a meal to take to work the next day! Take your own lunch and snacks to work. Refill water bottles. Buy a filter for the sink or a filtered water container. $10 at Walgreen. $5 to renew the filter every 3 months. Drink more water instead of fruity drinks or soda. You'll be surprised how you will get used to in and REALLY only WANT water. Buy secondhand clothing for yourself and your kids. CONSIGN any good clothes you need to get rid of, shoes, purses, belts. Our local Goodwill stocks underwear by HANES...'seconds' I guess. They sell for 80 cents apiece. Sell your nursing books you don't want to keep on the Internet (amazing.com half.com) Good Luck!

Good luck on the test, Joyful, I'm sure you'll do fine. Accidents are a pain. Figuratively, and all too often literally. I'm going through my own vehicle woes. Several years ago I bought a van from a friend's son's estate. Since then I've put about $5,000 into it... (heavy sigh) Transmission & starter ($3k) and about $1500 in brakes several times and different parts and many same ones over and over. The brakes would drag and last summer finally got it cured (a brake line believe it or not). About a week ago the pedal was going to the floor. So I was hobbling home putting fluid in at several stops. Both wheel cylinders in the rear were bad and leaking and soaked the linings so my recent full brake job had to be done again to the tune of another $300. But then I think that I've gotten what 2 1/2 or 3 years out of it and so all things considered, it's not been as bad as it seems. The things that made me put the money into the transmission were: 1) It starts SO well in ANY weather, even sitting outside for days in sub-zero temps 2) It runs SO smooth 3) It drives great (when it goes!) Front end is tight, drives nice and straight down the road 4) Reasonable gas mileage and doesn't burn any oil 5) Quite comfortable and these days what's very important 6) Comfortable to get in and out of. Since getting busted up, that makes a big difference. It's got a few problems, a/c doesn't work and I won't spend $800 to fix it, the blower fan now only works on high, and the vacuum hoses must be leaking because it'll only work on defrost, gas gauge doesn't work, one of the speakers cuts out now and then... yeah a few other minor problems, but all of these I can live with. But I was kind of bummed out at the last expense. So I'm looking for a decent deal on something. I asked the owner of the shop if he knew anyone who had a good used vehicle for sale, preferably a mini van, SUV or a mini to mid sized pickup. Well he has a mini van that he might get from a customer. The oil light came on and they kept driving it and siezed the engine. He'd charge me nothing for the van, only what it would cost to put a rebuilt engine into it. It's a 2001, in very good shape from what I saw and I started thinking that a rebuilt engine, I'd have essentially a new engine, the biggest problem point could be the tranny, but would be worth thinking about. He said it'd run about $2700 for an engine. It's got many more bells & whistles on it than I have with mine. But I haven't heard from them whether they got it or not. Guess I need to call them or stop by and ask. I'm kind of leaning toward buying it and keep using the one I have until more problems develop. Then I'd have a spare and since I have to drive for an income, I need reliable transportation. I was even kicking around whether I could turn around and sell it for a little profit. The book value looked like it has some room. But that wouldn't make a lot of sense I guess. Argh! For me, a vehicle isn't a status symbol. It's to get me and my junk from point A to point B and back again, reliably and safely. So if anyone knows of a good used vehicle at a reasonable price, let me know. I was kicking around the idea of a new vehicle, with the Kia Sportage going for less than $12k... But there's extra costs in a new rig too. My head is spinning! Keep us posted OJ. Oh, btw, on the popup windows you're getting and especially on an older machine, if you use a browser like Opera or K-meleon, they have a built in popup stopper and both of them use far less resources than does Internet Explorer. Easier on your system, faster and stops the popups in their tracks!

I also feel if I buy new it needs to last 10-15 years to be worthwhile. With even less than reasonable care, this is not impossible. Everyone has preferences on new vs. used, but the frugal in me says a vehicle is to get me from point A to point B reasonably dependably. My last vehicle lasted over 15 years and cost to repair would be unreasonably high though I would have put some money into it had I not been able to find a low cost vehicle to last a while. There are the "thrifties" out there that are known as "beaters" and "winter beaters" that will get you around. I bought a mini-van from an estate for $500. It was 10 years old and had about 140,000 miles on it. Ran like new. Not well maintained but ran like new, good tires, and though the body had its share of dings and scratches it wasn't rusted out. For a backup vehicle it would be fine. Turned out I bought it at the right time since the pickup gave up the ghost. I've put on 20,000 miles plus (at least) and it's going strong. I just had to put $1000 into it but the mechanic said it's solid and worth putting the money into it. 24 mpg now, comfortable and reliable. Sat outside over the winter and starts right away, even at -30F. Granted, the heater in a van is a joke, but that's not the vehicle's fault, it's the designer's. A friend of mine offered to sell me one of their company vehicles. A Lexus SUV with a book value of $22,000, for what they owed on it, about $16,000. But that had 90,000 miles on it and I said for my vehicle purchases, it's off by a decimal point! Since I can buy a new Mercury Marquis for the same money, I'd prefer that to the used Lex. I don't need a status symbol. If someone doesn't drive much, it's really worth looking at going the beater route if they don't have an ego. Carry a cell phone for about $5/mo instead of a car club and you can call for help if you break down. I personally feel people should have one in case of someone trying a bump-n-rob, or something anyway. And if the older folks get a flat tire, accident (deer or otherwise) or something it's worth having. Nuff on that. Since I have to drive for work, I need a vehicle. Our society has done everything it can to make public transportation impractical for far too many.